El_Hierro

Distin, no question.

Yet Petrov was voted player of the season, and Delph has the potential to be ten times the player Barry is.

I think your signature is wrong, because although we haven't bought them, I think both Clark and Albrighton will play for us this season. You'll probably reply that "well, yeah obviously, seeing as we haven't bought enough quality we're going to have to rely on the youth" to which I'll respond I'm pretty sure you'd include Osbourne, Harewood and Salifou on your OUTS list if they were to be sold, yet imo Clark and Albrighton will play bigger parts this season than those three did last season, meaning I think you should include them in your INS list. 8) i'd counter with clark and albrighton were here last year AND its another MON choice not to play people then claim a small squad. :winkold: 8) Well, they were here, but they weren't first team material if you get my drift, and they WILL play this season, make no mistake, meaning we're effectively 2 up from last season with 3 weeks left of the window. I'm sorry for putting words in your mouth, btw, with regards to my previous post and reasoning, it just seemed an obvious assumption to make 8)

I think your signature is wrong, because although we haven't bought them, I think both Clark and Albrighton will play for us this season. You'll probably reply that "well, yeah obviously, seeing as we haven't bought enough quality we're going to have to rely on the youth" to which I'll respond I'm pretty sure you'd include Osbourne, Harewood and Salifou on your OUTS list if they were to be sold, yet imo Clark and Albrighton will play bigger parts this season than those three did last season, meaning I think you should include them in your INS list. 8)

Nah, for some reason it would feel like too much of a step back if you know what I mean. There are better players out there. Over to you, MON 8) Onwards and upwards!

Well, based on those arguments it seems as if you're not all that pleased and already made your mind up anyway so I'd say leave it to someone else, someone who wants it more. If it were me, I'd be the first to renew my ST every year.

Pretty certain it will be this one: --------------Friedel------------------ Beye - Cuellar - Davies - Shorey (Warnock if he signs) Milner - Reo-Coker - Petrov (Delph if Petrov is out) - Young -------Carew - Agbonlahor---------- Distin will be on the bench even if he signs in time imo. And I reckon Heskey's suspended?

And Carruthers wasn't mentioned in the squad Vital Oxford has put together, so I think we can safely assume that was a big bunch of bollocks.

Thought Ashley had his best game by a country mile in the final and probably won the Player of the Tournament on that performance alone. Payers of the Tournament for me were the usual suspects, the ones everyone seems to be picking, Guzan, Cuéllar, NRC and Albrighton. Oh, and a special mention to Lichaj as well, who I thought looked a little lost in the first few games, but could definitely walk away from the final with his head held high in my opinion. Generally a solid performance, a few mistakes and poor positioning as can be expected, but also some very good, important tackles, especially in the second half.

Oh, almost forgot. You can all thank me for the Peace Cup Win last night. Right before the penalties started I placed quite a hefty live bet on Juventus winning it. Quite expensive in the long run, but usually does the trick.

It really is a fantastic feeling isn't it? Friendly cup? Bah, to hell with that, you can see from the reaction of MON and the players AND the number of people on Villa Talk at the moment that this really matters to us. MON and Carew going bananas, fantastic pictures of our players celebrating. You'd think we've just won the Champions League. It's a trophy, a trophy that Juventus wanted or else they wouldn't be risking all those quality players. Fantastic for our young players, what a learning curve eh, fantastic for team spirit, and for our first teamers who know they have to perform to keep their place. And to think we've got Downing, Gabby, Milner, Petrov, Heskey, Young, Friedel, Delfouneso and perhaps 5 more players coming in. Fast forward 5 years and we'll be champions of the world!!! (All right I might have got slightly overboard with that last one.)

What a penalty from Lowry!

Someone wants to go home. :winkold:

Yes, if doing it 3 times inside 114 minutes counts as "World Class ball giver backer" I agree with you.

Good cross from Albrighton to Herd. That's it, I'm taking my shirt to the shop to get Albrighton on the back, good thing I didn't get a name first time around.

Excellent run by Nigel, then Albrighton nutmegging some Italian dude and a lovely pass to Young. Deservedly getting a pat on the back from NRC. And again lovely skill by Marky Mark. I love this team!! (Getting slightly carried away over a 0-0 result in a friendly I know.

Why hasn't Harewood been sold yet? :winkold:

I was wondering that. AB his initials were.

Guzan has to start against Wigan surely? What a hero!

Fantastic save Guzan!!

Get him off, no point risking anything.

Another perfectly weighted pass from NRC to Albrighton. You'd expect that from a footballer on this level of course, but then you'll get all the people saying he can't knock a simple pass.

I know. Sadly you'll get nowhere with this. I tried last season using stats from the Independent (and couting myself in certain games) showing NRC has a pass completion rate of around 80 percent over the course of a season, but people just don't want to listen, they've already made their mind up. Then it was suddenly the difficult passes he couldn't manage (which is partly correct of course), see but up until then (and still for some) he couldn't pass 2 yards, 5 yards, 10 yards, to save his life and so on and so forth. There's nothing NRC can do to change this.

Players of the tournament for me: Guzan, Cuellar, Reo-Coker and Albrighton. In no particular order.

I'm using the new streaming service on my betting account on Expekt.com. Quality picture, but lame commentary. Apparently we've got this guy called Leech playing right back for us (can't possibly be the correct pronunciation, can it, apologise if it is). In the middle of the game he started laughing out loud and now he's singing, thinking he's off air.