Villarocker

Will a new signing or two make it in time for the first game?

Nope, same XI as ever then.

Oh and Milner will play if he's not sold as I've just seen MON on SSN stating that its a similar situation to Bary 2 years ago. "We managed to hold on to Barry then and he played some of the best football he's ever played that season"

That really concerns me, if MON thinks Barry played some of his best football in that last season he played for us!

've gone for ten because I think there will be at least 2 players signed that will go straight into the first team.

Brilliant!

(Are you trying to get in the best post thread? )

This

Am I the only person who thinks that it would be better for us to just ask for £24m and get it all over and done with? I can't help but feel that Milner won't be anything like the same player we saw last season if he stays.

If there really isn't much money available to MON then surely it would be better for us to get the deal done and move on and bring some more players in who do want to play for us.

Right folks. I have been giving some thought to how many of MON's apparent "Best XI" will start against the Hammer's on the first day of the season.

Will Milner start if he is still here? Would MON make him run the gauntlet with the possibility of abuse from the fans? Will MON start one or more of our emerging younger players such as Albrighton or Delfouneso? Will a new signing or two make it in time for the first game?

The question is, how many of last season's usual suspects will start the first game, given the squad we currently have?

Best Eleven:

Friedel,

Cuellar,

Warnock,

Collins,

Dunne,

Young,

Downing,

Milner,

Petrov,

Agbonlahor,

Carew.

For the record, I have gone for 10 with Milner being the player not on show.

I posted this before but you may have missed it.

I was talking with a Villa Park employee on the way to the last game of last season and we were discussing the playing staff and who we would like to see stay/go etc. The guy told me he had been to a reserve game and that, after the game, he was talking to a guy close to Bannan, about his performance that night. This guy seemed to agree that Bannan was a talent and had a bright future ahead of him but it looked likely to be away from Villa. Apparently, MON had previously spoken with Bannan and told him to look for another club because he didn't think he had the physique to make it in the Premier League.

I agree that small players can often be quality but we can hardly compare Bannan to Lionel Messi can we? It would be nice to see him make it with us though but it just doesn't seem like he is going to get the chance to prove himself.

I know for a fact that Bannan and his agent (Ian Taylor) have had a discussion about Bannan's future shortly before he went to Blackpool, basically he was chomping on the bit after tasting first team action at Derby.

Did the talks go well though? I would like to see him given a chance but the guy I spoke to appeared to be sincere with what he was telling me.

Maybe MON could have had a change of heart after that loan spell?

I posted this before but you may have missed it.

I was talking with a Villa Park employee on the way to the last game of last season and we were discussing the playing staff and who we would like to see stay/go etc. The guy told me he had been to a reserve game and that, after the game, he was talking to a guy close to Bannan, about his performance that night. This guy seemed to agree that Bannan was a talent and had a bright future ahead of him but it looked likely to be away from Villa. Apparently, MON had previously spoken with Bannan and told him to look for another club because he didn't think he had the physique to make it in the Premier League.

I agree that small players can often be quality but we can hardly compare Bannan to Lionel Messi can we? It would be nice to see him make it with us though but it just doesn't seem like he is going to get the chance to prove himself.

Sorry if the poll question wasn't up to the standard of some folks. I am pretty new to starting a topic and all that, so please show a bit of leniency lads

I think that the club would vote for the top 4 finish. The General speaks so highly of the importance of getting into the CL and I think that the club see it has the most important part of our development and progression as a football club. Obviously, the prestige of playing in that competition will bring in a much greater revenue and will also help us attract the kind of player needed to improve the team much further. The question then is, would our illustrious manager buy the foreign talent that would become more available to us?

Simple question really folks.

It seems like the quality of player and inadequate numbers at Villa suggest that we can only do one thing or the other. Get top 4 and get to a cup final seems beyond our possibilities with what we are going to have so with that in mind I decided to ask this question.

Would you rather we went out of all cup competitions early and focus entirely on playing every league game like a cup game in order to try and get that elusive top 4 finish?

Or

Concentrate on a certain cup and try our hardest to get to the final (and hopefully win it) and try to finish as high in the league as possible and hope that it's good enough for top 4?

