Jimbop

I've requested the odds on Stan making a league appearance for Villa next season. I bet any of you lot the odds I'm given (if they accept it) are less than 5000/1. That doesn't say much for how likely it is to happen, but it does say that much less likely things have happened.

I've mentioned this in the Micah Richards thread. If Richards is captain, playing CB, I would be shocked if he wasn't the one making the calls on when to push, when to drop. It would be a very strange dynamic to have your captain be bossed around at CB. Now that Richards is playing RB, he isn't the one making those calls, Lescott is, and Okore is listening to him and has the pace to make up those split seconds of hearing the call and moving appropriately. Just watch the video above, when Jolean shouts 'drop' he is already starting to sprint back. If Richards is at CB, making calls for Lescott, Richards has probably already moved 2 or 3 yards before Lescott has even started moving. Having the quicker CB in a pairing make the line calls is a double whammy. Also Richards has never done this in his career, so probably isn't very good at it (at the moment at least, I still hope he can become a great CB, mainly cos' I just love the guy as a person) It's no co-incidence that the 'destroyer' in a defence is usually slower, but makes the calls, think Terry and Carvalho, Campbell and Kolo Toure, Vidic and Ferdinand. EDIT: Forgot to add, all this contributes towards Lescott's upturn in form recently, and our better defensive record in recent games since Lescott started leading the line with an able deputy (Okore) next to him.

I was speaking to a pal about this on the weekend. The problem with Richards at CB is that he, as captain, should be the one organising, he's the leader of the team! The problem is he has never done this before, at City if he ever played CB he'd have had Vincent Kompany telling him what to do. It would be a weird dynamic if RG told Micah to let Lescott run the defence when Micah is playing CB. When he plays RB he won't be trying to tell Lescott or Okore where the line needs to be etc, because he hasn't got their view, and he can concentrate on his own performance. I think he's a leader in that he's extremely passionate, gets stuck in, and is an absolute animal physically, but I don't think he's got the experience to be a captain in the centre of defence.

If this happens, I will find you, and I will snog you.

Will need to add in appearances, and then maybe a 'minutes played per mistake' in order to avoid making players who aren't picked look better than they are.

Obviously he's not Carrick, but the comparisons have been made by almost everyone and he generally is the lesser version.

Currently, I'd rather him play than Sanchez, you know what you're getting with Westwood, Sanchez can look brilliant and then ruin it with a moment (or 10) of madness. I still can't get that Arsenal game out of my head last year when he literally gave the ball away about 8 times in a row.

He was a striker growing up.. I'd play him up top over Gestede.

His English is very good if you watch the post match interview on AVFC facebook, he makes a joke about Lescott having a big head and talks about a clean sheet guaranteeing a point. If you're not fairly fluent in a language you wouldn't be 'quick' enough to make those comments on the fly I don't think. I don't mind him liking the post. There are more than a few who need a kick up the backside, if we have a squad full of players giving what the 11 last night gave, we might just save ourselves.

Would love to see this work, but I think even though he's only 24, he will still feel he's not young enough to 'waste' a year in the Championship.

Despite hardly playing at Porto, I can imagine in training there he probably had a bit more practice putting crosses in and generally going forward, seeing as they're in a 3 horse race in Portugal. We might see the benefit of that as he didn't do too badly in the attacking half tonight, and obviously he can defend, which our other options can't.

His first start in 2 years remember people.

I think we will lose him next season regardless unfortunately now. He's far too good for the Championship so if we go down he'll go to a mid-table Prem team or European equivalent, and if we pull off the great escape, in doing so he will probably have scored over 10 goals in the remaining fixtures and won us numerous matches, which will bring even bigger players to the table and Randy will sell him. Absolutely love this guy, if only we had him and Benteke in the same team.

His best performance for a long time. Looked faster, stronger, more aggressive. Sprinting 70 yards to press and gain territory in the last 10 minutes, no lack of effort tonight. This needs to be the start of something.

Agreed that he needs to start making more runs and utilise his pace off the ball. I can see why he slows down play before setting off again though. He knows that at top speed, he's quicker than almost anyone, but the difference between him and some of the quick PL full backs won't be as drastic as we think (as shown by all the 'fastest clocked Premier league player' stats where someone like Hutton is on top 10). Where he is so much faster than anyone else is in acceleration, being small and powerful, he gets to 90% of top speed so much quicker than anyone I've seen, so slowing the ball down and then shooting away is a guarantee to beat his man. The only way to stop him is to just guess where he's going to go and start attacking the ball before he moves it. It's the same way Messi plays, Messi's top speed really isn't ridiculous, it's his 5-10 yard bursts where he beats everyone. It's such an asset, I just hope he can learn to get the ball under more control in tight areas, where that acceleration, and strength (which Messi doesn't have in comparison) will count double, and then he'll be unplayable for half a season until Barca buy him back.

Still hasn't adjusted the pace of the Premier League. Wants far too much time on the ball. The amount of times I've turned to my gf, or her dad, or one of my mates and said 'this is the same guy who has shut down Messi and Neymar in the past!' after he's done something stupid is getting out of hand.

Think we should have thrown him on when Veretout was out on his feet in the last 10 minutes or so, but I can see why Garde didn't risk it in case he didn't work hard to get back during a Newcastle counter.

In years gone by he'd have a couple of games where against certain fullbacks or particular centre backs he'd be a nightmare due to his speed and strength, days where his control was better than usual and he would run direct towards goal instead of going down a blind alley which he doesn't have the trickery to get out of. Those days are behind him now I think. Doesn't have the acceleration to beat many of the new type full/wingbacks of the Prem imo. He can't jink past anyone he has to get a few yards in first to get up to some speed. I hope he proves me wrong, but I think he's finished

Lots of over-reacting here. He's dropped off badly in form recently, but he definitely has the ability. Admittedly it was against a championship side but he was absolutely different class against Blues in the league cup. There is no way that kid will be playing Championship football next year. He needs to be on the winning side again, obviously a confidence player, and once you're confident you have that extra bit of pace, and a couple more lbs when you clatter into someone. A confident Grealish suddenly becomes a bit smarter (he got himself into a blind alley a couple of times against Everton which he just doesn't do when he's playing well), a bit quicker, a bit 'stronger' (he needs to look at what Ronaldo did and put on a stone of muscle in the next 2 years, especially as he doesn't have the blistering pace of Ronaldo). I don't believe he's our Ronaldo either before anyone goes overboard on the above, he's not that good, but he is definitely a step above Albrighton, Whittingham, Steven Davis, players like that who came through our academy but didn't ever star for our first team.

He can certainly put his foot through a ball that lad!

I completely forgot that N'zog used to play left back way back when! I'd honestly prefer him there than Richardson.

To everyone calling for him to play at RB because that's where he's played: if we somehow signed Branislav Ivanovic (before this season because he's had a bit of a shocker so far), we would play him CB, regardless that he's been playing RB at Chelsea for ages. I love Richards, he's quick, powerful, I don't think his lack of a couple of inches of height matters because his leap probably makes the difference up. He's going to only get better imo. I truly cannot wait for the day one of his marauding runs, when things just open up for him, result in a goal, hopefully scored by Micah. We're all going to go crazy.

So I've read the forums for a little while, but not being able to reply has become very annoying (clearly my opinion must be seen by more people, and I don't have enough twitter followers to quench my attention thirst) so I've decided to change that. I've supported Villa since 1996 I'd say (born 1990), I don't remember watching the League Cup final that year so I've only known mediocrity (generally) and the occasional cup run. Here's to Remi changing all of that! I won't hold my breathe mind..