StanBalaban

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.

As it happens I'm on the 3pm flight from Dubai to Brum today. Would be funny if Charlie was on the same flight too. Jeez, I've taken this stalking malarky to new heights! 8)

FYI I'd do exactly the same and question the legitmacy of my post.... It was a little surreal if honest...

I know sounds daft. I've lived in Dubai for 4 years now and there's a few that know me on the board - even though I'm new to VT. I did randomly tweet CNZ recommending a bar to go out, then changed it to another cos the original bar was dead. As it happens he turned up cause it's actually not a massive place and there's a select few places that one can go on certain nights. I'd been out since work (we work Sun - Thurs here) so was well aware that I'd be a little more drunk than most, but lo and behold our man rocked up. Having said that, living on the Palm you get a fair few footballers rocking up so no massive surprise, but got a chatting and that's it. I'd love to be more ITK but (IMHO) I think it's a done deal without Chalrie saying a much.

It was more of a chuckle followed by no response. I felt he'd been led into the lions den a little so didn't push too much but told him of the overwhelming fan's desire to see him at VP. he was cool though, really nice chap in fact. Can't say for sure that he's joining but I wouldn't put much credence into a bid from SAFC. Told him about the club and the history (without trying to seem like a stalker) and he seemed well versed in the stature of the club. That's all I can say I'm afraid

I am indeed :oops: There goes my Bruce Wayne style alter ego.... :oops:

Say what you want about Twitter, it got me to meet CNZ tonight. Nice, almost shy kinda guy, had a mate with him, and kept smiling at all the Villa talk. Don't blame him for spilling the beams fully but seemed keep on the move that's for sure. Strangely having met the player in question, I can't claim to be ITK fully, but if I were a betting man I'd say it's a done deal barring any daft hiccups.

Ok jus got in and haven't read the few updated pages beforehand, but I tweeted CNZ to meet at a bar called West 14th on The Palm where I live in Dubai. He tweeted back asking if it was any good an may pop down after dinner. In all fairness it was shit in there tonight so went to another bar.... Anyway met briefly with CNZ and he's quite a quiet lad. Asked him about the Villa and he was pretty coy, but then asked him about SAFC and he said "no". Didn't get anymore out of him but if I could guess from the body language I would say he will be a Villa player very soon.

There's no room for that kind of rational thinking here! AVFCAM out!!

This indeed. +1

I personally hope we do get CNZ in but as a business it's only right that we get him for the price we set out to spend. Like setting a limit on eBay, it may only be a few quid more, but you've gone over your budget - and where do you stop? For people saying 'in footballing terms, it's only a million' I'm sorry, but saying 'in footballing terms' first does not make £1,000,000 any less of a significant sum. We're all sat here desperate that Charlie signs for us due to the lack of activity but there really are other fish in the sea if we don't get him. He could be just what we need, a vital cog in our machine and we may regret it if we don't get him. We may also miss him like we all missed Tuncay when Stoke bought him.... Anyway, there's a lot of different stories flying around. CNZ is in Dubai, now he's in Sunderland.... All we know is that he will be moving and it seems we have the clout to pay his wages but he would bust SAFC's wage structure is DB is anything to go by - bring in the agent trying to get the best deal for CNZ and himself, an extra £20k per week may be enough to think he'd end up here, despite him being mates with Titus Bramble. I personally don't think SAFC would make CNZ comfortably their highest earner if DB was on £35k per week, knowing what the repercussions would be through their squad of other players, like Gyan, Campbell, Bramble, et al... but I don't know anymore than anyone else. Does anyone know if Big 'Eck is indeed staying back, or flying with the squad to HK btw?

In the words of the current player I spoke to, unless a Utd, Chelsea or Barca come knocking, ambition does not come into deciding where they will move. They listen to their agents. They put a frightening amount of trust in their agents to manage their careers and get the best deal for them. If an agent says to a player that he thinks the best deal on the table is at Villa, then 9 times out of 10 then player will be at Villa. Then it's down to the player to give the usual PR blurb about the history and how great the training facilities are. "The equipment at BH came as a massive shock in terms of how state of the art it was...." Really? Came as a shock, even though 5 of your mates play for Villa already. PR blurb. DB knew AY was off (and probably SD) as he works in the same industry, yet he still decided to sign for Villa. Why? His agent said it would be a good move for him. Lost sight of my original point now..... oh yeah, that is why CNZ would (or would not) sign for us.

You don't know its that though. Its easy for us to say just 1million. But there are far more things to consider when running a football club. My bet is Randy lerner wants to sell this club. . All he has do to now to maximise the selling price is get wages/revenue ratio correct and keep us in the premiership. He will be satisfied with 15th/16th/17th. Within two years he will sell this club. Firstly, you don't get top dollar for a club if you asset strip it.The club will be worth far more than the sum of it's parts so the more good players you have on your books form appreciating assets for the club - therefore the club is worth more. A successful club is also worth a lot more than one that is less so, and a more attractive proposition due to the image of the brand. If Randy is looking to sell (and I don't think he is for one minute) it would be in his interest to be selling a successful brand. With the debt in effect being a debt to Randy himself, this is the only way he's ever going to see a profit on his investment. An analogy would be if you owned a decent car but wanted to sell, would you strip the bumpers and tyres off, or spend money giving it a valet? Which one is going to net you the most cash?

that's what a complete lack of ambition does to a club's pulling ability. Remind me where we signed Darren Bent from when we were near the foot of the table again?

Based on someone posting the comments of a couple of SAFC fans on Twitter? Can this be called a "fact"?

If it's true that Charlie has come here to Dubai on a brief jolly (and if he is here I will find him for us), then are we to assume that not much is going to happen until after his break anyway? That is unless AMc and PF are on one of the two Emirates flights out of BHX each day with a little stopover in Dubai before heading to HK... Aint you supposed to be tracking him down? Well get off the Keyboard at get tracking. (And take a club just in case he tells you hes not interested :winkold:) Don't worry I'm just rehearsing my Liam Neeson style speech from Taken first... "Charles, I don't know where you are. I don't know what you want. If you are looking for CL, I can tell you we're not in Europe. But what we do have are a very particular set of fans; fans we have acquired over very many years. Fans that make it a pleasure for people like you. If you sign for Villa now, that'll be the end of it. We will not look for you, we will not pursue you. But if you don't, we will look for you, we will find you, and we will boo you."

If it's true that Charlie has come here to Dubai on a brief jolly (and if he is here I will find him for us), then are we to assume that not much is going to happen until after his break anyway? That is unless AMc and PF are on one of the two Emirates flights out of BHX each day with a little stopover in Dubai before heading to HK...

We're second in the league at the moment so not all bad :winkold:

I think he may have a decent turn of pace on him actually, but who was it that led you to believe he was a box to box mf player anyway?