danceoftheshamen

Well a guy i met on the tube reckons it's a done deal for David Bentley with Ashley Young set to finally seal his move to Spurs in return! ...Can't wait for that old monkey to start swinging from the trees again!! On a serious note i would be happy with the creative midfielder we have been lacking for years, 2 new strikers to replace Harewood & Carew if he goes or a new player of some kind to replace Heskey (As i don't know what to class him as coz it most certainly ain't a striker ) Also i think we will be needing a new Keeper soon (Ben Foster?) too as Guzan is still very inexperienced & Friedel surely hasn't got that long left? A new right back as L Young appears to be on his way. Players i would like to see... & i am trying to be realistic Stephen Ireland - interesting prospect! Apparantly Mad but also could help us find a plan B? Craig Bellamy - Guarantees goals & him & Gabby with their pace would scare the life out of any defence. Also Gabby could learn from him. Also has played successfully with S Ireland with great effect. Ben Foster - Wants regular footie so could be avaliable & appears to be maturing somewhat? We clearly need more if we lose anyone!

Well have to say i have enjoyed our season!.......................AWAY FROM HOME! As for the home form well..........SHIT! Relegation form at home most of the season very disappointing. Away from home title winning form..... Enough said! Awful display today YET again at Villa Park! Losing to a really poor Blackburn side... Shocking :shock:

Cadbury's? New American owned don't forget?!!

Well said!! ^^^ They always pull the same manouvre's don't they the "Top 3" clubs & it most certainly ain't rocket science!!! If one of the teams in the 5th to 10th region starts to close in .. poach their best player! Result=they get stronger we get weaker & they remove the threat! Just does your head in that the players always see the sparkly lights get impatient for success NOW & do one! It causes most of the "treading water" effect & is the primary reason it is so hard to break into that group. Wayne Rooney, Dwight Yorke, Gareth Barry & i am sure many more have all been down a similar path though happily Martin is well aware that this is a major factor that needs to be halted if we are to keep progressing as we saw with his insistance on Barry not going to Liverpool when they were trying every dirty trick in the book to get him... & look at the result... He didn't go & they won't finish in the top 4 for the 1st time in ages!

Out of that 4 Dunne but if i could chose a defensive signing it would be Brede Hangeland from Fulham

Hi General! Thanks for your swift response regarding the "Colour" idea. I did not actually mean to change our strip at all because as you rightly state that is of course sacred & could never be changed. Well certainly not the home strip at any rate although something could possibly be done with the away strip. For example in the therapy world turquoise neutralises the subconcious effects of red so when playing at an away ground where the home team plays in red this could be used in the strip along with a claret & blue trim in some way possibly? In the main however i was thinking of some changes in places like the home & away dressing rooms which i believe are currently done out in white. Lets suppose the home dressing room was done out in a colour which would boost confidence & energy levels for example orange & the away dressing room the opposite such as grey? You never know it may just make a difference?

Hi General, I have what is probably a quite unusual question/idea for you regarding colour & it's usage at Villa Park especially on match days. For many years a family member of mine has been a fully trained Colour Therapist & during that time i have often asked whether there would be any advantage/disadvantage to be gained/given on a match day which could help in any way my beloved Aston Villa gain any sort of help re their performance. As we all know the dividing line between winning & losing is wafer thin & the difference between a confident team & one which lacks that confidence is significant for example. So where does colour fit into this you may well ask!? Well colour actually changes attitude, positivity, energy levels, fear & most other human emotions/feelings. There is much evidence of this too... A few years ago there was an infamous story which came about when Man Utd decided to wear a grey away strip.. Well every single time they wore it they lost.. sometimes pretty badly & indeed the players said it felt like they just had no energy & they actually blamed the kit which was never worn again & the problem immediately disappeared. Well the colour Grey in the therapy world would fit into this event perfectly as it is the colour for "Neutral" & would indeed have the effect of draining (Or neutralising) everything.... Energy, positivity etc etc.. Also the strongest colour is red. This is very interesting as if you look at world football most of the successfull teams wear ... red! Manchester United... Red Liverpool ....Red Arsenal...Red Bayern Munich... Red Ac Milan... Red/Black etc etc.. The reason for this could be 2 fold. 1. If you wear red it invigorates you, boosts you energy level & confidence & also makes you feel more aggressive.. All very good attributes needed to win a football match. 2. If you are playing a team who wear red it would subconciously make you feel inferior & dominated & also sap your belief & confidence! SO IS IT ANY WONDER THE MOST SUCCESSFULL TEAMS WEAR RED?!! In fact England wore thier red strip when they won the World Cup in 1966!! Obviously it guarantees nothing but i think history shows there is an apparent "tipping of the scales" towards teams in red! Of course Villa play in Claret & blue & that could never change, well at home at least. So how might this be used to Villa's advantage? Well General i would not put the answers on a public site as the only team i would want to benefit would of course be Villa Lol.. But i do think there are a some very interesting possibilities which may be of interest?

