Karim El Ahmadi CONFIRMED (Reply #278)

[not3bad]

El Ahmadi said: “I have seen Villa a lot on television and, for me, it is a club who have good players.

“There are some top quality players here and some great players like Gabby Agbonlahor and Darren Bent, who are famous and fantastic players who I am looking forward to playing and training with.

“It’s a big team and a big club so I’m happy to be here.

“Villa Park is a special stadium and the training facilities are also brilliant.

“I had a good season in Holland but sometimes in life you have to make choices.”



Read more: http://www.expressandstar.com/sport/aston-villa-fc/2012/07/03/new-aston-villa-signing-karim-el-ahmadi-lured-by-star-names/#ixzz1zYSiuPG2

[VillaAlways]

Much as I agree that Given was a bad signing, I don't see how he can be labelled a bench-warmer.

However, I also remember him pulling off some fantastic saves last season and keeping us in matches when we really didn't deserve to be.

That fingertip save against the Albion was absolutely crucial

[not3bad]

Given was a bad signing?! Maybe he isn't perfect but isn't that taking things a bit far?

EDIT: One should also remember that retiring at international level can also give a player a boost at club level.  I certainly think it's helped the likes of David James not to be in contention any more.

[Concrete John]

Bearing in mind the rumours of Given being at Bodymoor around Jan 2011, I would question if he was a TSM signing or one the club had line up that he didn;t object too?

[OCD]

I think Given's actually on £40k/week, not £50k/week. However, as pointed out it was a 5-year contract given to a 35-year old so a crazy piece of business.

Given should be well regarded for making saves such as the one at Albion that was crucial in our survival. However, if PL deems it necessary to totally change the core of the team, I could understand why. What's done is done and we have to look forward to the future now.

[Hookeysmith]

I dont know about that. The season before we signed him he was one of the better attacking players in the league.
He has to get back on track this season though or he can do one. The McLeish leeway he (and most of the others) perhaps had last season wont wash now. He's playing under a popular manager and will be out on his ear if he doesn't make it happen.
On the other hand, if he does, what a player we have.

Spot on

There were times during a game last season where he (N'Zog) and a few others did not have a clue where they were meant to be playing and even when they did they were being barked at about marking and defending
Get this guy doing what he does well - attacking and running at defenders and i agree with Maz we could have a player more damaging to the opposition than the likes of Young in his prime.
Conversely as Maz says if he strops about too much he should be binned

[The Man With A Stick]

I can recall sitting in a hotel room in Tokyo reading the match thread from that Albion game, pressing F5 every two seconds absolutely bricking it, and someone saying Given had pulled off a wondersave that kept us up.  My only issue isn't with his wages though, it's the length of the contract. 

What I really can't understand is how it slipped through the net when we've supposed to have been making prudent signings to bring down the wage bill for the last two years.  It just goes to show how much of a joke our scouting network has been if Given was the best option available.

[Percy McCarthy]

I thought Given was a bad signing because I think he will prove to be one in time. He hasn't done so yet IMO and long may it continue. I just think he's very fragile but he only missed a few games last season so maybe he's over the long-term shoulder injury he had. I hope so.

The stuff about him not being dominant on set-pieces doesn't bother me, all we need to do to counter that is adopt a marking system that allows him to stay on his line to stop headers and shots, which is where his strength lies.

[olaftab]

Just waiting for an article by N'Zogbia in the papers, saying how he is looking forward to playing for the new manager. That is when it will be confirmed that he knows his place is in jeopardy.

He needs to do well this season especially after letting down the man who had faith in him to bring him to VP.

[Dave]

* As an aside, a while ago someone posted something from The Fiver about SG which was quite funny but summed up these weaknesses brilliantly. I'll try and find it.

My guess would be this one:

In his increasingly rare moments of clarity, the Fiver's drink-addled, pig-toting knobbly-stick-waving Irish cousin Theme Pub O'Fiver has a theory about Shay Given from the County Donegal. To borrow a phrase from his opinionated champagne-swilling brother in arms Eamon Dunphy, Theme Pub is prepared to concede that while Shay Given from the County Donegal is a good goalkeeper, he is not a great goalkeeper. It is a point of view that has earned poor auld Theme Pub the opprobrium and slaps of many compatriots who worship at the altar of St Shay of Given and will not hear a bad word said about the goalkeeper, who hails from the County Donegal.

