Someone emailed in and pointed out that as of today we have eight players in the Actim Top 100 and you know, when you can only play eleven, that's not a bad return and should be something that is praised.

I started to shake for a moment then, so much so that I've even created a new section where statistics are going to go in future and this is the first post of the new statistics section and we will be adding to this twice a week.

So, seeing as Actim is a popular way to get rankings and seeing as the are used in our fantasy football game, we are going to look a little more at statistics over this season, or that is what I'd like to do, we will have to see if it actually happens.

Aston Villa Players in Actim Top 100

• 20th: Gabby Agbonlahor - 121 points
• 44th: James Collins - 98 points
• 50th: Brad Friedel - 93 points
• 55th: Ashley Young - 86 points
• 61st: Carlos Cueller - 82 points
• 82nd: James Milner - 75 points
• 83rd: Richard Dunne - 74 points
• 94th: Stan Petrov - 69 points

Top 10 Keepers

• 5th: Brad Friedel

Top 10 Strikers

• 10th: Gabby Agbonlahor

We don't have any players in the team of the week or team of the season yet but it's still early doors. This could all change and in case you were wondering, those numbers above are for the season so far, so we will be updating this each week as and when the numbers change, but it's not bad going so far.

Comments (104)

Subscribe to this comment's feed

Chiefy said:

... Damian -- in answer to your question i would give Oneil this season and another 2 (5year plan anyone) then a proper assessment of what the club has achived can be made as per the plan in place, to change mid way through the plan makes no sense at all unless the club would be in danger of religation, which is not going to happen. I want it and want it now generation makes supporting a football team hard work

Comment 1, made on September 29, 2009 at 11.55 am

Chiefy said:

... 8 players in top 100, that should be all of them sack Oneil !!!!!

Comment 2, made on September 29, 2009 at 11.57 am

Damian said:

... Chiefy okay - this isn't the place to be discussing this, but i'll just answer. after, if you want to continue this, can we do it in the forum? you refer to this 'want it now generation' but that is what football is these days. not because that is what we are or because we all play computer football management games, but because it is possible no club, under the current rules and regulations are going to build a team capable of winning the league without an absolutely outstanding manager who is capable in all areas of making a football club successful with the money o'neill has been given give him the money mark hughes has had and i think it might be possible but not with the money he has had - it simply isn't enough because there are certain boxes he doesn't tick it is also about expectation. what exactly do you want from supporting aston villa. take away all the hype, take away everything you have been told, take away everything you think you know and do know. do you want aston villa to win the league? i do and it doesn't take 5 or 6 seasons for me to know if it is going to happen and that isn't 'want it now' that is giving four full seasons to see the football get better. i've not really seen the football get better, i just haven't. i've seen different players come in and different players run and run and run but i've not seen us play better football you cant honestly say you have either. you can say you've seen more exciting football, because we sit back and play very counter attacking football but unfortunately it isn't about that. it's too one dimensional and will only get you so far but, i would love to be wrong and i'd love to see us take the next step, which for me is just finishing 5th. one place higher than we have finished for the past 2 seasons and one place higher than david o'leary took us, but that is to simply see us as as a club progress - we have to see the football develop also, i think something reo-coker is a bit annoyed about too

Comment 3, made on September 29, 2009 at 12.08 pm

keefvilla said:

... I thought all of our players were crap and we would be relegated. This Actim thing must be wrong. I demand a re-count!

Comment 4, made on September 29, 2009 at 12.10 pm

Chiefy said:

... keefvilla -- i thought we would have had the whole squad in there i demand MON calls a press conference and explains what he is doing

Comment 5, made on September 29, 2009 at 12.16 pm

keefvilla said:

... Chiefy I know its a disgrace. I'm writing to my MP.

Comment 6, made on September 29, 2009 at 12.20 pm

ronrabbit said:

... I wonder how many players Blackburn and wigan have in the top 100? Im sure it would be clear that we have better players and it must be someones tactics that were at fault for two appauling loses.

Comment 7, made on September 29, 2009 at 12.34 pm

Damian said:

... blackburn don't have any. wigan have 6

Comment 8, made on September 29, 2009 at 12.37 pm

keefvilla said:

... I wonder how many players Liverpool have in the top 100? Im sure it would be clear that they have better players and it must be someones tactics that was responsible for a fantastic win.

Comment 9, made on September 29, 2009 at 12.38 pm

Damian said:

... Liverpool have 10

Comment 10, made on September 29, 2009 at 12.40 pm

Juan Pablo Angel said:

... Well said Keef I wonder how many players Liverpool have in the top 100? Im sure it would be clear that they have better players and it must be someones tactics that was responsible for a fantastic win.

Comment 11, made on September 29, 2009 at 12.46 pm

Juan Pablo Angel said:

... Teams lose football matches and in the PL more so than in any other league, because despite the top four being clearly better than most of the other sides every team is capable of beating everyone else. Look at Burnley and Stoke at home, no one likes going to Turfmoor or The Britannia do they.

