AlwaysAVFC

and I think you'll be out by 6 or 7 months That'll all come down to Vlaar though, who comes in for him and whether they are going to pay the wages that he'd get on bosman. Villa can choose to try and cash in but he wouldn't go if it wasn't right. Another thing that I haven't seen mentioned is if we're in a relation battle how much can trust Vlaar and Delph to give their all. On the face of it they both seem pretty professional but it's got to have an effect on mental state to a certain extent.

Purely subjectiveAn ecumenical matter. Feck off!

I take it you've not seen the ticket prices then? I believe the cheapest adult ticket for the South Africa v Samoa game is £115 no it's not. I've put my name down for some for this match and it's £50. Just looked again, my bad. It wasn't coming out very on my phone as well as only quickly checking, it looked like £50 & £75 were child's tickets. Still the poster before will struggle to get hospitality for £100

I take it you've not seen the ticket prices then? I believe the cheapest adult ticket for the South Africa v Samoa game is £115

Was. That's the whole point. We haven't bought the Joe Cole who was a Champions League regular, we've got the one deemed surplus to requirements by Sam Allardyce. I'm not even sure Joe Cole in his prime would have found his way into a fat Sam team. Why? Allardyce has had players like Okocha and Campo, both at least as talented as Cole. Ivan Campo, as talented as Joe Cole. Okay. Did piss myself at Campo. Djorkaeff would have been a vaild example and Hierro but Campo

The thing is for Westwood to keep things ticking over, it's just as much down to the team as it is him. If he's not given the ball whether it be from defence or midfield he can't keep it 'ticking over' And until we get more of the ball he can't be fully effective. It's whether it's the players or the tactics or both which mean we can't keep the ball. In very very brief spells we move the ball quickly and crisply, so they can do it, it just doesn't happen enough.

I have a fantasy football dilemma. He's going in my team but I need 2 transfers to get him. Do I do it all before this weekend or wait till next week and do it without costing any points. I'm thinking next week as he was slow to get back last season but mostly for Sod's law that I'll not put him in and he'll get a hatrick.

How do you pronounce his name? I can picture the 'Easy' chant coming back with a good challenge/clearance/goal, should he make it. Though i've always put it with Keep right on and we're on the way as chants that make my blood boil when I hear them.

No-one can be put through on a counter attack? If anything it's harder to thread passes (and take shots) when playing a possession game, as the opposition is generally in front of you. Are you saying no one can be put through on a counter attack or that I'm saying it*? Because of course you can put someone through unless its a complete solo effort, and its when that final ball can't be played/bad choices/greedyness that the long range shot comes in. I agree about the difficulties about having the opposition in front of you, but its not about one or the other its about options and having the ball longer which should give more options if the players are up to it. * re read it and realise how you read it, think i probably explained what i meant anyway.

I'd suggest our possession has a bit to do with it. Our long shots tend to be from counter attacks where no one can be put through. If we manage to keep the ball and move it more building attacks, it should help with a whole range of goal scoring opportunities.

Really? OK agents suck money out of Football and it would be better without them but 99.9% of Professional footballers have an agent so thats a bit harsh. Unfortunately it is the norm, there's also things that can only be done by licensed people so sometimes its necessary. Can't remember the exact details but Barry had Standing representing him but he wasn't a licensed agent and he was limited on what he could do.

The whole tapping up while in the England squad is over hyped anyway. Not saying it doesn't happen at all but the players we've lost after getting in the England squad have attracted other clubs interest because they have been performing enough over a period of time at Villa to get in the squad in he first place. Having someone say 'oh go on come join us you'll look great in a red shirt' is not the reason they leave. As said above, while Delph may or may not be good enough to be first choice for the top teams, I think every single one of them would take him on a free for the squad. This however could be very detrimental to Delphs career if he doesn't get game time. He's obviously going to be confident in his own ability to play at that level but it's something he really needs to consider.

Aye. I don't think it was coincidence that, shortly after coming on, we sat deep and looked to hoof/counter instead of keeping up the pressing in midfield. It wouldn't have been the only reason though. As Man City put us under the cosh and legs got tired you do naturally start playing too deep. I'm not sure about Senderos, Clark or Westwood but I was shouting for them too push out and much quicker. I think it would have happened anyway just Beneteke is the obvious outlet who can get the ball and keep onto for a bit.Why were you shouting for Clark to push out? He wasn't even playing.Very harsh on the lad. IMHO Who? Clark? Ah bollocks, In another thread I said Chelsea instead of Man City but that was because I was talking about chelsea as I typed. I have no idea why I said Clark though, maybe because he's usually at fault. Having re read it again I still make more sense than I normally do when I open my mouth so thats a plus.

