PauloBarnesi

As if we were ever going to sign him

 

People still expecting us to make signings as if were shopping in harrods were very much in the aldi market 

 

Hoolahan is the best we can hope for

You can get a great deal of overpriced crap at Harrods. You can pick up some great bargains at Aldi.

should be renamed Steven De Bore for all the tedious time we spend guffing on about a player we are incredibly unlikely to sign.

 

 

I believe its Anthony vander Borre?

Mix it up I think is what I recommend; make your steady runs steady, your fast runs fast, and your recovery days to recover. 

Distance is something you can build up to; just because you can run 5 miles, doesn’t mean you should on a regular basis until you can properly cope.

running should be challenging, but it shouldn’t be unenjoyable.

I agree that Lambert is stubborn but how is he more stubborn than O'Neill?

Its just one of those things that people throw into the conversation, without any proof, bar a feeling when they get up in the morning.

MON is the devil. If anyone is worse than him then they must be really bad and deserving of the sack. 

You say that as if O'Neill is something to aspire to. If Lambert is to succeed at Villa (or anywhere else in top level football) then he'll need to be pretty much the opposite of what O'Neill is/was.

We can have a debate all day long about the pros and cons of the artist known as MON, but to act like he is one big negative is bizarre. We had plenty of highlights during his time. Now maybe we paid a heavy price. And maybe he had his limitations, but we did have some good times. Or did I imagine it all?

If we stuff the Baggies (the SHA isn’t in the premiership) 5-1 I am presuming thats something we shouldn’t aspire to?

I think you need to define success?

 

The highest up the chain takes the ultimate responsibility. Lerner can only blame himself for the mess we have been in. If people want the pantomime villain then MON fits the bill. If you want the person who needs to put his hands up and explain everything, then thats Lerner. Who signed Ireland and sold Milner, and then paid Ireland more than anyone?

Hold on we got a fantastic price for Milner. Ireland was city's player of the year and us fans couldnt have been more excited to sign a 'top class' premiership player like Ireland. No one could ever invisage the utter disaster he would become.

 

I thought he was a disaster waiting to happen, and I was not alone in this. Ireland had one good season; he hadn’t played for a whole season when we decided to go through with the deal

We got good money for Milner, but whats the point if you waste it? 

As soon as MON walked, all deals should have been off; Milner would have been a Villa player that the future manager could decide what to do with. Probably if he had stayed we might have attracted a better manager than Houllier?

I am not trying to argue that MON isn’t to blame for this mess, but we have so many misguided people in this sorry saga. But one person is common to all of this; the owner.

The highest up the chain takes the ultimate responsibility. Lerner can only blame himself for the mess we have been in. If people want the pantomime villain then MON fits the bill. If you want the person who needs to put his hands up and explain everything, then thats Lerner. Who signed Ireland and sold Milner, and then paid Ireland more than anyone?

Yep it was terrible when MON sold Milner, Young and Downing. For all of MON’s sins the mess we are in is not just his fault. 

Houlliers direction involved a lot of money and hanging on to key players, not sure he could have done that well with Young and Downing gone. Mind you he might not have bought players like N’Zgobia and Hutton...

Most injuries are caused by fatigue. Whilst aerobically your body might be able to cope with the running, the legs might not. 

One thing that might help is run/walk. You run for five minutes and then walk for one minute. You start off doing that four or five times and twice a week. After a few weeks if you aren’t feeling any pain build it up to three times a week and eventually running non stop.

Now your technique might not be great because of some kind of muscular weakness and tightness. 

Really recommend stretching and getting a roller. 

IMO it would be a medicore signing that would sum up Lambert's transfer activity.

 

He'll never be a top 8 premier league standard player which should be the minimum we are aiming for when signing new players.

Is he an improvement on what we have is the question we need to ask.

BBC4 had an interesting documentary on them. One of the more interesting musical soap operas, when you realise that something like the Winner Takes It All is autobiographical...