Comment 12, made on September 29, 2009 at 12.47 pm

keefvilla said:

... Thanks Damian I have written to Mr Ancelotti at Chelsea to explain that he is tactically inept. Chelsea have changed from the 4-3-3 formation played under Mourinho, Grant, Scolari and Hiddink and changed to a 4-4-2 formation with Anelka and Drogba up front, this season. I am sure he will listen to the people on here who know best.

Comment 13, made on September 29, 2009 at 12.50 pm

ronrabbit said:

... yeah it was fantastic tactics that won us the game against liverpool, tactics that involved a certain formation that we didnt play this weekend, and certain player that was bench warming this weekend

Comment 14, made on September 29, 2009 at 12.53 pm

Juan Pablo Angel said:

... Keef, Have you written to Mr. Capello too?

Comment 15, made on September 29, 2009 at 12.54 pm

ronrabbit said:

... the reason chelsea can play 442 is because anelka drops off to the centre of left. rooney does for man u, keane for arsenal, etc etc. Neither gabby or carew drop off to help the midfield for us, hence we have problems.

Comment 16, made on September 29, 2009 at 12.55 pm

ronrabbit said:

... rooney does for england also

Comment 17, made on September 29, 2009 at 12.56 pm

keefvilla said:

... ronrabbit If we had played 4-5-1 and lost then would you be having a moan about tactics? If we play 4-5-1 every game between now and the end of the season will be win every one? Were we struggling to break down a very poor Small Heath side until MON changed formation to 4-4-2 and we won?

Comment 18, made on September 29, 2009 at 12.56 pm

ronrabbit said:

... i know we wont win every game if we play 451 but it gives us the best chance of winning when we play like that. I think we got it spot on agaist fulham, blues and liverpool, but pompy, cardif and blackburn has been crap, the football has been worse, and we have reverted to lumping it up the pitch for carew.

Comment 19, made on September 29, 2009 at 12.58 pm

mon 4-5-1 said:

... keefvilla said: ... Thanks Damian I have written to Mr Ancelotti at Chelsea to explain that he is tactically inept. Chelsea have changed from the 4-3-3 formation played under Mourinho, Grant, Scolari and Hiddink and changed to a 4-4-2 formation with Anelka and Drogba up front, this At least he plays his players in the correct position...or is that just mordern football...

Comment 20, made on September 29, 2009 at 12.58 pm

ronrabbit said:

... changing a formatin half way through is fine agaisnt blues it was clear they were offering nothing in midfield, so we switched got the goal and reverted back. agaisnt blackburn we were desperate for an extra body in there, instead we got hesky

Comment 21, made on September 29, 2009 at 12.59 pm

ronrabbit said:

... does anyone know how much money spurs spent this summer. THey constatnly talk about how much they have spent on the radio, and how they shoudl be challenging top 4, i thought we spent more than them this summer?

Comment 22, made on September 29, 2009 at 1.02 pm

Juan Pablo Angel said:

... MoN 4-5-1 Why don't you give Mourinho a call and ask him why he often played Essien at RB or CB, Duff at LB at times and JT up front when he was trying to get a goal? Crap manager? Or is that just modern football?

Comment 23, made on September 29, 2009 at 1.09 pm

mon 4-5-1 said:

... Juan Pablo Angel said: ... MoN 4-5-1 Why don't you give Mourinho firstly are you comparing Essien to Heskey...lol... JT only ever played up front when they needed a goal...did he start as a striker from kickoff ? How many times did Duff play as left back ? it seems to be more of a common theme for us...how many games have we played were we have sent out a team were we have all the players playing in the strongest position ?

Comment 24, made on September 29, 2009 at 1.18 pm

keefvilla said:

... ronrabbit - we were playing 4-3-3 when the second goal was conceded on Saturday. mon 4-5-1 - is that why Ancelotti plays Lampard on the left hand side of midfield?

Comment 25, made on September 29, 2009 at 1.26 pm

mon 4-5-1 said:

... keefvilla said: ... ronrabbit - we were playing 4-3-3 when the second goal was conceded on Saturday Why is it i get the feeling that these are just excuses for blatant mistakes....as i have previously said mon has made some good buys but his tatics are seriously flawed... in respnse : Firstly at least he plays a midfielder in a midfield role and not a big centre forward as a winger... Secondly if you look at the chealsea formation they play a diamond formation so it does not really matter if you play on the right or left of midfield....

Comment 26, made on September 29, 2009 at 1.31 pm

Juan Pablo Angel said:

... MoN 4-5-1 Firstly, I didn't realise this was a player comparison issue, I thought it was a debate about playing players out of position. Secondly, Did Heskey start on the wing? So why does the JT up front from the start argument come in? Duff would often get switched to left back behind Robben when Chelsea needed a goal or two. Over two seasons this happened quite a few times. Thirdly, We started against Blackburn with all eleven playing in their strongest positions except for arguable Cuellar who, according to the article above is in the Index as one of the top 100 players statistically so far this year so I can understand why he kept his place. Please hit me with a few more factless arguments I can tear to pieces, i'm in the mood.

Comment 27, made on September 29, 2009 at 1.32 pm

mon 4-5-1 said:

... Keefvilla, can you explain to me when was the last time all our 1st eleven played in the correct positions that we actually bought them for ?

