GeauxVilla

Little Big Brad will be re-signing with Villa. Could be done as early as today. Great news, would prefer to give him a shot at the #1 shirt than keep Given in goal until he's 40.

Like others have said at the start of the season (prior to driving accident) he looked very bright, unfortunately since then he has gone off the boil. Still think there is a good player there and would flourish under a different manager who enjoyed passing football.

I wouldn't say he's "gone off the boil". I think he has shown some glimpses of potential (mostly last year under Ged) and he has failed to progress at all since then. Now, of course our manager is partially responsible for that, but I'd have to say it just doesn't look like its gonna work out for him here. Is he good enough for the Premier League? I don't think so but I'd love to see him overcome his lack of size and find a way to exert more influence on the game. It just seems like he's never able to find the space he requires.

I think its time for him to go. We have enough of our "kids" in and around the team. We might as well shift 1 or 2 who look like they might not make it to make some room in the squad to bring in the experience we need to surround our kids with.

Not as bad as some of you on here think.Certainly a better FB than Warnock, and probably better than Cuellar on here as well.

Supposed Villa fans who keep going on about his horror tackle against Long get up my nose to be frank.Would'nt have even earned a comment 10 years ago, and i've seen Villa legends like Evans McNaught et al, do far far worse, Eammon Deacy used to do worse in the warm up.Long played 4 weeks later, so it could'nt have been that bad.

The kid might be a prick off the pitch, but on the pitch he deserves a break.Some blinkered Villa fans need to get over his association with McL.We missed him yday, and at the moment he is the best RB at the club.

Although I applaud the fact the your trying to be sensible I really couldn't disagree more. From what I've seen of Hutton (every game he's played this season) he's not better than Habib Beye and MILES behind Lichaj, Cuellar, and Warnock in that order. Yes he's got a great work rate but all it really serves to do is pull him out of position. If he gets forward he'll lose the ball or hit a poor cross and won't get back in time. His defensive awareness is beyond piss poor and he's always a liability to get a red card. Personally, I could care less about the challenge on Long other than the fact that its one of the more obvious and memorable bone headed plays he made this season. Not that it was especially bad, but there have been 4 or 5 games this season where he could have easily been shown straight red. I don't think he's a dirty player or a thug I just think he's a shit footballer who can't cross, defend or tackle.

As an American I watched Hull City a few years ago when they were in the Premier League because they had Altidore on loan one season. They loaned Hutton from Spurs that year as well and I'm pretty confident in saying that I've seen enough of him to make up my mind about him.

I mean, at times, Hutton isn't...bad. Then he'll completely whiff on a clearance or let his man slice through him like a hot knife through butter and we are down 1-0.

The talent is there, but for what we are paying him for and what we need, he should be loaned out if at all possible.

How much longer are Collins, Dunne and Warnock's contract?

Spurs did the exact same thing. He's what 26 or 27 now? No point in loaning him out, he's been given more than enough time and has proven he isn't good enough. If Lichaj isn't the answer, and i think he is, then we need to bring someone else in. Not sure how much Hutton is on but we can definitely find somebody much better for much less.

He is a daft, dozy, prick who can't play football and should have cost us so many points in previous games - including the one today.

Agree. Hutton should have 3 or 4 more red cards from this season, he's been remarkably lucky in the regard. As for his actual play, it seems that its all been covered now. Diabolical. Would be absolutely gutted to see this fool in a Villa shirt ever again after this season.

Average player, just about sums us up

You're either trolling or incredibly stupid.

Lichaj has the pace to keep up with any fullback plus he is pretty smart with his position. He places his body well and out waits the attacker to make the tackle. He waits for the attacker to mess up or try a move then he strikes. Really bright future. If he were playing in his natural RB spot I think he'd be much more of a threat going down the line cause he has a decent cross. He is more tentative to attack down the left.

I like your assessment of his defensive style. He does a pretty good job of combining intelligence, athleticism and work rate if you ask me. Also, I agree that he is much more of an attacking threat down the right hand side but he has a decent left foot cross on him and the long throw can be a real weapon on either side. The problem is we don't control the ball well enough in wide areas high up the pitch to get enough long throw opportunities.

Not that this is saying much, because it certainly isn't, I think Lichaj is clearly our best fullback now on either side. When you factor in that he's one of our kids, he has a fantastic attitude and work rate and that he is our youngest and cheapest of our fullback options I'm optimistic about his future here.

