pablopicasso

£6 million is better spent elsewehere...

of the relegated it would be nice to get ashton, routeledge and drury....

yep...

just use the same evernot one and adapt it this time round and then call it a day...

bit like bowyer and you want to father his babies...

i apologise if it wasnt you, but the relevance was that luke is still very young... he needs to be integrated into the team slowly and have our support...

if by the time hes 22 and not showing any sign of the goods, then we should cut our losses....

i was more getting at the fact that some support cole because hes young and showed promise at an early age, only for that to disappear and still not show any signs of resurfacing when hes nearly 22...

i find the hypocrisy of some villa fans astounding that they will call for our own youth to be chucked while giving others the benefit of their reputation even though, they are at the age that if they havent shown many signs of that reputation, then they more than likely wont....

again, i apologise if that wasnt you who said that about cole.....

(edit- muchas apologias bigjim... it was 1979 who said that... my mistake and i offer my humblest apologies...)

werent you the person saying lay off carlton cole because hes only 20, even though hes nearly 22?!?

actuallly its two poor seasons over his whole career...

two poor seasons that have very legitimate reasons as to why he played poorly in those years...

Pablo, I feel sorry for JPA & JLloyd, and one or two others, but most of all I feel sorry for the supporters who pay their wages. Not me especially, I'm too far away these days, but those of you that pay your hard earned to follow the team home and away. You don't want to go around apologising for the players every other week.

That's why I refuse to wrap the players in cotton wool. I fully expect anyone who's not at his best to be kept out of the way next season until such time as he can earn his place back. Let's switch to feeling sorry for the guys in the reserves.

the youth players you mean?

refer to luke and ridge....

and i feel sorry for ALL villa supporters... we are denied the right to see the full quality and potential of our current players due to inside club politics and personal agendas...

i agree...

I think we all know he has been injured, and hasn't had a good partner, and he's getting marked, and is off form, etc. ad infinitum.

I have every sympathy with him, I just want somone else to take his place until he remembers how to play sparkling football again.

i would love some cover and competiton for a few players who have had just as poor a season as angel and hopefully we will get that next season, but as we didnt this year, all we can do is support those who have tried and put in the effort, albeit without an end product, and wait for the time when we do have the option to be able to replace an unfit or out of form player and give those that need a rest, an actual rest....

there are other players who are being slated this season for the same thing... lloyd samuel being one.. the guy has had a couple of games off in two seasons and has been playing through injury, simply because we have no one to replace him...

hes getting slated recently, and its not his fault.. again, its the squad situation that is causing it...

similar to ridgewell... hes young, inexperienced but our only other fit central defender, so is playing, when he actually needs slower integration into the team or a loan like cahill has had...

hes been slated recently, and again, its not his fault and down to the squad situation...

similar to luke... i could repeat myself, but you get the idea....

IF we get proper and long overdue investment in the summer, then hopefully we will see a team and a squad like we saw at the game against the barcodes, (before all the numpty acts from barcodes players ruined the game), for most of the season and the real quality of some of our players will be shown for their real worth....

i think we can all see the deficiencies in his game this year, but what we have to do, and some are, is look for the reasons behind those issues that have affected him this year...

once the reasons are found, and some of us see those, we can then give him our unrivalled support and let him know we are not abandoning him, at one of the worst times in his career, because we know hes not 'shit', like some short sighted people are saying he is....

Angel is an enigma.

A top striker should have several of the following attributes:

Speed: Nope, JPA is not in this category

Power: Not part of his game either

Heading ability: He's good in the air, wthout being as lethal as some.

Close control/ shielding ball: Good touch, but he is easily dispossessed.

Ability to go past defenders: He almost never even tries.

Long range power shooting: Average at best

Placed shooting: More his style, but rarely gets into shooting positions.

Two footed: NO

Killer instinct: Hardly.

As they say about any evaluation system, its only as accurate as the information that gets put into it - which in this case is a matter of opinion.

JPA may not be fast, but he is certainly one of the best leapers in the Prem, and was considered by many as one of the overall the best in the air last season.

