TRO

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On a day where Darren Bent is now being linked with a move from Villa Park, I ask myself .... What has happened to Lerner's ambition and even more importantly, what has happened to his millions???

....where did the Milner money go?

I think you will find that we have spunked his money on overpriced junk in the main...players that would struggle to pass through cones or trap a bag of cement.... we have bought one or two decent players and sold them to balance the books from the junk we have bought.

I think he has been spooked.

So, Liverpool leaked the story of their interest to a select few journalists to unsettle Bent or the club did to see if an 'unsettled' Bent puts a transfer request in. I'm going with the former. I love a good conspiracy.

Or, just as plausible - the whole rumour is just that.

Downing was a rumour too. People said the picture was fake. Moments later he joined the club.

The chances of Bent leaving this window is very high. There's just too many points such as the board have a reputation of selling our best players, Bent himself who never settles at a club, McLeish can't do much with him and Liverpool needing a poacher.

Let's put it this way. It would be a shock if Bent remained here for the entire season. It's not a shock to see our geninue quality players leave anymore.

Sell Gabby as well, flatten it and build a supermarket.

put us all out of our misery.

Do people realise that young players are supposed to be inconsistent...

There is barely a player around the world under the age of 22 who is consistently excellent week in week out, and usually they are called international class players.

I guess that's what happens when we rely on youth so much.

Not every player is going to be a Alan Shearer, Gordon Cowans etc...

If kids like Albrighton and Bannan can perform in 1 out of 3 games they are similar to a lot of Premier League players, we can't expect every youth player we produce to do better than that. As long as they can offer something to the squad they are good enough for Aston Villa. We should be focusing on signing players externally to provide consistency and then in time the kids can develop and in the future provide that too.

I understand that by definition the youth players are inconsistent, it goes with the territory of developing.

but when was the last time one of our youth players sent us home drooling.

My point is they are passive, there is no " eye of the tiger" as of now they are not good enough in my opinion. I am talking generally there is the odd moment or flash of the standard required.

sorry.

The football being played was simply never ever good enough to finish in the top four.

I agree. With that style we probably would have been humiliated in CL qualifiers by a team that can keep possession like the mighty Rapid Vienna

spot on ....possession has been our achilles heel for years and until we address it we are going nowhere.

To be fair to the better players we buy.... we seem to sit back on our laurels, pat ourselves on the back for doing so instead of building around them..... and bitch when they want to leave.

do we ever learn anything.

RL and PF must know that selling Bent now would trigger the worst backlash they've yet to see. Protests, empty seats, non-renewals, etc.

But, considering they PAID Small Heath for McGash, I guess anything is possible. :?

I would also be tempted to say "anything is possible"....so many other things don't make sense, so how can you follow that maxim,

The only language any of them understand is " empty seats"

you can protest all day long and sing all the obscene songs, but as long as you pay your money, they are happy.

I wouldn't sell either of them its all about a squad.

up to now, Guzan has done nothing wrong....He has the shirt he has to lose it.

If team spirit is to be maintained fair play has to exist.

Even given himself would say, Guzan deserves to stay with the shirt.

We have to get back to performances winning shirts not names.

Which is all well and good, except Given did nothing to lose the shirt aside from pick up a knock. He was brilliant, is brilliant.

My point is, despite brilliant performances, I agree, he is not in command of the shirt.

Its a matter of opinion of course, but unless you have a world class goalscorer v a youth striker and the gap is too obvious for words then I believe the man in command of the shirt should keep it, until he loses it through injury or poor performance or suspension.

I believe that encourages fair play and team spirit.

The premier league is not for the faint hearted.

Its a tough, demanding league, where only the very best will prosper.

we have to get away from this pussy footing around with passive statements about our youth players and benevolent statements about their likely hood of making it.

we are looking for players with the X/ WOW FACTOR.

Nothing else will do.

what has happened at Barcelona has been nutured over years of development.... sourced from the Rinus Michels days influenced by Ajax.

