Bazmonkey

Agree, Josh Barton looked very good….looked to get forward most of the game, very comfortable on the ball. Another good one was centre half, Dan I think his name was??? No nonsense centre half but called also play, gave Boldmere forward nothing.

DC, DJ?? in the middle, no 3 looked very good pulled most of the strings, funky haircut, kid n play style, passed in round nicely and was also strong on the ball

This was my first time watching the reserved, best player for me was player they called ‘Jacko’ played in most attacking positions especially when subs were coming on but he stood for me as he was very accomplished on the ball, most things went through him in the middle, great skill, strength too, when under pressure…all round a good player, caused no end of problems for Boldmere

It was only when he was later subbed I heard it was Jack Greelish….IMO defo a player to keep an eye out for.

Interesting to hear Sid giving instructions to the team, often he would say stretch the game, good to see the midfield keeping the ball, moving it from side to end creating space for guys in the middle to eventually take on the back four, play through them.

I know it was only Boldmere and the Juniors but they could teach the 1st team a few things in that the movement was excellent by all of them, everyone seemed to want to play and look for the ball.

I’m sorry but Milner did not want to leave, this is my ITK.

As a coach who worked there for best part of 8 years I still have a few contacts.

Milner only left because City came in with a stupid amount of money at Randy, which he could hardly refuse, this is also why MON let has he wanted a big chunk of it but Randy said no, anyway that’s a different topic for another day.

The summer leading up to his leave he was in the process of building a £2 mil house in the Four Oaks area, when he was told City were in and we accepted he had to scrap the plans, big expense if he was thinking of going.

Also Milner has a little girl who went to a junior/childcare school in Four Oaks, his girlfriend befriended my mates Mrs as their younger daughter also went to the same school. They are still in contact today, whilst it was going on she was saying that his hand was being forced to move because City were offering so much money to Villa, he told Villa he didn’t want to go has he loved the club, MON (at the time) and the area. He expressed that if he went he would only get a few games here and there because of their wealth and buying so many players, so he didn’t want to go.

Anyway, take it as you will, but in the meantime, I would love to have him back, great engine in the middle, something we have missed last couple of years.

I'm sorry but that is bollocks.

Because a club wants to sell, it doesn't mean you need to go. He had a contract with the club and it is the players choice. What do you think Messi would say if Barca said we've sold you to Stoke!

I loved the guy as a player, but the club agreed the fee as they thought it was good money, and Milner agreed a fat pay rise and the chance of winning trophies. Youre kidding yourself if you think he didn't want to go. He might have been sad to leave, but the player always has the choice.

I do think Milner will leave if he's benched all season again.

How am I kidding myself, these are worlds from horses mouth, all be it 3rd hand info.

I’d say its you who’s kidding themselves, how are so sure that what you say is gospel…

How many times does a bid for a player get accepted and then the player refuses to sign purely because he doesn’t want to leave…….cant think of many…whats he going to do sulk back at the club, I don’t think so, more than likely ask for a stupid amount of money per week.

As macandally said, when a club tries to sell you, it doesn’t really give you a warm and fuzzy feeling does it?

Everyone could see from his interview as he left Bodymoor Heath he didn’t want to go. He that doesn’t happen if you are trying to manipulate your way out of a move, he played well in his last game, scored, wasn’t exactly the Dwight Yorke way of doing things.

I think your just using the ‘I’ll get more money’ aspect to cloud what I know are real facts.

Agreed, if he spends another year on the bench he will leave...maybe this time he put in a request, sorry couldnt resist

I’m sorry but Milner did not want to leave, this is my ITK.

As a coach who worked there for best part of 8 years I still have a few contacts.

Milner only left because City came in with a stupid amount of money at Randy, which he could hardly refuse, this is also why MON let has he wanted a big chunk of it but Randy said no, anyway that’s a different topic for another day.

