NurembergVillan

I was literally about to post that. First thing I thought when I saw the picture was "ChatRoulette"!

Whilst a different type of player, I think Herd is a better midfielder than Bannan.

Why? I'm a fan so am happy to accept I may be biased in his favour but what makes you want to wish death on him? My greatest moment of 2012? It'd be hard to single out one. It's been a year of incredible highs and equal lows. "Generally" Super Saturday was great, and watching it with my parents. I just thoroughly enjoyed it. Personally I had plenty of good moments - friends getting engaged or married; facing redundancy for the first time in my career but seizing it as an opportunity which boosted my confidence and landed me a great job; seeing a dear friend emerge from a series of personal tragedies to father a little boy; just having my family and friends around me. Sounds like hungover sentiment but I guess 2012 was the year I became truly grateful. Grateful for what I've had, grateful for what I've got. Achieving that is my greatest moment.

I haven't. Not once. Find it, quote me and I'll apologise. But whilst we're suggesting going back and reading what other people have written - You didn't answer my other questions regarding your suggestions that people only want 6' midfielders or WWE wrestlers. Where did you get that from? Whilst your point may be that "He's not like Xavi in ability but in style of play Bannan is more like Xavi than other midfielders", mine is that I don't believe this to be the case at all. The only thing I can see that they have in common is that they're both small and play in dark red and blue shirts. I think in order to have a style of play like Xavi you need to have an ability level approaching his. If you haven't then you can't play like him. In terms of Joe Allen, he was superb for Swansea last season. He grabbed games by the scruff of the neck and dictated play. I've never seen Bannan do that for the Villa first team. He's (as far as I'm aware) not a set a goal up for us yet, at least not this season and he's only scored once from a penalty. His set pieces are poor, whatever you may believe you've heard commentators say (I've certainly not heard them mention how good his set pieces are), to the point that the only corner we've scored from this season was taken by Ashley Westwood against Reading, after a string of poor ones from Bannan. I hope he proves me wrong, I really do. I'd love to see him become the player you seem to believe he can be. I just don't see it, and haven't since he left the reserve team.

They've been crap today. Fair play to Southampton though - they've looked solid.

I was going to get one but ended up paying the extra for my model. I've got two LG tvs now and they're both great.

There are places you can get beer for a reasonable price. Obviously if you're on the Champs Elysées or near the Eiffel Tower then you'll pay a premium though. Last time I went with the Mrs we went to the Crazy Horse Saloon which was a great night out (and hot chicks!) and we also went to Le Batofar which is a former lighthouse boat that is moored up on the Seine and now used as a club. We wanted to visit the Catacombs but just missed the opening hours when we got there. We did the open top bus thing as we had a hangover one morning so that was a nice trip. Had booked a boat cruise too but it was rained off. You could try booking one as I've done them before and they're nice.

Excuse the analogy but that's like being crowned the tallest midget. At least we've cleared that up For what it's worth it appears that your argument is simply that you believe Bannan to be the best midfielder we have on our books at the moment. It's an opinion many disagree with but at least you're providing stats, albeit occasionally without real context, to try to back that up. I think the regular mentions of global superstars and fabricated quotes about what others expect of in a midfielder, though, are muddying how your point is coming across.

What's that got to do with anything? My point was that you'd said Walcott kept improving well into his 20swhere in reality he and Barry are the same age(ish) and yet Walcott is a far superior footballer. I haven't put words into anyone's mouth. I didn't say you'd said he was at that level but you've compared him to Xavi on more than one occasion. See? Now who's putting words in peoples mouths? You keep bringing up Xavi, a Champions League winner. And for the record, I'm unsure about Gabby's role in the team but right now I think he's more of a threat and more valuable than Bannan. In fact, on the subject of putting words in people's mouths - Who has done that? Who said that? Where? Again who, where and when?

Lottery numbers. Now.

It's not, he just needed to be starting more regularly and Stuttgart gave him that opportunity. And as for him on a free - he's available again in about a week unless Everton extend his deal. I'd sign him. I'd also like to go back to the Walcott comparison with Bannan from a couple of pages ago where the poster mentioned something about Theo not coming good until well into his 20s (or words to that effect). Aren't he and Bannan the same age? I agree that it's lazy to label Bannan rubbish based on his height. That's not my issue though - if he was brilliant he could be a Pygmy for all I care. Similarly it's lazy to compare him to Scholes, Xavi etc based on his height. He's nowhere near the level of those two and shows no signs of ever being so. Being small doesn't automatically equal crap, but it doesn't automatically equal technically gifted either. Remember Adrian Heath? If Barry Bannan wins a UEFA Champions League winners medal (apart from in an auction) I'll eat my car.

Looks like his Dad.

He'd be a handy back up for Benteke till the end of the season anyway. And it'd lift the fans.

Same as any form of business, your staff are only as good as your wage budget will allow. You've GOT to think Lambert has the same thoughts about our squad and knows what we need. You've also got to think Lerner will support his man.

It'll be a deserved wankfest if they turn this around. They're as bad as us!

Hahaha! I almost put that but didn't think he'd be good enough for Der Club.

WILL YOU LOT PLEASE CUT IT OUT? IF THIS CONTINUES PEOPLE WILL BE BANNED WITH IMMEDIATE EFFECT.

Just wind it up, you and all the others. Seriously, I'm sat here fizzing about the result just like everyone else. I don't need this nonsense to go with it.

I'M WILLING TO TURN A BLIND EYE TO THIS BICKERING IN HERE AS WE'RE ALL HURTING BADLY AFTER TODAY'S GAME. IT'S GOT TO STOP NOW THOUGH. AND NO TRANSFERRING IT TO OTHER THREADS. YOU WILL BE BANNED...

