Summer 2013: Villa Transfers, Speculation, Suggestions and Rumours

[MoetVillan]

so many good things about Ash, but injury has curtailed his time at United.  I did hate the 90% of free kicks he put in row G.  The ones that went in were fantastic though, and i loved it when he played out wide and was given license to go at defenders.  Playing him just off the striker was a poor decision.  His tracking back was immense. (The polar opposite to Nzog)  And he always played 100% effort.

[eamonn]

It's a real shame that Petrov was thriving under McLeish thanks to the licence to get forward he was given. Something absent since his days at Celtic. He scored a few crackers last season. That ability as well as his calming influence would have seen us comfortably top half and probably above the Baggies and Swansea this season in my opinion.

[eamonn]

£10m for Bent and Bannan with Phillips coming our way in return. Let's do it.

[Steve67]

Palace can have Bent for ten mill.  If they take Bannan as well, they can have Bent for ten mill.  We'll throw Bannan in as the driver.

Seriously though, Bent scores goals. He signed a contract. I don't care if he has to sit on the bench.  We may need him if Benteke gets injured.  Personally, I'd keep him.

[Mazrim]

Bent is no back up player. Get decent money for him then go and buy the next big thing for when we inevitably let Benteke go. I don't think Palace is a goer though and especially working with that fucking baldy little Worzel.

[Salsa Party Animal]

 If Palace come up say 13 milions pounds bid for both BAnnan and Bent. I would chuck in Stephen Ireland for free.

[damon loves JT]

Anyway, palace have got £150 million. We all know this to be true, it's not just a number Sky picked out of the air or anything.

[Toronto Villa]

Palace can have Bent for ten mill.  If they take Bannan as well, they can have Bent for ten mill.  We'll throw Bannan in as the driver.

Seriously though, Bent scores goals. He signed a contract. I don't care if he has to sit on the bench.  We may need him if Benteke gets injured.  Personally, I'd keep him.

if we have any hope in completing the deal and Bent arriving at Palace alive then we don't want to throw Bannan is as the driver.

[Slaphead]

It's a real shame that Petrov was thriving under McLeish thanks to the licence to get forward he was given. Something absent since his days at Celtic. He scored a few crackers last season. That ability as well as his calming influence would have seen us comfortably top half and probably above the Baggies and Swansea this season in my opinion.

This pisses me off because I swear it was MON who changed him as a player and made him a defensive side ways passer, he did the exact same to Reo who at West Ham would run box to box. MON had an obsession with ruining players, if you want a defensive midfielder then buy one, you don't buy an aeroplane and use is as a boat!

[villan from luton]

To be fair to MON, Stan was playing piss poor in the advanced role

[OCD]

It's a real shame that Petrov was thriving under McLeish thanks to the licence to get forward he was given. Something absent since his days at Celtic. He scored a few crackers last season. That ability as well as his calming influence would have seen us comfortably top half and probably above the Baggies and Swansea this season in my opinion.

This pisses me off because I swear it was MON who changed him as a player and made him a defensive side ways passer, he did the exact same to Reo who at West Ham would run box to box. MON had an obsession with ruining players, if you want a defensive midfielder then buy one, you don't buy an aeroplane and use is as a boat!

MON's training methods led to the players not being as fit as they should have been (as Di Canio subsequently found). So Petrov soon became some one who could no longer go box to box and had to become a defensive midfielder. Houllier started the work on improving his fitness but it was only when he had a full pre-season under McLeish that he got back to a place where he could get forward and back. Blimey, something McLeish actually got right.

[paul_e]

Petrov was often the scapegoat as some rightly pointed out we needed better then we had in central midfield if we were going to push on from 6th place under MON.  That doesn't mean he was a poor player or underperformed, just that those sides we were trying to catch and compete with had better in that position.  He had a dodgy first season, but after that was a good player for us without being spectacular - one of those you only really appreciated when he wasn't there!

I don't remember him being a scapegoat at all. I remember people pointing out his flaws, though, which is not the same thing at all. In fact, I can also remember the players he played alongside getting plenty of stick, too.

Petrov was poor for at least his first year. He constantly needed more time on the ball than he was ever going to get in this league - he was a second or two behind play on a frequent basis, and it was frustrating to watch.

He eventually adjusted, though, and did very well for us. I thought the last year he played for us was his best.

Good players do that in time, if they need to, they adjust. I suspect Vlaar will do the same for us, too.

Perhaps scapegoat is too strong a word, but he often seemed to be the player most wanted an 'upgrade' on in transfer threads, depsite being one of our most consistent performers.  I think some people were a bit slow to recognise what he brought to the team after that poor start to his Villa career.  Probably because they expected the rampaging attacking midfielder he was at Celtic.

My issue with Petrov was always that he wasn't fit enough to play the way he wanted to.  He was a big part of the reason we looked fucked after an hour every week.

EDIT: OCD beat me to it by a matter of seconds.  I agree the training, particularly in the summer, was a big part of the issue.

[claretandbeer]

It's a real shame that Petrov was thriving under McLeish thanks to the licence to get forward he was given. Something absent since his days at Celtic. He scored a few crackers last season. That ability as well as his calming influence would have seen us comfortably top half and probably above the Baggies and Swansea this season in my opinion.

This pisses me off because I swear it was MON who changed him as a player and made him a defensive side ways passer, he did the exact same to Reo who at West Ham would run box to box. MON had an obsession with ruining players, if you want a defensive midfielder then buy one, you don't buy an aeroplane and use is as a boat!

I

MON's training methods led to the players not being as fit as they should have been (as Di Canio subsequently found). So Petrov soon became some one who could no longer go box to box and had to become a defensive midfielder. Houllier started the work on improving his fitness but it was only when he had a full pre-season under McLeish that he got back to a place where he could get forward and back. Blimey, something McLeish actually got right.

Agreed.In MON's last season Petrov looked finished,seemingly overweight and unable to track opposing midfielders.Under Houllier he seemed leaner and was definitely fitter and amazingly I was singing his praises under TSM ,whereas I had written him off 2 years earlier.

[Dante Lavelli]

so many good things about Ash, but injury has curtailed his time at United.  I did hate the 90% of free kicks he put in row G.  The ones that went in were fantastic though, and i loved it when he played out wide and was given license to go at defenders.  Playing him just off the striker was a poor decision.  His tracking back was immense. (The polar opposite to Nzog)  And he always played 100% effort.

I actually think that is why he's not done so great at Man U.  They're often so in control of games that the "tracking back" bit which helped Villa so much and boosted his profile was not required by Man U.  In most their matches they just need a show pony to beat a player and put a decent delivery in which is why Nani looks good for them.

[ciggiesnbeer]

Twitter bollocks saying we are in for Zouma. I will cling on to that for a few hours.