Wezbid

My favourite by a country mile is Mark Warburton but sadly it seems unlikely. What he did with Brentford was nothing short of remarkable and whilst expected, he's delivering comfortably with Rangers. He would be the perfect fit for us I think but there doesn't seem to be much clamour for him on here. I can understand why plenty want Moyes but it's been a long time since he managed in the Championship and he wouldn't come cheap either. I would have far more faith in Warburton to build a squad capable of competing at the top end of the Championship whilst playing good football to go along with it. : Everybody jump on the Warburton train!

Why are his shorts pulled up so high? Does his ankle go up to his scrotum?

I wish there we had two Veretout's. One to play deeper and drive the play forward and one to play in the number 10 role where he can do his intelligent slide-rule passes to a striker who can move for toffee and see the space that Veretout can see when playing the through ball. This is the big difference between Westwood and Veretout for example. Westwood will keep the ball moving and be satisfied we still have the ball, Veretout on the other hand wants to keep the ball but drive the play forward. That's something that unfortunately we will never see from Westwood. It'd be alright if he had strength and was a tackling machine but he isn't so he's very limited even if he's neat and tidy. Before he gets mentioned, Carrick is stronger than Westwood off the ball and on it can thread 50 yard passes forward on the deck for breakfast. I didn't intend this post to turn into a Westwood slight, apologies. Back to it, let's clone Veretout. Gordon Berrehtoo, he can be the one who plays deeper with Gana.

Veretout has 5 assists in the equivalent of 16 full league games. Cleverly had 0 assists in the equivalent of 29 full league games. Veretout has 0 goals in the equivalent of 16 full league games. Cleverly had 3 goals in the equivalent of 29 full league games. Involvement in 2 more goals in nearly half the playing time without Benteke to ping balls to. I would suggest Veretout would be on even more assists if Benteke was in this side. He did start poorly, there's no arguing against that but if you can't see the progression in him then you're either on the wind-up or blinkered. He's starting to play a bit more advanced than he used to also so it's only a matter of time before a goal or 2 arrive. It's a simplistic view to think that because the team has been poor and struggling that in turn it means all the players are poor.

Garde took over on the 2nd November. Since then Sunderland have lost 8 league games and Villa 6, that's with Allardyce knowing the league inside out, having some money to spend and have a month extra to put his stamp on the team. He's not a terrible manager but he's not the messiah and Lerner wouldn't let Allardyce throw money around, not to mention that Allardyce is probably on a far bigger whack than Remi.

Whatever Remi deems is needed. He's not stupid enough to try and bankrupt the club with stupid signings but strongly going after his main targets, early, not feeding on scraps and not signing players he doesn't really want would be a decent enough start. He can manage and identify players.

Do you actually believe the tripe you come out with or is it just to annoy idiots like me?

This is actually really interesting to watch. At the start he's very quiet, humble, unassuming with the other coach taking charge but as the video goes on it shows his leadership qualities clearly. He's prone to the odd lapse in concentration but overall he's a good defender. He was part of the WBA defence that was gobbling up clean sheets when Pulis came in last season. We tend to focus on the odd mistake rather than the overall contribution and with Lescott in that left side of the CB's he adds so much balance along with his leadership. I'm glad more people are starting to realise the good player he is because he's been slated on here before he even signed and was starting his Villa career with people already on his case. Keep it up Joleon.

I've never been gay for a manager before, let alone a Villa manager but I can't get enough of Remi, he oozes class just looking at him then he opens that little French gob of his and that accent comes into play and I begin to melt. What makes it even better is that whilst the voice is calming, soothing and elegant it's also delivering frank, honest, open and intelligent discussion. This manager knows what's what, there's no bullshit, he knows our weaknesses and our strengths and is developing a team that is slowly being able to pick up points and aren't easy to beat. If the board have any sense whatsoever they will support him in the summer. Villa have a real asset in Remi, don't **** it up Villa. I'm not holding my breath sadly.

I completely understand why N'Zogbia is hated. He's the epitome of a modern day footballer that your mum moans about when talking about how much nurses earn compared to footballers. What makes it worse is that deep down there's a bloody good player locked away in there somewhere. He has many attributes. His attitude to the game defeats everything else though. He can beat players for fun but he's not smart enough to release the ball at the right times. He hogs the ball and slows attacks down even if he was the one to initially start the attack with pace. His decision making is terrible and the clips of him being clinical are an exception to the rule. I'd have him on the bench as an option at least against tired defences but he really is a stain. If he altered his attitude and applied himself then he could have made himself a big name and even more money than he's been stealing from Villa every week. Alas he doesn't care enough to see the bigger picture. He'll end up signing for some Asian or American team for decent money as I don't think he could get himself big money over here any more. What a waste of natural talent.

So if we try and sign him again will it be the same people on the panel or another set of questionables? Fingers crossed it's different people and it will go through if we try again in a few months. It definitely stinks. No way would Utd/City/Liverpool/Chelsea get turned down for the same player.

It looks like he's about to cry.

Rod fight! Who will win the battle of the rods?

QPR bought a load of over-priced crap. Newcastle are bringing in quality players. Their squad is far stronger than Villa's and if both teams go down this season I know who I'd put my money on to return straight back up and it wouldn't be Villa I'm gutted to say.

