barry'sboots

Not what I have heard. He is the first one out of the changing room after the match apparently to get down to London for his night out.

Where do you get to hear this sort of thing, barry'sboots?

A local guy who is big mates with an ex-player (with a big smile!) and had it confirmed by someone internal.

Apparently, MON has given up trying to stop him - just told him to keep it away from MON. They also said that they thought he wanted a move to London so he could be closer to the nightlife.

In another universe he's banging them in.

... far far away!

Friedel

Young Dunne Cuel/Coll Warnock

Young Petrov Delph Downing

Milner

Agbonlahor.

Cuellar/Collins, not sure who.

Although I expect Martin will go:

Friedel

Cuellar Collins Dunne Warnock

Young Milner Petrov Downing

Heskey Gabby.

Agree with this, on both.

Me too. I would play Carlos over Collins as I don't think Burnley have a big target man?

They were good. Danns and Carle (?) look like real footballer and Derry got stuck in.

How MON could pick a 4-5-1 with Heskey in the middle I'll never know. This must have been very frustrating for Nathan who looked much more dangerous than JC or Emile in his brief cameo.

CM didn't really look like they knew what they were doing. I thought Stan looked a bit lost and the game passed him by - apart from the great header at the death. This was a game against a hard working Palace side where we could really have done with the drive and effort of Reo Coker.

Stars - Back 4 did well, Ash and DJ showed some sparks, Jimmy was tireless, Nathan looked lively

Poor - Friedel for the two goals, Emile is not a single striker, JC had a few nice touches but should have had a field day against the Palace CBs and would have a couple of years back

Okay - Petrov and Delph played okay but need a bit more direction from the coaching staff (or possibly understanding) make the 4-5-1 really work

If it was upto me, I'd sell both and and buy two more strikers. However if I had to keep one it would be Heskey, for the reasons that.

I think we need a goalscorer and I don't think having Carew, Agbonlahor, a goalscorer, Delfouneso would work as all none of them look to really link the play up and drop deeper for the ball. Therefore if one drops deep, it'd be wasting the talents of Gabby or the goalscorer or whatever. I'd personally like to see a number 10 bought, a clever striker and a natural goalscorer. However like I said, 1 goes, it'd be Carew just so we have Heskey who can drop back defensively and a different sort of striker.

Infact, sorry, I was wrong. It was actually 9 starts out of 10 games.

Portsmouth, Blackburn, Man City, Chelsea, Wolves, West Ham, Bolton, Burnley, Tottenham....other game started was Liverpool.

As a team, I think we've done better with Heskey. He's started I believe 12 games this season and while he's been on the pitch in these games, we've only conceded 3 goals. (Wigan and Everton)

Infact, weirdly enough, when Heskey has been on the pitch, we haven't conceded in our last like 9 games.

I'm with you on the if 1 goes get rid of JC first BUT I really want to see Heskey go as well. Not because he is a bad footballer, but because I do not see him as a link player/third CM'er. He should be the furthest striker forward in a pair and MON won't do that because that's where he plays Gabby. I still think Tuncay would be the ideal partner for Gabby and would love to see:

Gabby

Nathan

Tuncay

Vagner Love

So No, don't sell Carew in the summer. He is a good player and has already stated he wants to finish his career at the Villa.

Not what I have heard. He is the first one out of the changing room after the match apparently to get down to London for his night out.

I think he has lost interest and is not really the sort of player that will perform if he is not first choice or thereabouts.

Last season - first name on team sheet. This season - poor and uninterested.

I think he should be able to take a bit of stick on a Villa web site if he is getting his £40k+ a week!! Might even be a kick up the backside that he needs!

See speed in transfer market i don't agree with, you give him A plus for purchasing defenders, he bided his time and got the right players in, just say if he had been quicker we may have ended up with Distin.

