Wednesday's gossip B*ll*x

[Chinners]

CITY BOLLOX
Manchester City forward Carlos Tevez has explained his reasons for not celebrating his goals against West Ham on Monday, saying that "part of me will always be a Hammer". However, following the treatment he received at Old Trafford recently, the Argentine says he will not extend the same courtesy if he scores against his former club Manchester United. Class . . . http://www.skysports.com/story/0,19528, ... 20,00.html

Manchester City will challenge for title, says Santa Cruz
http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/sport ... 14799.html

Can Aston Villa topple Manchester City? The fans have their say
http://www.birminghammail.net/birmingha ... -24817084/

TRANSFER BOLLOX
Manchester United are the latest club to track Bolton defender Gary Cahill. Chelsea, Juventus and AC Milan are also interested in the 23-year-old.The Sun

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger is keen on Atletico Madrid forward Keko, who has been likened to Liverpool striker Fernando Torres.
Daily Mirror

Tottenham and Arsenal are two of the clubs willing to offer midfielder Nigel Reo-Coker a way out of Aston Villa following his bust up with manager Martin O'Neill. (Daily Star)

Hull boss Phil Brown is desperate to land Sol Campbell in the January transfer window, following the former Arsenal defender's decision to leave Notts County last week.Daily Mirror

Japanese midfielder Keisuke Honda, who plays for Dutch club VVV Venlo, is wanted by Everton.Daily Mirror

Aston Villa are deciding whether to make a January bid for midfielder Milan Jovanovic, whose contract with Standard Liege expires next summer.Daily Mirror

OTHER BOLLOX
Aston Villa defender Curtis Davies is set to land a new contract, despite being out for five months with a shoulder injury.The Sun

Liverpool's American owners, George Gillett and Tom Hicks, say they are ready to water down their control in the club. (Various)

Birmingham City chairman David Gold is set to lose his job at the club if Carson Yeung completes his takeover.The Sun

Sunderland manager Steve Bruce says Anton Ferdinand still has a future at the club, despite the defender being dropped before the victory over Wolves at the weekend. (Daily Star)

Hull midfielder Jimmy Bullard says he is fit and ready for action after recovering from knee ligament surgery earlier this year. (The Sun)

Manager Fabio Capello wants to make sure England's 2018 World Cup bid does not come under scrutiny by refusing to treat the qualifiers against the Ukraine and Belarus as practice matches. (Daily Express)

WAG OF THE DAY
http://www.thespoiler.co.uk/index.php/2 ... ine-palmer

More bollox later.

[Beeks]

Interesting to see what the Villa fans are saying...all but one have City winning...we truly are starting to make waves!

[Dronny]

Interesting to see what the Villa fans are saying...all but one have City winning...we truly are starting to make waves!

I know its a fans prerogative to be negative, but some of the villans really do expect a tub thumping! Exciting considering that I still believe Villa to be one of the teams in the shake up for 5-7 place.

[Piccsnumberoneblue]

Interesting to see what the Villa fans are saying...all but one have City winning...we truly are starting to make waves!

I know its a fans prerogative to be negative, but some of the villans really do expect a tub thumping! Exciting considering that I still believe Villa to be one of the teams in the shake up for 5-7 place.

I had a sneaky glance at that too. It's striking that there is sush a huge change in attitude towards us since the Barry signing. At that point, the football world criticised him for moving to a club with less prospects, merely for money...Now even their own fans expect us to beat them.

[blues-clues]

We are still a way off being the finished article but someone soon is going to be on the end of a thrashing. I dont think it will be Villa and I think their fans want shooting for being so pessimistic.

If Ade plays and Bellers keeps up his form then we can get a win but I doubt if we will get a shed load against Villa.

Can't believe fans there dont rate MO'N. The one who says he is not in Villa's top ten managers is in cloud cuckoo land.

[DoomMerchant]

i think the Villa test will be our most difficult yet. We have a lot to lose if we stumble...whilst they have only to gain really.

That team has a lot of firepower moving forward...this would be an easy match for us to lose imho.

and i do rate MON as well...dunno what their fans are on about, but it's not surprising. there's always a subset of fans who think they managers a tool, and group who are MON-lickers as they are called.

cheers

[Vhero]

Gotta love it though the hammers fans thought we were gonna give em a thumping and we proved em right and now the Villa fans expect the same.. Can't wait for the game..

[Lev Bronstein]

In terms of our progress, this is more of a "must win" game than the derby. We might not be far off replacing one of the top 4, but we aren't there yet. Before anyone starts seriously thinking of us as top 4 material we have to prove that we're the best of the rest. This season that means finishing above Villa, Spurs and Everton. Of the three, Spurs have impressed me the most. I don't think that Villa or Everton have the quality to do much more than they already do - but they still have to be beaten.

As far as I'm concerned, we've hardly started to play. Whilst some of the attacking play has been fantastic, and we've shown grit and a "never say die"attitude, there have been periods of games when we've given the ball away too cheaply and the defence can look frail (I would expect an improvement in both those areas as the season progresses). So, a stumble is on the cards, but I would expect us to have enough quality to win.

