Heroes & Villains, the Aston Villa fanzine
Heroes & Villains => Heroes Discussion => Topic started by: Rip Van We Go Again on April 06, 2011, 02:41:31 PM
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sportinglife.com
Veteran midfielder Robert Pires is determined to help repay Gerard Houllier's faith in him by helping Aston Villa stay up.
It has been a season of struggle for the Midlanders and they sit just two points clear of third-from-bottom West Ham with six league fixtures remaining.
The capture of the 37-year-old former Arsenal man was seen as a gamble by the ex-Liverpool manager, although his experience has proved a useful addition.
Pires is grateful for compatriot Houllier for giving him another shot at life in England's top-flight and he is now as determined as ever to help them finish the campaign on a high.
"I really appreciate what Gerard did for me," he told the Daily Express. "It was a gamble. But I will make it a winning gamble.
"The challenge now really excites me. There are still plenty of fixtures before the end of the season and we plan to finish on a real high.
"It's amazing for me to be at such a club, with such a reputation. I am honoured the manager and the board thought of me and wanted me.
"The most pleasing thing for me is the fact they never mentioned my age. They just wanted me to show what I can do and give the team my experience.
"Gerard told me my experience was important. It was the perfect situation for me.
"The supporters aren't used to seeing their team near the bottom. I want to ask the fans to have confidence in the team. We need them. They need us too. Together we are stronger."
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Has there ever been a football who's talked so much yet offered so little? Does he give daily press conferences or something?
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There are still plenty of fixtures before the end of the season and we plan to finish on a real high.
Let's just hope they do aswell.
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I d completely forgot about him !! But maybe he may come up with that one piece of genius that will win a game for us
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Shit. Only six league games remaining, according to Sporting Life. What happened in the Newcastle game, did we win?
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Shit. Only six league games remaining, according to Sporting Life. What happened in the Newcastle game, did we win?
No, we lost, so sacked Houllier and appointed Roeder to keep us up. Where have you been?
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Shit. Only six league games remaining, according to Sporting Life. What happened in the Newcastle game, did we win?
No, we lost, so sacked Houllier and appointed Roeder to keep us up. Where have you been?
Don't even joke about it mate!! Just don't! That would be nightmarish. Well...more nightmarish than the current situation anyhow.
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I thought he was good against Blackburn , shame GED didnt start him against Wolves ..
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The only way he can help us stay up is to pretend he is injured for the rest of the season.
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Has there ever been a football who's talked so much yet offered so little? Does he give daily press conferences or something?
I think he's keeping his doors open with the media and fancies himself in a bit of a Ginola role once he hangs them boots up
You watch he'll be on Coach Trip before June
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Pay Houllier back? Cheque please.
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Would love to know how much we have paid Pires and what that equates to in £ / per minute played
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I thought he was good against Blackburn , shame GED didnt start him against Wolves ..
Agree. He hasn't let us down in the last few outings he's had. It's not his fault he doesn't get picked very often or that we are in the shit. Just don't understand some of the stick he gets. Unless it's for his "running".
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Pires is a waste of a nice, cushy seat on the bench. The sooner we see the back of him, the better. He offers NOTHING to the team... well, he offers an expansive midfield to the other team, but nothing to the Villa.
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Pires is costing bugger all, he is on a low salary with appearance bonuses. He's had his uses.
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Just play to your standard 2002-2004 in the next few games for us. Alright, that would be asking too much, 50% maybe. That would still be enough.
Create something, score a goal or two.
That'll do.
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Pires is a waste of a nice, cushy seat on the bench. The sooner we see the back of him, the better. He offers NOTHING to the team... well, he offers an expansive midfield to the other team, but nothing to the Villa.
He is past it, yes but I disagree. That is like saying [a no longer in active service] General Krulak would bring NOTHING to a Marine force out in, say Libya. Of course he would.
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Pires is costing bugger all
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??????????
Surely he gets paid? What would he be on? 10K a week?
What about the chauffer driven Merc is that free as well?
These bugger alls add up, look at Salifou we must have spunked 2 million on his wages over 4 seasons
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I'd be guessing but I'd say we're paying him around £25k per week plus match time bonuses, plus his travel expenses. After all, weren't other clubs in for him ?
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Redditch and Blythe Spartans I think
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Maybe someone can put me right, I may be talking from a standpoint of ignorance but I'm lead to believe that the manager wants his players to move closer to the club and that this is his beef (amongst other things) with Warnock.
Then why is Pires afforded the luxury of a daily commute. I appreciate that he is only on loan but surely he could stay up here for part of the week at least?
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Maybe someone can put me right, I may be talking from a standpoint of ignorance but I'm lead to believe that the manager wants his players to move closer to the club and that this is his beef (amongst other things) with Warnock.
