VillanousOne

The trouble with Petrov is i believe he has much more to his game than he shows for us, its like he has been moulded into a holding defensive midfielder but doesn't have the energy or tackling accuracy to play that way. I like Petrov and thing he has been great for us, but we need someone loud and inspiring who can drive the team forward and organise us. We saw a few times last season when he came back what Petrov can do - but Eck needs to tell him to be more offensive and let Makoun do the holding role. Bent Nzogbia - Ireland Bannan - Makoun - Delph Warnock - Clark - Dunne - Young Given or some formation containing those players maybe Petrov instead of Delph.

Utter Tedium Given: 5 - Couldn't do much about the goal but looked a liability at times and distribution poor. Defence as a whole were piss poor with only Warnock coming away with some credibility. Young: 5 Dunne: 5 Clark: 5 Warnock: 6 Petrov: 4 Dire as ever - sideways or back passes and sod all inspiration Makoun: 6 - Tidy but did little wrong i guess but he and Petrov are the dullest midfield combo ever. Heskey: 5 - Not sure where he was supposed to be playing, worked hard and defended well at times but fluffed the chances he did have unsurprisingly. Gabby: 4 - One good cross and nothing else Bent: 6 Starved of service but still looked a threat Nzogbia: 6 - Scored and looked good when he got some of the ball Subs - all had too little of the ball or time really Ireland: 5 - passed well and got into some ok positions.... Bannan: 5 - did ok, did more than Petrov did the entire game Albrighton: 5 - did ok but not great can't wait for the new season to start!

never realised what a massive Chelsea fan Dion was

even with Nzogbia we need another winger

thank christ a reason to watch this dirge

we were mostly sh*t with Young and Downing last season, so erm now.....

no midfield protection, no midfield whatsover in fact. Albrighton was p*ss poor so was Ireland, Petrov dire - only Delph has put in any effort.

I think when Lerner bought Bent he was cashing in his 'we are selling Young to Manure for 16 mil' in the summer card. In which case he invested and extra 2 mil from the coffers. The money from Young was never going to be reinvested, we let a large number of players leave and probably recouped enough to get a goal keeper on board (remember Lerner could have just said give Guzan a go but he didn't). He's also ended up spanking 3 -5 mil (depending on which paper you believe) mil on getting new manager and back room staff. The Downing cash i'm sure is available to spend, but you can forget about anything else, Lerner is asking the manager to use what we have first, its a consolidatiion effort after a p*ss poor season. He's realised as we all should that where once spending 20 mil in a transfer window would put you in competition with the big boys, now you have to look at 60-100 mil - to try and compete with the top 5 (cept for Arsenal who still aren't spending at that rate). Lerner cannot afford to bankrupt himself and the club going for Champions League football. You may all hate me for saying the above - but in my opinion that is where we are at, recovery and consolidation before re-investment.

Seeing as the transfer topic thread imploded I thought i would post here: Firstly I think unless we sell Downing then we won't have any money to sign players (goal keeper aside). I don't think Lerner has any intention of replacing Young with the likes of Nzogbia especially if the player costs more or the equivalent. Young's sale was just to balance the books from buying Bent. Lerner probably thinks that having Warnock, Beye and Ireland back in the frame could make up for any player shortfalls. I think the manager knows that he needs to use the squad he has already and develop youth players and make BETTER use of the players that are already there as Lerner is probably sick of shelling out fees and wages on players that then get frozen out for whatever reason. I'm sure we will buy Given, but i think outside of that Big Eck will be expected to assess what he has and maybe just maybe before the window closes - identify a player or two that he needs, but don't expect any big money signings. I think selling Downing would be suicide, but if we can get 25mil and he wants to go then we have no choice but to cash in and strengthen the squad with the proceeds. As soon as Liverpool started throwing stupid money around on average players like Henderson and Carroll - the market got so inflated that for the mid table clubs it has effectively imploded. Nzogbia was once worth 9mil at best, you can now expect him to go for about 15 thanks to the greedy Liverd*ckheads and their delusional fans.

http://www.fanhouse.co.uk/2011/06/28/stewart-downing-the-latest-sorry-saga-for-aston-villa-fans-to/ we are not alone in thinking he's a **** ungrateful c**.N*.T !

somewhere at some point Downing has been approached by Liverpool, how else would he decide to walk away from Villa, you dont sh*t on your doorstep if you don't know that you can leave your house behind! Oh and maybe he should wait until Liverpool actually get into the Champion's League before he tries to gain a move to them. Clubs like Pool should be stopped from taking out loans on top of loans to buy there way to success.