Mind you, the weight of expectations will be on our shoulders, as it will be for most of our games. How we cope will be a mark (no pun intended) of how how far we've come.

[Chinners]

Top post Lev!

[Tokyo Blue]

[border]Japanese midfielder Keisuke Honda, who plays for Dutch club VVV Venlo, is wanted by Everton.Daily Mirror[/border]

This lad has been absolute garbage every time I have seen him. He'd suit everton down to the ground.

[mr_nool]

[border]Japanese midfielder Keisuke Honda, who plays for Dutch club VVV Venlo, is wanted by Everton.Daily Mirror[/border]

This lad has been absolute garbage every time I have seen him. He'd suit everton down to the ground.

He's been immense at the start of this season, though, winning plenty of games on his own for VVV.

[ant london]

We are still a way off being the finished article but someone soon is going to be on the end of a thrashing. I dont think it will be Villa and I think their fans want shooting for being so pessimistic.

If Ade plays and Bellers keeps up his form then we can get a win but I doubt if we will get a shed load against Villa.

Can't believe fans there dont rate MO'N. The one who says he is not in Villa's top ten managers is in cloud cuckoo land.

Agree with all of this

Someone quite soon is going to get a proper walloping. I would, however, be astonished if it's Villa. That said, I can see us running out 2-0 quite comfortably. Should be a good game of football this one though.....as in the case of Wet Spam they do actually play decent football at Villa Park

[Ted Hughes]

In terms of our progress, this is more of a "must win" game than the derby. We might not be far off replacing one of the top 4, but we aren't there yet. Before anyone starts seriously thinking of us as top 4 material we have to prove that we're the best of the rest. This season that means finishing above Villa, Spurs and Everton. Of the three, Spurs have impressed me the most. I don't think that Villa or Everton have the quality to do much more than they already do - but they still have to be beaten.

As far as I'm concerned, we've hardly started to play. Whilst some of the attacking play has been fantastic, and we've shown grit and a "never say die"attitude, there have been periods of games when we've given the ball away too cheaply and the defence can look frail (I would expect an improvement in both those areas as the season progresses). So, a stumble is on the cards, but I would expect us to have enough quality to win.

Mind you, the weight of expectations will be on our shoulders, as it will be for most of our games. How we cope will be a mark (no pun intended) of how how far we've come.

Agree with this. The rags have proved you can win the league without having a very good record v the top 4 but for every game you lose v the Villas, Spuds & Evertons you have to get the points back & that will probably mean against a top 4 team. Assuming all the top 8 will do well v the lower teams & most of the top 4 will beat the 5th to 8th place teams, if you lose to a 5th to 8th place team & the top 4 don't, you could have to beat a top 4 team to get the points back.

It's good that Villa fans, like West Ham fans, are fearing defeat against us; that spreads to the team. The rags win half of their games before they even set foot on the pitch & it makes a big difference when teams & fans start to fear losing rather than expecting to win.

[Tokyo Blue]

[border]Japanese midfielder Keisuke Honda, who plays for Dutch club VVV Venlo, is wanted by Everton.Daily Mirror[/border]

This lad has been absolute garbage every time I have seen him. He'd suit everton down to the ground.

He's been immense at the start of this season, though, winning plenty of games on his own for VVV.

I only see him for Japan sadly. He looks like a kid trying to play with the grown-ups.

How good are VVV? I know he was voted their player of the year last season, but...

[john68]

Sorry lads, I don't necessarily see this as a must win game...though a win would really set the World alight for us and prove a measure of our progress, a draw would be sufficient to keep us on schedule.

The other teams from the top 5 will drop silly points...the rags at Burnley...Chelsea at Wigan...it's a long season.

[Colin the King]

We are still a way off being the finished article but someone soon is going to be on the end of a thrashing. I dont think it will be Villa and I think their fans want shooting for being so pessimistic.

If Ade plays and Bellers keeps up his form then we can get a win but I doubt if we will get a shed load against Villa.

Can't believe fans there dont rate MO'N. The one who says he is not in Villa's top ten managers is in cloud cuckoo land.

Agree with all of this

Someone quite soon is going to get a proper walloping. I would, however, be astonished if it's Villa. That said, I can see us running out 2-0 quite comfortably. Should be a good game of football this one though.....as in the case of Wet Spam they do actually play decent football at Villa Park

Do they fuck! It's horrible, rushed, one dimensional rubbish they play- not saying it's not effective but I think it's horrible to watch. Everything is whacked onto the channel and their game is based around whipping crosses in. They hardly ever pass and move with any intricacy.

[Chinners]

I think Villa used to try and play that way but since they sold their main passer of the ball to us it's not been as pretty this season. I think we will reverse the 4-1 last time we played there to be honest, they will be where we were last season I reckon, struggling to qualify for any european place