AVFCBristol

Agreed. On paper, this squad is more than capable of beating teams like Wolves, Newcastle, Bolton et al at home. To be beaten in a close game could be counted as unlucky, but we have put in such appalling and lacklustre displays that the blame has to lie at the feat of the manager. We're not even competitive at the moment, and are rolling over without a fight. McLeish said he wanted to win this cup, and was taking it seriously. If that was the case, it shows a very worrying inability to motivate his players because they certainly weren't up for it last night. Oh, and John - barring Ireland, Gabby and Given I think your player ratings are at least 2 points above what they should be! Just one man's opinion though, but it really was one of the worst performances I have ever seen in my 10 years as a season ticket holder. Even worse than some of the tripe David O'Bleary churned out! It's a stark realisation of just how far backwards we have gone when a match at newly-promoted QPR is a "must win" game. Not so much because of league position, but if Mcleish can't get a reaction out of the team this weekend after what we witnessed last night then he might as well p1ss off back to Glasgow and let Kevin Mac take over like he should have done before Houllier came in last season.

I'm sorry, but to lose 7-1 and give players a rating of 6?! You don't lose 7-1 by playing 'OK', Chelsea knew our game plan (which is solely based around pace) and once they nullified that, we have absolutely nothing else to offer. We've been lucky through the form of Carew that we've even been able to get 16 points this year. Some of our performances have been totally unacceptable. Top four teams do not get beaten 7-1. We need new options, a plan B. Yes, we have a few injuries, but beyond our first choice XI there is no depth, no-one who can really come on and change the game for us. I fear there won't be a great deal of money available this summer so Martin has really got his work cut out. And for God's sake man, look abroad. Sidwell has been very ineffective for 5.5 million quid. Delph never plays and for the life of me i can't see why not - he's looked one of our better players this season. A little off the pace at times, but you can only catch up to the pace of the premier league by playing. An absolute drubbing like this was inevitable, and 4th place is long gone. It's been long gone ever since we refused to build upon our fine start to the season by buying anyone in January.

My understanding on Lichaj was that he had represented Ireland at youth level due to Irish grandparent(s), hence why i put it in. That's at least what the commentators said, and being American, i assumed they knew what they were talking about considering Lichaj is one of them! I might be wrong though.

Damn Sheriff...got there just before me!

What about our (probable) club captain Stiliyan Petrov?! I'd have him as a regular over NRC i think, based purely on last season. Interesting to note from the Villa website we now have the 2 most frequent crossers in the Premier League with Ash top and Downing just behind. I can see Downing and Ashley swapping over all the time in a formation like that - an absolute nightmare for defenders, and especially good against teams who try to man-mark Young.

Agreed. However, it is only human nature to also look at the darker side of things - that side being that we've lost our two best players and not replaced them yet. I think another issue here is also down to who we're being linked with. How much of it is true and how much of it is just lazy journalism remains to be seen, but this air of negativity i think would be quelled slightly if we were continuing to be linked with Hleb and such - rather than Zokora and Distin - they reek of the Harewood signing. Spurs get linked with a higher grade of player because they 'actively' go after them, even if they realistically don think they'll get them. When do we ever hear of Villa representatives in Italy thrashing out a deal for one of Inter's quality but unneeded players? It would be nice to think we are at least trying to aim our bar a little higher...

Does Courtney Cameron count as our first major signing?! Thanks for the welcomes guys - much appreciated!

LatestConfirmedIn: I think it is fairly clear we are going to be signing Bentley. He is exactly the type of player O'Neill likes. Young, English, the kind he can mould into what he thinks Villa need. My point in this article was mainly to do with the fact that there is nothing coming out of Villa Park. Sure, newspapers will write what they want be it true or not, but where's the statement from the club saying that Young is going nowhere? There was the odd story about Carew leaving, and O'Neill came out pretty sharpish to say that he was going to be a Villa player next season. So far on the Young speculation, nothing. Speculation it may be, but sometimes that speculation does in fact come true. I was merely voicing my concern at that possibility. I am just saying it would be nice to be reassured, so that it can be put to bed that Ashley is staying with us. The longer the club stay quiet on these stories, the more weight they will appear to have - whether they are true or not is irrelevant until we know. And if you know it all already, don't read it. Plenty of other good articles on here to occupy your time. Most articles on sites like VillaTalk are based on speculation because there has been no action, and what we as fans would do if we were in charge. Richard: Totally agree with you on that. If we sign another Harewood or Heskey, it will be a grave disappointment I feel. Here is the opportunity and potential to really excite the fans. I just hope we don't replace our two best players with ones who MIGHT be good in a couple of years. To progress, we need that quality now. Potential can be left to other, less urgent areas of the team. Time will tell.