NeilS

I guess this just highlights how bad we were prior to RL & MON arriving. You could add Barry to that list as he played there under GT Mk2. But he is already playing in CM. Ginola could be added to the list, though he would be way down the list with Kachloul & Berger who probably struggled to muster 30 starts between the 3 of them.

I'm happy enough with the point. I would have liked a win, but at least we didn't allow one of our competitors to take all three from us. It keeps us in touch, and we're still under the radar when it comes to added pressure. Hopefully we'll bide our time just behind the lead pack and hit the end of the season with a great finish and pip them at the end. One thing that confuses me, on Sky Sports News they had us down as 1 shot on target in the game. The report showed Given saving a near post Gabby flick, and of course the goal from Dunne. Now in my book that is two shots on target at least. Was Gabby's effort going wide?

Thanks for the link, I don't always get to see the match on tv unless it is MOTD, or on Sky Sports News. So I very much appreciate that. I thought it was strange that we were awarded a Penalty at Anfield, that sort of thing rarely happens. The Penalty had to have been a 250% certain penalty. The ref couldn't have got away with not giving that one as Gerrard missed the ball by about a metre. Hehe. A great and unexpected result, hopefully this will give the lads some confidence and act as a springboard for the rest of the season.

That defence doesn't fill me with confidence. The back 4 picks itself and has no experienced cover. Got to hope the kids are upto it.

Also, why has the Beeb got a live text of the build up to the game? Who cares what is happening 6 hours before the game.

That's a very blinkered view of football, IMO Levi. I can see why you wouldn't be AS intersted, but to say you have NO interest in a game if Villa aren't involved seems unduly blinkered. How do you get a wider sense of world, european and premier league football and various clubs merits and the strengths of different players if you only ever watch Villa? I'm with Levi.......in fact I'm going out on the beer in a bit and if it wasn't on telly in the pub I wouldn't be that bothered to miss it I will be giving it a miss. I'll probably watch The Apprentice or something else. I have no interest in perpetuating the money mountain that these same clubs enjoy every year. If in future other teams get chances in it, then the competition may become interesting again and I''ll start watching again.

7 for me, some good solid signings who will improve once they've bedded in. Would have liked a wow signing but don't think that is MON's way. He will buy who he thinks fits our team and system. Will MON's way succeed or not? Only time will tell, but good management can work wonders, you've only got to look at Spain to see some of the smaller clubs have gatecrashed the top few places in the league in recent years and they have not used the resources that the likes of Real Madrid and Barcelona have.

Ok cool,Thank you.

Quick question. I missed Sundays episode, does anyone know when it's repeated? I've searched through the entire week on the Sky menu and can't find it.

I saw Aphex Twin at some festival once, his decks/equip were set up in some kind of Wendy House. Very strange indeed. Can't say that I was overly impressed with Sven Vath but it's all a bit hazy since the days of going up to Birmingham to Atomic Jam and various other nights.

What I want to know is, where is the inter-toto?

I think it was the guy who did the original post. Unless he was joking! It is horrendous!

No.1 is plain, simple, understated which I think is more classy, I guess this one is my favourite. No.2 Not sure if I like this or not. One minute I do then the next it looks a bit busy with the checks. I think the same about no.3. What if we win some more trophies soon, we'll need to get a new flag. I think no.4 is horrible, the Lion looks bad.

OK, let me re-phrase this. My wife has been to a few Villa games as a Villa fan (and none of them had sold out before anyone says I've denied anyone a ticket). She is more of a Chelsea fan although I'm working on it. My question is, Would it be a good idea to have a mixed area? Family area I guess? Where people with the same problem as me can go and sit together? I don't condone any vocal support of the away team in home areas and wouldn't tolerate it as I know how annoying it is. I was just wondering if there was such an area at Villa Park. It would appear not. I suppose there isn't the demand for it.

OK thank you for the polite response. I was not going to take her into the Holte, I was just wondering if their are any less volatile areas. I doubt she'd start barracking the home fans, otherwise I'd chuck her out personally. It's a tricky one really as I can't buy myself a ticket and get one for her in a totally different stand, she'd go nuts! I suppose I'll just have to not go if it upsets some fans so much.

My comment is that I hope the club doesn't throw out well behaved peaceful fans, whoever they support. If for example I wanted a friend/relative/child who supports Liverpool to come to the game, as a guest then if they behaved, I'd be appalled if they were ejected, sitting peacefully next to me. I hope the club never adopts that kind of approach. That said, if people misbehave, antagonise, cause problems for home supporter, then I'd want the stewards to act and remove them. That is a good point, my wife unfortunately supports Chelsea despite all my best efforts (I've bought her to a few games/ not Chelsea). If I wanted to take her to see us beat Chelsea where would be the best place for us to sit. Is there any kind of policy on this, I know you used to be able to sit in the North stand upper if you kept quiet.

Another consideration with Appiah is that he'll be missing for quite a few weeks in the new year for the African Nations Cup. Which isn't a problem if you've got plenty of top quality cover, but can still be disruptive to even the best squads. For example: Chelsea will be missing Essien and Drogba in January and they're two big players to replace.

I was discussing this with my Dad just the other day. My Dad reckons you can get Virgin Television down your phone line now, where you needed cable for NTL, is this correct or just the ramblings of a confused man?

I read on the OS that the European Cup winning team would open the training ground as part of the 25th Anniversary celebrations, then tours of the new training facilities would follow this. It mentions it as part of the weekend when Villa play Sheffield Utd.

I was about to say the same about Quaresma, but that sentence appears to have tailed off.

Having watched Quaresma the last week against Chelsea, he does look a very talented footballer. However, I think that he'd get on alot of our fans nerves, if you thought Baros' diving/complaining was frustrating then Quaresma is not for you. I also reckon that he'll end up at a While we're talking about Portuguese midfielders, what are peoples thoughts on Simao?

Kevin Richardson? He he, I guess you mean Kieran? Kevin Richardson didn't do too bad for us in his day though.

He's might be worth a look then. That would give us two senior centre backs and Laursen to supplement with Cahill and Ridgewell. I say Laursen seperately because, as much as I think he's a good defender we can't afford to rely on him. If/when we get succesful we'll play more games and I'm not sure he'll last.

Does Distin's contract still run out in the summer? Or has he signed a new deal recently? If not then this could be an interesting one to keep an eye on.

Yes I guess anything is possible. Was Gattuso at Rangers when O'Neill was manager of Celtic? You never know, they may know each other from then?