danceoftheshamen

What about the Mirror? :shock: Surely has to be a far worse source than any of the above?!

Hi General! I did have an issue with tickets which i purchased for the Liverpool game through "viagogo" the ticket exchange site although happily this has now been resolved after several discussions with the club ticket office .. so rather than waste your time i have deleted this post! Many thanks to the ticket office for all their help in resolving this.

Just saw this: http://tinyurl.com/6ya97lg "Chelsea boss Carlo Ancelotti could be on his way to Aston Villa. The Italian has told friends he expects to be sacked - but also that he believes Roman Abramovich does not yet have anybody to replace him. Ancelotti, though, wants his future sorted immediately after Chelsea's final league match at Everton on Sunday. The People says last season's double-winning boss would like to stay in England and could even be a shock candidate for the Aston Villa job. He would be prepared to drop out of Champions League football if he found an English club with the right ambition. Villa boss Gerard Houllier will make a decision in the coming weeks whether to step down after last month's health scare." was on yahoo.. Sorry if already posted elswhere only just come on & not had a hunt about yet Interesting prospect though may of course be just press putting 2 & 2 together to get 10

Errmmmm???? Oh right ok the Emirates.. I don't see any top class players other than Bent SIGNED so far? Bent signed for Villa not Houllier and had Moyes, Coyle, MON or Fat Sam been in charge Bent still would have signed!!! Why do people talk about the pull of GH??? TOTAL MYTH and FANTASY!! Looking at the game yesterday why couldn't we have played this well for the rest of the season? We suddenly remembered how to defend? The players looked like they cared for once? So you don't think GH had anything to do with Bents signing? ....Odd! I don't think it's "FANTASY" either to assume that someone who has had as much success as GH in various countries has a bit more of a pull to players from overseas than a manager who has never won a trophy nor managed anywhere apart from the Premier League such as many of the names on the above list.

hmm.. bit torn really.. whilst on the one hand i would like to see how GH handled a full summer transfer window etc it's obvious he may well have to step down or whatever for His Health's sake.. I don't feel G mac, although he got a result today at Highbury, would be ideal at all as his replacement as we need someone who can attract top players here (which is why i like having GH here).. So that for me is a primary concern... "What pull does the candidate have in the transfer market"... Surely this has to be the case because lets face it we are not Top 4 at the moment, We havn't won a trophy for years & well we are not based in London or by the sunny seaside which also appears to appeal to many players.. It's for these reasons we need somebody who has a huge pull in the transfer market as we need to kind of compensate to work on a level playing field. Who? Well Moyes? Not for me.. doesn't have the clout internationally. Benitez? Possibly although i understand it would put a lot of noses out (not blue ones) Hughes? ditto Moyes. So for me it has to be someone like Van Gaal or Benitez..purely as we will need that pull for foreign players as we can't compete financially for just "best of British" players... O'neill tried it & look what happens.. as soon as they start to perform they're off to the highest bidder!

It's so refreshing to have a striker who other teams fear... He's lethal & i cannot remember a similar threat since maybe Dean Saunders, Gary Shaw & even before them Brian Little/Andy Gray..players of that calibre.. Now we need a midfield who can keep posession better & create more as second half against Arsenal i lost count of the times we could have broken or at least kept possesion in midfield to take the pressure off only to repeatedly give the ball straight back to the opposition. Also maybe back Bent up with another goal scorer as afterall what would happen if he got injured?! Then with a new defence & possibly manager we could be heading in the right direction Not that i ask much you understand!

Bit concerned at reports saying a decision will be made in mid June on GH's future... then we would surely have a period of searching/interviewing & guess what! the new season would be right on us again with little chance for the new guy to stamp his style or sell/buy players etc etc... Oh hang on! I get it ... It's groundhog day!

