GeorgeVilla82

Stick with it B6. I gave up caffeine about 2 months ago (wasn't excessive, but used to drink about 3 or 4 cups of tea a day). Gave it up as a result of running out of tea bags, and I noticed in the 2 days that I went without tea, I had massive headaches. Thought that if that little caffeine and the subsequent withdrawal were giving me that bad headaches, it couldn't be good for me. Now sleep much better (used to regularly wake up in the middle of the night) and feel generally less lethargic. I now drink decaff and rooibos tea instead, and stay away from coke etc. Good luck!

Martinez would be a genuinely intriguing choice on the part of Mr. Lerner if he ultimately decides to go with him - and I think a lot of people from outside of the club will be watching with great interest too.

I've written before that I really like the guy and have a lot of respect for how he has aquitted himself at Wigan. Throughout some pretty dark times last season, he never laid the blame at the feet of his players, many of whom were guilty of some glaring errors, or officials, who on several occasions made decisions that went against them in favour of 'bigger' opponents, and resolutely stuck to the footballing principles he believes in. Obviously, one could argue that this smacks of naivete as much as strength of character, and probably the biggest reservation Villa fans will have is just how much steel he can bring to both the job and a defensive backline that at times last season looked as shaky as Wigan's.

But looking at the bigger picture, what he has tried to do at Wigan in just two years has in many respects been nothing short of revolutionary. It's one thing to introduce a new style of play at a club like Villa as Houllier attempted but another entirely at Wigan. For all of the accusations of Martin O'Neill's dogmatic reliance on a one-dimensional, counter-attacking approach with little in the way of a Plan B, Houllier still inherited a group of players with much to offer. Given the awkward nature of many of last season's performances, Villa fans naturally - and quite rightly - summised that even the more subtle changes toward a more possession driven style of play were proving a challenge to implement. One can only imagine the challenge Martinez faced when attempting to introduce his ideas on a team that had until his arrival offered little variation on a basic kick and run philosophy dictated by meagre resources and little hope of attracting any 'name' talent. It was more than simply changing a style of play, it was changing the entire culture throughout the playing and coaching structure.

That he has kept Wigan in the Premier League, albeit by very narrow margins, is an achievement that in many respects may be more impressive than the more comfortable mid-table finishes they had achieved under Paul Jewell and Steve Bruce. Yes, it has undoubtedly been a risky strategy - and one must wonder how long it can realistically work if the team are unable to move beyond where they are now - but you have to respect the sheer boldness in even trying to compete in this fashion with so little to work with. Likewise, the same principles he instilled at Swansea now look to have been rewarded by the work Brendan Rogers has done since taking over, building upon the platform laid by Martinez. For those saying his track record is not good enough or has been unsuccessful, it has to be evaluated in relative terms. Over the course of a very short career as a manager, he has arguably achieved as much as is humanly possible within the scope of the roles he has taken.

Of course, one of the things that people always say about Wigan is that you never know what you are going to get; the well-organised, tactically astute, attractive football that is able to pull off the most unexpected of results or the listless, defensively fragile soft touch against whom the more ruthless of oppositions can run up cricket scores. That kind of unpredictability will not be accepted at Villa and Martinez will find he has to deliver consistency a lot faster than the latitude shown at Wigan afforded him.

But for those Villa fans that yearn for a 'total football' approach and fantasise about us someday emulating the Barcelona or Arsenal style of play, that drills these principles in to every facet of the club's infrastructure and paves the way for sustainable improvement in which a modern, technical way of thinking is applied throughout, then Martinez may emerge as the most likely and realistic candidate. What his appointment will require from us as supporters is patience and an inclination to examine how he will try to go about achieving this. The good news is that in many ways the club has been 'primed' for such a manager to take over by the tribulation of Houllier's year in charge and the squad is almost certainly in better shape to be receptive to this than it was in the immediate aftermath of O'Neill's departure.

