Ooh-Ah

completely agree. Yeah that'd be great. People are very critical of the Europa League but I'd love to see how differently they'd treat it if Sky had the rights to it. Seriously, I guarantee you if Sky had the rights they'd hype it up so much fans of clubs like Everton, Villa, Liverpool etc. wouldn't be so quick to look down their noses at it.

Trying.......................................... not............................. to.................. bite.........................

I really don't think that'd piss the whole fan base off.

What specifically is contained in those photographs that prevent Stephen Ireland from being captain material? I'd also like to know the answer to this question. Not exactly setting a good example as captain is he? Ireland should be nowhere near captain anyway. Too many controversies in his career. He is just not captain material on the pitch anyway. Can you imagine Ireland being captain over experienced pros like Dunne and Collins. What by posing for a photo showing off his abs with his buddies? The shisha pipe thing was ill-advised but it was a once off and no one would have known about it if his girlfriend didn't put it up on Twitter. People keep going on about these "controversies" without stating what they are. Why is that I wonder? Is it because they don't exist? The only thing I can think of is the fake grandmothers incident which he explained by saying his girlfriend had a miscarriage. If that's true, and we have no reason to doubt it, then I think he can be excused for dealing with the situation so badly. As for his refusal to play for Ireland (which as an Irish supporter irks me greatly), it has been suggested that he was getting stick over his hair plugs and the other players actually held him down and forcibly removed them from his head. Again, if this is true I don't think he can be too harshly criticised for deciding to stay away from the setup. I think it's more than a little ironic that the experienced pros you've cited as preferable candidates, Dunne and Collins, are both known to be fond of pint or ten, and allegedly brought a crate of beer on to the bus while on a mid-season team bonding trip, and then proceeded to get involved in a drunken shouting match with the coaching staff. Collins supposedly smokes cigarettes (not a shisha pipe) every day (not once on a night out with his girlfriend) and as recently as last season was involved in a drunken brawl at a Birmingham night spot. I don't mean this to be an attack on Dunne and Collins, I actually quite like them both and would love it if they could get back to the form they showed in MON's final season (I know that won't happen), but it angers me the way people have a set opinion of Stephen Ireland and refuse to change their mind. He was our best player last season and I think it's about time Villa fans give him a break.

What specifically is contained in those photographs that prevent Stephen Ireland from being captain material? I'd also like to know the answer to this question.

Where is CI and what have you done with him?

No, that's a different bloke altogether. Come on BOF stop being a Na... Never mind.

I suppose it doesn't matter too much but Bent isn't great at interviews. He speaks quite quickly. Undoubtedly a nice guy though. Ireland isn't especially confident in front of the mic either. The Cork accent doesn't help. (I'm allowed to say that because I come from a county with a similarly hilarious accent.) On the other hand, Dunne and Given come across very well in interviews. Given is actually very articulate. I can't imagine any of our players giving a rousing speech in the dressing room, aside from maybe Given or Collins.

I think I'm right in saying it was his girlfriend that posted that image on Twitter. So what? Fans and the media will comment on everything. Do you really think people within football will look down on us because our captain smoked a shisha pipe ONCE (as far as we know)? Roy Keane, one of the greatest captains of the PL era, intentionally ended a fellow professional's career. John Terry, universally lauded as a great captain, cheated on his wife with a teammate's ex and is currently on trial for racially abusing an opponent. Smoking a shisha pipe isn't a big deal anyway but it pales into insignificance when compared with the despicable things some footballers get up to. Such as?

Ireland's a good shout. He looked committed last season and I think he'd relish the added responsibility. This "bad attitude" tag is completely unfair. What has he ever done? Smoked a shisha pipe? Turned down the chance to play for his country? He's an unusual character but it's not like he's ever been involved in a drunken brawl or gotten three girls pregnant at the one time or got his lad out on a webcam.

