GNeeUs

I would personally play: ________________Given_________________ __Young____Collins_____Dunne___Warnock__ ________Makoun_________Delph__________ ___Albirghton____Bannan____Ireland_______ ________________Heskey_________________ I want to see Ireland playing as a winger. Think he'll be better out there than in the middle!!

If I am quite honest I was slightly dissapointed when we signed the guy. Living in Scotland/Watching SPL I never really thought he was a fantastic signing for Villa. I feel like I have been proven right. He's the only player I will scream at for all his backwards/sideways passing. Yeah, no shame in going backwards/sideways but the number of times he does it (under no pressure) is laughable. Im not quite sure what Petrovs role is in midfield, he certainly doesn't break down play nor is he an attacking midfielder (scores very few goals and doesn't go forward). I wont lie however, I really like the guy's attitude but I think we can do much better. Those who state that NRC is a better player are very correct. Apart from NRC's passing he was easily our best central midfielder last season!! For me Id start with Makoun & Delph with Gardner, Bannan & Petrov as back up!!

Id personally play: _______________Given_________________ _Young___Collins______Dunne__Warnock__ ______________Makoun_________________ _______Petrov___________Delph_________ __Gabby______________________Ireland__ ________________Bent__________________

Given - 7 - Really didn't have anything to do. Young - 7 - Was pretty quiet down right flank today Warnock - 8 - Looked solid, linked with Heskey well. Collins - 9 (MOTM) - Looked fantastic, not afraid of anything and passing to perfection. Dunne - 8 - Very composed. Bannan - 5 - Bad day at the office? Didn't seem to get all that involved. Heskey - 8 - Looked fantastic on wing, some nice passes. Petrov - 7 - Better than average performance, hopefully more like this during season. Makoun - 7 - Looked good, passed it about, kept posession. Gabby - 7 - Made some nice runs/dribbles, worked hard. Bent - 8 - Nice finish, did well up front considering little service. Subs: Clark - 4 - Hopefully that was just a bad day at office, would prefer him playing CB to be honest. Albrighton - 6 - Did fine, some nice runs, good shot at end. Delph - 7 - Looked lively, kept on slipping a lot though. Delfouneso - 4 - Lazy!! Going to have to pull socks up!!

There is only one manager who I will get excited about and that is Rijkaard and Villa should be doing all we can to get his services. The rest of the names mentioned makes me even less excited than when we got Houllier.

Shame that we drew to be honest, thought we deserved the three points. Weak points? Gabby at left wing? We have arguably 4 players in Albrighton, Young, Bannan & Downing who can play that position better. Gabby is a striker!! Petrov was abismal again today. Never rated the guy since he left Celtic. His backwards passing (under no pressure) is extremely frustrating even though we got Walker's goal from it. He's the weakest link in our team, has been and will be till he leaves AVFC. NRC should have started, if not Salifou (who would arguably do a better job). Friedel didn't turn up. Positives? Downing played well and worked hard. Thought Benty's movement was fantastic (shame about the supply) and Makoun's vision and passing was TOP CLASS. Friedel - 5 Walker - 6 Dunne - 6 Collins - 6 Clark - 6 Petrov - 2 Makoun - 7 Downing - 7 Gabby - 5 Young - 6 Benty - 7 UTV!

Just heard we are introducing two new players at the club in the press conference. Im guessing the other is Makoun....unless we did a sneaky with another player while all the Bent hype was going about?! #UTV!!

Fantastic signing if we pull it through. Shame O'Neil didn't sign him when he was slightly cheaper, TW@T. UTV, delighted by this. Onwards & Upwards. Thank you Randy & Gerard!!

Amen to that! Give Houllier time. Lets try and get mid table, get a squad of players who will play for him and see what happens. MON left us in the shit, we doing OK. Remember if we won today we went 9th. Its not all doom and gloom despite City and Chelsea next two games.

Lichaj did his job. The rest were absent.

Heading to the Scotland match tomorrow. Fingers crossed Barry has a good game!!

__________________________Friedel_______________________ __Young___________Collins___________Dunne______Warnock__ __________NRC___________________________Petrov_________ _____Albrighton____________Ireland_____________Young______ __________________Gabby_______________________________ Subs: Guzan Cueller Sidwell Downing Bannan Carew Heskey

Just back from the Scotland U-21's. Scotland won 2-1 in 40mph winds and rain and just to let everyone know Bannan was fooking SUPERB!! Scored a belter to equalise from just inside the box to the left and blasted it top right, crazy good goal. He's definately an out and out winger....great skill, pace, shot and put in some real nice balls. Nice one Barry - congrats on qualification. Shame Austria's No.10 was a complete word removed.

I would personally play: __________________Guzan__________________ __Lichaj_____Cueller______Collins______Beye__ _________Petrov_____________Reo-Coker______ __Young___________Ireland___________Bannan__ __________________Gabby____________________ Subs: Friedel Clark Davies Albrighton Heskey Carew Delfoneso

1-1, Away from Home with a VERY young & INEXPERIENCED squad. Im delighted!! Albrighton & Bannan were impressive. Heskey worked his socks off. MOTM - Nigel Reo-Coker. I thought he was absolutly FANTASTIC. Played his role EXTREMELY well. Maybe I was watching a different match but I DONT GET the NRC bashing? Do you expect him to dribble it around players and bang in 30 yard screamers every 10 mins? Get a grip!! He broke down play fantasticly well, his tackling was first class & he's actually IMPROVED his passing! Id personally have him playing with Ireland instead of Petrov. The combination of Reo-Coker/Ireland would work VERY well!

