Cambridge-AVFC

I've said it since the Norwich game last season. Gabby should be in the England squad, how is Zaha ahead of him? I didn't catch the game because of work but it looked like he absolutely terrorized Arsenal.

I can see why Lambert got picked ahead of him, on the basis that he's played up front more in recent times. However, its laughable that the likes of Welbeck, an injured Defoe and Zaha get picked ahead of him. Does 12 goals in a side that struggled last year, not warrant an England call up??

Good move for Samir. Especially to MK Dons. They play football the right way and he should piss into the side.

To be fair on Bennett his performances did dramatically improve towards the tail end of the season, in fact they've improved to such an extent that I will have no qualms if he starts ahead of Tony at the start of the season. Having said that, I agree that Lowton is by far and away the better full back.

I guess you feel the same about Fabian Delph then

No he was poor from the start of the season and lost his place because he didn't get any better and we found other options. I obviously disagree. He played poorly against Everton(but who didn't) but responded well in playing very well against Newcastle and Swansea.

He didn't really give away possession unnecessarily. His ball retention was quite good I thought. Bannan had one diabolical game against Liverpool, but I remember at the start of the season, Delph was piss poor which is why I said Bannan was no worse than Delph throughout the season. I agree that Bannan should've been dropped at the end of the season, in the same way I believe Delph should've been dropped at the start. I'm not sure why Bannan is being sold, he must have had a falling out with Lambert. Say what you want about Bannan, but he is still good enough to be a good squad player for us and it was telling that he was left out of all the pre season games, but yet players like Clark and Herd haven't been.

I agree that Delph was better towards the end of the season. But he was pretty piss poor at the start. Bannan was decent for a large part of the season but his form dropped off towards the end of the season which led to him being dropped. I don't think Bannan was that significantly worse than Delph was throughout the season.

Looks like we've found Con's replacement! Yeap, good joke...

He was piss poor. Was he? He was piss poor against Liverpool but in the grand scheme of things he wasn't piss poor. I'd go as far to say that he was no worse than Delph throughout the season.

Bannan moving is good for both parties. Bannan will be a very handy player for Blackburn and we get a bit of money for him. I always liked Bannan and thought the criticism on this thread is incredibly harsh. He wasn't that bad at all last year he was at worst mediocre.

First time I saw Jack was in the NextGen series and he was head and shoulders above everyone. He has a poise and class about him which you just don't see in British players. I haven't seen him play in the friendlies but its good to hear that he's been playing well. I think Grealish position is a Left Attacking Midfielder. He's kinda like Silva in the sense that he doesn't really play centrally but will look to cut inside and link up with others.

Demba Ba > Benteke at the moment. Maybe not in a years time, but Ba is still a top drawer player. The problem is his wages NOT his ability.

Defenders tend to peak in there early 30's, so he's young in that sense.

When he is on form I don't think there are any English strikers that can play the lone forward role as well as him, I really think he could do a job for England in the games where we are mostly on the back foot. He doesn't play for Liverpool or one of the top clubs so Hodgson will never pick him. It's strange, because Gabby's very good physically and could definitely play well with Hodgson's pre-historic caveman football. How the likes of Welbeck and Andy **** Carroll get called up ahead of him is beyond me. Doesn't seem to bother Gabby too much though. Didn't he come out recently saying Villa will always be more important to him than England? Amazing that Welbeck(who scored 1 goal all season) gets ahead of Gabby. But I guess its Gabby's fault for not being a youngster who plays for Man Utd.

I would still characterize Gabby as our talisman. Love him and really he should have got an England call up to play against Ireland and Brazil, but unfortunately for Gabby he doesn't play for the op 5. He was at times unplayable at the tail end of last season. Whats particularly impressed me with Gabby is how far he's come technically. Last season I saw him pinging cross field balls and his passing and link up play has come on heaps and bounds. When he's on form theirs not many English wingers better than him.

Villa fans use to sing YNWA regularly throughout the 70s.

Downing will never come back to us. Mind you I'd happily take him back, he was a decent player for us.

I never cared for Luke Murphy to be fair, I don't know why most people here bigged him up.

Lost for words...

So you'd rather our team not see the benefit of a very good player, because he left us after 12 years at the club? At the end of the day surely Villa is in your best interest, so wouldn't you rather put aside your issues with a former player leaving, if it means it benefits Villa now? Also, to be fair on Barry he called the destination right in the long run didn't he?

Good player. One hell of a shot on him. Don't think he's a better experienced player than Barry, but is a very good player. Although I hear he can be inconsistent.

Can't believe this is a question either. 100% no. Why wouldn't you want an experienced player who's much better than anyone we have now? No-brainer for me, I will happily take Barry back, think he will be a top drawer signing and give our team some much needed experience.

He does it again next year I'll say he's more than decent.

Well Benteke has had a one really good season, if he performs at the same level again next year I'll say he's better than decent. The reason I consider Wanyema a worldie as he's had 2 very good seasons for Celtic and has proven he can play at the very highest level. Also there aren't really that many midfield destroyers who can also play football. I can only think of Yaya Toure. Whereas there are a lot of strikers which score a great deal of goals and hold the ball up well.