Papillon

I think this is a bit unfair to Cristiano Ronaldo to be honest. It is not like he is just tapping in goals from wonderful passes from Özil. This season in the Spanish league he has 37 goals and 10 assists, one more point than Leo Messi. This is the guy who kind of invented the new kind of dribbling skills we see so much of in modern football. Unlike Messi, he has so much more range of goals in his game at any given time. And also a lightyear ahead of the Brazilian Ronaldo in terms of scoring goals from every part of the pitch. Amazing free-kicks, shots from outside the box, shots from angles no-one else would dream of scoring from, headers, heels, bicycle kicks and also being amazingly accurate from point blank and from the penalty spot. Ronaldo didn't invent the stepovers or the shooting techniques, but Apple didn't invent the MP3-player or the phone either so to speak (lame, I know!). Also, he scored 31 league goals for Manchester United 2007/2008 and he was mainly a winger in a free role. He seldom started as an out and out attacker as they always had other strikers for that role, that only happened more at the end of his United-career when he started more as an attacker. When he came to Real Madrid he was put on the wing because they had so many strikers. Remember these goals? On top of my head of course.. - Free-kick against Arsenal in the Champions League, who would attempt a shot at goal from that range and scoring? - Shot against Porto in the Champions League, one of the best long range efforts I can remember. - Numerous free-kicks with that technique so many players are trying to copy, like the ones against Portsmouth and that European XI. - That heel click against us after a corner, and the one he pulled off a month ago or so in Spain - Have to include those non-goals against Kazakhstan and Spain, pretty solid stuff - That run against Fulham when United needed a goal to get an advantage in the league. Picked the ball up in his own half and scored in the last part of the game. I am not taking anything away from Messi, not at all, but he has a better system suited for his style, the best creative players in the world behind him every game and he scores a LOT of similar goals. Three hundred passes, a ball through, round the keeper for a tap-in, or a chip or whatever. He can of course also dribble 3-4 players and hit shots from sick angles, but again, many of his goals are very, very similar. What will always be against Ronaldo is his arrogance and dodgy reputation. Above all, this is what made him amonst the best in history. He always tried even though most pundits were slagging him off for attempting stupid shots and silly dribbles, ruining for his teammates and cause. However, I don't think many of those are questioning his ability now. When comparing him with the old Ronaldo, like Messi is compared with Maradona, the formers will always have the upper hand because they are retired and belong to history. A bit like comparing a modern band with the Beatles and Rolling Stones. In 10-15 years when they are retired I think the situation will be different. Poor Ronaldo also get this fair bit of stick because of his looks and slick/dodgy attire, but if I had the chance to tap Paris Hilton and all the models in the world I would look after myself too Imagine Leo Messi being caught by TMZ whilst walking out of a nightclub with some A-list Hollywood totty! There are much worser players than him when it comes to diving and critical behavior on the pitch in modern football, my impression is that he mainly wants to play on and score all those goals. He was bad back in the days when he was a kid, but he is 26-27 now and has stayed injury-free all this time because he knows how to analyze tackles and dodge the bullet. In my eyes it is not diving when you see a flying two-footed tackle coming in and you manage to avoid it. If players like Messi, Ronaldo, Nani and all the others whom are tackled the most tried to stay on their feet to the limit of their ability we would see broken tibias and fibulas all over the place! I know this piece is easy to attack for most haters of the guy, but it is only meant as a little contribution for a player who enriches the sport we all love.

My two cents on this matter: He did not set an immediate impact at the Villa, but clearly he had some tackling in him and he defintely could make a good pass. What is more important, players like him need time to settle in. Great players like Silva and to a degree Mata (whom are much more attacking mind) settled in quite quickly, but Luka Modric did not in my opinion. His first season was up and down and I never actually saw his contribution back then. Since he has developed more time on the ball and now his talent is unquestionable. Now Makoun is not in this class, but I am 100% sure he could and would be a sure starter in our team if he was given some more chances. If he played 15 games in a row he would become so much more comfortable on the ball, and let's be honest, he didn't stink in the first place. A much better player than Herd and Bannan, as well as Fabian Delph and the young Gary Gardner. He has experience from the top level, he has the international spirit and would bring something else to our side. We are relying on youth, which is the same as knowing we are going to get a good performance one day and a terrible one in the next few games. That is the nature in being young and inexperienced, especially as none of these players are the next Mozart of football. Sending him out was shortsighted, detrimental to our squad quality and options. Older players will always be leaders to the younger ones, even though I don't think he knew English but that is part of the international game. The Jenas-deal was ruined before he ever got a chance to play, and I think he would have been a decent asset given our lacklustre season. I was opposed to it when it happened, but me like most of you guys probably had too high expectation for this season. Of course, maybe the tone was set by him and his agent early on. Maybe they said to McLeish that Makoun hated the city and would never settle at the Villa, so they had to deal quickly. But again, we are talking about Alex McLeish and we all know he has no idea about what he is doing.

