Super-Villan

Nzobia has turned down Brum. Haha.

Because he has no flair or dribbling ability? He's a defensive player. He's won the ball and played safe passes, which is exactly what is required. He's not a Wesley Sneijder ffs.

See I half agree and I half don't. Absolutely right to play him tonight, and he does bring something to the team. Closing down on the edge of our box near the end of the half is the perfect example. If he was actually any good at the second bit - playing safe passes to team mates regularly - he'd be an incredible player. As it is he's useful but limited.

I'm liking Ireland a lot. Not everything he does has come off, but I love his desire to play a 1-2 all the time, his movement, his runs into space and his clever little passes. I also loved him screaming at NRC to give him the ball back simply when NRC looked like he was trying to think of a hopeful long pass forward. The more time he plays with the rest of the team the better we'll see from him, I think. I'd love to see him play with Delph too.

Used to be the norm in the 70s in the UK.

So did lots of words. Let's not go back to those dark days.

No matter who came up with it, 'soccer' has become a very American term to describe football. Bin it.

Jols just resigned

I read that and got very excited.

Don't think we'll get Jol, but plenty have managers have done that and left only days later.

MOTM - Nigel Reo-Coker. I thought he was absolutly FANTASTIC. Played his role EXTREMELY well.

Maybe I was watching a different match but I DONT GET the NRC bashing? Do you expect him to dribble it around players and bang in 30 yard screamers every 10 mins? Get a grip!! He broke down play fantasticly well, his tackling was first class & he's actually IMPROVED his passing! Id personally have him playing with Ireland instead of Petrov. The combination of Reo-Coker/Ireland would work VERY well!

No, quite the opposite. I expect him to keep it simple and pass the ball to a better placed team mate a few yards away rather than try and hit a 30 yard pass he's not capable of and lose posession. And I expect him not to run down blind alleys and lose the ball as well. His tackling and energy and breaking down play are fine, I agree. But if he can't do the other things well too I think he will always be a limited player and certainly not good enough to be a regular starter for us.

It amazes me how people can see the game so differently than others. The sad thing is that there are certain fans who just don't like certain players. It doesn't matter how well they play they will always be crap in their eyes. Heskey and NRC worked their asses off tonight with a group of youngesters and players who have hardly played in the last year. They did a fine job in what was a difficult game but still get slated.

I'll be honest and say that I'm not the biggest fan of Petrov but man enough to see the big picture and admit when he does well. I wish certain fans would just get behind the team and the players and know the players are doing the best they can. Sadly we don't have Ronaldo, Messi, Kaka or Torres but have players who want to play.

And equally there are certain fans who favour certain players and can see no wrong in them, even when they put in a bad performance.

I'm not a Heskey fan at all, but I thought he did OK tonight. NRC I didn't think did very well. Yes, he has energy. Yes, he tried hard. But he lacked quality in every part of his game.

Getting behind the team is all well and good, but we should also be able to criticise players when we don't think they have performed well, otherwise there wouldn't be much point of this message board.

Reo-Coker was awful. His passing all over the place. That and his decision making with the ball messed up numerous attacks and put us in trouble at the back too.

To be fair, he was playing alongside Hogg, and it was hard work for him. He was far more box to box than even he would care to play.

I don't think any of that is an excuse for some of the situations he allowed himself to get in. Some players just have that ability to create space when they receive the ball. Reo-Coker has exactly the opposite ability. And he tried clever pass after clever pass which lead to nothing when a much more simple option was available.

Not that he was the worst player on the pitch. Just bad.

Reo-Coker was awful. His passing all over the place. That and his decision making with the ball messed up numerous attacks and put us in trouble at the back too.

they are trying to play hardball, i dont understand why milner wont sign a new deal with us. why not say look james we revived your career and we wnat wnats best for the club, sign the contract so you get more money and if you still want to go next summer, then fine. this keeps all partie shappy you leave and we get more money for you as a club, as next season your valuation will drop.

i dont see why milner wouldnt do that, he will earn more for this season

But his valuation wouldn't drop if he signed a new contract, it would go up as he would be contracted to us for longer. Just as it will go down when he only has a year left on his contract, like with Barry. So if he doesn't sign a new contract, he knows there's more chance of a big club buying him next year. Like with Barry. And increasing his wages a bit for one year with us is nothing compared to the raise he'd get at City in a year's time.

