Neil

at least we're in the league cup stilll, they have 17 or whatever games to get to a final in the europa and we've got 3 in the league cup. i know what i'd rather.

europa cup for me, following villa in europe is fantastic.

Very frustrating that we lose and our new manager isnt there...I knew I would be annoyed if that happened.

I really do hope it couldn't at all be avoided, call me cynical.

I will be disappointed that he couldnt turn up to the next couple of games as he has been appointed.

I will of course reserve a lot of my judgement until after the results of those games, I'll be bitterly disappointed if we lose them.

You know, after reading that article about Bolton I did wonder when I saw this advert the other day :-

With the text :-

Welcome the manager web offer - £10 tickets limited to 1,000 seats

But I assumed it was becuase it was the first home game in charge...not the first game.

He also said he sees us, historically, as a club that finishes between 7th and 12th

Personally I think this reads very differently to the old translation of this quote.

As *historically*, and to me historically doesnt include recent seasons, it has been correct. More recently this isn't the case of course.

It will be a little bit disapointing to be unveiled as the new manager and not attend the Stoke game, a vital game (a somewhat bogey team too) considering we want to start some kind of winning run.

As mentioned, I'm not sure kmac is gonna be in the best of moods to carry it on. You'd like to think he was bigger than that, but you couldn't blame him I guess.

Of course the whole statement is based losely on a crap biased google translation and probalby doesn't reflect what was actually meant at all, at least I hope not.

A bias to Liverpool built into the computer program? Those bastard Google programmers...

Sorry, I was talking about the original poster seeming biased to post something that would be to the detriment of the new manager.

So you think Liverpool played as well as they could last year - I don't. They have a very good squad and some match winners that are better than ours.

I think it is fair to say that we still have to catch up - one season over Liverpool in the last 10 years does not make us their equals - yet.

It roughly reflected the form and injury status of gerrard and torres, I dont expect that to be much better this season...they have one advantage in Joe Cole now of course.

I also don't believe us being over liverpool for one season has anything to do with them become worse and worse season on season, which is more to the point IMO.

I really dont see Liverpool as the force they once were, financially they are in dia straights. I see our goals as trying our best to compete with Man City and Spurs, Liverpool will have to do very well or we will have to perform quite bad for them to have done better than us.

At this moment in time, is he not correct?

For the last three weeks, these boards have been full of people making the same prediction for this season. We have not strengthened and have lost one of our more influential players, whilst others around us have strengthened.

In the case of Liverpool having a better team, no I really think that statement is incorrect.

Worth mentioning they have added Joe Cole, he's a great player but not the answer to the problems at Liverpool.

I would have a serious expectation that we should be competing with / finishing higher than Liverpool. The likes of spurs and man city are ahead of Liverpool and I could accept they have better teams than us, but not Liverpool.

Of course the whole statement is based losely on a crap biased google translation and probalby doesn't reflect what was actually meant at all, at least I hope not.

The more I looked through his record the more I felt I had misjudged the man because I hate Liverpool and because of the Diouf/Diao/Cheyrou signings debacle.

This is what I concluded about many peoples opinion, you're far from the only person to do

Can't believe people think we are actually a worse team than Liverpool....

The problem is that he is spot on. We are looking like a 7 to 12 team NOW. Chelsea, Man U. Arsenal and City are very likely to be over us. Then there is Spurs and Liverpool - they too look in a strong/stronger position than us. But this is now and it is not written in stone. We can challenge. And I am sure we will.

Erm :-

Premier league 2009

Teams

Team P W D L F A GD PTS

1 Chelsea 38 27 5 6 103 32 71 86

2 Man Utd 38 27 4 7 86 28 58 85

3 Arsenal 38 23 6 9 83 41 42 75

4 Tottenham 38 21 7 10 67 41 26 70

5 Manchester City 38 18 13 7 73 45 28 67

6 Aston Villa 38 17 13 8 52 39 13 64

7 Liverpool 38 18 9 11 61 35 26 63

We still have pretty much the same team and so do liverpool, I dont really see liverpool getting much better than last season either.

Aston Villa is not a club of the same level as Liverpool" he said. "Let's be objective and honest, it is a club which, for me, finds itself between seventh and twelfth place.

