brummie

Mad as a pint of cake. Good player in there, but quite possibly too fooking mental.

Same. I think he looks quality, but then I think "midfielder, did well in lower leagues, did well for a spell when first in the PL with an overperforming promoted club" and this flashes up in front of my eyes: http://www.free-football.tv/content_images/steve_sidwell.jpg

Good point. It's because they're used to being a special case at Man United with the world owing them something. Bruce's whingeing today was quite unbelievable - Sunderland could always have said no, like they did in the summer. That line about "the deal was done in less than 48 hours which tells you all you need to lknow about how much contact there was with the player", too. So, Sunderland negotiated the sale of, and got the best price for, their best player in the space of 48 hours? Of course they fucking didn't, we were talking to them for two weeks putting the deal together. If he was wondering until Sunday why the player didn't seem right, he might have asked Quinn and Short what they thought, or they might have revealed they were negotiating his sale. Behind his back by the looks of it. Potato headed bell-end.

And Robbie Keane is 1/5 to be playing for us, which i find very hard to believe.

Mutch replacement? Dunno, different type of player. Maybe Buckley will go inside? Also interested to hear from brummie how decent/not decent Andreas Weimann is. He's very, very highly rated indeed. Austrian lad, played for us this season away at Rapid Vienna - his boyhood club - got a pretty bad injury, but he's a very promising player indeed. Hope he gets some run outs for you

Bruce has previous with us (obv) from his spell with Blues, so most comment about him is about his sad whingeing face, hence the chants of "sit down potato head" every time he emerges from the bench at our place. He's a bit of a comedy character for us and has been ever since that incident with him getting into a fight and copping a black eye from Lee Hendrie (who had been tupping his daughter)

And http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc6/hs023.snc6/165337_493581757307_727062307_6178216_870285_n.jpg

Steve Bruce said just now "Well, the whole deal was done in 48 hours, and you think Bent didnt know?" So, hang on, the deal was done that quickly with Sunderland, but they didn't know themselves till Sunday? The whole thing completed that quickly? Niall Quinn obviously knew about it last week, why didn't he mention it to Bruce? And as for that "boo hoo Houllier didn't even call me" thing, that's just too pathetic for words.

We have three problems. 1. Create lots of chances, but can't score. 2. Central midfield lightweight, which adds more pressure to: 3. Iffy defence. Bent will hopefully sort 1, Makoun will help with 2 and 3. Walker has already helped the defence, but we're still a little fragile. Makoun is the more important signing IMO, if it comes off. He will help settle the team and cover the defence. Once you have a solid foundation, you should pick up points and score a few goals (with Bent). Makoun signed last week - five million euros. I knew you had signed him, i meant if he's any good in this league. Ah, got you. Yes, the words "Djemba" and "Djemba" have sprung to mind a bit recently.

Carew talking to Stoke about a loan. Farewell, big John. You were quite a handful for three years. Then you stopped bothering. Won't find much worth fucking up there, mind.

Gabby Bent Young Makoun Petrov Downing ?? Friedel Walker - Cuellar - Collins - Clark Makoun - SomeoneElse Downing - Young - Albrighton Bent Is what I reckon he's thinking of. I can't see him dropping Albrighton, so have no idea where that leaves Gabby. EDIT - that SomeoneElse will almost certainly be Fabian Delph, come to think of it.

I don't know, but I do have a sneaking feeling Houllier doesn't fancy him. I'd give him a shot here alongside Carroll, although I'd imagine you's would still demand quite a fee? He's still got four years or so on his contract, I think, and enough people seem to rate him highly for him to attract a decent fee, although to be honest, a big part of me thinks "Luke Moore" every time I see Gabby

The main problem is the centre of midfield not being strong enough and putting pressure on the back four. That, and Warnock having been a nightmare for almost 12 months now. Against Man United, we started with Jonathon Hogg (who most VIlla fans had quite literally never heard of until this season) and Barry Bannan in the middle. About 3 starts between them. I see... looking at your squad the only midfielders I'd presume to have some bite going for them are NRC and maybe Petrov (does he still have legs?). Aren't you playing that boy Clark in the middle too? Clark has played in the middle at times, and done very well (him, Gary Gardner and Albrighton are the three youngsters I have highest hopes for). He's been playing at LB recently instead of Warnock NRC is out of contract in the summer and will be moved on, and Petrov doesn't have the legs any more, really.

I don't know, but I do have a sneaking feeling Houllier doesn't fancy him.

That's 235 times. This morning.

Saw Bannan in the Scotland friendly last year. Looked very good, although it was against the Faroes. Oh, don't get me wrong, he's a very promising player - the goal involving him and Albrighton at Fulham was a beauty - it's just that, ideally, you wouldnt pitch him (5 ft nothing) and Jonathan Hogg in the centre against Man United.

The main problem is the centre of midfield not being strong enough and putting pressure on the back four. That, and Warnock having been a nightmare for almost 12 months now. Aren't Liverpool looking to sign Warnock? Surely he's no better than Konchesky and Aurelio? Bet you're laughing if he goes. I read one of their forums last night. "Thank god, he's got to be better than Konchesky". Errr, sorry, no, he's not, not on his form of the last 12 months.

The main problem is the centre of midfield not being strong enough and putting pressure on the back four. That, and Warnock having been a nightmare for almost 12 months now. Against Man United, we started with Jonathon Hogg (who most VIlla fans had quite literally never heard of until this season) and Barry Bannan in the middle. About 3 starts between them.

We have three problems. 1. Create lots of chances, but can't score. 2. Central midfield lightweight, which adds more pressure to: 3. Iffy defence. Bent will hopefully sort 1, Makoun will help with 2 and 3. Walker has already helped the defence, but we're still a little fragile. Makoun is the more important signing IMO, if it comes off. He will help settle the team and cover the defence. Once you have a solid foundation, you should pick up points and score a few goals (with Bent). Makoun signed last week - five million euros.

We have three problems. 1. Create lots of chances, but can't score. 2. Central midfield lightweight, which adds more pressure to: 3. Iffy defence. Bent will hopefully sort 1, Makoun will help with 2 and 3. Walker has already helped the defence, but we're still a little fragile.

If it's rising to over 24 million though (which is what quinn said) then I doubt it realy matters as long as there garenteed to see the money, it's not like there near bankrupsy and need every penny they can get this instant. They're only guaranteed to see 24m if targets are reached. Those targets will be things like avoiding the drop (which we will do), qualifying for the CL, him scoring x number of goals etc etc. Basically, all things that we'll be happy to pay for. If you take out the add ons, we've paid 1.5m more for him than Spurs did in 2007, and since leaving them, he's had a consistent 1 in 2 record.

re that statement from us. That's clearly about Bruce's comments yesterday about DB having had his head turned a while back. So if it turns out we'd been talking to them about Bent prior to Sunday - which we seem to be saying is the case - then I reckon there's a good chance Sunderland did the deal without telling Bruce it was happening. If that's the case, that's a bit off.

I bet this goes down a storm on RTG http://www.wsc.co.uk/content/view/6390/38/

Football's like that. We were all gutted when we lost Milner (and some of us Barry, too). Bruce is gutted to lose Bent. Now he'll go to Wigan and buy N'Zogbia and Rodallega, who will in turn be gutted. It is all very hypocritical