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I understand all of that.

It's a real concern that we create next to nothing over 90 mins, we saw it in HK over 180 mins, we've seen it again tonight

But we've seen a good few created against Walsall. What's your point? We've lost a pre-season friendly, not the first leg of the champions league semi-final.

Petrov started every pre season game? Sign of things to come?

I'm pretty sure Delph started ahead of him.

Going by some posters' logic, Liverpool is going to be relegated this season because they lost 3-0 to Hull.

I doubt Gardner can play at DM. I thought he played mostly in an Ireland role in the reserves?

I'm just waiting to see Delph and Makoun play together. I've got a feeling that would be the pairing that really clicks. Hopefully they start together tomorrow.

Houllier dropped Petrov? Bit of myth making going on there perhaps? Petrov went off injured in the 40th minute of the 1-0 defeat away at Sunderland in October. He picked up quite a bad knee injury, he returned to the side in the defeat against Spurs as a half time sub in December. That period of time is just about the only time Petrov didn't play at least 3 games every month of last season.

Hardly what I'd call dropped. He may have been rested in the odd game but I thought thats what rotation was about

He was dropped to the bench for a couple of games after the game at Old Trafford (Blackpool away immediately springs to mind) IIRC. This was also the game where he made a big fuss about being subbed, and Houllier told him to 'leave his ego in the dressing room'.

I remember quite distinctly him being used sparingly around that time for the simple fact that he was so excruciatingly terrible in possession. Houllier did bring him back for the run in though, and he upped his game by that time. Seems he's falling back to his old habits though of late.

One thing DM is right about, it's Petrov's infuriating indecision on the ball. He takes forever to make up his mind after getting into a good position, and people making runs. What does he finally end up doing? Giving it back to the CB's. Houllier saw this midway through the season last year, and dropped him accordingly. When he finally came back into the fold, he seemingly corrected this problem...only to fall back on it.

Why do clubs keep bidding for Cameron freaking Jerome? You'd think that Fulham, a club that has Zamora, Dembele, Dempsey et al on their books would have no need for someone who adds so little even to Birmingham City.

As a player, he seems to encapsulate what we desperately need in our midfield at the moment. On a free? I'm willing to overlook his baggage if he costs nothing to be honest.

He'll still cost wages, which is the big issue for Villa.

Other free options include Hargreaves, Der Hammer and M Diarra, and I'd prefer any of those.

I knew someone was going to say that, and I was going to put "costs nothing but wages", but it looked a bit silly . I guess you're right though. I hope the board sort something out though. All it takes is a Cuellar or a Beye to leave, and we solve our midfield conundrum to some degree. This makes me even more disappointed that Micheal Bradley left. I really rated the dude.

As a player, he seems to encapsulate what we desperately need in our midfield at the moment. On a free? I'm willing to overlook his baggage if he costs nothing to be honest.

How many touches did Ireland get? Surely not more than 10. He barely got a look in in fairness to him.

I think a midfield 3 of Parker, Makoun and an on-form Ireland would be excellent. I'm sure AM can see that a parker type player is imperative if we want to compete higher up the table. I also agree about Palacios. He just isn't good enough on the ball ( though in fairness to him, he did improve in that respect last season), and his tackling is way too rash.

I think people are finally starting to realize what Makoun brings to the table after today. He's a very effective, tidy player. His good work gets unnoticed, but hopefully AM sees that he should be one of the first names on the teamsheet.

Who reckons Chelsea have more fans in HK than they do in England?

The place was absolutely full to the brim with local Chelsea supporters during even the Villa game.

Wow, no Bent. Good on AM for experimenting with our other 2 strikers. God knows how much rely on Darren.

Kick off in about an hour's time. I can't wait. The game's going to be at night as well so hopefully the conditions are a bit better.

-------Gabby------Bent-------

------------Ireland-----------

------Makoun------Delph------

-------------Petrov-------------

Warnock-Dunne-Collins-Young-

-------------Given---------------

Maybe we should experiment with formations like this ie: sans width.

The way we played today really pleasantly surprised me. Maybe it's because of all the pessimism on VT, but I'm really pleased with today's performance.. If one thing AM is doing right, then it's definitely getting the back 4 to really play. The were exceptional today, but Collins was the standout. I was really impressed with Warnock's performance. His positional play was excellent, and he wasn't too shabby going forward; linking up well with Gabby in the first half. Our defence was actually playing with grit and passion, something we rarely saw under Houllier. Also, Heskey was really solid today. He's got many detractors here, but he can be an asset to us if he continues to play this well.

