Cacofonix the Bard

He had him in the Chelsea youth team I think

Never taken much note of Bertrand when I've seen him so I read a few threads on Villa and Chelsea forums about him. There wasn't much to read on the Villa forums, although they seemed quite pleased with him without anyone particularly waxing lyrical about him. The consensus on the Chelsea forum seemed to be that he's a decent LB worth keeping as a squad player although he'd never command a starting a place. There were a few who seemed to prefer keeping him as a squad player over signing Luke Shaw for a 30m fee which could be spent elsewhere. Pretty much as expected.

As an Aussie, I f***ing love Mile Jedinak but he'd be well short of the standard we need. He's an old fashioned, no-nonsense defensive midfielder who puts himself about and loves a full-blooded tackle but even Palace fans think his distribution isn't up to scratch.

His kicking reminds of an ageing centre back with dodgy knees who wants to welly it but just can't get the distance any more. I think at the very least he needs some competition. I'd like us to get Reina back to provide that competition but with his wages, and the fact that he's in the last year of his contract (I think), there's no chance of that.

He's a superb shot stopper from what I've seen, constantly pulls off quality saves. Can't say I've taken much note of the other parts of his game though. Anyone?

Was in disbelief when I heard about this a couple of hours ago. As an Aussie fan I google his name every few months to see if there's any new information on how he's recovering from the cancer and progressing with his football. Late last year it looked like he was on his way to putting it behind him and he was back in training and even managed a first team appearance during his recovery. Genuinely didn't see this coming. Here's a video of him talking about it in September when he thought he'd beaten it. f***ing hell, it's brutal. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t6nvT3yhphU

Very good

I had a kangaroo souvlaki once. It was fantastic.

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Their player of the season last term was an Australian called Mile Jedinak. Very competitive defensive midfielder who they rate highly as a destroyer type. And... that's all I've got.

can't thank you enough mate, cheers

Any chance of a link, anyone?

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I f***ing love Pepe Reina

Nervy stuff from Skrtel.

That's brilliant.

I woke up a couple of minutes into the game so I didn't know what the benches were. He might have picked up a knock in training and missed out. EDIT: And that post was before he was brought on, obviously

I've just jizzed my f***ing pants I f***ing love this man get the f*** in there!!!!!!!

YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS

Some decent defending here, finally Although I don't want to speak too soon

We're f***ed...