posted Jan 28, 2008

Villa or Spurs for Woodgate?
Interesting... both two good teams in premiership
which one is better though!?

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posted Jan 28, 2008

If his decision to go influences Cahill to stay I shall be very pleased.

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posted Jan 28, 2008

"what is MoN doing" - nothing. he can't do anything, mellberg's contract expires in the summer. the only thing he could do is sell him now for £500k, which would be silly as you wouldn't get anyone for that.

villa have cash, so makes sense to use him for the rest of the season and look for a new rb in the summer when the ridiculous january inflation will have died down.

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posted Jan 28, 2008

He's been quality for years for us, will be sad to see him go. All the best to him

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posted Jan 28, 2008

Ollie has earned the right to do this, and by committing to the end of the season will not be leaving us in the lurch.

Cahill is a non-issue. He is an averagely good player who did a good job when we needed him. We all remember his fantastic goal against the bluenose scum, but his partnership last season with Ridgewell gave me heart palpitations. We have Laursen, Davies and Knight at CB. If two are injured we can cover (for the time being) by bringing Mellberg inside and playing Gardner RB, or bringing Bouma inside (he has played there before) and playing Barry LB.

I think MON has been very clever: he knows that we can sell Cahill at above the odds during the January window, whilst he can sign a better CB in the summer once Ollie has gone.

I still have total confidence in MON, and I would like to thank Olof Mellberg for his years of dedicated service to our club. Let's hope he leaves on a high!

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posted Jan 28, 2008

It's going to be a shame to see him leave, he's been a great player through the seasons.

It's also nice to see the Villa fans not getting nasty about his departure like so many fans do these days. Mellberg got a great send off from the Holte against Blackburn in case it was his last match and I'm sure he'll get one every game until he leaves.

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posted Jan 28, 2008

Ah well, one of my long-standing dream team players, solid defender who I'm not too sure you're going to be able to replace all too easily let alone for less than the odd £6 million or so. Good to see many deserved goodwill messages for him from you all - for me he's been your one solid player at the back for many years. Good luck at Juve.

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posted Jan 28, 2008

Best of luk too ollie. Has been a fantastic player for us. Just a regret he has no silver ware to take with him. Fingers crossed he helps us into europe as one last final flurish. Going to be hard to replace.

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posted Jan 28, 2008

I don't blame Mellberg for leaving. He's been one of our consistantly best players for a couple of years. I'm expecting a flourish of last minute signing from MON.

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posted Jan 28, 2008

With Mellberg going at the end of the season, Cahill off to either Bolton or Blues, Villa are going to be even weaker come the Summer.

Hope MON does have replacements lined up. Can't stand another Summer like the last one.

It'll drive most Villa fans totally nuts if come August Villa have bought sweet FA and anither season looming with yet again the smallest squad in the Prem.

Europe is a must I feel.

I think our whole pre-season will depend on it. Fail (as is the likely outcome) and MON can say what he wants but the club will find it almost impossible to attract the kind of players we will need to sustain a credible challenge next season.

We can but hope now that the squad is strong enough to see out this season. Any more injuries and suspensions though and it's going to get tougher to match Everton, Blackburn and Man City.

Forget CL. We would be so exposed trying to compete in that particular competition I think we'd be embarrasssed, like Everton were a few seasons back.

Uefa Cup will be good enough and difficult enough for this present Villa team.

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