TRon

I read in a couple of papers yesterday that the asking price for the club is £250m, which if true means Ashley must have dropped his valuation to a realistic amount. Hopefully that's true and he will sell up and clear off pronto. If he's not going to run the club in a proper manner there's no point in hanging around while Dennis Wise wheels and deals with what he's got. I can see more harm than good in that.

So your counting on Owen and Martins to hold up the ball in the final third? Shola doesnt do it brilliantly but theres no one better who's available. if the ball isn't 6ft in the air owen does it a lot better Even so, the times that Owen has played with Martins they have hardly proven effective without Viduka in tandem. It just seems unnecessary to change a winning team to accomodate one player especially if there are doubts that it will even work.

So what you are saying is basically go with reputation rather than form and results?

Although he's a "mentally unstable 50% Asian bloke" I think it's only fair to point out he's also 50% English geordie lass, mentally unstable or not. In fact his dad used to go to Rutherford School on the West Road as it happens, it's a technical college or something now.

I think the point in having a manager is to pick sides to win games not keep Owen happy. Anyway, I'm sure he'll be back in the side soon enough, what's the hurry?

Have Villa actually made any official comment about racism or is this all this stuff still being "reported" second hand?

a resteraunteur in Beaconsfield apparently.

It could also be the case that he wasn't saying 'big lips' but was in fact saying 'big tits', as I'm sure lip-reading experts will confirm. If that's the case he should be chucked out of the game for good as many women have issues with the size of their breasts, making this a clear case of sexism if not racisim...and possibly both.

Barton doesn't exactly keep his head down does he? If he keeps giving sticking his head above the parapets he's eventually going to be shot down. What exactly would you prefer he do? He's always been a player that intimidates the opposition, it's a massive part of his game. He wouldn't be the Joey Barton we bought from Man City without it. The fact is no matter what the lad does he'll get raped in the press for it. He can't win. That's bollocks tbh. No one is going to stop him playing aggressively within the rules...all he has to do is make sure he doesn't transgress them. This incident being blown up out of all proportion is a good thing IMO. I doubt anything will come of it and it might serve as a wake up call to Barton that he needs to keep his nose cleaner than clean. Even the slightest dribble of snot is not going to go unnoticed.

I doubt Villa are going to pursue this, they are just keeping the pot cooking to make a point. Seriously though, Barton has got to realise that he can't afford any more slips. Not even the slightest insignificant one if he wants to continue playing football at Newcastle.

If Owen comes straight back in it had better work or there will be hell on. I haven't seen much evidence yet that Owen and Martins work that well together and dropping Shola would be a big knock to his confidence. Obviously a player of Owen's class will come back into the side at some point, but why not wait until either Martins or Ameobi have a bad game?

I expected a smear campaign but I didn't think they would go to these lengths.

As long as any player is earning their right to the shirt, no way do they deserve to lose it if they've played a part in the revival.

Was thinking the same thing......it's OK to grab your opponent by the Crown Jewels, but not this. It's all about who did it .... and Barton's behaviour really is under the microscope, being held to much higher standards than other players because of his past. You only have to go back to the Arsenal game, when Barton had just come on as sub and made a hard but fair challenge on Samir Nasri winning the ball, only for Nasri to retaliate with a trip in open play. What did the TV heads focus on.....the Barton challenge that they thought was too aggressive even though replay showed he won the ball cleanly. Did the retaliatory trip by Nasri get any real focus? Nope, just Bartons challenge. I thought that wa a far heavier challenge studs up than the one he got penalised for yesterday. Joey needs to channel his aggression because like it or not he's an easy target. Everyone is looking for even a minor slip and no one outside of Newcastle is going to do him any favours.

Duff is being played more for what he offers going backwards rather than forwards. In any case we have 3 left wingers, we could do a genuine right winger. A real one, not another plank like Milner.

Is the "close friend of Given's" a tottenham player by any chance?

Duff's still not actually delivering end product, but to be fair, he worked his socks off and rarely lost posession last night. He's just about keeping his place at the moment but he really needs to stay wide and go at the full backs with more conviction.

in the second half he took control. semed to be first to everything in the middle. loads of little prompting touches that we've missed since rob lee/gary speed. however i still wish he'd be a bit more expansive and try and join the forwards now and again. in the first half nicky butt was left trying to get forward as barton sat too far back, even taylor at one point had to get in front of them as neither took the chance. Part of the reason why we can't contemplate a side without Martins at the moment. With no central midfielders breaking into the box we need forwards who can fashion their own chances. While Barton shows signs he can orchestrate the midfield I would love to see him getting forward more.

I fancy us to win this. We are set up to counter attack quite well at the moment with two wingers and Martins pace so we should be able to get results away from home.

If the rumours of a couple of serious buyers for the club being in for January is true, I would imagine they'll have a manager lined up who will come in immediately - my gut feeling is it will be Shearer. JFK's deserved the job til the end of the season but if he's released I am sure he'll get a decent job somewhere, and no one will deserve it more. Wanting the job when other cunts like Venables and Hoddle were turning their nose up...loving the job and driving the squad to play like men...you have to take your hat off IMO. He's taking this chance with both hands.

He played well tonight and scored the goals - but 'best player at the club' he definitely ISN'T. When he has scored 20 goals a season for at least 2 seasons(provided he has been fit) THEN you can start making those sort of claims ; he isn't even the best STRIKER at the club Owen is, and has the International goals to go with it. At 24, he should be almost the finished article. I don't really give a shit if he's the fiinished article or not, he just sunk Villa with his 3rd goal in two games so those of us who were making his case are vindicated. At least more so than those who were comparing him to Franz Carr a few pages back. BTW that doesn't mean he's a world class striker all of a sudden, just one of the best we've got and thank fuck he's here.

It was nice to see Martin Laursson getting rattled and knocked about for a change. Usually he has our centre forwards in his pocket all night.

Having Owen breathing down their necks will make know they have to keep earning their place as well.

I think I'm probably going to read every single page of this thread when I get the time at some point.

If Butt and Barton are going to sit as deep as that in future games, it's difficult to see how you are going to drop either forward atm. They don't really gel as a pair but individually they cause havoc among opposition defences even without much support from midfield. If Owen had played last night instead of Oba would Laursen and Cuellar have had such a rough time?