itdoesntmatterwhatthissay

He would be okay on the wing if we gave him anything to run onto or put the ball at his feet quickly, looks really pissed off with the lack of team passing ability, I just think he wants to be a part of everything going forward and playing with Gabby and Heskey is enough to drive anyone mad. Needed to come back and support but in reality he is a striker who loves going forward, whereas Heskey is a striker who would love to have the fitness to get forward.

I'd say leave him left back if needed and I think it is down to two things, injuries and timing. He is a ball winner, so in midfield is is going to be sticking in face to face tackles and getting involved in roughing up midfielders, as a left back he has to time many challenges as he really is the last line of defence, wingers are generally weaker which will help his confidence and also take a little less pressure of his recent injury. He seems to be comfortable on the ball and quick enough to get back so perhaps this new position is a way of settling him into the Premiership before allowing him room to link up midfield and attack? If he can stay injury free and improve his positioning while defending so that he doesn't have to slide every time I can see him playing a huge positive part in our future.

Needed someone like Young to play off and to or NRC to let him play a little and actually make the passes Petrov couldn't. Was stuck in a weird position and seemed to always have concerns over his defensive/positioning responsibilities. Felt really sorry for him as he worked his socks off and tried to make the game run in an incisive fashion. Hopefully he can play some more and we can allow him a little more time nearer the edge of the opposition box.

Ha agree with that too, Weimann is a very intelligent player and seems to be adding to his development with every game, nothing like a player who looks along the defensive line to see if he has a curved run opportunity; the shoulder is a great place to play off. Has Delfs determination to succeed something that has always been some sort of issue to the coaches or is that your perspective? Is his lack of loan determination the problem? I feel he is more of a solo player but in the right way, believes in himself and plays to score goals (bit like Bent) but then again all I have to judge is his body language in reserve and a hat full of first team appearances, must be something stopping him. Clearly you have a better insight than I.

Agreed, but is Heskey? Is Gabby? We are backing laboured players, Gabby has been used as a winger. Which in my mind leaves us with one up front, Delf isn't on loan so why doesn't he get time. Surely the point of a loan is to get games, my argument is give him some game time, especially when you are up against Blackburn and they are struggling with pace...

He never really put his foot through anything in a tackle and a broken foot has definitely played its part, many players go that way in many sports it is a good job he never relied on his 50/50 ball winning ability. Probably why we haven't seen him adopted as a central midfielder. He has been spectacular this year, and if he'd use that right foot a little more we may have had a better goal difference. Great outside of the foot usually sees him take a second touch but I think that lets too many defenders get back into position, I would like to see him chucking in balls with his right foot a little more than he currently does but he does make some great decisions. I think the goal against Blackburn shows he has grown in confidence and believes in his ability to shoot, seemingly trying that shot or cross a lot of the time. A few more games like this and we perhaps can see Capello gambling on his quality.....

Has anyone seen him in training? I am a little baffled at his lack of opportunities especially with an older striker coming on to run down the clock. He has a good start to goal ratio stats wise and I like the way he plays but I have never seen him in training, is he another case of a player not spectacular in training but a quality match player or is it due to not being ready? I just cant figure out why Hogg, Bannan, Albrighton, Lowry, Clark have all been thrown into the deep end in positions you need stability but up front where you have some luxuries on playing a less experienced player we have barely seen him feature. I can't see him starting tonight so lets hope we get through, a start against Reading should definitely be on the cards. Either way I hope he doesn't lose hope, he has great footwork, great intelligence on the pitch (much much more than Gabby), is quick. likes to shoot and gets upset with himself when he doesn't meet his own high standards... Physical ability, determination and character......not quite sure why these qualities are not on display just yet but lets hope he gets on sometime at 45mins and scores a couple in the second half, might be the only way he convinces the manager he is worth a punt.

