Daholteend

As soon as that first goal went in the writing was on the wall. Credit to the lads for trying to salvage what they could and attempting to play football, but playing football itself just isn't enough when you have your hands tied behind your back and blindfolded which is the effect that Mr H's starting lineup had. There are a couple of bright spots though. Having seen the size of Silva standing alongside Bannan, I think BB has the potential to become a class player with experience. BB should study Silva's techniques, especially when making his shot selection. Delph once again played well and showed composure on the ball. Herd's tackling is old style classic stuff. He isn't afraid of any player. Oh if only we could clone Walker going forward with Herd's defence. Mr H's next few days are going to be interesting. Did he really think that the starting team was good enough to win, or was he simple resting players to make the Prem games a priority ?

If Corluka were to be made available I would be surprised. I prefer him over Hutton, while Walker would be the best choice for us. Nobody around WHL is expecting Walker to be sold. That said, all three are good players and when Walker returns to WHL, Hutton or Corluka would both be good choices if Mr H can't find a RB in La Ligue that is. On the other hand we still have Lichaj to consider. His experience at Leeds might very well return us another very promising RB.

Mr H's boldness will be tested once again on Wednesday if he decides to play Fab at LB. Mancini might decide to play Milner at right wing and thus set up a rematch between the two. IIRC Fab's last injury problem was caused during a clash with Jim lad. I shall be looking at the team sheets eagerly before the game vs. citeh. Houllier's coaching will be tested. Both Bannan and Delph, when selected like to play at full speed ahead. In Delph's case varying the pace and timing of his tackles will be an important facet to his game. Since Mr H has been working on a similar tack with Bannan, if the coaches help perfect the art for Fab, then perhaps there will be some cause for exuberance by Villa fans and then one day we may indeed see these youngsters "boss" the occasional game or two. In the meantime its a work in progress, and it is promising. The main thing that I see however is to keep Fab fit and not have his growth halted by unnecessary risks. For that reason, I might be tempted to leave him out of the game with citeh and save the lad for more important Premier games. That is not a slight on his ability, it is merely caution with a young player who has only recently returned from a very serious injury.

Yeah, shame! we could be playing a back four of Cuellar, Cahill, Collins, Clark aka the four "C"s By the way we didn't get rid of Cahill. Cahill wanted to move on to a team closer to his home grounds where he would be guaranteed first team football. MON obliged by selling him to Bolton for 5M approx. It's all water under the bridge. Now we have to see who it is out of Clark, Dunne, Collins and Cuellar that Mr H decides to play and who if any he may sell. I think that the speculation about players like Spahic might be an indication that Mr H may be looking to add another CB during the summer. If that is the case then the timing for Clark could not be better. He may get a run of games to show whether he is ready to take on the first team duties at CB on a regular basis. I think that GH picked the right back four yesterday playing Dunne and Clark together. Yes , there were a couple of nervous moments, but luckily between the two of them, Dunne and Clark, they got it sorted and it was only Blackburn on a poor day for them. The acid test will come on Wednesday if Mr H chooses to continue with Dunne and Clark as CB's.

The more I think about Delph making an appearance at left back the more I actually like the idea. Gareth Barry played his fair share of games at LB and for some that was a position they preferred him in. With the chances that Clark will have at CB and the LB job still open, Delph may be a good choice. One thing is certain, he won't be any worse than Warnock on a bad day. In fact given the skills that FD already has he will probably make an exceptional LB especially considering how important the transition game from defence to going forward is to GH's style of play. As another poster already has stated, the difference between a left sided midfielder and LB is not that great. Just as Kyle Walker and Downing are building a threat on the right, today we saw how Delph and Albrighton could do something equally successful on the left. If this is accomplished and there is no reason why it cannot be, we have a lot of good football to look forward to. My greatest wish for Delph is for him to fulfill the early promise he has shown and above all, stay healthy. Good luck to the lad. I really do like the way that GH thinks, especially when it comes to developing the younger players. Next on the agenda must be Barry Bannan. Can we download Pires' footballing vision into Barry?

