Villarocker

Hi General, I would just like to know what your predicted scoreline is for tomorrow's game? Oh, and one more thing, I think it's fantastic of the club to get into the spirit of Halloween by allowing around 2,500 zombies into Villa Park on Sunday lunchtime! Up The Villa

We were lucky that Bent mis-controlled that ball when they broke on us after having one cleared off the line. If he controlled it he could have laid off to the guy breaking through the centre and he would have been clean through. Otherwise, it's all us and we need to make sure we take our chance when it comes. Come on the Villa

How the **** did Heskey miss that? ome on big Emile, don't let your head drop now!

Not being a big fan of Warnock's, I found this to be the funniest thing I have seen today

I can't wait for all the Dunne defenders to claim that his lack of fitness was to blame for that own goal! Maybe people will realise the guy is just out of sorts in recent times and needs to be benched for a while.

Assou-Ekotto was injured at the weekend and Bale was at left-back which would be ideal for us, as Bale is useless as a left back. There's a statistic that Spurs have never won a league game with him at left back, not sure how up to date it is but it was the case until relatively recently. Also takes a huge threat away from them not having him on the wing. I agree with this ^^ I am also hoping that they pick up a few more knocks in their CL game on Wednesday. :winkold:

Hi General, Thanks for the reply. It is good to know that the club is sending a card of condolence to the family of the man who passed away at last weekend's game. I am glad to see that your still as passionate as ever. I wasn't for one minute suggesting that your loyalty to the cause is wavering. I guess I was asking whether the fans had got to you a bit too much and had tainted your view of the club, or more likely, the fans. I thought that you would come back with a positive outlook on things but hadn't seen it for a while and so it is nice to see you make such a passionate statement. I would like to ask you when you are gong to start making your match predictions? I like a little flutter on the footie scores and it would be good to get some input from you. I just hope you don't get charged with match fixing if you get any right! :winkold:

Hi General, I too have sent you couple of PM's in the last few weeks. I thought I had upset you with my little complaint about the North Stand and the catering etc! Glad to see you have just been too busy to answer them. I just wanted to ask you a couple of things. 1) Did you see my other post regarding the poor 77 year old Bolton fan who sadly passed away at last weekend's game? If so, will the club be sending condolences on behalf of everyone connected with AVFC? 2) Having experienced a bit of a torrid time on here since the end of last season, are YOU still as mad dog passionate about the club as you were prior to MON leaving? I know you have taken quite a lot of unfair criticism but I am hoping that your love of all things Aston Villa is still as strong, if not stronger, than ever. Keep up the good work Mr K - Up The Villa.

Hi General, I would like to make you aware, just in case you aren't already, of a terrible incident that happened at yesterday's game with Bolton. A 77 year old Bolton man died at the game. Here is a link to this sad news http://www.theboltonnews.co.uk/news/8400831.Bolton_fan_dies_at_football_match/ I think it would be nice if the club could do something for this poor man, maybe send a wreath on behalf of everybody at AVFC? I am sure I speak for all fans by sending our condolences to the family and friends of what must have been a loyal supporter of Bolton Wanderers. Put it this way, I hope I am still able to go and watch my team when I am 77. Thanks for your time General UTV.

He's French, He's smart, He's got a dodgy heart, Houllier Houllier!

