Papillon

You have Cuellar twice on the list... I would toss Carew in the Average part, same with Luke Young. Oh and Richard Dunne up to Good. He was part of the team of the year at one point.

Apart from the fact that they played in the Copa del Rey and both games were 10 out of 10? Get your facts straight before you make silly outbursts. Real were awesome at home but somehow managed to let in too many goals out of nothing. Then they managed to get back at Barca away but lacked that one single goal, both games were absolutely incredible. Lots of goals and tension, between the two best teams in the world. How can one want anything else in a final?

My team was kind of easy, but some players are left out because of obvious position restrictions: GK - Schmeichel (Edges Van der Sar basically because he is legendary. Lost a lot of cred playing for Man City and Vilal though) DR - Neville (Love him or loathe him, his stability surpasses any player with higher ability over time) DC - Vidic (One of the best and toughest defenders the world has seen. Never skips a challenge, has 4 league trophies) DC - Adams (Him or Terry, not much between them) DL - Evra (None of the other candidates matches his ability in my opinion) MR - Ronaldo (Many challengers, but none as good as him of course. 9 trophies, including 3 titles) MC - Scholes (Because he played longer than Keane basically, otherwise tied. Scholes still one of the best in the league) MC - Vieira (One of the most important players for any team, and they won the league under him) ML - Giggs (Don't think any objective team should include another player. Pires a second, but Giggs still plays and Pires sucks as we know) ST - Henry (No contest) ST - Shearer (Also pretty given because of his goals compared to Cantona, but a few others should be named incl. Van Nistelrooy)

One of the worst defensive acts I have seen in my life. This is the top level?

The main problem with players like Zog and Ireland is confidence and the free role where they can do anything they want, well, within boundries of course. Under McLeish they are obstructed completely, and we will never see their best efforts with him as manager. Easy as that.

I have read hundreds of your thousands (!) of posts, and if there is one thing I know is that you are always pessimistic and wrong. I hope you are not a betting man, I think I have never seen you predict a win even when we were good. Because we do win every once in a while

Yeah that is clear to see, open your eyes and see the empty seats at Villa Park. The term "true fan" counts for jack shit in this day and age. You can call yourself that and sit there as righteous as you want, but the simple truth is that the club relies on the mass, not the small % of extremely loyal fans as you portrait yourself to be. People demand mutual respect to fork away thousands of pounds every year, and when a certain point arrives they will stay away. The club needs international fans to come see Villa every year, spend a lot of money in the city and in the club shop - as well online for supporter effects etc. That spirals on to every aspect of the club as a product and a business. More apathy and less people in the stands equals less interest, less revenue, lost income from TV, sponsorships and the whole nine yards. You can probably get a better view from your seat next season though, as I guess the demand will decline tremendously. And you can sit there with your other firm believers. The important point here is not that all other fans are gloryhunters and lesser fans, not at all, but football is not the most important thing in life and that is more visible when the club gives so little back. It is not a human right to win trophies or win most home games every year, but who are we kidding, we are Villa and we do not demand that at all. What I do want is a challenge within our means, the best attempt from both players and club at board level. What we have this season and the last one as well, is a clear disrespect from the guys in charge. Loyalty is lost and fans are boiling over because of it. Our team is more than good enough to perform better than this, and Villa come from the second biggest city in England, yet the numbers are that low. It is amazing, spectacular even.

He doesn't have 97 shots from outside the box every week either And your point is painfully inconsequental. You miss 100% of the shots you don't take remember. Ronaldo takes a lot of shots, but that is because he knows he can score from them. Are you saying Messi, or Alan Hutton for that matter, would score as many as him if they took the same amount of shots from outside the box? Messi does score the same amount of goals as Ronaldo, but Barcelona has a better team with a style suited FOR Messi. You can say that about Ronaldo as well, but their team is not as set as Barca and rely much more on individual highlights. Messi has Fabregas, Iniesta and Xavi behind him only to accomodate him, whilst Ronaldo has Benzema and Higuain to compete with up top. Higuain and Benzema have a combined 37 goals this season, whilst Alexis Sanchez has 10 as Barca's second topscorer. Villa has 5 because he is injured, but I reckon he would have been at around 20 and Messi then around 30 if he has been injury-free. We are talking about extremes here though, the two best players in the world by a countrymile. The two most extreme players the world has ever seen. Never injured, scoring every game, dominating every single time. That is the main difference I think people neglect when comparing to Maradona, Cruyff and Zidane, the fact that these guys never were able to turn up for every single game. We are talking about the man who has the highest goalscoring record in modern times in a top tier league, who has already equalled that score with 6 or so games remaining. 40 goals in 31 games (+1 as a sub) equals 1.25 goals every single match and a lot of them are screamers. With six games remaining he will accoring to his ratio end up with 47 goals. Sit down and enjoy instead of hating

Wigan - United was the most boring game I have seen in ages, so it is nice to see some Spanish free-flow at the end of the day.

Ronaldo has 5 more goals than we have scored the entire season in the Premier League.

Say what you want about Messi, but he doesn't score from outside the box like THAT every week!

Absolute nonsense. Alex McLeish won the Carling Cup last season but who cares about that? McClaren is a very poor manager, no wonder why he is at Twente and not in England where he wants to be.

Well it is incredibly thin, but was it really wrong? 1. The offside blunder is irrelevant. When they did not whistle for offside, what happens next is all on its own. You cannot go back in time and undo stuff because of an offside, although this is what started the event. 2. So one has to judge solely on the tackle by Derry on Young. Is Young in front? Yes. Is Derry trying to tackle him without having control of the ball at all? Yes, sort of. Is it cheap? Yes, certainly. But is it still a poor attempt by Derry? Yes, and although Young wants to go down like he often does that way, Derry is second to the ball and always out of reach. There IS above all contact, and the red card is always brought up in situations like that when the player takes out the man through on goal. For me the situation starts when the linesman **** up. Young dives good and well, but he is only exploiting what Derry does wrong. Many players do that these days, and even though it is poor sportsmanship it is still in many circumstances both a free-kick and a dive if you know what I mean. What happens first is the contact though, so I understand why the red card is not taken back.

