Philosopher

Gabby's girlfriend Miss Wheeler is HOT, HOT, HOT! Damn! Yep I'd definately knock her up!

What a deluded individual. I think he needs to see a psychiatrist.

Yeah right theres no way fergie would sell welback! The really is pie in the sky!

Would love berbertov. Stroppy, yes when he's not a regular, lazy yes! But the guys technical ability and intelligence on the football pitch is superb, his age doesn't worry me as of the physical abilities its only his strength that helps him and thats always the last thing to go. He could easily play into his late 30's. I'd say he has 5 years left at this level. I would sell Ireland and give berbertov Ireland's wages! Berbertov is the best second striker in the league, **** Carroll or Ireland, Berbertov's a different class!

BTW feynoord Gary Cahill - Chelsea and England, Garth Barry - Man City and England have come through our youth team also.

Its very hard for the more technical player to come through in the premiership, because the physical demands are such that they need to be an athlete and agressive to make an instant impact. This is the problem with players like Bannan (technically very good, could do well in dutch football i think) best passer in our squad, good vision and awareness, but small, weak and not very good defensively. In the premiership our midfield when playing 4-4-2 offers no proctection when Bannan plays centrally, so he's been used mainly as a sub in the wide positions which is not his game. Clark technically very good for a central defender, but a bit weak for the premier league, and not the best at COMPETING in the air, so he's been used mainly as a defensive midfielder. The premiership is much more demanding and so for the young players with little experience it very difficult, and takes time to bring them through. Only freaks like Rooney make instant impacts. Rooney was fully grown at 18 and a naturally agressive demeanor with lots of technical ability, with strength and pace. Delfouneso's problem is on the pitch he is a bit laxidazical, needs to be more proactive, more aggressive. He's got lots of skill, good dribbler - keeps the ball quite close to him, good balance, some pace, some strength, gets into go positions in the box, 6'1. In the box though he can be too static. If someone could get his head in the right place, you would have an international class striker, but otherwise he won't make it at the top level. I still have hope though. Personally I think many of our young players could do well in Holland. Weimann (who won't be going out on loan) would score hatfuls.

Also Vlaar is considered to be a very good reader of the game, so if he was paired with say Clark who has a bit of pace and is also a good reader of the game you could play a slightly higher line than normal and get away with it. Also Vlaar is a good passer short and long, so our distribution should be good, and as he was school in Holland I expect to see him look to play the ball out, rather than Dunne and Collins recreations of the john smiths advert! I think he could become a very good signing for us, but I expect he will need a few months to settle in and get used to the pace of the premier league.

God had pace in abundance, during his prime. Kompany has pace! Vidic while not pacey is not slow either. Ferdinand doesn't have the p-ace he used to, but he still not slow. Pace matters as a centre back depending on how high a defensive line you keep. If you defend high up the pitch like Arsenal then you need at least one quick mobile centre back. If you defend deep like Villa under MON then Dunne and Collins are more than sufficient. But you saw what happenned when Houllier tried to impliment a high line with Dunne, Warnock and Collins! Great reading of the game can help cover for a lack of pace, but one mistake and your buggered! Thats why pace is so useful, because even if you make a mistake you have a chance to recover the situation. This is why Sol Campbell was so good in his prime, because he had so much pace (for a CB) his mistakes were rarely punished!

I thought that I should point out that MON won two European cups with forest! Also our first season under MON he took the Europa pretty seriously and only fielded a weakend team in the second leg of the 1st knockout round against CSKA because we were 2nd or 3rd in the league at the time so made to obvious decision to priortise the league given that the first team was just starting to show the first signs of jadedness. Then the following season he made the chioce to rest some of the first team (not all) against Rapid Vienna and in fairness the team we put out should've beaten Rapid Vienna, a couple of poor defensive mistakes cost us. The other season MacDonald was in charge! Anyway what do people make of the potential sale of Makoun to Rennes? I reckon if we can maybe do a straight swap for Brahimi that would be acceptable to me!