I am gutted at losing in the way we did. Losing is always bad but to lose like that, when you know exactly what is coming, that always hurts the most for me. For me, we don't need Gerard Houllier to be at the game to sort them out. We have had a manager on the touchline for the last 4 years but the same thing keeps happening. We batter teams, fail to take the chances and then get punished at the end of the game because we are knackered. Let's face it, the same happened against Everton but they didn't have the luck that Stoke did, otherwise we could have been in real trouble now on 3 points with a really poor goal difference! Houllier could call it from watching back at home, wherever that may be. He could have called KM on his mobile as I am sure the rest of us would have done had we had the power to do something about what we were witnessing last night! I am not saying he should have done, just venting my frustration at what is so clear to all but the man who calls the shots from the touchline for the Villa, whoever that may be. I agree with those who say that Friedel's reactions were slow at times. He is a good shot-stopper but he was slow in making some decisions last night, especially coming off his line for through balls. I thought Warnock looked dodgy at times too. His passing is sometimes erratic and he sometimes struggles to find his own player who is only 10 yards away! Dunne has looked dodgy on a couple of occasions this season already. Collins has looked our best CB and I am hoping that GH can get them sorted out and playing like they did last season before too long. Petrov was unlucky with a couple of decisions that went against him, especially the one at the end. There's no doubt he tires after an hour of games but it's hardly surprising as he does put in a shift for that first hour. We definitely need someone on the bench who can come on and replace him for the last half hour of games and we will have that when Delph comes back, although I would have him starting alongside Stan to be honest and have NRC on the bench. I like NRC but he lacks a pass too often and last night he was definitely at fault for the first Stoke goal. I too couldn't understand why Albrighton didn't stay on the right and keep running at Collins. He had already been booked for hacking down MA so why keep swapping wings? It was the same lack of tactical awareness when we played Rapid Vienna. Albrighton put their left back on his arse in the first game but then a week later Kevin MacDonald didn't even pick Albrighton, which is ok just as long as you play somewhere there with a bit of trickery, but he didn't, he played NRC there instead! Same at Newcastle. Young gets Perch on a yellow first half and then doesn't go near him again for the rest of the match. We should be taking advantage of these kind of situations but we never seem to. We definitely lack a killer instinct. I thought Gabby did well and I am sure we are seeing a player who is really developing. Those crosses and the awareness to play in NRC at the end were the marks of a player who has more than just scoring goals about his game. I think Gabby is underestimated and he has more to his all round game than he is given credit for. Hopefully he will be back to full fitness soon and we see him scoring more regularly. Why though did we take Gabby off for Heskey with only 6 minutes left? Surely Gabby could have done more in those 6 minutes on a pair of crutches attached to a drip than Heskey did when he replaced him? How can you only have 1 touch in a game and that touch is an assist to the opponents' winner? I don't blame EH I really don't. He should never have been put on. I understand the need for fresh legs but why not replace Albrighton with Cuellar and try and defend the point for the last 5 or 6 minutes? At least CC might have actually cleared his own box from 10 yards rather than pass it straight to his nearest opponent! Ash wasn't on top of his game last night but let's face it, he isn't made for that role. I much prefer to see him on the wing rather than behind Gabby. maybe Albrighton could have started on the bench and Ireland played in the hole behind Gabby? I still think we will be better when our team plays that way but only time will tell. I have been a big critic of Downing's but fair is fair, he was on top of his game last night. His goal was brilliant and he played a blinder. Good to see him playing so well and let's hope it continues. All in all I think we deserved something from the game but were unlucky with some bad finishing and some bad refereeing. Hopefully GH sorts it all out and we get a bit more look from now on.

Houllier has my full backing and support, as do the board. But, I tell you what, if Houllier's appointment doesn't prove to be successful for any reason I wouldn't half like it if we made Tony Pulis our next manager. The man showed some real character last night and his mere presence on the touchline lifted that team. To have your mother die ealier in the day and still be up for your job like he was is something quite special and dedicated. I think he is a very under-rated manager.

providing he plays reo coker in both games and doesnt go gung ho 4-4-2 team selection should be fine i think he learnt from his mistake at newcastle Not so sure he has though Ash! Remember, he was going to have Ireland in the side that faced Everton, which to me means he was going to leave NRC on the bench and play the same team that showed up against Newcastle. I am hoping to see 4-5-1 with NRC and Petrov alongside each other with Ireland behind Gabby and Ash Young back out wide. Means he has to leave out Downing or Albrighton and on recent form it would be interesting to see who gets ditched.