The summer leading up to his leave he was in the process of building a £2 mil house in the Four Oaks area, when he was told City were in and we accepted he had to scrap the plans, big expense if he was thinking of going.

Also Milner has a little girl who went to a junior/childcare school in Four Oaks, his girlfriend befriended my mates Mrs as their younger daughter also went to the same school. They are still in contact today, whilst it was going on she was saying that his hand was being forced to move because City were offering so much money to Villa, he told Villa he didn’t want to go has he loved the club, MON (at the time) and the area. He expressed that if he went he would only get a few games here and there because of their wealth and buying so many players, so he didn’t want to go.

Anyway, take it as you will, but in the meantime, I would love to have him back, great engine in the middle, something we have missed last couple of years.

Mcleish is just like Special Agent OSO absolutely dumb as ****.

Wonder what mcleish's 3 special steps are.... Sorry have a 9 month old who loves it.

Anyway something needs to be sorted I'm usually optimistic but a feel the fat lady is warming up when it comes to the big R. I just can't see where 3 points is coming from 1's are not enough..... Wolves acted quick I think we should too

BUT…..more of blame in not all clearly has to lie with the players…they are simply not good enough…..McLeish has his faults but when the players cross the white line the players have to tale responsibility…the football if you call it that is shocking…no movement…hoof…McLeish is standing shouting at them and often can be seen looking at them going WTF….keep the ball. The team cant even do basic things right so what chance have we got

You must have read my previous post as this was in response to it but I'm seriously struggling to understand how you could post this in response to what I'd posted.

No the blame doesn't clearly lie with the players. As I previously stated as an example, look at Sunderland under O'Neill compared to Sunderland under Bruce. This is nothing to do with comparing O'Neill and McLeish, just compare Sunderland under O'Neill to under Bruce with exactly the same players.

The players haven't changed, there the exact same players and they haven't become better players. They are simply playing for a different manager, they are motivated and they are playing to their strengths or he is picking players that who's strengths match the system he wants to play.

In short Sunderland are an example of the impact of the manager on a group of players. I firmly believe while we have some issues with some players the main problem is the manager not the players.

Yes poor subs…Heskey on the left…but when we cant make a simple 5 yard pass what’s he to do.

How about not pick him in the first place, especially not in midfield.

If Barry et al were still here with Mcleish as the manager do you think we would be where we are now……if yes then its Mcleish but if no then it’s the team….

I don't think we would be that much better off put it that way.

We are no better than Birmingham were last season and I'm damn sure he has a better set of players to work with than he did there last season. So I'd argue that despite better resources the end result is the same so the problem quite clearly is the manager.

Trent - I do see what you mean and in parts you are right....perhaps you dont see what Im saying....you say look at MON with Sunderland now to Bruce...yes great but thats the same team of players.

Mcleish hasnt got the same players MON had thats what Im getting at, if he did then by al means we can compare but we cant.

For arguements sake.....if it looks like a duck...walks like a duck...sounds like duck...then stands to chance of being a duck.....therefore if it looks like a poor team...with poor players...plays like like a poor team...then maybe we have a poor team...regardless of who is incharge.

I'm not blaiming just the players, the manager does have to look at himself more like Heskey in midfield, but to be fair Nzog, Albrighton, Bannan to name but a few have also played but havent really set the pitch on fire...different arguement for a different day..... but also some people are so anti Mcleish, which they have the right to, they maybe dont see the bigger picture which includes the playing staff

MON best points etc was beacuse the good players were still here....Melberg was still first to go to Italy..... then laursen year later..then Barry....Milner...Young....etc now none of them are left.....yes we finsish 6th that arguement again but each year the football started to go down hill....yes we got the results which to be fair its a results game but towards MON stint we ere often on the back foot for a majority of the game...at some point it was all going to change now add the better players starting to leave....as they left those poor players had to come in.

Yes Mcleish is a poor manager and has made some poor errors but I still think the majority of the blame is with the players....opinion

McLeish has Bent, N'zogbia, Given, Dunne (When on form), Gabby, Ireland et al.

Yes Laursen, Mellberg, Milner and Young are massive players to replace but I personally think it's not the quality of the player we have that is the problem. It's solely down to man motivation.

Good point...we know those players can play...problem is they all dont play well together at the same time...one of them is bound to play well while the other as a mare......perhaps man motivation is the answer...cant see the zog being motivated at the mo though after the toon game

BUT…..more of blame in not all clearly has to lie with the players…they are simply not good enough…..McLeish has his faults but when the players cross the white line the players have to tale responsibility…the football if you call it that is shocking…no movement…hoof…McLeish is standing shouting at them and often can be seen looking at them going WTF….keep the ball. The team cant even do basic things right so what chance have we got

Yes poor subs…Heskey on the left…but when we cant make a simple 5 yard pass what’s he to do.

The problem lies with the MON purchases. When MON first took over the team was established with good premiership player and internationals….Barry…Melberg…Laursen…then he got in Carew….a good player in the making in Young….a good team that scored 70 goals in that one year.

However, and here is the problem, most bar a handful were purchased from poor lower table teams. NRC….Collins, West Ham, Warnock, Blackburn, Sidwell, not played for two years etc….these players a simply not good enough….add to the fact that all of the good players he inherited leaving over the years…what are you left with…..what we have now.

You buy poor players then over time you’re going to end up with a poor side and that’s what we have….although poor is probably unfair but a mid table team at the best.

If Barry et al were still here with Mcleish as the manager do you think we would be where we are now……if yes then its Mcleish but if no then it’s the team….

This reminds me of the crap comedian who's act was totally shite saying "it was the last guy, he was so bad they were still booing him half way through my act"

Basically if it was the players that MON bought being totally crap, how come we improved year on year when he was here? How come he managed to get the best ever points total out of us and never once flirted with the bottom end of the table when he had his players here?

Sorry but that sort of says it is the manager , not the players. They could do the basics when MON was here, but now cannot. I mean it if is all down the players then lets have no manager at all.

I doubt , by the way, whether the better players would be here under Mcleish, and that is very much down to manager and owner

How do you know that they still wouldny be here...if they were still playing well with good team mates why would want to leave purely because the manager is Mcleish.....nope....the good players left because before the good players exited and saw what was left...i.e poor

MON best points etc was beacuse the good players were still here....Melberg was still first to go to Italy..... then laursen year later..then Barry....Milner...Young....etc now none of them are left.....yes we finsish 6th that arguement again but each year the football started to go down hill....yes we got the results which to be fair its a results game but towards MON stint we ere often on the back foot for a majority of the game...at some point it was all going to change now add the better players starting to leave....as they left those poor players had to come in.

Yes Mcleish is a poor manager and has made some poor errors but I still think the majority of the blame is with the players....opinion

BUT…..more of blame in not all clearly has to lie with the players…they are simply not good enough…..McLeish has his faults but when the players cross the white line the players have to tale responsibility…the football if you call it that is shocking…no movement…hoof…McLeish is standing shouting at them and often can be seen looking at them going WTF….keep the ball. The team cant even do basic things right so what chance have we got

Yes poor subs…Heskey on the left…but when we cant make a simple 5 yard pass what’s he to do.

The problem lies with the MON purchases. When MON first took over the team was established with good premiership player and internationals….Barry…Melberg…Laursen…then he got in Carew….a good player in the making in Young….a good team that scored 70 goals in that one year.

However, and here is the problem, most bar a handful were purchased from poor lower table teams. NRC….Collins, West Ham, Warnock, Blackburn, Sidwell, not played for two years etc….these players a simply not good enough….add to the fact that all of the good players he inherited leaving over the years…what are you left with…..what we have now.

You buy poor players then over time you’re going to end up with a poor side and that’s what we have….although poor is probably unfair but a mid table team at the best.

If Barry et al were still here with Mcleish as the manager do you think we would be where we are now……if yes then its Mcleish but if no then it’s the team….

IMO I think he just is not good enough and I'm yet to see all this ‘hype’ he gets....this can be said for most of our youth players.

I also think he wouldn’t get half as much hype if he wasn’t wearing a claret and blue shirt. Yes he lives in the area yes he supported the club as a boy yes he gives 100% all the time but its time to take the claret and blue glassless off and realise you wont win games based on just that.

It is a shame because I, having coached the youth team years ago would love to see players coming through and being part of a successful team and successful themselves. BUT like it was when I was a coach you have to think with head not your heart and say that deep down some players are not as good as you think they are or want them to be.

Problem with O'neill was in his first proper season and second is that the success came from having already established premier league players playing in the team with the addition of his good signings.....when it all started to go wrong was when these players wanted to leave or retired...then what are you left with.......your left with basically what we have got now...players brought from poor teams at the time...when you buy players from poor teams eventually you end up with a poor team

Warnock - blackburn.....botton 6 regular

Young L - Boro..bottom 6 or relegated

NCR/Collins...West Spam....relegated

These are just a few add to the loss of Barry, Melberg, Milner, Young A, Larson, Bouma etc

Then we left where we are...is it MON's yes...too much money on very average players..yes young..millner..were good but on the whole too left with a wage bill way to high to sell some of these players...but its also the baords fault for letting him and giving the money to do this...lessons have to be learnt and unfortunetely its going to take time to rectify the damage done

This part time thing is an urban myth.

Part time players/teams train just as much as professional teams the difference is that when the pro players go home to their massive homes in their aston martins...semi pro or part timers as they are called go off to do a job as they dont get the money like the pro's nor have everything subsidised by the club. In most cases semi pro leagues play more games as the leagues have more teams.

Anyway back to topic...if he is any good great..if not...nothing lost

The difference with Fergie using Utd’s youngsters and us is plain simple..they are a lot better.

All of Utd’s youngsters and you can count the other top four teams send their youngsters out to premier league teams and they get played week in week out…they get accustomed to the league so it benefits Utd…as they get their players who wont play every week valuable experience. Cleverly – Wigan, Wilshire – Bolton – Sturridge – Bolton to name but a few

We however send ours to lower league teams in the championship and league one and they hardly get a game nor when they do they don’t exactly set the pitch on fire!!! They have all played for the reserves and have won the reserve league or come near the top for the last few years…..but is the reserve league just a glorified youth league?????

So are they really that good…..are they the future….who knows….IMO a lot of the youth players and 1st teams players on here get bigged up more than they actually are without really kicking a ball for us or for another team and purely because they play for the Villa….is it time to take the claret and blue glasses off and really judge all of our players not just the youth based on what we have seen not what we hope to see.

What's this cult status Makoun is supposed to have anyway?

By the looks of it the same one as NCR and Delph have......they are all perceived to a lot better than they really are.

I don’t care now and I’d never though I’d be saying that.

The way football in a whole is run and to some extent the way the Villa have gone about their business over the last few years has killed it for me.

From the amount of money in the game to bigging up so called world class players every min, listening to Sky Sports get a hard on because Wayne Rooney was seen at the local shopper to Harry Redknapp having an opinion on everything is just plain boring. Football as a game is dead.

So to Villa, the team I fell in love when my dad took me to my first Villa game age 7 some 25 years ago is not the same these days

Three years ago Villa was on a high as was I, we had just finished 6th, scored some 70 odd goals, the emergence of Young, Barry, Carew backed with the gritt and class of Melberg and Laursen the future looked great, the five year plan was fully in swing. Great results against Chelsea home and away, 5-1 against the blues the list was massive. Could it be any better………

Then one night in Moscow and it all started to change. From bailing out in Europe to the negative publicity we now have every time we do something to money wasted on average players that just simply do not care. A manager walking out on us 5 days to the start of the season, the taking forever to sign players, buy players for silly money, make no money on them, its all well Learner paying for fancy TV screens outside the ground and a nice brick work above the holte…but the business end starts on the pitch and works it way out.

Add to the fact this managerial fiasco has been nothing sort of embarrassing. The protest and vandalism at Bodymore Heath only adds to it. I’m lucky to meet lots of people in my work and the common ground has always been football, the moment I say I’m a Villa fan the laughter that follows is such a same, the club I love is now seen as a laughing joke.

In between this we have had two days out at Wembly…would this be our time…bar a poor ref decision to not sending off Vidic because ‘It was early I didn’t want to ruin the final’ who knows…….

However, will I still see how they get on a Sat or Tuesday, will I still try and find some dodgy internet feed to watch the game stutter for 90 mins…..Yes….because that’s what I do….thats what being a football fan is. I have a 6 week old and already he has been down to the ground and as a Villa baby grow……this is how it is….from my grandad to my dad and him to me, that’s four generations that in some way even though I moaned above are still proud to be Villa fans.

If McLeish does come I do hope that it works out and can look back at all this and say what the hell were we thinking….but I don’t know…add to all the events I have mentioned and some that I have missed I just cant see that magical light at the end of the tunnel, its there but the tunnel is long.

I only hope that when I take my little one to his first game the game will still have some parts to it that fell in love when I did when I was 7…….how I would love to be that 7 year old again.

Hughes would be good for the players we have at the moment i.e grafters not players...bit like a MON. However, we want to move from these type of players and add really quality then I think someone with a better CV, dont know who, would be better for Villa in the long term.......However again, if he brought Hangeland and Dempsey with him it could be good

is it in dunnes contract to kick the ball out of play when defending

Whole team as well :winkold:

That completed passes stat is hillarious.

Thats why were in the postion that we are.........teams cant score if they aint got the ball.....simple

No options for the easy ball...........movement needs to be improved..........however.....1 up at half time.....I'd take that

I knew it was going to be that video before I clicked it Amazing

Great clip.....problem is that was two years ago and we havent seen anything like it since

i'm sorry but let him go, sod all this ambition shit blar blar blar...........years ago it was all ambition now its all money first oh look i've won a title er but you only played two games....yes i won i title....no you aint.....sod off!!!!!!

Few years ago a player would work its dogs swingers off to win something...now due to money its turned the other way....they all want something but dont want to work for it....if ash was performing like he did two years ago then hands up..... not like he was now i.e couldnt cross a road let alone put one in the box on a villa head.......then fine keep him to but to be fair he he will move on he wont win anything due to football being the way it is......he wont get in the england team because he aint good enough...so lets cash in and move on!!!!!

p.s been on the lash so sorry for the rant

Great result considering the week we have just had

Hardly any footballing class shown by us today but there was a hell of alot of COMMITTMENT!!!!

Last 15mins..................arse is like a rabbits nose!!!

it's official Downing is SHIT!!!!

What we need to do its get that small white round thing on the floor and to someone in a claret shirt.......its like watching a training game you attack and we'll defend

I thought Ireland played well until late second half, what he showed was that he has good energy and is very comfortable on the ball, many of his touches last night were one touch no more than 2-3 and it was quick, he kept the ball moving.

What he shown and this doesnt relate to himand id a bit off topic but the rest of team are simply not good enough on the ball, and move it slow and take too many touches, NRC could have played Albrighton down the wing a few times and this was apparent with Albrighton throwing his hands in the air in frustration a couple times.

This also happened willMilner he looked frustrated especially towards the end of last season with the same thing, also coinsidered with him playing for England......better players.

Anyway, I think Ireland in a few weeks will become very good I hope the rest of the team match him as otherwise he wont be as effected if you see what I mean