There is clear evidence in their first team of the development of their Youth system.

I have seen little evidence in our first team of the fruits of our youth system.

Marc Albrighton is a talent, but is yet to show the consistency that would allow you to say he is a regular first teamer.

Barry Bannan has the silky skills but is yet to show the consistency over 90 mins and to show the effectiveness to trouble the opposition.

Ciaran Clark, The jury is still out for me need to show more to secure a regular place.

Chris Herd, shows a more resilient side than the others don't but is limited in his on the ball skills, it would be a little harsh to say a plodder, but, if you get my drift.

Delfounso, shows little "eye of the tiger" or a burning desire to win, seems to run in to innocuous positions and is looking around for help to often for my liking.... seems to just go through the motions for me.

Gary gardner, I have not seen enough of him to know... but he cannot be a youth player for ever.... There is a tendency in some of them to be "potential" for ever.

If they are serious about making a first team place there own.... They must push everyone out of the way and make the sort of impressions that leave everyone under no illusions of their worth.

They are learning yes, so was Andy Gray, Brian little, Trevor Francis, Alan shearer at 18-19 they were pulling up trees

Thats the benchmark we should be courting.... sorry its a tough old world, thats why they get paid so well.

I wouldn't sell either of them its all about a squad.

up to now, Guzan has done nothing wrong....He has the shirt he has to lose it.

If team spirit is to be maintained fair play has to exist.

Even given himself would say, Guzan deserves to stay with the shirt.

We have to get back to performances winning shirts not names.

Not convinced in our youth at all.

See no one that makes a menace of themselves to the opposition.

will sit back and hope I'm wrong.

some of the younger fans would do well to watch footage of Little, Shaw, Cowans, Barry, gidman.

.....That was youth.

Ps our youth system produces a decent number of fairly average players that are destined for the lower echelons of the football league..... The idea of of a good youth system is to produce a few star players that will be to good effect in the first team.

pps There are so many myths written about our club its not even funny.

The desire in the squad is at nil due to all of our best players being sold, therefore the remaining players are now left thinking 'whats the **** point?'

Because they get paid to maybe? Whether the players do or dont agree with whats going on or whos telling them what to do they should always put desire and as much effort in as possible. This is what being called a professional is.

Ends up being psychological though, especially as this industry is so media driven. You can't compare footballers to other professions. Especially with it being a team game, its a natural though no matter what level you are at.

This one gets trotted out too often and I also never compared it to other professions either. Football is part psychological, as a lot of sports are, form and quality of play can be effected but there is no excuse to not putting effort in.

I really don't disagree with you, but to be honest I look at the players last in all of this. The board and management team have overseen this complete mess.

Collins, Dunne, Warnock, Petrov, Gabby, Albrighton, Heskey and Cuellar - all players that were around when we were pushing for top 4. We really were nearly there. So imagine the deflation after putting so much effort in over 2yrs to now seeing us selling our best players and settling 10th/11th in the table.

we were never really there.... we had one exceptional season, where we finished 6th but spent 34 games above 6th, so in essence did poorly to finish 6th...... There was never any indication in other seasons we were likely to finish in the top four.....its a complete myth.

The football being played was simply never ever good enough to finish in the top four.

....must have been pissed when we signed him.

jesus, they see us coming don't they.

I cringe when we go in the transfer market.....I feel like a dog hiding under the stairs on Guy Fawkes night.

needs a run and looks like he will get it.

been pleased with the lad.

Don't care for either of our full backs ..... so he must have a chance.

However, I've never seen him play.

so forget what I've just said.

Heskey, Ireland & Jenas

...we must search for them.

it can't be bad luck, can it?

whatever his faults...natural goalscorers are a rare breed.

If we can feel safe in acquiring an adequate replacement then fine sell him but our record in the transfer market suggests we keep him.....we don't get lucky too often.

I guess what we are are all looking for and him too plus( them that left i.e Barry,Milner,Downing & young) is to know the calibre of player likely to come in to help.

