tinker

Petrov did always had the ability, but him turning it around was not predicted by many and it took him a bit longer than 6 months. As for the attacking central midfielders, we have Sidwell in that role now, how many games have they played together? Im not sure, plus with Downing to come in we will be changing our system and it just might be that MON has plans to play to Heskeys strengths when this happens. My point is that even if Heskey, Knight and a few others were brought in Haste (and in error), MON has noted the mistake and rectified it and if the purchase of Heskey, Knight........ are given as reasons for MON to go , then it is a poor argument IMO. MON has faults and one of them IMO is his stubbornness, but he does seem to get it right more than most. The transfer windows are very frustrating and MON has a history with Celtic that reflects this, their fans only real gripe of him. If some Villa fans cannot back him now, who could they back and under what circumstances? I for one would rather be in our position than Arsenals ATM (CL aside). We are nearly there and after 3 years and from 16th position thats good going IMO. UTV

We would have to drop Petrov to fit NRC in and that ain't gonna happen. Sidwell offers us a different type of outlet to either Petrov or NRC. Heskey, for all his faults, has only been at Villa for half a season, he still has time to turn his Villa career around, just like Petrov did. NRC will get his chance, probably against Sunderland, he needs to sit tight and keep his head down. How many matches have we won with Petrov staying on till the end, quite a few. We could have brought NRC on and lost or drawn these matches.

Zola did not want to sell him, that was the delay with Collins, Dunne was delayed because of Lescott. You can't seriously think MON leaves signing a player late because he chooses to? What benefit would it have? What would Mr Lerner say if he was? Is signing great players, late in a transfer period, a big enough fault in a manager to mean you would want him to leave? Despite his relative success.

Arsenal do not win sweet FA with their beautiful game. We have a team of hungry British players, trying to wrestle their title back from the foreign invaders. Please stay and finish the job Mr O'Neil. PS IMO this season could be the best chance we have to break this cartel up, we have no Europe and all of the usual top 4 seem beatable. 120-1.mmmmmmmm if I put a £10 on or even £100 that would give me...........! UTV

What a game, Gabby was unplayable at times, he really is going to be special if he continues to improve his game at this rate, they all grew as the game went on and TBH, they all deserved at least 8 in my book. Collins and Dunne.......what can you say? A Young battled and battled and put a few quality balls in (the one that found Milner who passed for Carew to miss was an exceptional cross + the pass from Milner, if only Carew had tapped it in it would have been one hell of a goal). Anyway had a read of a few match reports, the one I liked the most was from a Chelsea blog and included the line "Even as a recently spoilt Chelsea fan you have to wonder why none of Agbonlahor, Young or the brilliant Milner are pulling on our shirt this season. I’d swap any of them for Kalou." Chelsea Blog's Villa v Chelsea match report UTV

Financial Services are like the oil that keeps the economy turning and company's like JP Morgan and Goldman Sachs making profits is a positive story that the economy is moving in the right direction again. Neither of these companies recieved bailout money from the government of either the US or UK and by all accounts were well run allowing them to weather the economic crisis and come out the other side in good shape. A positive news story on the economy for a change. I'd much rather be hearing these stories than headlines about these companies needing government bailout money. I understand your point of view, but can't understand the principles of making vast amounts of money, but producing no goods, no raw materials, just money making money. IMO the system is fundamentally flawed. Only time will tell who is right, but I have a nasty feeling about an economy built on the principles of using money to make money, and no hard goods produced.

How can you make this type of money and produce nothing? The world has gone mad and we do not seem to able to put the brakes on, another economic crash is in the wings. Might sell my house and buy gold.

Met Astro once (ub40) he was having a piss outside my local (the Bradford arms, Castle Brom) My brother said to him "Oh, so it ain't true what they say about black men"

Indian women tend to do quite well in the Miss world competitions, they are beautiful. Ukranian girls are also very nice, but tend to be a little on the expensive side. :shock:

Well played, IMO we are still not in form yet we keep pulling these results out of the bag. Young was of the pace, IMO he is being hit hard early in the game and its taking its toll on his overall play, he will get his form back and when he does we will be flying. Collins was very good IMO, Dunne was good but don't half commit himself in the tackle, can see how he gets booked. Gabby, hes gonna be a real top quality striker for us see what he was trying to do against the SHA now, except this time he finished it perfectly. MOTM for me was though was Brad, top quality calm, composed. UTV

The performance was not great but with better finishing we should have won 4-1, Milner, Gabby and Carew messed up very good chances and Carsley messed a decent chance up. IMO we are still gaining form, which is a very good sign. The defence looked more secure than I have seen it in a great deal of time. The goals against tally for this season should be the best for quite a few seasons if Sunday has any think to show us.