I'm overlooking this result: We've played 2 games per week in the last month almost, the lads are knackered (some of which are clearly not 100%). Its ashame that when we need our first choice subs (E.G Davies, NRC, Delph & Heskey) none are available. We should have been using our squad rotation from first game of season (not 2 months before end of season) and to squad rotate vs CHELSEA is MADNESS. All those wanting Young in for Cuellar (and MON seemed to keel to pressure) have been proven wrong...for at least this match. I think it should be the end for Stillian Petrov, we need much better than him in middle. We need a WORLD CLASS Striker & Midfielder. Delfoneso needs to start. He just seems so much more hungry than the rest!!

Thought we played fine. Their Goalkeeper was on form and nothing really went for us, very unlucky!! We definately need a replacement for Petrov (who is honestly a waste of time) and a new striker who can score (Bent would be nice). Looking at our bench doesn't wow me either. I know we have several injuries but we really struggling (Bouma, Davies, NRC, Delph, Gabby). If we had them on the bench it brings us someting different. Sidwell was our No.1 sub LOL crazy.

I got a feeling Guzan will be benched for this (which is maybe a bit harsh) I would personally play 4-5-1!! ____________________Friedel______________________ __Cueller_______Collins______Dunne_______Warnock__ ___________Milner_____Petrov_____Delph_____________ ____Young____________________________Downing_____ _____________________Gabby_______________________ Bench: Guzan Young Davies Sidwell Delfoneso Heskey Carew

Disagree with so much of this that i don't know where to start! Not sure what you can disagree with? Petrov was non existant which for a central midfielder is pretty poor banter. Collins and Cuellar hoof way too much (especially Cuellar). Last 10 mins we should have kept up the pace. We are only getting ourselves into bad habits for future matches by playing half hearted and creating more opportunities for injury. Discuss BTW Great result, too happy ;-)

Sadly I only caught second half but I had to ask someone if Petrov had been sent off because apart from his attempted lob he was nowhere to be seen. Thought we played very well though. I just wish Villa would keep up the tempo, the last goal was so dissapointing and shouldn't happen. We need to be on our game 100% even if we are 8-0 up with 5 mins. Collins and ESPECIALLY Cuellar need to stop hoofing. Ash, Milner, Gabby and Downing where all great!! Looking forward to Palace midweek!!

HONESTLY? If we had Fabregas & Torres in our team we'd be challenging for the title. Friedel - Nothin Wrong Young - Solid Warnock - Fooked up but still solid Dunne - Brick Cueller - Shakey Milner - 110% Downing - Looked lost Petrov - He played? NRC - Why subbed? Carew - Standard Gabby - 110% I seriously think Petrov & Carlos need breaks. Bring in Collins & NRC we'll be back to winning ways.

Pete its probably as strong as we could get (I might have swapped Cuellar for Collins). Its good cos we can go 5 in the middle with Gabby going on the right & Milner into the middle. Its also good to see Albrighton on the bench...wise move. Fingers crossed, every game is different.

I honestly dont know how this will go. I just hope the lads come out wanting revenge after losing vs Arsenal, it would be great if we can win tonight. Team for me: _____________________Friedel______________________ __Young_____Collins_____________Dunne____Warnock__ ______________________NRC________________________ ____________Petrov_____________Delph_______________ ______Milner_________________________Downing_______ _____________________Gabby________________________ Collins in for Cuellar simply to give the boy a rest & I feel he will be more active VS Torres/Kuyt than Cuellar. NRC on to man mark Gerrard throughout, take Gerrard out of the game Liverpool are not much. Petrov and Delph to get the ball quickly up field. Milner & Downing to push up more in support of Gabby.

Got to be honest, I had written Arsenal off from winning the league this year but they really were fantastic (considering some of there absentees). It certainly isn't a 2 horse race as many are making out. Arsenal deserved the 3 points and to be honest if we are going to lose a game there is no shame in doing so away at Arsenal. I thought the referee was an absolute disgrace today though. If I remember right 4 Villa players got Yellow Cards which all were equal to if not worse that Song's 20 odd challenges, he should have been sent off which could obviously have changed the game. Again the Fabregas freekick (as good as it was) was about 30 seconds after what should have been a Villa freekick. Regarding Villa's performance we did alright. Milner and Downing were a bit flat, I thought Heskey was absolutly fantastic....worked tiredlessly. At the end of the day, gutted with the result, shit ref, Arsenal deserved 3 points, good kick in the arce for the boys, lets shit on Liverpool 3-0. UTV!!

Aston Villa: Friedel, Luke Young, Dunne, Cuellar, Warnock, Ashley Young, Petrov, Milner, Downing, Agbonlahor, Heskey. Subs: Guzan, Sidwell, Carew, Delph, Reo-Coker, Beye, Collins.