GaztonVilla

With contract negotiations pending, I would not expect him to be quite so equivocal about the situation. He knows he's in a position of strength so it would weaken his bargaining position if he said that. In fact, I'd be stunned if he said as much. You seem to be banging on about the club wanting rid of him. Are you suggesting that a decision has been made already to get shot for as much as possible?

excellent. Not exactly firm committment there to staying with us. Bye bye James. AT least as fans we had a glimpse of the future for a short time The only thing we can do now is get the best possible deal for us. I'd Take Tevez and Ireland please or 30M and Ireland Ok, devils advocate time.. What would you like him to have said?

He might not get asked. The FA's media officer might brief the press pack not to ask about that and they're likely to comply. Capello will obviously take a dim view of any transfer shenanigans getting in the way of WC preparations.

He did indeed, a long with Young, Downing other good signings. How about signing players to use in squad rotation, players he trusts, that going to happen with all this money from Milner? I imagine that will happen.. Like I've said above, Barry left but only when it was on MON's terms. I anticipate if Milner leaves it will be similarly on his terms. Barry's departure didn't set us back as it allowed/prompted MON to improve the team as a unit. I expect a similar outcome if Milner goes.

What if Randy thinks what is best is taking 30 or 40M, clearing some debts and funding our summer transfer spending? Then if thats what Randy thinks and MON agrees, I'm all for it.

Agreed. So how can we get there and so give ourselves an advantage of warding off potential suitors when we sell our better players? I would say by doing what we did when we lost Barry.. Improve the team as a unit. Barry was seen by many/most as our most important/influential player. Moving Milner into the middle, signing Downing and improving our defence has made us (in my opinion) a better team as a unit. I would imagine that something similar would happen if we lost Milner.

I would hope that, by now, Villa have had some indication from Milner as to his intentions. Maybe not a definitive "I'm staying" but if he's still keen on a new deal with us I hope we know about it. Also, if he's been cagey about it or indicated he'd prefer another club over City (either direct from his own mouth or through his PFA Rep) then I hope MON and Randy have started plans for his replacement; plans that will come to fruition before any sale of Milner.

Spot the deliberate error?

Quote me on this if you want.. I think Kevin Doyle would be our highest goalscorer next season if he joined us. And if he leaves Wolves to go another, higher placed, club I think he'll be knocking on the 20 goals door.

What happened to @JamesCollins29 ??

From the outside looking in, as an Irishman living in the UK... IMO, by virtue that no party reached the target of 326 seats, there was no "winner" of this election. Yes, the Conservatives got a greater share of the seats which, to me, shows them to be the electorate's "least worst" option. For the Conservatives to claim that Labour lost the election seems a bit disingenuous. To have a loser you must, logically, have a winner. To claim that Gordon Brown lacks legitimacy and was right to resign having failed to get the majority required, surely Cameron should face the same fate? To then say that the Liberal Democrats should either enter into a coalition with the Conservatives or provide them with support for a minority government seems to be moving the goalposts somewhat. The parliamentary system dictates, in very simple terms, that any party or man which commands the support of 50% + 1 commons seats forms the government. If Labour and the Liberal Democrats can do that with the support of other parties, then so be it. If the Conservatives can do it with the support of any other combination, then so be it as well. I find it distasteful that the Conservatives are throwing their toys out of the pram because the Liberal Democrats won't dilute their ideology enough to support a Cameron government. Voters of the Lib Dems voted for a specific set of Lib Dem policies (I would like to think so anyway. The anti-Lab anti-Con argument is hard to prove) and therefore the Lib Dems have a responsibility to attempt to form a government which will provide a legislative agenda as close as is possible to their manifesto. If Clegg can get 75% of his manifesto by supporting a Labour-led coalition, surely that is better to his voters and MPs than getting 50% from a Conservative-led coalition?

I would argue definitely worth it Si... On another note, I got the annoying "plug into iTunes" logo on my iPhone the other day. Plugged it in and was forced to upgrade to 3.1.3 and ended up losing all my jailbreaking... AAARGH!!

Just thought I'd ask was anybody else as surprised as me at Emile's burst of pace to run on to that chance he nearly chipped over Hart?

Why do they have an international goalkeeper in their squad if they aren't going to use him in a situation like this?

I only quoted this section of your post because it is the section that I know, without doubt, to be wrong. I believe the rest to be wrong but don't know it. MON wanted to sign Dunne during his time at Celtic. He tried to sign Dunne as part of the Barry deal but was knocked back by Hughes and Cook. I'm not sure if I was "ITK" on this deal but, if you read the Dunne transfer thread, you'll see that I had contact with someone on the inside. MON's been after Richard Dunne for a long long time and, luckily, he finally got his man back in August.

Amen to that sir.. Some of our one-touch passing in the first half was a joy to watch and definitely showed a level of confidence that I was not expecting. None more deserving of applause than Stan Petrov who, I thought, controlled the game excellently today and "looked after" Fabian Delph when needed. Man of the match, for me.

You shouldn't comment on formations if you weren't watching the match, should you? We started with 4-5-1. We started the 2nd half, trailing 2-1, and switched to 4-4-2 in an attempt to get a point, or more. Now whats that you said about intelligent?

You'll be pleased to know that MON didn't use tiredness as an excuse in this post match interview today. Now can we all please calm down or do we need a WAAAAAAAAmbulance?

He didn't play Downing or Heskey today. Milner, Dunne, Petrov and Collins all played, there's no arguing with that. But here's a question. Take them out of the team today, who do you put in?

The same James Milner who managed to run the length of the pitch in the 90th min vs Wigan and had people on here and in the media wondering where he gets his energy from?? Mate, you're clearly very wound up and I can understand why. May I suggest you walk away from the computer for a couple of hours? Your blood pressure will thank you later.

Thanks Rich. The events of the last few months have taught me the truth in the statement "it's just a game". I'm gutted by the result, don't get me wrong, but I won't be getting too exercised by the whole thing.

I'm pretty sure your tongue is lodged in your cheek when you type that, but I think there's some truth in what you said. So many times I've seen Carlos come in from right-back and make a block or clearance or do something which cleans up the mess made by Collins or Dunne in the middle. While he undoubtedly has his limitations at right back, I firmly believe (and have done for many months) that his selection at right back contributed more to the team (and the defence) than we missed by not having Luke Young at right back.

May I suggest that this thread gets locked down for 24 hours?

Not a lot to say really. I did, however, think Sidwell was our best player today. But being the winner of the day's "Tallest Dwarf" competition isn't a huge honour. Friedel looked like he couldn't be arsed any more by the end. Luke Young looked knackered after 20 minutes and his concentration went from that point. Warnock was below average. Collins and Dunne were clumsy in the extreme. Ashley Young put in one good cross for the goal. Apart from that, didn't really offer much. James Milner had the first touch of a rapist all day. Petrov was a rabbit in the headlights. Sidwell put himself about well and, like I said, was our tallest dwarf today. Gabby ran about a bit but looked heavy. John Carew got a nice goal and tried his best to do the lone striker job, but Chelsea's centre backs enjoyed nicking the ball off him whenever he tried to hold it up. One of two things will happen now. The team will feel sorry for themselves, blame as many external factors as they possibly can, curl up and die. Or else they will look at themselves in a realistic and critical light and seek redemption in the remaining games. I hope they choose the latter.

We did. And in an attempt to rescue a point, even win the game, MON reverted to 4-4-2 in the 2nd half.