Copey11

I read that article as laying groundwork for DOF/going upstairs. GM references the work outside of training, contracts, who is in / out of plans, moving onto the business of summer and spending a lot of time with Faulkner. Not sure I am too bothered by him moving upstairs, as long as GM is not anywhere near the team. He seems like quite a flashpoint, and certainly without having been GED #2 would never have been considered on his own for Villa. May pave the way for a less experienced but up and coming manager who would welcome a guiding hand in GED for scouting, etc. Does anyone have any sort of idea how much, if any, the lower league teams have in terms of scouting networks? It seems that this would be one area that a less experienced manager would struggle with, having relationships and a trusted network of scouts when moving to a bigger club.

a few thoughts: someone pointed out that our attacking players were missing so many passes. While this is true, I think they are trying to figure out how to play with Bent. His runs are great, and I think Downing, Ash, Gabby were a bit surprised at times and held the ball just a moment too long, or found themselves in space created by those runs and took a second to take advantage (except Ash, who is looking great with Bent and the space created). Makoun looked so small! But his first touch and quick passing (he clearly knows exactly what he is going to do before he receives the ball) are excellent. While most of the time he seemed to be playing very conservatively, or not to make a mistake (he may have been told to do so), he definitely picked some spots to get forward and was effective doing it. When he gets a bit settled and the shackles are taken off I think he's going to be excellent. Cuellar, while not the prettiest attacking player, sure is excellent defensively no matter where you put him. I think he was the right choice tonight with Baker at left back. I thought it was clear that Dunne/Collins/Cuellar were told to help him out and they all shifted left to support him many times. Bent is dangerous, and creates space, pushes the defenders back, and makes every possession dangerous because he can get on the end of the long balls. It won't be long until he is scoring regularly as I feel like there were 10 chances last night where we were just a foot off from a great chance. So happy, bring on Man U.

I think it is pretty safe to assume that MON was telling Randy at the time of offering these wages that he NEEDED these guys, that they would push us to the top four, and this is what led Randy to agree to the contracts. Fair play in certain circumstances (NRC and Luke Young played a lot in the beginning), but when we failed to break into the CL spots, and Beye, NRC, LY were all sitting on the bench, or not even making it, Randy called MON out. We know what happened after that. I think the Randy wanted to run the club a bit more responsibly, but with equal ambition, and MON took a walk. Either he didn't agree with the vision, or felt he had dug himself too big a hole (and we can see how difficult it is to offload these contracts), so he left. I like the way GH is going about the business side (mix of youth and experience) and how Randy is showing that he will spend for the right players (Bent), but will not pay ridiculous wages to those who either not good enough to play or aren't passionate enough about the club.

fantastic result, and performance. I don`t post much, but was watching this match really closely given all that has gone on. Brad - made the saves when needed. cool head when needed. Carlos - really great night. Especially given the rough night Marc had. Another cool, cool head under pressure. loved to see him laughing after a great clearance. Collins - Hmmm. brave game, worked hard (everyone did), a bit last ditch for me. Dunne - this was a great performance for the big man. forget Samba, if he can keep his head right this is what we get, and it is excellent. Clark - good enough, but spotty. wasn't helped by gabby (understandably out of position), but needs to calm down, though probably stood out compared to the experience around him. albrighton - not his best game, but a wise decision with Cuellar behind him to keep things tidy defensively. worked hard, tracked back, but a bit out of his depth tonight. Stan - watched him very very closely tonight given the starting 11. He was fantastic. some great tackles, very good distribution, and shackled Tevez at the top of the box. Impressive and veteran display. Stu - worked very very hard in a position he was not comfortable in. was not the attacking presence we have seen, and he will never be a hard man ball winner, but pressed well, and was always in position. another veteran performance. Gabby - again, out of position, but still didn't work hard enough for me. I think GED thought he would get more passion from him - taking on defenders, tracking back and helping clark, but I did not see it. a couple of moments of class, especially the ball for young that led to the goal, but otherwise a bit wasted. Marc - not a good night for Marc. in a game when he should have been wreaking havoc on the right side, it was all a bit off. gave the ball away, rarely beat his man, crosses off tonight. overall expected better, but it may be too soon. Ash - really interesting performance, and really excellent. showed a lot of passion for the cause tracking back, working hard, taking on defenders. could a really dangerous poacher make him much more effective in the hole? will need some more games to see, but it seemed Bent created some space for him, and gave him some nice runs to feed. Bent - duh. goal. some great runs that gave ash some options, and made crosses interesting. I was always confused by this concept that he did not do anything but score, but what else could he do? he tracked back when needed, showed for the ball, ran into space and dragged defenders freeing up ash quite a bit. consistency is the key though. tbd. nrc - fresh legs, about it. great performance from everyone though from an effort perspective. real desire, real team spirit. loved every minute. Oh, and Dzeko is going to be a star. edit. obviously marc and albrighton are the same person. long story short, not a great night. many beers. sorry.

I think Klinsman is in the frame, as someone previously mentioned. I know he doesn't fit the club statement about Prem managerial experience, but consider this: 1. timing - Bradley gets a new contract from the US, which goes against conventional wisdom as the USMNT has been trying to get Klinsman for years now. Perhaps JK told them he is taking another job, and Bradley was told no way on the Villa job, and the US really has little choice. 2. New UEFA rules and FA rules on self sustaining and homegrown players - JK is a big proponent of setting up a system to develop young talent to be brought through in a certain style (academy) eventually making it to the first team. This allows Villa, already with a strong academy, to develop in house, homegrown talent that can be signed up on long term contracts at reasonable wages until the players become stars. Then you give them a raise, or sell high and invest. JK has a plan for this, and I think Randy would be listening closely with the new rules, and Man City changing the game. Just a thought.

a couple of notes from ESPN2's coverage from the U.S. (which was pretty good by the way) that sums up the game pretty well. - 2 or 3 references to "brilliant passes" by Petrov - a surprised commentator saying "I don't know what Luke Young was doing in the box" when he headed just wide, its nice to see Luke getting forward - Downing and Young really had the commentators praising how they kept switching wings, and confusing them. Must be hard to play against. Great game, and Dunne is really making a name for himself, getting praised the entire game and called perhaps the best buy of the season.

I agree with Brady08. I am worried about Delph against a team we know will have the bulk of possession and move it around so well. I am afraid he will be over eager and make some rash challenges early, picking up a card and forcing us to change the way we play (make us more tentative). I would like to Sidwell in the 4-5-1 in the beginning with a bit of license to get forward with Milner, and if we are chasing the game bring on Delph. I also think that if he is healthy and MON insists on a 4-4-2, Carew should start and be told to play the way he did against Chelsea. Arse will have the ball, so playing Heskey is a bit of a waste as his strength seems to be receiving the ball as a target man and distributing to the oncoming midfielders. But if we are only going to have the ball 40% of the time he ends up just taking up space. Don't get me wrong, I am not slating him, I just think that if we are playing 4-4-2 we need to recognize that we won't have much possession and need to make sure we take our chances on the break and through set pieces, and for me Carew is just more dangerous in those scenarios than Heskey. Would still like to see 4-5-1 though!

Hi Donal and the rest of you NY Villans. Perry here (currently still living in copenhagen but considering myself a NY Villan). Would love to join for the spurs game and would meet up from Denmark (actually quite easy from here). The memorial day weekend game won't work for me though as I expect to be moving back home to NYC on that weekend (provided I don't get a package from my company - financial services aren't what they used to be). cheers all, miss early morning guiness at nevada smiths (did you know they announce the games in danish here? jury is still out whether thats a good or bad thing).