What Theme Pub has noticed, albeit through half-open bloodshot eyes, is that Shay Given from the County Donegal has played behind some terrible defences in his time; terrible defences starring players who became a laughing stock when they played in front of Given, but strangely went on to resurrect their careers elsewhere, lining up in back fours that played in front of goalkeepers that conspicuously weren't Shay Given from the County Donegal. Yes, Titus Bramble – the Fiver is looking at you. And you Fabricio Coloccini and Joleon Lescott … the rest of you know who you are.

But while Given has been described by Roberto Mancini as "one of the five best goalkeepers in the world", he is not the best goalkeeper at Manchester City and has subsequently been shipped out. As is customary, no club that Jamie Redknapp would describe as "top top top top" has come in for him, so instead he has been sentenced to five years at Aston Villa for a fee believed to be in the region of £4m. It's a good bit of business for Villa, who have got themselves a goalie renowned as "a great shot-stopper", but whose ability to command his six-yard box is a mite questionable.

"Aston Villa is a huge football club and I'm really excited to be joining," said Given upon inking his contract, as you do. "I'm looking forward to training and playing with the players here. They're a good bunch of lads, very talented and I know several of them already which will help." Be afraid Richard Dunne and James Collins. Be very, very afraid. For that man in green anchored to his goalline not coming for that cross is Shay Given from the County Donegal.

[PeterWithesShin]

I'm coming round to PWS's idea that the manager should just sign whoever we want on H&V.

Is that what I really said Percy or are you taking what I said completely out of context regarding one player?

[villastikz]

I thought Given was a bad signing because I think he will prove to be one in time. He hasn't done so yet IMO and long may it continue. I just think he's very fragile but he only missed a few games last season so maybe he's over the long-term shoulder injury he had. I hope so.

The stuff about him not being dominant on set-pieces doesn't bother me, all we need to do to counter that is adopt a marking system that allows him to stay on his line to stop headers and shots, which is where his strength lies.

So what you are saying is to keep Given the defenders will need to do half his job for him so he can just stay on his line to cover up how bad he is at crosses and corners.

I really don't get how people can be happy with a keeper who can only do half the job a keeper is employed for.

[Risso]

I thought Given was a bad signing because I think he will prove to be one in time. He hasn't done so yet IMO and long may it continue. I just think he's very fragile but he only missed a few games last season so maybe he's over the long-term shoulder injury he had. I hope so.

The stuff about him not being dominant on set-pieces doesn't bother me, all we need to do to counter that is adopt a marking system that allows him to stay on his line to stop headers and shots, which is where his strength lies.

Uh oh, my Percysabouttostarttalkingaboutzonalmarking sense is tingling......

[Risso]

El Ahmadi said: “I have seen Villa a lot on television and, for me, it is a club who have good players.

“There are some top quality players here and some great players like Gabby Agbonlahor and Darren Bent, who are famous and fantastic players who I am looking forward to playing and training with.

“It’s a big team and a big club so I’m happy to be here.

“Villa Park is a special stadium and the training facilities are also brilliant.

“I had a good season in Holland but sometimes in life you have to make choices.”

Not happy about that quote to be honest.  Only seen us TV, why hasn't the lazy bugger been to see us in person?  Great players like Agbonlahor and Bent?  That's not going to do the young players' confidence any good is it?  Big team?  We're a huge team, thank you very much.  As for your good season in Holland, must you really keep going on in that O'Learyesque way about your old team?

FFS.

[pauliewalnuts]

El Ahmadi said: “I have seen Villa a lot on television and, for me, it is a club who have good players.

“There are some top quality players here and some great players like Gabby Agbonlahor and Darren Bent, who are famous and fantastic players who I am looking forward to playing and training with.

“It’s a big team and a big club so I’m happy to be here.

“Villa Park is a special stadium and the training facilities are also brilliant.

“I had a good season in Holland but sometimes in life you have to make choices.”

Not happy about that quote to be honest.  Only seen us TV, why hasn't the lazy bugger been to see us in person?  Great players like Agbonlahor and Bent?  That's not going to do the young players' confidence any good is it?  Big team?  We're a huge team, thank you very much.  As for your good season in Holland, must you really keep going on in that O'Learyesque way about your old team?

FFS.

Did you watch the interview video?

He pronounced Agbonlahor 'Ablooor'. Not being funny, but he can't have watched us much if he didn't notice how Gabby's surname is pronounced.