I've got nothing, but we could talk about Barry, Fulham, Randy Lerner and Martin O'Neill
Tuesday, 25 November 08, 09:41 AM · Comments (55)
It's not that we couldn't put five posts a day up, copying what I read on the official club site and then sticking a 'that's good news' comment at the end, but I don't think that is what this blog is about.
You're a little more intelligent than that, and the forum is getting bigger all the time, so I think it's generally accepted that people don't come here for the comments section.
The thing is, I've been racking my brain about making a post and while there are a lot of things I want to post about, there are times for those things, so today, rather than look at one thing in particular, I'm going to touch on a few.
The first one is Gareth Barry and according to reports at the weekend, he's sacked his agent, Alex Black. Now, this was predicted by one of you, I can't remember who, but it had to happen.
He failed in getting his player the move he wanted and still wants, in the summer and Barry got made to look like a puppet. Okay, he's a very wealthy puppet and for that type of money we'd all probably take a hand up the backside, but he still got made to look like a spoilt child and mug. There was no alternative for Barry but to sack him and if the reports are to be believed, he's done it. However, if you believe the website of his agent, he's still representing him.
Now, I might have offended Mr Barry by writing what I've written, but "there's no turning back now".
Moving on quickly and to Fulham. If this match were in London I'd be a little concerned about the possibility of picking up the three points but we're playing them at home and it's vital that we win and not just becasue Arsenal are probably going to lose on Sunday to Chelsea.
It's vital because if we really do have aspirations of top four then these are the teams that we absolutely have to be beating and doing it with a bit of style - when you are at home anyway. I expect three points this weekend and not repeat results like Newcastle and Middlesbrough.
That's about it, but I couldn't leave today without a mention of the January transfer window. This one really is going to be a very important one and with a bit of luck we're going to see Martin O'Neill have a plan and hand it over to Randy Lerner sometime in December.
If we're going to get the most out of this transfer window we're going to have to act early and decisively. There are five league games in January and if we're going to wait until the end of the month again, we could have missed our opportunity and we've done that before.
I know it's about getting the right players - but it's like studying for an exam - if you don't know it the day before you don't know it. Martin O'Neill has to know which players he would like to see at the club and that list has to be with Randy Lerner sooner rather than later, if he's to be able to do anything to help in getting those players to the club.
This January is vital for our top four credentials, much like beating teams like Fulham at home. Let's not waste this window.
That's all from me. I've got to tidy up a project before showing it tomorrow and I'm thinking about doing a bit of work on the house. Until tomorrow, I'll just keep moving on.
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55 Comments · Add yours
Nice article Damian, agree with all of that.
Regarding the Fulham game, MON is surely going to go back to 4-4-2 in a more attacking stance?
But which midfielders will he leave out?
This won't be so much of a problem in January when Barry leaves. Then I think it will be Young, Petrov, Sidwell, Milner.
I've got a funny feeling about a draw in this Fulham game.
We seem to play well against the so-called big teams. And struggle against the teams that we are meant to beat.
I agree with ronvilla that a 4-4-2 would be the best shout for this game.
agree with your comments damien. the period between now and boxing day is crucial for our champions league aspirations
arsenal fixtures:
chelsea a
wigan h
boro a
liverpool h
villa a
villa fixtures
fulham h
everton a
bolton h
west ham a
arsenal
i think the next 5 fixtures are pivotal, with arsenal wobbling we need to capitalise in the 4 games and then have a lead of at least 3-4 points and then do them at home. i think we can realistically pick up 10 points from 12 (if not a maxium). i think arsenal will lose to chelsea, draw with liverpool and boro might spring a suprise (or a draw).
got to be beating the teams in our next few fixtures - cant afford another newc/boro
Regarding the January transfer window- I'd love to see Lukas Podolski come from Bayern. I've heard rumours about this before, but he's officially handed in a transfer request now because he can't budge Klose and Toni from the side. I think he'd be fantastic, but whether we could attract him is another matter...
Add a creative midfielder who can dictate tempo and we'll be looking particularly hot.
I agree that this weekend's game is massive- Arsenal will likely lose to Chelsea, and I think Manure are away at Wastelands, so they could get turned over as well.
It could be a glorious weekend
You seem to be a bit down Damian...
Anyway, I would fully expect us to win this game and Im looking forward to it. BUT...lets not forget they got a draw at Liverpoop last weekend (and won me a bet!) so we can't take them lightly.