Then why is Pires afforded the luxury of a daily commute. I appreciate that he is only on loan but surely he could stay up here for part of the week at least?
He's not on loan,he was a free agent who we signed on a 6 month contract.Maybe it's because it is such a short time he hasn't insisted on him moving
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He's said more sensible, positive things in that article than 99% of other footballers do.
Let Bobby be our Allback just for one day (Has it come to this? Answer: Yes.)
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I'd be guessing but I'd say we're paying him around £25k per week plus match time bonuses, plus his travel expenses. After all, weren't other clubs in for him ?
I thought i remembered him saying around christmas (i may be imagining it) that if he didn't find a new club in Jan he would hang up his boots. That to me suggests he wasn't looking for a large pay packet. People were talking about his benefit to the youngsters aswell, that must be worth something i suppose.
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He's on £10K a week plus playing bonuses. He was excellent against Blackburn in the two games so he's had something of a positive influence on the pitch and has hopefully helped our young players. Beye and Warnock get £40K per week for doing fuck all and being a disruptive influence. We are paying Carew and Ireland for playing for Stoke and Newcastle respectively. We pay Dunne and Collins handsomely and continue to play them despite the fact they put in dreadful performances and act disruptively. Petrov and Heskey take to a pitch in anger for us even less regularly than Pires for considerably more money.
I simply cannot fathom why Pires continues to get it in the neck. There are players and people at the club far more deserving of it than he is. Did Pires give himself his contract? Did Pires pick himself on the bench and loan out our young players like Hogg and Bannan who could have taken that place? It's not his fault he struggles to run either. The stick he gets is simply ludicrous if you consider the tens of people who are more deserving of stick than him who take more from our club and give less. It's not like he is negative in his numerous interviews with the press either.
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I thought we were giving all of the above mentioned players pelters too
Theres pages and pages of it
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he played well against Blackburn whoppee shit.
How about the Arsenal game and the wolves game when he was so slow running that it looked like he had shit himself.
I don't blame Pires at all I blame our wanker of a manager who obviously rates him higher than BB.
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I thought he meant he was paying his wages back.
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I simply cannot fathom why Pires continues to get it in the neck.
/quote]
Here's your answer.
he played well against Blackburn whoppee shit.
How about the Arsenal game and the wolves game when he was so slow running that it looked like he had shit himself.
I don't blame Pires at all I blame our wanker of a manager who obviously rates him higher than BB.
He was signed by Houllier, and everything the manager does is wrong by default. See also Crouch and Sir Graham.
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pires is the kind of player who could prove vital to unlock stoke, wigan and newcastle at home and if he does so and helps us to survive then maybe people will give ged a bit of credit for once .
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That sums our season up
Relying on a washed up 37 year old to save us from relegation
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Eastie agree, but if you play Pires you have to weigh up the downside aswell ie. slow on the ball, cant tackle, head or track back. He's a luxury player, can we afford to play him ahead of a Delph or an Albrighton ?
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We may need pires to unlock the likes of Stoke and Wigan and he still has that quality if he performs as against Blackburn, I think he will play a part in our home games , I don't see him competing against albrighton as they are different positions .I would go with
Friedal
Walker. Dunne. Cuellar. L young
Delph. Makoun
Pires
Downing. Bent. A young
Against Newcastle.
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That's too weak in central midfield for me - we need either NRC or Petrov in there!
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Makoun and delph should be ok against Newcastle John, I agree with nige and makoun away from home but we need creativity at home and pires just may be the man to thread those balls into bent with ash and downing out wide, Newcastle are no great shakes and with Nolan out we should be too strong for them.
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We'd still be facing an in form Joey Barton with no specialist defensive midfielder in there - I can see it going quite wrong.
NRC, Makoun & Delph for me!
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Disagree, makoun can play a holding role or a box to box role , he has both in his locker, id have no qualms with reo-Coker or delph , but I feel pires will be the key to unlocking them and can thread the balls that bent thrives on , put ash and downing wide of bent and I think we would have lots of attacking threat and makoun and delph , or nige and makoun to hold the midfield, Barton is a good player but we can't be afraid of him, we should be playing to our strengths and let them worry about us.
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I understand your reasoning, but where I differ in opinion is that playing Pires is playing to our strengths.
As for Makoun, I think he'll be a good player for us, he's too new to the PL to be relied on as that midfield shield just yet, especially when playing with someone who's legs have gone and a relative rookie.
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Pires is undoubtedly past his best but I saw enough in his display against Blackburn to suggest he still can be a big player for us in home games against the lesser sides, I just hope we revert to ash out wide rather in the hole again.
Makoun is versatile and will be a huge asset , he can play varied midfield roles and is a good signing , he needs to adjust to this league and once he has done will be great for us.