If it's adebayor or bust - yay or nay?

[brian green]

Just my thoughts. I think with Kozak champing at the bit and Ayew nowhere to go but get better and infinitely better attacking play than last year our goalscoring looks okay to me. The curse the team as a whole is carrying is defensive dopeyness and a complete no show of the winning mentality the manager promised us.

[old man villa fan]

Just my thoughts. I think with Kozak champing at the bit and Ayew nowhere to go but get better and infinitely better attacking play than last year our goalscoring looks okay to me. The curse the team as a whole is carrying is defensive dopeyness and a complete no show of the winning mentality the manager promised us.

The answer is a nasty, irritating, snidey b****** in midfield.  It has always been the answer.  You only have to look at the teams outside the usual top 6 or 7 an ask yourself why are they doing well when they do not have good players.  The problem with Villa is that we have never really gone down this route.

[Pat McMahon]

Just my thoughts. I think with Kozak champing at the bit and Ayew nowhere to go but get better and infinitely better attacking play than last year our goalscoring looks okay to me. The curse the team as a whole is carrying is defensive dopeyness and a complete no show of the winning mentality the manager promised us.

The answer is a nasty, irritating, snidey b****** in midfield.  It has always been the answer.  You only have to look at the teams outside the usual top 6 or 7 an ask yourself why are they doing well when they do not have good players.  The problem with Villa is that we have never really gone down this route.

Agreed - Neale Cooper springs to mind but that was 30 years ago. I can't remember fans of other teams saying that they feared player X at Villa because he was a dirty sod. Just remembered, Allan Evans had a temper on him in his earlier days too.

I have been saying for a while we are a physically small team - Westwood, Delph, Cleverley, Grealish, Gil and even Gana all seem physically smaller than the majority of midfielders, Sanchez being the exception. In contrast, players like Medinak at Palace seem like giants.

[old man villa fan]

Just my thoughts. I think with Kozak champing at the bit and Ayew nowhere to go but get better and infinitely better attacking play than last year our goalscoring looks okay to me. The curse the team as a whole is carrying is defensive dopeyness and a complete no show of the winning mentality the manager promised us.

The answer is a nasty, irritating, snidey b****** in midfield.  It has always been the answer.  You only have to look at the teams outside the usual top 6 or 7 an ask yourself why are they doing well when they do not have good players.  The problem with Villa is that we have never really gone down this route.

Agreed - Neale Cooper springs to mind but that was 30 years ago. I can't remember fans of other teams saying that they feared player X at Villa because he was a dirty sod. Just remembered, Allan Evans had a temper on him in his earlier days too.

I have been saying for a while we are a physically small team - Westwood, Delph, Cleverley, Grealish, Gil and even Gana all seem physically smaller than the majority of midfielders, Sanchez being the exception. In contrast, players like Medinak at Palace seem like giants.

I remember Cooper's debut (think it was his debut) in a pre-season 'friendly' up at Celtic.  He was not popular before the game kicked off, even less during the game!

[john e]

Just my thoughts. I think with Kozak champing at the bit and Ayew nowhere to go but get better and infinitely better attacking play than last year our goalscoring looks okay to me. The curse the team as a whole is carrying is defensive dopeyness and a complete no show of the winning mentality the manager promised us.

The answer is a nasty, irritating, snidey b****** in midfield.  It has always been the answer.  You only have to look at the teams outside the usual top 6 or 7 an ask yourself why are they doing well when they do not have good players.  The problem with Villa is that we have never really gone down this route.

may have been true in the 70's but I don't think its the case today

the only 'snidey bastards' that spring to mind of recent days are Cattermole and Joey Barton both of whom might have made a difference in certain games but would have also cost us in the times they were inevitably got sent of

the games moved on, you cant just go around fouling and kicking people anymore, there has to be some control with strength, I suppose Sanchez and Hutton are the two for us who would put their foot in

[brian green]

I wish somebody had told Notts County that.

[Dante Lavelli]

Just my thoughts. I think with Kozak champing at the bit and Ayew nowhere to go but get better and infinitely better attacking play than last year our goalscoring looks okay to me. The curse the team as a whole is carrying is defensive dopeyness and a complete no show of the winning mentality the manager promised us.

The answer is a nasty, irritating, snidey b****** in midfield.  It has always been the answer.  You only have to look at the teams outside the usual top 6 or 7 an ask yourself why are they doing well when they do not have good players.  The problem with Villa is that we have never really gone down this route.

Not necessarily disagreeing but who would be that person in Swansea/Southampton/Palaces's teams?  Them being the clubs which I think are over achieving.

[passitsideways]

Just my thoughts. I think with Kozak champing at the bit and Ayew nowhere to go but get better and infinitely better attacking play than last year our goalscoring looks okay to me. The curse the team as a whole is carrying is defensive dopeyness and a complete no show of the winning mentality the manager promised us.

The answer is a nasty, irritating, snidey b****** in midfield.  It has always been the answer.  You only have to look at the teams outside the usual top 6 or 7 an ask yourself why are they doing well when they do not have good players.  The problem with Villa is that we have never really gone down this route.

Not necessarily disagreeing but who would be that person in Swansea/Southampton/Palaces's teams?  Them being the clubs which I think are over achieving.

I think it's simply about quality and some degree of physicality, rather than being a pure bastard like Dennis Wise. I suppose Ki/Shelvey/Cork are all big lads; Schneiderlin/Wanyama and even Clasie (he's small, but from what I've seen of him he's not one to take lying down); and Cabaye at Palace, for all his technical skill, can do some underhanded stuff as well - like him kicking Grealish around at Selhurst a few weeks ago. But each of those guys can play, and that's far more relevant, I'd say.

For us, Gana looks good for it, and hopefully Veretout will be as well. Sanchez shows signs of promise, but his passing can be erratic and he tires after 60 minutes. Westwood is a useful option, but he needs to be confined to three-midfielder setups. Then there's Gardner, and who knows how he'll shape up. If we're going to play 4-2-3-1, Gana and Sanchez are probably the best options for now, but I'd hope for either improvement by Sanchez or Veretout/Gardner making themselves a legitimate option.

[ktvillan]

The Villa squad is full of goals. The problem is staring us in the face in neon letters ten feet high. We are making too many stupid defensive mistakes and giving away too many soft goals. We need a good goalkeeper ten times more than we need Austin or Adebayor. When we have got a goalkeeper of Premiership standard we need a right back.

Agreed, individual defensive mistakes have thrown points away against Palace, Sunderland and Leicester.  We constantly seem to shoot ourselves in the foot from such errors,  and add to the pressure by committing avoidable offences in the danger zone.    It's idiotic the way some of our players do that.  There are a few repeat offenders too, mainly Clark, Guzan, and for all his attacking contribution, Amavi has dropped a few bollocks as well.  Bacuna just looks generally ropey in defence and everywhere else.  A new keeper and RB would certainly improve things but that's perhaps a little unfair on Hutton, who hasn't done much wrong.  Ultimately though you need the  manager to protect the defence once the goals have been garnered.  Sherwood seems rather inept at doing that, or even at seeing it as a requirement.

[old man villa fan]

A new keeper and RB would certainly improve things but that's perhaps a little unfair on Hutton, who hasn't done much wrong.

The problem with Hutton is that he cannot defend when the ball comes in from the opposite flank.  I do not know whether it is because he gets caught ball watching.  The number of times he lets players get goal side of him is not good.