However it wasn't all rosy today. A couple of the youngsters were kind of meh. Delfouneso looked really slow, and average. Albrighton for someone who I was very impressed with last season, refused to take on the full back. Although he did put in a couple of decent crosses near the end. Clark was a liability in midfield, and was incapable of passing anywhere but backwards (he almost cost us a goal doing that once). Delph and Bannan were the only ones who played well out of the youngsters. Bannan's crossing was superb in the first half, and led to a goal in the second. Delph's dribbling was excellent, and who said he can't tackle? He does have a tendency to slip though, I don't know what it is

The way we played today really pleasantly surprised me. Maybe it's because of all the pessimism on VT, but I'm really pleased with today's performance.. If one thing AM is doing right, then it's definitely getting the back 4 to really play. The were exceptional today, but Collins was the standout. I was really impressed with Warnock's performance. His positional play was excellent, and he wasn't too shabby going forward; linking up well with Gabby in the first half. Our defence was actually playing with grit and passion, something we rarely saw under Houllier. Also, Heskey was really solid today. He's got many detractors here, but he can be an asset to us if he continues to play this well. However it wasn't all rosy today. A couple of the youngsters were kind of meh. Delfouneso looked really slow, and average. Albrighton for someone who I was very impressed with last season, refused to take on the full back. Although he did put in a couple of decent crosses near the end. Clark was a liability in midfield, and was incapable of passing anywhere but backwards (he almost cost us a goal doing that once). Delph and Bannan were the only ones who played well out of the youngsters. Bannan's crossing was superb in the first half, and led to a goal in the second. Delph's dribbling was excellent, and who said he can't tackle? He does have a tendency to slip though, I don't know what it is . Anyway, that's my $0.02 on today's performance.

Wigan rejected the 10M bid for N'Zogbia. How much do they want for God's sake?

i assume you said the same thing when we were holding out for more money for downing then yeah?

Look, I'm not saying he's not worth that, or DW shouldn't sell him for more because I understand their situation, and it was one that we were in not too long ago. I meant that they should just state the price they would like already. Just like we did with Downing (ie: about 20M). It's just that he publically valued him at 9M previously (near the start of the window), and that's the price he would have went for in the previous window, where he would have had an extra six months on his contract. We bid 1M more than that, and I'm sure the club would pay around 12-13M, if that's what DW valued him at.

Wigan rejected the 10M bid for N'Zogbia. How much do they want for God's sake?

Lol @ Everton finished above us the last 7 seasons. I seem to recall finishing above them 3 seasons in a row.

Selling Downing for 20 mil and getting in Nzogbia for 8-10 mil would be a superb bit of business.

Keeping Downing, and signing N'Zogbia for 8-10M would be even better. I think that's still fairly possible.

Makoun's pass through to Young against wolves was as good as I'd seen all season. (Young missed) the chance one on one) He does show flashes of being above average but I don't think he's a reincarnation of Cruijjf, furthermore I don't think anyone claims that. He gives as good as he gets which bicks translates as not being able to tackle, which is not the case. He does suffer from 'red mist' sometimes. I'm not confident he's settled in this country without having anything to base this on, I just feel he's a fish in the shallows.

If he had have scored from the header, just inside the area, Witton End, cant remember who against, the views maybe different.

I think you're thinking of Stoke IIRC. 'Twas a real sitter though.

Harsh...he was outside the peanlty spot but it was unchallenged. The height he got was very good.

Yeah, I remember thinking to myself 'the little guy got a free, unchallenged header against Stoke and completely missed'. He had a pretty lackluster game that game (as did pretty much everyone else save Bent and Walker), which seems indictment enough for some people here sadly.

Makoun's pass through to Young against wolves was as good as I'd seen all season. (Young missed) the chance one on one) He does show flashes of being above average but I don't think he's a reincarnation of Cruijjf, furthermore I don't think anyone claims that. He gives as good as he gets which bicks translates as not being able to tackle, which is not the case. He does suffer from 'red mist' sometimes. I'm not confident he's settled in this country without having anything to base this on, I just feel he's a fish in the shallows.

If he had have scored from the header, just inside the area, Witton End, cant remember who against, the views maybe different.

I think you're thinking of Stoke IIRC. 'Twas a real sitter though.