GeordieVillan

My understanding, is that Southgate actually didn't do a bad job at Middlesborough, although obviously relegation wasn't a positive! From what I know, after the big spending that McLaren had done, when they appointed Southgate, his remit was to bring through the young players and keep costs down. He's openly sais that the signing of Alves was not his choice, but he was a young manager in a big job and didn't think he could walkaway (like Pardew did at West Ham). He was also sacked at a time when he had Boro performing well and in a with a good chance of promotion. Thats my understanding anyway!

Anyway, not saying he's my first choice, but if if we want someone young and ambitous, with an affiliation to the club, then he would be worth considering for me. Grayson is still my first choice, and his experience at Leeds ended on a sour note.

I've come straight on here....feeling pretty annoyed....what was the game plan today???

Chosen no man-of the match, we didn't have the ball enough to do anything. Maybe Carlos was the best at a push.

I hate this kind of performance, if we are going to lose, I would rather we lost 3-0 or 4-0, and we at least tried to play some football and score some goals.

Where was the passing football we saw in the last few games? This was on a par with Spurs away and Man Utd at home, playing not even for a draw, playing just to keep the score down.

Heskey on the wing again. Unbelievable. As soon as N'Zogbia and Ireland came on, we looked like a totally different team.

Another goal conceded from a set piece.

I havn't turned on McLeish yet, but we better have one hell of a summer and start next season well to make up for what we're seeing at the minute.

Feel sorry for all those who went today, imagine paying 30 quid to watch that regularly. No wonder the crowds are falling.

Very frustrating.

good peformance against one of the worst away teams in the league, who were missing half their players, and out of the ones who played, i think 3 made their debuts with no playing or training with their team mates?

some utter shocking defending, from both warnock and hutton, dunne also gets a mention for dancing like a mental bear in front of warnock for the second goal

out of defence, cuellar clearly looked a class above the rest, really, head and bloody shoulders knees and toes above the other 3.

midfield?

why do we persist with clark in the middle when we are playing a poor team with no confidence and at their weakest? when we are at home?

petrov, well he kept it ticking over when he moved away from our own keepers area so good on him but i fear if we hadnt been playing such a shit team ( they really REALLY were poor) he would have been torn apart, however i can only judge his performance on tonight so he ended up doing ok.

ireland, he looked good today, although he was drifting at times and also had to be on guard when the liability that is hutton came forwards. tidy play and ran all game, looked like he gave up on some balls gabby would have still chased down but he doesnt have the excelleration of gabby so all is fogiven.

nzogbia - hmm, he was quite poor, running at players and losing the ball, then he started remembering that he is allowed to pass it, then he looked half decent. scored a decent goal and looked reasonably dangerous for the remainder of the game

clark - should not be playing in the middle unless man marking someone like rooney, i would play him instead of dunne or as 3 man defence but not at the expense of cuellar, his stats may look ok but that is because each time he was passed the ball he didnt bother to check if there was anyone near him, he just passed it back to whoever gave him the ball most of the time, slowing play down to a crawl, when we should have been upping the tempo.

keane - i put him in midfield because thats where he played for most of the game, some neat passes between him and ireland and some decent possession rather than hoofing it, i thought my laptop video card was faulty when he was running for the ball though, he was that slow i had to check the settings on the pc.

forwards - bent, some good movement and for once got some service and support from the midfield, the ball is played on the floor, out wide an decent ball into the box and bang, a goal. it is not a difficult puzzle , hoof ball doesnt work to get goals from bent, football with ball on floor and then hit it in from wide areas, that is what gets his goals.

he did what some were demanding, he went for some 50 50 balls, and each time nearly got his head taken off and still couldnt get the ball, hopefully people will lay off him for not going in for balls all the time now as i thought in one of the challenges he got injured, lucky for us he didnt.

bannan - if he cuts out his every ball is a hollywood ball thought process, he is a good tidy and clever player, but he always looks better when the ball is on the floor rather than when he lifts it up, it normally ends up going to no one.

so while we had shit loads of shots on goal, could have had a peno, played half decent for most of the second half, we played against one of the worst sides away from home at their weakest.

we should have beaten these lot by 2 clear goals, so while the football was good to watch from an attacking point of view for once, the result is as per normal, shit and not good enough

Some valid points, but its a bit harsh I think. Thats the best I've seen us play under McLeish. Yes the result was poor, but I've seen us get bad results AND play shit this year. Its nice to see us pass the ball and actually play some football. If we are going to be mid-table (this year), we might as well be good to watch.