We need to get back on this front foot.

Quick mention for Fonz who did really well when he came on

I fully agree with your point about the overall performance but I think he got caught offside a bit lazily on occasions and got knocked off the ball too easily at times too. He did have a great chance to get us the 3 points though.

Fully disagree with the Fonz doing well. If you were to watch the second half again and pretend he was Heskey there would be uproar on this site. He missed the chance, should have gambled earlier and he wouldnt have arrived on the slide.

At one point Gabby was next to him with the ball, and instead of the Fonz pulling out wide he ran towards the ball, gabby had to chase his own pass into the acres of space on the wing.

Also he generally didnt look as if he knew how to play up front. Maybe its just laziness - something Fonz has been criticised before unfortunatly

Think Bannan/Ireland would have been a better option

UTV

I'm with you on this...Fonz looked like he had no idea where to run, at one stage Gabby give him such a look of disgust.

didn't give us a prayer tonight, so a point was a decent result.

thought our passing was better, particularly in the first half, thought we made a decent account of ourselves....however the game was there for taking so the belief is still not back properly.

thought cuellar did well and Guzan had another steady game.

not sure how they can afford to leave carlos out.

ps Its not our business to worry about the form or team selection of the opposition its up to us to challenge whats in front of us.

pps when we get battered the opposition don't say " Villa were poor tonight, we'rnt they"

agree with you tro, you can instantly spot great youngsters, they don't come along often

SGC you are certainly not a talent spotter :!:

where did i say? i was complimenting tro who i think is an excellent football poster

Spotting football posters?

TRO is the ethan moore of the football posting world, i think he is an excellent talent and a once in a generation poster

if only.....thought that was funny.

by the way who is Ethan Moore....is he any relation to Bobby Moore

http://www.villatalk.com/index.php?name=PNphpBB2&file=viewtopic&p=2439032

that should explain everything

thanks, I'll go and cry in the corner or practice writing better.

mind you a result today, would make me feel better.

agree with you tro, you can instantly spot great youngsters, they don't come along often

according to you they come along every few weeks

that's because they do

make up your mind

they either do or they dont

they do but it doesn't mean that they'll become great players, i enjoy watching their careers unfold

Says the guy that thinks Sven still manages Leicester City, when he was sacked 2 months ago and it was all over every back page of national newspapers.

Your opinion is worth as much as James Nursey from the daily mirror.

some managers don't always get it right when buying players, posters are no different....Hey Ho we all get something wrong now and again.....its xmas good will and all that.

Ps If i was him I'd post a red herring for good measure.

agree with you tro, you can instantly spot great youngsters, they don't come along often

SGC you are certainly not a talent spotter :!:

where did i say? i was complimenting tro who i think is an excellent football poster

Spotting football posters?

TRO is the ethan moore of the football posting world, i think he is an excellent talent and a once in a generation poster

if only.....thought that was funny.

by the way who is Ethan Moore....is he any relation to Bobby Moore

Whether we agree in our posts or not ..we all agree on one thing

The welfare of Aston Villa football club

take a bow guys you all write some great stuff

Happy xmas to you all.

agree with you tro, you can instantly spot great youngsters, they don't come along often

SGC you are certainly not a talent spotter :!:

where did i say? i was complimenting tro who i think is an excellent football poster

That was very kind SGC...we all try our best.

I don't really buy the idea that Man C's recent spending is a triumph for their scouting.

They just bought all the best players around, and they had some failures.

I reckon I could have managed that.

The reality is that Lerner never really gave us as much money as his ambition would have required.

Briny, maybe you could have managed that but maybe some could'nt.

Unlimited funds will always be an attraction that is hard to argue with, but in reality a bit of Nous in the transfer market has to accompany the readies.

I believe Randy has provided funds, but i equally would have questioned when Hernandez & Kompany go for 6 mill and we buy what we have bought....It makes you wonder.

I still think we have been next to poor in the transfer market overall.... close to poor on the training ground getting them to fit in to our method.