Football Banter

even schoolkids are doing their own take on the ballboy, hazzard kick

(24-01-2013 15:04 )munch1917 Wrote:  I still don't understand what possessed Lambert to move there from Norwich, from a team doing well and flying high, to a team going nowhere but down. Unless they sold him on a promise of money to spend, he deserves whatever he gets, whether it's relegation or the sack.

If Villa go down, which they certainly deserve to, it could be a long climb back up.

The fact villa overall are a much bigger team with european history and have been ever present in the premier league, he probably wanted to challenge himself at a bigger club, norwich aren't exactly flying high now are they, Most people given the chance would choose villa over norwich.

(24-01-2013 15:27 )Fernandez Esperenda Wrote:  The fact villa overall are a much bigger team with european history and have been ever present in the premier league, he probably wanted to challenge himself at a bigger club, norwich aren't exactly flying high now are they, Most people given the chance would choose villa over norwich.

I get your point, but I don't entirely accept it.
Yes Villa have a richer history than the likes of Norwich, but that counts for little. Preston North End have a better history than some premiership clubs, but they are hardly 'bigger' than them these days. Fact is, Villa narrowly avoided relegation last year, and looking in from the outside, there was little to suggest they would fare significantly better this year, whereas Norwich had done fantastically well in their first season back in the top flight.
He was doing a good job at Norwich and had the chance to make a real name for himself if he could follow up that first good season (look at the plaudits going Swansea's way), whereas Villa are a team in desparate need of rebuilding, but there is no sign of money to finance that rebuild, so it was always going to be a 'bang your head against a brick wall' kind of job.

Like I say, maybe they sold him a dummy at the interview, a promise of cash which never materialised, but otherwise, Norwich always looked the better option to me.

Maybe he wanted to take the challenge of keeping villa up and the owners see him as the right man to build a stable competitive team, given time i'm sure he'll turn it around.

first somebody tries to kill van persie, then the life of a young ball boy was put in terrible danger and now hooliganism is making a terrifying comeback to the premiership! what's next, genocide?

(24-01-2013 15:04 )munch1917 Wrote:  

(24-01-2013 13:57 )Regenerated Wrote:  ...
On Villa: they look deeply in the mire. Never seen them as poor as this ever. I reckon defeat at Millwall tomorrow or a loss to Newcastle could signal the end of Lambert's managerial reign. We'll see.

I've heard a lot of commentators saying the Villa squad lacks leadership on the pitch, but I'm not sure I buy that. They still have some senior players like Agbonlahor who should be showing more authority. Just a few years back, Agbonlahor was being courted by the likes of Arsenal, and was sniffing around the England squad. He chose to stay put at Villa, and in all honesty, it's looking like he took the easy option, stay put, pocket his wages and look pretty good in an average team, rather than move on and seriously challenge himself in a better quality environment. His play this season in particular has looked second rate and lazy. I'd say, for a seasoned pro, only Wright-Phillips at QPR has been as woeful as him this season.
Villa are paying the price for continued lack of investment (until they suddenly find money for over-priced signings like Bent). I still don't understand what possessed Lambert to move there from Norwich, from a team doing well and flying high, to a team going nowhere but down. Unless they sold him on a promise of money to spend, he deserves whatever he gets, whether it's relegation or the sack.

If Villa go down, which they certainly deserve to, it could be a long climb back up.

Well said munch1917.

The likes of Agbonlahor, N'Zogbia, Ireland - these are the kind of senior players who should be showing a lot more than what they are.

There's a lot of radio broadcasters in my area talking about Villa's slide in recent years. The fact is that the club has escaped relegation the past two or three seasons because there's been at least three other teams who have been absolute shite at this level, even more so than Villa. My own lot have gone up, not learnt or picked up anything, except a losing mentality to games, and then promptly fell back again; Blackburn had all the anger from the stands thrown at Steve Kean (literally - when someone released that chicken on to the pitch ) and Bolton have suffered from a chairman wanting to change their style of play, to take away their strengths.

I don't think there's the same level of crap teams below them to keep them up this time. Bent is well over-priced - someone definately knew what they were doing when they charged that much. Mysterious injuries have blighted the likes of Vlaar and Dunne - which many broadcasters question the legitamacy of.

I know all this is smoke and mirrors, conspiracy theories, but Villa are suffering because of it. I too therefore question why Lambert took this job on. Let's face it, they were in absolute crap when McLeish was fired - another bizarre appointment in the first place, that one.

As you say, if they do go down, I believe they'll find the Championship an even harder slog. Blackburn, Bolton and Wolves are in the lower reaches this season - it's that losing mentality - once it sets in to the players, its very hard to break out of again, regardless of the strength of the manager's motivational skills.

(24-01-2013 13:30 )Phoenix Wrote:  What goes around comes around. The kid was basically just doing what he sees week in week out in the Premier League, which is players (like Hazard) acting like they get shot at the slightest bit of contact. Now even the ball boys are doing it...embarrassing reflection of modern football

Well done to Swansea by the way, they deserved to go through over the two legs

(24-01-2013 01:47 )Fernandez Esperenda Wrote:  Hazard didn't "assault" the ball boy at all, people just jump on the media bandwagon, when it comes down to it all hazard did was kick a football from underneath the ball boy, he had no intention of hurting the lad. Both were in the wrong, Both involved have apologised to each other, it's done the ballboy's had his 5 minutes of fame and will be happy when he's on tv and in papers, Hazard should just be given his 3 match ban, and just move on, there's no need to drag stupid things like this on and on.

Well said

the ballboy bollox has certainly taken the flak away fron rafa though aint it? 2 - 0 down from 1st leg needing goals and his 1st substitution is to take a defender off for anuva defender . he seems to hav cum in to a club who was in the title race and slowly started 2 fuck that up especially losing to qpr and losing a 2 goal lead against southampton then had a chance at winning a world club championship, well at least theres still the europa and fa cup!

what kind of person wud buy his sister lingerie must be a fake account surely!

https://twitter.com/borinifabio29/status...4517344256

Here is football's rich list. I'm very surprised to see Newcastle on it.

Just looking at the money Barcelona and Real Madrid generate makes me think there needs to be a revamp of La Liga.

https://www.google.ie/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&...cwVREZ8z-w

(24-01-2013 23:47 )dan g 27 Wrote:  Here is football's rich list. I'm very surprised to see Newcastle on it.

Just looking at the money Barcelona and Real Madrid generate makes me think there needs to be a revamp of La Liga.

https://www.google.ie/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&...cwVREZ8z-w

thats all confusing to me dan lol. so all spanish teams negotiate tv deals individually? i always wondered why every time barca and real play they are always on sky, every single game they play are shown live over here more so then our own teams.