TRO

....I thought that was an excellent post and i just could not of put my thoughts on paper better than that. Mon is much better supported in reality than the some of the posts suggest on here but some of those same supporters like me have doubts. Like you the paradox of Martin O'Neill reluctant to waste money leaves me in a state of bewilderment.... because that's exactly what he ends up doing by his strategy. Un like some, I don't believe he has made many bad signings.... IMO He has just simply paid too much money for modest players. Its like your wife/mom going to a cheap supermaket for her shopping, when back home nobody eats it. Marks & spencer may have been better all round value.

I'm not sure I'm reading you right there TRO, if I am then that's the first time I've seen someone criticise last years defense and it's organisation for a lack of improvisation. I'd wager that the right back who played left back, the two midfielders who played right back and the centre half who played right back might disagree with you. I think I'd probably argue that there was too much of an attempt to improvise in replacing Laursen. you most certainly are not reading me right at all... The improvisation i was referring to was in the midfield. The defence was the defence and the personnel to go with it.... but you can protect them a little.... you see I'm one of those old fashioned farts that think you start defending from the front and start attacking from the rear.... this modern game is too much for me. there were times during games c march time that Barry and Petrov were literally wide open and the defence just had everybody and his grandmother running at them.... that IMO could have been quelled by playing Nigel or sidders.... we just sat back in amazement and watched our team getting opened up.... I just remember looking at my mates and we all shaking our heads.

Its a "mary poppins" attempt at cheering us all up... if your that way inclined. Let me attempt to pick out just one point. we win 2 games in 15.... NRC or sidwell don't have a look in,in terms of their best positions, why because Barry & Petrov were playing so well. Now I'm not saying Nigel and steve are better than Gareth or Stiliyan...but hey how can you deserve to hold on to the shirt with 2 wins in 15 from the Engine room. some will say Laursens omission was the main culprit and that maybe true.... but sometimes you have to improvise, when the perfect solution is not at hand. I don't believe there was much of an attempt to do so.

..... well thats progress for ya.

....At the moment yes..... but we don't need to be.

....It takes a bit of money and a bucket load of Nous, backed up with a little bit of time. Have we got it?..... i'll leave it to you to judge.

.... very witty

on the basis of how we have finished.... 6th will be a fantastic achievement. I too would like to see an improvement in the play i.e passing and moving.... more comfort on the ball.

....In the same vein as I was when gray,deehan & Gidman left at the same time. but we then went on to win the league and euro cup. I think he has had his day with us and it shows.... he looks like he wants out of the marriage and is playing like he is playing to get away.I think he thinks we should have brought in players as good as him and we havn't.... he looks worn out. we will change our style when he's gone and I think it will be for the better. at least I hope so.

eloquently put and very apt IMO... interesting post.

I think it is a paradox... He is a quality player, but I am not sure how effective he is for the team. I have a feeling we will acquire a better balance when he eventually goes. For years there has been conjecture as to his best position and there lies some of the problem.... imo, he is a jack of all trades and master of none.

...I thought it was a well presented article and I accept your playing players out of position arguement as sceptical. Your play analysis is interesting and feasible. I'm not sure I agree with your points about the crowd.Mental strength has to be acquired in this profession and complaining about your customers was never a prerequisite of any successful business in any field.... you have to win them over.

ditto.

...I believe the bit where it says's Martin O'Neill is clearly inspired by Clough.... but he's a different man. I also suspect Cloughie fancied being Villa Manager.... we just didn't have the hierarchy to make it happen.

....The signs were there when we were winning and the signs were there before Heskey.... we are leaving Petrov and Barry too much to do. If you play 2 wingers it has to be effective...... they have to beat their men and the strikers have to score.....nothing else will do otherwise you are carrying them. a bit simplistic i know.... but it is so. also the 2 centre halves can't be expected to be chaperoned by the 2 central midfielders they have to win their own battles not just aerially but on the floor too. I honestly belive between the wingers and the centrehalves they are asking for too much help from the centre..... and they are subsequently being overrun.

...Pretty well summed up. I will add this though ...For a well thought of Manager in most circles.... Martin does some weird things at times in both team selection and the transfer market....can't believe we are still saying small squad.... its been running for years. .... something not right there me thinks. as well as some teams play at times you are only really as good as your worst performance..... despite some great games this year and a quite creditable away sequence the worry for me is some of our competitors do not go as low as us in their bad runs......its a real worry for me.