If you check any of MysteryMan's comments from the last few weeks, the insight is that MON prefers to buy players near the end of the window to ensure the price is as realistically low as possible.

If that is the truth...then it is a lousy tactic. Not many clubs sit on golden "left overs" at that time and some are quite reluctant to sell.

No I dont buy that...MON has huge problems with the transfer market and when he has come to a point where he need to act he go british to play it safe. There is no spark...no edge...with his signings...just a grey hopeful bunch of honest players or whatever he brands them.

Well it worked last year when we got Richard Dunne for £5m and James Collins for around the same price.

Both of those were two incredible bargains that, in my opinion, wouldn't have been as cheap if we'd splashed all our money in June.

It could be the difference between getting one more player. For example:

Spending money in July when opposing teams are at no risk to sell their players quickly: Robbie Keane £9m, Stephen Ireland £12m, Nedem Onouha £4m, Kevin-Prince Boateng £5m. Total of £30m (funded by the sale of Milner/ fringe players).

OR.

Wait until teams realise they'll either need to sell the players off or have an unhappy player in their ranks (or in Man City's case; possibly have a player that they can't register because their squad is too big): Robbie Keane £7m, Stephen Ireland £9m, Nedem Onouha £3m, Kevin-Prince Boateng £4m. Total of £23m. There probably won't be a massive difference in price but it could add up.

In this example (with very rough guesses on prices) we'd get an extra £7m to spend on another player.

It's a simple tactic that could pay off Luxa. The worst case scenario is that someone else lodges a bid with a player that we want - in which case, I'm sure MON would then pop up with an offer. I'm sure he wouldn't just think "Oh, well we aimed to spend money in August.. So we'll let the other team have this one"

I trust MON and I'm confident that we will come out of this window a better team - with or without wantaway-Milner.

The only problem with this transfer-tactic is that it does mean that you have to play a few games of the season without your new transfers. (But if it means that we also get an extra player - in hindsight I'm happy with MON's strategy)

Sorry to piss on your parade Rob but what happens if we leave it that late and the selling clubs decide not to let those players go and we have already lost another 3 or 4 players? We will be left up shit creek then and have to buy players with the quality of Harewood and Knight again just to have a squad.

You also need to look at things another way. The other managers will know how desperate we will be to get players in and with £24m in the bank might decide to up the price of their players because they know we will be desperate to sign someone.

Man City are haing a laugh at us right now. They want our player and know they can have him whenever they want. They also know that our manager has to wait on them because they have our transfer kitty lining their pockets. What would you do if you were them? The longer they make us wait, the longer our pre-season goes on without any new signings having time to gel with the current team.

If Milner wants to leave then we need to take the £24m if that is what they are offering. It is no point holding out for more because, if they choose to bail out and look for someone else, we are going to be left with a player who is going to be wishing he was playing elsewhere. Not only that, we will probably end up selling him for half the price after a poor season.

I am churned up about all of this to be honest.

On one hand, I can't really blame the guy if he wants to go to a club that obviously has more money and more intention of making the Champions League dream come true. The reality is that they have more chance of success that Villa, in the near future. The money will be bigger too, whether or not he plays regularly is another matter!

On the other hand, I really liked Milner. I thought he had a bit of a slow first season but last season he looked the part for us. You can tell what the club think of him from the way The General talks about him. I thought he was the kind of player that would be faithful to us for giving him a real decent chance of playing at a higher level and more regularly. I mean, what was his senior England career looking like before he signed for us?

To sum it all up; I have never booed or hated a Villa player that has returned after leaving us. But, with the way I feel right now, I can see me making an exception when Milner returns to Villa Park. I applauded Gareth Barry last season, because he can say that he gave us over 10 years loyal service, playing in many positions for the good of the club, and after lots of false dawns decided it time to try his luck somewhere else. Remember that this guy had never been involved in a transfer and was deserving of at least one decent financial move, when you consider that he is nearing the end of his best playing days.

I can't say the same about Milner. He has given us a couple of seasons, of which one of them was average. The first sign of the ££££ signs being flashed in front of him and he wants away. To me, there is not an ounce of loyalty being shown there and I find that unforgiveable.