Wow, surprised anyone had anything negative to say. I feel he has been a mini sensation, players look comfortable taking and receiving passes from him, he seems to create for himself a lot of time on the ball and has an awareness to move away from a tackle and into space. In his first game he definitely showed why he was a Champions League player but perhaps against Fulham he learned what the Premiership was about, he spent much of his awkward time trying to find a quick forward pass when sometimes it would have been better to shield or take a touch, this will come for sure but his intelligence on the pitch, energy before 75mins, and comfort in his technique means we have a really good player. The boy can tackle too, not being at full fitness always hampers players from getting truly stuck in, nobody wants to see him get a red just yet....though perhaps at the weekend he could slide tackle his way toward Holloway.

Seems the Bent transfer has got him all excited, future remains bright.

Brilliant signing, really happy about this. Okay the money is high but Spurs bought and sold him at a high price because he does score goals and so carries a certain value. Sunderland got good money, and we may have ended 10 years of frustration, welcome to Villa Park Mr Bent, enjoy your stay!

He is making some valid points but he has changed his tune a few times, he is essentially right, we have a few issues that needs attention, defence for sure. Still a tool lol

I think he lacked a lot of confidence after a miserable summer and pre-season, his touch looks sharper again so perhaps he feels a more physically complete player after bulking up. Lets hope he gets games as soon as possible, a striker that likes to shoot and run at defenders, yes bloody please!!!!

I like him and would want to keep him but we may have spent a decent amount of late. I think the fact is we have shifted pointless big wage earners, which was probably the MON/Lerner gripe, and now we can continue to look at other players with true quality. Downing is great and I do hope he stays but maybe with Albrighton, Gabby, Bannan and Young all offering wing options we may recoup a large fee and cover our @sses in terms of quality. Not a time to sell but who knows.

Few years too late, and a fee that would make Benzema within our grasp (perhaps not wages) but my lord do we need a goal scorer and he is exactly that. Great purchase if it goes through and I hope the club sorts it out as quickly as possible. Skysports are reporting that we need to put in £20m plus for him, I guess that is the rising clause, still, they are doing a good job at encouraging the price up and talking bollocks about a 'new world order', tits. Young is going to go for £50m, happy days.

I like him, not necessarily his ability on the ball but his positioning on the pitch. So many strikers are bought for their pace or power but rarely do we see an intelligent player allowed to develop at the top level, games will simply improve their understanding of the game but we see players like Gabby preferred. Weimann watches the game and attempts to stay on the shoulder of the last defender, a gain in place can come but a gain in a yard due to finding an arced run is something special. He looks for that, hits a ball early and doesn't seem scared of sticking to his game plan even if it doesn't work, I think he has potential and he seems to be at the right club to develop. Okay he has shown his talents at reserve level but you can always spot a player with the brains for the game.

The league says not but I can't help feeling we have been unlucky and squad quality has been shown up. Warnock has been awful, Collins looks like he cannot read a sign let along a game, Cuellar is a last ditch tackler who needs a brain to play alongside, we have Collins or Dunne, Lichaj has a hell of a lot to learn and we have a central midfield decimated by injury, arguably the position that has the biggest influence on defence and attack. We all know our striker issues and this squad issues has been coming, I am sure a MON team would have shown more heart and perhaps more points but I feel the way Houllier has handled the team shows an understanding of our deeper lying problems and this has had to impact on the point total. Yes we should have a few more points but also we need to start putting in crosses and looking dangerous even if we are not, it will create chances. This is not all down to managerial tactics, it is down to only having one player (Albrighton) who consistently puts in an early ball and others who dwell on ball. Its a crap position to be in...roll on January.

Yeah he was, they brought on midfielders so he didn't get a chance to get on, missed a sitter in the game before and has been looking out of sorts since the under 19s tournament but hopefully he will get his form back, just needs to get his first touch working again as it is looking very heavy at the minute. It is Stoke, thats was probably why he took Heskey, funny though as soon as we switched to the physical game we were humiliated

Had a crap pre-season but then Delf probably doesn't rate KMAC as a Premiership manager, and he would be bang right.