....James Milner's party piece is pulling his foreskin over his head and whistling down his willey.... its a well practiced mating call in the dales.

that made me chucking fuckle

....Chelsea win 1-2 based purely on us not them.You just cannot miss sitters at this level and we seem to have got in to a habit of it. hope our boys prove me wrong.

....To my knowledge there are a fair few Villa Fans in Ireland in fact they had an Irish supporters club as I recall. My brother like me was a season ticket holder for many years travelling from Dublin to meet me in Birmingham and off to see the beloved.He followed Villa from my Father who landed in Birmingham just after the second world war. He had such a passion for Villa that was quite strange from someone not from these parts.... but hey as soon as he got in to the New Aston Social where we met for each game he was one of the disciples. Aston Villa have always been a well supported club..... from outside Birmingham too , but many years of mismanagement by various regimes have tested the patience of some i guess..... but every where you go there is a little twinkle in folk's eyes for AVFC. I guess there is also some truth in those poignant words of a famous actor - Tom Hanks I JUST LIKED THE NAME ( its just magical) PS and so many say that to me

I am actually baffled by this post. You've actually just tried to explain to ME, what EVERYONE has been telling YOU over the last 9 pages. YET you saw fit to start a thread with this opening statement Talk about doing a full circle and contradicting your previous 8 pages of posts. You've obviously failed to grasp what I've been trying to say to you all along... I'm NOT saying JC is better than GA I'm NOT saying Fernando Torres is a poor striker What I, and nearly everyone else in this thread is saying to you, is that the stats you quoted don't mean ANYTHING. John Carew being out the side is only ONE factor amongst MANY (Milner,Sidwell,Shorey,the formation, the weather etc. etc.) that have changed in between the two sets of results you have quoted. Yet you chose to use those stats to blame HIM. Now, you think Gabby has thrived playing up there by himself? How about If I told you that he has scored in only 2 of 10 games where Carew has been missing? He had 6 goals in 10 games before Carew got injured... I guess at the end of the day, the most obvious statistic is at the top of this page... 94% think we miss him. Goodnight. .......I think you are flogging a dead horse.

Ian you have been told many times its a prolapsed disc.....I'm sorry to disaapoint you but the Lap dancing junk is a what it is junk. ....it seems like that you just don't beleive a simple explanation. Another thing that might annoy you is that he a very popular guy at the club. I have been told nothing by the club but by you as an ITK, sorry but we all take ITKs with a pinch a salt on here and why would that annoy me ? check out what I have said about Carew and you will find the basic difference is that I simply do not rate him as highly as some, but no way would I want him to go without a better replacement. that goes for every player I'm not sure what an "In The Know" supposed to mean.... this is a forum for the very purposeof villa fans telling others what they know and some folk will know more than others by definition.....It is also helpful to reassure fans who happen to rate Carew. If you choose to be selective and want a written statement with the stamp of runnymede on it well thats up to you. My suggestion is have a bit of faith when folk tell you that a substantial player for Aston Villa has no agenda attached to him. I am not the next door neighbour to Martin O'Neill, but even if i was i wouldn't tell distrusting souls like you. Incidently, if you read tonights Birmingham Mail you will read Martin O'Neills endorsement that he is missing Carew..... no sinister plot there then.... who can we find next? ps ....( we all take ITK's with a pinch of salt)....speak for yourself not on behalf of everybody.

You think? IMO they have played their best stuff with Anelka on his own... just an opinion , but no i don't think they have been great with Anelka..... not compared with the past.

Ian you have been told many times its a prolapsed disc.....I'm sorry to disaapoint you but the Lap dancing junk is a what it is junk. ....it seems like that you just don't beleive a simple explanation. Another thing that might annoy you is that he a very popular guy at the club.

..........Liverpool were winning without Torres and Man utd were winning without Ronaldo& Everton have done really well without their main strikers ..... do you think they would be missing those players? of course they would. I'm sorry, but i just don't buy the deduction you have made Gabby has done a sterling job in Carews absence, but is it sustainable? Gabby admits he has learnt more since being thrust on his own.... but its damn hard work and eventually we will burn him out if it was to continue for too long we have picked up points when we havn't been playing particularly well and carew takes a lot of physical work off a lot of his mates..... put your poll outside Bodymoor heath and see what reaction you will get. I don't think this 1 up front works long term.... possibly away from home, but not regularly. also Intersting to see how Chelsea are not their usual selves with one up front.