January Transfer Window - Rumours, Links, B*llsh*t and Made-Up Nonsense

[pablopicasso_10]

Can't wait to see what defensive midfielder Houllier will sign. Someone of Hamann's ilk would be good. Really solid but with a good range of passing and the ability spank in a long ranger.

I would be certain Houll's will be in the market for such a player.

that has cheered me up no end...

[Monty]

Can't wait to see what defensive midfielder Houllier will sign. Someone of Hamann's ilk would be good. Really solid but with a good range of passing and the ability spank in a long ranger.

I would be certain Houll's will be in the market for such a player.

that has cheered me up no end...

Me too, because Petrov needs to have the burden of defence taken off him. He's not really a defensive player at all, but he is to us what Fletcher is to United or what Abou Diaby is for Arsenal - a kind of 'keep things ticking over' player, keeps the ball on the move, not panicking or going for the Hollywood ball but making sure your team keeps the ball in areas where there's space, while also contributing to the odd final-third movement. The fact that he does this role from deep means he gets labelled as a defensive midfielder, but this is a little unfair because, while he is excellent at reading the game, making interceptions and one-on-one tussles, there is no way he should be expected to shoulder the defensive burden like a Makelele or a Yaya Toure.

[JJ-AV]

Flamini, Tarrabt and Benzema will do me for January ;-)

[Dante Lavelli]

If we can pay Harewood 30k to never play and Beye 40k to never play and Heskey 55k to sit on the bench,

Then we can sure as hell pay Micheal Owen 40k to come and score goals of the bench!

That's the problem, we can't afford to do that.

[Dante Lavelli]

Has Flamini been involved in Milan's opening games does anyone know? I wonder if he has an opinion on Houllier or has any experience of how he works .

Flamimi hasn't played in the first two games wasn't on the bench either.

I was watching a show on Milan the other night.  It was in spanish so I did not understand much but it was saying that Flamini is on $4.5m a year.  That's about $87k or £65-week.

Hmmm, I was actually expecting that to be a bigger number, however it is still a lot of money.  Do you think he would take a pay-cut to come to Villa? 

[Phil from the upper holte]

The thing is, as little as he's played at United - when he does start he scores more often than not.

And how many chances to we create in comparison to Man Utd?

The areas we need to improve in are still in the midfield. Gabby's an excellent lone striker, Carew, the Fonz and a fit Weimann all offer us something different. The fact remains that we still don't create enough bullets for the strikers to fire, so we still need to improve in that year.

I would actually say we are covered in the creative department now.

Ash, Downing, Albrighton and Ireland.

Find a way of getting just three out of that four firing and we'll be hard to contain. The problem we face is finding the right balance top get the best out of those talents which is where a genuine DM/ CM comes in.

Petrov is a tidy player, even capable of imaginative passing with the shackles off. But all too often his remit is to not give the ball away at any cost, so he has to play the most risk free passes he can.

I like NRC, like what he can bring to the side.  He has qualities and athleticism that none of our other midfielders can provide. But his limitations in other areas are well documented. And he is most likely on his way out at the end of the campaign anyway, when he runs his contract down. Personally I have no issue with that, as he hasn't always been given a fair crack of the whip.

But the onus is on us to source a replacement, someone who can do all the good things NRC brings to the table but also has a decent degree of control and technical ability too. I'm not taking about an Essien-type player  - with wages and transfer fees to match. Rather a Diame, Alou Diarra or Sissoko-type.

That and one top class forward (not Owen) and we'd be in really good shape. 

That bits sarcasm right?

[KevinGage]

Whats der big oidea with this 25 man squad caper?

I assume that any players signed in Jan would actually be eligible to play, otherwise there would be very little point.

Do sides have to name an updated 25 man list in Feb?

[VillaAlways]

Whats der big oidea with this 25 man squad caper?

I assume that any players signed in Jan would actually be eligible to play, otherwise there would be very little point.










Do sides have to name an updated 25 man list in Feb?

Alot of the PL have not named 25 I think we've only named 22 presumably to allow for additional signings in Jan

[TheSandman]

The 25 man squads named now last only until the 1st February.

[jonzy85]

I hope Houllier is able to attract some young French talent, however, if we do manage to get 1 or 2 in January the likelihood is that they will need time to adapt to the PL and probably wouldn't figure significantly until next season.

I would prefer ready made additions in January to supplement what is the nucleus of a good squad, albeit weakened by Milner's departure - Ireland being something of an unknown quantity in terms of what role he will have.

[Dr Butler]

for me in January (before the 3rd round of that cup we have not won for awhile) we need to get in:
Given
Flamini
Llorente(tough one I know)
add that to the 22 man squad already and we will be ok.

UTV
The Doc

[richardhubbard]

http://menmedia.co.uk/sport/football/manchester_united/s/1322046_villa_target_owen


Owen story wont go away

[PatrickVilla]

okay the Owen is a start but his golden years at the pool was  10 YEARS AGO !!!!

[peter w]

I'd like us to go for Owen.

[Duncan Shaw]

I'm not saying I would like us to go for Owen, but for those saying about the lackof creativity, a half fit Michael Owen (which is a mis-nomer I know) would have had a hat-trick last night.