Good times, the Phil Brown winking nightmares can stop.

Well it is all a little underwhelming but the positives are potentially huge. I think almost every person has had something negative to say about the current International scouting setup, or lack of one and at least Houllier would give us a basis for contact abroad, something we clearly need. Liverpool didn't exactly set the world on fire under his stewardship but then they haven't for years. He would be full of fresh ideas and we need something new, the beautiful game rarely features at VP and he does like teams to keep the ball. Best of a media reported bad bunch? Perhaps so, but I'd have hunted him down myself if someone like Brown was the main candidate. He has been out of the game for a while and some could say so has his transfer acumen, still we have a solid outfit and some gambles are definitely what we need, whether he is the one who could turn that into success only the board will decide, but lets hope Hitzfeld sees a few Villa players on Tuesday and fancies winning another European Cup.

I would too, Petrov needs a kick up the arse every now and again, never a bad thing if Reo comes in and we play a different game but I do worry as you stated that tactically we will remain naive.

Nail, head, future, uncertain.

Why he passes like an 8 year old who learnt to kick a ball properly a year ago I'll never know but for sure I am a fan. He works so hard, pressurises everyone and stops teams playing through us, every now and again he gets his passing right. Unfortunately unless we play 5 in the middle there doesn't seem much chance for him in the long term and that is unfair on him. Not the greatest scenario for club or player.

I have to say I am a little baffled with the way we have conducted ourselves since MON left, those reasons have not been disclosed but part of me is unsure whether something is awry at VP. For sure getting the right man is important and we need a real chance at rebuilding but with the way the last few weeks have unfurled is money the issue here or is it the perfect manager? Macdonald is in contention, well deserved I might add, but if he gets the job I will end up particularly disappointed with the club, it will feel like he was set as caretaker until the window closed and the dust settled. We save a lot of money, make some, and pay the new manager a lot less. Heskey is staying, Sidwell is here, Beye is still being paid and we definitely need some quality players.....if I was MON and thought this might happen I would leave too, its not like it is going to cause him any issues finding a job. I am worried that we will be fighting it out with the dingles for the top half and Blues will sit happily above us, we have shown very little ambition this window and loan players are not usually a huge gamble unlike playing Heskey or Sidwell. Now I understand you can't buy players for unknown managers, though not many would complain at Keane or Hleb, but some sort of direction was needed before the window shut, you used to have a chance of winning things with kids but we just need to hope ours keep us afloat, a job they shouldn't really be put to task over. This is just a different point of view, until I had this thought I was behind the club finding the right man and very frustrated at the situation MON put us in. Since then any manager who would want to keep Heskey and other fringe players (especially ones on such high wages, hell some of the 1st team are on silly money) isn't one I particularly want for the club, and the statement from Faulkner worried me hugely, either we asked some foreign coaches and they said no or we just don't place their value particularly highly when compared to a manager with Premiership experience. Well that is madness and makes me think of Doug, I hope that they all said no and we are covering our humiliation or we are pulling out all the stops to grab someone like Moyes. The Premiership experience also rules out some lower league potentials which I think is a mistake too, we should definitely hear from them too. I for one will turn up less if I feel we have gone backward but of course we are a club that has acted smartly enough throughout Randy and MON's stewardship, one of those has gone, one we already knew had quality, now Randy needs to look at this as his big decision and I just hope he does not shirk from creating something special at VP instead of following standard procedures.

So what do we think? Save money and go for Lee Clark, Sean O'Driscoll or Paulo Sousa or pay Jol etc what MON was on? At least the Americans or Ralf Rangnick might only command a medium wage... Still trying to work out how much doom and gloom we are in, my friend thinks we should just go with Cowans and play Siegrist, Lichaj, Davies, Warnock, Clarke. Young, Albrighton, Delph (Bannan), Downing, Gabby and Delf and make sure we dont go down. Funny lad..... Javier Aguirre, interesting call, forgot all about him.