StanBalaban

If they are bottom of league 2 - I reckon he is still very much involved

Good chance to see some of the youngsters and non-regulars in a competitive match and sounds like we created a lot of chances. I know it should be an easy win on paper, but sounds like Hereford (and the keeper in particular) played the game of their lives. Anyway, look at Sunderland at the mo, 1-0 down to Brighton. Anyway, professional performance and effective substitutions from McLeish so pleased to be through to the next round.

Beye with the assist of all things. In the fickle world of football this surely makes him world class now?

I think Sunderland, QPR, Norwich and Swansea may be making it slightly more difficult for themselves more than us! Good lad The Fonz!

When has he actually said this?

. VillaRoy, had JM said he's staying somewhere? Your post and one from KSV seems to suggest so. Delighted if he stays and think he'll play tomorrow night. Yeah dude Cheers buddy, and good on ya Makoun! Bit of fighting spirit and competition is fantastic. It's only 2 games in so I'm sure he'll get his chance to impress

VillaRoy, had JM said he's staying somewhere? Your post and one from KSV seems to suggest so. Delighted if he stays and think he'll play tomorrow night.

Good news! What have you seen to say he's staying mate?

I was going to bring up the chance that N'Zogbia created from the by-line. I think this is a glimpse of the service to come when Charlie gets up to speed. It's worth noting that not many teams play with 2 out and out wingers like we did with Young and Downing. With players like Zog, Bannan, Delph and even Gabby and Heskey the chances will come for Bent, albeit not necessarily in the same vein that we've been used to. Encourage the midfield to get shots on target for instance and all the parries and ricochets will once again fall to our resident Johnny on the spot. Crossing the ball in is only one method of attack but there are plenty of other ways to skin a cat, and as mentioned on the last page, DB9 got 24 goals at Sunderland! Normal service has been resumed.

Good solid performance with some nice passages of play. Really happy all 3 strikers got a goal and chuffed how Delph has started the season. Hopefully the knocks to Gabby, Luke and Lionel aren't too bad. Interesting to see Bannan come on ahead of Makoun - wonder what Big Eck thinks of him/ Otherwise really pleased for the team and the manager today!

Claret shorts today boys! Don't we normally do pants with the claret shorts in the home kit?

It's actually Braga's home kit :winkold:

God Jack Woodward turns more into Alan Partridge as days go by!

I'd say Fulham is more must win 8) . Braga game result is meaningless if we beat Fulham. My point is, there could be 2500 Villa fans on his back before kick off at Fulham. Its not shaping up well at all at the moment. Fulham will be weeks ahead of us in fitness levels and with a new boss this is a bad 1st day fixture Oh come on, you don't judge a manger from pre season. If there's 2500 on his back before the fulham game then we have more pathetic fans than i thought. Exactly. What is the point of pre season except to develop fitness and try out players / formations / tactics without any fear of losing. I'd much rather lose all our pre season games with AM learning a thing or two than simply play a full strength line up just to appease 2500 idiotic fans.

I'm not sure that having beef with Gabby would be enough to put Big' Eck off signing a player if he wanted him

That is like saying Chelsea should have got Benitez instead of Villas-Baos, he would know how to get the best out of Torres.

Mirror already claiming Arsenal and Spuds are interested in him.....so it's probably bollocks! http://bit.ly/rjHD4p

I'd take, could be a great and cheap alternative to Parker. Can't see Big 'Eck taking too much shit off him either!

O/T I know, but looks like Joey Barton has been released from NUFC. Would anyone have him in on a free or would the prospect of a midfield with Barton and Ireland in it be too mental to consider?

The early goal changed what the match could've been in my opinion. Ireland was caught in a sort of no-mans land, with Petrov and Delph having the unusual combo of playing very deep, yet not calling for the ball from the defence. So the ball was going over everyone's head up to Gabby who was all over the shop trying to chase a loose ball. It didn't suit anyone's game. We saw the difference when Makoun (in particular), Bannan and Gardner came on. Makoun is constantly looking for the ball, looking for the quick pass and lay-off and brings others into play. When Makoun is in a midfield with Ireland, and Darren Bent is playing on the last defender's shoulder, I believe we'll see the best of Ireland. I hope anyway....

Ireland was playing with Gabby being the lone striker today and, as we saw, Gabby doesn't play on the shoulder on the last defender in the same way as Bent does. Ireland's game is all about through balls to the frontman, or surging runs past the defence, and that's not going to happen when playing with Gabby upfront and static midfield around him. When Makoun came on, his passing and movement brought others into the game. We've yet to properly see Ireland in a midfield with Makoun and Delph with Bent up front, so lets hope we get the cahnce at Derby on Wednesday.

That's a big problem for us, and has been for a while - simple passes played with all the delicacy of a sledge hammer, coupled with lack of movement and finished off with the receiver having the first touch of a rapist. Before you know it the opposition is closing us down and taking possession back. This is where I thought Makoun made a big difference when he came on. Constantly moving and looking for space, and playing first-time passes, he kicked the rest of the midfield into action and we started to play football again. Ireland was anonymous but I think a big part of this may have been having to play with Gabby being upfront on his own. As a lone frontman, Gabby was all over the place instead of playing on the shoulder of the last defender. Ireland feeding Bent is something we've yet to see but I feel there's a combo there. Would also pick Heskey to start over Gabby at the moment as he has the ability to link play and has decent first touch. Given looked great and I'm actually not too concerned about the defence, but how we do this season hangs on our midfield. Hope Big 'Eck can get that right. Not too concerned about the performance today as this is what pre season is all about. Much rather McLeish see the system and personnel need changing with two weeks to go to the start of the campaign than see us fly through pre season and get caught out for the real thing.

Erm..if you had read H&V, some of our own fans are saying it. I spoke to Charles himself. He's not going to Sunderland. *edit - that's a little obvious now :oops:

What I meant was look what was posted on CNZ's twitter account earlier. His only tweet of the day from Dubai ALERT!! Some may wish to look away right now!! bobchuwah @CharlesNzo if you're in DXB may I recommend drinks at Oceana pool bar on the Palm Jumeirah later if you're in the area?i CharlesNzo Charles N'Zogbia @bobchuwah cool, I might go there after my dinner, is it a good bar ? bobchuwah @CharlesNzo actually, its pretty quiet here too but looking to move on. Tweet after dinner if you fancy a few... Good to hear that Zog was coy and didn't spill the beans too much. If he had been shouting his mouth off I would have very much doubted he would be heading anywhere near B6, personally! What's the relevance of this btw? that he's still in dubai?? As mazrim pointed out it was in reply to my posts asking how the meetup came about. Reading that I can see how it came about, quite remarkable really. Wonder if we have him to thank for today's news as the story goes...random fan meets dog and tells him villa is ace...next thing he's all but signing It was a little odd I must admit. Really surprised that he tweeted back and even more surprised that he turned up. Gotta stress that he didn't turn up specifically to meet me (that would be weird) but more on the recommendation of the bar. Chatted, nice fella, didn't give much away but did have a big grin on his face when I talked about the Villa, and about an hour later they moved on somewhere else. I barely use Twitter to be fair, but I see the power of the beast!

All in a good cause!! If he's not on BHX flight...According to Kendrick CNZ might fly straight to HK & have medical there. Club Drs would surely be out with the players. He's not sure though at moment. Well I'll be at DXB Terminal 3 for around 1pm anyway so I'll keep my eyes peeled.