claret75

We don't need him on what basis?

A player that could mirror Milner. Albiet, probably not end up as good, but one that can play RW, CM, CAM and be a very good addition. Sidwell and Osbourne out, Bentley in.

EDIT. Some of Downings best play this season has been when he has picked the ball up in the centre and ran at the defence

He could TRY and mirror Milner. Ive no doubt hed be a good addition to the squad, but if we're limited in who we can buy, then hed be a lot of money for a sub. BTW, im basing this on us on not selling Milner, obviously things change if he goes.

I dont think we need widemen, at least not expensive ones and im guessing he'd be about £12m???

I think its worth remembering that Bentley can play in the middle very well, arguably better than wide.

Another holding player is a must as Petrov is the only one we've got (fit) at the moment.

But Bentley wouldnt fit into the centre if Milner was here would he?

If we played 3 across the middle in a 4-3-3, i wouldnt have Bentley with Milner and Petrov, wed have no ballwinner in their.

If Bentley playd in a 4-4-2, id wouldnt fancy him in our system, wed have no ballwinner again. Wed have quality on the ball in all postions, but that wouldnt be enough. I think

Temperament of an immature school boy.

Shows signs of being a quality player still, even without consistent PL football. Probably just the same rumour that always pops up, but i would be very happy for the lad to come to Villa.

Bentley--Milner--Petrov--Young

or

--------------Petrov-----------------

-------Milner--------Downing-------

Bentley-----------------------Young

Wouldnt work. Petrov would be blowing out of his arse 20 minutes in. Downings a winger, not a midfielder. He CAN run at players through the middle, but Petrov would be exposed. If you had Parker instead of Downing, id say it looked better. Then, if you then put Downing on the right instead of Bentley i say better still.

We don't need him on what basis?

A player that could mirror Milner. Albiet, probably not end up as good, but one that can play RW, CM, CAM and be a very good addition. Sidwell and Osbourne out, Bentley in.

EDIT. Some of Downings best play this season has been when he has picked the ball up in the centre and ran at the defence

He could TRY and mirror Milner. Ive no doubt hed be a good addition to the squad, but if we're limited in who we can buy, then hed be a lot of money for a sub. BTW, im basing this on us on not selling Milner, obviously things change if he goes.

I dont think we need widemen, at least not expensive ones and im guessing he'd be about £12m???

We dont need Bentley. I wouldnt like to see Downing playing in a midfield 3 and i doubt MON will drop Downing to the bench next year in favour of Bentley.

What was their initial bid for Lescott???

I'll be surprised if we sell for less than £30m. If he did go for £30m i wouldnt be so down hearted.

Id like to see O'Hara here. If we're looking to bring in value for money i wouldnt be looking much further. He could be either a very good squad player or decent starter.

I'd only sell Heskey, Carew can still play a very big part, even as an impact sub, a battering ram who's also got great skill and an eye for goal on his day. (Reason I would keep him is because i'm not sonfident MON could get TWO good strikers in one window)

Agree with this, id like to see Carew coming off the bench if we signed a good enough striker to replace him, also, if the strike partnership between Gabby and whoever goes tits up, then we could turn back to JC.

He may not be as good as Sidwell at the moment, but i can see Cattermole being a better player in 5 years (which would make him the same age as Sidwell is now). Thats the advantage of youth. The disadvantage is have=ing the experience yes, but with players like Petrov, Carew, Dunne, Friedel all add that wise head to nurture the youth.

I never want to see Cattermole wearing a Villa shirt.

I feel compelled to watch the end

One of the shittest films ive seen lately is Drag Me To Hell, not sure whether it was supposed to make me laugh as much as i was :S

I might download it just to see the end. Does he manage to sew them all together??

Couldnt watch it start to finish.

Mascherano would be a good signing. Breaks play up well, decent passer, good engine and smart.

losing my phone is a proper pain in the arse.

Have you looked there?

Yep, id check your arse Chindie

I especially dont want Davies to go.

Think we'd do well to get £20m for them.

Lee got BPOTY.

Wonder how much hed go for now?

How can Paul Robinson and Kevin Davies both be the best player at Bolton?

I would have thought Lee would be their best player on stats, I wouldn't mind having him at Villa actually, better than Downing, good work rate and only 22. Would also raise our profile in South Korea.

Lee looks a good prospect.

