El-Reacho

Herd will be nowhere near that midfield.

Pretty harsh, considering he was one of the few players who could be in any way arsed last season. When he was in the team alongside Petrov I thought he was one of our best players. Also put in a standout performance at RB that made Hutton's inclusion for most of the season all the more bizarre.

Mate to be honest it wasn't hard last season and we have to improve, his passing is dreadful to get him in the middle. RB I agree, but I think he's nothing more than back-up for coming season.

Agree we have to improve, but as things stand he's right up the pecking order. I know central midfielders all offer different things but as things stand I'd have him above Delph, Bannan, Gardner, and Makoun.

If those players come good and fulfill their potential, or PL goes and gets another top midfielder then well and good I can see him fall out of contention, but right now I think he deserves to be in or around the first 11.

Having said all that PL seems to be putting a fair bit of emphasis on Delph this summer. He's been captain a couple of times and has featured in every game I think.

Herd will be nowhere near that midfield.

Pretty harsh, considering he was one of the few players who could be in any way arsed last season. When he was in the team alongside Petrov I thought he was one of our best players. Also put in a standout performance at RB that made Hutton's inclusion for most of the season all the more bizarre.

I'm very conscious of the annoying possibility that some actually think that might be true I have non-Villa mates who think him a far better defender than I do.

His performances for Ireland are generally better than what he can do for Villa particularly in the last two years. Even at his peak for Villa under O'Neill he never put in a performance like Moscow last year. He's also scored a good few important goals for Ire IIRC.

As big a bunch of clowns as the FAI are, I would guarantee both Dunne and Given would have kept their mouths firmly shut about the extent of their injuries during the Euros. I'm sure the FAI were happy enough for them to do that, but it would put the blame at the players' door IMHO.

Surely a narrow midfield 4 with two strikers would be 'the end' of Albrighton. Holman seems comfortable playing centrally, but Marc is a wide midfielder.

Lambert is renowned for being able to change his formation to suit the opposition so I'd imagine he will need a wide player who can cross at some stage. A good option from the bench.

Hahah aparantly we are now turning to Javier Hernandez.... Riiiiiight would cost abwt 13-15m wages of about 50-70k maybe not nice if it did though

Would be worth every penny IMHO. Had a poor season last year but if he was given games he could absolutely thrive here. Is it just twitter nonsense though?

A cheap striker who would get us goals ? - Peter Odwingie from WBA.

Can't imagine he'd be cheap. Is his contract nearly up?

That is, they say, Lambert's forte. It's the one part of O'Neills management I think to a man we all miss, man management. Unless you're a big Nigel Reo-Coker fan that is.

Or Gary Cahill, or Craig Gardner, or Curtis Davies... I'm sure there are others.

I don't buy this O'Neill the great man manager to be honest, your face either fitted or it didn't. If it did you played (every game) and if it didn't you sat on the bench.

A great man manager gets the best out of all his players and handles them well, personally I don't think O'Neill does that.

Motivator? Yes no question but man manager, not for me.

Anyway back on topic, Ireland's performances are encouraging lets hope they continue into the season.

I think the two things went hand in hand with O'Neill though. He had his eleven players and was able to get them to do anything for him, hence the big results against Utd/Arse/Chelsea. I don't think he would have been capable of motivating the players to the extent that he did by rotating the squad and dropping players.

It was all about inflating their egos and making them think they were so much better than they actually were, so it wouldn't have worked if he then went and dropped them for being crap.

It worked well until his chosen 11 inevitably ran out of steam every season around about 1st March.

There were murmurs of him being taken to the Euros at the start of the summer.

Gary Cooper could be an interesting option.

We definitely need a sharpshooter in the box.

Original post duly corrected thanks :-)

Haven't all of our pre-season games been 442 with a narrow midfield diamond and two strikers?

-----------Given------------

Lowton Clark Vlaar Lichaj

------------KEA-------------

-----Ireland---Delph-------

---------Holman------------

-----Zog-------Bent--------

Gary Hooper could be an interesting option. Outscored Carroll at Championship level for a much inferior team, and has a similar record to Jelavic in Scotland. Celtic would want alot for him I'd imagine.

Gazton, don't know if you watched the game this morning, but you can sort of see PL appreciates his talent, arm round the shoulder as soon as he come off.

I think PL realises that an arm round the shoulders works better with Stephen Ireland than a kick up the arse. Not that he need a kick up the arse because he played well, but he realises that to get the best out of Stephen Ireland you need to tell him how good he is and what he is capable of to keep his confidence high.

Good to see.

That is, they say, Lambert's forte. It's the one part of O'Neills management I think to a man we all miss, man management. Unless you're a big Nigel Reo-Coker fan that is.

Absolutely. I think this is why we were so good against the Sky 4 when O'Neill was here. Hopefully PL can similarly get us some results against the big guys.

Berson looked a good signing in the one or two games he played for us IIRC. Was a good short range passer and wouldn't hoof it. Was maybe better suited to La Liga.

Can't wait to see KEA in the PL. Optimism is high.

Anyone know about a stream?

The one I have is HD but the commentary is Canadian, so there is no point in putting a link up.

French?

MON would probably give Fletcher a six year deal at £75,000 a week which PL will thankfully not be doing.

Again on twitter, villa_lobby, dunno how reliable or not he is, has stated that PL has enquired with Bordeaux about thier player gouffran and that Bordeaux are amenable to offers, don't know anything about him except that her's allergic to grass!!! How the bleeding hell does that work then? Wonder if Ivanhoe had the same afliction?

L'Equipe said during the week there that both us and Sunderland were after Gouffran. They said that Bordeaux were keen to move him on this summer.

I have a theory - I think this George Friend is key to our left back situation. Weve been recently linked with Cresswell & Bennett of ITFC & Boro....... now these two clubs are both trying to push through deals for Friend........ I think wherever Friend rocks up - there leftback will head to Villa

I wonder if Olsson's TR at Blackburn will interest Lambert.......

I think I'd prefer Lambert to be a bit more decisive than that. If he wants Cresswell then he should do whatever he thinks is necessary to get him here regardless of where George Friend wants to go.

It will be interesting to compare to Norwich last season. Only the top 6 scored more than them and only the relegated teams conceded more.

I know they're only pre-season games but he seems to be trying for something a bit more solid than the 'score one more than we concede' mentality of Norwich last season. Might account for lack or attacking threat?

Am I right in saying Ipswich are owned by a wealthy American? Could they afford to dig their heals in?

I reckon Sunderland fans may be getting that slightly deflated feeling now with these links to O'Neill's former players. The feeling that we first got when Marlon signed.

Don't understand the clamour to get rid of some of the younger unproven players. Bannan, Delphounso, Delph, Albrighton etc aren't on big contracts and we wouldn't get very much money for them. It's not as though we have a squad of Man City proportions so they're not really taking up squad spaces. I'm sure if we sold Albrighton it would come back to haunt us.

We'll probably have to give them a lump sum to get rid of them in the same way Ireland, Dunne, and Given's deals were held up because they wanted compensated for City not seeing out their contracts. Only O'Neill is going to give them a contract anywhere close to what they're currently on (ironically). Money inevitably will be the deciding factor in them leaving so I'm sure Collins, Warnock, Dunne, or Hutton are thinking why should I go anywhere else and have to take a pay cut. I can't imagine Dunne, Collins, or Warnock would have long left on their contracts - I wonder would the club end up doing what they did with Beye?

Nibali cracked...

The only guy available just happens to have been Michael Rasmussan's Doctor?

I thought he was the team doctor, not the personal doctor. Wow thats terrible.

Duly corrected Paulo. He was Rabobank's team Doctor.