What concerns me more than anything is how he will fare in the transfer market. This will be the first time he has had anything approaching a sizeable budget to work with and so is almost entirely unproven when it comes to identifying players at this level. It is also impossible to know exactly what kind of 'pull' he will have in terms of attracting ambitious players - and the same goes for persuading our better current players to remain at the club. Any manager taking over now faces a very busy summer and intense pre-season as there still a number of players whose status at the club is uncertain (Warnock, Ireland, Beye, arguably Dunne and Collins) and key positions that look decidely lightweight in the wake of recent departures (Friedel, Reo-Coker), not to mention the issues surrounding Ashley Young and Stewart Downing. There will be little or no allowance for 'easing' in to the job and these are just a few of the problems requiring immediate attention that will make for an immense step up for someone such as Martinez. The fact that he may be willing to take all of this on may, in and of itself, point to a character that is made of far sterner stuff than outward appearances suggest.

If Martinez does prove to be Mr. Lerner's choice, it will be a brave and, in its own way, ambitious move - a signal of intent to deliver a highly desirable style of football that could take us beyond the ceiling seemingly reached by O'Neill, or that could prove to the limit for a Mark Hughes or a David Moyes. But whereas those figures can all but guarantee our competitivity at that level, Martinez' approach runs the risk of losing initial ground in the pursuit of long-term results, or worst case scenario, sees us once again struggling at the lower end of the table. It's a difficult call but I think I would be willing to support it and hope that it works. If it does, it could prove to be a masterstroke and Martinez may emerge as one of the most exciting managers we will have seen at Villa Park in an age.

Great post - completely agree.

Anyone just hear Pat Murphy on 5 Live? Was basically saying that SHA won't get out of the Championship because of their financial position and the club has been devalued by half (now worth £40m) and Egg Foo Yeung overpaid massively. Claridge then said that SHA will be the next Portsmouth.......

Sloe gin, tonic and a squeeze of lime - first glass has disappeared a bit too quickly...

Off topic, but Luke Young just got on the train to London at B'ham International and is sitting at the table next to me. Wondering whether I should ask him anything (contract negotiations etc)

Ask him as much as you can. Get the gossip George!!

Eavesdropping at the moment (he's chatting to someone else in Villa gear who I don't recognise). He thought NRC should have been MOTM, sounds like Friedel is off at the end of the season (although he doesn't want to go) and Walker keeps asking for tips from LY about how to play it simple but look good at the same time. Nothing about Salifou yet....

Off topic, but Luke Young just got on the train to London at B'ham International and is sitting at the table next to me. Wondering whether I should ask him anything (contract negotiations etc)

Just waiting for a train back home after the game. Absolutely terrible match - gutted Bent hit his 1 on 1 straight at the keeper, but seemed inevitable to be honest. Downing MOTM, Walker good going forward but still has A LOT to learn. Ash not great today. All pretty depressing and I cannot wait for this game to be over.

Missed the build up - why wasn't Gabby involved?

There's a train from St Pancras (right next door to Kings Cross) which goes to Stratford International in about 6 minutes, every 12 minutes or so. Go to TfL journey planner which will show you all London Overground (local) trains, tubes and buses, or National Rail to see all trains (but no tubes/ buses).

It seems like there's replacement buses running from Stratford bus station (stop D) to Upton Park, or you can get the 104. Good luck - I live in Hertfordshire so not such a mission, but still really annoying.

General, I'd just like to second the above about the church bells. A first I thought it reminded me of a funeral, but on reflection it creates an intimidating atmosphere about the place for the away team, something which has been lacking for a while. The 'victory' bells at the end were good as well.

Just checked the Transport for London website, and there is engineering work on the District and Hammersmith & City tube lines on Saturday 16th, which means that getting to the game by tube is going to be a nightmare for those planning to travel that way.

Replacement buses are being put on, but I imagine that they'll be packed.

You might want to get a tube/ train to Stratford and walk from there (about 20/30 minutes, I reckon), or get the 104 bus.

This made me laugh, especially how their "parade" disbanded when they got lost - brilliant.

Birmingham Mail

Negatives - despite ITV's banal commentary that "the Villa kids are learning a lesson", it's the experienced players in Heskey, Gabby and Petrov who have let us down. Bloody awful. Team selection was odd, to say the least - they've just had two weeks off, so I can't see why the likes of Walker and NRC can't play.

