sting

Yeah, watched the game on Sky and agree with everyting you say. However, why do i still get the feeling that we are still some way off from being a really good team? Maybe it's due to our games being a battle, rather than us winning by pure football! We were holding on by the final whistle against West Brom and indeed MON brought on our new central defender to give us five at the back to to close out the game! I would like to see more flowing football from us, especially in midfield. I find Reo-Coker very frustrating to watch, the amount of times he gives the ball away has me tearing my hair out! I still think we are short of the quality midfielders who are comfortable on the ball. Yes we have Barry, but i'm still not convinced about Petrov and if we had signed Arshavin, then we would have had more quality in midfield! Gabby scored a wonder goal, but he looked tired and he already looks as though he needs a rest. Carew played well, but with his injury record, MON should have brought in another quality striker as cover! Harwood is not quality! I think, by Christmas, our first choice, front two, will be in need of a rest, so who do we replace them with to give them a rest? This is a worry, but i salute our team for the fantasic start they have given us and with a new striker, or two, and certainly one creative midfielder in the January transfer window, i think we can give the top five a run for their money! Ciaran Doherty.

Yes it was a good result against a Spurs team who are lacking in confidence at the moment, so it was the right time to play them! However, i agree totally with your worry about Carew getting injured! Carew was never going to play a full season for us, so MON should have brought in another striker, well before the end of the transfer window! The fact he did not, leaves us well sort in the striker department. In a recent interview on the Aston Villa website, MON stated that 'it was hard to find value for money!' Tell that to Manchester City and Manchester United, who spent over £60m on their striker department! MON had already been told that he would be able to spend £30m on one player! MON could have spent £20m on Arshavin, who could have played in the hole, just behind Agbonlahor, when Carew picks up one of his monthly injuries! When Carew is fit, Arshavin could have been the quality midfield playmaker, we badly need! Nevertheless, we have had a promising start in all competitions, i just hope we don't regret the lack of cover in our forward line, come Christmas? Ciaran Doherty.

Lets hold on here a minute. I got increasingly fustrated at our inability to break down what was the worst Liverpool side i have ever seen. They were without their two best attacking players and were obviously playing for a draw. It was as well Liverpool were playing us and not any other of the top three! I think what this game has told us, is that, even after 40 odd million spent, we still lack the creativity in midfield to break top four defences down. We are certainly without a Wayne Rooney type of player, who can play behind a striker, or strikers and play a defence spliting pass to them. However, there is one available in Russia at the moment, called Arshavin, who would do this for us and can play the final quality ball. The Liverpool game also told me that Carew, who played like a tooth fairy, without any aggression, is not going to score the 20 goals a season to allow us to break into the top four and neither is Gabby, who, still has difficulty holding the ball up! Why oh why, MON, did we not buy Crouch and Defoe, who are off and running with Portsmouth? Before the transfer window closes today MON, can we please have Arshavin, plus a quality striker and please, please, please, not Doyle from Reading? Ciaran Doherty.

Great post lads, but unfortunately, i think we are deluding ourselves a little. Even though MON has strengthened our defence with, lets say, a mature goalkeeper and no better than average players, we could have signed Young for 2.5 million last year and Shorey had a nightmare debut in Iceland and a central defender from Rangers, who's name sounds like he's been signed from The Adams Family, we are still without the creativity in midfield and a 20 goals a season striker that would repeat our 6th place finish of last season. Black Cat's, manager, Roy Keane, signed Malbrangue from Spurs while the tabloids were linking the player with us. Malbrangue would have given our team the creativity we needed in midfield to unlock top six Premiership defences and certainly knows how to use the ball better than Reo-Coker, who gives the ball away far more than any other premiership footballer i have ever seen. To buy Malbranque for 4 millon, would have been money well spent. Why MON didn't also buy Defoe and Crouch, is quite beyond me. Defoe was the goal poacher we needed and again, all of the national tabloids had linked the player to us. Nine Defoe goals in twelve games for Portsmouth anyone. Crouch would have been excellent competition for Carew, as Carew will not play a full season, due to his injury record and Crouch already has a goal ratio of 1 in every two games he plays in. If Villa had been starting the season with Crouch and Defoe as our two main strikers, being served by the flair of Malbranque and Agbonlahor and Ashley Young on the flanks, i would certainly agree with the idea of a possible top six finish again, but if you look at the signings the teams around us have made, i.e, Spurs and Portsmouth, then i think it's going to be a struggle to repeat last season's finish. However, if Gareth Barry does leave Villa for Liverpool and i sincerely hope he doesn't, then why not spend his transfer money towards buying Arshavin before Spurs do, James Milner, Koumas and Santa Cruz? At least we would have the creativity and goals that would, trouble any team in the Premiership and push us towards a top six finish again. Furthermore, maybe, just maybe, we might even beat Manchester United, at least, in a cup game. Ciaran Doherty