I think he has been one of the few bright spots from the season overall.

arm than good. Sack this idiot first thing in the morning, get him as far away from our football club as possible, we cannot win any games under him, he has taken us as low as humanly possible. Might as well just give KMac the job for the next few games, it cannot be any worse.

This. Absolutely. McLeish out, we are firmly in it now and he's had enough time. We take a big risk right now if Lerner continues to back him (silently or not) that the teams below us will not pick up enough points because if they do I think its clear we're not going to pick up enough points with these players and this manager to get out.

KMac was one of the few out there to show some real fight today. He's a Villa man, has more experience with the first team now, and hopefully would be willing to settle for an assistant manager job if we bring in a bigger name this summer.

Based on the poll conducted via the OS Herd doesn't seem to qualify for their young player of the year award.

If we dicount games played I would say top 5

1. Petrov

2. Cuellar

3. Herd

4. Lichaj

5. Keane

I agree with this.

but realistically I'll say Stan then Ireland. Young player has to be Herd, Lichaj or Weimann

N'Zogbia was playing much better before his injury.

He has to start against Sunderland.

Agree on both points.

Would much rather see Caruthers get the start. Hopefully N'Zogbia will get his head down and earn his spot back in the team. He's started 20 games with 2 goals and 2 assists, Albrighton has 2 and 2 in 13 starts and most around here have decided he's not good enough and he cost us nothing and us on much smaller wages than N'Zog.

Well I am firmly in the 'McLeish out' camp, but most of us wanted this signing and were getting very pissed off over the whole "we wont pay £10m but we'll pay £9m" thing, so I think it is unfair to criticise McLeish for signing him.

What I will say is that N'Zogbia is a useless, petulant, disruptive, and insubordinate pile of crap who should not be part of this club. He can leave with McLeish

Agree with both points. I wanted him to sign as well. He's had a terrible attitude his entire career and with the exception of 2/3 of a season at Wigan he's never really shown that he's good enough consistently for the Premier League. We need to rebuild our club now and this is exactly the type of character we need to be clearing out of our dressing room.

Yeah, I like the way he tried to pick a fight with the physio who came on to help him after he had been knocked out

I thought that was due to the head knock, looked way out of it.

Oh definitely. I don't think he had any clue who he was at that point, let alone who the physio was. Still, I like that his first instinct was to pick a fight

It was both scary and funny at the same time. Glad Herd is OK, he's definitely a tough kid and I think he's shown enough to keep his role in the squad going into next season.

Bit of a pointless poll really then wasnt it? May as well have just asked who is the best manager in the world and start a poll on that?

Yes. Under the circumstances McLeish the job I don't think anybody on that list would have taken the job. Now after another year of experience with Wigan who are still likely to be relegated I think he would consider the job. We now have a younger squad with some of the older higher earners gone at Villa this summer I think he would have to consider the job. There will probably be a little money to spend and he would have a chance to build a squad and have them play how he wants, this seems like the kind of challenge that would interest a young ambitious manager like Martinez

I like Martinez but he definitely needs to get a bigger job and prove himself as a proper Prem manager. I'd be pretty happy if that job was us, starting this summer. Don't get me wrong, wouldn't be my first choice either, but out of the realistic candidates IF McLeish was to leave (and I don't think Lambert is one anymore), I think he'd be one of the better shouts.

This is a very sensible way of looking at things. We definitely want McLeish gone, and I think eventually Randy will realize the fans will demand a change. He would definitely be better than McLeish and it would be a new culture I expect the young players would improve under him as he seems a good teacher of the game. Agree Lambert is no longer an option and Martinez > Curbs, Mick, or anyone else who would consider taking the job

He looks really promising. We should be playing him consistently even if he has a few bad games. Warnock has been pretty bad for the better part of 2 years. Lichaj can take over the LB spot.

This. Would be happy for him to displace either Hutton at RB or Warnock at LB. He could really use a run of games now and hopefully if he continues to improve he will lock down one of those positions for next season.

Consistency is key. Of course you'd rather have a keeper who can come and claim a lot of crosses. but if he can't then as long as he's consistent then it isn't a huge problem. Given gets way too much criticism for this.

If we had a keeper who claimed more I don't think it wouldn't have made a huge difference to our goals conceded column.