I agree, think we should bring Carew back into the line up with a 4-4-2 formation (Although he looked pretty lerthargic when he came on Saturday). I would then drop Reo-Coker from midfield and play the proper full backs.
Im not saying drop NRC because he hasn't earnt his place against Man U, but because I think he's the weakest Midfielder at the moment. Against Man U, I take my hat off to him, he was superb. Must have given him a kick up the arse being dropped.
UTV!
I can't see Barry leaving now. MON obviously rates him highly and we won't be the same team without him. I'd rather hang onto him if he is focused and now realises that he can be part of something special at Villa.
It's easy to knock Barry, but he does go about things on the pitch very industiously and holds the ball up just the right amount of time. He provides good intelligent supply of the ball to build good balanced attacking. I think the national team has also flourished from his no-nonsense style, instead of the superstar primadonna style of others that don't work as a team.
We don't need any more midfielders at the moment. We need money spending in defence and attack.
Stick with the 4-5-1 for this game. Fulham don't have as good a defence as Mun U. Our midfield should cause havoc.
Chris...How can they drop NRC out of midfield and replace with the proper defence, to allow room for two strikers...? NRC did not play in midfield on Saturday. THe midfield was Petrov, Barry, A Young, Milner and Sidwell. Therefore one of those would have to be dropped to allow for 2 strikers...!
Reply to __AA__:
I agree with you _AA_
I think we should hang onto him but only if he really wants to. I noticed a bit of desire and passion for the team against United, something I think he's sometimes lacked this season.
You could look at it another way....maybe he sacked his agent because he caused all this trouble for im in the summer and miss guided him....thats what Im hoping anyway!
I also agree that this Jan, we need to concentrate on maybe another LB (as support for Bouma when he's back) and RB for support for Young who I think is brilliant.
Obviously we also need to buy a Forward or two. We only need a creative Midfielder if Barry leaves in my opinion.
Reply to __AA__:
Good point, I knew I should of thought about it....but I didn't!
It's easy this here football manager lark...Think I will apply when MON leaves..!
I would stick to the 4-5-1 to start off with and hopefully the extra players in midfield will gain control of the game which is something we have failed to do in the last games againest 'weaker' teams. At least if we are finding it tough to break them down we always have the Carew option. But if we start with 4-4-2 and its not working then what options are we left with? This is a huge game which is when we usually leave ourselves down. We should be taking 7 points out of next 9 to be serious top 4 contenders.
Reply to __AA__:
Join the queue, AA. I was here first.
damian you have just made me feel even worse. i have an exam in an hour and your comment about revising for an exam and not knowing the day before is to true
up the villa
i think Barry will wait until the summer. If we get Champions league he may even stay.
He has said in the press he definitely will stay in January anyway, although if we got a massive offer who knows.
I'm all for 4-5-1
in time, the players will get more and more used to it and over time they'll become more and more consistent
you also dont have to play midfielders in 4-5-1 - you could play 2 strikers - much like man utd do
4-5-1 is the way forward - as long as the lone striker gets the support they need
4 - 6 formation could work..?
Hello Damien, i've just joined the blog but have been reading it for some time, i have always been saddened by your downer on barry, he is a class player who is very comfortable on the ball, he can have a bad game just like any other player, but usually plays with his heart on his sleave. i hope he stays with us in Jan' he can be a very valuable contributor to the team and his leaving would be a loss to the younger players in the team who are learning from him.
2 strikers are needed against fulham.
gabby is going to be a bit fatigued and we need to score early to bring him off for a rest.
with 2 strikers starting we stand an excellent chance of scoring early, you score early you control the match.
fulham don't deserve as much respect as a 4 5 1 will give.
same team as saturday apart from drop barry to the bench for a rest.
sidwell is on fire.
in january i want a experienced striker like defoe, wayne bridge and a sneaky bid for ramsey and walcott
Our team is growing in cohesion, stature, confidence and gorgeousness. We didn't get the respect we deserved in our draw at Liverpool. Which will suit us fine in playing you if you think you'll wipe the floor with us. I can understand the 'should beat teams like Fulham" comments of yesterseason but you will have done well to beat us now.
After Saturday, good luck in your top 4 quest.
i persoanlly see barry getting rid of his agent as a sign of him preparing to move.
no agent less fees more excuse for a high sign on bonus.
Reply to __AA__:
Would bother AA you completely wrong
. Barry will be off either Jan or end of season, because he wants to go. His relationship with MON has suffered. Arse or Spuds will sign him.