I watched a few youtube vids of him! Non of them show off any skill, doesn't seem to have any real pace of strength, just a decent finisher, with a decent long shot. However all the vids had him falling over at the slightest touch, provoking opposition players and many other underhanded behaviour. Looks like a nasty piece of work and I don't want him any where near Villa Park.

delfouneso is a player people want out cus its been 4 years since his been in the first team, his still only 21, the last 2 seasons have been disrupted through injury and a loan at burnley where he played right wing. he needs a sustained run of games before he gets written off. It's not just that though is it? He's never shown signs of quality at PL level (the likes of Albrighton and Clark have), and most importantly, he doesn't seem arsed about working hard at all. Without immense effort on his part I cannot see him making enough progress for promotion to the first team proper. According to wiki delfouneso has played 43 matches (nearly half are as a sub) over 4 seasons for the first team, and scored 9 goals. Now when you take into consideration that his longest run in the teams was 4 or 5 games under Houillier thatts actually a pretty good return for an unestablished player. To me he has always shown tohe potential to be a good goalscorer, the problem with him is he hasn't yet caught on to the fact he needs to fight hard on the pitch, like he is wasting for things to open up, rather than making things happen, and finding that space. When he shows a bit of aggression and goes for it he looks dangerous. For me his career is on a knife edge, if he is able to consistently put himself about and really fight to get the ball, and / or find space he could be a fantastic player, if he doesn't he will another Luke Moore, and only show his true capabilities in occasional flashes.

OK trent but I was about whether we should sell Ireland, which is sort of on topic. That Brahimi guy's got some lovely skills, would be happy to see him signed ont the cheap! Hope the speculation is true.

Are you choosing to ignore the fact that our glorious ex manager was choosing to play a ludicrous defensive formation which more or less nullified our team as an attacking threat full stop?? I agree the managers tactics were a massive hinderance, but Gabby still managed 6 goals and 6 assists last season! However Gabby gets, I take 5/6 mil for him, Ireland PLS and has to stay, oh please. Its because Ireland played OK during our worst period in the second half of the season, where everyone else was shite. Whereas Gabby played well when we banked 15 points (of 37) in only 11 games. You guys and your short memories!

Zogbia is worth sticking with, he's only been here a season, and PL might be able to get the best out of him. That being said, i only ever saw flashes of quality when he was at Wigan, so i don't know whether we're waiting for consistent performances, that just aint going to come. As for Ireland, his attitude is questionable, most of the time he just looks like he could take it or leave it, minimal effort, doesnt do enough off the ball, and becomes a passenger, although improved a little towards the end of last season, although thats not difficult as he's done nothing since he joined. He needs to improve big time, or i'd get rid, and i'd consider doing so this summer if a decent offer comes in, chance to rid us of his massive wages, which i think could be better spent elsewhere. This is bang on!

1 goal and 4 assists in 2 seasons, what a great asset he's been!

If Ireland was as good as all you who defend him make out, then City would never have gotton rid of him, the guy has been broken since he collapsed at the end of a game 3 seasons ago! Not been the same since. Not that he was that great anyway! One good season, and that season his team did nothing, and had the worst away record in the league, because their focus was attack.

I'm speechless. Please, tell me, what about his performances last season make you think those things of him? I detect some kind of prejudice. I still for the life of me can't work out what about his performances last season got him player of the season. For all his supposed good play, he only produced 1 goal and 3 assists in all comps, and him becoming a regular in the team co-incided with our worst run of results. He put in one good performance against Chelsea and did nothing except 2 good tackles and few nice touches per game. Gabby got 6 goals and 6 assists and people want rid of him. Stats don't lie, Ireland may be easy on the eye but he did very little last season the warrant his current reverance! He's is a waste of 80K a week, simple, he doesn't deserve those wages, he's done F all to justify them. Milner is ten times the player and while half the VT board were saying Ireland better than Milner and we are getting a great deal have been proved wrong! I doesn't matter how good his technique is he is not a team player, and doesn't produce much by way of goals or assists. I am sick of people praising him as a world beater, because he's not infact he is very expendable!

God I hope we can get rid of the lazy, whimsical, overated piece of crap Ireland, and if we get some money for him then even better.