Just had a very bizarre thought!... If we do end up having to replace GH there is one name i havn't heard mentioned & he could well be avaliable if his contract was bought out & his current employers would probably jump at the chance... He seems to like Villa Park too & he already knows loads of our players & indeed has them gelling very well already on the international stage! ....................................................................................................................................Fabio Cappello! :shock:

The thing with foreign managers is, provided they have been successful in one of the main leagues on the continent, they seem to have more pull in the transfer market with regard to top foreign players (& English if you include Bent). So for me it's either poach a TOP British manager or get a big name foreign one such as the Bayern coach Gaal or whatever his name is. One thing that does concern me is that when we did have a "top" British manager in MON we seemed to struggle to attract good players here.

Surely you have to be in the Upper Holte to be in any danger from that :|

Seen enough.. Phil "Dowd i'll give any decisions to Villa" & no defence ..Nuff said! ..good luck all!

Yeah me!.. I dont even get the slightest bit interested let alone excited as some kind of pathetic lame effort of some sort is basically inevitable.

Well i have to say i was gonna go to this game until i saw that we had no defence & seeing the nonsense about the fallout on our supposed "team building" excursion. Sadly it appears my fears were very accurate that we would have a stinker. we need 10 points from 6 games discounting the Liverpool & Arsenal games as almost certain defeats. Well that would be a better points haul than from any 6 game period we have had this season so far as i can remember This season is possibly the worst i can remember for general crapness & the sooner it's over the better This was a must win game today & we are losing it... For me the next 45 minutes dictates our season ,, Turn it round & we will be fine.. lose it & i actually think we could well go down.. just a shame the players seem completely unaware of that.

It's absolutely shamefull.. All the focus will be on Ash missing a penalty today & indeed in our current position we really can ill afford missing penalties but even so had we been able to defend properly we would have still at least gotten a point today... Most likely all 3.. The problem is rife.. 2 goals per game against all flippin season is disgraceful.. For me we simply have to put Cuellar back in (When he's fit) as we simply concede less with him in... As it is even if we are 3-0 up (not that we ever are) i would still be petrified of losing the game as our defence is so poor.

So there we go!.. Yet another load of goals against (now after Bolton game) which was sadly very very predictable.. Even scoring 2 not enough & that makes it 6 goals against in 2 games.. Shocking! Worst defence i can ever remember in over 30 years

So at the time of writing we are about to face an in form Bolton side on their own patch with major defensive problems. Dunne now injured by all accounts for a month, Collins injured, Cuellar injured, Luke Young suffering some severe personal issue's, Warnock apparantly just rebelling against all things Villa ditto Beye! Well thats basically our entire defence from last season injured or wanting out?! Never have i experienced a season so littered with injuries to key players at key times.. I mean we are entering a critical & very difficult run of games against teams in & around us in the relegation scrap ... with no defence!! :shock: So with Dunne out for a month, Cuellar a week or 2 away & Collins touch & go by all accounts i am starting to get a touch concerned as this is coinciding with the run of games which were supposed to shoot us up the table... Not forgetting the last 2 games being against Liverpool & Arsenal away this really is a make or break situation for Aston Villa FC. Lets just hope we have found our scoring boots after the Blackburn game as i fear we are going to need them!

I cannot ever remember feeling quite so disinterested in a game as this.. As soon as i saw the line up & the attitude of Gabby in particular i lost interest in the game as it was clear we had gone out to lose it. I just feel sorry that many Villa fans have been tempted to the game under false pretences.