We do need a playmaker in midfield. How many times we played against opposition who just defend and we are unable to create any chances because nobody can make the telling pass? We then end up drawing or losing to teams we have dominated for 90 mins.
The Fulham game needs 4-4-2 otherwise we will struggle against a side that will defend deep to counter Gabbys pace and not look to attack. 4-5-1 would mean a 0-0 draw. I would also play Luke Young at rightback and recall Shorey, dropping NRC and Sidwell to the bench. Neither did anything wrong against Manure but its horses for courses for me.
"and for that type of money we'd all probably take a hand up the backside" wondered why Chris quick to reply to this blog
My apologies for miss-spelling your name Damian, and while i'm at it, don't you think James Milner is beggining to find his feet, i reckon were gonna see him bloom under MON who, will find it increasingly difficult to sub him.
he will only find it difficult because we have no one else wide right now that routledge is on loan
Reply to Christian:
Podolski has to be our #1 target. Alas, I have a feeling that he'll end up at Man City.
Reply to the_dirty_economist:
Sneaky bid for Ramsey and Walcott? Won't happen, and wouldn't be accepted anyway. Ever.
stermsav
no probs with spelling my name wrong - i've been called worse
barry is a decent player, no dount about it, but i think we can get better. i'll change that, i think we need better in the middle. sure, you could say change sidwell or petrov, but i think sidwell is going to get better and petrov has a specific job - barry just doesn't do it for me ..
as for milner - i hope he comes good, very good and i'm confident we'll see displays this season that will get people saying that £12mn. was cheap - my worry is consistency with milner. he's been playing in the premier league since 2002 and if he really was top 4 material, one of the top four would have had him by now .. i honestly hope i'm wrong, but only time will tell and when it comes to the money - it's not mine or ours, so i bottom line, as long as villa are doing well, i'm happy
BARRY - Since he decided to give his agent the flick, his form and confidence seems to have grown. I think he has seen the best laid plans starting to come to fruition, which never transpired under DEADLY. I definitely agree that if we finish top 4, then he will stay. Regardless of what happens, I think he has decided to roll his sleeves up and give it everything.
FULHAM - I agree with 'ak' that we should start with 4-5-1. Fulham will not have the same possession as Man.U, which should enable us to create more openings, particularly from the wings. When we have started 4-4-2, we have quite often been the first team to leak goals. We need stability from the start, keep possession and take control of the game.
STRIKER - The name of the game is putting the ball in the opponents net. GABBY and JC are both very good players, but, not prolific. Will GABBY ever be? It's frustrating to see us so high in the league, yet players from Wigan and the like are ahead of our top scorers. Same could be said about goal scorers from midfield, although I reckon SID will be a good bet for double figures this season.
FUTURE - AVFC
Reply to AVFCBlog:
Damian
You’re missing the vital ingredient here. O’Neill has the ability to get more than other coaches do out of players. Milner was playing for Newcastle – a team that imported high priced players and then had no idea what to do with them. They couldn’t do what O’Neill can do, which is fully exploit the potential of a young player. Here’s a nice link LINK .
As the knowledge of what the Villa set-up can do for young, talented players gains credence I think it will become easier and easier to attract the brightest young talent to Villa Park.
Reply to churchil:
Speaking of bright young talent i hope MON goes and tries to sign James McCarthy from Hamilton in Scotland. He has just turned 18 and he has been playing CM for the last 3 years which is a huge reason why they have been promoted 2 years on the bounce. Barcalona (along with Liverpool and Chelsea) are reported to be interested but this is the type of young talent we should really be trying to bring in.
Reply to Texas_Villain:
what about a part exchange ramsey for barry
Why not try 3-5-2
Carlos, Davis, Laurson
Milner & Young wings
Petrov Barry Sidwell midfield
Carew & Gabby up front
Could work
january = sell harewood, buy owen on the cheap, podoslki, defour and onuoha (for right back cover)
and i tell you what - we'd have a great number of players who could get into the top four squads (agbonlahor, ash young, friedel, laursen, cuellar, barry, podolski, owen, defour? milner?)
with an even greater number being easily able to play in europe (bouma, carew, davies, luke young, petrov, sidwell)
i just hope he shows the right amount of ambition, just go for podolski, pay the wages, he'd be great in the prem, ive thought that for years
I think all you people who are expecting to see more from Milner are going to be disappointed if I'm honest. He shows all the signs of a player who has hit his peak at a young age. No coach under the sun, not even Martin O'Neill, can alter a players god-given potential.
