pete165

In what sense was he a "£3m player"? His club were asking £10m and were reluctant to sell. £9.5m was the price we had to pay if we wanted to get him. Nzogbia has never done anything in his career to suggest that he is any more than a very average £3m player didn't he play well enough to get in the france international squad?

Come on Villaaaaaaaaa!!!!!!!!!!!!! Get a goal!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We love you ASTON VILLA!!!!!!!!

bent anonymous really, poor display all round no standout performers going forwards just couldn't get hold of the game and boss it - probably because our midfield has zero quality in it

Gabby is absolutely flying

good pass in to gabby just now

He's giving away possession, kicking the ball all over the place and not participating well in defending although to be fair he keeps running all the way back to help the defence

ireland for delph, putting petrov back holding. that's what I'd like. albrighton for zog if no improvement - or even gabby up top, keep zog on and go albrighton for bent

far too deep, preventing us keeping the ball when we clear tiote dominating in midfield if ryan taylor keeps getting the space down the left to put a ball in, eventually it'll cost us - especially if someone like shola comes on for them.

what is abundantly clear here is that the simple presumption of Mcleish = boring football just isn't true.

newcastle look very lively and confident here far too much space given to cabaye there and could've scored

Absolutely ridiculous comments on this thread and in others on individual players. We weren't at the races today, played poorly and I'm quite sure that McLeish will say as much about that first half in particular. But we dug in, got a great away point in the circumstances and I'm quite sure we'll be better next time out. There's room for improvement but let's face it, we knew that anyway after losing so many players in the summer. We've got a weaker team than last year with kids like Delph finding their feet. Of course people like him will be inconsistent - he's barely played a handful of games in the league. Give them time. Some of the rubbish I've read today is listed below - just to highlight how much hyperbole some of the rest of us have to waft through to read anything intelligent: We are definitely one of the main relegation candidates As poor as I've ever seen us play We may as well loan Bent out Everton won't be allowed to look this good again this season. To be honest with you lads, we would have been better off sticking with Gary Mac Is there a worse possession team than us atm? Even Stoke can hold the ball better. delph is championship standard I thought having McLeish as manager would make us defensively sound? It seems that now we can't really defend

Young player in inconsistency shocker. He was MOTM as judged by lots of objective reporters only a game or so ago. He's had a shocker today in a poor performance all round. Give the guy a f***ing break.

guy on SSN said he's spoken to Spurs and Fulham have bid 4m for Hutton - NOT us.

Another excellent sensible signing by McLeish. Not only is Hutton younger than Young but he's much more natural going forward. He makes mistakes defensively but he's strong in the tackle and has pace. Can beat a man and attack with direct running. One massively underrated aspect of teams' attacking play is what their fullbacks do. It's one of the reasons we looked better going forwards when Walker arrived and why we sometimes lack creativity.

So he's going to replace Makoun, Downing and Luke Young before 11pm Wednesday? Righttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttt Not Downing of course! I meant Makoun. We SOLD Downing to get some money in and we probably aren't going to spend it. Just ACCEPT that - we DO NOT HAVE THE CASH. You might not like it but move on! The hope is clearly that with Gabby contributing more and adapting to play wide, Nzogbia is the replacement for Downing and Young combined - of course none of us like that, but we are CUTTING DOWN. Why can't people get that?!!!!! What I am saying is that the Makoun loan deal is being done to get someone else in. I'm referring to the quote from McLeish, "wouldn't let anybody go unless somebody came in" - which is bull as you've just explained It's not as simple as that. You don't just get the player in and then let Makoun go. Sometimes it's the other way round - as in this case. Just breathe and come back in three days to see who replaced him. Makoun, Ashley Young, Luke Young, Downing - that's 4 players, so far replaced with 1 and even if he's only looking to replace Makoun, it's highly unlikely that we'l sign somebody better than him with 3 days left in the window. Might not be his fault, we may not have any money, but surely it makes no sense to keep offloading players unless we can get better quality in. It isn't about someone better than Makoun - it's about who the manager wants and needs and where his priorities lie.