 

 

 

New Year, so what are the aims for this year? I invest in a GPS watch for Christmas, really interesting for finding how well I am doing

 

To run. At all. I'll think about racing if I get consistently injury free. 

 

I know the feeling Mike, I ve finally found a physio and a programme that seems to be working for me, but its been a long way back, and picked up other niggly injuries along the way.

 

Whats the problem?

 

 

Well much of 2012 and 2013 was written off due to severe plantar fasciitis. Then when I made my comeback in the autumn I overdid it in a local race and gave myself a "sports hernia" - not as bad as it sounds, basically a small muscle tear in the stomach wall, but has to be rested until it heals (worse cases require minor surgery). 

 

Anyhow, it seems to have settled down, and I was back running with no problems just before Xmas - then I got this man flu virus, which has poleaxed me good and proper. 

 

So, next week or so, as our old friend used to say: we go again. 

 

Well fingers crossed for 2014...

I am not sure you can say it was more fascinating, its just been more exposed. But for the British and the commonwealth probably more impactful.

The war that was to end all wars, of course it was just one war before an even bloodier conflict, but I think it destroyed a kind of Britain (some might say it was a good thing) and even today we live with the fallout

When you hear about the casualties it never stops being horrific. As someone in my 40s its a reminder how lucky I ve been to live in a relatively peaceful world.

Definitely a year to reflect on the horrors of war

 

New Year, so what are the aims for this year? I invest in a GPS watch for Christmas, really interesting for finding how well I am doing

 

To run. At all. I'll think about racing if I get consistently injury free. 

 

I know the feeling Mike, I ve finally found a physio and a programme that seems to be working for me, but its been a long way back, and picked up other niggly injuries along the way.

Whats the problem?

New Year, so what are the aims for this year? I invest in a GPS watch for Christmas, really interesting for finding how well I am doing

 

The DOL team from 2005/2006 was terrible.

And yet it got more points than our last two seasons.

 

And less than GT mkII, and look how people complained about that! That included 11 home wins as well

If people want to sack Lambert then to me he has to be when he’s got his strongest side out and he still can’t get them to the acceptable point. I know football doesn’t always work that way, but it seems the fairest to me.

I still just think it's depressing that we have been relegated to having to sign fringe players from lesser teams, we should be getting the best players from them. I only see one outcome from that.

Seems we are now a lesser team. 

Took his goal well, but yet again, another season of poor form, sprinkled with the odd spark of brilliance. Simply not good enough.

What I ve never understood is how a player can score over 10 goals at PL level for three years in a row, then become so lacklustre for large parts of the season. What the hell motivated him before? MON?

I think people like Collins were seen as a bad influence upon the young kids. One suspects that is why Hutton can’t get a game.

FWIW, I I think there is a manager out there who can do better. A manager who can get professional footballs executing the basic fundamentals of football would be a start.

 

Wouldn't be overly excited but I believe Steve McClaren would be able to at least get us to pass the football. Most of his managerial positions have been successful and he is doing well at Derby. You dont get Middlesbrough to the UEFA Cup final without having half a clue. 

 

Oh wait, the man (who is probably over qualified for Villa atm), chose to hold a brolly instead of getting piss wet through and spoke in a Dutch accent whilst winning the title with FC Twente for their first time ever, so lets swing from the gates of Villa Park protesting at the possibility of him getting interviewed, because we had such a barrage of top quality managers knocking at the door.

Couple of things; he spent a fortune at Boro. And he’s been a mixed bag of things, some successes, and some failures. He would do ok at Villa, but not be able to move it on. 

Petrov?

 

Please do not confuse my unease with the lack of respect shown to the man who has done more for our football club than anyone in recent history as me being 'a fan'

 

In recent history? The last 50 years to me are recent history, a few people seem to have done more. GT, Dugdale, etc, etc

Randy has one thing going for him and that seems to be who he isn’t. He isn’t Ellis, that ex-Man City player, the Irish building twins, etc, etc...