posted Nov 9, 2008

I've just watched the highlights on Match of the Day. You can tell by the way Alfonso Alves shoots that he wants to miss. The police should open a file on him, and look out for big money transfer from Russia or the Far East...

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posted Nov 10, 2008

comment by Tyrone-Villan (U13085368)

The reason we're not a top 4 club is because of O'Neill? Quite possibly the stupidest post I've ever read

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Tyrone - have you noticed any similarity between the style of play at Villa and that of the current top four?


No, me neither.

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posted Nov 10, 2008

That is why we will not be top 4 team this year. The only person resposible is MON. It is't up to the fans to criticise the players because O'Neil trains and picks them
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The only reason you are challenging for a top 4 spot is because of MON. He is a fantastic manager and has done wonders to Villa making them more consistent and turning them into a quality team. A few years ago it was Spurs, Everton, Villa and City supposedly challenging for the top 4, look at it now only Villa are genuine contenders. That is all down to MON.

During the summer G.Barry wanted to go to Liverpool, MON valued him at 18mill. He refused to budge from that price and then put a deadline on the deal for Liverpool. If you look at how Spurs behaved with Berbatov and Villa with Barry you can see how important MON is to the club. He has kept a vital part of the team as without Barry i think you would have struggled this year. He has brought in some fantastic players like Young, Carew, Davies. He has signed Friedel who will be a solid player for the next year or 2 but then will probably be kept on as a goalkeeping coach passing on valuable info to the up and coming keepers at Villa.

This season MON knows that in order to challenge for that top 4 spot and to have a few decent cup runs he needs to use the whole squad. If you look at the teams he has put out this week he has done that. They got a good result in Prague and were very unlucky against Borough, you cant blame MON for those defensive mistakes. I dont think Villa will break into the top 4 this year but if you stick with MON it will only be a matter of time in my opinion.

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posted Nov 10, 2008

This is the best Villa side since we won the league cup in 95/96, possibly since the first premiership season of 92/93. However, there are still deficiencies. Yesterday was down to stupid individual mistakes at the back, and not making up for them going forward. I think generally it is unfair to compare us to the top 4. Yes that is the stated goal, and we are one of the teams closest to them, but Villa is not Liverpool, or Manchester United, or Chelsea or Arsenal. As Villa fans we should be careful about not expecting too much, because that's how you get into a mess like Newcastle. That doesn't mean I don't want Villa in the CL, just that I'm realistic. Where we are, we will have a bad patch. It normally comes around Christmas but this year it's now. The scheduling hasn't helped becaus if the toon game had been on the sunday and boro today it would have given us a much better chance.

Having said all that, and believing we need to support the players, I would add I think we need another proper striker to replace Gabby in the team. He's quick, and has served us well, and to some this might be sacrelidge, but he doesn't score enough for me.

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posted Nov 10, 2008

how about some praise for the boro for a change? we're on a good unbeaten run, we're 8th in the league, we just turned over the only team supposedly capable of breaking the top 4 this season - away from home as well, and alves' sitter aside it was probably our best performance all season.

it's the same everytime, boro get a "surprise" win and it's suddenly the losing teams fault, rather than boro just playing pretty well.

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posted Nov 10, 2008

I just read back a few posts. I can't believe people are criticising O'Neill! Are you mad? Look at his predecessors. Would you rather have O'Leary?, Taylor? I literally shudder to think about their regimes! Martin O'Neill has given Villa new life, and if we start to get on his back after 2 poor defeats (punctuated by a good UEFA cup win I might remind you) then the world has cometo something. It's only O'Neill fault if you blame him because we have too many games because he got us into Europe. That's a good thing in my eyes. Sure, I think that the premiership is the priority, but I actually think that another year finishing 5th or 6th and playing UEFA cup football would do Villa good, in preparation for a chance at the Champions League and the stresses and strains that that will bring.

Don't blame O'Neill for this, he's the best manager we've had for years.

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posted Nov 10, 2008

Villa in Cyprus maybe we don't play like a top 4 side because we have nowhere near the players, money and resources that they have

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posted Nov 10, 2008

Torontored, you sound like another red fan who is sore about not having Gareth to hold Stevie G's hand!

We had a bad couple of games, MON admits that....this is not what Rafa would do....like Fergie, they would both throw their toys out of the pram and blame everyone else.

Have faith in MON Villa fans....

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posted Nov 10, 2008

Looks what's crawled out from under the woodwork?

Why it's the poisonous specimen from Cyprus!

Ughh!

Squelch!!

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posted Nov 10, 2008

I dont know how we lost to a team like boro, disgraceful! Yet it was defensive issues, it must be said we should beat those teams 3-0 easliily at home!

hopefully we can lift ourselves up and get results against the gunners and the reds. Show that't we're a top four challenging side

up the villa!

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