That's why he won't sign a new one, just like Barry didn't.

Why do people think Milner will go for half the price next year? Barry's fee went down from £18m to £12m with a year left on his contract, plus he was a lot older than James.

I don't reckon we'd sell him for less than £18m next year even, probably more. And that's fine by me.

Heard a couple of rumors about SWP getting offered to Villa again. The story was on goal.com, so its by no means official (I also don't know how to post it). So, the question is. Would you take Ireland and SWP for Milner?

Errrr, no. Simple. I don't rate SWP, but even aside from that he's not worth £10m so those two players don't add up to Milner.

Are we going to be the only club in the country with no fans wearing the new shirt on the first day of the season?

Jokers!

No. As has been said a fair few times already on this thread, Spurs' shirts aren't out until September either. And I suspect we're not the only two clubs doing that either.

I think that's wishful thinking. If Man City don't meet our price, I don't see why Milner would sign a new contract. I think he'd quite happily play for another year knowing we'll let him go for less next summer. Like with Barry.

He went back there because a transfer target of theirs fell through, as I remember it, not because they suddenly decided to keep him. Not that any of this makes a difference to my original point, but you know.

It was reasonably well reported that he was "gutted" when it fell through and he then went on to have a good season. I don't see how asking for a transfer or not affects that, as its the playing and being pissed of that is important

In terms of how Milner would play for us if he had to stay, I agree with you.

But the original poster stated that Milner had a history of staying and playing well for clubs after asking for a move. And that is at best a misrepresentation of what has happened in Milner's career.

He went back there because a transfer target of theirs fell through, as I remember it, not because they suddenly decided to keep him. Not that any of this makes a difference to my original point, but you know.

Does Milner really have a history of playing on for clubs after asking for a move? The first time he nearly signed for us there was no indication he'd asked for a move from Newcastle. And when he did finally move to us, it was after handing in a transfer request - so there was no playing on involved at all.

I'd say being about to sign on the dotted line was a clear indication he didn't actually want to be at Newcastle anymore, he wasn't signing for us because Newcastle told him to, he was signing for us because after his loan spell he wanted to be here

Also he han't actually asked for a transfer here either, he has simply indicated that he does not wish to sign another contract

Yes, but that's not the same as asking for a move, and that was what was suggested. Newcastle were letting him go as much as anything.

Does Milner really have a history of playing on for clubs after asking for a move? The first time he nearly signed for us there was no indication he'd asked for a move from Newcastle. And when he did finally move to us, it was after handing in a transfer request - so there was no playing on involved at all.

If we don't take him on tour we're basically saying we've given up on keeping him, and that would give us a weak bargaining position with Man City.

All this speculating on speculation is doing my head in.

I really don't buy this idea of Milner being so upset there's no way back. If it's such a big deal I am sure he has got at least one reporter's number on his phone he could ring and clarify his position to. He's on holiday for frig's sake, not in prison?

As far as I'm concerned MON's little speech was basically a call to Man City to put up or shut up - if you come up with the money we'll sell and the player will happily sign for you. If City don't come up with the money Milner stays a Villa player and he will continue to do a fantastic job of doing that. He has only just cracked the England side - he is hardly going to go on strike and sulk when it would pretty much spell the end of his England career in the short term.

That's how I read MON's words, I think Milner is professional enough to continue to play for us if City won't pay up. He's certainly no Barry.

Though Barry continued to play pretty well for us for a season after the Pool deal went sour.

Why are we always last to have our kit available?

Just been on kitbag and you can buy more or less every shirt in the prem now apart from ours.

As I posted a page or two back, Spurs' shirt isnn't available until September, so that just isn't true that we're last.

The new Spurs kit isn't available until the end of September, apparently, so we're hardly the only ones.

FA Cup is priority. Silverware every time.

I'll never be NRC's biggest fan, but he was very impressive tonight and had a lot to do with our victory. My MOM would be Friedel, who pulled off a number of good saves and looked very solid. He made me stop wishing we'd give Guzan a run in goal.

Third option was 'Villans' when I voted. It has been changed.