villaglint

Think everyone is ignoring the more obvious and tragic possibility that we may now keep Holt as we will now require "big" man cover in the early part of next season

I think Lambert has his limitations for sure but it is without doubt Lerner that is holding us back. Problem is it is his club, his money and he can run it however he wants. We have no divine right to be owner by a wealthy man and unless anyone makes him an offer he cant refuse then we are stuck in this situation. One thing I'll say is that there are plenty worse than him out there.

Haven't we learnt yet that you can't predict a Villa result. Unless it's home to a mid/lower table team

Nice to see such abundant quality on display, feels like I'm washing my eyes after this afternoon

Yeah bad start

Ha.. wouldnt surprise me if we ended the summer withhout an AM again. They're tough to find you know!

Love that headed through ball

What is the name of this? I watched both the Pity and Necessary debates and found them massively interesting which was a pleasant surprise given my distaste of Niall Ferguson. I wanted to watch that 37 days thing but I had already missed it. I would also like to read a real anthrology of the war from start to finish that isnt trying to place blame but rather describe events as they unfolded. I recognise history always has a "view" so to speak but if anyone can recommend a book with as neutral a view as possible that would be much appreciated.

Other than the families and so on of the passenger list, why are people so exercised? It's a couple of hundred people. How many died in Syria, for example, over the last week? Two reasons I guess. 1. The unknown element are a draw to those who love a conspiracy theory. 2. It could happen to any of us who fly, what is happening in places like Syria is more removed from peoples lived here and sadly more of an every day occurrence. It is because our brains process unusual or new information in a different way to information we receive everyday which receives little attention and is pretty automatic. So we take a specific interest in these unusual cases which is reinforced by the media attention they receive. Whereas as stories of people dying in a conflict in a far flung land are unfortunatley so common we process them automatically without giving it any further thought.

Tricky one tonight with Chelsea and Galatasary because there both pretty hateable teams. For that reason I watched Madrid Schalke last week in the hope I'd at least see some decent football. That worked out really well but it's a dead rubber now so not sure which way to go. Not sure I can bear a 90min Drogba wankfest

I do like albrighton and he's a villa fan to which is always a plus, but I think he is just too limited a player. Yes he offers a lot going forward with his speed & ability to cross the ball but he's not strong enough to play one of the wide, front three roles. Likewise in midfield, he's not strong enough to play one of the middle 3. He can't play as a wing back because he can't defend, so unless we play four in midfield with 2 world beaters in the middle, he ain't gonna get a game I agree with all of that but want happened to having options in the squad. In my mind the main reason Albrighton hasnt started more in the last 10 games (when his form has been consistently good) is that we dont have anyone to play left wing as Tonev is not yet up to it. The answer to that is not give away your right winger its get a decent option for left wing. He is starting to show real promise and is posing a threat to most teams he plays against - that is a valuable thing in Premier League and we are going to give it away because we dont want to pay his very low wages. It just says it all about how badly run we are at times. We pay Hutton, Beye etc for years when not playing and then we get a player of our own who finally shows they can make it at Villa and we give them away. I'm trying not to get too angry because I dont remember "Justified" ever being ITK before

Well thats immensely dissapointing if true

I had thought the law over there said you have to fire a warning shot first and if the burglar doesn't leave then you are able to shoot them and have it count as 'self defense'. From what i'd heard this leads to people shooting the burglar then firing the 'warning shot' into the wall to avoid prosecution. I am not a criminal lawyer in SA though so could be BS but if true he would be guilty of not firing the warning to let the burglar escape. Except he fired 4 shots and only 3 hit Ms Steenkamp so he's even got an out there. But surely if he fired a warning shot his misses who have said "hey ho old chum what the bloody hell is going on out there". Rather than sitting quitely thinking that gun sounding noise was a bit odd and then taking the next three in the chest. Or maybe she did shout out and Oscar did not match her voice to his own girlfiend because he was so convinced the misses was still in the bed.

I think you can hate the bloke and still respect him at the same time. Same with ferguson massive bell but also clearly good at his job. Just makes it all the sweeter when you beat him. I also love the fact that no matter how good he is he is just incapable of winning at the fortress that is Villa Park.

Yeah without a doubt it is the injuries. Obviously he's had the two big ones but its the niggly ones on the way back which just keep drumming the nail in. I still feel like he is worth a contract just to give him the time to see if he can get back some of his form. I dont believe for a second he is on any kind of serious wages. I wonder if the bigger problem is that he is now a full place in squad rather than an U21 place. No idea if that is a reason or not. Anyone shed any light?

I reckon it'll be 2-1 but actually much more comfortable than the score line suggests. Weimann with first then Stephen Island will obviously score but Tekkers will quickly put us back in league. We then miss a procession of chances to kill it off but ultimately they're not posing much threat so we all go home really happy. We start to really look up the table and have a positive end to the season. After what feels like a good summer VT seems united in the sense that we are through the bad days and things are genuinely and noticeably turning around. This sense is soul crushingly destroyed again within four games of the new season.

Only on VT does a great win against the league leaders against a smug Portuguese lemon no less turn into a big row about the relative margins of progress. Pretty sure that anyone with half a brain can see that we've progressed a bit overall. That there are a number of good things about the club while still being lots and lots of crap things to.

I read somewhere that there is pressure on Cameron to have an enquiry into Campbells comments ! Guy makes up bollocks to sell book, public spends millions on enquiry. Says it all about our crazy society. ---- Man reads throw away comment on government wasting money on internet. Takes it as gospel and vents his anger on a forum in the depths of no where. Says it all about our crazy society. --- And rinse and repeat

Ha ha that is so laughable that it just might be true the way we're going at the moment. All kids are punts because very very few of them make it to the highest level no matter how good they are when young. To base a 1st team strategy around buying 15yr old kid is so ridiculous that it might just be the strategy Randy has been waiting for all along

Doesnt look like a player who relies on his speed so could do a job for a few years yet. I'd be dissapointed if he was the only No.10 we bought though. In Jan to come in and do a job - yes, in summer to be part of a stronger squad - yes. If he is to be the sle purchase in this position I would hope that in summer we could find a longer term solution.

Id agree with that but frustratingly I rarely get to hear it outside office hours. Biggest problem with Radio 1 is without a doubt NEWSBEAT

Definitely a great team goal but each bit of the move was surely easier to do than Bentekes goal.

That's my choice. Great mix of a quality goal and crowd going nuts!! In terms of "the moment" - I'll agree with you both there. That was a crazy night. However in terms of difficulty to do - I'd go for Tekkers. The strength to maintain your balance while being bummed by a big bastard and then the technique to control it and catch it that perfect. That is a pretty long list of diffiult things to do. Very few players could even do the chest bit. Astonishing.

Yeah agreed on third goal. However he started dropping a bit deeper to come lookng for the ball when we were 1-0 down which I was pleased to see. I agree that his effect is limited when the space is narrowed but he is still capable of beating a man and so that trumps just relying on flick ons which as I said I am struggling to remember that ever working this season.

I thought Westwood summed us up perfectly yesterday. First 20 mins he was really struggling, never made a tackle and couldnt get himself free to receive the ball so we just kept humping it up the pitch. When he did get the ball he seemed anxious and did some really stupid things (like the dick about with Vlaar which nearly let them in). However after Benteke got us back in it he completely transformed and played with a load of confidence and quality. He started really getting stuck in too which I think was the biggest change in the game for us. He can be a bit wishy washy in his defending being more a shepard than enforcer but he started being much more aggressive which I hope somebody in coaching staff tells him to keep up.