If we see Milner improve much more I'll be very surprised.
churchil
i agree that o'neill has an ability to up the game of players but we've also seen him fail at this also, to some extent.
harewood and routledge to name two. some have said in the past, me included, that he has an ability to make average players good and good players very good, maybe even very good players excellent players
where does milner sit in that? i'd say he's good but inconsistent, which might mean some would say he's average and if thats the case then maybe martin o'neill has a lot of work to do ..
i'd honestly like to see it and we will get our answer, probably next season, so i guess only time will tell
SYMBAS - My thoughts exactly. Against ManU we played NRC at RB, but he came forward so often that he was more of a midfielder, making our formation more of a 4-5-1 in defence and 3-5-2 or 3-6-1 when going forward for quite a bit of the match. Flooding the midfield works for me, I've always held that the team that controls the centre of the pitch controls the game. That sort of thing will work even better when Wilf is back in the squad, it would mean that we would have three VERY good defenders staying back whilst we hold the midfield, break out with AY, JM, and one other (Sidwell probably).
_AA_, I have only made this post to cement my credentials for the job after MON retires in 2035.
Reply to keefvilla:
Dirty Economist- totally agree 100%.
Keefvilla - Im on the same wave length. When will people wake up and stop saying things like "we should hold on to Barry", what say do Villa as a club have in it? He will do whatever he wants. We are powerless. If we make Europe, he might decide to stay then we have to double a players wage which is apparently in his peak (my opinion is he was at his peak last year) and therefore will become the benchmark for other players´salaries. Do we really want a player that is at best in his peak now at age 27 making stupid amounts of money (it was discussed MON offered 70 thou a month start of the season) when clearly Gabby, Ash, Davies etc will become far better players, perhaps as soon as a season from now , what will they ask for then?
We will without doubt make Top 4 IF....
1. We cash in on Barry and sign an Elano, or similar player with same ability (attacking midfielder we have been crying out for for about a decade). This will totally enhance our speed advantage and create more one on one opportunities, and footraces with slower defenders
2. We sign a striker who can finish and can create a chance from nothing ie Martins, Kone, Fred. Look at Liverpool and how many times they have gained competition points thanks to Torres and his ability to make a goal from nothing. Ok, we are unlikely to get a Torres, but didnt Martins do something similar to us the other week?
Doyle, Heskey....they dont fit where we are headed anymore...Aston Villa wins the Champions league thanks to a late strike from ....Kevin Doyle....it doesnt sound right does it?
Barry has looked better recently granted, but lets move on, he is not the heart and soul of the team,not by a long shot and plus im sick of being at his mercy, its embarrassing now...will he stay will he go?
I agree its now or never we have been in this sort of position before as in flying high in the table and we all know how that went! Villa cant keep letting opps like this go by we just need to maintain our good start and hopefully get some reinforcements in january to seal up a good finish come may
But if only it was that easy looking at the table standings its a couple not so good endings and you could be 10th its very close..
I expect us to beat fulham i think the whole world would put money on us beating them WE SHOULD BEAT THEM
They are no jokers as we found out last season they too have drawn against the pool, beaten celtic/arsenal/wigan newcastle/spurs some very good results achieved. We need to take it serious at get 3 points minimum and keep the gang-mode and closing down tactics which have work against 2 of the top 4 teams, if we had done this when we played chelski instead of letting them walk us off the bridge we could have got a draw
Its about the next match now though and in between these ties we have EUROPE aswell
fulham HOME 3 points nothing less
everton away Take a draw
bolton HOME 3 points nothing less
west ham away in london we dont win there 1 point nothing less
arsenal Home Take a draw we dont do the double. no chance mate
So thats 9 from 15, thats over half of whats up 4 grabs which is still good! Also it would mean we will be unbeaten in 7 league games CAN WE REALLY DO IT
I'm not to sure plus we lose at least once every month check the results!
If villa can't see we need a top class finisher and a playmaker in midfield joe cole etc.minimum. to get us where we derserve to be nothing will change just the odd good win and 5th every season
Goldie - fair comments mate but i would not have a problem finishing fifth. I was ecstatic with 6th last season and 5th is again progress. Its really hard to sign good players in Jan and while i think we can break 4th i think all of us need a reality check and should be really pleased if we get 5th. We need to cement our position oin the league as consistent uefa cup place/top 4 challengers
I really want Podolski, absolute class! Apparently Kazim Richards wants to come back to England, would be great cover for Milner. He looked shit hot at the euros.