Yossi Benayoun please...very very underated.

Always thought he would be a very good signing, but not so sure about him now. How old is he? Would he be a very good squad player or starter?

Just turned 30, starter...better than Downing IMO.

Yep, I'd definitely go in for Benayoun, he runs at players and actually goes past them, opening space up for other. Exactly what we need at times.

But Benayouns not a wide man is he? Doesnt he play just just in behind the striker?

I know one thing for sure though, if we played Gabby and a smaller guy upfront together wed have to cut out a lot of the long balls.

That's Yossi's preferred position, but Benitez has played him on teh right wing on many occasions.

I don't agree with your assessment of playing Gabby and a shorter player, especially after this year. Gabby's gotten a lot better at playing with his back into the centerback, and has over the course of this season turned into a faster, goalscoring version of Lionel Heskey. As a matter of fact, one of the best goals Gabby ever scored was off of a long ball (at the Emirates last season, when he fought off Gallas, circus-sealed the ball onto his right, and hit it on the half-volley). Actually, one of the things that miffed me most about Sunday's match was that the Fonz didn't come on first, so we could see what the Gabby-Fonz partnership would look like.

Im not saying stop playing long balls, just not so many because we wouldnt have Carew there to win the flickons.

Cheers for the insight Chindie, i might start playing the free roles as ive got a lot of time on my hands at the moment, if i get any good i might try the money games, though im a bit wary of being hustled on there.

On a different note ive had some brilliant news today. Finally got a date for my back op. THURSDAY! The surgeons had a cancellation and im going in tomorrow, thank f***. Its going to be painful for a few weeks, but well worth it.

:):):)

Yossi Benayoun please...very very underated.

Always thought he would be a very good signing, but not so sure about him now. How old is he? Would he be a very good squad player or starter?

Just turned 30, starter...better than Downing IMO.

Yep, I'd definitely go in for Benayoun, he runs at players and actually goes past them, opening space up for other. Exactly what we need at times.

But Benayouns not a wide man is he? Doesnt he play just just in behind the striker?

If he was signed for that position, i think he could be that player with the bit of movement and craft that we need. Trouble is, hes not a goalscorer and we might need a goalscorer more. Not sure really

I know one thing for sure though, if we played Gabby and a smaller guy upfront together wed have to cut out a lot of the long balls.

Nice one. Ive played a little bit of Hold em All amongst mates, but thats about it.

Whats a double rebuy??

Well, the union tournament usually has rules that state in the first hour, if you go out, you can rebuy and start again with the same starting stack.

However, some weeks when they expect turn out to be low, usually around essay and exam season, they mix it up to try and get the pot up by doing what they did last night, which allows you to either rebuy twice (i.e., you can go out and buy back in twice in the first hour) or rebuy and add on, if you need to. Or of course if you don't go out you can just add on. The add on is effectively buying another buy in on top of your current stack.

I'm not a great fan of either. The add on whenever they do it basically means if you want to maintain your tournament position (unless you're miles ahead in the average stack race) you have to spend another fiver to have the addon to keep the status quo. And rebuys are annoying because it means for the first hour unless someone is absolutely rubbish or very unlucky, you can't get rid of anyone and start whittling tables down. On the plus side it measn you can, if you're not bad, rack up a decent stack if you get a lot of rebuys on your table putting you at a bit of advantage on the field as a whole, but still I'd rather see someone who goes out, stays out.

But it makes sense for them to set it up like that on quiet weeks because they need to get the pot up.

Do you play online? If you do, do you do any good?

Ive always fancied having a go online but never got round to it. If i were to start playing id have to sharpen up a bit, well, A LOT.

Yossi Benayoun please...very very underated.

Always thought he would be a very good signing, but not so sure about him now. How old is he? Would he be a very good squad player or starter?

Control yourselves ladies !!!

Is his hair natural or is that a tight perm i see???

Won £25 at the Union poker tonight.

Main tournament was a nightmare, made worse by being a double rebuy/rebuy-addon tournament and the absurd lack of cards I had.

But a took down an 8 handed side game, wahey.

Nice one. Ive played a little bit of Hold em All amongst mates, but thats about it.

Whats a double rebuy??

Oooooooooohhhhh you silly bugger you.

Looked random, the bloke looked pissed off when he ran back to his car so maybe a new form of road rage???