NeilS

It is, we definately need him to. The only problem is I'm not confident that he will. I just don't think he has the mental strength to get out of this rut. I might be totally wrong, and I hope I am, but i don't see it in him.

It's early days yet for N'Zogbia at Villa so he has a long way to go yet. I was of the opinion before we bought CNZ that he wasn't as good as Ashley Young, and so far he hasn't disproven that thought. I hold out hope that he will improve in time and give good service for us as he settles into his new surroundings, but I still think anyone thinking that he will be better for us right away than Young was, is probably in denial. He is cheaper than AY, and that is because he wasn't/isn't as good as AY at this current time, our hope is that we can improve CNZ so that he becomes as important a playerfor us as AY was. i really hope we can, because he has some big boots to fill.

As a straight choice between the two cups, then I would still have to go with the FA cup by a slim margin. It has been way too long since we won it and I'd like to see it at some point during my life time. Winning the Europa would also be nice, as you might get some nice draws against some of Europes best teams along the way with some nice trips for the fans. But the FA cup just edges it for me.

Or it means that we won the F.A.-cup the year before. :clap: Hadn't thought of that. DAMN YOU HOWARD WEBB You're now thinking of the league cup. Which would also have given us a place in the EL. Hm, didn't it even though we lost? Anyway, who was the ref who should've sent Terry off for that tackle on Milner in the F.A.-cup semifinal? It was Howard Webb in the FA cup semi final, and Phil Dowd in the League Cup Final.

Agreed, any silverware would be nice at this moment in time. I wouldn't turn my nose up at a League cup win, we need something to break the drought. However, if I was to place in order then it would be as follows:- Premier League or Champions League joint 1st. FA Cup second Europa Cup third League Cup fourth.

Are we asking to much from the youngsters? Its common for young players to go through phases, where in on game they are brilliant, but in the next, they are poor. Maybe with the added exposure they will be getting now, we as fans, are guilty of expecting to much from them, hence adding pressure on such young shoulders? To add to CNT's point, we need to remember that Delph has never had a proper run of games at Villa to build up his match fitness, confidence and knowledge of playing in the Premier League. This is his longest run to date, as MON never gave him a regular chance and then he was hit with injury. I think he has the talent and correct winning mentality in his set up, we just need to persevere with him at the moment to get him up to speed.

I agree, we need to see 3 points from this game. It won't be easy and I see a tight game. As fantram says we need the points on the board, I can see us having a bad couple of months throughout the winter, where we will be glad of the points if we can pick them up here. I will take any kind of win for now, good performance would be nice but 3 points is the first thing to worry about. I disagree about dropping Hutton, N'Zogbia and Delph though. They all need game time for various reasons. Hutton and Delph need to get fitness, form and confidence from playing regularly. N'Zogbia also requires the fore mentioned, but is also playing a former team which can bring out the best in a player, so for that reason I'd keep him in for now. Albrighton, or Bannan will come in for the injured Heskey, this being the only change I can see happening barring further injuries in training.

this is my biggest question of this thread as well. It looks to me that he has printed a picture of Bieber or whoever on a bit of paper, written the email address on same bit of paper, and then written Scuba Steve on the other side for the photo. Then he has taken a photo of him with his Scuba Steve note in the mirror, at the same time catching the rear side of the paper in the foreground revealing his love of Bieber.

This thread is funny, I can't believe some of the people out there. I bet there is some poor girl called Sally Wigston whos is getting inundated with friend request from perverts on Facebook or twitter.

If he is touch and go on his fitness for this weekend, I'd be tempted to leave him out and give him another week to recover. We don't want to keep playing him when injured and risk a long term injury, plus if he is 100% he will be sharper around the box.

Yeah I agree Grievemiester. WBA at home was one game that I managed to get to last season. I remember being nervous about Lichaj at RB before the game, but he impressed me by the end and dealt will most of the attacks down his side comfortably. IIRC most of the danger was coming on Warnocks side, with their large right sided player who's name escapes me now, or through the centre when Hogg was losing his runner.

Agreed all of the above, plus the loss of Martin Laursen hit us hard. So close, but yet so far. :cry:

Glad to see you kept your word Luka :winkold: I agree, nice to see a club stand up for itself. He was happy to sign the long term contract with extra earnings, so he should show some honour. If you keep letting players bully you into leaving, then you are setting a precedence and you can expect it to keep happening.

Don't worry, you're not the only one. You're in good company here.

I assume he has done this because his agent has got a whiff that a Premier League club want him... anyone else think it could be us? :? I must admit, the thought did cross my mind when I saw it on Sky Sports News last night.

Yeah I watched that the other week, not a patch on the Arnie original. For me it was like "got what I expected", not the best movie, but some cool action. But no, it's not a patch on the first one. But way better than Alien vs predator. Yeah it did have some goods parts in it, but not enough for me. I expected a little bit better from the film. I've not seen AvP, I might give that a miss.

Yeah I watched that the other week, not a patch on the Arnie original.

I agree with BOF. We aren't in Europe, we're not likely to challenge the Champions League positions, this is our best chance of success for this season. Why throw that away by fielding a severly weakened team and going out early in a shock exit? Delph needs games for us, and this season is his big chance to prove himself with us.

Yeah I was pleased to see them have a good start to the season. With regards to AY, we'll now have Man Utd fans telling us how they made him a great player, and that he was shite before he joined them, pretty much like when Dwight Yorke signed for them. Gutted about Coker - he should have been a Villa player and they could have Stan! Young really pees me off. The Charity Shield and yesterday's highlights show what a good player he is. Why did he not do that for us over the last couple of seasons. The thing we need to remember is that AY was fantastic player for us, and his form only started to dip a little when important players around him started being sold off (First GB, then JM). This meant that more onus was put on him to carry the team, which made him an easier target for the opposition to stifle, which in turn probably frustrated the hell out of him.

DB's big problem is that we have removed two vital supply lines during the summer. AY for all of those who disliked him, has the second most assists in the Premiership over the last five years, second nly to Fabregas. He is going to take some replacing, and I'm not sure we will find someone who is as good as he was for us.

Yeah I was pleased to see them have a good start to the season. With regards to AY, we'll now have Man Utd fans telling us how they made him a great player, and that he was shite before he joined them, pretty much like when Dwight Yorke signed for them.

Well, I said I would be happy to escape with a point before the game, so no complaints from me. I didn't see the game as I was at a Wedding all day on Saturday, and missed MotD, and to be honest I don't think I'll bother looking for highlights after reading the reviews on here. That said, it is the first game of the season and we shouldn't be too downhearted just yet. I remember plenty of slow starts that have gone on to be great seasons, and vice versa so we shouldn't read too much into the first game result and performance. I would be happier though if we could do some late deals in the window to strengthen the first team.

I hope that one day he wakes and thinks "I need a new challenge, anyone can win cups and medals playing for one of the top teams in Europe. What I need is to play for a middling Premiership club and lift them to greatness, similar to old Diego back in the day with Napoli. Hmmmm, that Aston Villa team look the ideal challenge." Chances of this happening? Slim to say the least.

Yes this is a worry for me as well. Teams that start their season early usually get off to a flyer before dying just after christmas. I think we will lose 2-0 here but I'm going to this one so am hoping for something better, will be happy with a draw. And me, I see a very hard game here. Fulham have been no pushover the last few years, and with the extra fitness they have I will be very happy if we come away with a point from this game.

Just checked on Wiki, and you're right 5132 to be precise. They're not going to make a lot of money on shared gate receipts in this round.