W T F? Do you know i actually thought that Blues lucky cup win may boost us tonight & then i saw the line up? I am sick to the back teeth of this half cocked football club throwing away good opprtunities in cup competitions. A quarter final against flipping Reading was at stake in this now i have to sit here embarrassed once again at watching & listening my beloved club being basically patronised & all but laughed at by the comentators on ITV as it is so clear that even after just 25 mins we are out of the cup AGAIN! I do not know any other club..not even lower league clubs who roll over so easily as this shamefull lot. Awful & now i am turning the rubbish off knowing full well we are out the cup before even half time :oops:

Well i think he is way ahead of the rest of our midfield already & it was his tackle which set up the move for the goal..Just as it was his quick pass which set up the move for our 1st against Fulham.. Bad tackle though it was at Bloomfield rd he didn't actually touch anybody by all accounts which is quite bizarre when you consider Young was flattened in their box & got nothing?! Then again Howard Webb clearly has issues with Villa as we found out in last seasons semi.. funny how he didn't send off Terry in that game for a vicious elbow?! ... Also strange how Eidur Gudjohnsen made an identical tackle to Makouns tonight against Chelsea but actually clattered the Chelsea player yet didn't even get booked?! 2 footed off the ground & straight down the guys thigh... Nope not even a yellow card!? Thing which annoys me is it was a much worse tackle than Makouns yet we lose our guy for 3 crucial fixtures whilst Fulham one of our closest rivals at present get away scott free!

Makoun was superb against Fulham.. barring 1 or 2 slight misunderstandings, which lets face it is unavoidable with any new signing coming in mid season, i thought he was a real breath of fresh air. His reading of the game was sharp & his distribution was classy.. i was sat right in line with his pass which set up the move which resulted in the 1st goal & it was sublime. Looking forward to seeing Bradley now. Would be great to see him play against Blackpool & outplay Adam!

Well for me GH is slowly starting to get his message across.. The MON thing has obviously been done to death but for me he built his side, nearly achieved something but bit by bit alienated the squad to the point he knew what was coming so did one at the best time for him.... worst though possible for the club! But as for GH i am very impressed thus far with his actions in the transfer market. Obviously there are no guarantees with Makoun but he does feel right for us somehow & as we all know we had an ongoing issue with Petrov's inability to last 90 mins etc.. Also very impressed with Walker on early signs.. So it's odd really .. i mean you can't blame GH for the ridiculous amount of injuries etc but you can for some badly thought out comments & actions re Liverpool etc... Neither can he help inheriting the squad he did of course & he is now doing something about it ..very well i might add! So for me he has my backing back as things stand & we simply need a stroke of luck, & a couple of wins to finally start our season.... it's a fine line though!

I agree with the comments about the late changes... It was clear we needed freshening up but then look what happened when he brought Albrighton on! Almost immediately he cost us a goal.. Ok he also created the equaliser but it maybe shows why GH was reluctant? Fantastic effort today & i think we were very very unlucky to concede 3 today as 1 was a "top 4 penalty" & 1 was a stupid mistake due to inexperience.. having said that they could have had another couple but then they are the champions on their own patch afterall! That should go some way to restoring confidence surely & was very reminiscent of the 4-4 a few years back so for me we looked something like back to our best.. Just hope Ashley & Gabby are not injured for Sunderland!

Yeah he said it was "debatable in fact possibly not a pen" at half time then had completely altered his opinion at the end saying it was "a deffo pen".....It was clear however from the replays that Collins was backed into by the Chelsea player who then threw himself on the floor in a ridiculous dive motion about a second after the challenge had been commited... This was pointed out to Wilkins who couldn't argue with it but said it was a Penalty "Because it was a silly challenge by Collins as it was giving Malouda an easy option to go down" Definately not a penalty for me & every one else except Wilkins & the biased official of course who had a severe case of top4itis as was proven by the "9 fouls each at half time but 1 Chelsea booking to Villa's 6 statistic! Again proof of top 4 bias in abundance in this match just as it was in the Man city game!

Well i predicted a 5-0 loss today... perhaps i was too conservative in my estimation :shock: I am going to put a bet on us getting relegated this season as we are by a country mile the worst team i have seen this year away from home & it's getting worse at VP too.. Shocking! :cry:

Well i predicted a 5-0 loss today... perhaps i was too conservative in my estimation :shock: I am going to put a bet on us getting relegated this season as we are by a country mile the worst team i have seen this year away from home & it's getting worse at VP too.. Shocking! :cry: