Silafou's_besi_mate

Sorry to disappoint, but he is utter gash. He gets close to goal and shoots himself. If he played today, because it's against a former team, he'd try and take on everybody then shoot wide of goal. He did that all goal a few seasons ago. I think we played him to put him in the shop window and get rid in Jan - it didn't work, so he's not not first choice. One of Lamberts poor strategies was playing him.

I like the fact he's starting to be tougher on the pitch. I have always ought we have lacked a bit of toughness on the pitch. I also like the fact he stands up for his team mates, like when Okore was fouled. Ok, he got sent off, but that aggression to protect and stand up for your team mates is good. He has had patchy form before, but he is playing better this season. Is his contract due yet? I'd bin Vlaar and focus on Clarke and Okore as CB with Baker and Senderos as back-up.

We should have sold him in the summer. We've had one good season out of him and people were crying for him to stay in the summer. Now he will leave on a free, we'll get no money for him and all we got was one good season.

I don't know why there isn't more positive talk of Scott. The guy got a pasting on here before he joined us and he's scored two in two games, one of those coming on as a sub. Everybody talk of Benteke, but if we got behind this guy, he could make a massive contribution.

Just think, Gil one side, Sinclair the other - we are almost back to the days of Young and Downing on the wings.

Times are reporting this morning that it's Sherwood's to loose - Fox is really impressed with him, apparently.

My worry with Tim Sherwood is his back room staff are at QPR and he didn't get the job at QPR. Also, Sherwood gets the job at Villa, who are his back room staff going to be?

There is a risk in whoever we choose - but is Tim our man? Really?

Only the second time I have been to Villa Park this season, having given up my season ticket as didn't want to see crap football week in, week out. Dare I say it, but we look worse.

Even before Delph was sent off, he was not really in the game - if he doesn't want to put a shift in we should get rid.

Weiman was awful - how can he start before Grealish amazes me. Same goes for N'Zogbia - unless we are playing him to try and offload him to another team? I do think most people can see he is gash, so don't get that strategy.

Benteke was gash too - whenever Grealish crossed the ball in, he moved from the six yard box to the eighteen yard box?!?!?! Dare I say it, but Bent would have loved that type of service.

I get the possession led strategy, but we are awful in the final third. We rely on Benteke too much - when he has a bad game we simply just don't score. We have the creative midfielder in Grealish, so let's play him. But get some support for Benteke - we rely on him too much.

I also thought Vlaar played well - considering he has been linked to a host of clubs, he did put in a good performance.

I'm think he will be off - and we will be worse off for it. We should be making the spine of the team out of Okore, Delph and Benteke. But why would Delph stay? Arguably we've only had 2 seasons out of him, and in the last season plus this one, he's come good.

I think he is very ambitious and would want to use his England form to get a big payday and into a top six team. We might be top ten, but he will go to someone who has a shout of Champions League football. That is unless we sign a marque player in Jan that gives us that extra push up the table.

You can't blame the guy for wanting the chance to play at a higher level, just wish it was us. He said a season or so ago that he would miss the birth of his child to help Villa stay up. It would be nice to see that commitment now wouldn't it?

I've just seen the highlights of the game.

What's happened to Lowton? Looked liked he was terrible yesterday, no pace and didn't know what to do about Young at all.

Benteke's goal was just amazing, but what worries me is Delph - he played really well, but I have a feeling he will be off in Jan and with a performance like yesterday, he would be a big loss to us. Sanchez is starting to find his feet, and the fruits of a good partnership with Delph are starting to be seen.

Bacuna was good too, but I've seen too many poor performances to convince me yet - one swallow doesn't make a summer, but does deserve to start to see if he can carry that form.

Football Aid is your best bet, but be careful. The last time I played at Football Aid non of the ex-pros turned up, so we ended up managing ourselves. It also got a bit mad with tackles flying in from everywhere, one lad had his shin pad split in two from one tackle!

But it was awesome playing at Villa Park - and you get a full strip to play in too!

Two words...."I'm cum'in"

Second in the league, undefeated as well. Blimey, am I dreaming this?

Great effort - The defence looked very solid and Gabby got a goal. Great effort throughout - well done!

Would make sense for all parties and would free up space to bring in a central or wide player in before the window closes.

When you say it would free up space, are you talking about in the car park at BMH? 

I think Paul Lambert has done a good job understand terrible circumstances and should be given a break. If you had to work in a company with the people underneath you constantly undermining you and trying to make you look stupid, you'd find it hard. That's what I think his back room team were doing last season. Coupled together with being enforced not to play some of our ' good' players e.g. The bomb squad, and not being able to have the money to spend on quality and instead had to go to the bargain bin - most people would have walked by now. I'm glad he has stayed, as leaving would have made it even worse.

With the limitations Lambert has had for this transfer windows, he has done well. We need to back him and the team for the first five games and see where we are. I've not renewed my season ticket, but will be attending the first 5 home games to show my support.

Just read in this mornings Times that Southampton are not interested in signing Vlaar anymore.

I bet you DB has a stonking game against Stoke, Long gets sold by Hull, and Hull will then put a bid in for DB. We will of course sell him to Hull and it will be his goals that keeps them up!

I said it here first!

Ok, so not a result we should worry about but...

Lowton was terrible in the first half. Second goal was his fault. Guzan was ok, but first and third goals he should have done much better. And these two are first team members.

On the positive side, I thought Herd, CNZ, Grealish and Robinson had good games. Carruthers had a much better second half, but Robinson didn't spot him a few times when he had a good position in front go goal - is there a problem there between them? But at times we sat too deep and didn't have anybody in the box. On one or two occasions we passed into the box with no one there.

Highlight of the game was the Villa fans just behind us who kept the match ball for about 30mins in the first half - got a bigger cheer than anything on the pitch.

It's

Alan Nixon has an "article" suggesting Spurs want Vlaar and will give us £5 million, Dawson and Holtby in exchange.

 

As daft rumours go, thinking about it, I actually think that isn't too bad a deal at all for us.

If its a cash plus player or players then yes, but not if its just to loan two players for a season.  

I like Holtby - saw him against Norwich playing for Spurs and he was pretty impressive, but didn't really get a chance to play in the first season he was here.

Dawson I'd take, but be aware of his weaknesses - but he could form a good partnership with Okore.

I know Vlaar had a good world cup, and yes he has a good season for us, but there have been times he's been pretty poor, particularly his first season.  If we can get some money and a couple of players out of it, I'd drive him to his next club.  At 29 he'll want a bumper contract when his current one is up for one last pay day and with his value high after a good world cup, now would be the time to sell him.  I know that's not everybody's view (que mass ridicule) but if we can sell one player to get 2 or 3 quality players in of the right age and position, in our current situation, I think its a smart move.

Went to the game as it was fairly local for me.  Wasn't impressed at all with Tonev; Lowton opened up a lot of space for him but he often wasted it.  Was guilty at least once of having his typical blast at goal when the pass was a better option too.  Carruthers also looked poor, unfortunately.  Okore was good, and I thought Bacuna did pretty well.  Cole good too, such a shame he doesn't have that little burst of pace to push into the space he can open up in front of him.  Hopefully he'll forge a decent understanding with Delph after a few more games.

 

Second half Bent did what he does best and hopefully we'll see more of that against sterner defences come August.  El Ahmadi generally used the ball well and I thought Herd looked tidy.  Hutton, to my horror, was impressive and N'Zogbia showed he has something about him - some lovely quick close control but also got his head down and ran into a few too many bodies once or twice.  Baker didn't seem convincing, for me.  Steer composed, Weimann energetic, Gardner and Westwood fairly solid.

 

Main thing I came out of it thinking was that Hutton, Zog and Bent should all improve the squad - although I still shudder at the thought of Hutton's performances during his last season in a Villa shirt.

I agree, Hutton was MOM second half - can't believe I've said it, but there you go. One game doesn't make a season, but the second half gave me a lot more confidence for the season ahead. N'Zog and Richardson had good bursts of speed and skill, and bent did what he always does and what we need! score goals. I hope they all get at chance in the league.

Our first half performance was dire. OKore and Bacuna did well! but delph's first touch was shocking. That first half performance reminded me too much if last season, and if we play like that, we'll be relegated for sure.

How authentic is the duel?  Reckon they're using pistols?

Nah....I reckon it's handbags at dawn....

Telegraph is stating Alan Hutton, Joe Bennett and Antonio Luna among players up for sale.  Although in the same article it talks about Helenius being the first to depart and he's only gone out on loan, so think this is again someone trying to make up something out of nothing to fill the pages.... 

