Daholteend

I thought at the time when we let Collins go to West Ham that would be better waiting until January making that decision. At least Collins knew how to defend a corner and get his head to the balls. I watched him play at West Ham on Saturday and thought that we need a player like that right now. I know a lot of fans didn't care for Collins but it doesn't take rocket science to see what we missed at Bradford. Without a centre midfield with any hustle and guts and creativity and a back four that look like a deer in headlights things won't improve. Unlike Doncaster we have a second bite at the cherry and a chance for redemption,. As it is right now though there are deep concerns that need to be addressed. I can't waste my time even rating what I saw. Every thing of any importance has already been posted by others. Dean Saunders anybody ?? I'd laugh if I thought that was even funny

Chant to the tune of "Under the Bridges of Paris " How would you like to be ? Christian Ben tee kee Scoring Goals for Villa and Me <<<<< (Alternative line : Scoring Golas for A V F C ) Christian Ben Tee Kee

No need to say "soz" to us lot. Most of us are Brummies, you'll fit right in ! BTW thank you for giving us the correct pronunciation.

The odds are Low to none on this one.

Concrete Ron's new home should be called "Vlaar Park "

Hehehehe yes, I think I was OTT on that point LOL Hindsight is a marvellous thing

Perhaps an alternative would be to slide through all the missed tackles and wish the lad success at Bolton Wanderers, a club that has a manager that values the talents that he sees in the player. It is time for us all to move on and put our energies into what our current squad is capable of achieving. Nothing is ever achieved by slagging off on a player who in all likelihood may never wear a Villa shirt again unless he ends up at Burnley or Scunthorpe. Paul Lambert and his crew are working hard at building a new team to replace some of the unfortunate signings of the previous three managers. They are to be praised for finding a solution for the problem issues. We supporters don't help the problem one little bit by going on forever about how poor we think these players are. If you think about it, other supporters from other clubs read these diatribes about players that their club are interested in. If all the supporters see is negative stuff about them, that energy might also be passed on to those who were thinking of signing these players. So lets think twice about continually ranting against certain players who have been listed as longer required by the club.

If Benteke would be the cross between Heskey and Carew, i.e. the ability to keep the ball, make flick ons, and score goals and bruise a few defenders along the way, and stay out of the Rocket, I will be delighted. Are those expectations too high ? Am I asking too much ?

I think Downing misunderstood. Rodgers meant left back in the clubhouse. Back on topic. Looking at a few videos of Benteke', he shows a variety of skills that suggest that he is a great prospect when you consider his age. He is strong in the air and with the ball at his feet. There is a very good reason why Lambert stuck with his pursuit of this player and I for one am looking forward to watching Benteke develop at B6. He gives us an option that we didnt have. Think of an Emile Heskey that can hold the ball up, use his head and feet to make incisive passes for Bent to capitalise on and OMG Benteke can even score more than 2 goals a year! His physical build will ensure he will survive in the Prem. If Lambert can instill a goal hungy predatory motivation in him then we will really have something. If we get behind the new players 100% we may bring out the best in all of them and make Villa Park the fortress it should be.

whats that all about surely that cant be right that he's dossing about while we are paying his wages???, Your guess is as good as anybody's. I am simply posting the link to an article appearing in the Camerounian Online website.

If we are waiting for bids on Warnock and/or Hutton and IF MON is among those potential bidders, I wouldn't be expecting anything to happen until the eleventh hour of the window. If PL has plan A, B, C or D Faulkner had better get the paperwork ready to send in the Fax. Who we get in IF any of these two move on may be determined by who is left on the last day and that is something no one can predict.

Apologies if this has been posted elsewhere in this thread. I want a job like Jean Makoun has at Aston Villa. It appears that he has a deal where his holidays are from May until December. The comments after the article are hilarious. There is no doubt in my mind that the saga of Jean Makoun has to go down as the weirdest in Aston Villa history. You can't make this stuff up. Only at Aston Villa. I am still convinced that Aston Villa was once cursed by the gypsies. If Doug had just bought those clothes pegs and the lucky heather everything would be so different. http://tinyurl.com/9e2c2td

Does anyone have an update on the state of Dunne's injury? How long will it be before he might become available ?