And then I saw the date

Ronaldo and/or Messi will probably get a tally this season in La liga that will never be beaten ever I think. Who knows what the future will bring, but with 8 games remaining Ronaldo will probably end up around 45 goals and that is absolutely unbeatable! 37 goals in his 29 games equals 1,275 goals per game. So 8 more games and that is 10 goals, around 47 goals if he follows his ratio. 93 games for Real Madrid and 103 goals.

Saw the post-match interview. Denial ain't just a river in Egypt you **** prick. I hate a lot of footballers, all playing for other teams. But I despise Alex McLeish and I hate that he is in charge of my club. Watching and hoping for Villa is a break from reality when the weekend comes along, but now it is just plain apathy.

I am not going to write this piece about him being the best player in history, but he is a true gentleman.... a player that always represented our club to the limit. If I were to mention two true Villans in our squad it would be him and Gabby. Our club is at a sad state and this just makes it much worser to deal with. Stan Petrov; you will probably never play for our club again but I am 100% sure your name will be remembered forever - and I so look forward to the day when you are paraded on the pitch, healthy and in front of 40.000 people, it is going to be biblical. Like Ryan Giggs you are the type of player that no person would ever speak ill of, when it comes to sportsmanship and representation. In this climate, where the typical fan is struggling to pay his season ticket and the typical player earns enough to buy a Porsche every week you represent the old guard...... and that is an honour. I wish you the best in beating this horrible thing. I will not say something stupid like telling you to fight this thing like you did on the pitch, as that is highly irrelevant and has got nothing to do with the outcome, but I will give you my highest hopes in battling this demon. I do not care about your future footballing prospects, this is about you being able to survive and then live a long life afterwards. Again, true Villa gentleman.

It is cancer, not a heart condition, thus him being a fighter has got nothing to do with his chances either way. Not being an asshole here, it's just that I have some history with this condition and know that it is not something to be spiritual about. You don't survive cancer because you are fighting it with your will power, you survive because of surgery and/or chemo. If you have terminal cancer, you will not survive because of happy thoughts and wishes, but I guess people like to believe that to ease the sorrow. Shocking news non the less, Petrov is Mr. Villa in our squad right about now and seems to love the club. Thank god we have that little distance in points between us and the clubs beneath.

Roberto Martinez is 38 years old though, the same as Ryan Giggs. Judging him only for his Wigan career is incredibly shortsighted, given that he has a lot of promise for the future. Every good manager rises from a decent club like Everton (Moyes) or suddenly gets a top job like Mourinho and Villas-Boas after performing abroad. Managing Wigan is extremely difficult, the team is limited and they could never get anything else than 15th downwards to relegation. That is why his star is not that high yet, how could it be? He started managing in 2007 with Swansea and laid the foundation for where they are now in my opinion, using a philosophy Rodgers has used ever since. McLeish relegated a Birmingham-team with a lot better foundation compared to what is left at Wigan, with a lot of leaders and grafters in it. The perfect "McLeish"-material if you ask me, but still they are now lost in the Championship and so would he be hadn't our great club for some reason given him the opportunity of a lifetime. - McLeish is old and set. His style is rubbish and his end-results are not good enough. The effects of his arrival are detrimental to our club at every level. - Martinez is young, hungry and seems like a very good guy as well. Knows English better than for example Wenger and Redknapp (LOL) and seems to have a lot of respect from his players. Judging him isolated with Wigan's position seems unwise if you ask me. Also, he wants to attack and he could possibly attract some foreign players unlike McLeish who probably only goes to Spain for chartered holidays.

Just saw the Djibril Cisse tackle... what an absolute idiot. That was REALLY two-footed.

Of course, and that is the very sensible thing to do. However, not a single investor, die hard fan or plain capitalist, would be content with that. If you invest in football you know that dividends will be absent and thrills always around the corner. You simply buy into excitement, thus the instant need for the team to become better. A ten year horizon in football is a lifetime in finance so to speak.

People from Liverpool breaking the law, that's a shocker!

We should have packed the midfield with the guys who could run the most and tackle the hardest, with Gabby alone up front. So why the hell did he play Emile Heskey?????

11 corners against and 0 shots on goal for us. Ouch! I am not watching the game, would ruin my weekend completely. The great fan would watch in thick and thin, but as long as McLeish is in charge my club is not the true club at all. It will always just be something else, but as soon as he is gone things will be better.