Only saw the second half - and "we were a joy to watch" I've used speech marks as I havn't said that in a long time. More of the same please. The results will come if we play like that.

The last 3 games we have shown a much greater desire to pass the ball rather than just play long ball - if this is down to Keane and Ireland being in the team, long may it continue.

They are more amibitious than us and Darren Bent though! And this is the same Adam who we wanted apparently.

Look at the players they have signed since Dalglish took over, we would be creaming ourselves with Suarez/Carroll/Adam/Downing/Enrique/Bellamy/Henderson - even if they have paid over the odds.

Anyway, without going off topic, I just don't see them wanting Bent, and I would be amazed if they shipped out Carroll on loan after paying £35m for him. They don't have the money of Man City to be able to justify that.

I actually think Bent has been exactly the same as last season - he's scored 6 in 16 this year compared to 9 in 16 last year (I havn't checked this but someone else mentioned this stat earlier). This year he has missed some easy chances so he could/should have had at least 9 by now. I think he'll score at least 15 by the end of the season.

Secondly, he won't go to Liverpool, because he's not good enough for them, (sadly) he's good enough to be our most important player but I think that Liverpool are now more ambitious than signing players such as Darren Bent....

Full credit to all who trudged up there and back today

The support again came across as superb. Credit to the club

I'm glad someone mentioned this - there was a decent turnout, and fair play to everyone who pays their money to come and watch the team when we are awful to watch.

However, I have to say, some supporters behaviour suprises me! Maybe I'm boring, but our away fans spend most of the time goading the home teams fans and the police and stewards (not just chants, but physically turning away from the game and watching the opposition fans rather than watching the game! I don't get it, if you've paid 30 quid for a ticket plus travel etc. you would think that watching the majority of the match would be a priority.

I also think its a sign of the times that we need to goad Sunderland fans, other than Darrent Bent and Steve Bruce, we don't have much rivalry with them or history (I don't think so anyway), so why when we go 1-0 up do we need to turn on their fans and tell they are shit etc when they havn't provoked us at all other than chants about Darren Bent. If we are a bigger club than them, we should have the class to not even bother singing about them. Its like the Birmingham argument, we are bigger and better than them (in theory) so we shouldn't waste our time focussing on them!

Also, I thought the stewards and police were brilliant yesterday, they let the away fans stand up for the whole match without complaint, but still come muppets manage to get in trouble.

Like I said, maybe I'm just boring!

Totally disagree with this as all away-day regulars would do so to. Sunderland are notorious for having one of the worst sets of stewards going - and in fact have been nicknamed 'the mafia' by many football fans from various clubs before. They did try and get people in the lower section to sit down at the start, but in the end gave up when they realised the whole away section was standing and they would be fighting a losing battle. Watch them reduce our allocation next season now.

Yet when the half-time incident occurred, and the stewards actually needed to deploy what limited powers they do have, they were nowhere to be seen for a good five minutes whilst our own fans had to try and defuse the situation. When they did arrive, instead of dealing with the situation swifty they looked utterly clueless.

Your statement about the rivalry with Blues sums it up for me to be honest. You don't live in the area and don't understand the hatred which exists - that's fair enough but don't preach to those who go week in, week out what we should/shouldn't sing. Our away fans, on the whole, are class in terms of singing and banter with the opposition, which is what makes away days so much better than home fixtures.

Just before our second goal went in, I was stood in the gangway three rows from the top of the stand. When Sunderland kicked off again after Dunne’s goal I was stood five rows from the front still jumping up and down – did I celebrate too much? It’s these euphoric moments which still make modern day football vaguely bearable.

If you want a sedate atmosphere, a comfy chair, and no banter with the opposition - Villa Park is the place to go. If you want to get pissed, sing your heart out for the lads, make up some funny new chants, stand, and generally go mental (within reason) then welcome to a Villa away game. Very disappointed to hear another Villa fan moaning about it, it’s certainly nothing new.

Well to be honest, this sums up the problem. People can't make an observation about "some" villa fans (read my post back, I said "some" fans, not all fans) without being told you don't know what you're talking about. I was stood there celebrating the goal just like you, just like everyone else, but the people in front of me were not just goading Sunderland fans, they are telling the police and stewards to "F off". Like I say, I wasn't drunk on this occasion, and I was suprised by what I saw. I sang, chanted and celebrated like everyone else mate, I just didn't feel the need to behave like a dickhead. Just because someone goes to game week in week out that doesn't give them a divine right to be have like an arse (I'm not referring to you, I'm just making a general statement). And I was just expressing an opinion when I said I think we should be bigger than Sunderland and that I'd rather watch the game than watch their fans.