If and when he signs a contract, if he does anything significant over the next 12 months, he'll probably have a new contract by the end of next season anyway.

It's probably being a case of being far too honest either by wanting to tell the complete truth or to sell copies/get publicity. I think a hell of a lot of people would have a similar thought if they were in the same situation but what most wouldn't do is say it at the time or at a later date. What you'd hope is that he did feel bad for thinking it as again most people would after thinking it.

I'm still optimistic there is creativity there. There are signs of good quick passing between the 3 of them, which has the potential to unlock defences. If we can actually manage to do it in the final 3rd rather than the half way line and not lose the ball as easy then there's loads of goals . Sounds easy and obviously there are a few If's in there but lets see how we are doing come then end of November.

Aye. I don't think it was coincidence that, shortly after coming on, we sat deep and looked to hoof/counter instead of keeping up the pressing in midfield. It wouldn't have been the only reason though. As Man City put us under the cosh and legs got tired you do naturally start playing too deep. I'm not sure about Senderos, Clark or Westwood but I was shouting for them too push out and much quicker. I think it would have happened anyway just Beneteke is the obvious outlet who can get the ball and keep onto for a bit.

To be fair to him Chelsea shouldn't have been on the pitch. Oops talking and typing

Pretty steady today, there was one point in the first half he dived in when he probably shouldn't, missed the ball and nearly let chelsea though. Pretty solid and better than Senderos today.

The quickness of his his feet to change direction/turn is amazing. Like the whole team at the moment, struggling with the important pass in the final 3rd. Some players that reach the level Delph is currently, you can see are playing great but are at their limit. Delph looks like he can push on a lot further. Fingers crossed he get more clinical in the final 3rd and he stays with us.

I disagree. I think a number of decent players in that position get praise for their performances and rightly so. I think I posted similar in the a Sanchez thread (if not here) but the deep lying central midfielder who keeps it ticking over rather than a midfielder enforcer neary always gets called The Crab by their own supporters. Of course some of these players get praise as well but along with Westwood, Petrov was called The Crab, Cleverley when playing deep at Utd and even Carrick, Arteta gets it at Arsenal as well. it is the type of player England are desperate for but there is no a massive amount of them to choose from because of the way football is played in this country and fans get frustrated far too easily with a few simple passes in the middle of the park. Westwood et al do get praise from fans of their team, opposing clubs and the media but they also get more stick than they deserve.

I agree. Not that having the 4/5 sides we've had all in a row is ever a good thing, the fact it is the start of the season no matter how much the team train its not easy to make sure everyone is comfortable knowing where their teamates are and where they are likely to go especially in an attacking sense when it comes to match day, so the risk of getting hammered is so much higher. Its much easier to drill into them the defensive shape, attacking takes more to be worked on in actual matches. I'd hope that by end of January when we start the Liverpool, Arsenal & Chelsea run, things might be a little bit different in how the team plays, possesion and creativity. God knows whether i'll be right but its far too early in the season to be overly critical, we'll pretty much see over the next 4-6 weeks, what this team has really got (or not)

Yeah I agree. The only way I could see it possibly working would still require a pretty rich person or group to be majority shareholders but realistically these people would probably need to be rich enough to own the club outright anyway, which means it wouldn't make any sense unless they were a massive fan and wanted to do something special for all fans.

While I conpletely agree, Petrov was a bit different in that he completely adapted his game to the premier league compared with Scotland where as Sanchez needs to be exactly why we bought him. As I say I completely agree though. I thought he was noticeably poor last week but still think he will be a good buy. The defensive midfielder role has a weird reputation wise in England, all the 'keep it ticking over' players get called 'The Crab' Westwood, Cleverley at utd, Arteta, to be fair Petrov also and even Carrick. Which I think is unfair but the players that can add midfield enforcer to this are the great players The main example being Makalele, simple passes but great at reading the game. Fingers crossed Sanchez can be this player.

Not that we've shown it too much yet but I think we have lots of creativity potential from general play once our midfielders have played together a few times. Benteke however is probably the only one that can create something out of nothing when we play shit.