Villa striker Emile Heskey retires...

[Concrete John]

No, in response to people saying he tried hard for England, I mean.

As an example:-

Don't remember Emile ever giving less than his best for his country; pity the same can't be said for the majority of his Engand team mates.

Thanks Emile, and good luck to you.

dont wish him luck, if he's lucky he'll play for us and we will stagnate more!

[pablopicasso_10]

i agree... he is one of THE worst players i have ever seen in a villa shirt...

You must be about 14 years old then.

31 actually...

i said he is "one" of the worst.... not 'the' worst...

[Villa'Zawg]

If it wasn't Heskey it would probably be Cuellar (there will always be at least one scapegoat). You can ask them to discuss why Cuellar finished last season as the 3rd highest ranked defender on the official PL stats and perhaps isn't as bad as they claim. The answer will be that he is shit and we definitely, definitely need a new left back.

I love how you've created your own brand new argument about Cuellar out of nothing, and then decided what other people will argue.  I can't even see why Cuellar being shit (which nobody has argued) would mean that we'd need to replace Warnock.  Oh well, carry on.

Sorry, I meant right-back.

I don't think it was too difficult to understand that I was making the point that some people will always strive to have a scapegoat. I wasn't simply creating a brand new argument.

Still, your response is what I would expect.

Have you ever actually looked up the meaning of the word scapegoat?

Have you ever looked up the meaning of the word shit?

[Concrete John]

Have you ever looked up the meaning of the word shit?

It says "see Birmingham City FC"

[Risso]

i agree... he is one of THE worst players i have ever seen in a villa shirt...

You must be about 14 years old then.

31 actually...

i said he is "one" of the worst.... not 'the' worst...

He's certainly one of the least effective strikers we've ever had.

[TimTheVillain]

To be fair to Ivanhoe, it wasn't his fault he was picked 62 times to play for his country.

Hope he's the first of a long list who retire now.

Lampard
Gerrard
Terry
James


Another 4 for starters.

[Bent Neilsens Screamer]

Can anyone point me in the direction af all these chances he created for his team mates in the last world cup apart from the first 5mins against the USA.

The crux of the matter is he has been very poor for Villa, he came in when we needed a goalscorer when everyone knew his record. It's ok in spouting that he's a team player, Villa don't have the players to take advantage of his 'skills' England do and they were still shit.

Not his fault he was picked but it's quite baffling that two highly regarded managers and planty more in the past hold him in such high etseem.

[Dr Butler]

Sorry doc, but a striker who does not score, injures our best defender forcing a cripple or shit scouser to play,forces gerrard from the role he is good at, keeps creative players from the team and generally is league one standard, holds back a team.

I think you may have to chalk that one down to Cappello, Unless Emile is picking the side now.

I don't remember Cashley getting injured........

[pauliewalnuts]

Then those people should have any difficulty explain why Capello chose to use him ahead of his other options. I've explained that I think it is because he is a selfless player who creates opportunities for his teammates. Why do you think he played in the England world cup team?

What possible relevance does what he does for England (which, let's be entirely honest, is hardly stellar either) have to what he does for Villa?

Where are all these opportunities getting created for his team mates at Villa?

The difference, I am imagining, between England and Villa in the way people are discussing him is that most of us spend a good chunk of our lives thinking about Villa, whereas we don't about the national team, so you can hardly expect people to say "well, he's been rubbish for us, but Capello rates him and he's been a bit better for the national team, so that's ok"

Regardless of what you think of him, or what I think of him, why can't you just accept that some people find him to be not very good, and take them at their word for it?

Some people spend a lot of time on here complaining about the Villa and the manager, they then use Heskey (for now) as a scapegoat to support that opinion.

Some people who aren't that keen on the manager, also aren't that keen on Heskey. It's really that simple.

Again, I'll ask you, if Heskey is a scapegoat, we're blaming him for someone else's deficiencies, so who is that person?

[pauliewalnuts]

i agree... he is one of THE worst players i have ever seen in a villa shirt...

You must be about 14 years old then.

31 actually...

i said he is "one" of the worst.... not 'the' worst...

He's certainly one of the least effective strikers we've ever had.

I'm 42 and he's certainly one of the worst strikers I've ever seen play for us.

[Olneythelonely]

i agree... he is one of THE worst players i have ever seen in a villa shirt...

You must be about 14 years old then.

31 actually...

i said he is "one" of the worst.... not 'the' worst...

He's certainly one of the least effective strikers we've ever had.

I'd agree with that.

Nowhere near the worst player I've seen in a Villa shirt. Not even in the top ten.

[Risso]

i agree... he is one of THE worst players i have ever seen in a villa shirt...

You must be about 14 years old then.

31 actually...

i said he is "one" of the worst.... not 'the' worst...

He's certainly one of the least effective strikers we've ever had.

I'd agree with that.

Nowhere near the worst player I've seen in a Villa shirt. Not even in the top ten.

Same here, we've had a lot worse, he's probably not even the worst player O'Neill has bought (coooee Mr Shorey!) He has his strengths, it's just that we needed someone to score goals.  When you want goals, a "defensive striker" is the last thing people want to watch at VP.

[Villa'Zawg]

Then those people should have any difficulty explain why Capello chose to use him ahead of his other options. I've explained that I think it is because he is a selfless player who creates opportunities for his teammates. Why do you think he played in the England world cup team?

What possible relevance does what he does for England (which, let's be entirely honest, is hardly stellar either) have to what he does for Villa?

Where are all these opportunities getting created for his team mates at Villa?

The difference, I am imagining, between England and Villa in the way people are discussing him is that most of us spend a good chunk of our lives thinking about Villa, whereas we don't about the national team, so you can hardly expect people to say "well, he's been rubbish for us, but Capello rates him and he's been a bit better for the national team, so that's ok"

Regardless of what you think of him, or what I think of him, why can't you just accept that some people find him to be not very good, and take them at their word for it?

Some people spend a lot of time on here complaining about the Villa and the manager, they then use Heskey (for now) as a scapegoat to support that opinion.

Some people who aren't that keen on the manager, also aren't that keen on Heskey. It's really that simple.

Again, I'll ask you, if Heskey is a scapegoat, we're blaming him for someone else's deficiencies, so who is that person?

His selection for England has relevance to the opinion that he is a shit player, which is what he was being called.

Some people who aren't that keen on the manager, say that they always said Heskey wasn't going to be a good signing and they have been proven right. Those same people also said the same about players like Dunne and Collins but would rather not discuss that in quite as much detail.

I don't take issue with people who aren't that keen on him or think he isn't a very effective striker, I take issue with people who glibly declare that he is shit.

[pauliewalnuts]

Am I alone in actually thinking Shorey is a decent player?

[LeeB]

Where's the hatred of which you speak anyway?  A lot of people think he's a shit footballer, so what?  I can't see anybody tearing into him as a bloke.  I don't suppose he loses any sleep over the fact that people on the internet think he's shit while he earns his £3m a year, so I'm not sure why you're being such a big kid about it.

That Risso talks shite, but I'm sure he doesn't mind me saying it as he rakes in shitloads living in a tax haven.

Aww, you didn't do your hilarious wickerman insult.

I didn't mean it as an insult, just a joke. I apologise if it touched a nerve.

PM me if you need me to send a dinghy.