On your other point about the Blues, maybe you are right, I don't live in the area so maybe I don't understand the rivalry as much as others - if you read any of the posts I've ever made on here, I've never suggested otherwise.

Full credit to all who trudged up there and back today

The support again came across as superb. Credit to the club

I'm glad someone mentioned this - there was a decent turnout, and fair play to everyone who pays their money to come and watch the team when we are awful to watch.

However, I have to say, some supporters behaviour suprises me! Maybe I'm boring, but our away fans spend most of the time goading the home teams fans and the police and stewards (not just chants, but physically turning away from the game and watching the opposition fans rather than watching the game! I don't get it, if you've paid 30 quid for a ticket plus travel etc. you would think that watching the majority of the match would be a priority.

I also think its a sign of the times that we need to goad Sunderland fans, other than Darrent Bent and Steve Bruce, we don't have much rivalry with them or history (I don't think so anyway), so why when we go 1-0 up do we need to turn on their fans and tell they are shit etc when they havn't provoked us at all other than chants about Darren Bent. If we are a bigger club than them, we should have the class to not even bother singing about them. Its like the Birmingham argument, we are bigger and better than them (in theory) so we shouldn't waste our time focussing on them!

Also, I thought the stewards and police were brilliant yesterday, they let the away fans stand up for the whole match without complaint, but still come muppets manage to get in trouble.

Like I said, maybe I'm just boring!

Are you a Sunderland fan in disguise? I assume you made the trip up yesterday or this just a 1 off? Away games are different and mockery of the home fans is always expected, especially with the whole Darren Bent situation going on aswell. But it's the same when away fans come to Villa Park. It just happens, and some blokes give it alot worse than others.

When they equalised 2-2 yesterday the Police were having more trouble holding their fans back than they did for any of our lot throughout the whole game! I also got something thrown at me and **** all was done about it yet one of our lot go threw straight out.

I'm not excusing the behaviour of any Sunderland fans, I'm just telling you what I saw, I've got no reason to lie. Just because I make a point which doesn't agree with the consensus i.e. our away fans are great and do nothing and we get hard done by, I don't see how that makes me any less of a villa fan than anyone else. I go to 4-5 away games a season (the most I can given where I live and what I earn), rather than home games, because the atmosphere and the fans are better in general - but that doesn't mean I should close my eyes and ignore when people are being rocket polishers. Being a policeman, at football and in general, is a very tough job, and I think it pathetic that people seem to have no respect for police these days. Stewards is one thing, but police officers are totally different.

He's currently playing well I think, but he should not be playing 90 minutes, he hasn't got the legs for it and it leaves gaps in the second half of every game he plays in

Agree, lets see how it goes, he'll need time though. He can tackle and defend, no doubt about that, and he never bottles a tackle. He'll need to improve his passing (and the players around need to actually move to make space), but lets give him a go

Oh and a note on the stewards and police at the game yesterday, idiots! One young Villa fan got thrown out for throwing sweets around yet when Wickham scored a golf ball was thrown into the Villa end but the police wern't interested, any Villa fan goading Sunderland fans was thrown out immediately by the fuzz who were facing our fans all through the game yet the Sunderland fans were allowed to gesture and bait us when they scored with no punishment while the stewards waited for Villa fans to retaliate then throw them out. Horrible, horrible place to go, there were loads thrown out even at half-time two Villa fans were scrapping with each other. Having said that I was surprised at the turnout (about 2,500 Villa fans) and pleased with the noise we made.

Couldn't disagree more to be honest, and I've just posted about this. Where I was sitting, the police and stewards did everything they could not to get involved, but there were some real idiots (mainly young lads, can't even have been 20 years old any of them) who were effing and jeffing at police when they were just stood there doing nothing! I have to say, this is the first time I've been sober in the away end for a while, and it was very eye-opening!

Full credit to all who trudged up there and back today

The support again came across as superb. Credit to the club

I'm glad someone mentioned this - there was a decent turnout, and fair play to everyone who pays their money to come and watch the team when we are awful to watch.

However, I have to say, some supporters behaviour suprises me! Maybe I'm boring, but our away fans spend most of the time goading the home teams fans and the police and stewards (not just chants, but physically turning away from the game and watching the opposition fans rather than watching the game! I don't get it, if you've paid 30 quid for a ticket plus travel etc. you would think that watching the majority of the match would be a priority.