Positives - Bannan, Delph. Can't wait to see more of these two (especially with Delph in his natural position). Clark has been very good as well.

After reading here about their attendance last night, I just went onto their website (and now feel like I need to disinfect my computer) - the amusing thing is that Premier League stubs don't count towards Wembley tickets, just STH and Carling Cup attendance. They really are unbelievably stupid.

And if you want a laugh, look at the FAQs. Just shows the general level of intelligence of their fans.

Chrisjie - I live in Hertfordshire but have a season ticket so travel up by train for most home games. The Virgin Trains service is pretty good (when it's running...), 1 hr 20mins into Birmingham New Street then jump onto a local train to Aston or Witton. Book well in advance for the Virgin Trains tickets, and as Wainy says, it is often cheaper to buy two singles than a return (if you specify which trains you'll be getting). There's usually a few Villa on the trains up to Birmingham for home games, so wear some colours if you've got them.

I've not had one in the last 4 years. I go to the games with my mum, and she hasn't had one either in the same amount of time.

Hope you have a great time. My first game was in the Holte watching us destroy Wimbledon 7-1 and the Dons fans doing a conga in the lower north. Not sure the result will be as good tomorrow but fingers crossed and hope this is the first of many for you!

Typical Villa luck. Rooney suddenly finds his form against us after 9 months of being shit.

God, 6 mins in and Alan Green on 5 live is already pissing me off.

Quite like the look of that team, but would like to see Gabby given a run against Vidic. Vidic tends to have a nightmare when dealing with Gabby.

Just back from the game. Was bloody freezing, but generally a good performance. I sit in Trinity Upper, and to be fair, it looked like a bad challenge from Baker but I haven't seen it back yet. Felt sorry for him though as he played well, and the ref was probably influenced by being so close to the Blackburn bench and them going ballistic.

Thought NRC, Bannan and Cuellar all had great games. Walker has some great moments, but sometimes gives the ball away unnecessarily. No real problem today though as Blackburn were terrible with (I think) their full strength team.

Good to see the fans engaging with GH, even if he did need to be told to wave. He'll get there.

All in all, pretty pleased. Good that we can still win (against a team doing well at the moment) with rotating the squad. I worry that we won't get that much further without Bent though - he really does make a massive difference from what I've seen so far, both when we're attacking and defending.

Hi General, hope you and the family are well.

Quick question - I'm a season ticket holder, but live in Hertfordshire. Time tends to be pretty tight when I come up for the games, so I don't usually have time to go to the Villa Village (the queues are huge!) or go into Birmingham to the Villa shop there. Is there any way that the merchandise range could be expanded on the website as it's quite poor at the moment - I'm a woman, and the women's clothing range is terrible compared to what's available in the store. I know I would definitely spend more if a wider range was available for mail order.

As always, thanks for your time.

Hi General, really good to have you back.

I was just wondering what the atmosphere at Bodymoor Heath has been like this week, with all the transfer developments? How did the players take it, and has it changed the mood in the camp at all? Really excited to see the team that is being built by Randy and GH, and looking forward to picking up some much-needed points!

UTV

Right. After calming down a wee bit I thought Clark played well. Friedel did okay but shouldn't have been beaten by a shithead like Bardsley. Dunne was solid again and sweated for the team. Collins was shit. Cuellar was okay but not brilliant. Petrov was useless. NRC was industrious but not effective enough. Gabby was out of position but still shit. Young was okay but too greedy. Downing played well first half seocnd half disappeared, Heskey okay, one glaring miss, one miss that could be a sitter, maybe not, stupid red card, Bannan and Albrighton bright after their five minute cameo.

Houllier, 0 outof 10. Gabby shouldnt have been on the wing, Ash should, or Ash dropped for Albrighton, Collins should be dropped IMO, bring Baker into the team FFS, at least the kid won't keep consistently gifting the opposition fks and pens and chances. Downing should have been moved to the left, Petrov should have been off after 60 minutes and subs needed to be made 30 minutes earlier than they were.

Sum total: NOT **** HAPPY.

Completely agree.