MarkLillis

3 hours ago, TRO said:

Not Sure, don't think so.....Didn't we have a player called Mark Lillis?

played under Graham Taylor Mk 1.....87-89

Yes! A favourite player of mine at the time,very limited in comparison with players who only a few years before had been part of a very good team...

Scored a cracking goal against someone like Reading I think and as a 15 year old I was hooked.....

When we get back to the Premier we will be a solid side that is difficult to beat.

Bruce has started this process by signing players that are more suitable to this division. These players will perform at the required standard I'm sure,once the partnerships are sorted out.

We can all see that we are stronger with Chester and Baker protected by Jedinak.

Soon we will have a midfield combination that works (no idea what that maybe, but I'm sure Steve is working on it) and making sure that  the full backs and the wide midfielders know what each other are doing.

He will be working on Kodjas awareness so that other players supporting runs don't go to waste....

The list is endless!!

Derby are a good example of where we are heading, they looked like a team all over the pitch. I know it seems like a low benchmark but small steps start a long journey, after all didn't I just see a stat showing that only Stockport County have been worse than us since O'Neil left?

Shocker last night.....

Players that were pretty impressive for other sides this year looked poor for us. Brentford were very good though so credit to them and the team which gets into 6th place in the play offs usually comes on strong during the last third of the season and the momentum takes them all the way.

Not saying I see any signs that this will be us though

If the Shane Long link is true, then I would take him over Ayew anytime.

Its not that I think he lacks ability (he obviously doesn't) his effort is fine by me too..

Decision making is awful and this is they key point for me,a good footballer makes the right choices more often than not.

Ayew doesn't do this, hence he will fail at his next club in England too.

He will make it back to France and have a nice career

were he is under less pressure to make those decisions

Jack is an easy player to handle with his present attitude.

To stop Villas momentum all teams need to do is touch him and he will then go down. The risk is minimal to the opposition (unless this touch is in the penalty area or just outside) as refs are highly unlikely to do anything other than award a free kick which is relatively easier to defend against than  quick Villa break...

He should take a look at his team mate Albert Adomah and the determination he shows when breaking away with the ball.

Its a common theme amongst fans of different teams.

"Inset team name" have the loudest fans....We out sung "insert team name" blah blah blah

I have been following football for years and in my experience a teams fans are loud when they have something to shout about!!

We don't have a team that inspires us, therefore we are not loud very often!

You can forget all the bullshit that comes from other teams fans....we are all the same!

11 minutes ago, One For The Road said:

Not feeling any better today. As someone who started going down the Villa in 1988 as a young lad, this hurts. So glad to be a part of the VT community at a time like this. The incredible stories of the great man on this thread, from so many posters , are really uplifting and I can't wait to get to Wolves tomorrow to belt out Graham Taylor's Claret And Blue Army for 90 minutes.

My first season was in was in 84, my favourite years were 88 and 90 and I will remember Everton Away as one of my best Villa experiences! I personally met the man and he was polite and friendly and took the time to encourage my 7 year old at the start of a fun run near the Bull Ring about 10 years ago.

Some people have an aura about them and he was one of them!

I, also cant wait to get to Molineux a sign that famous song again.

RIP Graham Taylor - Villa Legend

So the Hourihane links are very interesting....

Consdering we have already taken Jedinak from Palace after the had season started and the last time we got promoted we took midfielders from both Palace and Barnsley during that season too.......

Whilst I do not subscribe to the possibility that Ashley Westwood could become a £15m+ player (sorry Demtri C)I do notice his ability when we are in possession/on top of games.

We have not needed a player with his attributes for around about the whole time he has been at the club which is why he has struggled in my opinion,as what he has to offer has been pretty useless in a struggling team.Place him alongside top players an maybe we would all be saying something along the lines of "he links play so well" or "we are not as fluent without him".

When he leaves he will have an average career elsewhere maybe even in the premier league.

He is not as useless as some would make out, and his treatment by many fans is shameful as in my opinion as he has only every given his best(which is still average granted), the problem has lay elsewhere (lack of good team selection/tactics and the sometimes total lack of support for our younger players from the senior professionals around them.

I hope Lenri Hansbury will sign? Quality player....

Defended him to the last at Villa, as he had very difficult circumstances to manage in.

But by the end I was broken by what Villa had become under his management,his legacy was defeat and despondency at our great club.

We will struggle to escape that for a while yet (refer to Norwich game for reference) hopefully Bruce will restore our reputation to that of a normal club, then who knows...

We go again!

As for the Dingles I am sure he will be able to keep them mid-table or there about.

Bruce will strengthen in midfield he has to!

Whether this will be possible in January I don't know as players of the calibre that we need will be required to play for there present clubs for the rest of the season.

So we have two choices in my opinion

1. Blow clubs out of the water with massive fee/wages for their top player - Lansbury at Forest for example.

2. Get players out of top clubs that aren't playing - Loftus-Cheek from Chelsea maybe?

Whatever happens if he gets this right we will go on a serious run and go close with automatic promotion as the midfield is so weak, I think it will be the main reason for not reaching the play offs as it stands.

Di Matteo will have to do some explaining about his recruitment policy at his next interview that's for sure!

23 hours ago, srsmithusa said:

Just an observation.  Sometimes, I've heard coaches instruct players not to tackle.  "Stay on your feet!  Just contain him."  I do wonder how often, when some of us criticize AW for "pulling out of tackles" as cowardice, he is, in reality making the right decision, and fans sometimes know less than we think we do about the game.

