Rocafella

I see where you are coming from but it's not quite as simple as that. There's the pressure of playing at the higher level. Turning up at Old Trafford in front of 76,000 people might turn a keeper into a bowl of jelly - a keeper who might ordinarily keep effortless clean sheets at a lower level. So in that sense, until the person has done it at the high level, you don't know how they'll react. That could have been Richard Wright's problem. The difference in being good and great can sometimes be in the person's head, not in their gloves. Yeah of course you are right, but I think you got my point in my poorly executed rambling All in all, being a goalkeeper is a totally different sport than being an outfield player so to speak....

Completely different. Foster has played a full season in the Premiership and a full season in the Championship. That is enough to base an opinion on how good he is. The latter part of the comment is unintelligent and absurd. Also, comparing outfield players with keepers is a totally different thing. Playing in the Championship, Premiership or in Scotland makes no difference, a keeper's job is the same no matter what and he would have to show the equal amount of smartness at every level and that does not go for a midfielder or a striker. Handling and saving the ball is one thing, but controlling the box (corners/set-pieces), saving penalties and kicking is how you get rated as a keeper and you could prove yourself at every level.

Mark Delaney was in my opinion never amongst the best full backs and now he has been injured for a whole season and he isn't exactly younger. I think many of you have very unrealistic hopes on this one

So Delaney will be given a new contract I see, what does it take to NOT be given a contract by Villa at the moment?

Geremi is a right mid who has been drafted into right back as an emergency and it hasn't really been successful. Remember, he plays for Chelsea alongside Terry and Carvalho, not the biggest challenge after all is it. Makelele however, he is class and would do excellent for at least another year.

Nice to see the General mentioning that MON has been several times in Europe since the end of the season, guess both the German and Dutch league were high on the list

So he is like Xavi then. Petrov was the new Scholes and Maloney the new Joe Cole, is he on level with these players ?

If someone has seen Sneijder more than 5 times please tell us how he is like, compare him to other players etc. Thanks.

The thing with players like Sneijder is that he comes from a crap league and they adore English football over there. Do we have a shot? Without a doubt.

We CAN sign top players such as Sneijder and Huntelaar, saying otherwise would be idiotic. Why? Because clubs way under our level have signed better players for many years.

I once suggested Kieran Richardson, I do however acknowledge that he isn't what we are looking for. However, he could have been if were still under Doug. Easily as well.

Paul Scharner is not good enough. Period. Next?

Sylvain Distin is much too like Mellberg for my liking anyway. Saying that, Sol Campbell and Distin will complement perfectly each other if they stay fit

I disagree big style, Appiah is a class act and very competative, much like Gattuso, just because he races around the pitch doesn't make him a "headless chicken", the likes of Juventus don't invest in such players, imo he is a world class player and he was one of the stars for Ghana at the world cup, it was a two way thing between Essien and Appiah for me, they both dominated games, Appiah is simply an all round class player who can create and score a cracker at one end, and then save us at the back, i'd compare him to a Boateng type player who is also good going forward and i hope Mon moves heaven and earth to get him as he'd be worth every penny, a player who can easliy beat the likes of Gerrard, Lampard and Fabreges in a midfield battle. I would preserve praise like this really, on another side he really looks like the player who can come to the Premiership and flop totally. You never know with these players. Also, it's not like every club in the G14 is looking for him so saying he could easily beat the likes of Gerrard and Lampard is a bit off don't you think? Easily better than McCann though, so it would be a step up.

I want MON to sign a real set-piece specialist. We have Petrov and Barry who can cross in a decent corner and Petrov is OK at FK's from reasonable distance. We also have Maloney who scored our first free-kick in a long while but other than that it's pretty thin. Also I don't really rate Maloney as a starter, more like a joker sub. Young has not convinced me either, although his swingers from the side have been OK. From shooting distance he hasn't been anywhere near

So we are going to kick out all of our players then? That team wouldn't even qualify for Europe. Källström on the bench? That's gonna happen for sure

But it looks like MON is rather good at keeping his cards close to his chest, who knew we were signing Carew? The media sure didn't. I don't care how long time it takes or how many times we are linked in the press, but the sooner the better. I don't want the old excuse of now having time to settle/pre-season etc being used. It just doesn't work with me

I read on TEAMtalk that Foster is United's new first pick and that Fergie is tired of VDS's errors. Could be bollocks though, TT is not what it used to be

I seriously doubt Man Utd want Craig Gordon, they have Kuczcak and Foster already as well as VDS. I have never heard of a keeper hyped up as much as Gordon, he must be the real deal. Either him or Boruc and I am very happy!

We shouldn't care if we sign 5 players in June or wait until the last minute like we did last time around, but I guess there is going to be a quarrel about it on here, with myself on the worried wagon Anyway, as I see it if we sign players immediately we can attract better player during the summer. Also, they can join our pre-season tour which is very important. I don't know when that starts but I reckon 5th of July or something? I think Chelsea are going to start theirs on the 6th so it might be a fair assumption.

What I find amusing is the comments about us not being able to sign Nugent, Reo-Coker and Sidwell. Everyone playing at a lower level (well we haven't seen Sidwell sign for anyone yet). First and foremost none of us have a single clue on whom we might sign. Ravanelli went to Boro and so did Juninho, both world-class. Rava scored 30 goals for frecking Boro, when did someone do that at the Villa? Nugent or Huntelaar, you'll never know before it happens.

I don't think so either but hey this thread is 300 pages long and we haven't been properly linked with one player :) So we are bound to make our own! Heinze - Laursen - Mellberg - Ferreira would be a decent defensive foursome though.

This one from Heinze is sweet

We always have room for better players though, so there is room for Gabriel Heinze if he was available. Wouldn't you want this at VP?

In fact he does know how to tackle, saying something different would be quite wrong. You must be thinking about his tendency to tackle a bit nasty at times, but heck that's the way some defenders tackle these days. There are numerous players, great ones, who do exactly the same. All in all he is a very solid defender.