Should have been clearer. I don't mean timing in the windows, I mean general speed e.g. we went a season without a RB and RM. This was probably because he couldn't get what he wanted but I would have preferred to have bought the second choice (e.g. say Gary O'Neill as a RM'er) with a view to trading up the following year. I think he holds out for the player he wants but that can leave us short.

60-70% - cannot fault him at all for getting us to a cup final, even though he's been here for nearly 4 years. He's very passionate and an interesting character. Top 6 finishes too - but as we saw with DOL that's possible even with no money to spend.

MON has spent unprecedented money since he arrived.

What pisses me off is the tactics, we are so negative and have no plan B. The footie is getting like the drag ends of Gregory's time in charge, and some sections of our support were castigating him for it. We just aren't fun to watch.

Plus the fact that he has his favorites who are undroppable even if playing shit/injured, we don't ever capitalise on opportunities and he doesnt seem to be able to target the areas in our game that are suffering.

Agree completely.

For buying defenders - A++ - although Martin was a slow developer in this area

For buying midfielders - A- - some visionary work but also some poorer decisions and still a bit light in the CM positions

For buying strikers - C+

For speed in the transfer market - D

For motivating the team - B+

For tactics - No grade as exam paper spoiled, Martin has never been a fan of this subject!!

For comments and interviews - B - generally witty and bright but can drop a few faux pas

Guzan

Beye

Cuellar

Collins

Bouma

If Bouma isn't ready maybe Davies, so not to have two rusty defenders in the pack of four, bring young in for bouma and maybe rest cuellar.

Albrighton

Sidwell

Milner

Delph

Young

Fonz

I want to see Delph in an advanced role of the three centres, I think he and the Fonz could get something going.

Still I think we'll see 4-4-2 with all the usuals.

Very much agree with this but fear you may well be right!!

Think the ref had a decent game for a change.

Only bad decisions I remember was Dunne getting hacked again, and him missing a blatant corner from a deflection that ManUre should of had.

I thought the ref was woeful. Carew was a penalty, a challenge Sidwell made in the second half was blown up for a foul when he clearly won the ball, seemed to lose his cards completely after sending Nani off, the Dunne getting tripped over and countless amount of corners (linesmen have to take blame as well) got wrong. Happened for both sides.

Not to forget the blatant hauling down of Gabby by Wes Brown just outside the box after he had turned him. The ref really bottled this as it was a definite yellow card but I think he was still getting over the fact that he had the balls to send of a Man U player a few minutes earlier. I also thought that Brown was giving Gabby a nudge every time they went up for headers and it was so easy to see that the linesmen couldn't have missed it. Gabby is too honest and doesn't ever exaggerate it to get a free kick.

First 20 mins proved 4-5-1 is the way to go against better quality teams playing that formation. The more we play it, the more comfortable Delph will get and the further advanced Jimmy will get.

Did Petrov play??

Sidwell seems to have gone from bad to worse.

Why can JC not see that those flicks around the corner do not work against a half decent defence - he ran into a covering defender every time!

Shows our thin our squad is now when we have one injury - NRC - and Salifou gets on to the bench. Poor decision to sell Gardner without a replacement IMO.

To be fair to Spurs, at least they were pumping it up to a specific target. We were just hitting it long and hoping.

It was a poor game but we got a draw because of the brilliant defence.

I'd like to see

Freidel

Cuellar Collins Dunne Young

Petrov

Downing Milner Young

Delph

Gabby

This, but I'd switch Delph and Milner.

Love to see it BUT we all know the likelihood is that MON will go 4-4-2!

I think we can win this. Stop Wazza and you stop Man U, although I appreciate that this is easier said than done!

Great point. We are still well in there after a horrendous run of games and we have played Arsenal, Plop, Spurs and soon Man U twice now.

Terrible performance though and MON's lack of tactical awareness was shown up again.

- Friedel excellent.

- Defence was very good but we need to get Luke back to RB and a LB playing to balance it properly.