So he's going to replace Makoun, Downing and Luke Young before 11pm Wednesday? Righttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttt Not Downing of course! I meant Makoun. We SOLD Downing to get some money in and we probably aren't going to spend it. Just ACCEPT that - we DO NOT HAVE THE CASH. You might not like it but move on! The hope is clearly that with Gabby contributing more and adapting to play wide, Nzogbia is the replacement for Downing and Young combined - of course none of us like that, but we are CUTTING DOWN. Why can't people get that?!!!!! What I am saying is that the Makoun loan deal is being done to get someone else in. I'm referring to the quote from McLeish, "wouldn't let anybody go unless somebody came in" - which is bull as you've just explained It's not as simple as that. You don't just get the player in and then let Makoun go. Sometimes it's the other way round - as in this case. Just breathe and come back in three days to see who replaced him.

So he's going to replace Makoun, Downing and Luke Young before 11pm Wednesday? Righttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttt Not Downing of course! I meant Makoun. We SOLD Downing to get some money in and we probably aren't going to spend it. Just ACCEPT that - we DO NOT HAVE THE CASH. You might not like it but move on! The hope is clearly that with Gabby contributing more and adapting to play wide, Nzogbia is the replacement for Downing and Young combined - of course none of us like that, but we are CUTTING DOWN. Why can't people get that?!!!!! What I am saying is that the Makoun loan deal is being done to get someone else in.

Asked about Makoun possibly leaving Villa, McLeish admitted: "It's possible but we wouldn't let anybody go unless somebody came in." JUST BE **** PATIENT.

No, we'll use the loan money to get someone in on loan that McLeish thinks can do a job straight away, supporting the younger players.

Except we do, of course. We are playing 4-3-3 and have: for the midfield 3: -Petrov -Ireland -Delph -Bannan -Gardner -Clark can play there for the attacking 3: -Bent -Nzogbia -Gabby -Albrighton -Fonz -Heskey We're thin on the ground, but listen to me for a minute: THERE IS NO WAY IN THIS WORLD McLEISH WOULD HAVE LET YOUNG, HOGG AND MAKOUN GO WITHOUT HAVING PLAYERS READY TO BRING IN.

this actually makes me excited - if we need someone who's not physical and can just pass it, that player is bannan or ireland. What we need is a midfielder with experience and drive. If Makoun going allows us to get Hargreaves, Parker or similar, it's a good deal.

I think we need a little more perspective here - rather than to just see this potential transfer as McLeish getting rid of a 'ball player' in order to play worse football. That just doesn't make sense - especially as McLeish wants us to create more chances and to win more games! I was there when Makoun played so brilliantly against United and I appreciate his class, his passing, the picture in his head and how he makes us tick in a way that even someone like Berson would've done eventually - but sometimes you have to accept that players can have class and quality - often making them look infinitely superior to the so-called 'dross' we have - but aren't quite suited to our league. If Makoun's wages and those of Young are used to free up the money for the sort of player that McLeish thinks we need more urgently and who can do the job that he wants, I'm willing to give it a try.

Whooooooooooa There! Why all the negativity?!!!! Let's not all conform to the stereotype of Villa fans as dour, pessimistic and downbeat, shall we?!! REASONS TO BE CHEERFUL: -We're at home where (apart from a few times last season) we don't lose very often -We've started the season absolutely fine and there is absolutely zero negativity coming out of Villa Park from the players. Team spirit, etc all seems tremendous. -Wolves isn't the 'first test' - we were away at a Fulham side who were way ahead of us in fitness and got a point (yes, Given did well but we bossed the first 45 so it's swings and roundabouts) -We've got a pretty much fit squad -Our midfield isn't as weak as some people think -I believe in McLeish - there, I've said it. Wolves are on good form, no doubt. But we'll win this. And with reference to OnlyOne's rather hilarious post in this thread, I was so intrigued at what sort of person could post such negativity that I read two pages of your other collected posts. Blimey, mate, I think you need a holiday! It's not that bad, trust me!

McLeish certainly knows how to make an effective three substitutions: Beye cross, Weimann header down at the back post. Simple tap-in for The Fonz.

I assume you're meaning the fans.