Skruff

What intrigued me was that when looking at defensive stats of Nzonzi and Steven Ireland back to back. Steven Ireland looks the better player. CI?

I'm not on about money. When I say in the mould of Vlaar and KEA I'm talking about experienced, international players, playing at the top level in the county they're currently in. Maybe I'm completely wrong to underestimate the kids without seeing them play. I just can't help thinking we're expecting too much from them right now and it could be a disaster waiting to happen. No offense BJ10, But you seem so damned miserable that we signed 3 players from the lower leagues. It's almost as if we didn't sign Vlaar and KEA this window. I'm sure most people would like to see some proven premier league experience in, I do too. But I also remember how that's worked out for us in the past both in terms of players and manager. Showing some faith and patience wont hurt anyone, quite the contrary. I think you've made your point quite clear too everyone here on this forum the past week. Enough times for them to remember it by now. To be honest it's becoming quite tentative. You are addressing important issues, but you do it in such a way that I feel like I'm in the middle of a endless bukkake.

Steven Ireland made 24 appearances for Aston Villa last season. 5 as a substitute. At an average his stats were as following: 2.3 tackles per game. (Cheik Tiote 2.8 N'zonzi 1.7) 2.6 interceptions. ( Cheik Tiote 2.5 N'zonzi 1.7 ) 0.6 clearances (Cheik Tiote 1.4 N'zonzi 2.3) 0.3 blocked shot.(Cheik Tiote 0.4 N'zonzi 0.2) 0.8 shots. 0.9 key passes. (Arteta 2.1 Yaya Toure 1.7) 32.3 passes 1.0 Accurate long ball (Arteta 5.2 Yaya Youre 5.5) 0.2 Accurate Throughballs (Arteta 0.2 Yaya Toure 0.3) 80.6% successful pass rate. (Arteta 90.8% Yaya Toure 90.5%) Think it's fair to say he put in a good shift defensively last season. Pretty sure he was the Villa player who put in the most miles in a match on more then one occasion. No idea where certain people get this nonsense about him being lazy from. Not to great offensively but not total gash either, think his offensive performances will improve this season since we got Paul Lambert as manager instead of McLeish.

Any idea if he'll be playing on Sunday?

Well said. I'm looking forward to this seasons. Going to be very exciting to see how the players develop, as you said individually and collectively. I'm fully prepared for a slow start with few points to see the raw gems turned into flawless ruby, some might end up as a chipped topaz but hey ho. Just seen the interviews with our two last players, and they both seemed over the moon to be here, judging by their facial expressions. We might end up it lower half of the table but it's going to delightful to see 11 players playing with their hearts out again. Think we'll be looking at a good squad come this time next year and a self-sustained club. I completely understand why people are being critical, but I can't help myself feeling optimistic.

Anyone who follows serie A? Look at a highlight video of him playing for Inter, look to as if he were playing on left wing or does he just tend to drift out there?

He wasn't shite at West Ham, he was one of our better players. He was the only player who tried to create something going forward. Yes, the passes got intercepted whenever he tried to thread something thru, but at least he tried. Besides there were 8 West-ham players between him and Bent. Lost the ball once, tracked back and won it back. Not saying he had a good game, went invisible time to time., it was a poor performance from the whole team. But singling Ireland out as the worst of them is in my opinion ridiculous. He said it himself in a post interview his job is to create chances, he plays with a high risk instead of playing backwards supportive passes. Even if it means he loses the ball more, it's all worth it leads to a chance or a goal. I think he's very well aware of his own performances, good or bad. I seriously don't get why he gets this amount of slate on this forum. Yes we haven't seen the best of him yet, but under Lambert i have faith that we will. Might not be another YPOTY performance, but a performance good enough for Aston Villa. He's in my opinion the best midfielder in our squad. Might just be me having a Man-Crush on Ireland though, but I RATE him! Edit: typos.

Isn't he on loan with inter with an option to buy? Also, didn't Lazio pay quite a lot of money for him?

Just looked at the highlights, looked to be pulling all the strings. Impressed by his post match interview as well. Think he'll be a good player for us this year if given a chance.

I having a screamer a good or a bad thing? Always thought it was bad thing, but the commentators have been speaking well of him so I'm left slightly confused now.

Goodbye Gazton, Think you'll be back though. Time will show.

Didn't we get linked to him a few weeks back?

From the front side article.

I'd rather see Lowton - Vlaar - Baker - Lichaj then Lowton - Vlaar - Clarck - Baker

Bargain

Recession, Divorce.

We'll have to be very patient. PL has an immense job to do, and I think he's still very much in the process of assessing the squad. As things stand now I don't expect to see much more then losses and draws, if we get a few more players in we might scrape in a few wins. Come second half of the season I think we'll see a Villa team starting to gel and settle to the new way of playing as well as our new players are adapting to the league and taking their game to a new level and eventually we'll go from losses and draws to draws and wins. This season will be more about laying the foundations to truly build the next summer.

Yes because you know him. I think CI can post some controversial things at times but it seems to be a new craze to just insult him or try and wind him up, and it seems new posters with low post counts love jumping on this bandwagon like it will earn them some acceptance on here. It's pretty pathetic. Think he mostly post decent posts with some good points raised, more often then not. His controversial ones can be quite amusing, besides they often raise a debate witch is essential for a forum. I quite like CI, for good or for worse he does keep this forum interesting. The amount of abuse he gets simply because of his controversial opinions is ridiculous though! Completely agree with you here Big John.

Barry, MON & Milner.

Hope he'll have a good recovery, heal up quickly and come back even stronger. He still got something to prove. Maybe he'll take some tips from Ron on how to bulk up during his time out, might do him good.

Stupid stats. Can't you guys at least wait half a year so the stats that you post actually represent a median value or an average?

1. Man City 2. Man United 3. Chelsea 4. Arsenal 5. Tottenham 6. Newcastle 7. Liverpool 8. Everton 9. Aston Villa 10. Fulham 11. Sunderland 12. QPR 13. West Ham 14. Southampton 15. Stoke 16. West Brom 17. Reading 18. Norwich 19. Wigan 20. Swansea

Hope he got some players lined up all ready!