ALL fans know less about the game than they think they do! (Disclaimer - Me included!)

2 hours ago, TRO said:

 

I thought they were physically stronger than us in the challenge, but accept some may not agree.

 

Agree here! Saturday is the first match I haven't seen all season (Christmas do...) but I am sure it is correct. Basing my opinion on the other matches seen this year we still have a soft compromising side to us especially in midfield.

Would love to see some tougher more arrogant (if that's the right word) players in the team.

Cardiff were very naughty against us but we stood up to it, it would have been even nicer if we were able to dish it back out....

18 hours ago, LakotaDakota said:

From what i can see he paid money for :

Lorik Cana- £5m
Fraizer Campbell- £3.5m
Darren Bent- £16m
Lee Cattermole- £6m
Michael Turner- £4m
Matthew Killgallon- £2m
Simon Mignolet- £2.5m
Marcos Angelari- £2.5m
Titus Bramble- £1m
Asamoah Gyan- £13.25m
Stephane Sessegnon- £6m

Not loads in the grand scheme of things i guess with only 2 signings over 10 million, There were also a bunch of other free transfers & loans.

The one concerning thing i guess is that Cana, Bent, Gyan, Killgallon, Angelari had all left again within a little over 12 months of signing and the rest of them went the year he left

To be fair to him there are some reasonably good players in that list.

Note I said reasonably good.......not world beaters!

Can we sign Lansbury, surely it has to be possible...Forest and Villa are like night and day as clubs the only thing we have in common is the European Cup

We also should try for Robert Snodgrass, Bruce maybe be able to use his influence here..

I know ,I Know football is not like it is in computer games but those two alone must give us a serious possibility of getting second place. A bit like the addition of Stuart and Andy Gray last time

Is his election really going to change things?

Or will the senate be able to control him?

Honestly don't know exactly how much "power" a president has....but if he really is the type of person his comments make him out to be then will everybody else with any type of influence just stand by and let him do dangerous/inconsiderate/strange things?

Am I putting to much faith in democracy?

He was elected and it wasn't an army coup or anything like that.

He is a businessman not a general....

23 hours ago, villalad21 said:

Again this is not my point, and you obviously fail to see that. All i am doing is critizising sunday's performance. It was not GOOD enough. The way Steve Bruce set up the team on sunday was embarrasing. And on another day Birmingham would finish off their chances and probably scored 2 or 3 goals and we would lose the game. You need to look behind a result to truely reflect if it was a good performance or a bad one. 

And the reality is. Birmingham were not clinical on that day, if they had been we would lose the game and then you wouldn't say we were "hard" to beat. All you do is to draw conclusion from the result, but, yes we played truely horrific and were VERY lucky too get a point.

I can see this point has raised quite a bit of debate...

It was definitely good enough to get a point against Blues (score was 1-1), why should we expect more given both sides start to the season?

We are not a very good side right now, so why would we attack them until we can do it from a position of strength?

Birmingham,when I have watched them are not a very clinical side on ANY day...

Horrific would have been 3-0 or more (god forbid)

Luck maybe.....a little bit!

Are you sure you haven't spent the weekend justifying our performance to the noses  they are 3 years ahead of us in their recovery (and might just be peaking!)

On ‎17‎/‎10‎/‎2016 at 14:46, TRO said:

 

I am not being disrespectful, because some fans are clearly learned students of the game and are well worth listening to.....but in terms of the mass.....( message to Tone) they could get you hung.

I agree with this 100% whilst I love Villa and know the club and team reasonably well, what I've learnt over the years is when it comes to football is I know nothing and (no offence) the majority of other football fans are the same

They seem to have lost whatever self belief they had before they signed for us......

It will take a strong character to rise and lead this group of players maybe Bruce will do this for us? but he will need a voice on the pitch,someone who will take the game by its neck and inspire the other to reach their previous levels. Once this happens the crowd will naturally follow and things can start to progress.

7 minutes ago, AshVilla said:

Poor mans Lee Hendrie

 

Lee was twice the player! My eyes are really being opened to the standard of player we have been used to over many years and it has always been quite high.

Now we are full of championship standard players, it is really hard to watch and Jack struggles to reach and acceptable standard for this division...Hendrie

at the same age was competing against the best in the premier league!

Can we just accept that at present Villa are a laughing stock? I cant remember the last time I felt that other fans envied us (even Blues!)....

Steve Bruce is a VERY good appointment for us! If he has us in top half by Christmas we should be happy.....

Having seen the majority of games this season it wont take a tactical genius to do this!

McLeish was a lot worse.....we knew he was crap before he came. Blues fans thought it was funny and both sets of fans knew he would fail!

Steve Bruce on the other hand is likely to succeed! This will be different.....

Test will come when he loses a couple of matches.

Good luck Potato Head

Considering football fans in Newcastle have no where else to go I would say "48k so what" anywhere else in the country and it is a big deal yes!

Can see why they love the fact they have a big following though, all of us football fans love to say our club has the best fans...

All it says to me is that for a club with such resources/support one trophy in 60 years make them possibly the worst I can think of to actually follow....How many times have they been let down on the pitch? Imagine the last 5 seasons at Villa then multiply the pain by 12.......