When Baker went off in the 36th minute, how many of us would have selected Delph at LB? It was a brave move by Mr H and Delph didn't let himself or the team down. While obviously not a left back he played confidently and luckily t'rovers were not much of a threat. I think he might have had trouble with Salgado on another day where Blackburn might have shown up. I was pleased to see him back on the pitch although concerned that a wayward knock might put him back on the injured list. He came through with flying colours and showed no lack of confidence. It was good to see. On the bright side he seemed to avoid any further injury. It will be interesting to see whether he plays against Citeh on Wednesday.

Hare blazes over, hasn't changed . Thank Gawd

I think both Bent and Young look tired after their England game, which is why we are seeing Heskey.

With the pace we tried to play on a dodgy pitch in the first half, it's hard to tell if we are tiring or being sensible.

When Ollie's wife is poorly, They bugger off to Chorley, Mrs H knows Ollie's golf is quite insane. He can't make a shot She beats him quite a lot He's a loser and just a royal pain. 14 million quid ? for the adam kid He could be playing now for Liverpool. When you both go down You'll look like a clown But now your just a T *W*A*T and manic fool.

I have commented before about liking what I see in Makoun. While I like his one touch game, I hope he will/can vary that option to holding the ball and moving it as play dictates. If he plays one touch throughout the game it will make him easier to play in the eyes of defenders who may decide not to cover him man to man because they will stand off and wait to intercept balls as an alternative, which is what Hughes had Fulham doing in the second half of last week's game. That variation by Fulham gave Danny Murphy a little more penetration in the second half after we had dominated the first. Nevertheless, Makoun's style has made an impact and the pace and precision of his passes created more attacking options in the last couple of games. If Ashley can play as well as he did against Denmark, Makoun is going to be able to feed Ash and Bent some great opportunties. Makoun's pass to Downing was a gem. More like that please.

I have to agree with that. We will have to see how Bradley fits in also. I had wondered if GH would sub Stan with NRC around the 65 minute mark before Walkers goal so we will also have to wait and see if NRC gets a chance to play with JM soon. Since GH has indicated that he wants to rotate players, that could happen.

Yes, Mark Hughes had Danny Murphy and the midfield watching for those passes and doing eactly that using it to their advantage especially down our right side At that point bringing in Cuellar might have been a good option just after Walker had scored his goal. The other thing to do is to have Makoun be alert to the changes in the second halves of games, or now even the first half because more teams coaches will have spotted this adjustment. It may be a matter of Makoun mixing up his first touch passes with the option of holding the ball and working with Ashley and Downing to spread the oppositions midfield so they won't be able to close out the Makoun passes so easily.

Apart from his delightful one touch attacking passes, I did enjoy watching Makoun trying to explain to Lee Mason in French that Dempsey had his studs up and not the other way round and got the referee to ask the linesman what he saw. Judging from the expressions on the officials faces I don't think they understood one word and didn't realise that he Makoun wanted the linesman to reverse the decision of a foul against Makoun. Makoun's face was a picture of amazement when he got the yellow card and kudos to him for not letting it rattle his composure. I like Makoun's style of play. As time goes on and he gets used to the other players and gets used to the pace of the Prem and how the refs allow some tackles and not others, he is just going to get better. To be able to pick out an attacking pass before you even get the touch is a skill that few players have. That skill should also be able to work in reverse also, in that he ought to be able defensively track back and be in the right place to break down an attack. I am hoping that as he gets fitter and his language/understanding improves he will just get better and better. IMHO makoun has amplified the skills of both Ashley and Downing. Ashley in particular looks to be more dangerous with the extra space he gets going forward created by the rapid distribution from Makoun.