This wins the "VillaTalk most inaccurate post of the week" Award. Congratulations Which bit was wrong ? Well, he DID win everything in the air. Did you not watch the Italy game? It was the only time we ever held onto the ball, when it went high to Carroll. Italy didn't even bother to challenge towards the end of the match because he was winning everything. And that was a fantastic header. I by no means think Carroll is amazing, or even very good. But the part of your post I've quoted is just plain wrong. Imo of course. Not sure if I'd agree with you about England holding on to the ball thanks to Carroll (although I realise that relative to their general play you're right). He might have won a few headers but every time he took the ball down and tried to play it he gave it away. Frankly if I was an Italian defender I'd be thinking to myself, "Why risk making myself look like a mug by challenging him for the header? Let him take it down and we'll have the ball back in two seconds anyway." I wouldn't disagree with you about how powerful he is in the air but are people not worried about how his presence would affect our style of play? Personally I think he's a very average player and I really don't want to see him at VP.

I think it was Andy Marshall Yeah I think you're right actually. Cheers.

Who was the other guy who went over to Stan with Collins? I honestly can't believe that people are criticising the players for not all going over to him. It's an incredibly difficult situation and I'm sure a lot of them were very emotional themselves. If I was Stan in that position, I'd rather be given a moment to compose myself rather than be surrounded by people asking if I was okay. He's not crying because he's missed a penalty, or because he's lost a cup final, and he's not a fourteen-year-old girl crying about a boy. None of us know Stan personally, none of us know the players or staff personally, and none of us know how any of them are coping with the whole thing behind closed doors. I think it's pathetic that people are so eager to jump on the players' backs based on 30 seconds of footage. edit: Not to mention the fact that there's a camera in the room.

Ssssshhhhh.

My favourite Villa story, and the only time I'll ever claim to be ITK: My friend is a footballer and his agent is friends with John Robertson. Within a week of signing Reo-Coker, MON came to the conclusion that our Nigel was his worst ever signing - he couldn't pass the ball five yards. That's some top class scouting right there.

IIRC we were a bit unlucky in the game in question. We conceded early and again just before half-time but all in all I think we really put it up to them. Albrighton almost scored at 2-1 and even when we went 3-1 down we pushed on; Young hit the bar etc. As far as performances at Old Trafford go I'd say it was probably one of our best in around twenty years, which isn't saying much I know but losing doesn't mean it's impossible for one of our players to have a particularly impressive game. Makoun played well in this game and also did okay in others. In general I think he deserves another chance here.

How could I forget Zat Knight? Christ. I was also going to say 'How could I forget Nicky Shorey?' but, you know...

Yep, it's possible when all is said and done, that Lambert will make O'Neill look like a complete idiot in terms of player acquisitions. That wouldn't be hard. All he has to do is NOT sign Emile Heskey or Marlon Harewood. Or Didier Agathe. Or Chris Sutton. Or Stephen Warnock. Or (excuse my blasphemy) Moustapha Salifou. To be fair to MON, Young and Milner were excellent signings. As were Dunne and Collins (at least while MON was here), and swapping Baros for Carew was an incredible bit of business.

"Rock the casbah" would be funnier in my opinion. I suppose we'll have to wait and see what happens on match day.

Great to see such an outpouring of pedantry. I've just seen that video on the OS and he pronounces it El A-maddy. Maybe he's anglicising it just for us? That's nice of him.

Just a spot of pedantry: I'm assuming his name is pronounced 'El Akh-madi', with that 'kh' sound that you only seem to hear in Arabic, Irish and when someone is clearing their throat? ed: or in German ('ich' etc.)

I had to Google 'throstle' and was surprised to discover that it's a 'machine for continuously spinning wool or cotton'. Then I thought to myself, 'Who the devil has one of those on their crest?' Then I found out that a throstle is also a bird, and that West Brom not only have a throstle on their badge but they also used to be called 'The Throstles'. Then I came back here to report on my findings. Quite an adventure.

3m 43sec........... SIGN HIM UP!!!!!!

I'd take Milner back, even though he was HORRENDOUS in the Euros. I'm surprised people are saying they'd take Barry back. I think he's a very good player, and he was particularly impressive for City during the latter stages of last season, but have people really forgiven him? I know it's a moot point anyway because if he did leave City, he'd easily find a CL club willing to take him on but I can't say the idea sits too comfortably with me. Cahill's a no-brainer. And I always liked Reo-Coker. He didn't get a fair crack of it under MON but when he got his chance his attitude was always impeccable. We could have done with him last season although I'd like to think we could attract far better players in our current position.