But it happened because the ref did a terrible job at controling the game. The players reacted to this and we know Sergio Ramos is capable of it. Takes no blame from Ramos of course, but it never would have happened if the ref managed to do a decent job in the first place.

The referee easily changed the game last night, in spectacular fashion. Not thay many of his calls were dramatically wrong, it was just that he failed to control the game earlier and everything after that was needless. He is the kind of referee who takes criticism as a personal attack and then gifts yellow cards to everyone. A ref needs to understand the pressure and frustration of the players, as well as the managers, and calm them down at times. He should have taken a long talk to Mourinho & Co. before fetching out red cards. He should have brought the captains to the side and said "calm your guys down or else". Instead, he blew his whiste for every single challenge on the pitch and every player lost their respect for him. After Real scored there was a 25 minute period where I have never seen so many free-kicks been given before. I think the level of referees in England is very poor at times, but at least they always have control over the players. We have seen numerous times that captains are taken aside, the ref gives his two cents and later the game is calm again. Last night, he created chaos with both extremely poor decisions (i.e giving Pepe a yellow card for being tackled and struck in the face) and then fending Pepe away at the interval instead of saying "I'm sorry, wrong call" to gather his respect back. Real Madrid became angry because of his poor decisions and reacted badly. Surely Mourinho's fault as he acts like a child at times, but seriously why do you give Özil a red card for his behaviour when you have just red-carded Ramos (rightly so) and two of the people on the bench? Use some common sense and see through Özil's clapping or whatever he was doing. Villarreal should be ashamed of themselves when it comes to not controling the game with 11 vs. 9 by the way! Real boxplayed them at least three times and Ronaldo was not far from finding an opening in the dying seconds. Their goal was spectacular by the way..... Özil is a wizard and Ronaldo, well, he is probably going to be the greatest goalscorer in history. The original Ronaldo had 83 goals in 127 games for Real, whilst the new and superior one has 99 goals in 91 games. He lacks 54 goals to match Messi, who has played 204 games for Barcelona. According to Pele he is the greatest goalscorer of course, but who cares about him and his goals against lower tier teams. Again, the ref and probably Mourinho **** up last night, but all would have been OK had the ref shown some common sense.

and I think you're actually serious... I am serious. Have you not seen the games? away at Rayo it was a backheel goal by Ronaldo that was the difference - otherwise Rayo had the better chances. Betis game - less said about that the better, defending just didn't exist that game as has been the case past few weeks, to conceed 2 goals against Betis is shocking and they looked dangerous on every attack. They may have the "best squad" in europe but it means nothing if you don't use them and rotate. Madrid have been coasting for weeks now and if they don't step it up they will drop more points and they still have Sevilla, Valencia, Athletic and Atletico to play. They should be playing much better and as I said it's not good enough and they are scraping through the wins at the moment. Absolute bollocks if you ask me. They are going through a "rough" patch, like every other team on form does, however they are winning almost every game! Look at Man City losing to Swansea and Tottenham losing out three games in a row. Real Madrid have won 21 out of 22 games or so - is it any wonder they are perhaps struggling with complacency from time to time? And they drew against Malaga after all, the team with all the money and all the new players. A team which has the potential to beat any team on a good day, it just lacks stability. And the teams you mention... well the only team they fear is Barcelona. They are more than capable of beating all those teams by five goals, and they probably will! Sevilla are 12th and Bilbao are 7th, like United meeting WBA. Winning even on a bad day, almost every time they have a bad day, is not struggling - that is winning the championship. Against the best team of all time which is Barcelona, so I would say they are pretty comfortable after all.

What you’re really saying is that the good thigns McLiesh has done in his career, i.e. somehow manage to win SHA a trophy, cannot be counted in an analysis of him. Your argument is as ridiculous as saying you cannot count SHA’s relegation against him. Well it really does buddy, and the facts are pretty clear: - Relegation is 38 games of showing what you are capable of. In other words, luck and unluck evens out. - A cup stroll with home games to Brentford, MK Dons, Villa and West Ham and then Arsenal at Wembley is more or less just lucky draws. A cup is a cup, of course, but it does not say anything about McLeish as a manager. Not at all actually.

**** hell McLeish, what about using other words when speaking about Muamba. Tool!

Does it really matter what happened against Arsenal in that final? One game counts for very little when it comes to judging McLeish. The run they had towards that final was a joke, and they even needed penalties against Brentford or some shit team at home. All their games were at home too, which comes down to luck and fortune more than anything else. At least it was not McLeish's magical powers.