I think I would feel settled if I got my first wage packet of 60k ish and all I had to do was find a flat/house to rent and a bit of gentle jogging [knee injured for 2 more weeks] followed by a free seat to watch the arse play at St James. " Whay aye mun"

The proof for Ireland will be in the playing and since he is injured that may not happen straight away. The man has more doubts about him than Thomas doesn't he? We all know that a confident healthy Ireland can play football. Sadly we haven't seen that for various reasons in two years. I would love nothing better than have Ireland return to the player he was and come back to Villa and be successful. However, he puts obstacles and doubts in his own way and until he learns to stop doing that I even have my own doubts

Pacavelli, I beg to differ. Rooney's first goal could have been avoided if the Centre Backs, Collins and Dunne were positioned and ready to deal with a floated ball lofted forward to Rooney. If you watch the footage of the play you will see that Dunne was the only player back there apart from Friedel and Dunne almost fell over his own feet trying to react to the pass, I think it was from Vidic who kicked it from inside his own half!!!!! It was primary school defending IMHO. Yes, Rooney found his mojo and struck well, but the point I was making is that the goal was similar to the one that Germany scored against England where their goalie kicked a long high punt that bounced over the heads of our CB's for Mueller, or was it Osil to tuck away. Both goals worked so well it made me think that Rooney and co had practiced it, especially since Rooney saw that similar thing happen in the game vs Germany Every school boy playing the game in England is warned to watch out for those first minute trick plays and told not to be caught tying up your laces when the ref blows the starting whistle. I think that a better prepared defensive plan would have avoided that goal. I don't want to take anything away from Rooney, He played as well as I have seen him in a long while. I just think Dunne could have done better as indeed could Collins who was not anywhere close to being able to help out. Collins was caught flat footed a few times on Tuesday night. Friedel was caught in no mans land and Rooney put them 1-0 up with 88 minutes plus left to play. The game was won and lost almost before it even started

One can only wish that Milner could have been satisfied with the wages we were paying him. The thing that I like about Makoun is that not only is he a good footballer, potentially one of the best midfielders we have seen in claret and blue in a while, but according to GH he is here to play football and prove himself and money [at this stage] is not the most important thing to him. What a shame there aren't more Premier League players like that. In the Transfer Window I was very excited about Bent's arrival. For me anything else was gravy . I didn't raise my expectations about Makoun, probably because Berson was such a massive disappointment, followed by the Djemba twins. In the two games I have seen Makoun, I am a fan! I enjoyed how he could see his outlet pass even before he received the ball and with one touch created movement. In the Man U game, I can't help but feel if we hadn't given away that silly first minute goal while Rooney caught us tying up our laces, the game with Makoun's arrival may have been very different. Oh well, bring on Fulham.

I hope that he can make it with us. Every now and then though I wonder what will happen when Celtic or Rangers come calling, if they haven't already. I think he will be a better player than Shaun Maloney and of course he has already proven by the length of time he has been with us that he doesn't have to live with his family in Scotland.

That first minute goal reminded me a lot of the goal that Germany scored against England in the World Cup. In that game it was a goalkeepers long high bouncing kick that Germany put away. Was it Vidic that passed the long ball up and high to Rooney that caught our defence flat footed? It was such an elementary mistake that created that goal. Kudos to Rooney for striking it, but our defence was shockingly miserable and it put us on the back foot from the get go. The game was won and lost on that play IMHO. Rooney was so ready to pounce on that and given that he saw Germany do a similar thing I wondered whether Man U practice that play in training because it went like clockwork.

Makoun's performance today makes it entirely possible that we will be seeing Bradley fairly soon if he is fit and ready to play. Exciting prospect.

:shock: most of them to Villa players moving forward. What a concept !

We have got a gem in Makoun. He made himself available from defence and has an eye for the outlet pass and holds the ball and moves it well. He has a very nice first touch and reads the game very well. He had a good game tonight and lasted the pace very well. It was good to see us playing football from a defensive position instead of hoofing the ball away from our goal. We won't be playing many better than Man U this season. It is going to be interesting to see how Makoun's game helps us as he gets to understand what the other players are capable of doing.

I suppose that Ireland having seen Joey Barton's "renewal" at Toon thinks it might work for him. If Ireland thought driving down from Cheshire to Bodymoor Heath every other day was a pain, just wait until he has travelled across the pennines and up to toon town a few times in the snow and miserable rain. It'll make the trip to BMH look like a day out at Alton Towers..... wait a minute ......errrr... ummmm

You know when I read that I thought that of all the places for a player to go to get their heads straight toon town would be the last one I would choose but then it might just be the place for SI providing that Pardew will pay what he is worth.