Nearly men again

[hawkeye]

That quote in full:

"It's a club that according to me has belonged between seventh and 12th place in the Premier League.

But, above all, it's a historic club which has won the European Cup. It's a club which has got good infrastructure and a fine team which is after one thing - to improve year on year."

yes that was the first interview, he has continually repeated the 6th 7th to 12th 13th

[hawkeye]

Where does he "keep saying it"?

sorry you are right, he has never said it, never repeated it on every interview on radio 5 bbc sky or in news paper interviews, i made the whole thing up

[dave.woodhall]

I'm just asking where he keeps saying it "in every interview," that's all.

[hawkeye]

I'm just asking where he keeps saying it "in every interview," that's all.

Dave, i am sure that other posters on here that watched soccer saturday on sky yesterday will confirm that he said it again and in between the interview that you quoted he has said the same thing on at least 3 occaisions, you can choose to believe me or not.
I dont understand why he needs to keep saying this and as recently as yesterday.

[ROBBO]

Once you get into a mindset of midtable it becomes acceptable to be beaten by those above you the expectation is that you will get beat so that's okay. The premiership hasn't been this even for a long time Chelsea aside most clubs are beatable, Man U, Liverpool are not what they were, Arsenal are not unbeatable
unfortunately we have lost the spark of two years ago and we badly need to get a few good players in. I thought in the second half we outplayed the opposition but we really need a captain with a hard edge to him a bit of a nasty bastard, we are really just too nice.

[taylorsworkrate]

The thing that pisses me off is that the likes of Everton manage to hold onto their best players, when they're in no better position to challenge than we are.  You don't see Cahill or Arteta wanting to move on, though either of those could move on to one of the top four if they wanted.  What is it that they're doing right and we're doing wrong?

That is an excellent post.  A question that needs answering.

[villa for life]

I have often wondered this... the fact that Cahill and Arteta have been there for years is a real credit to the club. They seem to be able to get players to renew even when they are reaching the end of their contract and go anywhere for free (Saha).
Could it be that they have a real togetherness down at Everton, partly due to their intense hatred of their bitter rivals, Liverpool?

[ROBBO]

Cahill and Arteta would be welcome additions at Villa but i wouldn't expect any of the top sides to be that interested.

[Dante Lavelli]

Arteta would grace every team in the Prem.  The only reason he hasn't been tapped up in my opinion is because he seems to have one bad injury a season. 

Cahill is too one dimensional for the top teams.

Culturally I do not think we're that different.  They lost Lescott to Man City too remember.

[Dave]

The thing that pisses me off is that the likes of Everton manage to hold onto their best players, when they're in no better position to challenge than we are.  You don't see Cahill or Arteta wanting to move on, though either of those could move on to one of the top four if they wanted.  What is it that they're doing right and we're doing wrong?

That is an excellent post.  A question that needs answering.

Because Milner was a better, younger, more important player than either so they wanted him rather than Arteta or Cahill.

If Man City waved £150,000 under the nose of either of them they would off in a flash. Just like Lescott was.

[Concrete John]

Arteta and Cahill may still be there, but has anyone approached them with ridiculous offers yet? 

They sold Rooney and Lescott, we sold Barry and Milner.

They still have Cahill and Arteta, we still have Ash and Gabby.

It's pretty much a non-argument for me!

[Mister E]

Three points:
1. Yes, we are in a rut along with a number of other clubs; and I think we would have been anyway if MON had stayed. The difference is that if Houllier uses his talents and contacts to the full we will get better and rise above many of the current peers. Although I will suspend judgement on GH until after January, he potentially can make the difference, I believe. Oh, and don't start calling me a Houllier-acolyte: I'm sanguine enough to recognise that he has limitations.
2. GH is bound to try and manage expectations by saying 7-12th. He's also said that this is a club that should be punching its weight in the top 5-6.
3. Regarding the Everton situation, Everton's foreign stars (Arteta, Cahill, etc) have stayed; their English stars have been poached, as ours have been. I believe it's partially becuase teams need to improve their English quotient and are doing so by plundering the clubs with good player-development, like Villa.

(And, yes, I recognise that Arteta can qualify to be "English" by dint of residency.)

[Ads]

Its very early in the season and the league hasn’t settled down yet. I think we’ll be in touch till January where we’ll be able to bring in a midfielder, Deplh and a striker. The problem we’ve got at the moment is Gabby being out injured and having never got his season going. Gabby will guarantee us more than 10 goals per season, just as he always has done and if you look at games like the weekend and Chelsea and you think somebody of his calibre would have had a much better chance of sticking the chances away.

Hopefully he’ll be back on Sunday, as we miss his pace and his goals.

[darren woolley]

I must admit i am feeling down after the weekend but i think GH will come good for us in the end.

[Dante Lavelli]

With regard to Everton, has Pienaar signed his contract extension yet?
I think his contract expires at the end of the season, so he is clearly playing the same game as Young but the problem is more severe (for everton).