Comment 28, made on September 29, 2009 at 1.34 pm

ronrabbit said:

... 433 with three out and out strikers 2 wingers and 1 cm. we need three players in the middle, two wide forwards, and 1 striker. I think the main problem with us playing 442 is it ends up being 424. so when we play 451 it is basically 433. because ash and milner are so attacking. when hesky came on we were basically playing 415, which just is never going to work.

Comment 29, made on September 29, 2009 at 1.37 pm

mon 4-5-1 said:

... Juan Pablo Angel said: ... MoN 4-5-1 Well you still have not answered my questions let alone facts... When was the last time our 1st eleven played in there strongest positions...at you have pointed out it was not against blackburn to please spread the knowledge... top 100 index is this what you going to grab onto i would like to see were cueller would fit into that index at rightback...

Comment 30, made on September 29, 2009 at 1.38 pm

Juan Pablo Angel said:

... I can understand completely why Heskey came on. We were struggling in midfield and he can put his foot on it, win it in the air and generally put himself about a bit. He has pace and he can cause problems. It really doesn't seem like that big of a problem to me. If Wayne Rooney can play wide and so can Anelka and Ryan Babel who i'd argue would be a much better CF than a winger plays on the wing. You can't make the decision that this was the reason we lost. It wasn't. We played ok, could have played better but looked a bit complacent after getting an early goal and we got kicked off the park by a physical side. You can not legislate for a penalty decision that late in the game which I feel was dubious anyway and otherwise we would have had a valuable point away from home. The important thing is to put the situation right. What a message to NRC anyway, you're in the squad but Heskey goes on instead, no more training ground bust ups now.

Comment 31, made on September 29, 2009 at 1.39 pm

keefvilla said:

... mon 4-5-1 Heskey has played in a wide forward position plenty of times for Liverpool and England. Gerrard plays wide left for England under Capello. Ivanovic is a CB that has played RB plenty of times for Chelsea. IT happens all the time but only becomes an issue when MON does it.

Comment 32, made on September 29, 2009 at 1.40 pm

Juan Pablo Angel said:

... top 100 index is this what you going to grab onto i would like to see were cueller would fit into that index at rightback... sorry I don't really understand what this means. I answered all your questions, Cuellar is a make shift RB and i'm sure he is going to play a lot of times there this season. When Arsenal signed Henry he was a winger, damn that stupid Wenger for playing him out of position.... look through the history books and there are plenty of examples. As for where we bought players to play? Only MoN knows where he bought lpayers to play. Not you, you have no idea.

Comment 33, made on September 29, 2009 at 1.44 pm

ronrabbit said:

... A valuble point away from home against blackburn? And i thought we were an ambitious club with designs on a top 4 finish, looks like we are settling for mid table finish after all, you never know with a bit of irish luck we might get to the semi final of the league cup.

Comment 34, made on September 29, 2009 at 1.47 pm

ronrabbit said:

... also this formation thing, cuellar is a make shift right back, but we have a front line right back sitting on the bench, this is what pisses me off. what has beye been brought for?

Comment 35, made on September 29, 2009 at 1.49 pm

keefvilla said:

... ronrabbit I have no idea how old you are, but do you remember when we won the League and European Cup? We had a centre forward at centre back and a winger at right back. During the European campaign, we also played our right sided midfielder at centre back. Players can play in more than one position, it has always happened and always will.

Comment 36, made on September 29, 2009 at 1.55 pm

Juan Pablo Angel said:

... Ron, Beye has been bought for cover, Cuellar is doing a decent job because those goals are the first we have conceded since Liverpool and Cuellar played RB in three matches and has got into the top 100 players so far this season.. Not bad imo. Blackburn are no push overs, they will finish much higher than they are at the moment and they will take points off other clubs as big as us and maybe bigger. Big Sam knows what it takes to win games in this division, organisation, hard work and a massive slice of luck which they got on saturday. We lost a game, it happens and I garuntee it's not because of one thing, it just wasn't our day, just like it wasn't Liverpool's day when they p***ed on us for 75mins out of 90 and lost 3-1. Get over it, MoN and the players will.

Comment 37, made on September 29, 2009 at 1.57 pm

mon 4-5-1 said:

... Juan Pablo Angel said: ... top 100 index is this what you going to grab onto i would like to see were cueller would fit into that index at rightback Yes i would expect mon to know why he bought who and playing Cueller at right back so why did we buy Beye ? we already have l.young Yes you give Henry started as a winger but were did he finish before hew left arsenal Were is he playing today ? KeefVilla, in response Gerrard plays wide left for England under Capello Can you really compare the england midfield to ours ? everyone knows Gerrards strongest positon is just behind Torres..he only plays there becuase of the quality of england midfielders... Look at Ivanovic looks half the player playing at right back and what happened on the opening day when he played there ? Giving examples of other teams mistakes and saying its okay because they do it does not necessarily make it okay for us would you not agree ? looking at other teams plus points and success points and wishing we could actually do that would be nice.... At the end of the day mon is the manager and if he does make bizzare decisions then thats upto him...but it would be nice if could for once owe it to the fans and explain why he tactically did this...just like Wenger,Ferguson.Mourinho didand are doing I don't really care if it then goes wrong at least i can feel easy that he knows tactically what he is doing.... Has he explained tactically what went wrong on saturday...