Build the proper way? Into what exactly? Letting McLeish build this club? The only way is down my friend, and that is a certainty. If McLeish spends more time here, if the penny pinching is continued and we only sign Bosmans and free agents - well it is a matter of time before we are relegated. One thing is Collins, Warnock and Dunne not functioning properly - but honestly who do you think McLeish is going to replace them with?

Leo Messi is 24 years old and people are writing him off as the best because he hasn't won a world cup yet? Still at least two World Cups to make that up! As for the fat, alcoholic, drug abusing cheater that is Maradona, in his European career he never scored over 20 goals in one season. As for his World Cups, his only success was the 1986 one where he cheated England out of the competition. In 1990 he came to the final of course, but he was not dominant at all. In 1994 he was thrown out of the States because he had taken drugs. In 1982 he was red-carded for an extremely rash tackle against Brazil and left the field in disgrace. There is not one thing Messi couldn't do better than him, and I don't even like Messi!

Where on earth did you get this info? - We are 15th in the league form table - 5 losses in 7 home games before the Fulham win - Last win at home before Fulham was against Norwich in November 2011 - 4 in a row without a win away from home - During the next 6 games we are going to play Arsenal away, Chelsea at home, Liverpool away and Man Utd away So if you believe we are slowly turning things around, I guess we should talk in 4-5 weeks and see where you stand then!

That article is not great at all. The writer is the king of wishful thinking if you ask me. Using the cup run for Birmingham as an example of his greatness is just plain daft. The Carling Cup is a great little mixture of luck of the draw and also the top teams playing their reserves. That year Birmingham had 4 home games on the trot before meeting West Ham in the semi-final over two legs. Rochdale, MK Dons, Brentford, Villa, West Ham and Arsenal. The last game is of course brilliant, but everything can happen in one game as we have seen with Leeds vs. Man Utd etc. That is what the cup is for anyway. Had Birmingham gotten an away game in the first leg against Everton or Stoke they would have been out - but they got an incredibly easy way to the final and won it against a complacent Arsenal-team. They even needed penalties again Brentford, some achievement by McLeish! The author says we are a bigger and better team than the Blues, but what if he stays in charge? Bringing in Enda Stevens and Brett Holman, players I have never heard of in my entire life. And this will probably continue. We are not Birmingham, but a lot will continue to turn into their standards before we suddenly realize we are just the same. With this manager in charge we will never have that feelgood factor, not the fans - and certainly not the players who will all want to sign for another club. Imagine what Darren Bent feels like right about now. He came here when we had Young and Downing, and if not them at least money to sign replacements. And last but not least. Do not paint a portrait of some holy saint making his way to Villa Park from St. Andrew's to start a mission. He was sitting there, relegating his club for the second time, probably wondering if he was getting sacked in the morning - when suddenly a much bigger and better club rang him up and offered him MORE money to manage a team in a bigger stadium with more fans! What difficult choice that must have been ey? So he could either manage Birmingham again if they would have kept him in his job, or sign for clubs like Coventy or Leicester where he belongs - or he could go to the Premiership with the Villa. No matter what happened, he would probably double his wages and be given a huge lump sum if he managed to do his regular business, namely getting us relegated and himself sacked. He is nothing but a poor manager (and that is not a crime after all) and a greedy human-being (like everyone else). He will be sacked sooner or later, and he will become an ever richer man in the process. Win-win situation for him, not so much for us. - Reputation is down - Results are down - We are near the relegation mix, and we will play Chelsea, Tottenham, Arsenal, Liverpool and Man Utd during the next weeks - Our style of play is random, not scoring goals but not letting in very many. Too many draws the outcome of course - Players are not satisfied - Attendances are down and will continue to do so in the future - Revenue will go down dramatically: Lower league position, very little star material in the squad as our flair players are undermined, lower attendance (as mentioned above) both because of crap results and crap showings - No chance whatsoever to get players who are tangled up between our club and another, we have no pulling power anymore - All in all he is born a loser in this job. He was a dead man walking from the beginning, and that never changes. Look at Roy Hodgson at Liverpool, it is just the same here if you ask me. It is like the fans even wishes the teams draw or lose a match just to get the sucker out.

If we get a new manager right after the season ends, is it possible to cancel this deal? As for the player I have never heard of him before. Not going to discredit his chances though, because if he comes I will wish him the best.

John Gregory's career: 1989–1990 Portsmouth 1990 Plymouth Argyle (caretaker) 1996–1998 Wycombe Wanderers 1998–2002 Aston Villa 2002–2003 Derby County 2006–2007 Queens Park Rangers 2009–2010 Maccabi Ahi Nazareth 2010–2011 F.C. Ashdod 2011– FC Kairat Absolutely shit