I know this one is a good few hours old now, but I wanted to bring it up as we’re often accused of being overly negative and this, to me anyway, is a good news story.
There are various links to the story, but we’re supposedly going to be offering him a “bumper” contract.
The Daily Star mentions £50,000 a week, which is brilliant for the likes of us people in the real world, but for an England player, is frankly peanuts.
But I won’t dwell on that, as the numbers don’t matter that much to me and the reason for that is because I think he’ll sign for us whatever happens, unless some completely blows us out of the water with a massive offer. Officially he can’t talk to anyone until January anyway, but I think we’ll have it wrapped up well before then.
This is what makes it a good news story for me, because he’s said that he thinks he owes us as a club, for the way we backed him through two serious injuries. Of course players have been known to say things like this before and it’s proven to be rubbish (Stewart Downing springs to mind), but in this case, I genuinely believe Delph will stick to what he’s said.
Delph has always struck me as a down-to-earth type of kid. Indeed, I see the Yorkshire post has an article quoting him as saying “all I ever wanted was to buy my mom a house”. Good lad.
These are the type of comments I’d rather hear, as opposed to some new transfer arrival professing the fact that he’s always liked whatever club he’s just signed for.
So there you go. I know Delph has his detractors, but I’ve always liked him.
He’s a good player, just not England type of good yet in my opinion (but then, who is, these days?).
But I think he’ll be staying a good while and that’s simply good news.
Hope he signs it but as we know contracts mean diddly fuck nowadays players do leave at anytime unless the club stand firm & piss the player off.
One thing I will say about Lambert is that he has been good at holding on to players so far.
wow we av a new post 🙂
first i like 2 say rooney has some cheek, delph sure needs 2 curve his aggression alittle without taking away from his game. delph knows this himself long before rooney had a idea, i thought delph was awesome in his drive upfield with ball. he showed for the ball, he was around the england best moves and should av won a clear penalty. if rooney took some of delphs game and affected the game more wot a player rooney would be
delph and vlaar should get offered 50k contract in my opinion (sorry oohahah) both are proven world class and have to be rewarded for their efforts and loyalty, grealish should be happy with his involvement in the 1st team and concentrate on this side, hes earning a fair wage at minute and improving the way he is. the money will come for sure
p,s cant wait for the pool game i do believe pool are in for a tough game vtid
Nath did Rooney say that?
, if he did tell him to get f;:,t”d the reason England struggle is him, mark my words drop him and Wiltshere the team would improve, yes your right Delf did what he’s known for hard tackles that alone makes players nervous, said last season he will get sent off or booked more than most players that’s his game, but England did move more forward than England’s games we have played, to me Rooney is like Abonglahor at the moment for Villa lackluster and no effort to England.
i just red a few articles bill 🙂 but the thing which comes across is it seems the ref asked rooney 2 av a quiet word with delph at h/t. being he was the captain. but i find it strange rooney should find the need 2 disclose this. especially when rooney himself has been less than disciplined. can u remember him getting red card against portugal or when he was heard slagging england fans off for booing a crap performance. i think rooney isnt captain material full stop
ur totally rite about wiltshere hes over rated, where delph wasn’t afraid to play his game wiltshere either hasn’t got a game, or just can’t produce the goods and for a player who sits protecting the back line hes definitely hasn’t got the game 2 do this job. hes not got the positioning play or tackle or statue. milner can do this position but i feel hes better further foward maybe barry should return he can play this role far better than wiltshere
Nath it sticks out a mile to me .about Wiltshere, and Rooney he only has to receive a ball and the commentators go ape shit saying ROONEY got the ball Rooney did .this, he does shit all, he needs the bench for me to much emphasis on what he’s done in the past. Delf to me is a breath of fresh air for change in England’s camp.
What about when Rooney scores and commentator at ITV should Rooney in a fake throaty voice makes me want to vomit tbh
Strange that there is a collective blindness about Wilshere in the minds of serious football writers. They must be right of course and we armchair analysts all wrong LOL. In fact Wilshire is where Delph was 18 months ago. He does not yet play within his own limits.
Players can fall short against international quality opponents, maybe they are not that fast, that tricky, that strong in the tackle – and things they get away with often against lesser opposition they cannot do against the best. Wilshere shows too much of the ball to opponents intending to draw the tackle, and either evade it or more often block his way through it to come out still with the ball. He get caught out and dispossessed too often.