Comment 38, made on September 29, 2009 at 2.01 pm

mon 4-5-1 said:

... apologies for the typo's replying whilst working....

Comment 39, made on September 29, 2009 at 2.06 pm

keefvilla said:

... What has comparing midfields of Villa and England got to do with anything? I was showing that players can and do play in more than one position. And it seems to be working for England playing Gerrard out of position doesn't it? What are you on about regarding Ivanovic? He didn't play against Hull. These are not examples of other manager's mistakes at all. You seem to have lost the plot!

Comment 40, made on September 29, 2009 at 2.13 pm

ronrabbit said:

... the positions thing doesnt bother me to much, it annoys me about Beye, he was brought as cover at rb, our main rb is out and he is not playing, i cant see him getting a game all year to be honest, looks like another waste of money. cuellar does defend well, but full back is not just about defending, all the great full backs could attack also, look for overlaps, whip balls in from the by line, cuellar, well he can defend well, he is top class centre back, he isnt a right back, we have a right back available, who looked pretty decent, just play him, bite the bullet drop one of the three centre backs and play him, a bit of rotation in the cb positions wouldnt be such a bad move anyway. blackburn are not a good side, they will be fighting relegation all year, and if any of the teams we are competing with got a draw at ewood park they would say it was a crap result. I said before its not the result that i am complaining about, its the tactics, i know bad results happen, players can hav off days, what gets me is the players didnt really have off days. They all did what they were asked that was clear. None of the players can really be looked at and said 'that was shite' to, because it wasnt the players having off days, it was bad decisions made before and during the game.

Comment 41, made on September 29, 2009 at 2.16 pm

ronrabbit said:

... Do you think gerrard is as good for england as he is for liverpool? cause i dont, i think a natural winger would be better for england, joe cole when he comes back would be a good option, i think for me the choice of milner or ash on the left instead of gerrard is a close one. For the record im not suggesting milner or young are nearly as good as gerrard, just think that players are never as good as they can be when played out of position

Comment 42, made on September 29, 2009 at 2.26 pm

keefvilla said:

... ronrabbit MON picked Cuellar at RB against Small Heath to combat an aerial and physical threat. He played very well, we kept a clean sheet and we kept his place against Pompey. He played well, we kept a clean sheet and we kept his place against Blackburn. Why is that a problem? The problem defensively on Saturday was Dunne. two mistakes and we lose the game. He heads the ball away and doesn't handle in the area and we win again. Why does playing Cuellar at right back affect the result?

Comment 43, made on September 29, 2009 at 2.36 pm

tonky said:

... will people give this team a chance!!! So we lost to Blackburn away, before that we'd had a good run!!! Utd lost to burnley Chelsea lose to Wigan. There'll be these results for all teams over a season its all swings and roundabouts!! Get over it, get down Villa Park and support the team for a change instead of waiting for every dam chance to write the team off.

Comment 44, made on September 29, 2009 at 2.36 pm

mon 4-5-1 said:

... keefvilla said: ... ronrabbit MON picked Cuellar becuase he cannot attack and when going to teams like blackburn we should have at least had a attacking fullback. Look at most of the top 5 and there full backs...Evra is not big same can be said for , boswinga or cole and Nadal of united when he plays...liverpool spent 18 million on johnson and his strength is not defending but attacking...i could go on but i'll stop there...

Comment 45, made on September 29, 2009 at 2.45 pm

holteend paul said:

... how they hell did this post come off topic and on to formation so quickly??? so if like keef says, we should play 4-5-1 and we should win every game so then the title is ours? up to now we have won 4 out of 6 which is 66% win rate and would give us 76 points at the end of the season would any of us be happy with that?

Comment 46, made on September 29, 2009 at 2.48 pm

ronrabbit said:

... He got his place to combat the small heath ariel threat ok, so why hasnt he been changed since, because he played well? but Beye played well before the small heath game. Why are the tactics being altered for one game against the clowns but not for other games? What about shorey he was playing well but warnock came in for him. Reo coker was playing well but he got replaced. Why is cuellar so special? I just think we shoudl start each game with players playing in there correct positions. If it needs changing after 30 mins then do it, but at least start with players in the correct places. I no you talk about other managers doing it, but when was the last time a prem manager started a player out of position when he had a conventional player for that position on the bench?

Comment 47, made on September 29, 2009 at 2.51 pm

keefvilla said:

... mon 4-5-1 You not going to answer me then? Comment 40.

Comment 48, made on September 29, 2009 at 2.59 pm

ronrabbit said:

... yeah but look at our results when playing 442 we have lost to wigan and blackburn and beat pompy. all these teams will fight relegation this year, we should have 9 points but we have 3. Thats not good, if we want to challenge for top4 we have to beat these sort of teams. compare to our results when playing 451, beat blues, fulham, and liverpool. we have 9 points, 6 would have been very good. 2 teams from the top 10 and one who will get relegated.