- Midfield too far apart. Petrov did very little and his lack of athleticism was shown up. Milner has to cover too much ground to compensate. Ash looks scared to take his FB on. DJ was ok.

- Gab worked his socks off and looked a constant threat. Heskey is a waste of space as a third midfielder. Carew is a waste of space.

- MON was hopeless. No plan B or effort made to get us into the game. Heskey's injury was a chance to get a third CM'er on - Delph or Sidders - and get on the ball a bit more and allow Jimmy to push on.

Spurs weren't much better. Palacios and Huddlestone are both playing deep. Defoe has nothing to worry a decent back line. Thought Crouchy looked ok.

Without Lennon there is some truth in what you say. However Bale has plenty of pace as a wing-back and Defoe is also pretty quick (Jenas is also quick, but I'd expect Huddlestone to start ahead of him today.)

Bale is quick but I expect him to have to do a bit more defending today than he did on Wednesday night and can't see Modric dropping back in to support him against Ash or Downing? Defoe is also quick but I was talking about width and midfield pace. Jenas baffles me - neat footballer but not a top 7/8 player and defo not an England player IMO. I watched him on Wednesday night and thought a decent CM'er would have had a really enjoyable night against that Leeds CM but he did very little for me. Whilst I think Huddlestone is a good player I view him as a Barry sort - sits deep and distributes - so him and Palacios won't really exploit our main weakness IMO - an attacking CM'er who can get in behind Petrov and exploit the space in front of the CB's.

Looking forward to it now!

Citeh supporting mate says he has no problem with the sale of Dunne and that he needed a fresh challenge and wouldn't have been performing like this for them.

I do fancy Gabby's pace to trouble King (now he is a sporadic performer) and Dawson.

Interesting battle - pace and crossing ability against guile and technique? I would say we are much pacier and more direct whilst they are probably more composed footballers.

Good game to watch last night. Spuds played Leeds off the park but Leeds were playing a RM at left back and two defensive minded CM'ers as well as missing their main CB so difficult to draw any conclusions.

I think the Spurs back 4 is good but misses an inspitational leader without King or Woodgate - for me Dawson always looks better alongside 1 of these two, a bit like Curtis for us.

I think they will change their midfield for our game with Palacios and Modric replacing Jenas (really can't see what makes him a top half premiership player let alone an England international) and Krancjar. Bentley looked good again last night but he was against a right midfielder - I think Luke will sort him out. I think they are short of pace without Lennon but blessed with trickery, invention and passing from Huddlestone.

Crouch looked dominant but will not find it as easy against Collins. Defoe had so many chances but scored with a poor mishit and a close range effort that he couldn't miss. Hopefully, we won't give him that amount of space.

Really looking forward to this. I think Gabby could do well against Bassong and Dawson and draw some free kicks out of them. Ash and DJ should be able to give Bale a hard time but will also need to track his runs or work with Cuellar to cover that wing. I felt we were the marginally better side at VP in the first half but gave to much ground in the last 30 mins and MON did nothing tactically to prevent this. If the game followed that same pattern I would want to see Sidders replacing Heskey to close down the space in CM.

Fingers crossed for a draw at worst.

I'm guessing that anyone who would have suggested this when Dunne was at City and Laursen was playing for us would have received a very lively response.

Nah, it was rather civil.

Dunne for me, not much between them in defending but he's more comfortable on the ball.

He should be in the premier league XI this season.

This for me. I think Laursen was a better player with the right partner BUT I think Dunne can play alongside anybody. The two together would have been fanstastic.

Sadly I think Stevo is right.

But if it does end up a 3 man midfield vs our 2 again, I'd like to see whether MON has alleviated any of the problems we've seen from this situation before.

You still can play a 4-4-2 against a 4-5-1, but your wingers shouldn't be parked out on the wings. They should come inside when they don't have the ball and then move into the wide positions when you are attacking.