I actually agree with this. It is the saving grace of keepers like Given and Friedel that there defense knows that they have to win every ball in on set pieces. I do believe though that every team knows Given will stay on his line and they've figured out how to put the ball right on top of the six yard box and put us under pressure. I also think that it neccesitates a certain kind of central defender the "throw yourself in front of everything type" which at times makes Collins and Dunne look like world beaters and at other times makes them like incompetent. All I'm saying is that a keeper that is able to relieve pressure by coming for the ball occasionally on set pieces would almost certainly improve our set pieces deficiency. Also considering how poor we are at winning the ball on set pieces I think its becoming a must. We are completely incapable of scoring from a set piece (other than a long throw, delivery is obviously a problem too) and we are letting soft goals in from corners at an alarming rate.

Edit: and I don't think he gets to much criticism. In fact one of the main reasons that I feel the need to post this is because I feel like his gotten a bit of a pass this year. More than anything its just been bothering me and I was surprised nobody was talking about it, I know Shay is an Irish legend and has been one of the most consistent keepers in Premier League history. I just hate that we've signed him between years 35-40 especially given his chronic injury problems

I honestly forgot he was playing for about 60 minutes

Why? Were you watching Dr Who instead or something?

No Gardner was invisible all game. He never did anything to help our attack. He got a 5 from skysports which I agree with. He was playing LM when he is right footed and a CM but he just was so nonexistent. When Marc came on and played LM, he started creating chances.

I agree with this. Still very excited to see Gardner get a run out but like Ireland he's just much better in the middle. For me they both disappear when out wide.

One has to wonder why we didn’t bite the bullet and pay for him in January...

1. AZ is competing for the title in the Netherlands and a spot in the champions league

2. Most have suggested it will take him time to adapt to the Premier League so would likely be off the pace now anyways

I'm eager to see how he will handle the Premier League but personally from AZ I would have preferred Maher, Altidore, Moisander or Elm

Yep that's the way to do it. Appoint another manager that is good at one thing, getting teams relegated.

Who has Martinez relegated?

On a shoestring, he has single handedly kept Wigan in the premier league and played fairly decent football to boot.

Did you know see Wigan, yes Wigan, play keep ball against Liverpool last week?

So what if they kept the ball and won at Liverpool. Have you not seen their league position? We beat Chelsea don't you know. Are we now saying he's a good manager because Wigan are in a relegation fight all season, Every season just to escape at the last minute? Sounds like fun.

Which part of this do you not understand?

He has no money

He has one of the smallest wage bills in the league

He is managing Wigan, not any side of pedigree of substance

He still plays football

Doesnt matter how much they avoid relegation by, they avoid it.

If you cannot see what he has done under the circumstances he is in, then you have your head up your arse.

If he can get a team with no money to play football on the awful rugby pitch just think what he could do at Villa Park

We signed Given, Hutton, Jenas and Nzogbia. Even without them we have a better squad than many of the teams around us.

All 4 have been poor signings IMO

Wow what a claim. Given a poor signing?

We are a laughing stock though. I get stick off non-Villa mates about why on earth we haven't sacked McLeish yet. It's embarrassing. Doomed to fail, and well-and-truly has.

I think Givens a poor signing because of his injury issues and the fact that we gave him a 5 year deal on big wages. I know that he's a great shot stopper but I have a lot of issues with goalkeepers who are completely incapable of coming off their line as I think it puts us under a lot of pressure especially from set pieces (this was also a weakness of Friedels)

We signed Given, Hutton, Jenas and Nzogbia. Even without them we have a better squad than many of the teams around us.

All 4 have been poor signings IMO

How many caps does he have for the U.S.A now?

8. Would be more if not for the injuries

Also linked with Kenneth Vermeer, Ajax goalkeeper. I don't rate him to high. He saves alot, but also alot of mistakes! Think he will be second keeper of Ajax next season though

am sure he played in the UEFA Cup game in 2008, wasnt that impressive on crosses

he can't be worst on crosses than a keeper who never comes off his line to deal with them

Stan has been a great servant and model pro for us.

So he had a bad game, get over it FFS

We need Stan for this run in

I tend to agree with this but I hope we do let him go this summer and bring somebody else in. He has been probably our best player over the course of the season, and as you say a great servant, but we all know he is limited and we are over reliant on him. Would be great to see a midfield next season with a bit of bite and energy to it.

Lichaj gets his chance then with Hutton out.

I would imagine so. Herd is definitely capable of filling in as well but I think he's needed in the midfield at the moment. Wouldn't be surprised to see Herd at RB and Gardner starting next to Stan against Chelsea though as Eck seems to prefer a midfield that will be overrun