Comment 49, made on September 29, 2009 at 3.03 pm

keefvilla said:

... It is like banging your head against a brick wall. MON changed formation against Blues and we won. If we had lost he would be slagged off on this site and others like it. Yet where is the praise when we win? The only reason we lost Saturday was a CB making 2 bad errors that were punished, yet MON got it wrong with his substitution and formation. It is just pathetic. It is very easy to be wise after the event. I give up with you lot.

Comment 50, made on September 29, 2009 at 3.03 pm

Juan Pablo Angel said:

... I don't really want to talk about this anymore so i'm off for a bit. The team have my full backing as does O'Neill and I don't see that he could have done much more at the weekend. We have a good team that is finding it's feet and that game is one that could have easily swung in our favour. No major problems just minor ones and i'm sure we will give a good account of ourselves against City, even if we don't win it.

Comment 51, made on September 29, 2009 at 3.06 pm

ak_27 said:

... Keef you can't over look the full 90 mins againest Blackburn. We were poor for most of that game. The peformances for a lot of this seasons games have been sub par but we managed to get results. Againest Balckburn mistakes or not we got what our performance deserved. Same as last season when we were going through our great run (it was lucky more then great). The performances were often not great but many were saying that who cares about the performances. Well our results matched our performances from Jan on and the same will happen this year.

Comment 52, made on September 29, 2009 at 3.11 pm

holteend paul said:

... would anyone have been happy with a draw on saturday because to be honest i thought we deserved one and a very very harsh penalty against dunne was the only reason we lost..

Comment 53, made on September 29, 2009 at 3.14 pm

Juan Pablo Angel said:

... ak, I'd argue that our results didn't necessarily match our performances as there were games we should have taken more points from and didn't like Man U and Stoke, so I don't agree, anyway i'm really going now.

Comment 54, made on September 29, 2009 at 3.15 pm

ronrabbit said:

... I was actually on here after the blues game commenting that MON got it spot on, i think he did for that match, as he did against fulham and liverpool. I also commented after the pompy match that i thought the change to 442 was a mistake but winning matchs is all that matters. I will give credit where it is due, there is just not much credit to be given after the blackburn match. off now for a bit

Comment 55, made on September 29, 2009 at 3.16 pm

ak_27 said:

... holteend paul would you have been happy with a draw before the kick off? JPA you seem to moving the goal posts for MON and how he should be judged. You were certain we would finish ahead of City and Spurs a few weeks ago now you are saying that you would be happy with a draw at home to City.

Comment 56, made on September 29, 2009 at 3.17 pm

Juan Pablo Angel said:

... Paul, I agree we did enough to get a draw and we should. Unlucky penalty to concede but we've had our fair share go the other this year like so as far as i'm concerned you take it on the chin and move on. This team really is capable of a lot more, I hope we don't have to wait too much longer.

Comment 57, made on September 29, 2009 at 3.18 pm

Juan Pablo Angel said:

... ak, I'm still confident we can beat City, I simply said I will continue to back them if we don't. I want to see this team play better because they are capable of it. I expect us to get a lot more room in behind City than against other sides so i'd expect us to score. It wil be down to whether we can keep them out at the other end which will be the real challenge. We are good enough to win, in fact we are good enough to beat any team in this league on our day, but we need to find a big performance and this side tends to perform against the bigger teams. I still believe we will finish high and maybe above City and Spurs. I'd expect to do better than Spurs this year, but you can't argue that City have started a lot stronger than a lot of people imagined they would. Every team is due a blip over the season though, so lets see how they handle theirs when it comes.

Comment 58, made on September 29, 2009 at 3.29 pm

holteend paul said:

... as i have said in a previous post i think mon can be a bit stubborn at times, and on saturday i think (hope) he tried the wigan midfield and formation again and got his fingers burned even with a newlook defence,so lets see if he ever plays this formation with the same midfield again. if he does then i would think he needs the kitchen sink thrown at him. but a big man will learn from his mistakes (i hope )

Comment 59, made on September 29, 2009 at 3.31 pm

Chiefy said:

... i am back have we hung MON yet ? or organised a demonstration outside his house ?

Comment 60, made on September 29, 2009 at 3.36 pm

ak_27 said:

... JPA thats fair enough. Do you think NRC will play or can we compete againest their mid without him?

Comment 61, made on September 29, 2009 at 3.37 pm

mon 4-5-1 said:

... KeefVilla, in response to comment 40 please read below:- .Yes it does depending on the quality you have in the middle. Lets put it this way if Lampard or Barry were not playing do you think Gerrard would play on the left ? Also he is a world class player playing with world class players in the England squad so you can get away with it and if it fits the teams tactics.Can the same be said for us ? I was referring to the charity shield ? watch the game again and see what a difference it makes when playing a player out of position. These are example of last resort tatics to fill a postion of concern. Gerrard on the left this position england has been a problem position for years thus we have a world class midfielder filling the gap. When was the last time Gerrard had a game for England like he does for Liverpool ?