My MOTM, Collins won header after header. MON took a risk in starting with 3 new players at the back, but it worked out and all of the back 4 played well. Dunne will become a great player for us a leader. Ash was quiet and Milner had a bad game for him, lots of missed passes. TBH I Don't think we are firing on all cylinders yet, but to win matches like this one when we are not in form bodes well for this season.

I have recently been to Dorset and saw 3 Villa shirts and no Spurs shirts, North Wales 2 Villa shirts and no Spurs shirts (plenty of Liverpool and Man U though). Not sure why people are building assumptions on Spurs or any other club for that matter on estimated and outdated figures or no figures at all, just hearsay. Star Player? For every Merson there is a Ginola. As for Carbone, IMO he only ever performed in odd games and is no more a flair player than either Young, Milner or Delph. IMO Our profile has been raised more than most other Premier League teams (bar one!) in the last 3 seasons and for that I would like to thanks the whole team at Villa, keep up the good work. UTV

Would be nice if they let the away fans out first, then the homes 20-30 minutes later. Can't see many of our idiots waiting for the SHA retards to come out, especially if we win. Their fans however will wait hours to cause a bit of trouble and then run off throwing stones and bottles. About time the problem fans of certain teams are punished, if your fans have a proven record of trouble making it should be them who are held back, not the well behaved fans.

3-0 to the Villa with Gabby and Milner to score. Very confident and feel we are getting our form back on track. UTV

So sad to learn of such a bright light going out so young. I feel the same way when I see our great young and dead soldiers pictured in the papers, such a waste of talent for us all. :cry: IMO Luke should not play, if the SHA do sing any songs (sure they will) the lads on the pitch should shut them up pretty quick, no motivation needed here.UTV

IMO Milner, he can shoot and cross, but more importantly he can spot a pass, a defense splitting one at that. Think he has a lot more to offer and as someone else as pointed out he will continue to get better. Young crosses well and has a decent shot, he can also go round a player, but only once in about every 3 attempts. On his diving, I think he has been harshly treated and the refs seem to miss some pretty heavy tackles he ends up on the end of. (Van Persies in the last England game nearly snapped both his legs!!) Nice to have them both, but Milner gets my vote.

We will go back to a 4-4-2 formation now we have new defensive options? I have a feeling we will. :notsure:

I agree, but not from the start and to be honest I reckon it would be either NRC or Sidwell who would make way

Ps Sidwell, got into scoring positions quite a lot, missed them but still got there and thats why I think he stayed on.

4-5-1, against Fulham, at home! Looks like MON has took some tips from of here! Midfield dominated play yet again and Fulham had nowhere to go with Shorey and Beye being solid. Defense played very well and I can now see why Zat was sold, he is no better than Clark in fact Clark should have scored with his free header. Gabby played very well IMO, ran for lost causes and really played the channels well, unlucky not to get the first goal but he pressured the defender into a mistake for it so thats good enough, his goal was typical Gabby, power and pace and thats what big central defenders hate. Well played Villa, impressive, 6 points from 3 games against difficult opposition. Who's next? UTV

my pick; Brad, Beye, Davies, Cuellar, Shorey, Reo-Coker, Sidwell, Milner, Young, Gabby, Carew UTV

The defense held firm and IMO found some confidence as the game went on. Beye kept the ball well and was strong in the tackle, impressive for his second game. Davies and Carlos got more involved as of late and battled at every opportunity. Shorey, well thats why he was brought IMO, very good in possession, loves to run with the ball and passes very well. His defensive display was better. I especially liked the fact he seem to stay with his man more , 9/10 times he didn't challenge, just ran in his way, none of that giving up bollox we have seen in the past, well played. Brad what a performance save after save, strong with decent distribution. OUR midfield was superb, NRC put in the type of performance that was last seen at Villa when Boateng was here. Sidwell also gave us great movement, Petrov played his usual game, well played. Milner seemed to be roaming around more and was on the left and the right side a few times. A Young had a quiet game by his standards, but kept Johnson quiet. Gabby, unsung hero IMO. The amount of work he put in was unbelievable ran and ran. He make a big difference to games because of his pace. L Pool had to keep deep and double up on him, this stretched the game and kept the pressure of us. You do not get this with Heskey or Carew. Infact its hard to think of another player who has these attributes, Drogba can play it and so can Anelka. MOTM Got to be NRC with Brad closely behind. More importantly for me though is the fact that all the players played at or close to their personnel best (bar A Young). UTV PS I Agree, its a nice top, L Pool must hate the site of white shirts

Think a 4-4-2 with NRC and Sidwell in the middle may well work at home, Petrov would be the problem. Heskey and Gabby do not seem to be getting close to each other or work well together. We could play a 4-4-1-1 system with perhaps Delph behind Gabby or Carew or even Gabby behind Carew. 4-5-1 IMO Its not going to work when teams come to defend.

The football has not changed, its some of the fans.