Bent is a rare breed a striker that is capable of regularly scoring over 20 goals a season. Gabby is very able back up to Bent he has proven that he is capable of getting into double figures regularly, and in a good season is goal for 15 goals or more, again proven he has done this before! Not sure about his ability to play alongside Bent, that would mean him playing deeper so I agree that he doesn't have the football brain to play there. I do think he can play wide left in a 4-3-3, he did it very well in the early part of last season and assisted quite a few goals (as well as scoring) and most of those assists were for Bent! The playing out of position argument is bull! Gabby was one of our best attackers in his first full season playing from the right. Last season he was very effective in the early part from the left. Under Houllier was different, as he was asked to change his game a little. It the injuries that really hurt Gabby as he is very reliant on his physical abilities, so if he is carrying an injury then of course his level will drop quite significantly. Under MON Gabbys form form would disappear around march time as by then he would already have played close to 40 games and would be burnt out. He needs careful management. When a person is regularly running at 10-11 second 100 metre pace during a 90 minute match his body is going to be placed under a lot more strain than normal for a footballer. If you look at Henry he had his hamstring problems, walcott - hamstring, Valencia - various, Gabby - thigh and back. I challenge you to find me a super pacey player plying his trade in the premier league (as its the most physically demanding league in the world) that doesn't spend at least a couple of months per season on the injury table!

I have stopped arguing with the Gabby bashers they are a waste of my time. I am just going to say what I have to say and done! Gabby's early season form when we went undefeated for a number of games and banked more than a third of our points is the main reason we stayed up last season. Yet these simpletons just don't seem to realise. We played ULTRA defensive football where even Darren Bent managed to give away a penalty defending in his own box, and all of the attackers were shite as a result, yet Ireland (1 goal 3 assists) they think is great a our best player and are loathe to lose him. Yet Gabby scored 6 goals (our scored highest goalscorer) and 6 assists (our best goalmaker) and they would let him go for 5 million! Stupid or what! I have been carrying a back injury for a year or so now and I can tell you I had to give up running, its VERY painful running with a back injury. Gabby played the last few games of the season and he was clearly carrying an injury, but played when he probably shouldn't have to try and help the team. These ungrateful fools!

Really? Some on here might disagree especially when it concerns our own youngsters. I alway take fans of lower league clubs praise of their own players with more than a pinch of salt. Usually they aren't as good when they have to cut it at a higher level. A friend of mine is a luton fan and was raving about Curtis Davies (many years ago), saying he is in the same class a Rio Ferdinand, and he looks it in the championship or back then in league 1, but in the premier league no chance! Championship to Premier league is not so bad, but league one or lower to Premier league is a massive gulf. People mentioned Hart and Smalling, but they both took a season or two to adapt. most that make the jump go via the championship or spend a couple of years developing in the reserves.

Anything chant to do with shooting is probably best let alone as according to Feyenoord KEA can't shoot for shit!

My uncle died from the same form of leukemia, it's one of the most severe forms of cancer, it's so hard to erase every little trace of it that it usually comes back a couple of years after it is supposedly cured. My uncle was treated at the best hospital in the country for cancer too the Royal Marsden. Petrov will be extremely lucky if he ends up living into old age! let alone playing again, chemotherapy doesn't just destroy cancer cells, it kills all cells in general and take a heavy toll on the body, he will need at least 6 months of rehab after all the treatment is finished for him to become fit enogh for premiership football, and being 33 almost its unlikely he will ever reach the same level of fitness.

Holman looks like a decent squad player to me, but from what I've seen he lacks the quality to command a regular first team place. I think people are little too optimistic about his potential. He is 27 and doesn't have much time to improve beyond his current level. I could say similar about El Ahamdi, although comes much more highly regarded. Lets not hype these guys up too much. They both (like any new Villa signing) will receive my full support.

It's hard to say really, but I should think €5m would prise him away. Feijenoord still aren't financially stable enough to reject such an offer, but maybe Clasie wouldn't want to join us at this moment, with Feijenoord in the qualifying stages of the Champion's League. He's also the fan's favourite after this season. EDIT: He's similar to Barry in that he's a box-to-box midfielder, he won't sit in front of the back 4 and break up play but he will track back and try to catch others in possession, along with having a good passing range. Like Barry was for us when he was still here. Looks to be quicker than Barry. Barry's weakness was alway his lack of pace. We have lacked composure in the middle since Barry left, El Ahmadi looks like he might remedy this. From the video El Ahmadi is more like the post Villa Barry, as at Villa Barry was more attacking in his play looking to get into the box, can't see El Ahmadi doing this. I liked his positioning in that video always making sure he in a position for the player on the ball to pass to him. Good speed, some composure and tenacity, could be a very good addition to the squad.