Can't believe so many still actually doubt it! I think it's a refusal to see the obvious as it tends to shatter one's vision of the game.. Does it happen.. well look at the evidence there's enough of it there.. Blimey it's almost every time a top 4 side plays especially in the business end of the season like now!! & lets just take a sample look at Chelsea's last 3 games... Blatantly offside goal wins the game at Old Trafford then they escape a stone wall penalty at Wembley against us as well as at least 1 clear cut sending off probably 2 with Deco...Then on Tuesday they get slaughtered by Bolton & have another 2 Penalties not given against them!! It goes on & on & on! We would be lucky to get that many decisions go for us in a whole season!!! As for the arguments that it's "confidence" or "Fear" or "taking the easy option" i could understand 1 or 2 having the occasional "soft" moment as that is human nature BUT these are highly trained proffesional people & it could never explain the things which happen on such a huge scale! They would have to be the most weak willed cowardly fools ever to allow such a vast amount of poor decisions as well as be pretty darned thick! .. I am sorry but i just don't see that... They are Premier League, & some Fifa sanctioned referees so are you telling me they get employed by the best in the business with all those glaring weaknesses?..... It would be like employing a coach driver who can't see hear & is too scared to go out on the main road!!!

Again with the Downing bashing.. I don't get it? Was there really that many challenges that he pulled out of or didn't go for? As far as I could see, from the Holte, Downing played well and didn't shy away from any challenges.. I like Downing, but I have to agree with the other poster, he does tend to bottle it when it comes to a 50/50. I think it's since his serious injury.. Psychological scarring?

The game typified our form since christmas for me.. very predictable forward play which works well & creates goals IF THE DELIVERY IS GOOD. As it is it has been pretty atrocious lately from A Young & Downing in particular. Then i never rated Downing anyway & always got really frustrated at his poor crossing in the England games he used to be in. Another thing is why oh why does Cuellar keep thinking he's a winger? He simply cannot cross a good ball & should give it to someone who can instead! The times a move is ruined because of this is scary! Otherwise a very average performance all round though i thought Milner got motm. As for 4th spot?..... I gave up on that after the Wolves game so don't care about it now just want us to get Europa League.

Someone wake me up at the start of next season

Groundhog day... 1000000000 crosses to strikers who couldnt hit an aircraft carrier from 5 yards

I would agree with your analylsis of whats required for the first 11. However I think some of the players who haven't been given a chance until yesterday - may have performed better had they had a few more games. The obvious one Luke Young (yes he had a mare yesterday) but had he been getting the odd game here and there - perhaps he would have performed better. Same for Delfonso really. I really hope MON relegates Petrov and Heskey next season. These players are clearly MON'S untouchables - but I just hope he sees the need for better players before next august. My heart tells me MON will come good for villa - but his transfer dealing , make my head think otherwise. Cannot disagree with any of your comments smetrov... Bit annoyed i guess with the so called "2nd eleven" ... annoyed with Reo Coker's infamous outburst (although you can understand his frustration) & i do think he was one player who could have been really helping us out now with Petrov's legs appearing to be wobbly at best.. Also annoyd with Steve Sidwell as he is much better than what he has been showing when given the chances (& he's had more than most)...... Of the "successes" i guess you would have to say Delfounso & Albrighton have made large strides but of course wouyld'nt reall be classed as Top 4 quality as yet & i think that is part of the problem... They are coming into a side pushing for top 4 with maybe too much pressure on them as we have no other alternatives? As for Osbourne it appears he has taken his eye off the ball behind the scene's? Guzan i guess has to be a positive though needs game time which we cannot surely risk with so much at stake? I'll leave it at that & i know there are others i havn't mentioned like Beye etc but hardly loads of players pushing the 1st team hard now is there? Have to agree about Young mind you!

No, we are 2 QUALITY players short in the 1st eleven, a playmaker/midfielder & a striker. As for the squad?! well please don't even get me started on that. Many on here have criticised mon for not rotating but how on earth could he? I think it's clear to see that the "2nd eleven" are no way top 4 standard, more like bottom 10 standard.

Dreading it.

LAUGHABLE... ABSOLUTELY LAUGHABLE! NO POINT EVEN SAYING ANYTHING ELSE!

Ellis's corner house confectionary super market :eek:

Thi is part of the problem, in my opinion. To expect a trophy or top 4 at any point is pushing it. That should be the aim, sure, but to expect it? Just silly, in my opinion. Football doesn't revolve around Villa, there's another 4 sides competing with us for that 4th place and then plenty of good sides competing for trophies. To expect improvement year on year is ridiculous. I did not actually say i EXPECTED to us to win a trophy.. i said my viewpoint would start to change if we still hadn't either achieved 4th OR won a trophy by the end of next season. That does not actually mean i am EXPECTING us to win anything! I believe that the investment Randy Lerner has made since he came SHOULD bear some fruit at some point yes ... & indeed it has already which is fantastic. We were however told that there was a 5 year plan of which the end of next season would be the end. I believe that this could well have been affected by the "Man City" phenomenon of course but if there is not the desired progress by that time then surely we have to start asking questions as to what needs to be done? That does not necessarily mean Sacking anybody either just that the plan hadn't worked in some way & would need looking at & things changing maybe. That could mean a change in anything ... The team, manager's tactics, squad rotation policy, youth policy, purchasing or refusal to purchase big names policy or whatever else!?

