sled

He's a central midfielder, isn't he? Yeah on loan from Spurs, but could probably do a decent job on either flank too. Well PompeyVillan, I see a certain amount of progress has now been made. All that's needed now is for you to make one more post on this matter. Before Risso comes and mauls him. :wink:

So let's say NRC and Delph (or NRC & Petrov, or Delph & Petrov, or Sidwell & any one of these). What about Milner? Attacking central midfield or out wide? Or benched? Then there's Young and Downing. NRC, Delph, Milner, Young and Downing? That makes 5. So we play a 4-5-1. A midfield of: ................NRC.....Delph............. ....................Milner.................... Young............................Downing I like it. But it doesn't look very MONnish does it? Only one man up? Fine by me but fine by MON? .

I bet Cuéllar's hoping MON doesn't decide to rest him for this match or the trip to Wigan. Once Dunne and Collins get back together they may take a bit of shifting.

I'm sure most of you know this, but for the one or two who don't... In some European countries, even in the Premier League, managers have a verbal (or who knows, maybe even a written) agreement with their Number Two goalkeeper to play him in national cup competitions such as in England the FA Cup and the Carling Cup. This is not normally the case when the Number Two keeper is some 19-year-old graduate of the Academy, but it is fairly common when the club has a really first-rate Number Two. It's a good system because without it when is the Number Two ever going to get match practice? He'll end up discontented ans soon want to move onwards and downwards if it means more opportunities. I'm pretty sure this kind of agreement only applies to goalkeepers, not outfield players. A number of posters to this thread have pointed out the thread is a waste of time because it is absolutely nailed-on that as long as we are the League Cup Guzan will play unless injured. And they are right. You can say till you're blue in the face that as a Villa fan you want the best and the best is Friedel but it isn't going to change anything. It's obvious that Guzan is our Carling Cup keeper. Who knows, he may even be our FA Cup keeper as well. And is Friedel the best in a competition in which ties can ultimately be settled by a penalty shootout? I realise there have been precedents of managers suddenly going back on their word and bringing back Number One because oh joy, their club has reached the final; but these cases are relatively few and far between. Don't worry lads, Brad Friedel will continue to be our Number One in the League, but we're in safe hands with Guzan between the sticks in the Carling Cup.

Don't agree with that, big fan of Friedel. Think this is another case of the man not being in the team being better - absence makes the heart grow fonder etc. Guzan has conceded some soft goals, not least yesterday. However, he looks like he's going to be a very good goalkeeper - and our next first choice - so I would start him as he's played in the previous rounds and he deserves it for the Sunderland performance if nothing else! Same in the final, although I imagine if I was Friedel I'd be unhappy to miss out on probably my last chance to play in a cup final. But then Friedel has maybe one more season here, Guzan could have ten, so who is more important to keep happy? Put simply if we get to the final, whichever of them plays, the other will be gutted. And if whoever plays makes a big mistake, we'll all say MON should have picked the other one It's both the best and worst sort of decision to have to make for a manager. Think MON will stick with Guzan though, as I would. Yesterday he let a soft one in but I'd love to know about these other ones that you mention.

You don't tell your Number Two keeper he's going to be first choice in a cup competition and then suddenly fall back on your Number One just because you've got to the semi-finals or the final. And then again there's his ability to stop a high percentage of penalties. I wonder if we'll persevere with him in the FA Cup too for this reason or whether yesterday he only played for the same reason as the likes of Beye and Delfouneso.

Must he?

Who on earth are these 130 people who voted yes. Name them and shame them, that's what I say!

Reo-Coker is having an excellent game imo.

Straight 3-goal win for Villa tonight. :nod:

doom monging, not doom mongering

Beaten by a better team. And a "Big 4" referee. We looked much better when Heskey was on the pitch.

I have voted yes, MON's the man.

It was probably Wayne Bent/Michael Travesser and God probably forced him to do it

Nothing is completely and utterly impossible, not even a Premiership title or a drop down towards the relegation zone. However I find the above all extremely logical and unobjectionable, as indeed I found the original post. Far more so than either of the extremes I've mentioned. Surely many others do too (?) Season's greetings to you PB.

Keeping the same team in order to keep up the momentum? Never a bad idea IMO.

I went to the most horrible one of them all - the second leg of the 63 Final. A rock bottom experience if ever there was one.

Anyone just leave theirs sticky? :?

Back in the 70s when travel and admission prices were so very much more affordable, there would have been loads of Villa fans there for a normal Saturday match. But how many Villa fans would have gone to Sunderland in those days on a cold Tuesday night just before Xmas, recession or no recession? Not loads and loads. I think 700 is a pretty extraordinary figure all things considered, and on the shitty stream I was watching you could hear them loud and clear. I congratulate those who went. Or was it at Goodison Park? Every now and then "WAAAAAAAAAH!" Ffs. By the way, I thought Sunderland were a dirty and unpleasant load of buggers, especially the Albanian.

He just gets better and better.

:nod: I voted for "Giving up in Europe" simply because it really pissed me off at the time. The signing of Heskey didn't piss me off because at the time we really needed another striker. Maybe not Heskey but... Anyway, all's well that ends well, eh?

Sporting. But in the UK known as Sporting Lisbon, in France Sporting de Lisbonne and in Spain Sporting de Lisboa. No big problem really. But something I've noticed on the website of Marca, which is of course a Spanish sports paper. Marca calls them Sporting Lissabon. In German. Strange.

I just wondered if there was a reason to write "Replaced by NRC - 5" and nothing more. It looked a bit forlorn, bland :oops: even.

Maybe we should 'rest' Brad Friedel and give Brad Guzan a game. Just to put the shits up Sunderland like. They'd certainly think twice about taking a dive in the box.