Roughly about two touches and a pass bicks.. Under Houillier defenders were encouraged to get the ball , pass the ball to a wider defender who would then clog it upfield. Eck was more direct... Just clog it upfield but anywhere away from our goal preferably . Yep so no real diffference at all at least under MCLeish, we'd give it to their defenders not their midfielders ;-) hahahaha well that would depend on who it was that was doing the huffing. If it was Collins it would end up half way up the pitch going for a midfield throw in to the oppo. If it was Dunne, it would end up going to one of their forward midfielders strategically placed so Dunney could then make a running charge as if he had saved the day yet again on his arse. If it was Hutton, it would be kicked over the oppos byline for a goal kick just after he had made a blinding run up the right side side and had two strikers in perfect position to score. On the way back to right back he might have a couple of clips at any straggling legs that got in the way... a matter of habit.. hard to tell if it was a very very late tackle or just silliness. If it was Warnock he would get the ball and straight away pass it to one of their attacking midfielders in much better position than anyone else on the pitch and then realising his guff would make a marvellous slide as if it was the pitches fault . One thing about McLeish's dour defensive tactics was...... predictable in the very worst way. I have supported AVFC for over fifty years.. Last season under Eck was so bad that I actually stopped even looking at the results by Christmas and even stopped coming here. You have no idea how happy I am with what Paul Lambert is trying to do with this squad. In my teen years I used to watch Aston Villa accompanying the legendary Billy Walker and sit with him in the Trinity Road Box seats. Last season I could feel the ghost of Billy shaking his head in sheer amazement. I could almost hear him say "If dynamite were brains, this lot wouldn't have enough to blow their caps off in a gale " Thank you Paul Lambert. Already you have restored my faith in our beloved Aston Villa . Now all you have to do is find the next Billy Walker!

I agree. I thought that Lerner and Faulkner might have done fairly well if they had been wise enough to keep McAllister after the job he did saving us from relly.

Roughly about two touches and a pass bicks.. Under Houillier defenders were encouraged to get the ball , pass the ball to a wider defender who would then clog it upfield. Eck was more direct... Just clog it upfield but anywhere away from our goal preferably .

Great points bickster. Even if it was in McLeish's brief, I don't think for one minute that he would have been capable of doing anything other than he did. The stats don't lie. It seemed the whole world but Lerner and Faulkner knew that Eck was a recipe for relegation from the get go. It was a miracle that we avoided it and that wasn't anything to do with Eck. it was just that teams below us played a fraction worse than we did. Houillier of course inherited a disaster in action. Anyone watching us play under MON in that game agaist Villareal could have seen that MON had lost the plot for whatever reason and with Milner leaving it was obvious that we were a team in decline. Of course with MON jilting us just before the season started it would have taken a Superhuman manager to have turned things around. Houillier IMHO was a legend in his eyes only and really didn't have the strength , the management skills or the personnel on the admin side or the playing staff to be able to turn a sows ear into a silk purse. Trying to teach the likes of Dunne and Collins to play pretty passing football was a sad joke. His tendency to wash the dirty laundry in public earned him zero respect from the players . Houilliers task was not aided by Robert Duverne as fitness coach and Pires adorning our bench for big money and zero contribution. It truly was a French Farce and none of us got the joke. DOL does well in this poll by default, which is what he probably says about the wages he has been receiving from us and Al-Ahli Dubai.

SI was MOTM tonight I understand. At the moment he is one of the brightest stars on PL's Villa Horizons. Not a chance that he would be sold at that price and certainly not at this stage of the pre season where Lambert is still sizing up what he has in his squad.

no just the last two years ! I would love to see a clip of his goal against Peterborough. From accounts that I have seen he blasted it to the roof of the net like a rocket. The difference I see between Holman and N'zogbia so far is that Holman is more direct in his approach, doesn't hog the ball and can score the odd goal or two. Similarities? they were both signed by Eck .

After the last two managers hindsight makes DOL's tenure look a lot better. Despite listing the poor signings, how about listing the good ones he made. Martin Laursen and Fredi Bouma standout in my mind and despite what we may have thought of Meeeeelan Baros, he also was a very good striker when he put his mind on his game rather than his lifestyle. IIRC , DOL was also responsible in getting Gabby's and Steve Davis' careers started. There were a couple of times last season when I wished we also had Roy Aitken DOL's assistant coaching the team instead of the dire stuff that we suffered through. Time can do many things. I never thought my opinion of DOL would change so much for the better until I realised that things can be so much worse.

Sensible words Sikh I love how the idea of him "coming home" keeps cropping up, yeah right ! A pig just flew past my window Was it wearing a suit? No it was on its way to the sty for a midweek bout of mud wrestling

::::::::::::::::::sighs::::::::::::::::::: MON certainly knew how to spend Randy's money didn't he?

Indeed we will TrentVilla. Actually the more you think about it, Hutton's clogging style of play will fit right in with the Tony Pulis system. Hutton will certainly do better at Stoke than Woodgate did. Luckily for Woodgate he may now be back at Boro so he won't have to train alongside Hutton if indeed Hutton signs for Stoke and risk even further injury.

ROFLMAO I know he's getting on in years TrentVilla but despite his gaffe a game mode.. the bloke is still a decent footballer whether we happen to like him or not. If he was really as bad as you think he is do you think PL would even have taken him on the US tour? I think we will see Dunne a little more yet playing out his contract and there's nothing wrong with an old fashioned stopper. Having a veteran in the club house is valuable for any team. Mentors are needed to show the younger lads how to be a professional on and off the pitch.

I wouldn't be throwing my shin pads and heel guards in the drawer just yet TrentVilla.... Tony Pulis is a prudent buyer and takes his time... hmmmmmm remind you of anybody?