I am not sure I like any of the new kits. I would say that the only part I have any liking for is the home shirt. The socks are appalling, the away shirt should have claret and blue lettering on the front instead of bloody reddish pink, and the goalkeeper's shirt is terrible. Friedel will probably injure himself so he doesn't have to wear that monstrosity every week.

I think some of the guy's efforts earlier in this thread were much better than what Nike have designed for us!

What about throwing Bannan into the middle, and letting play off the strikers in a diamond formation?

:shock:

What's shocking about that?

We've got these kids and they're never given a run out. I'd rather throw them in at the deep end, see what they're about rather than spunk money up the wall.

I'd love to see Bannan and Delph(when fit) thown in.

If we find out that they're not good enough then fair enough but I'd rather us find out

Couldnt get in the blackpool starting XI - find out - DONE

Some of my mates are Blackpool fans and they said he was one of the stars of their season.

I've not seen any qoutes with MON saying Bannan had no future??

I haven't seen any quote either Rainy. However, I was talking to a guy who works at Villa Park and he too is a fan of Bannan's. He told me that he heard it from someone very close to the player, whilst watching him for our reserves last season, that MON had told Bannan to look for another club because he doesn't have the physique to make it in the Premier League.

The guy seemed pretty genuine and the person who he claims told him is a very reliable source.

Does anyone else think it would be worth taking a punt on taking Marcus Berg on loan from Hamburg?

He was player of the tournament at the 2009 Under 21 European Championship but seems to have not had a good first season with Hamburg and he is being linked with a loan move to West Brom.

He is still only 23 and did look good in those championships where he finished top scorer. I don't know how much first team football he would get but it wouldn't do much harm to give it a go IMO.

I went for 4 as i'm guseeing that's been about our average since MON arrived.

1) STR - Keane - Because he may be the kind of player MON can get who he thinks will open up defences and link up play?

2) CM - Ireland - Part of a Milner deal?

3) RB - Clyne - Because he's one for the future and back-up for King Carlos?

4) Utility Player - Aurelio - Cover for Warnock and can also play LM.

These are just guesses and I am hoping I am wrong with at least 2 of them. IMO Keane is too old now and I am sure there is more going on with him than meets the eye. Aurelio is just not good enough and seems injury prone.

If Milner does go and we get £20m + Ireland for instance, I would like to see us spend that full £20m plus any additional money we get for selling any other players. I reckon a spend of around £25m should see us buying some decent players as well as getting Ireland as part of the Milner deal.

I personally think that Mancini asked Capello to play an unfit Milner, in an unusual position as well, so that he could sub him and make him look like he isn't worth the money Villa are asking for. Those Italian folk are crafty like that you know.

Call me a conspiracy theorist but you all know it's true!

He was linked with Chelsea yesterday for 10 million.

Every 3 or 4 pages on here is Carew bashing. He is consistently our top scorer and he gets bashed. very strange. Doesnt matter who its against once you score.

Agree with this. Carew may not be the most mobile and hardest working but he scored more than any other Villa player last season and he won't be cheap to replace if MON decides to move him on.

I think all the names mentioned on here as players we'd like MON to sign (INCLUDING MINE) is just people clutching at straws because they can't (LIKE ME) think of players they TRULY believe will enable us to make that vital improvement necessary to be successful (I am talking REALISTIC targets). In past seasons we thought Bentley (Milner was signed instead and looks the better player) or Distin (Dunne came in instead thankfully) and usually MON went out and bought someone else who genuinely improved the team that most of us either never considered or completely wrote off as not good enough..

I don't know you personally so can't really comment on your footballing attributes but I know for a fact that MON and Villa have never been linked with signing anybody called Philosopher! :winkold:

At last the Miguel story now we know the summer has arrived.

Utter lazy arse journo's.

First thing I thought when I read the Miguelk link. Summer is here. Why the hell do they bring that rumolur up every f**king summer?

Because he's signing for us, can't you see?

Yeah, Bill from The Mail says it should happen in the next 48 hours :winkold:

Not Bill, please!!!!!!!

How long before the Jose Bosingwa rumours start?