This must be the weakest team I have ever seen for Aston Villa! Well not that they lack that much ability, but the inexperience is glowing. And Alex McLeish, my mood just falls apart when I see that idiot.

"Nothing to play for" ??? Finishing 10th - 13th for Stoke is like us finishing 6th, and those seasons weren't bad were they? It is all about perspective. Reaching your level and winning games like Stoke are doing is just alright. Being in the relegation battle is a huge failure and I have never felt so bored being a Villa-fan.

Hail Ronaldo! What a free-kick! And also cudos to Kaka, nice to see him coming back to his (near) best. He was Zidane-quality at Milan, but his slump due to injuries etc will always tarnish his reputation. Lost a bit of quickness in his feet and flow in his game, but still a very beautiful style to him.

We wil probably lose comfortably to Liverpool and of course Man Utd, but if we happen to let a goal in at home against Stoke after losing Liverpool I think the fans will wake up and give McLeish one of the worst atmospheres seen in the Premier League ever. And imagine getting down by a goal at home to Sunderland with MON at Villa Park - I wouldn't want to be McLeish!

Again, that is a bit unfair. Barcelona these past few years is as close to footballing perfection ever. Their continued success and incredible consistency is matched by no side ever. And this is 2012, with all the development in football as well as physique demanded by these players. Maradona wouldn't last 20 minutes with the pace and aggression players have today. Saying Barcelona is unbalanced is like saying Adriana Lima's nose is a bit narrow or her tits are too small.... come on! For all of Bale's assets, he lacks a fair amount of footballing smartness which isn't easy to detect at Tottenham. His style isn't very Barcaesque if you ask me, in that he likes to run in space and Barca always control in tight positions. Seldom do you see a winger run with the ball in his feet every game like Bale does at Tottenham.

I think that is way too harsh on Pepe. And wrong really... In fact, he is one of the best players for Real Madrid under Jose Mourinho and that speaks for itself. He is very committed and often over the top, especially against Barca, but that is part of what makes him one of the best players in the world. 3 red cards over the last 4 years that bad? First on the teamsheet for me, for the second best team in the world, leading the Spanish league, captain I think for Portugal and also in the CL semi-finals. Pique has 3 reds for Barca over the same period of time, which is not bad at all given the standard of refereeing in Spain and silly cards given all the time. What will always be against Pepe is that attack a few years ago, which was insane, but we all know players can develop and grow stronger from such events. Look at Ronaldo vs. England and Beckham vs. Argentina etc. And please do not mix in Joey Barton with Pepe! For god's sake, he plays for QPR after leaving Newcastle! He was never good enough or consistent enough for a top team, let alone teams that play in a Champions League anyway. Sure he was linked with Arsenal once, but there is a reason why he plays for QPR. Also that stupid thug has been to prison, assaulted people outside the pitch and generally acts like a fool.

I also caught the "That's for you Stan" or whatever he said after scoring and celebrating. No doubt, it was for our captain.

I too read "Petrov" from his lips when he scored, and that tap on the badge was not for United (too soon you know!), but for his heart.... Very nice gesture

Can't really say that was at fault by the referee, it really looks like Thiago uses his shoulder to control the ball. If he did or not is hard to tell by some crappy YouTube-video. Anyway, a second yellow card is not the same as throwing a wrong red card out for the sake of it like Pepe against Alves (I think) a year ago. That was pathetic and never a red card if you ask me, the Barca players got the better of the ref. As far as being a conspiracy going on? I am a Real Madrid-fan and I don't think so, why would there? Real play aggressive in a league where cards are handed out like candy on Halloween. There are always red cards and lots of yellows compared to the English league, and you get punished for tackling over the top. There have been many mistakes by the very poor referees in Spain, just like England, but that goes both ways. I remember Diarra deserving a second yellow card against Barcelona (100% clear) when he got nothing and I remember Messi deserving a blatant second yellow as well. He didn't get one because he is Leo Messi, but that has got nothing to do with Real Madrid. The problem is the state of the referees. Some can handle pressure, and some really cannot. Just look at Villarreal - Real Madrid and you see what I am talking about. The ref lost the plot completely and shipped out everyone, ending up with 2 less Real-players and 2 less on the bench. Pathetic.

**** you Carroll, how on earth did you think that was a good idea? Piece of shit, lack of respect for your old club.

The salute was very touching and extremely worthy. I saw the game with a few of my friends who are certainly not Villa-fans and I said there might be something happening in the 19th minute.... so we waited and when the clock ticked 19:00 I think everyone got goosebumps and didn't say a word. When you have absolute idiots in the game like Balotelli and Suarez, it is nice to have the Petrovs to compensate.

The thing about youth players is that it is impossible to say how much they will define the club as you say. All clubs would argue that their youth are as good as everyone elses, but just look at Arsenal and there are numerous examples of highly regarded players being laid off to mediocre Prem and Championship sides. Players with much more higher potential ability if we were to use the FM lingo. And also, those players are brought up to play with world-class players every day and gets to learn from Vieira, Bergkamp, Van Persie, Fabregas, Nasri et al. We have no players even remotely close to shining their boots, so the learning curve is even tougher to achieve. We have used the terms before, and we all know what happened to HUGE talents (in our own description) like Luke Moore and to a degree, Nathan Delfouneso. These were players we were branding as sure things to score 20 goals every season, but they are just nowhere near now.