brummie

Honest question. Does anyone really, seriously think there is any chance Berbatov will sign for Newcastle? Given what he has said (his agent said, but there must be truth in it) about Spurs in the last couple of days? Incidentally, FWIW, I'd have thought a Charlie Big Bollocks, arsey, petulant teenager of an overpriced striker would be the last thing you need at the moment in any case.

He's a very good player already, to be fair. And you say "disappointed again" - when did he last disappoint? Well I don't think he's a very good player just yet, he's good don't get me wrong and has lots of potential but he's by no means the finished article. I see many similarities with our own N'Zogbia who is overhyped by some. By disappointing I don't mean in that he's played badly again, just I always feel he has a lot more to give and doesn't always produce what he can. Take the Spurs game for example, he was being doubled up on for one half then in the latter stages of the second half he just had Jenas to contend with, but rarely took him on or took advantage of things. I think he over does it at times too, tries one trick too many. However he is still young and learning. These 'bad habits' though often bed in with young players and are hard to eradicate from their game if allowed to go unchecked. I hope he goes on to become an all-rounder though because he has the potential and god knows England could do with such a player, not that you'd be bothered about that mind That sounds a bit like finding something to criticise him for for the sake of it, tbh. You say he was disappointing against Spurs, but he still stuck that free kick on Mellberg's head for the first goal. On Saturday, he beat two men, got to the byline, and from a nigh on impossible angle / position managed not only to get a cross in, but to stick it straight on Agbonlahor's head for our winning goal. What I see is a player who makes everybody in the stadium stand up when he gets the ball and runs at people. He's the best crosser of the ball we've had in donkeys years - I'm sure being trained by John Robertson (now, there's a man who knew how to cross a ball) for the last year has had something to do with that, and I am sure he will get better still. On the downside, you're right, he might try one trick too many at times, but that is surely a pretty minute criticism. One thing I do know is he's supplied the ammo for countless goals this season, is great to watch and worth every penny we spent on him.

11th. Half the season with the relegation-bound squad O'Leary left him, though. We were the last team to be beaten across all leagues at the start of the season, had a bad run in the middle, then finished with a 9 match unbeaten run. All managers have bad runs, though. i was going to pm you this actually. can you see any similiarities with us and you last year? i.e did your fans have a period where they didnt like MON (maybe on the winless run?) or have you always been behind him. i think you underwent a similar mass change to us last year (board change, coach change, player change) and i can honestly see us doing what you have this year and kicking on next season. thoughts? Yes, there are definite similarities. We went through something last year very similar to what you are going through. Also don't forget the fact that, like us, you have also gone through a regime change - everything at the club will be changing this season, from top to bottom. That might not effect things on the pitch directly but nonetheless, the whole club will be in flux. We had quite a lot of moaning, too. Don't forget, in our piss poor patch, we were flirting with relegation spots. Anyone would moan in that situation. The argument that kept coming up, though, was that we'd moaned for years that the club was a fucked up basket case under Ellis, and that nothing - nothing - was right there, so it shouldn't have been a surprise that things didn't go exactly to plan in the first year. We also had weird tactical fuck ups, the team booed off the pitch at half time, MON's team selections which bemused everyone, but for better or worse, you just have to put your trust in the manager to get it right over time - you just have to give him that time to succeed or fail. Get shot of him now and he can justifiably say that he didn't get time. Give him time and if he still fucks up, then get rid of him, but not before.

I'm aware of this line of argument, and there is some validity in it, but to be honest, I don't really care what he has done in the past, just what he is doing at the moment.

11th. Half the season with the relegation-bound squad O'Leary left him, though. We were the last team to be beaten across all leagues at the start of the season, had a bad run in the middle, then finished with a 9 match unbeaten run. All managers have bad runs, though.

MON only does training on a Thursday (usually), Steve Walford and John Robertson handle the day to day training.

He's not annoying, he's ace. When he's your manager, I mean, I imagine otherwise it could be irritating. I love his enthusiasm in the technical area, light years away from that impassive pug-nosed waste of skin O'Leary. As someone else on here pointed out, though, Sky and the BBC have developed this tendency to show his reaction EVERY time we score, and intersperse all our games with shots of him jumping around like a monkey on speed during the match. He's mental, and he does some infuriating things (Marlon, Zat), but the positives massively, massively outweigh the negatives, and I fucking love him. I just wish he'd be more relaxed about spending the money he has got.

I suspect we have already had ours - 1 point from 9 from the start of December. Or was it 1 from 12? Can't remember, but it was a dodgy spell.

My apologies I must have mistaken you with someone else I don't think there's a Villa fan alive who'd describe Marlon at 4m as a good move. I also think that includes MON these days, too.