If Keane joins us as coach, getting Bendtner might just work. Ok, so he has his 'mental' problems, but a father figure like keane to kick it out of him might work. And on a free, this could be a very good signing.

My worry is, Bent is done, and we need a quality attacker to start the season. Is bendtner that man? Wewill know when the season starts! but I'd prefer to have him as cover. Could we get a 26 year old with his quality and experience of the PL anywhere else for free?

Woke up this morning to read we are in for Cole - thought I was back in 2008 for a second!

Get him in I say. Might be a few years too Late, but he will bring quality to the squad and improve it. He's on a free and like many have stated, I think it's good we are using the free transfer channel this season. Couldn't work out why we haven't used it so much in the past.

Even if he only plays 20 or so games, we need a creative midfielder. I'm so excited at the prospect of having a creative midfielder at last, this signing alone might make me renew my season ticket!

Also, club secretary is in USA 'on work commitments', but who knows!

How do you know this if you don't mind me asking, was it reported somewhere?

Can't reveal source but picture of said person outside a Dallas landmark, saying they were there in a work capacity.

"Some accountant bloke told me on Saturday night that all accounts, contracts, wage lists etc had gone over to Merril Lynch." This quote made me hope something is going on again. I thought a takeover was off now for a while but maybe it just takes to much time for my patience.

I'm assuming jim typed £143m as that may be the amount the potential buyer has placed on the table following the alleged drop in price to £150m?

OK, so the fact that everything has gone over to Merrill Lynch, suggest due diligence might be being carried out. I've sold two businesses before, and when we agreed a fee for the business, a data room (basically an online portal of information) was setup for the buyer to view all documentation about the company, accounts, all contracts etc. Prior to this, they only got a copy of the headline numbers. Now I am not saying I am an ITK, but having experience of selling a couple of companies, this is the usual process. Merrill lynch would not go to the hassle of getting everything sent across unless there was a buyer - you just wouldn't waste your time.

Also, club secretary is in USA 'on work commitments', but who knows!

Except they could just be setting up the data room in advance. In my experience its a real pain as information has to be collated and organised and certain stuff may have to be redacted so it could just be planning ahead for when they have a firm buyer which makes perfect sense. Generally speaking you don't get into the data room until your offer has been accepted so it could suggest there may be some interest out there.

Having said that I do have a tiny piece of ITK to offer. I ran into a business contact yesterday who I know is close to the club (can't say how as I don't want to offer clues to his identity but he would know what is going on). He is far to professional to break business confidences but I asked him the direct question about whether we had a buyer in the offing. His face told me all I needed to know so on that basis I am not holding my breath on this one.

At the end of the day, no one really knows and we won't know for sometime.

"Some accountant bloke told me on Saturday night that all accounts, contracts, wage lists etc had gone over to Merril Lynch." This quote made me hope something is going on again. I thought a takeover was off now for a while but maybe it just takes to much time for my patience.

I'm assuming jim typed £143m as that may be the amount the potential buyer has placed on the table following the alleged drop in price to £150m?

OK, so the fact that everything has gone over to Merrill Lynch, suggest due diligence might be being carried out. I've sold two businesses before, and when we agreed a fee for the business, a data room (basically an online portal of information) was setup for the buyer to view all documentation about the company, accounts, all contracts etc. Prior to this, they only got a copy of the headline numbers. Now I am not saying I am an ITK, but having experience of selling a couple of companies, this is the usual process. Merrill lynch would not go to the hassle of getting everything sent across unless there was a buyer - you just wouldn't waste your time.

Also, club secretary is in USA 'on work commitments', but who knows!

But aren't we basing this on an ITK from some accountant bloke?

When we went into due-diligence phase, they had 6 weeks access to the information, then they had to confirm their offer. During that six weeks they go over as much data on the company as they liked. After the six weeks there was another month before the final price was agree and another month for the transaction to actually happen and the money appear in our account. I am not an ITK, but this would be the process a buyer of most businesses would go through. And particularly as this is not a small deal, I'd say they been even more careful. You might be able to shave a few weeks off if the buyer is that hungry, but if they are haggling over price, it could take longer. If we are in due-diligence, I'd say the club might get sold before the start of the season, but it would be very tight,

I must stress I am not an ITK and can only give you my views from having sold a couple of companies before.