Rocafella

So Joey Barton and Nigel Reo-Coker is up for grabs. I guess we will attempt to sign one of them.....

S. Smeltz has scored two for New Zealand in the same game though

And why should we be behind Spurs? :roll: , they've added a 17 year old untested left back to one of the worst defences in the league, i can't see Bale making much difference to it, on another topic, just watching Bellamy now for Wales and he's done ok, scored a nice first time strike in the box, if he's still the player he was at Blackburn then he'd be worth the risk, i just hope that Gabby and Luke don't get pissed off because i still believe they have the potential to be better than Bellamy. They are poor at the back because they are excellent going forward. Who is to say they are going to be equally poor next time around? They have the same financial muscle as us and are a few years ahead of us really. They have finished in 5th two years in a row and we have finished 16th/11th and they are able to attract better players than us. I am just being a realist, on paper they should finish 4th-5th next season, I hope we finish 6th. We are all going to have other opinions come August though, when we (and they) have signed new players. So let's wait and see.

Touché mon fellow Villa fan

You don't really need a target man for every game. Although a team such as us with the tactics we play pretty much suggests we need it! I am dreaming of Darren Bent but I am pretty much resigned to the fact that we are never going to sign him. firstly because it looks like we are going to sign Bellamy and secondly because the competition is going to be very fierce. If Spurs sign him as suggested by various visitors on here, however, they would be two steps ahead of us as Bent/Berbatov would be the best striking pair in the Premiership. Both extremely ambitious and all that. Could Carew play with Bent? It's probably not the best pairing, but why not? It's not often you see the striking ability in players this day of age, hence the low number of goals scored by strikers in the Prem this season, but in the right club Darren Bent could be the next 25 goals player. If he leaves, I hope he opts for Arsenal or Liverpool and not Tottenham.

Joey Barton People need a change of environment sometimes, and even though he seems like a clearing in the woods he could adapt easily. He might have been unlucky with the situations which have occured, even though reading the story about his brother is pretty concerning. Poor genes?

It's pretty strange that it has taken this much time to convert Barry into his new "best" position....... What's next? Striker?

Next season our nearest goal should be to finish above Everton and Newcastle. That leaves us in 6th behind Tottenham and the top four. Bolton are going to fade away without any doubt, other than that I don't see who can challenge us. Blackburn have had their little spell and with no money Hughes is going to struggle. Everything can happen in football and as long as we make better deals than Everton and Nufc in the summer I am happy.

Nobody is questioning the talent of Craig Bellamy. It's just that everybody knows he is a complete clearing in the woods and why is that going to change just because he is going to the Villa? Sure, less pressure and more comfort in knowing he would play more compared to his situation at Liverpool, you never know. Strangely enough, I think Carew/Bellamy would be pretty decent.

Sure that is true and I hope we don't cause a havoc on here like in January Still, the sooner we get in touch with certain players the less time other clubs have to strike a deal. Blitztransferpropaganda. Godspeed and all that. I am not talking about the shit going over at West Ham as they are signing a bunch of useless players before they could have evaluated the other ones available. Titus Bramble? What the hell is that....

True very true, but I saw Bouma take quite a few last season from the left side. Of course, in the end he didn't take any because Young and Maloney covered it nicely. Saying that; I don't believe Maloney will be a certain starter for us. I think he will hold that kind of role that Luis Garcia has had at Liverpool.

I have to disagree with you on Bouma, imo he is going to be a great player for us over the next couple of years. I was only pointing out that Bouma is awful from set-pieces, unlike Bale which has this wicked way of hitting the ball twisting his body so the ball gets a funny angle

So we are in for Matty Taylor are we? 5M mentioned is a good price I guess. Kind of annoying Spurs got Gareth Bale, I wouldn't mind a left back with those capabilities from set-pieces, Bouma has proved himself to be pretty awful. Is MON getting Taylor as a LB? LM? Cover?

If we were able to rotate Bouma, Barry and Taylor on the left side I would say we had a top 6 link no doubt about it.

That could be true and if he did sign I would hope so. Non the less, it would be dangerous to yet again believe that MON is the right man to do everything others can't. That MON can cure Bellamy and Rafa can't. That MON can turn Carew into everything but a nomad when Cuper, Rafa and Houllier couldn't. Proven goalscorer? Perhaps. Proven hazard for any team? Sure is!

I clearly rate Craig Bellamy as a player, he could easily score 15-20 goals next season. Problem is; he would make Luke Moore get pissed off and probably leave, and he would no doubt upset the squad morale as he in every sense of the word is a class A fuckhead.

We are being linked with Craig Bellamy again. This is not what I want at all, for various reasons. Picking up the left overs from Liverpool again? Haven't Collymore and Baros been enough? TEAMtalk

These new Liverpool owners are hopeless. Now one of them is talking about bringing in Snoop Dogg if Rafa wanted him to, and talks again about play-offs and stuff going on in the US sports. Well, I guess those Liverpool Reds comments are going to stick for a long time! I would accept "soccer" from both Randy and the General, but anything else like play-offs and rosters would be blasphemy

So Martins is an injury-prone player with no defensive capabilities:) ? Funnily enough, the fan who has written this claims he always gives 110%

Bringing Craig Bellamy in would be the expected thing in my opinion, let's hope MON does the opposite....

That he is signing for Valencia, well according to this fool. If he has declared it himself on television it looks like a lost case. And I didn't really like that end-line either, I really think they rate West Ham much higher than Villa, it's quite funny.

Some West Ham fan on a West Ham forum: "Schneijder himself declared on dutch television that he is very close to agreeing a deal with Valencia. He really isn't going to a club like Villa"

Agreed - because world class players cost 20M minimum and I don't think we are there yet, we have to generate more money during a season Top class ones are very approachable and will cost everything from 5M to 20M and most likely at 10-15M to be very accurate. Darren Bent and Sneijder are both top class and would cost around that amount.

I would rate Yakubu as a player who has grown accustomed to the Boro side and really doesn't see any challenge any more. He has virtually no competition for his place in the team and they are absolutely without chance of reaching Europe next season. I do rate him, but it would be taking a chance and I don't really see him reaching that extra level of greatness.... you know..... 25 goals and all that.

i hope this thread doesn't turn into the joke of a thread the january one did. Already gone past that. Quite right. On one hand people are linking us with players like Kaka, and on the other people are saying we are not able to sign players such as Nugent and Bellamy. Both are laughable you know, this isn't FM but is sure isn't a Championship side we are talking about.