Carew has had two spells of injury. We've been lucky though, you are right. Our new training centre, which apparently cost a fortune, has probably had an effect on keeping injuries to a minimum. However, you could also say that you've got a deeper squad to be able to handle injuries. If we had 3 or so players out, we'd actually struggle to name 11 starters and 5 reserves without calling up nobodies from the stiffs.

Still think Harewood at 4M? is a good business? No I don't. We bought Harewood in the summer, which I described as shit.

Our squad is far too small - by some way the smallest in the PL. Any Villa fan will tell you that that is our main problem at the moment. Fortunately, the window is open. We just need to have one of the quality of the last January window rather than the shit one we had in the summer.

Thought he was ok, really. Didn't notice him to be fair, which is probably a good thing. Every foul we commited resulted in a yellow card but you lot commit the exact same foul and he just gives you a warning. Every 50/50 went your way to but tbf you lot deserved the win. My criticism of him would be that he failed to spot your penchant for taking free kicks either with the ball stilll moving or absolutely miles away from where they were supposed to be taken (Huddlestone did this several times). I thought he was ok, by and large.

Have to agree, for quite spells in the game I thought Villa were poor. More disconcerting was that almost throughout Spurs were worse. The only surprises were that the score was only 2-1 and Villa took so long to get the winner. Maybe the saving grace is that Ramos and Poyet have accepted it was crap irrespective of the close scoreline and their threatening wholesale changes. I know there at least 2 players that Ramos wanted who Levy has decided are too expensive even though Ramos and Comolli were ok with the fees. The three of them have a meeting in the morning, I'm hearing Ramos isn't in the mood to be fobbed off!! One thing I would say about Villa. I think they're a more complete team than Man City, I can see Villa finishing in 5th ahead of Everton and City and it wouldn't surprise me if they finished ahead of Liverpool as well. Been impressed most of the season. Fair play to Paul Robinson today, by the way, engaged in some good banter with the Holte End, took it all in good heart and gave as good as he got.

Thought he was ok, really. Didn't notice him to be fair, which is probably a good thing.

Honestly, what a cock. Spurs are the only team who can break the top four? Maybe breaking the top half might be a more suitable aim at the moment?

Laursen has an uncanny ability to lose his marker from corners. Obviously, against Spurs, I could lose my marker nine times out of ten, and I wouldn't even have to put my drink down.

Albion have this weird liking for taking fees when it suits their tax liability. There was a similar deal for Kusczak with Man United. Basically, there is no way we can legally get out of paying that for Davies, we just don't give it to the dirty Tesco Bag wankers until next summer. The deal is done. Where's he been for the last few months? Injured? Came to us without having played since March or something. Was injured, then came in for the Leicester CC match in which we was awful (but in fairness, so were the whole team), then Knight got the shirt and kept it. As i said elsewhere, MON has said a few times that Davies is a long term signing and that he expects him to keep the shirt when he gets it, and I suspect he will. He was very good today.

Keane is quality.

Albion have this weird liking for taking fees when it suits their tax liability. There was a similar deal for Kusczak with Man United. Basically, there is no way we can legally get out of paying that for Davies, we just don't give it to the dirty Tesco Bag wankers until next summer. The deal is done.

I think you'll win this one. City away from home are a bit pish tbh, and you're due a result soon. I may even back this assertion with bookmaker interface.

He's a very good player already, to be fair. And you say "disappointed again" - when did he last disappoint?

Excellent work from Agent Ridgewell in possibly putting Tevez out for our cup match on Saturday. That boy has done great work for us since joining the six fingered ones.

Oh, I forgot to say, extra clueless stuff frm the Spurs fans tonight, singing England's Number One at Robinson in one breath, then in the next singing about how Carson let his country down against Croatia, clearly forgetting the performance of the aforementioned in his appearance against Croatia.

MON said ages ago that once Davies got the shirt, he expected him to hold on to it. He was excellent on Saturday and good again today. I see him and Laursen in central defence now. Harsh on Mellberg, but we need a proper right back. I'm a fan of his, he has been with us for, what, six mostly s*** years, he's very popular, but I wouldn't blame him at all if he took up this offer from Juventus at the end of the season. Don't you think that if you got a right back that Laursen and Mellberg would be a phenomenal pairing though? Yes, I do, but I think Mellberg will be off in the summer in any case, so it probably makes more sense to leave Davies there. Laursen is a little bit like *crosses self* Paul McGrath in that it doesn't matter who plays alongside him, he is so good. Even Zat Knight (who I think is a toilet of a player) has looked pretty solid alongside him.