Comment 62, made on September 29, 2009 at 3.38 pm

Chiefy said:

... we will win against City, 4-5-1 reo, sidders and petrov in the middle gabby up front maybe young will be back and it will be close 2 or 3 - 1 or 2 to the villa

Comment 63, made on September 29, 2009 at 3.39 pm

Juan Pablo Angel said:

... To be honest i'll wrench out my own kitchen sink, drive round his house and batter him with it myself. He still has my full support tho, I think he wants to play a certain way and doesn't have the midfielders yet, Downing may make a difference when he is fit. Reo Coker should have played on saturday, but that may not happen for a while. It's like what happened with Barry and Shorey, he'd rather play other players out of position and lose than risk his position of authority in the dressing room and I back him there too. We've had too many good results for me to get on his back after this performance.

Comment 64, made on September 29, 2009 at 3.39 pm

holteend paul said:

... if i was going to be honest then my own starting 11 would be friedel l young , cueller , dunne , warnock milner , petrov , downing , a young gabby , carew sorry to say this but it wouldnt be 4-5-1 as i am a firm believer if the team is good enough play it and i really think this 11 is our best.

Comment 65, made on September 29, 2009 at 3.50 pm

Pancho Villan said:

... Chiefy said: ... we will win against City, 4-5-1 reo, sidders and petrov in the middle gabby up front maybe young will be back and it will be close 2 or 3 - 1 or 2 to the villa Let us hope so Chiefy, let us hope so. Though as Juan says above, "he'd rather play other players out of position and lose than risk his position of authority in the dressing room" So I wouldn't bet my mortgage against another 4-4-2 with Delph & Petrov, and Heskey on the wing. I mean, if he'll do that away in a kickfest, he won't have a problem at home against a footballing side

Comment 66, made on September 29, 2009 at 3.51 pm

Chiefy said:

... Come on lets keep the faith, i still have a good feeling about this season i think we are going to suprise alot of people and even some of our fans its going to be a good season

Comment 67, made on September 29, 2009 at 3.59 pm

Juan Pablo Angel said:

... Paul, I'd rather have Collins, give Dunne something to think about after a couple of dubious decisions at the weekend. I think Collins has been one of our best players since he came in and i'd hate to lose the distribution that the guy provides, we are short of passers as it is I feel. I think Delph may play against City and I think it could be the game for him, there should be a little more space on the park and wouldn't it be nice to see him kick Gaz in the shins a couple of times.

Comment 68, made on September 29, 2009 at 4.07 pm

ronrabbit said:

... yeah delph plays in for the city game, for me reo coker in for carew hopefully. i love big john but i think our best way to play is 433. (Im calling it 433 from now on, i think some people seem to think 451 is to defensive.) Always got the option to revert 442 with carew on for the last 20 to win us the game.

Comment 69, made on September 29, 2009 at 5.02 pm

ak_27 said:

... Whilst we are on stats : http://www.skysports.com/story...70,00.html Just compare our sucessful pass count to the other top teams. That says it all to me about MON's teams.

Comment 70, made on September 29, 2009 at 5.08 pm

ak_27 said:

... We've also had the losest ammount of shots on goal in the whole league.

Comment 71, made on September 29, 2009 at 5.10 pm

holteend paul said:

... ak_27.. it also shows me that every time we get a shot on target we score 50% of the time which is quite high dont you think? its called not being wasteful.

Comment 72, made on September 29, 2009 at 5.20 pm

ak_27 said:

... Well if Gabby can continue to defy physics like he did with his goal on Saturday then we will be ok.

Comment 73, made on September 29, 2009 at 5.23 pm

Juan Pablo Angel said:

... ak, Paul, I think we all agree that we haven't been playing brilliantly recently and those stats confirm my concerns that it's not happening in the final third for us at the moment. I don't necessarily think this is down to our forwards because we are scoring one in two efforts roughly as paul spotted, it's the midfield which we all know is the problem. I know I keep harping on about Downing, but I can see him going straight in and giving us more posession, better passing and as a result more opportunities in games. We know it's the passing in midfield that's the problem and has been since Barry left. On the upside we seem to have a player who can play in the middle and likes to get forward in Delph and Downing is yet to come back. The really fortunate bit is that we are still picking up points quite regularly desite this and as I satated above there is more to come from this team. It's a question of getting the right blend a having a midfield that clicks. We could have done without the NRC situation as it has unsettled our midfield, but I have to back MoN's no tolerance dicipline and ultimately it is the players fault not the manager's. ak, Interesting article, it would bve nice to see complete stats of the last two seasons to see where we were on those.

Comment 74, made on September 29, 2009 at 5.27 pm

VillaNick said:

... It doen't really matter about stats, does it? Its down to where you are in the league / Cups etc..... I wouldn't care if we only had 3 shot a game and won 2-1 week-in week-out. Lets try not to get hung up on side issues too much.

Comment 75, made on September 29, 2009 at 5.29 pm

holteend paul said:

... i have said before many times that when carew plays, he lays the ball off then labours to get to the box which i find very annoying as when i used to play in the same position along with dalian atkinson, i would bust a hernia to get into the box and get on the end of a cross.

