TheMelvillan

Crackpot Theory C: Before he came here, we and the media were saying that Gil may just have been the signing to keep us up. A signing that Lambert only recently made. Then Tim Sherwood comes into the club. Now I like Sherwood but he has an enormous ego and he both a) wants to keep us in the league, and wants to do it in a way that has everyone in no doubt that it was down entirely to him. Now, if he were to keep with the same team as Lambert had been playing but get an extra 10% out of them and we stay up -it was largely to do with the team Lambert left for him, new manager bounce, and Gil the saviour. However, if he mixes it up, brings new players into the fold then it is Tim Sherwood the saviour. Who did it his way. Thats why I think Gil isnt getting a look in. Told you it was crackpot

That's the spirit! It's true though, in fairness. I'd rather we went out in the semis than the final itself. Not being cheeky but could someone please explain this logic to me?

Starting to look up and release the ball earlier now. Very effective the last few games. Nice one charlie

I like the fact that he lost the ball a bunch of times but didn't hide and he tried again. I can live with that

Great Scott!

I think that tackle was just opportunistic. Who amongst us here can honestly say that if they found themselves with a wee Berahinho at the end of their foot could resist having a wee kick? Must have been just too hard to resist. But I love Huttons approach to the game, though if he played for the opposition I would take great delight in hating him. But he is probably the only proper "hard man" in our squad and if I was one of the Villa boys I would rather be standing shoulder to shoulder with him that opposite him

You do realise the reason he's not playing on Saturday is because of that incident, the one you're happy with? Personally I'd rather see Villa progress in the cup and get Premiership survival than see a opposing player get kicked. Huttons kick has made those two things that little bit harder to achieve. Of course I realise it.....I was there AND I am talking in general and NOT about one isolated incident. His main offence was getting caught! No, his main offence was doing something so stupid in the first place. Something that wasn't in any way helpful to the game last night and is now detrimental to two extremely important games coming up. We need to build confidence. To do that we need to have a run of good results. That is easier with our best players on the pitch playing football. It isn't helped by kicking an opponent for no reason and it isn't helped by having one of this seasons better players sitting in the stands because he's been suspended for ten yellow cards. You can play hard & with passion without being a thug. 'For no reason'......you know that for a fact do you?.....impossible mate. Were you there? Did you hear every word spoken between the two?......did you see all the off the ball incidents that I saw. I am guessing that you watched it on the box, in which case you cant really comment on the incident! TV viewers NEVER get a true picture of what goes on....your probably an armchair fan that takes every word spouted by tv pundits as gospel......its just NOT that simple! We can't all be amazing fans like you. Buying a ticket makes your views better, I agree. I bow down to you. Oh and if you cant tell Marge, Im being sarcastic

I cant remember who it was but big thanks to whoever recommended 'What we do in the Shadows'. It is glorious. Written and starring one of the guys from Flight of the Conchords, its a mockumentary about flat sharing Vampires in New Zealand and uses the same sort of humour as Flight of the conchords (minus the singing). if you can source it anywhere I highly recommend it. i was in bits watching it. but nobody I know has even heard of it let alone seen it

I could watch him all day Just oozes quality i've watched that vid 3 times now. it is genuinely weird seeing such natural ability in a Villa shirt. I thought Delph was good in tight situations with the ball at his feet but this guy is on a whole different level!

Thank you. Such an under-rated player!. Never gets a mention by the media no matter how well he plays. Really gets my goat that does. Mind you i'm norn irish so maybe I take it a bit too personally

He really is quite tiny isn't he? Short and slight Hope he knows how to handle himself in the big bad premier league Or mebbe his buddy Carlos will look out for him

Yep. Cleverley was supposed to be an attacking player too, but he's caught the crab fever too it seems... ugh. I had a case of that back in the late 90's. very itchy.

Paddypower are offering new customers 12/1 on a Villa win and your stake back in free bets if they dont win! Max bet is only a tenner but still, could be a nice £120 for xmas at zero risk Seasoned gamblers please explain to me what catch I am missing FWIW I thing Villa are going to beat them anyway, especially with Anichebe, Olsson and Brunt out

It's not really, Yorke was miles better than Benteke is now. Alex Ferguson said that Yorke was the best striker in Europe the year Man Utd. won the treble. He was a terrific player who could do everything. It's just a shame that once they won the treble he lost motivation and became a full time party-boy rather than focus on being a truly great player. Benteke has a lot of potential but he still needs to improve if he is going to be a real top striker. His workrate is definitely one thing he needs to improve IMO, he can be incredibly lazy in games. I know we kind of joke about it but he really does have a "beast mode" that only surfaces at certain points in the game. It sometimes like someone has flicked a switch and he turns into this unstoppable snarling monster until he scores then he settles down again. If only we knew his trigger because when this happens it is absolutely glorious to watch. and presumably terrifying for defenders

me too! really enjoyed it despite the abundance of scientific theory that was waaayyy over my simple little head. theres a movie of it in the pipeline too starring Matt Damon. be interesting to see how it translates

Coming over to this one from Northern Ireland with my Spurs supporting mate. He is as confident as me about this one (i.e. absolutely not). they are playing utter gash. as are we. surely something has to give. Unfortunately I only see it going one way btw what a rubbish bogey team to have. Man Utd I understand but Spurs.................

Same

Charles N'Zogbia smiling. Pah I don't believe it. I demand proof

That's a bit like going into a shop to buy a kebab, realising you only have enough money for chips....then saying 'sod it, I'll have a lump of dogshit instead'..... I'm probably in the minority but I still think he is much better than Clark and Baker. You don't make 84 appearances for Arsenal, be loaned by AC Milan and have 52 international caps if you are dog shit. I saw him a few times for Valenica, believe me he is dogshit. If he is dogshit what the hell does that make Clark and Baker? Dog Diarrhoea Like dogshit but less solid at the back

Yes, of course he is. Bloody hell, I wish all of our midfielders were as shite as Wilshere. He's an average premier league midfielder. He's not shite, Djemba-Djemba was shite and he's better than him but he is nowhere near the level of Cazorla, Silva, Toure, Delph and Mata.....et al I see what you did here and I kinda like it!

Preorders got the Blimp as a bonus download. Interestingly it looks like a lot of people in Northern Ireland got theirs this morning - cock up by Amazon. I wouldn't hold out for Monday deliveries, incidentally. Yay me!!

Mine arrived this morning from amazon. I live in n. Ireland. Also they shipped in with a code for the blimp. Is this standard?

Obviously, as I am a rational person, I hate everything about cheating, nasty,horrible John terry. However I recall that when I visited the justgiving page for stans charity cycle ride, john terry and Darren bent were the most generous donators. And by generous I mean veeeerrrryy generous. Seems that, for whatever reason, our stan brings out the best in mr terry, whatever his other, numerous, flaws! As an aside, in relative terms, ends Stevens was also a name that stood out for his generosity amongst the other villa players

I just wanted to add in that I follow the guy on twitter, and a wee while ago (when navas was signing for citeh) he alluded to the fact that in the past he was susceptible to anxiety attacks and that he sympathised with others afflicted by that Once you know that I think his body language and presence on the pitch etc are consistent with a young man lacking in confidence and assuredness and who perhaps still has lingering moments of anxiety or worry. So what should we do - get on his back during games and slag him off on forums etc (which I have no doubt filter down to players) or support and encourage the guy? I think there is a good player in there and I think that this year with a little less focus and pressure on him he might just show what he has in his locker and what PL saw in him. He is effing skinny though!

I thought it was Tonev who made the speedy recovery when they broke late on. Or am thinking of a different occasion?