aarvidsson

What is Joe Kinnear up to these days? Get him in!

Pep Clotet used to manage my hometown club, Halmstads BK in Sweden. He signed a couple of spanish players, tried to play 'attractive' football and failed. He got the sack and we got relegated.

I don't think we can be too hard on Lambert and the team. We've got 3 points from games against Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool and Newcastle. All of these teams have a squad and a first eleven that is better than ours. At the start of the season it was not unreasonable to believe that we could have been left with 3 points or less after these four games. I think much of the disappointment is down to the fact that we got off to such a great start and now we're left with a feeling of 'what could have been' if we'd beaten Liverpool or Newcastle. It would be more fair to judge Lambert and the team once we've played a few mid-table teams where we actually are favourites to win.

Bent just scored

1: Ending the season in the upper half of the table while playing some decent football. 2: A good run in either of the cups. 3: Our players keep progressing and developing.

Signing Luna will be one small step for our squad, one giant leap for our back four. Suffice to say, I'm over the moon with this signing.

Found this on the BBC, don't know if it has been posted yet.

Since I started following Villa in 2004-2005 Kiraly De La Cruz - Ridgewell - Hughes - Samuel Agathe - Osbourne - Djemba-Djemba - Berger?? Cole - Sutton Compared to: Guzan Cuellar - Mellberg - Laursen - Bouma Milner - Petrov - Barry - Young Benteke - Agbonlahor

After seeing the Newcastle game and bearing in mind what players we bought during the transfer window, I'm very optimistic about the rest of the season. I don't think we'll finish any higher than 10th, but we won't be relegated either. But where we finish doesn't really matter to me this season (aslong as we aren't relegated of course). What matters is that we have a young and hungry squad that is willing to put the effort in. And they'll only get better as time goes by. Last season it felt like we had a lot of players who really didn't want to be here. With Lambert in charge and with the signings he has made, that feeling is long gone!

Very sad news . Get well soon Stan.

I think we'll lose this one, but fingers crossed that we don't. My selection; --------------- Friedel ----------------- Cuellar - Collins - Dunne - Warnock --------------- Petrov ----------------- ------ Reo-Coker - Ireland ---------- - Young ------------------ Downing -- --------------- Gabby ----------------- If Ireland is still injured, I'd swap him for Carew and go 4-4-2.

That was horrible to watch. With the benefit of hindsight it was a terrible decision to play Ireland and Petrov against Barton, Nolan and Smith. They simply got run over. Should have swapped Albrighton/Downing for Reo-Coker and put Ireland to play behind the striker and put Young out on the left flank. This probably means the end of K. Macdonald, I don't think he can stay on as manager after this drubbing. But hopefully he says on as a coach. Friedel 2 L. Young 3 Clark 3 Dunne 3 Warnock 3 Petrov 4 Ireland 3 Albrighton 2 Downing 2 A. Young 4 Carew 2

A good result, should set us up nicely for the return leg. Albrighton played really well again. Reo-Coker and Guzan played well too, and Bannan had his moments.

I think MO'N will go for the following XI Guzan Beye Cuellar Clark Shorey Milner Delph NRC Bannan Carew Delfouneso

I'd drop Petrov or NRC depending on the opposition. For instance at home to a team which isn't superior to our side I'd have a midfield that consist of: Young - Barry - Petrov - Milner In my opinion Petrov is superior to NRC when it comes to picking out passes and keeping possession of the ball which we'll have against a "lesser" side at home. Away from home or when we are up against a team with a midfield that does really get stuck in I'd play NRC instead of Petrov since whoever wins the "midfield-battle" may go ahead and win the game. But currently both Petrov and NRC have played well enough not to be dropped so it would be harsh to drop any of the two. If you had to shoehorn in Milner without dropping Petrov or NRC I'd like us to try the following formation: ------------ Carew -------- Young Barry - NRC - Petrov - Milner On the paper I think it would work, with Young playing of Carew on the left hand side of the pitch allowing him to move out wide and swing crosses in while Barry can drop inside a bit if Young are out wide. NRC will play the anchor role which hopefully will free up Petrov to burst forward and assist the striker/winger.