I also think its a sign of the times that we need to goad Sunderland fans, other than Darrent Bent and Steve Bruce, we don't have much rivalry with them or history (I don't think so anyway), so why when we go 1-0 up do we need to turn on their fans and tell they are shit etc when they havn't provoked us at all other than chants about Darren Bent. If we are a bigger club than them, we should have the class to not even bother singing about them. Its like the Birmingham argument, we are bigger and better than them (in theory) so we shouldn't waste our time focussing on them!

Also, I thought the stewards and police were brilliant yesterday, they let the away fans stand up for the whole match without complaint, but still come muppets manage to get in trouble.

Like I said, maybe I'm just boring!

My observations having just got back from the game -

1) We play N'Zogbia on the right and Heskey (or Gabby at times) on the right. Neither offer anything. If he's going to play them, wide, why not play N'Zogiba left and Heskey right, so they can at least try to go out wide once in the game!

2) We were crying out for width, the fans were literally chanting for Albrighton, we made no subs until we went 2-1 up (which we didn't deserve), when he brought Albrighton on then. Don't know what logic was there, he wasn't going to help defensively.

3) I've read a few comments on this thread saying Warnock played well, I can't believe it, I must have been watching a different game. I thought Warnock was awful going forward, as was Hutton.

4) I thought Dunne and Collins did ok, but I don't know why we keep conceding late goals.

5) Petrov scored a cracking goal, played decent otherwise. Herd work hard, and puts his foot in, but if he is our centre midfield first choice now, I think we should be worried.

6) Gabby looks great, very sharp. Bent looked ok, missed a great chance, but starved of service otherwise.

7) I go watch this game every year, and its rarely entertaining. But we looked really poor today, and lacking in confidence all over. We can keep the ball, there's no doubt about that, but we go nowhere with it and then invariably one of the back just hoofs it forward. We lost 1-0 last year in this match, but we played much better as a team and should have won (we passed it around and at times Sunderland couldn't get near us). Sunderland should have won today I think. We were not unlucky today, or robed by the referee, we were lucky to get a point.

I'm not a panic merchant, but these are worrying times. We've got problems all over. I don't think we'll get relegated, because there are worse teams than us, but this is going to be a long season. I'm really disappointed, as I had high hopes for McLeish, but he's turned us into this Birmingham team very quickly. I'm losing hope again, just like before MON arrived.

Must do better.

I think a 5 year deal is fine. We have always traditionally had one experienced keeper and one younger goalkeeper as back up. Hopefully he can help the youngsters, who should have already learnt from Friedel.

Imagine if we gave him a 2 year deal and then in two years he went for free to e.g. Arsenal after showing himself to still be top class. The club would be criticised for that. Damned if you do and damned if you don't.

Alot more goalkeepers are playing until late thirties and 40 now.

I'm not sure the board will 'walk away' from this.

The manager clearly wants the player, and the player is clearly needed, not only to bolster the squad but also to bring some positivity to the club. Thats not ITK, just my reading of the situation.

I don't think we have a Plan B, so I think we will continue to negotiate, and probably end up paying slightly more. If we could give them one of our unwanted players in exchange, that would be marvellous.

I posted very early on in this thread when people were being negative about this signing, but if this deal has been done, then I think it really is fantastic.

1) Great goalkeeper, consistently in the top goalkeepers in the league up until Joe Hart took his place at City

2) A leader, has captained Newcastle, Ireland and Man City in the past (I believe)

3) Loads of experience at the highest level

4) As well as being a good shopstopper etc, he is well known for being a talker and communicating with back four

5) I can only assume that he would sign for us if he has been assured we will be going in the right direction, and the only way to do that will be by signing quality players. He easily could have stayed at City and picked up his wages and played the odd game here and there and won medals. I'm being optimistic yeah, but hopefully this is just the first of the quality signings...

No reason why he can't be in and around the squad this year and then we can see what he can do. I don't think he's first choice yet, but he might be at some point in the near future....

This is an absolute no brainer.

No its not. Not for the money being mentioned anyway!

But this is what I don't understand. Clubs are paying over the odds throughout the league, and villa fans complain that we don't compete.

And we seem to be going for what in my eyes is the best goalkeepers possibly available to us (I think he is better than Foster and Green, and experience counts for alot), and everyone is complaining!

I have no doubt that the people in charge of the club know what is affordable and what is not. If they are prepared to pay it, thats their choice, I for one won't complain if we pay over the odds to sign a bloody good player!