What pleases me about Delph is he has become more like Paul Scholes, and that includes the same poor timing of a tackle as the only negative. Delph now gets rid of the ball before he is trapped in possession, and his passing when he has more time is excellent. He was really impressive against Switzerland. I never thought I would write that.
If Wiltshire didn’t play for a trendy London club he would be lucky to get on the bench
I’ve said it many times before. Wilshere is all huff and puff. He plays a lot like Gabby, to a fault. And when he loses possession, he pouts rather than trying to get the ball back.
Originallondonlion thought at one stage I might have been too harsh with what I was seeing in the England side when we had Wiltshere and that other finger from Arsenal both on the pitch at the same time, it was like playing Lampard and Gerrard again knowing it wasn’t working, it improved with them when Barry arrived, I think Delf will gain tremendous experience given the opportunity and not ruined by the likes of Rooney, he’s never a captain in my book, anyway captains are better behind the front forwards.
I’d rather have captain Birdseye than Captain overrated media favourite Rooney
I see that Agbonlahor has signed a new 4 year deal. I know there is mixed views about his contribution / ability but at a time of little loyalty in football you can’t knock him for that
What about the loyalty of the VILLA fans paying to watch him???the reason he’s been at the VILLA for so long is basically no one else wants him.
Gabby new contract, WHY
What do you mean Why? It’s obvious he’s shit like the rest of the team so why wouldn’t we sign him!
He’s only got pace not skill, I’ll give him 10 out of 10 for loyalty, as Giddy saying he owes the fans.
Gabby says he owes the fans, what a load of tosh….. Start putting the ball in the back of the net then, rather than running around like roadrunner…. beep beep !
Good to see Fox is starting to get things sorted though, these new contract would have taken fatty Faulkner months to sort out !
I still think gabby is a good player for away games but at home he’s useless. Though that’s a lot to do with how we are set up at home
Fair point. It’s also a symptom of how other teams come to VP looking to sit back so that they don’t get caught out with the pace of our counter attack. I think that is why we sometimes beat top 6 teams but struggle against lower teams. Villa’s problem is that they struggle to set up and perform against a defensive opposition.
Agree DS like you say the sky four teams okay straight into our hands so easy to use gabby and his pace on counter. The other teams that visit VP sit behind the ball and we havnt a clue how to break teams down
ds totally hit the nail on its head ~ thats exactly why villa do better against the so called big teams and why the management av been looking for the player who can open up defenses, this year we av more about us. look at nzog and grealish oh and maybe cole and cleverly. against pool its game plan A as normal sit deeper deny pool space behind and hit on break. we will need some luck but if midfield and defense work together then pool will get more risky and then weimann and gabby will get loads of room in the last third with space to run into 🙂
The club a joke ffs. Gabby doesnt deserve a new contract hes shit Lamberk should of given him away but no one wanted him. I watched the club in the 50s and if he was around then he’d of been shown the door. This Fox bloke is another Faulkener. Clubs a joke ffs
I think the criticism of Gabby is a bit harsh. He isn’t a top striker, but he has delivered for Villa on many occasions. He has his limits but he has made it to England caps. He has been a first choice for a number of Villa managers so let’s not be too critical.
We could replace every player in the squad with better players but we have what we have. Having said that I would like to see Lambert change our front 3 and give us a different look. The blame’s not with Agbonlahor being picked, but with successive managers who use him in roles he’s not equipped to deliver, or replacing him with better.
Agree I’m no great fan of gabby but when he cleared agent ridgewells header of the line then popped up a few minutes later to score the winner v the scum that gives him legend status in my book!
yep me too
Nothing personal against Agbonlahor – he’s an Erdington lad, even believe that he went to same school as myself [generations apart!] and a Villa fan.
But the reason why I’m always amazed by how he’s managed to play under so many different managers at VP is really summed up by the quote from the BBC website “over 60 goals in 276 appearances…'”
He’s supposed to be a striker – and that scoring rate isn’t good enough, even though I presume it includes cup goals in games against lower league teams.
Isn’t he our highest ever goalscorer in the prem with like 50 goals lol that’s pretty tragic!
Considering he’s had like 8 seasons!
I really wonder about Agbonlahor. He still is one of the fastest sprinters in the EPL. What seems to be proven is that Gabby is not very adaptable to playing with other strikers. But then he has had to play with some of the least adaptable partners at Villa.
Two players I think he would have jelled with are Crouch and Defoe. Crouch because he signals where he is going to lay the ball off, and he pulls wide of the box so his knock-down leaves his partner with a central collect, then either side of the keeper to aim at. Defoe because he was almost as fast and would be sure to be up there to receive on any break-out.