Comment 76, made on September 29, 2009 at 5.34 pm

Juan Pablo Angel said:

... Villanick, To be honest I don't think those stats tell us anything we didn't know already as fans, we are one quality passer down in the centre of midfield and that's about it. Like you say i'm glad we are still picking up points, but you have to agree these players can do A LOT better. We've seen it time and again over the last couple of seasons. I have faith and ike I say, Downing is the key.

Comment 77, made on September 29, 2009 at 5.35 pm

Juan Pablo Angel said:

... paul, I know mate, I play up front on a sunday and you have to get in there and make sure you put yourself about. No good ambling in late if you are supposed to be the taget man.

Comment 78, made on September 29, 2009 at 5.36 pm

holteend paul said:

... villanick.... 3 shots a game and scoring 2? thats a 66% scoring ratio.

Comment 79, made on September 29, 2009 at 5.37 pm

ak_27 said:

... JPA i woould say we would be in about the same position for passing last year even when Barry was in there. This issue has been there since MON took charge. I have been trying to say this for years about MON's philosphy on football being outdated. He does not care about keeping the ball. I also think there is an issue with how the players are coached to pass the ball as we look laboured in doing the simplest passes when you compare it to the likes of even Wigan and Fulham. Now they do not have better players(in fact they are less talented) then us so what is causing it? That points to the coaching for me. You can all say what you want about not caring about stats like that but if you look at the top teams stats there is a correlation between passes (possession) and league position.

Comment 80, made on September 29, 2009 at 5.37 pm

ak_27 said:

... VillaNick this is not a side issue. This is actually the core issue with our team and MON's management. The formation issue is actually as a result of this as far as i can see.

Comment 81, made on September 29, 2009 at 5.41 pm

holteend paul said:

... i somtimes think if i picked the same 11 as mon mine would win

Comment 82, made on September 29, 2009 at 5.42 pm

Juan Pablo Angel said:

... ak, I agree that our passing could be better, I don't think it's a coaching thing, it is partly due to the way we play and partly because we don't have ssomeone in there to retain the ball and spread it about sensibly. We do look uncomfortable in posession at times (whether thats due to fans booing us when we have the ball I don't know) It will change, just watch. Lets hope we can grind one out in the meantime against City anyway.

Comment 83, made on September 29, 2009 at 5.43 pm

VillaNick said:

... Juan Pablo Angel have faith and ike I say, Downing is the key Agree with you. He is a better player than people give him credit for, he could be back as early as mid-November! Sidwell & NRC are the s**t passers in the side, Delph can pass (fed Young a good few times against Liverpool) and Petrov is ok too. I presume that's why MON wanted Huddlestone!

Comment 84, made on September 29, 2009 at 5.46 pm

ak_27 said:

... JPA why then can Fulham and Wigan pass and keep the ball far better? Seriously one player won't make a huge difference. I don't see who they have in their teams that are any better then what we have? Sorry for keep going on about this but i think people just gloss over this issue as something little that can easily be fixed over night when this is as far as i can see is the root cuase of why this team and MON is doomed to fail long term. The whole team need to improve their ability to get on the ball and keep it and pass and move. The stikers are very much a problem with regards to this also(as none are good with it at their feet) but back to my question why can Wigan and Fulham keep the ball with far less talented players they we have?

Comment 85, made on September 29, 2009 at 5.51 pm

Juan Pablo Angel said:

... ak, you named two teams there that have two very accomplished passers of the ball who are controlled, good in posession, not the paciest but good technical footballers. For Fulham it's Murphy and for Wigan it's Gomez. this is the sort of player we need, not necessarily the lock picker, but a player who can pick the ball up of the back four or Petrov and dictate the pace of the game and look for those passes. Too often I watch Milner, Sidwell and Coker squandering posession through sheer panic. Hodgson knew what he needed and immediately restored Murphy to the starting eleven, signed a good CB (hangeland) and partner for Johnson who can hold the ball (Zamora) and they have a decent spine of the side with Dempsey making runs from midfield and now they have Duff to provide some width (although injured). With Wigan, Martinez knew he was losing his midfield enforcer (cattermole) and brought in Gomez who he knew had the passing game to make it in the PL. Brown breaks up the play and Gomez distributes, while NZogbia is the one making the damaging runs and working further up the pitch. We have Petrov protecting the back four and giving the ball to Coker and Delph. Delph should be our runner and worker further up the pitch in place of Sidwell and Coker does not have the passing game to do the other job. Coker for me is an alternative to Petrov and we need the passing ball retaining Maestro in the middle of the park. This is Downing.

Comment 86, made on September 29, 2009 at 6.00 pm

keithj said:

... ak lets not gloss it over we are above wigan and fulham

Comment 87, made on September 29, 2009 at 6.00 pm

keithj said:

... cant keep the ball so the tactics must be brilliant

Comment 88, made on September 29, 2009 at 6.01 pm

vi11achar1ton said:

... I read in one of the papers on Monday a comment from one of the Blackburn players. He said that all thet needs to be done to beat Villa is to stop Stan Petrov from passing and make sure that Ashley is always shown the outside

Comment 89, made on September 29, 2009 at 6.15 pm

VillaNick said:

... Juan Pablo Angel I have faith and ike I say, Downing is the key. Totally agree. Downing could be a key player for us, can play in the middle or give us another option to use Young in a different role maybe. As for the passing stats etc. O'Neill knows we don't have that much capability in the squad, hence the reason why he looked long and hard at Huddlestone. Seemed like old 'arry was having none of it though!