I hope that statement is either completely wrong or very much out of context.

I really cannot support a comment like that from our manager, if it is of course how it reads to me there.

Nah, I just think it's more tha the negative people like to make themselves heard more.

I don't think that's the case, sentiment changed dramatically once people realised houllier was almost certain to be appointed.

Presumably alot of reaction was knee jerk and at the time of a list of possibilities people had other ideas as there favourites. There are plenty of quotes from people who said "I wasnt keen at first but now im warming to the idea".

I actually found a lot of arguments to be flawed, similary to what is posted in the article above, because everyone relied on what liverpool fans thought of his tenure.

Happy as larry...mainly because my skybet account now shows a balance of £275.

7 posts hmmm !!

Insinuating I am a glory hunter (good one)! So I am a glory hunting Villa fan now ? So you want us not to win things then, what a surprise.

VOIDs, You have time to post on local rival teams boards about other fans posts and you tell me about VOIDs, lol. Some people on VT post 100's or even 1000's of posts a week. Small Heath is that way >>>>>>>>>>

:cry:

Dont worry mate, seems like a pretty ignorant post to me.

I'm constantly thinking about villa, infact I'm always risking my job just to be constantly refreshing VT / sky sports news to find everything last bit of info I can about Villa. I'm always thinking about what is going on.

I dont think we are minorities either.

It repeated what a lot of us have been saying as well "He won cups but Liverpool fans, and some Villa fans, seem to think he's crap because of it".

Not just villa fans believe me, got a lot of friends saying the same thing who dont support villa or liverpool. Granted with respectable football knowledge too.

But thinking about it after reading that article, the basis of the argument always starts by quoting how they remembered how much liverpool fans disliked him which is a pretty shit benchmark to use as liverpool fans are clueless.

Quite like reading that Tom Ross article Jez, something about the way its worded hits home and makes you think...notebly the small points of the level of expectation from liverpool fans and the resulting treatment.

Alot of negative opinions seemed to be based on what liverpool fans thought of him

Jez, isnt that a pretty old set of quotes from krulak? I think I read that last week already?

His heart problem was nothing to do with stress. It wasn't a heart attack at all, but a tear in the aorta which was fixed.

And you don't have to spend the rest of your life with no stress after a "normal" heart attack anyway (unless you have a diseased heart or go back to clogging up your freshly scraped arteries). Why would part of the recovery of a lot of heart surgery be on an exercise bike/rowing machine raising blood pressure if this was the case.

Yeah, heart is a muscle and making it tick fast without exploding it allows it to grow stronger...like working a muscle in your arm.

There does seem to be a massive opinion shift since it became evident who we are going to end up with, not sure if its all the same people but the general consensus has changed. I think its a good thing really, I'm a little guilty myself as now I know the almost inevitable I'm looking for all the positives and pledging my support, or at least giving a chance.

Thing a little worrying is outside of villa supporting friends the unanimous verdict is he's not a good signing for us, even friends who "have time" for Villa.

Can we claim winnings yet?

My unsettled bets :-

07/09/2005- 08/09/2010 (1 Unsettled SkyBet Bets)Start a new search

Showing 02/09/2010

Date Bet Type Receipt # Stake Selection(s)

02/09/2010 Single O/10516800/0000008 £25.00

1. Next Permanent Aston Villa ManagerHoullier G @ 10/1

Still waiting for winnings

If it is GH I hope he only gets a contract until the end of May. Then we can asses how well he has done and if he should stay on or if we should go get Martin Jol or someone else.

I'm wondering has Jol achieved more or less in the game than Houllier?

I don't know the answer to that question, but for me it's not all about accolades.

I look at Jol's managerial techniques and I look at the type of squad we have and the two are a near perfect match. We need some of the way he managed Tottenham to get our players firing on all cylinders.

Isn't Martin Jol out of contract in a year or so? The appointment of houllier could well mean we will miss out on who we all really want as a year will pass and he'll have signed a new contract elsewhere

Anyways I will be chanting the name of whoever comes in, houllier included. I'll be gutted that we havn't got the man I really want in, but I'll push that thought to the back of my mind to give whoever a fair chance.

I'll pick up £275 for that. Maximum skybet would take off me.