Yes i think he can but it is going to take the full 5 years of the 5 year plan to actually achieve anything trophy wise by the look of it... But that is surely fair enough?.. If no trophy or top 4 place by the end of NEXT season then my viewpoint will start to change very rapidly as i feel 5 years with backing like Randy Lerner has given him should bear fruit even if we are up against stiff opposition.. With the backing we have we should start to catch Liverpool & move in a touch on even Arsenal but then you could also say that about Spurs, Man City etc so that is really a top 7 is it not? so maybe on averages it should be a good trophy winning season & or 4th place in about 1 in 4 seasons for us, Liverpool, Spurs & Man City? with the occasional 3rd or 2nd place for any of those teams when one of the top 3 sides have an off year?

Hmmmn!! very interesting how since the results at the weekend have gone against us somewhat in the race for 4th there has been a splurge of votes for preferring to win the FA Cup!! It appears many are starting to lose belief that we can still do it? Or of course it could be that more of us simply do prefer the FA Cup or ....... could it be...... that many simply don't believe Aston Villa FC has the long term capability to compete in the upper echelons of the game so have kind of "written it off" & instead of building up our hopes year after year only to be disappointed all the time at not achieving this & we would therefore rather go for the "Cup win" instead? Food for thought me thinks?!!! In my experience, having been to Rotterdam the year after seeing us lift the Title, it was then very very difficult to watch the slow drawn out torturous demise over the next 25 years or so which involved experiencing various "short bursts of mediocrity" under Ellis's chosen manager of the time. I saw us relegated TWICE! re- promoted TWICE & then endured, as most of us had to endure, decades of unambitious leadership which stole my, & many of our, previously realised dreams. The odd League cup win was very welcome yes but nothing like the achievements of a few years earlier!! Then whenever the Fans started to "Home in" on the root cause of the problem which was that we had "A CHAIRMAN WHOSE ONLY AMBITION WAS AN OCCASIONAL CUP WIN & TO STAY IN THE TOP DIVISION!!" Mr Ellis would duly sack whoever was the manager at that point!! It was Brilliant!! Scape goat after scape goat came & went until eventually after a quarter of a century of under performance & decline we finally get bought out by Randy Lerner!!! So it is because of this that i feel i need to set my targets a little higher now than "The occasional cup win"as enjoyable & gratifying as that would be of course it would in my humble opinion be continuing the "Ellis" mentality! This club has massive potential, larger than i believe most of us realise & indeed with the right people now at the helm, the ceiling has been removed!! I feel my responsibility as a life long fan is to push & keep pushing as it is only when you stretch that you grow & that is why i feel we have to do everything possible to break into the top 4 places & keep trying & improving until we do so!! As a famous man once said...."DARE TO DREAM" OR "FEEL THE FEAR & DO IT ANYWAY!! This is why for me it all STARTS with 4th!

Regarding potential strikers i still reckon we need look no further than either well established premiership players in the same mould as Heskey & Chris Sutton or the most likely candidates from the teams who will most likely go down this year!! As it stands that is looking like Burnley, Hull, Pompey or possibly Wolves Sunderland etc.. So you could almost guarantee a signing or 2 from that group as we do it every single season!.. Cannot see a decent 15m striker in that lot anywhere mind you! The list of potential striking targets for me is: POMPEY Possible strikers: Frédéric Piquionne Quincy Owusu-Abeyie Aruna Dindane Nwankwo Kanu John Utaka Possible any position: Kevin-Prince Boateng Hermann Hreidarsson Pape Bouba Diop Tal Ben Haim Burnley: Strikers: nobody! others: Chris Eagles Hull: Boaz Myhill Stephen Hunt Jimmy Bullard Just think these are the "MON" type? with the exception of some of the Portsmouth lads maybe.

Hmm i too would be very unsure about him.. Also don't think he'd come back anyway...bad memories & all that!!

I voted "no" as i think he will stick with Gabby, Carew will leave, Delfounso will continue improving & getting more & more used, Heskey will leave & Martin will buy another experienced "traveller" in the Chris Sutton, Heskey, Carew mould & plump for a 10m striker from somewhere...cannot see a 15m purchase though. For me we need look no further than the teams who get relegated for at least 1 purchase as that seems to be our "norm".

Ok just to update!! exactly 150 votes now cast & unbelievably it is exactly 50/50!! 72 want Fa cup to 72 wanting 4th!! with 6 preferring the FA cup unless we finished in the top 2 only! Think it's fair to say we are all somewhat split on this one.

Cuellar is an absolute f'ing liability... So far he has given away possesion around SIX times in dangerous areas with no cover behind him ..He is Useless at RB & he needs slating at half time as he has been so sloppy it's embarrassing!!