Reply to _Az__0:
kazim richards will lose the hot
but podolski is class and i would love to see him at villa along with diego or schweinstieger
Hello all. This is pretty much a comment about nuthin to do with previous 1ns, well at least the few ive actually read. Newho, has any1 got any more info on the proposed VP increase for the olympics? Seems like a fair while since ive seen nethin
I agree with those who talk about how dangerous Fulham is for Villa. They should've gotten draw here last year and that was with Sanchez as manager and we all know what happened at Craven Cottage
I think going 4-5-1 isn't showing Fulham too much respect because I think Villa will go forward in numbers quite a bit. If Barry goes, I'd love to get Jimmy Bullard away from Fulham. Wouldn't be surprised with a draw here.
I reality it is only a 4-5-1 when we don't have the ball. Once we are in possession it is a 4-3-3 formation. Fulham are well capable of passing the ball and we have struggled in the past at home againest teams that we expect to beat because we cannot get enough possession. Also as good as Carew is i think when he is playing our defenders and midfielders get lasy and just use the long ball up to Carew as they think he will win everything for them and this has lead to our over use of the long ball and why we have failed to win 2 or 3 home games we really should have won.
Reply to Goldie7:
Spot on Goldie. I think we can all remember when we led the league under Gregory and were sooooo close to signing Juninho. That fell through and we didn't even qualify for europe! What could have been... I really rated that little Brazilian too
On another note- is it me or do we seem to playing better with Carew on the bench?
Reply to ak_27:
i think someone has been listening to too much lawro.
when we play 4 5 1 young stays wide and rarely inside and occasionally breaks ahead of our midfield milner in general stays in line with a typical right mid in a 4 4 2 so no i am sorry i don't see 4 3 3.
Reply to james_villa:
But you are taking the last 2 games into account there where we were playing Arsenal and Utd where they had around 60% of possession. Then of course they would be sitting back. Its againest the likes of Fulham where we would have far more of the ball because of playing 3 centre mid when Young and Milner would push on up the pitch and it would become a type of 4-3-3.
It's sad to see Barry Bannan has the same agent.
Regarding formation. saying 4-5-1 becomes 4-3-3 with the ball is complete nonsense. Firstly the type of player you play makes a difference i.e. putting strikers in the front three makes it more a 4-3-3 and vice versa. Secondly players have only so much stamina, you can't just run up and down the pitch all day doing the jobs of midfielder AND striker.
Regarding Barry - it really depresses me the number of fans who come on here talking about letting Barry go to cash in or to swap for another player. Do you really think we can sign a better player in his position? Well, all you geniuses, why do you think he wanted to leave then? Do you think if he was playing for say Spurs he would leave them to come to us?
Hello everyone.
Great performance from the lads at the weekend, it's a real shame that we couldn't nick all three points but I really enjoyed watching that greasy little turd Ronaldo struggle against the tenacity of mainly NRC (most of the time ending up on his arse !). HO HO
I really hope that we can continue with this rich vein of form and we really should turn Fulham over on Saturday. However, I don't think they will be the walkover that some expect. They have been playing some nice stuff under Roy Hodgson, but hopefully they will be too occupied dealing with our pace and power to pose us a serious threat at home...but we must be on our guard.
I would usually predict a draw but if we play a nice, confident passing game I feel we will be too strong for them so I'm going 2-1 Villa.
UP THE VILLA
Reply to AVMark:
Ofcourse he wouldnt, Spurs pay much higher wages....
I think we gonna struggle to get big name good players coming in that arent English. Man City gonna bid like crazy for the players they want in Jan, lets hope we can sneek some purchases quick or if we wait like usual we will probably bring in 1 or 2 last min buys
I would much prefer Owen over Podolski as you don't know how a foreigner will adapt to UK - also hopefully Owen is over his injuries. Unless we can have both. Curtis Davis deserves credit for being a steller professional. Reckon he has the potential to be England's best ever captain. I have no interest in Defoe - too much hit and miss
WICKED WICKED, JUNGLE IS MASSIVE
Its been a while since ive ventured onto this site, but the negativity still remains.
I thought he was brilliant against man u. Helped NRC keep ronaldo quiet and was my 2nd choice for Man of the Match after the aforementioned NRC. UTV
"as for milner - i hope he comes good, very good and i'm confident we'll see displays this season that will get people saying that £12mn. was cheap - my worry is consistency with milner. he's been playing in the premier league since 2002 and if he really was top 4 material, one of the top four would have had him by now .."
Damian, he IS at a top 4 team now