I don't think anyone expected the club to be chucking money around like Newcastle but to seemingly do nothing at all is negligent. Even someone like that Christian Santos would be at least something to have some sort of hope, something/someone to get behind and have a slight bit of hope. He'd be cheap as chips in both terms of fee and wages compared to most PL signings and would probably do a job in the Championship next season but there just doesn't seem to be anything at all from the board. Garde put forward targets like Doumbia, the few that went to Sunderland, Remy, Debuchy. If the club had little intention of backing those sort of signings then they should have let Garde know so he could at least give them some targets on the cheaper end of the spectrum. It seems like Garde's worked hard trying to get these players when the club had no real intention of getting them in at all.

The board are a disgrace, they finally did something right and employed a decent manager and now they're in danger of pushing him out by their lack of support for him.

I can see the adverts now. He's a bit of an animal...

If Hollis manages to get us sold then he deserves every penny he gets!

When you've got 7 players on the bench I don't think there's anything wrong in having Gestede AND Gabby on there. The problem for me is that with Gabby, to the media, they still see the speed merchant down the left who had defenders terrified. He'll chip in with 6 or 7 goals maybe but his overall game doesn't justify his inclusion any longer, nor has it for a long long time. If it was a player who hadn't come from the youth team and wasn't a Villa fan, someone serving up Gabby's performances over the years would have been hounded out long ago. I understand to a degree why people still want to give him a chance, he has the tools in his locker to be a very good player, despite seemingly being around forever he's not long turned 29, he should be in his prime but his prime is seemingly his early 20's. In the past 5 seasons (not including this one) he's averaged 5.4 league goals. That's pretty poor. We scoff at the likes of Jon Walters but over the same 5 year period he's averaged 6.8 goals per season and a hell of a lot more work-rate overall at I would imagine half the wage. Gabby is a Villian through and through, you would expect him to be working his balls off to get back into this team but it seems like he's being going through the motions for years. I don't doubt he loves the club but a huge wage and his position in the squad never under threat regardless has bred complacency and it's only now with Garde that he's really paying the price for it. I think he thinks he could coast and retire here mid-30's regardless but his performances and wage just don't warrant him being around still. There is still time on his side to prove people wrong and earn a place as he should be at his best now but he's nowhere near it. If it was a player with no ties to the club he'd have been long gone many moons ago, sentiment has its place in football but when it seems to be to the detriment of the club for a long time then it should go out the window. Either he puts the effort in now or he should be gone. I wouldn't call him fat but he's been carrying excess weight for a long time too. There's a difference between being fat and being in-shape as a player. He's still an athlete but if he dropped half a stone to a stone would he really be that worse off for it? He'd still be well built and powerful but I would suspect far more agile. Straight sprints and a tough shoulder barge just don't cut it any more. I'd have him on the bench but I don't know what condition he's in anymore and what goes on behind the scenes. He should realise it's make or break for him now though.

I wouldn't call Wilson terrible at all. He's not a name or anything to get the loins going, nor a signing that would make you feel, right, we're giving this a bloody good go but he's been a solid enough player of a Stoke side who have finished comfortably mid-table to upper-half for a while now. I'm not advocating signing him but all these sorts of players the fans don't want can't be that shocking. Your Marc Wilson's, Glen Whelan's, James Morrison's, Chris Brunts, Danny Drinkwater's, Glen Johnson's, Huth, Shawcross, Dann etc etc, they're reliable in the main yet many have been linked over the past few years and people have said no. Charlie Austin is another a decent number didn't fancy, well the teams like Southampton do think he's decent enough. I bet if Deeney or Ighalo had signed in the summer the response wouldn't have been that positive from plenty (ignoring the blue-nose part of Deeney). I'm not trying to suggest Marc Wilson is going to keep us up or is a game changer but he's a decent enough player. Terrible? I think not.

I would cry, or well up and come close to crying if he left. I know he's got his limitations, he needs to work on when to release the ball or not, make better runs off the ball and such but he's one of the most explosive players I've seen at any club, not just Aston Villa. There's a diamond in the rough with this kid and the coaches and manager are there to help un-earth that massive potential that he has. It's been a frustrating start to his Villa career but I think both him and the club need to show patience, a season in the Championship (if we don't stay up could be the making of him). I assume his wages would drop in the Championship but with such limited game time and injury issues so far this season he's not likely to get a big wage elsewhere either so stick with us, kid, listen to Remi and his crew and everybody will benefit long term. That was my 100th post. I was saving it for something special. I believe Adama could be for us. Don't make me regret it or I'll sprint after you.

Sounds like balls to me!

This discussion has randomly had me thinking about Jonathan Pearce unable to comprehend goal-line technology during the world cup and highlight the fact it was a German system that was being used. It's the closest I've ever come to head-butting the tv screen.

I can completely understand why he was left in no man's land for the goal, the defence was in a far worse position which left Bunn on the edge of whether to come out or not. Far from utterly stupid. The first one was a bad decision as Vardy was going out wide and it needn't have happened but the one for the goal I completely understand it. The save and reaction to nearly keep out the rebound showed plenty of promise. Overly harsh criticism imo.

Every fecker in France is called Jordan or Lamine. Lazy foreign gits.