Unfortunately Gabby has had to play with Young and Downing neither of whom could cross a ball accurately and most of the time they cut inside to have a pop themselves; with Heskey who distributed the ball like a buffer on a pin-ball table; with Weimann who lashes at every chance; and with Benteke who never lays a ball off to Gabby which might lead to a simple conversion.
I think Gabby is a bit like Torres – left stranded by totally unsuitable systems and personnel.
OLL – I can’t disagree with your detailed analysis at all; but there’s just something about Gabby whenever I’ve watched him that seems to signal that he’s not a ‘natural’ in terms of anything to do with being a striker.
He runs, yes, fast even now; challenges strongly. But at the end of it 9 times out of 10 he simply fluffs it in front of goal – he always looks afraid of goalkeepers.
Better than Heskey [at least in a Villa shirt] and by the looks of it still better than the current version of Bent, but I find him really frustrating to watch.
I agree with you also. Gabby does not relish the 1 on 1 with the keeper. Players who do can delay until the keeper commits one way then they go the other. Gabby decides first and allows the keeper to go the right way.
Spot on OLL, some site or other (or it might have been here) put a post up a few weeks ago entitled something along the lines of ‘Is Gabby holding Villa Back?’ Now turning that on its head it could be argued – Have Villa held Gabby back?
Take a look at the MON years and his goals steadily increased season upon season, then the circus came to town and his game suffered as a result,.
Paying in any half decent side the lad would piss double figures season in season out.
*Playing*
If Gabby had a brain, a first touch and composure he would have been class! Sadly he lacks these and thus is just an average footballer. Saying that I still think he’s a legend in his own way!
very very unfair criticism, gabby is a proven striker at the top lvl of the game. hes been playing out of position for the team, always gives his all in the big games, he does produce like other strikers he has his bad patches. the guys villa through and through, these sorts of comments are disgraceful and unfounded. the guy sweats blood for the team and has played through injury for us.
Sorry Nath don’t share your assumption of Abonglahor prowess, 🙂 yes loyal to the club give you that 100% but attitude to the game no, you say out of position, well think about it the only thing going for him is pace, now having pace where would you like to play? Through the centre or wing?– in his case not able to play a ball in a one to one ,he can only run on to a ball, that limits his abilities he has to bank on runs at goal does he score ? Missis more only 66 goals in 200+ games, don’t get me wrong he has had to do what going on the day not having player with him, the best of a bad lot.
gabby abonglahor shouldn’t be totally judged on goals scored. assisting and chances created must also come into the consideration, more lately last three seasons hes hardly played down the center. if he played down the center he would score around 10 plus, he plays were the manager asks him, he does without pulling teddies arms off. hes a team player. u could compare him with weimann who himself had a bad last season but again this is unfair as weimann is like gabby doing lots of work, chasing down the opposition fullbacks as we don’t play with wingers these 2 are asked to track back.
The big problem with Gabby is he hasn’t got a brain either in or out if football. I know that sounds harsh but he is one of those players that needs a manager to say just ‘all I want you to do today is this this and this and don’t worry about anything else’. I must admit when I was a player and played out of position my manager said all I want is this don’t worry about anything else the rest of the team will worry for you. For me that was great I knew what to do and how to do it and stopped me getting confused.
Off topic but it appears Hull have been up for sale for a while now. I also read that Mike Ashley was (again) actively looking for a buyer, so with Villa and Everton (allegedly) that’s at least 4 EPL clubs on the market. Methinks Randy’s going to be around for some time yet which, just maybe, he’s come to realise and we might see more investment in the club……..ah well maybe not!!!
And if the Mirror is to be believed, Spuds are available for £1Billion…
Not likely to be a queue then 🙂
Just a quick reminder that Lerner has invested less money this summer than any of the previous one’s.
Agreed but if media is to be believed he had sanctioned a further £7.5m to buy Cleverley
Without wishing to be disloyal to this blog there is a very good piece on Vital Football about Jack Grealish which is worth a read.
Good read Hitchen 60, nice to see such loyalty from a young player, as for Keane hope he doesn’t come the hard man to young hopefuls, Nath we just have to disagree on this one till I’m proved wrong.:-)
Bill; I got the impression that he is a well grounded young man. Let’s hope Villa don’t screw up by offering him unrealistic terms as he clearly wants to sign a new contract.
I have just been told the reason Faulkner was lobbed and Mr Fox was brought in was purely to make the club a more attractive proposition to prospective purchasers and he is in for a mighty % when we are sold!