Djemba_Villan

Anyone moaning, please just do one. This has been a heroic effort from the lads. This is what happens when one team costs £300m more.

Villatalk Gods. I intend to visit Japan for 10 days in Mid November. (Only time I can manage it) Can someone please give me some advice about the key things to fit into that timeframe. Bear in mind, it's 3 lads in their mid-20s so no couplet stuff. Budget isn't a major issue. I have it in my mind to go to the Sumo tournament in Fukuoka at some point, so am considering flying INTO Tokyo but out of somewhere in the South. JLR pass is a given. Apart from that it's in your hands. Is Osaka worth staying? Givens are Tokyo and Kyoto but I'd really appreciate any weird things you recommend. I'd also love to hear if you know of anything to do there which is "Adventure/Adrenaline" related. Thanks in advance

Something I'd like to say on the Lambert/Keane front is that most of you will have seen the viral video thats going around showing Lambert and Keane snubbing the handshake of Mourinho on 85 mins of Saturdays game. It's popular because it's quite funny how unmoved Keane is and Lambert taps his watch as if to say "its not the end of the game yet, you cocky ****" All i'd like to say is...Fair bloody play Lambert/Keane. I'm very happy that they are clearly not willing to be made to look mugs by that knob. I am genuinely over the moon with how they are running the show at the moment. Our players look enthused, there isn't as much discontent, we look more solid than we have for a while and I'm sure the goals will come. I haven't seen many mention this clip, but one thing I would ask is, if the opposite happened, and they both jumped at the chance to shake his hand on 85 mins...what would we have said? I reckon it would have been on a par with the Houllier/Anfield drama or DOL "Fickle"-gate.

That requires the player to want to stay though. Delph and Vlaar (and to some extent Grealish) are in for a massive pay rise if they move clubs. From say Everton's POV, they can absorb the £10-12M or so it would cost to buy a player of Delph's quality by adding it to his wages. He can earn £100k per week and still only cost them £5.2M per season, which is equivalent to buying him for 10M and paying £50k/week for 4 years - which would be a bargain. Obviously, that's also true for us, as we'll have to replace him. However, 100k/week is less attractive from us as it would be from a team pushing champions league. Therefore, we'd have to offer a premium over and above that figure to keep him. Then he'd be on £120k/week and would screw us over when we sat down to discuss contracts with Benteke, Vlaar, Cleverley, Guzan etc. It's sad, but true.

Couldn't expect much better. Thought we looked much better on the ball than last season. Chelsea will stroll the league this year. As above, let's get Man City out of the way, try to get a cheeky win or draw against Everton and solidify a top half place.

Not convinced Sanchez is ready yet based on what I've seen. I have no doubt hell develop into a good player mind Not convinced Sanchez is ready yet based on what I've seen. I have no doubt hell develop into a good player mind

when you say good authority... what do you mean? Someone I know very well who works at Oracle and who has no reason whatsoever to lie. He's a well respected, middle aged guy who had forgotten I was a Villa fan so it would be a pretty random thing to make up. With anything like this though, there is no way of me proving it, I'm only passing on something I heard and it's the first time i've ever been privvy to any juicy villa news. Tenuous or not.

I posted a while back, I have it on very good authority that he is (or at least was) very interested in buying us.

You'll be absolutely fine. You'll have ages spare.

Mad to think it does actually feel like points dropped at the moment.

What i'm hoping is that we've offered him a highly incentivised contract which will reward him if he achieves over those 4 years. I hope it isn't a Bannan/Alby/Delfouneso type 10-20k/week deal. I think we'd do well to structure it such that the financials are a motivator for him to work hard, rather than make him think he's 'made it'. I have always though that's why it's so common for stars to appear under the radar. Just like Gabby with Luke Moore.

He was absolutely brilliant for most of his time with us, to be fair. You must mean Luke Young right? As for the Ashley kind, he was awesome at the row Z free kick challenge...he didn't just become shit overnight at the Manure, it had been a long time coming. He was great for us in the beginning though... You must mean somebody else. He wasn't great under Houllier granted, but he wasn't bad either. Under O'Neill he was our best player, I was not aware this was debated. I can't be arsed to look up the stats, but did he not lead the league in assists over 3 years as well as scoring 7-9 goals per season? Ashley Young was absolutely fantastic for us. Bizarre to suggest otherwise IMO.

I think Gabby has a major influence in the dressing room, which is something we often underestimate. He's one of the 'characters' at our club, so him signing a 4 year deal might be the driver to securing the big 3 - Vlaar, Delph and Grealish..

Maybe something to do with one of the contract situations being sorted. Edit: Someone on TBAR saying that it's that Benteke might be fit for Saturday. Bet it's about Gabby being about to sign a 4 year deal.

Lets face it. There is no way on earth he will sign a new contract with us after the last few years. He'll put in a stellar season, then get an equivalent pay day somewhere else. He'll appeal to all the other mid-prem clubs.

Based on the vast majority of academy players that come through the ranks, and fail, I just don't agree with this. Quite shocking how many supposedly talented youth players we've had who just have not developed once they hit the first team: Gabby, weimann to an extent, you could argue Barry as he came at such a young age, vassell? Who else really? We produce a lot of potential yet the clubs ability to maximise that is nothing short of abysmal in all honesty. Ridgwell, Davis and Cahill all went on to have decent (and in some cases very good) premiership careers.

Not one mention of Delphs debut after the match. They even found time to discuss wilshire's role. Piss poor.

As chuffed to bits I am for this to have arrived for Delph finally. It's kind of come at just the wrong time for Villa - with him being in his last 9 months of contract. So if he does well, no doubt one of Spurs/Pool will try their luck. Typical.

What still makes me laugh about these chumps, is that every Baggies fan I know, on some level HATES Villa. They constantly go on about some massive rivalry there supposedly is. My mate in particular will text me to gloat about pretty much anything which looks bad on Villa (including, hilariously, us signing the "useless" "crock" Senderos and them getting £24m Lescott!!). I refuse to do the same back to him as I know it annoys him. I usually just reply in a neutral manner. However, the most anti-baggies behaviour I've ever really witnessed from us lot is literally the half hearted cheer if they lose. I have to say the "We know what you aaarre.....Obsessed with the Villa..." was epic. It has really embarrassed a few I know. Especially when I mutter it when they talk about their latest hilarious "Lamberk" quip.

The more expensive a defender gets the worse he seems to do. Dunne - £6m Warnock - £8/9m Davies - £10m (!) Cuellar - £8m Just goes to show that you can get excellent value on the continent - the ones that don't work out are usually cheap. I'd argue it's unfair to knock Dunne. £6m isn't a great deal and he was fantastic for us for 2 years. The rest though...spot on.

I should point out, my comment was said in half-jest. I'm not honestly sat here calculating the proportion of pro-villa tweets of our key players.

Just to mention something I noticed when I saw he had tweeted congratulations to Delph on last night. Whereas last season he ended every Villa related tweet with #UTV or suchlike. He seems to have stopped since the end of last season. Is this a sign of him edging away from Villa?

Totally echo the above. I'd also add that we know no facts at all about the Everton stuff. Sounds to me like 2+2=9. Welcome aboard.

I dont think it's true. But even if the quote were genuine...we really can't argue can we? Sad to admit I know.

a) If the image is of him scoring past us - who cares! Thats what he was paid by them to do! We have NO FACTS about the whole hoo-har with Everton. How do we know that we didnt pull the plug, THEN he went to speak to Everton THEN that fell through THEN we changed our goalposts. c) Welcome to the club! Let's hope you're more of a Delph than a Djemba-Djemba.