His control is well regarded (ask John Terry and William Gallas or the Pompey defenders he skipped around), but this year he has consistently been double teamed by centrebacks, and its hard for any striker to control in those situations.

You don't consider his passing at all, or his build up play and awareness, which are very relevant elements to a complete striker's game. All spaces in which he excels. Note that in yesterday's game, in which we were awful, and he has been singled out for poor play - we had two scoring opportunities (a penalty and another that should have been called), both were created by the guy with the 9 on his back.

He scored several crackers from distance last season, that I think speak to his ability to score from distance as well.

With regard to killer instinct, I think you're dead wrong. He finds ways to score sometimes that people never expect (like a backheel against Argentina when being double marked by Samuel and Ayala).

He's had a poor season, and his form is off, but that doesn't discount the quality he's shown in the past at Villa, for his country, and for River Plate. The guy is a class professional, and exceptional football player.

These are differences of opinion, and your welcome to yours. I appreciate your putting together a framework to present your view, but I (and I suspect others here) utilize the same framework and reach a different conclusion.

top post....

but then to add to that, theres also his mental qualities...

his mental strength, which was highlighted after he came to us and stuck by us through arguably the toughest period in his career apart from this season, but again highlighted this season with wanting to take the second penalty against fulham... may players would have hid and not have the bottle to take that....

loyalty.. had the opportunities to move and he didnt...

again, i reiterate, he has been poor this season, but without a decent preseason and playing most of the season without full fitness and sharpness, it isnt his fault when the squad situation is the reason hes playing in the first place....

and again, he isnt the only one to be suffering for the very same reason....

im absolutely sick to the back teeth of all this bollocks...

juan pablo angel is a decent player having a poor season. very much like a lot of the very small squad we have...

but hes put in effort for most of the season even though hes played most of it injured, not fully fit and lacking sharpness, simply due to missing pre season with a serious knee injury and he was then rushed back because we had no one else...

its not his fault our squad wasnt able to cope with the injuries that have led to this situation....

nor is he the only player it has affected...

he has stayed loyal to us in the past and the very least we can do, is show the same courtesy back to him...

otherwise, you cannot complain when players do an alpay....

competition and cover...

thats what he needs...

I don't get the credit I deserve.

thats because you talk shite

Angel is an average forward at best!

Dont know how long this injury bollocks will last but he is fit now and still looks un-interested and if not fit shouldnt be playing.

What happens next season, gets injured in the first month comes back plays rubbish everyone claims its the injury!

Good stikers come back from injury and perform (Henry for example) this is why Angel is an average striker in the prem. Same reason about playing with or without Vass if he was better than average then how can he only play with vass. Fair enough he prefers him but you have to adapt Juan not just do nothing!

This is why i know its gonna piss people off but Angel is a squad player and should not be starting every week, unless he performs and as soon as o'leary picks him like this then he might perform same for Samual for example

and good squads allow players to rest when they come back from long term injury and have people to back up the said player...

it also allows the said player rest when tired or out of form or simply doesnt have the right type of strike partner...

JPA has suffered this season because of the following :-

1. His Knee injury

2. Darius Vassells injury

3. Being forced to play wit Carlton Cole

IMO if he gets a full injury free preseason, and a regular strike partner (Daz Vass ??) then he'll return to last seasons form. For me he has looked like he wants the season to end since mid February.

Fingers crossed for next season.

id agree with that...

whats new there?

i hate agents...

the current shirt with old style badge....

totally... superb badge..

apart from wright phillips, so are all the players on that list...

pires...

hes consistantly been on top form for years....

shite...

IF the £20 mil exists, then i would like to see....

stuart taylor, (£1 mil)

scott parker, (£5 mil)

wayne routledge, (fee by tribunal, possibly about £2mil

matthew taylor (or paul konchesky or leighton baines), (£2 mil)

leroy lita, (500k - 1mil)

john o'shea, (£4 mil)

patrik berger, (free)

and possibly

javier saviola (or robbie keane).... (£5 mil)

thats about £20 mil.... give or take...

cover and competition all over the pitch and young enough to progress us for the future alongside our already established players and help our youth come through...

never going to happen though...