Hi General,

Hope you are ok and basking in sunshine like we are here in Costa Del Brum

With regards to James Milner. You always ask for the fans to trust in Randy and Martin. This is exactly what I am going to do with regards to this situation. James Milner is a fantastic player for us and it would be a great shame to have to sell him. But, if the CLUB believes it would be of greater benefit to us to sell then you have my full backing. What's best for the club is the most important thing and the money being mentioned is a considerably large amount.

All I would hope for is that the club think very carefully about who they did potentially sell to, if indeed we did decide to sell. Chelsea and Man Utd are established top two now and not really in our sights but Man City are competitors for 4th place and helping their cause might not be the better deal. May I suggest you taking a look at the "Speculation: Milner to City/Utd/Chelsea" thread, if you haven't already.

A question for you General. How far do you think England and USA will go in the World Cup? Are you looking forward to it as much as us lot?

Up The Villa,

Villarocker

I'd agree with that POB. Milner in a United top I could take; and I'd enjoy watching him progress as a player. At a club like Citeh though, meh.

As for this link with Chelsea, I know we're starting to add rumour+rumour and that can be dangerous but IF it is true that Mourinho is going to Réal (& it appears to be) and IF it is also true that he has sounded out Lampard to follow him there (alledged by Guillem Balague on SS) then Chelsea's relatively recent interest in James Milner all of a sudden makes more sense and becomes very understandable.

Agree with you here BOF!

Dont wanna sell to City and aid their top 4 challenge but wouldnt mind selling to either of the other two as they are beyond our reach, for the forseeable future anyway!

Thanks for the poll. It helps give a clearer picture of what we really think and at the moment it seems 2/3 of fans would take 30+ mill for Jimmy, which at least gives the club a bit of insight into our feelings on the matter. He is a fantastic player and I would hate to see him leave, but the good of the club is most important and if money is tight then we need to look at our options.

What this needs is a Poll.

Who is going to take the plunge and create a poll asking who thinks we should take £30m or more for Milner, and who thinks we should turn down full stop?

We will NOT get Bent for 18Million!!!!!

Personally, I wouldn't get Bent for all the money in the world!!

What if we throw in Beye and Heskey as part of the deal?? :winkold:

Outs would be:

Harewood (free) - doesn't need replacing as The Fonz is 4th choice.

Bouma (free) - doesn't need replacing as O'Halloran is back from injury.

Beye (£2m) - doesn't need replacing as L Young can cover both ful back positions.

Davies (£8m) - doesn't need replacing as we can promote Ciaran Clark to 4th choice CB.

Sidwell (£4m) - needs replacing

NRC (£4m) - needs replacing

Heskey (£2.5m) - needs replacing

That lot brings in around £20.5m

I would then hope for us to try and get

Bent (£18m) - replacement for Heskey but will start.

Van Der Vaart (£9m) - replacement for Sidwell but would start

Parker (£8m) - replacement for NRC but would start more in rotation with Petrov as holding CM.

Play a 4-3-3 formation with The usual suspects in defence with a midfield of Parker, Milner & VDV. The 3 up top would be Gabby, Ash & Bent.

Alternatively, I can see MON going for Robbie Keane or Carlton Cole and offloading Carew. This might be ok with some but I am not too sure that Cole or Keane would score as many goals for us as Carew has this season. Maybe they would get more, who knows?

I thought we allowed them too much time on the ball yesterday. They got stuck into our players, which they obviously have to do due to lack of quality, and made us realise we were in a game.

We definitely had the better of the first half but I think they tried to grow some balls after the break and thought they could actually win it, which, to be honest, meant that they had more of the game second half.

Friedel was awesome and so were our back four. I thought that we could and should have got Ash and Jimmy in the game more. Having said all of that, we showed that we have the bottle and the grit and determination to grind out results, which was really pleasing and fills me with hope for the future.

I just watched the pen back and the ref definitely got it right. Gabby would have been onto the loose ball, with a shooting opportunity, had he not been brought down by Johnson. He clearly got some of the ball but not enought to have cleared the danger and therefore it had to be a pen as Gabby had no chance of getting to the ball after the challenge.