Sure did, despite what people said on here I really wanted Thommo as no2 here. I've always liked him and admire the job he did after houllier had the heart attack. Damn, I missed it. Do you think anybody might have recorded it? All he did was speak highly of Villa saying it's always been one of the big clubs, it has the set up and great fans to be successful again. Then talked up how much work Houllier will put in to make Villa successful. Loved the montage of Houlliers career talking up his hoodoo over United. I hope that continues because the celebration I had when we beat United last year will be with me forever. Nice, thanks for that :-D To be fair to Phil Thompson he was very bullish about the future for Villa with Gerard Houllier has the new manager. He said a lot of very good things about us. He said he remembered coming to Villa Park in the 70's as a player and how difficult it was. Thompson said how Villa are a massive club and that GH is the best signing the club has ever made. He even said that Houllier has a better base to start from with the players we currently have, than he did when he first joined Liverpool! He said we have everything in place, including the fans, for GH and that it was the perfect club for GH because he has always felt like he had unsettled business in the PL. Thompson did his level best to try to re-assure Villa fans that they have a very good manager who will do really well for us, he seemed genuine too. He said we should give him time to settle in and then we will benefit from having Houllier. Thompson said that Houllier is a "connoisseur" of football and that he watches the English PL all the time. He said he knows lots of top people in the game and has more contacts than anyone else he knows. Thompson said Houllier's health is better than ever and that he looks better now than when he first took over at Liverpool. To be fair to Thompson he also did well to ease the fears with regards the timing of the appointment. he quite rightly said that it would have been just as farcical for us to not announce it for a further 2 or 3 weeks when everybody already knows he is getting the job anyway. Le Tissier questioned the timing and asked if it would be better done in a few weeks when he can actually take charge and that's when Thommo gave his reply. Merson even said that it would have been stupid if Kev MacDonald had won the next 5 games and then they gave it to Houllier as it would have upset the fans too much, which is right IMO. All in all it was a very positive piece and they all seemed to agree that GH will be great for Villa and will improve us because we have the right infastructure for him to work with.

Hi General, Glad to see that your thread has been re-opened. I would like to ask you a couple of things. 1) Have you met and spoken with Gerard, and if so, what are your first impressions of him? 2) Are you a betting man? if so, I suggest you take advantage of the rather generous odds of 9 to 1 that Skybet are offering for Gerard Houllier to win a manager of the month award for any month of this, the 2010/11 season. I hope that all goes well for Gerard and whoever else he brings in to help him manage the club. However, it would be nice for the fans if you could clear things up a little bit with regards to when Gerard is likely to start in his new role and also tell us what will happen to Kevin MacDonald when Gerard steps into the role of manager? Hopefully you will be treated with a little more respect from now on! Up The Villa!!

Hi General, Glad to see that your thread has been re-opened. I would like to ask you a couple of things. 1) Have you met and spoken with Gerard, and if so, what was your first impressions of him? 2) Are you a betting man? if so, I suggest you take advantage of the rather generous odds of 9 to 1 that Skybet are offering for Gerard Houllier to win a manager of the month award for any month of this, the 2010/11 season. I hope that all goes well for Gerard and whoever else he brings in to help him manage the club. Up The Villa!!

You and me both. Erm, unless I'm one of them knobheads. I think we all know the type who BFHAV means Cracker! :winkold:

Boy, I can't wait for that one Dem That makes me think of The Who tune "who are you?". It would be great if all at Villa Park sung "Houl-li-er. Hou Hou, Hou Hou"! Wrong thread I know but it would be great to hear that nevertheless

I don't see GH's observation of Villa as wrong at all. He basically says what everyone outside of Villa thinks. We are a team that should really be finishing around 7th at best but would not finish anywhere lower than 12th at worst. When MON left us, and with the news that Milner was going too, how many people were saying things like "we will be relegation fodder now" or "good job there's 3 worse teams than us in the league this season" or "we won't finish in the top half now" etc etc? So many of the pundits have said that we over-achieveved under O'Neill's management so is th place at best too far away from the truth? I don't think so. Besides, did GH mention that finishing 7th is all we could achieve? What if we did finish 7th or even 10th but managed to win the League Cup or FA Cup? would people be so concerned about the league position then?