But this doesn't seem to happen, MON always wants to leave Petrov and Milner just the 2 of them in the centre with Young and Downing hugging the byeline, ready for the quick counter.

I think this is a suicidal way to play against a 4-5-1 using a 4-4-2, you're putting too much pressure on the back 4 and the midfield 2 to get the ball. But I think that this is MON's preferred way to play. Let the other team play through our midfield and hit them on the counter.

It's a terribly amateurish tactic and I hope this changes.

If we are playing a 4-4-2 again, I wouldn't mind, as long as MON shows some signs of adapting and changing the 4-4-2 to combat the 4-5-1 more efficiently.

But I doubt it.

I agree with your analysis. I think MON thinks that he is creating a defensive 4-5-1 by pulling Heskey or Carew back into CM but for me this does not work - neither are mobile enough to do this and takes them too far away from the opposition box to be effective strikers.

Many on here seem to think that the 4-5-1 is defensive but, played properly, I think it gives us far more attacking options - the two wingers have more freedom and Jimmy could get in and around the opposition box much more and, IMO, has the potential to be our 20 goal a season merchant like Gerard or Lampard in that role.

If you went with Delph instead of Sidwell from the start do you think he would be able to control his disciple in such a big game. He seems to get booked almost every game he plays and you would be a bit worried that he might be a bit over keen to show what he has tonight and if we go down to 10 men i think that would be it.

I would start with sidwell and access from there.

Delph for me every time over Sidders. Think the latter adds very little, other than hard work, in a 4-3-3. Delph can play football and allow Jimmy to push on.

I don't think this game will be massively physical, particularly without Song and Diaby, so for me it is just about having numbers in there to stop Fabregas, Denilson + 1 passing around the central two in triangles and then playing our football against their weakness of not having a naturally defensive DCM.

we will lose 3 or 4 nil imo

We're having one of our best seasons for a long time, our opponents have just lost 3-1 to Stoke in the cup and we've lost 3 of our last 15 league games and we get predictions like this. :shock:

Ahh it's Richard so acceptable. :winkold:

I thought it was acceptable because it was an opinion expressed honestly?

I think it would be acceptable if anyone expressed that opinion actually.

Have a go yourself and see if it's accepted. Or are only positive predictions acceptable?

When was the last time we lost a home game 3 or 4 nil? I don't think we lost a home game by that score when we were utter shite under O'Leary so dosen't make sense to me given our status in the league.

And you're saying we'll lose by that margin to a team who've just lost a cup tie 3-1 at Stoke.

Given that we lost 3-0 to them four weeks ago and it could have been 7 or 8 I don't think this is that outrageous!

In that game, Fabregas only played 27 mins I think but will probably start tomorrow night. Having said that I think they will miss Diaby and Song.

I think we can beat them but will need to match their three in midfield to do so and press them like we did at their place last year. To quote the arsenal view from the Arsenal News Review site:

"If Aston Villa win, they'll do it by scoring from set-pieces. If Arsenal win, they'll do it with goals from Vermaelen and Fabregas.

Villa's main quality is organisation, Arsenal's main quality is skill.

..........

The best way to beat Arsenal is to play like Fulham but Aston Villa can't play that way and won't play that way.

They won't play a high back line and press. They'll defend deep and let Arsenal establish a rhythm and let them have the ball in wide areas."

I personally agree with this view BUT I think we could play this way but MON doesn't like to.

I still haven't seen the damn highlights, soccerplace link isn't working.

You can see the goals (2 mins or so) in ITV reel player.

Warnock a doubt so Young to LB and Cuellar to continue at RB... :shock:

Would rather see Carlos stay at CB and bring Beye in. Lets keep the "out of positions" to a minimum in my view.

I agree with 4-5-1 as follows:

GK Freidel

RB L.Young

CB Cuellar

CB Dunne

LB Warnock

DMC Reo-Coker

RM A.Young

LM Downing

CM Petrov ©

AMC Milner

CF Gabby

This for me.