Comment 90, made on September 29, 2009 at 6.22 pm

holteend paul said:

... vi11achar1ton.. and did they also say you have to stop the forwards scoring and make sure we score more than them.

Comment 91, made on September 29, 2009 at 7.04 pm

ak_27 said:

... JPA we had Barry in the CM last year. Are you saying that Murphy and Gomez are better on the ball then him? The same issue was there in our team when Barry was pulling the strings. I still think it goes deeper then just personal.

Comment 92, made on September 29, 2009 at 7.31 pm

vi11achar1ton said:

... If they did - it wasn't reported

Comment 93, made on September 29, 2009 at 7.51 pm

Faccundo said:

... Let's admit it - we're playing long ball football Interplay rather than results need to improve, and MON needs to look further afield than Scotland Players like Bukharov from Rubin Kazan would be an ideal signing. Can't believe we didn't even go for Wagner Love but Heskey instead! Prescriptions for Villa's renewal: 1) Heskey loaned out - never to don the magneficent claret and blue again 2) Dunne loaned out / sold - most red cards and penalties conceded in Premier league history. Responsible for 2 goals at Rovers (but not the loss, that was MON's fault for the nonsensical sub). Enough said 3) 4-5-1: at least until we get higher quality midfielders or Delph develops 4) On the pitch, my lord: less long balls, if the good Lord had wanted us to play in the sky he would have put grass up there 5) Get VDV: hasn't played a minute for Real or even appeared on the bench. With the World Cup around the corner, he'll be dying to get out by January. Break the bank to get him 6) Respect Europe: inc the Europa league. The ONLY way increase the clubs profile amongst the players we need to advance

Comment 94, made on September 29, 2009 at 8.41 pm

mon 4-5-1 said:

... Though as Juan says above, "he'd rather play other players out of position and lose than risk his position of authority in the dressing room" So I wouldn't bet my mortgage against another 4-4-2 with Delph & Petrov, and Heskey on the wing. i would be nice to see the following line l.young-------------collins-----------dunne------warnock --------------------NRC---------Petrov------------------ milner------------------delph-------------------young--- ----------------------gabby or carew-------------------- but i suspect we will see....... cueller-----------collins----------dunne---------warnock milner-------------delph----------petrov---------heskey -----------------------carew-----gabby-----------------

Comment 95, made on September 29, 2009 at 9.06 pm

Chiefy said:

... just a quick look in and as suspected still MON bashing oh the joys of being a Villa fan, where your own fans bash your own players ad manager more than the away fans

Comment 96, made on September 29, 2009 at 9.12 pm

keithj said:

... damian an intereting blog would be if you could add 3 players of your choice ( excluding cl players for obvious reasons ) who would you replace and why?

Comment 97, made on September 29, 2009 at 9.17 pm

keithj said:

... add to that what you would be prepared to pay

Comment 98, made on September 29, 2009 at 9.21 pm

Pancho Villan said:

... It's total crap to say MON wants to play a certain way, but he hasn't got the players to do it yet. Points make prizes - it's as simple as that Jeez, just give me Ron Manager any day.

Comment 99, made on September 30, 2009 at 12.25 am

Pancho Villan said:

... There was everything to play for Liverpool are imploding Arsenal are stagnating. And Spuds, Citeh, and mine gott even Sunderland, are benefitting. My God ! The Lord Giveth, but The Lord also taketh away !

Comment 100, made on September 30, 2009 at 12.32 am

Pancho Villan said:

... Chiefy said: ... just a quick look in and as suspected still MON bashing oh the joys of being a Villa fan, where your own fans bash your own players ad manager more than the away fans There are indeed few, in this den of iniquity, that may sleep the sleep of the righteous.

Comment 101, made on September 30, 2009 at 12.35 am

Chiefy said:

... Some positive rumours coming out of Villa park today, now i wonder if the first blog of today will begin the MON bashing, suggest MON bashing or be positive and look forward to the game Monday ?? answer on a post card sent to positive mental attitude @ its really not that bad Birmingham

Comment 102, made on September 30, 2009 at 9.31 am

Pancho Villan said:

... Chiefy: Apparently both Spurs & Arsenal are interested in The Coker. Coker in the Arsenal team - imagine that ? They'd win the league

Comment 103, made on September 30, 2009 at 10.20 am

matt26may1982 said:

... WOW! Lets cream ourselves over that useless bit of information. Perhaps that could be a new chant "we got 8" We got 8" "We've got 8 players in the top 100 of the Actim top 100" "Weeeee got 8 players in the top 100 of the Actim top 100" Get a life!

Comment 104, made on September 30, 2009 at 7.51 pm

Name

Email

Comment

smaller | bigger

Add Comment Preview