MikeMcKenna

Mark didnt see the game but some of the comments about Bacuna remind me of the reactions to KEA's initial matches. Maybe like KEA he needs time? And maybe PL didnt want to destroy Bacunas confidence?

Firstly i didnt see the game but followed it on here and clearly we were poor in the first half. But i find ironic to read how many were calling for KEA to come on and the stick given to the likes of Bacuna especially after the stick KEA got at the same time last year! Fickle isnt the word!

Agree, need to counter Coutinho's pace, he gave us the run around last season

Like to see Helenius get on in the 2nd and score on his VP debut :-)

Have the announced the squad?

Very nervous about this one, given our record against them at VP and more annoyingly after being able to watch both the arsenal and Chelsea games in an Irish pub here in Sicily, they are not showing this game as the Italian season starts today! ******! My own stupid fault for booking holidays in August! Come on you Lions!!!!

So what? Do we have to spend the next five months discussing "how much" and "who will buy him"? No doubt he will go some day but personally I prefer to discuss his exploits as a Villa player rather than constantly harping on about what he is worth and who will buy him

I will be so glad when this *****g thread is locked!

Delph is a real star in the making. He is growing in confidence and maturing rapidly. However IMHO I still think he hasn't yet found his ideal position.

Very impressed!

Pity that much of the talk is about Benteke and his worth and when he will leave rather than enjoying the fact that he is currently a fantastic VILLA player. FFS just enjoy it!

Bloody proud to be a Villa fan tonight! Deserved at least a point, ref was an absolute clearing in the woods and Chelsea knew they got away with it! We are a force to be reckoned with and will do well this season. UTV!!!

Judging by Wigan away when over 3000 of us were singing this and from what I have heard about the Arsenal game is this going to be the song of the season?

Yep! Am in Taormina in Sicily at the moment and was the only Villa fan in an Irish pub full of Gooners watching the game - very sweet :-)

I don't care about Lerner I don't care about me All I care about is A V F C :-)

Trying to picture "pretending to kick passers by" and struggling........... You sure it was bannan and not a member of the "under 12's?" Sound like Bannan to me, the "under 12's" are probably as tall as wee Barry and of a similar maturity!

FFS is he still here?

From what I saw of Jack in the Next Gen he really has great feet but I wonder whether he has the physical strength to cope with strong PL defenders who will hit him hard? Players like Messi and Bale not only have great feet, pace etc but they are also physically very strong. That said I think Jack is a great talent with massive potential and look forward to him getting a PL start to see how he fares.

Dimoko I am pretty sure that if you email the club, as you are coming over from the US, you will get tickets. If not let me know and I"ll see I can help you out.

This really doesn't happen to Aston Villa. Maybe after all these years the luck is going our way? Like everyone else I was resigned to losing Benteke and although i believe we have bought players with potential I was envisaging another mediocre season. Now however we have a real chance to progress, play some exciting football and make up for some of the disappointment over the years. I hope PL can follow this coup up, by signing another CB & AM. If Benteke can carry on in the same form as last season, we really might start to fly again!! Happy days, the sun is shining even brighter today :-)

Of course we will - but IMO we will do a deal at around £23m + add ons Smetrov You are as bad as the Spurs fans. No add ones, £25m - simple. Unless Chelsea join in and then I expect the fee to be £30m. There really is no pressure on Villa, we do not have to do a deal and WE HOLD ALL THE CARDS!

Why? It's true, we would have gone down and if we do not bring in an effective CF we could struggle again for goals, hence possible relegation candidates again

Because we're in a different economic environment (specific to the club rather than some general thing). I'm sorry but the 'hold all the cards' argument is as silly as it was a few weeks ago when people were saying that he was staying for certain.We don't. That's not to say that we don't hold any or most - perhaps we do, but we don't hold them all.So, that's not to say that Benteke has the club over a barrel (my totally at the mercy of the player/agents may well have been over egged, tbh) but it is to say that the opposite is also not true.We may well have come out and said that a valuation has to be met within a preseason timeframe and so on but when that timeframe goes by and M. Benteke decides that he wants to sit in Ghent (or wherever) and play gambler pinball machines rather than come back and play for us, what's we really going to do? So by your logic; My argument is "silly" because i claim we "hold all the cards" yet by your own admission "perhaps" we hold most of the cards and you've "over egged" the claim of our being "totally at the mercy of the player/agents" is actually just as "silly"

I did wonder originally if Helenius was actually the failsafe if Benteke left and looking at his goals he knows how to score but the amount of room he is given is amazing. IMO we cannot assume he will have such an easy ride in the PL. We need another striker.

We may well have to sell to balance the books (or to give them a level of respectability).Edit: The 'no obligation to sell', world cup year, sulking, toys out of the pram, sitting on the bench stuff seems to me rather unrealistic messageboard/pundit discussion.Everyone chucks it about until people do actually throw their toys out of their prams, go on strike, claim that some other club would do them better, stand up for their career prospects and wot not and whatever and moves thus transpire.We've pretty much declared that we are a club that needs to buy players and sell them on in order to not lose over £20m a year; it should be no surprise that a player that we bought for x with at least half a view (if not much much more) to selling for 2, 3 or more times x also views himself as a commodity. Lerner did it with Barry, why several years later is it "rather unrealistic messageboard/pundit discussion"? If we don't upgrade his contract, it will cost us say £5m between now and January. By then his price could be £30m if things are not going well for various top clubs strikers. Lerner and AVFC hold all the cards.