brummie

Dawson's shit. I' say he's only 4 times better than Zat Knikght. Knight won't be near our first team this year, though, that's the difference. He's our fourth choice CB. King is lame, so unless you sign someone in the next two weeks, you're stuck with Dawson as first choice CB.

Honestly, how fucking shit is Dawson? Here's a clue, Spurs - when your midfield is staffed with pansy pretty boys who look like they'd cry if you gave them a nasty look and they allow pressure to be put on your defence, jokers like Dawson are the absolute last type of player you want to be relying on. Same old same old.

kingdawson - if you need a cb, maybe MON will let you have Knight now we've got Cuellar.

And when did Stoke move to the North West? Anyway, there's no room in football for players with confusingly similar names. This Faye and Faye business is irritating. I'm only just over the two Gary Stevens.

Champions - don't care Champions League - don't care Surprise package - Middlesbrough (seriously) or Wigan Going down - Hull, Stoke, Fulham.

It is good he gave a British player a debut rather than buying someone in from the wealth of nations out there. Not a single taker? Not even a wry nod of appreciation and a small chuckle? Disappointing.

It is good he gave a British player a debut rather than buying someone in from the wealth of nations out there. Not a single taker? Not even a wry nod of appreciation and a small chuckle? Disappointing.

I bet he flops.

It is good he gave a British player a debut rather than buying someone in from the wealth of nations out there.

There's a "banter" site for most PL clubs. Pile of shit. I fucking hate that word. Banter, not shit. It makes me think of that monkey-walking, gloryhunting cunt Tim Lovejoy

Nor are defenders by the looks of it. Or strikers.

It's all relative but I wouldn't say Stoke is in the 'South' i wouldn't say Stoke was in the 21st century, to be honest.

That's actually not true. Agbonlahor is useless out wide and didn't play there last season. He did the season before, but last season he played up front with Carew. One thing worth mentioning is that our coach is John Robertson, one of the best crossers of the ball ever. He did a pretty good job helping Ashley Young improve his crossing, I would imagine the plan is for him to do the same with Milner.

I'm amazed Alan Shearer hasn't copyrighted that "look"

^^^ to be honest, if there was one Liverpool player I'd be interested in as part of an exchange, it would be Benayoun. RM is definitely the most important position for us to fill, though. We can make do with the strikers we have until January if need be, but last year the RM slot was comical, Petrov drifting in to the centre and falling over NRC at every opportunity .... Having said that, I'm miles happier than i was this time last week, I'd like him to improve the squad a fair bit more before the window closes, but he's heading in the right direction. He's an incredibly, incredibly frustrating manager in the transfer window, though. I'd try to explain just how frustrating, but I'd struggle.

Yet again, they seemed to have signed a number of players without markedly improving themselves. Year-in, year-out the same thing happens, and again they'll finish 3rd at best. To be honest, I still think they'll finish 4th by some way, and I think Keane and Torres will work well together, but they don't look in any where nearer to challenging for the title. The top four becomes more and more the top two plus the next two. I'll also say - and I really mean this - that, even putitng to one side their nefarious behaviour this summer, if Barry left for Chelsea or Man United, or even Arsenal, I wouldn't blame him, but Liverpool ......

Liverpool are looking good tonight aren't they? *nonchalant, whistling emoticon*

Forcing Liverpool to act. In the next 22.5 hours? I don't think even Loans4U will turn around an application that quickly.

Incidentally, MON has said on R5 tonight that Barry has "asked to play tomorrow" in the UEFA Cup. Make of that what you will.

To be honest, I can't remember a Villa player in 30 years who has made me as undecided as Gabby. Sometimes, he does things which make me think he's potentially got it all, then he'll have spells which make me think he's really not got it. I'm not alone on that front, it is a relatively widely held viewpoint. We do need something different up front, though. We scored more goals than almost everyone last year, but they were spread through the team, we need a striker with a better goal rate than those we have now. It is quite exciting at the moment. More than anything, I want the progress to be sustainable, and so far the signs are that it will be. We've still got a lot to do this window, mind.

Petrov certainly hasn't. Most disappointing. Maloney hasn't really been given the chance yet. That Gattuso bloke did alright for himself after a spell in Scotland, mind.

Sorry, just picked up on the Boumsong reference, wasn't referring specifically to you, but to the other mentions of him. True, Cuellar could flop completely, but so could anyone. He looked pretty good in the UEFA cup last year, and I think as one of our options at CB he'll strengthen us considerably. Cuellar isn't a replacement for anyone, we had three centre backs, and one of them is long term injured (Davies, although making his way back soon apparently), it is a move to strengthen the squad. We'd pathetic small numbers last season, we were really lucky with injuries. That won't happen again this season, and we're also going to have to play UEFA cup matches, we desperately needed strengthening. Sidwell is a totally different player to Barry, it is hard to see how he'd have been bought to replace him. Barry's still there, yes, he might stay, he might not, but I think it is unfair to say we've not strengthened because we've lost Barry (when we haven't) and replaced him with Sidwell (which we haven't).

Bouma is a better player than Shorey, but his right foot currently points in the wrong direction, hence the need for another LB. When Bouma comes back, we'll have two LBs instead of one at the club. The other obvious improvement is that we now have a right back. Mellberg did ok there defensively, but was awful coming forward. We've now got Luke Young to play there. If you can find me a single Villa fan who thinks Mellberg is a better option at right back than Luke Young, I'll eat my metaphorical hat.

Don't see it personally. Sidwell is a step down from Barry and Cuellar will be at best an able replacement for Mellberg, at worst Boumsong 2.. where have they improved? Friedel looks to be the only improvement. Sidwell isn't a Barry replacement, though. Mellberg has been on a downward slope for 3 years now. He's a hero to us, but any Villa fan will tell you his best years are gone. He also played the entirety of last season at RB, so I don't see how Cuellar replaces him. Calling Cuellar Boumsong 2 is a bit harsh. He's come from the SPL and he's a foreign defender, does that mean he's shit as well?

I actually thought we were pretty good to watch going forward last year, Young and Agbonlahor breaking from midfield. I know we scored a lot of goals from free kicks, too, but lest we forget, only Man United (and maybe Spurs) scored more goals than we did. You don't go to Stamford Bridge and score four goals without having a go, although that match highlights what our main problem was last year - keeping clean sheets. Second half of the season, we paid for Carson's Croatia nightmare in practically every match, we didn't keep a clean sheet for months and months. If we'd have had a decent goalkeeper, quite a few of those draws would have been turned into wins. Also, re Barry - he's not pivotal to us. A lot of opposition fans tend to take the "he's their best player" route because they just assume he is. He might be our highest profile player, but he went missing for big chunks of last season, and Young, Laursen and Bouma all had better seasons than he did. If he goes, he'll need replacing, but I'd be far more worried if it were Young going.