In my opinion, Gerard Houllier is the biggest name manager we have ever had, certainly in my lifetime. No manager, whether it be Moyes, Jol, Hiddink etc, would have been guaranteed to succeed at Villa. Also, what we have to ask is, what will be success for Gerard Houllier? MON took us to a cup final and three 6th place finishes but what did we actually win apart from a pre-season friendly tournament? I believe that we should give Gerard Houllier a minimum of 3 years before we really judge him, unless of course we are in the bottom 6 or 7 with 15 games remaining, then we probably would have to have a re-think. He has some big earners at Villa that he will probably have to farm out before putting his own mark on the playing side. Every manager has failures so he will probably have a few in and out before establishing a decent playing side that he is happy with, hence the reason I suggest giving him at least 3 years. We gave Martin O'Neill 4 years and would have continued to support him longer, even if he didn't bring success, so would it do any harm to be as kind to Houllier? I don't think so. Gerard Houllier has my 100% backing and support, even if he gets off to a slow start I will continue to support him and will reserve judgement until his mark has been well and truly made on the team. Gerard, being a Frenchman you should have a good taste in fine wine. You have sampled a cheap and cheerful Red, now it's time for you to enjoy a very fine and distinguished Claret. Welcome to Aston Villa Football Club - Good Luck

I have been thinking about this supposed "player revolt" this morning. I came to the conclusion that Friedel and Warnock are safe because there aren't really any other options for their positions and with no funds available their place in the starting line up should be secure. However, my attention then turned to big John Carew and looked at the options for his place. It looks like JC could be fooked because it appears that big Emile has another fan in place to include him in the starting line up. Would be ok if he scored 20+ goals like he did for GH previously but I personally am not holding my breath over the thought of that ever happening again in this life.

Are you sure you havent just read newsnow?? or any other credible news source ? Not at all mate. I got the text around 5pm tonight whilst I was still at work. I asked my mate how he knew and he just replied with "from my contact in France". I did see on central news that it is likely to be announced tomorrow but it mentioned nothing about a 2 year deal. For the record, i am not trying to sound in the know or anything. I am merely saying what I received via text from a mate earlier today. He's having you on mate. The exact same story was on SSN at about 4:30 It was reported in L'equipe the French newspaper. Could well be so mate, hence the reason I couldn't be arsed to ask him who his contact is!

Are you sure you havent just read newsnow?? or any other credible news source ? Not at all mate. I got the text around 5pm tonight whilst I was still at work. I asked my mate how he knew and he just replied with "from my contact in France". I did see on central news that it is likely to be announced tomorrow but it mentioned nothing about a 2 year deal. For the record, i am not trying to sound in the know or anything. I am merely saying what I received via text from a mate earlier today.

My mate text me earlier to say that he has been told from a contact in France that Houllier has signed a two year deal and will be unveiled tomorrow. How true this is I don't know so PLEASE don't shoot the messenger. Not sure my mate's contact is ITK or anything and can't be arsed to ask to be honest. Guess we will soon see tomorrow. If it is to be GH, which it appears more than likely right now, I will give him my full support and give him the time to settle in and do his thing. We all have to remember that these are MON's signings and may not be to GH's liking so we have to give him time to make his mark on the team and I really hope that the fans, especially those who seem totally against him before it's even been announced, give him a fair chance.

And if Stan Staunton is part of the package Stephen Ireland will retire from club duty. IF El Reacho! The big word considering another poster claimed to have spoken with Staunton recently and he denied even speaking to the club. Also, there is the argument that Ireland has only appeared twice this season and those were the only two games we have lost so far. Maybe that's it. Maybe Man City ensured Stephen Ireland joined us to be a secret agent, to f**k us up? :winkold: