rodigan

all the best, shay.... model professional, who deserves to play regularly.....

Hi buddy. We too are coming from Melbourne and as I have posted earlier in the thread, I have sorted 3 tickets for 2,100 pounds in club Wembley. Thats about all there is as it stands. You may have more luck closer to the game but it's risky. have seen club wembley tickets up for sale, but to be honest am torn about those for that sort of money.... at something like 4 grand per head all up, i'd want to be able for my son to experience the game deep in among the villa fans and not in a corporate box.... the ticket relative to the cost is going to be relatively small I guess, but those sort of prices are like a kick in the nuts... have four more days to confirm my flights, so i'll guess i'll keep scrabbling around to see if I can put something together... good to hear of villans in Melbourne as well... only moved here from hong kong at the beginning of the year....

am guessing 21 hours is flying time... the itinerary i was shown on cathay was 30 hours all up when you include the stop over... 25 on the way back... and if I can get hold of tickets worth every minute!

Trying to bring my 13 year old lad from melbourne to fulfil a promise from when he was 3.... Ticketing appears to be a nightmare.... The allocations don't even contemplate fans from overseas, which is a shame as he's happy to make the 30 hour flight there and back!!!! Any ideas gratefully received....

slightly off topic but Jason lee was playing at the hong kong soccer sevens last year for one of the masters teams, with a shaved head - a bunch of us started 'he's got a pineapple on his head' and to give the lad credit he gave us all a big smile and a wave.... not sure the locals had much of a clue what was going on but very amusing...

apologies - double post...

Nothing suggests to me that he hasn't been given a fair chance or that he, or any other player has any right to start a few games - perhaps Sherwood just likes what he sees from the other players in terms of dedication, hard work and commitment to the team more... he has tried to bring attacking flair into the team and has given lots of playing time to the likes of grealish, Sinclair, nzogbia, cole... perhaps its just a case of getting fit and then working hard and waiting for your chance...

top bloke and top performances of late - well done Ciaran.... one thing he has been from his very early days is a clear leader on the pitch.... I remember seeing him play here in hong kong on several occasions with bannan, albrighton, steiber, forrester, weimann, delfouneso and he was always a man among boys and the one they look to on the pitch.... its great that his play is what people are talking about nowadays - with that going well, you can see the confidence coming back into the lad... brilliant stuff.... and that tackle was a thing of beauty - half a second either side and we were in a world of trouble, but well done, sir...

yesterday was an interesting one watching jack play.... I think that his youth and inexperience showed today on several occasions, exactly as it is did when we were blooding the last generation of new talent - clark, albrighton, baker, bannan.... he clearly has potential going forward and he definitely appeared to grow into the game.... I think he hasn't yet developed the precision that he needs in the premier league, and that a couple of his passes and touches needed to be a little bit tighter or sooner, although I think he clearly has the ability to improve that as he develops... I would also have to say that to me it appears that PL is playing him about the right amount... in a light midfield like we had when he came on in the absence of delph, westwood and cleverley, he looked exposed.... when he is surrounded by a team that can do the defensive shift, he clearly gives us something extra going forward, and seeing how he developed last season, i'm sure he'll get better with more of the right sort of minutes played...

real shame, for the lad and horrible way to get injured.... these are the games that we need to bank the points and if we're going into the next few without the top three CBs and three of our top midfielders, we're really going to struggle I think.... it was interesting to me that it was sanchez who took up the role of distributing the ball in westwood's absence rather than cleverley or Richardson...

I was thinking during the game last night about where delph would go if he were to leave the villa.... Chelsea - no chance man city - no chance man u - perhaps in the carrick / fletcher role, but with so many potent attackers and fellaini now playing himself back into form, not sure he gets a look in Liverpool - mooted as a replacement for stevie g, but with Henderson and joe allen not sure he is an upgrade on what they have arsenal - no chance - ramsey, wilshere, rosicky, cazorla, ozil, arteta, flamini, oxlade-chamberlain tottenham - about the right level, but the one thing they have too many of is pretty good midfielders so, if you take him out of the top 6, then he's down to the next group of teams that will have bouts of doing well and bouts of struggling - Southampton, everton, Newcastle, wet spam, swansea... he could go and play for one of them, but if he's moving for ambition, or even money for that matter, will any of those teams really be able to deliver what he wants.... maybe he'd be better staying right where he is... particularly if we're playing into a nice run over the Christmas break, which is possible with the fixtures we have... beyond that lot, you're looking at no better than us, and certainly without our heritage....

I guess the issue at the moment is that in the last ten minutes of games, we have consistently been under siege from the opposition... at that point, do we have the luxury of bringing on someone like grealish with the amount of defensive work that is required from all of our players?

idiot... what a stupid time to go to the press with statements like this... he must be in line to play with vlaar, baker and senderos struggling to be fit, so what's the point in going public with a threat (veiled or otherwise) like this... can't these guys simply go and talk to their managers - I just don't get the need to speak to the press about things that should be between the club and them....

I agree with that fully, lexicon, as pointed out in my earlier post...

as in the Olsson thread - he would not be brought in to replace delph, but rather others would move up and say he, or GG, could move in to fill the squad numbers...

I guess the point is that he is being touted as a replacement for our captain and first choice. if he's not, what we're effectively saying is that baker or senderos are the replacement for vlaar, and olson is being brought in as a squad player...

every time I've watched him play, he has been the stand out player, even playing alongside jack.... he has that ability to glide through players with the ball - very exciting to watch....

I always thought Ciaran would be the long term captain, but its looking less and less likely by the day.... i'm always a fan of CBs as captain - their presence on the pitch is defined by them being imposing characters, which is something that you want in a captain... on that basis, i'd say senderos next season if vlaar is gone, and if he's a nailed on starter ie fit and still playing well... I think westwood looks like he could be captain in time, but I find him a bit chippy and lightweight for my liking (same for cleverly)... I think gabby should just concentrate on his game and not have the added pressure of captaincy.... baker is an interesting long term call - lets see if he develops into a long term starter when all of our defenders are fit and whether he matures into a defender that isn't going to put himself into dangerous positions every week that more often than not end up with him leaving the pitch early...

to me, our first four games of the season with ron playing alongside in a back four of wise experienced defenders who are able to concentrate for a whole game, showed the quality that he is... baker for me has developed well over the last year, and has cut out many of the stupid mistakes he was making last year, when he still looked like young kid... if we could get our starting defensive four out on the pitch consistently, we'll be fine... with two or three of them out, we are struggling massively... to me, vlaar seems like an exemplary professional - he has said nothing to take away from the team or to draw focus away from the performance on the pitch or trying to win games.... I think that as a professional and as captain of the team, he will try and win every game for villa, or help the team win every game, until he walks out of the door at the end of his villa career - on that front, I cannot fault him... I also think that despite that, he is giving serious consideration to moving on - which, frankly as a professional, I do not begrudge him doing... if he has say four years left as a top professional, do any of us believe that villa are going to be challenging for Europe or trophies in that time? I don't think its about money for him in the first instance - wherever he goes will pay a comparable amount to what villa is offering him, so then its just about what he wants to achieve in a career that has a very limited future in terms of years ahead of him.... i'd love him to say, I make good money here, the fans love me and i'd like to finish my career helping a struggling club be the best it can be - but I can understand him thinking, I've played in a world cup semi-final and could end up my career with some real trophies in the cabinet.... I have given three years to a struggling club, and done my best for them, and now its time for me to go and do something for myself.... it is interesting to me that his twitter site says that he 'plays for aston villa', but is 'feyenoord4life' - I suspect that tells us the likelihood of him making a decision out of loyalty to the villa...

spot on mantis - every cheap defender not playing or coming up for a free in the summer is going to be linked with us until vlaar signs his new contract with us...

I think his confidence is the highest its been in a year - he had the look of angry tekkers throughout the tottenham game and that's what we haven't seen for so long... two runouts for belgium will only have helped that.... that first goal is coming, and when it does, there's plenty more to come...

i'm a huge fan of andi from way back when he was coming through the ranks - having said that, it always amazes me that he has come through and forged a career in the premier league with the way players have developed. as a striker he isn't one to strike fear into oppositions - he's not big, lightning fast or with exceptional touch that is likely to turn a game.... what he is is a good honest footballer who plays with heart and will always give 110% on the field - he has a strikers eye and an uncanny way of getting into the right place at the right time, but he doesn't have the ability to finish like say DB9 in his prime... in my mind, when his confidence is high, he starts as he's going to cause mischief and is likely to nab a goal for us... however, I don't think that he's always a starter, and for me, i'd have liked to see him rotated more last season when he was struggling to give others an opportunity... if we're playing him out wide, or in a no 10 position, there are a number who could play there, and may make a difference - cole, Richardson, grealish, zoggy etc...

I think the two runouts that tekkers has had this week will do him the world of good, and coupled with his game against spurs, I think he's going to be banging them in for us over the Christmas period.... which will make a pleasant change to the useful disaster that is the Christmas group of games....

jack is an interesting case for me.... whenever I've watched him play live, he has lit it up at the standard that he has played at.... having said that, I immediately think of the players who have also done that - albrighton, bannan, Daniel Johnson, zoltan steiber, gary gardner, Nathan delfouneso, harry forrester, not to mention the defensive players, Ciaran, Nathan baker, janoi... make no mistake at junior / reserve levels, these players were exceptional - head and shoulders above their teammates and the oppositions I have seen them play.... how many of those can we say were proven good enough over time.... the problem with jack is that every week he doesn't play and the team struggles, his ability to impact the team appears to increase... if we think a few seasons back to the introductions on bannan and gardner (the closest two comparisons I can think of in terms of creativity) and how underwhelming they were, and while they were well anticipated, there was nowhere near the hype surrounding those two as there is around young jack... i'm all in favour for him coming through and becoming a villa legend - I also trust the management in managing his development properly - this is one that all of the villa management will want to get right, particularly having seen a number of young promising careers go sideways - albrighton, bannan, gardner, Bennett, lowton, luna, tonev, the large fella with the Mohawk from Clermont foot whose name completely evades me, and others I can't think of from the top of my head... I also don't think this will be a decision lambert is making in isolation - sid and others in the support setup will be providing input... finally, I also note that the decision is not made solely in the interests of the development of jack, but also bearing in mind what the management think is best for the club as a whole... at least on the positive side, when he's been on the bench, PL has had the balls to play him, which gives me hope that his time will come....

the bit i'm not sure about is who has delph purportedly spoken to when saying that he doesn't want to sign a new contract at this stage. to the club or to the press? I know the telegraph broke the story, but it seemed vague in its wording... as with vlaar's comments yesterday, I will not take a view on delph one way or the other until we know definitively what is happening... the problem with being an up and coming player is that being offered a contract, effectively only underwrites your options - players across all clubs use that as the basis to test the market to see whether there are better offers out there... delph, and more importantly his agent, know that villa's offer will stand and only be improved, the longer he waits before committing... in my mind there is very little downside in delph waiting as a number of better clubs than villa in its current state would take delph at the drop of a hat... what it needs is a few more stores like NRC, who thought the offers would come flooding in only to find that they didn't, for players to take contract negotations a bit more seriously... while i'd love the club to be able to play hardball with its players at contract negotiation time, its not a luxury that any club has with its better players....