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Now I was always in the camp that thought we would never 'make it' whilst the accident-prone ex-player of the year was in the side.

But I remember a thread recently saying how brilliantly he was doing at Villa getting a MOM against some aerial bombardment from one of the crappier teams, and something to the effect that selling him would be our biggest mistake ever.

So I was interested in the highlights of Villa's debacle at Blackburn to see who was responsible for both Blackburn goals - our old friend Dickie Dunne. A hands-in-the-air penalty and an agricultural clearance/set-up earned Blackburn 3 points and lost Villa 3. He will cost them a number of points per season just like he did us, however sterling his play in between.

So as both Adebayor and RSC have run rings round him in the past, I expect us to do quite well next Monday even if Ade is suspended again (FA on Thur I believe)
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I posted in the 'who makes way thread' (I think?) that Villa are slow at the back. The cynic in me thinks that Dunnie will be out to show us what he feels that we are missing by his absence. The realist in me says that up against Ade, he'll be dragged away from the centre of his goal and exposed.

We are all aware of Dunnies weakness against quick strong forwards and that's why for me, Ade walks back into the side on Monday.

With regards to Thursday's decision, I would hope that Chuckle 1's celebration at the swam is going to get Ade off

I was talking to a Villa fan the other day, and he was pretty dsmissive of Dunnie, and what he did at the Blackburn game, even though I agreed that the Penalty was a tad harsh.

I think Dunnie will be found out by Ade and tevez pretty quick in the villa game.

One of Dunne's biggest problems is that he doesn't act quickly enough when he has the ball at his feet and then gets pushed into a quick punt away. With Bellamy and Tevez both running him down he's gonna have to make his decisions much quicker otherwise he'll get robbed.

Every season Dunne played one game where he was the best CB in the world. If he has that game v us then he MAY prevent us from scoring & even get a goal himself. If he doesn't however, Adebayor & Co will give him nightmares, real nightmares.

Some of his games as an underdog v rags were fantastic but 9 out of 10 games where he came up against people/teams where he had something to prove & an opportunity to do it (Robbie Keane/Everton etc) he let us down badly & his arse went in the 1st five minutes. Be surprised if it doesn't happen again next week.

He'll either give us a pen or score an own goal. you read it here first :)

I have always had a soft spot for Dunnie. Genuine guy who saw us through some very dark days and always did his best. Sometime that best wasn't good enough but we knew Dunnie had his limitations. Was a tad sad when he left, for sentimental reasons only.

I hope he has a good game when he plays us...but not quite good enough to stop us battering them. When he returns to eastlands, I will be happy to applaud him.

I can't see him giving away two penalties in two games. He'll probably be beating himself up over the mistakes against Blackburn, and seeing as this will be his biggest match of the season I can see a world class display. There, now we have both polarities covered in this thread, we can all actually expect a thoroughly mediocre performance and mistakes from the rest of the Villa defence ;)

MaineRoadMemories wrote:One of Dunne's biggest problems is that he doesn't act quickly enough when he has the ball at his feet and then gets pushed into a quick punt away. With Bellamy and Tevez both running him down he's gonna have to make his decisions much quicker otherwise he'll get robbed.

There are two key problems to his game. He turns like an oil tanker in ship canal. He has got pace for a big man but is already that crucial 5 yards behind when balls are played behind him. The second is his concentration under pressure. The moments of madness we've all witnessed.

However he plays, I hope all the fans down there give him a huge ovation. That's nothing more than he deserves. Part of the reason i'm trying to get my ass down there.

Steve wrote:However he plays, I hope all the fans down there give him a huge ovation. That's nothing more than he deserves. Part of the reason i'm trying to get my ass down there.

I hope so too and I expect all our fans to do. He was a good servant and a captain.
Still I'm looking forward to see our strikers making fun of him with their trickery!

With our pace in depth he will be a liability to them if they try and spring a few offsides. I wouldnt be surprised if he doesnt play against us considering we know him inside out.

No doubt we know all his mistakes by now and how to open him up and use them against him. If he plays on Monday he's gonna have a mar against us and show the world why we sold him.

I hope he has a blinder against us but the rest of there back 4 get ran ragged by Bellers,Ade and Tevez.
Good luck Dunne but expect to be on the losing side.

Steve wrote:However he plays, I hope all the fans down there give him a huge ovation. That's nothing more than he deserves. Part of the reason i'm trying to get my ass down there.

At the point he left, I would have agreed with you. He's not good enough for where we want to be (which is why I'm surprised Villa bought him), but he has been a good servant for the club, despite a few dodgy years early on.

However, when he chose to start moaning as soon as he arrived in the midlands, his chance of applause went. Unless he opens his mouth before the home game to slag us off, I'll just ignore him as I would for any of the other VIlla players, but he's in danger of a Distin type reception from a lot if he's not careful.

I hope we can all rise above some unwise comments Dunnie may have made and rise en masse to applaud him at Villa. We should win the game but whatever the outcome sometimes we have to remember the darker days and pay respect where due.
Dunnie is "Once a Blue always a Blue" for me

Not too fussed about the comments he made when he left, to be honest. Always liked him, but glad we've now got Toure as our 'rock' - reminds me of Dunny at his best.

Blue Since 76 wrote:

Steve wrote:However he plays, I hope all the fans down there give him a huge ovation. That's nothing more than he deserves. Part of the reason i'm trying to get my ass down there.

At the point he left, I would have agreed with you. He's not good enough for where we want to be (which is why I'm surprised Villa bought him), but he has been a good servant for the club, despite a few dodgy years early on.

However, when he chose to start moaning as soon as he arrived in the midlands, his chance of applause went. Unless he opens his mouth before the home game to slag us off, I'll just ignore him as I would for any of the other VIlla players, but he's in danger of a Distin type reception from a lot if he's not careful.

I think it depends what you read after he left. In the extended interviews I remember him saying some pretty nice things about the club and the fans.

Niall Quinns Discopants wrote:

MaineRoadMemories wrote:One of Dunne's biggest problems is that he doesn't act quickly enough when he has the ball at his feet and then gets pushed into a quick punt away. With Bellamy and Tevez both running him down he's gonna have to make his decisions much quicker otherwise he'll get robbed.

There are two key problems to his game. He turns like an oil tanker in ship canal. He has got pace for a big man but is already that crucial 5 yards behind when balls are played behind him. The second is his concentration under pressure. The moments of madness we've all witnessed.

I agree with this comment about him being slow to turn. My biggest problem with our CBs over the last few seasons (going back to include Distin) has been that when faced with balls played behind them and a pacy forward, they're beaten. Most teams that we would think of being banker wins at home have played this way against us and got something. Penalties, own goals etc.
anone remember Middlesborough at home a few years ago? They're only shot on target was from Dunne and they won 1-0!!

We're better off without him. A good servant, but we're better off now. Toure is solid, Lescott I'm less impressed with. He was lucky last night against Cole. I'm sure he'll come good tho.

He is playing the same there as he was here having a great game and then having a bad e.g the Blackburn game..