He shouldn't leave for less than 30 mil and if the scouse w*nkstains don't like it they can f*ck right off!

as in we've still been paying them huge wages whether they play or not - Warnock has been paid hundreds of thousands to sit on his arse, they owe it to themselves, the fans and the club to show they can perform. Warnock was probably the best player at Blackburn when we signed him, yes for some reason last season he was a liability but as i said so was Collins and Dunne only they got more second chances than they deserved!

here we go again no second chances, Ireland is worse than a sex offender the way some of you go on about him! Maybe he and Warnock should be locked up and shot! Both deserve another chance as we pay there wages and they owe us some performances to justify being at the club, if they throw that chance away then no-one has any reason to feel sorry for them.

The way i see this is we have two choices as fans: 1) Suck it up, back McLeish and support this club. We may not like it but i don't see much choice. 2) Make a bad situation worse and hurt the club we love by protesting, staying away, or shouting abuse at our board and new manager. I am not telling anyone what to think or feel, emotions are running high right now and we all have a choice to make. And no i'm not even sure myself what i think about those two options even if i know the consequences or think i do.

fair point thats why i didn't either, utter trash paper

http://www.express.co.uk/ourcomments/view/252140/Jim-Holden? I think we need some villa fans posting on this article as it is utter utter bollocks and this Holden guy is a total dicksplash!

ignore the press, ignore the ITKs - no one knows anything............. and be patient

Hughes leaving Fullham for no reason just doesn't make sense (i dont buy the lack of ambition crap, a job is a job and he's hardly Mourinho is he!), either he is going to Chelsea in some capacity or has another job lined up. I still think that could be us. Legally neither party could say anything so it's impossible to know for sure. Birmingham Mail have stated Randy is coming back to sell Young and specifically said he will also interview two candidates for the manager's role, no idea where they got that from - but surely they would be manager's out of work? Or manager's where a club has given permission for us to speak to them? Can i take this chance to state that someone needs to tell Liverpool and their fans that they are no longer a top 4 club.

Asked whether the Frenchman's plans would determine Downing's future at Villa Park, the former Middlesbrough man was clear, adding: "I have enjoyed working with Martin O'Neill, Kevin McDonald, Gary McAllister and Gerard Houllier so it doesn't influence my decision at all if he stays or goes." Great to see player loyalty in full effect again!

i hope we don't have Collins or Pires in our team next season.

why did Collins stop dead for the move leading up to their goal? If had of kept running we might not have conceded. Bottom line is we have no idea how to play decent through balls or football through the middle of the park and are so predictable on the wings. Bent was awful today so was Young, NRC was diabolical also. Expect a shambolic end to a shambolic season.

If we do get a new manager due to GH retiring I think ultimately how he handles Ireland will let us know once and for all if Ireland is worthy of this club. We forget he went from being golden boy at City to shipped out like Dunne and then MON signed him and then promptly f*cked off. GH didn't want him. The guy has been handled badly and is clearly three cards short of a full deck, but he does have the talent if someone can find a way of balancing his ego and ability then we could have a real asset - he didn't look bad playing his 12mins so far for the Geordies. You'd think Moyes or Hughes could sort him out, Hughes got the best out of him once so surely he could again? Despite all the above i couldn't give a damn if he goes or stays, but i don't want us to make a big loss on him - so i think we have no option but to give him another go much as i hate typing that.

true, although i doubt a neutral fan would go to the Bolton website to buy it. it just struck me as odd as Bolton aren't our fierce rivals, and it wasn't a game that won them silverware or gave them promotion or saved them from relegation. Obviously it's not for me to say what people buy.

well no, unless as a Villa fan you like watching your team defend like idiots and lose a game that it was easier to win.