I think I started a thread like this a few years ago when we'd got a good team, with an analysis of who might be interested in the likes of Barry, Milner, Young etc if they were available for transfer. It gave a good benchmark of where we were and the quality of our squad. With the transfer window looming - if we were to put our whole squad up for sale, who would be interested in signing them? Brad Guzan - someone we have who has genuine talent. I don't think he'd trouble the very best goalkeepers in the league but it's easy to imagine the likes of Everton wanting him if Howard left, or for him to be a good second choice at any of the Champions League chasing clubs. Mark Schwarzer might be on his last legs - Fulham. Shay Given - hard to say based on his wages really. He's probably a Reading / Southampton level player now, but is still on Champions League wages. We'll find it hard to get rid of him unless someone offers Celtic silly money for Forster and they decide they want to sign a replacement on the basis that he's Irish. Matt Lowton - I think is another Everton level player. He'd be in or around a squad challenging for the European places anyway. Maybe even Arsenal as you've got to think he's better than Carl Jenkinson. Still got some learning to do though, so maybe someone like Stoke. Eric Lichaj - I can't see who'd sign him. Nobody in the Premier League anyway. Wasn't he on loan at Leeds a couple of seasons ago? Somewhere like that might work for him. Or Derby County. Any Championship side who would look to sign "not quite" Premier League players. Leeds Utd. Joe Bennett - speaking of "not quite". Right now I just can't see it. Maybe Middlesbrough would take him back, but you couldn't see another PL club chasing him down. Middlesbrough. Enda Stevens - Sheffield United. A League One club looking to move up a division without spending lots of cash. Ron Vlaar - possibly West Ham. So far, much as I want him to be the next Ronald Koeman, he's like a good-looking, not ginger, James Collins. Ciaran Clark - I'm still undecided on him. I wonder how well he might do with real quality all around him. Might appeal to someone like Swansea who try to play football. Nathan Baker - as above really. Can mix it a bit too so would be a good prospect for most mid-table clubs. Norwich. Chris Herd - Leicester, Watford, Cardiff. Someone chasing promotion from the Championship who want a "hard man" when the going gets tough. He wouldn't get a look in once they got promoted though. Hull City. Karim El-Ahmadi - back to the Eredivisie for you son. Or else a bog-standard Bundesliga side. FC Twente. Barry Bannan - I'm sorry, but I just don't see it. He doesn't read the game and intercept the ball, he can't tackle, he can't shoot, his set-pieces are poor, he can't cross, he gets caught in possession, his Hollywood passes rarely come off and he's tiny. Motherwell. Stephen Ireland - there's not a manager in this country would fancy their chances with this joker. I honestly think we'll be stuck with him until his contract expires and then he'll spend the rest of his days frittering away his ill-gotten millions on pink tat for his missus and pimped out motors or else going fishing with fellow forgotten-man Craig Gordon. Fabian Delph - maybe Leeds, just because he was good when he first got into their team so they would have fond memories. Possibly Crystal Palace. Could be a Holloway type of signing. Ashley Westwood - this is a guy who I think might interest Europa League challengers. He can play a bit and I'd love to see him with better players around him. Failing that a table topping Championship side for whom he'd be first pick when they were promoted. Cardiff City. Marc Albrighton - somebody like Burnley or Huddersfield. Any team that is based where the whole world is painted grey so they'd mistake him for a "flair" player. Charles N'Zogbia - on the subject of faux flair players, old Charlie Insomnia. His agent will have a good showreel of his goals for Wigan and a list of excuses about Villa being the wrong fit. Could land up at Marseille or Valencia or some other fallen European giant. Shit floats. Brett Holman - it's the A-League for our Brett. He runs around a lot every other game but just lacks the basic technique to cut it in the big leagues. He was fairly well thought of in Holland though so might get a look in back there or again the Bundesliga. Newcastle Jets. Andi Weimann - I think this lad has potential and I think other clubs would see it too. The Bundesliga would be a good destination for him, but I think PL clubs would look at him too. Fulham, West Ham, West Brom are the type who could nurture him and get the best out of him. Don't think he's shown enough to excite the big clubs. VfB Stuttgart. Christian Benteke - still flatters to deceive a little bit at the moment but he's young and he's clearly got some real potential. He's been linked with Spurs and you could imagine that, or even Arsenal as an alternative from the bench. Probably the one player we've got who some of the CL level clubs would have a think about. Darren Bent - Liverpool. They need someone who can finish and if there's only one thing (and let's be honest, there pretty much is) Darren can do it's finish chances. If Brendan Rogers wants someone to finish the work done by Suarez, Sturridge and Ince then it'd have to be DB. Those four would be a potent strikeforce. I can't see QPR going for him for the same reasons he's not in our team. Clubs at the bottom haven't got the all-round quality to carry him. Gabby Agbonlahor - if ever there was a player who I wanted to "make it", it was Gabby. The local hero. The speedster. The occasional wonder goal. The dodgy tash and the daft Brummie accent in interviews. You've got to love him. But he's injured so often, and he just can't seem to find the form he showed under Martin O'Neill. Speaking of whom - Sunderland. So there you go. I've left a few out as they either haven't played enough this season or are too young to really say. I'm sure most of you will disagree with most of my assessments but I find it an interesting way of looking at the players at our disposal. Based on my thinking we're desperately lacking in quality and, as a few have said here, pretty much look like a newly-promoted side who are struggling to stay up. I really want us to have a team with some coveted players but right now we just don't...

No, because he's shit.

Hopefully he's now having dinner with somebody who owns hundreds of oil wells.

We're absolutely nailed on to go down. Nailed on.

Here comes number 4.