Does it not also send a message that we can sign good players and pay top wages? Granted he's not a player who is going to cause a rush of season ticket sales, but if I was a player at the club or player potentially coming to the club, this would signing would certainly encourage me.

Can't believe the negative reaction to this.

Experienced premier league goalkeeper, not at all 'dodgy', highly rated by fans at every team he's played for (including Man City where he doesn't play regularly), would probably walk into 75% of other teams in the league, was rated as one of the best goalkeepers in the league up until last year when Joe Hart came on the scene.

Add to this that he will probably take a pay-cut to come to us, which shows a hunger to actually play football.

This is an absolute no brainer.

Also can't believe that we as fans complain that the club won't spend big money and won't pay big wages to compete, and then when its suggested we all say "we should pay that much for him"!

For me, if we got Given, it would be fantastic start to the 're-building' under McCleish.

Is there one Villa fan that thinks this would be a good appointment?

There will always be a few people who think differently, but i reckon if you put up a satisfaction poll, then you would probably get 90%+ in the dissatisfied category.

I would say that of those 90%+, that 80%+ of them would be because of his playing style, and maybe maximum 20% for the sha connection.

I agree with the first bit, you would get 90% dissatisfied. But to say that only 20% would be because of the SHA connection is a bit of an understatement (bit = major). If we were getting McCleish straight from e.g. Rangers, or hypthetically he had just took down e.g Newcastle, or Wigan or the like, I think more people would be prepared to give him a chance. They wouldn't be happy but hey would give him a chance. You would end up with alot of people in the "neither satisfied nor dissatisfied group" (if there was one).

But, I have to stress, I don't want him for both reasons.

Exactly, the silence is deafening.

Which to me says only one thing - we are close to appointing a new manager, I expect an announcement in the very near future.

Whether its McCleish or not, I don't know - however the only logical reason for the club keeping shtum at this time with the Pannu going off it, the media hurling abuse at us from all angles and the fans going insane - is that we are very close to agreeing terms with our new manager.

I'm not ITK, just trying to see the logic in this.

Just listening back to the monday night club on 5live. I am really starting to hate Pat Murphy, what a clearing in the woods.

I agree, up until the last few weeks I always liked Pat Murphy and thought that he was one of the good reporters when it came to Villa i.e. fair and straight to the point, not overly negative and not overly positive.

But he has been a massive prick over the appointment (or lack of) the new manager. I can only assume it because we are conducting our business privately and not letting on to the press. I'm sure this doesn't make their job easier and they therefore have to make stories and are often pissed off off about the whole thing!

Do you think if its McCleish he would bring back Gardner and Ridgewell. Worst silver lining ever? Yes I think so too.

I wouldn't be happy if its McCleish, I don't think any Villa fan would be happy, but some could probably live with it.

If it is McCleish, or if the Board even have talks with him, I think they are taking a big risk, potentially risking their entire credibility on this. I would be suprised to hear "Sack the Board" chants etc.

Also, if its McCleish, on some level I have to say fair play to Randy, and McCleish, they've got some balls. The only thing I can think of in my lifetime that was anything like this was when George Graham went to manage Spurs.

Anyway, I think everyone needs to calm down. There is nothing concrete on this at all. If those words were that of the General, it still doesn't actually mean anything, he may just have been hypothesising or deflecting attention, or trying to explain to "Richard" that the fans have already ensured the board ignored McClaren and they can't do this with every possible candidate - thats not how you run a football club.

Saying that, I don't want McCleish, but I think I will refrain from going absolutely mental until I see a press conference where he is unveiled as manager. Until then I will cling to the hope that we are after Ranieri (my first choice) as he is decent enough 'name' and has good premiership experience.

In summary - people need to calm down before they have a coronary.

Please play Ashley Young wide, right or left, but please play him wide.

If not Gabby up front with Bent, a midfield 3 of Makoun and two from Petrov/Reo/Bradley/Bannan....

And what has Carlos got to do for a start!

Brilliant result, and for the first time in a while I don't think you can question the efforts of the players, they all gave 100%, and I think showed that they are behind the manager - all positive.

Brilliant for Bent to score - I can't even remember the last time we had a striker anticipate a rebound and score?!

I have to say though, it was backs to the wall - and we were a bit lucky, but its about time we got some luck.

I know its great that Bent scored, but I have to say that I thought Dzeko (spell check) looked a class player. We might have a better goalscorer though!