TJVillan

That also means he's cup tied. Even if Lambert isn't interested in the early rounds of the cup, it's not ideal if we were to progress a couple of rounds.

My thoughts: ideal signing if we can get him. Didn't play much early in the season but has started their last 2 games, best player vs Man United. Obviously we are direct competition for places and I'm sure the Norwich board aren't keen to sell to Lambert anyway. £1.5 million is a pretty low price even if he is 31. From what I gather the Norwich fans love him, he is their longest serving player and they would hate to see him sold. It could be more tricky than many think to get him here, but I definitely think it's worth it for anything up to £3 million. He doesn't rely on pace so I think he's got at least a couple of good years in him. I think he's perfect for our squad. Lambert knows his game inside out. He is exactly what everyone is shouting for, a creative midfielder that can play behind the striker, link play and create things. He's got plenty of experience to help some of the younger lads. He might not have the greatest engine but there is so much running around him with Delph Gabby Weimann etc that it won't matter. In summary: YES PLEASE.

HH was pretty vocal about our style of play being appalling amongst other things that suggested he didn't entirely agree with Lambert. I don't think it was him. In fact I hope it isn't him, he's got far more to worry about than club PR on forums. That's a job for somebody else.

Terrible Get well soon Libor. I was hoping HH was wrong but unfortunately not. Now there is definitely no denying he gets real Villa info ahead of time.

http://www.birminghammail.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/aston-villa-paul-lambert-targeting-6455693? Wow, this is almost exactly what HH said in this post. Thanks for posting and I'll be watching intently for any further info you might have!

I agree we could definitely do with an upgrade in quality deeper in midfield, but an attacking midfielder is more urgent. The complete lack of movement and players making themselves available higher up the pitch contributes to our mindless hoofing. Westwood is a deep lying playmaker. So is El Ahmadi. Delph plays deep, Sylla plays deep, even Gardner has played in a deep midfield role when he has appeared. They might not be high quality, but we literally have nobody who can take the ball and create something for the strikers. Exclude N'Zogbia who is a long term injury - we have 2 attacking midfielders in the entire squad. Both play wide and neither have scored or assisted a goal this season.

He is also 31, he may have a little bit more to give but personally I still wouldn't want to be bringing in anybody over 30. Having a youthful squad is still important and we can still get experience under the age of 30. I just think he's exactly the type of player we need - a number 10, quality on the ball can link attack and midfield. Obviously not a long term solution but would be useful for a couple of years and Lambert knows exactly what he will get from him. But like I said, they won't sell if he's that important to them

I'd be happy with Hoolahan but he is also back playing for Norwich, and if he continues to play like that no chance they'll sell him to us: http://metro.co.uk/2013/12/28/wes-hoolahan-shines-as-norwich-win-pride-if-not-points-against-manchester-united-4244141/

The club's policy is to give unfancied or untested players a shot at the premier league. They are signed on very low wages and if they perform well, they are rewarded. This is important because if they play well in the premier league and we don't pay them well enough other teams will start circling and they'll want out. Benteke and Guzan were massive in keeping us up and clearly quality players that we needed to tie down on better terms. Weimann's contract was expiring, same goes for Clark and Baker. Westwood and Lowton were on very very low wages for a premier league player, played pretty much every week last season and really improved in the last few months. Joe Bennett did not get a new contract. Obviously he did not perform well enough to earn one.

Good post HH. I don't know anything about your past record with predicting Villa news but i'll give you the benefit of the doubt for now! Christ, are people actually suggesting Milner again? Has it skipped your mind that only Negredo and Navas have played more times for City this season, that he earns 10x what our new players do, that he recently put in a man of the match performance to help City win from 2-0 down at Bayern Munich, or that City are competing in 4 competitions and clearly need the squad depth? Hoolahan and Pilkington seem viable if uninspiring options. From the top clubs - De Bruyne, Rodwell, Anderson, Zaha, Guidetti, Miyaichi, Luis Alberto could all be options for a loan signing. Spurs have 8 trillion midfielders but Sherwood seems to be using them all - when he works out who he wants and who he doesn't, we might be able to snare one of them on loan. I've seen a few mention Essien has played 3 games all season, but his wages are clearly off the scale. I'm struggling to think of anyone else in the premier league that is realistic and attainable that might actually help us out.

3.5 years. 3 different managers. Loads of different players. All utterly pathetic. The common denominator? The men at the top. I would take dropping out of the division this season if it meant a change of ownership and a fresh start for the club.

Guzan Lowton Clark Baker Luna Westwood Delph Albrighton Gardner Tonev Benteke Bench: Steer Herd KEA Bacuna Weimann Kozak Helenius

I'm going to try and do this relatively seriously. This is strictly what I would do in January, IF we had a fully fit squad IF we had that money. Taking injuries into account, I would do something different. If this was the summer window, I would do something different. 1) Sell or loan at least 1 of Given or Hutton, freeing up a little more wages. 2) Buy the following: Attacking midfield - Jens Toornstra (24, Utrecht) - £5.5m. £20k/week. Left back - Danilo D'Ambrosio (25, Torino) - £1m (contract up in summer). £15k/week. Defensive midfield - McDonald Mariga (26, Inter) - £2m (contract up in summer). £20k/week (that's actually a pay rise). Net Spend - £8.5m transfers. £55k/week minus whatever we can reduce from Hutton or Given or both. Guzan Lowton Okore Vlaar D'Ambrosio Mariga Delph N'Zogbia Toornstra Agbonlahor Benteke Bench: Steer Bacuna Clark Westwood Gardner Weimann Kozak Reserve: Watkins Baker Herd Donacien Luna KEA Tonev Albrighton Bowery Robinson Loan Premier League: Given/Hutton(?) Ireland Bent Loan Championship: Bennett Stevens Sylla Grealish Carruthers Graham Delfouneso Helenius Loan League 1: Johnson Burke Loan League 2: Siegrist

I don't like the sound of "could meet the expectations rarely and could now leave the club again." and "From what I've seen he's pretty good attacking wise but defensively gets caught out of position too often." I really, really, really don't want us to sign yet another dodgy left back. Is it too much to ask that we don't take such a gamble in that position and try to find someone that can actually defend?

My bad, thought this was the loan thread when posting about Carruthers. HeyAnty - how can you possibly know which players Paul Lambert is going to sign? Got inside information? And with both these players playing in League 1 - they are doing ok but not exactly tearing up the division - who is to say that a "Championship player" would not be a better option right now than Grealish or Carruthers? They have a massive amount to learn.

Great to see Grealish showing real potential at first team level now. Apparently Carruthers had a good game for MK Dons too, good to see he's forced his way back into the team. His assist for their first goal was a fantastic pass as well, if you saw the football league show. I'm definitely in the camp that says buy a couple of attacking midfielders that are ready to make an impact in the premier league and let these players develop at their own pace.

99% of Londoners aren't cockney, just like 99% of people in the midlands aren't from Market Harborough.

Don't entirely agree with your negativity but as a fellow Londoner, I can back you up there - Villa are of no interest to the vast majority of football fans in London, unless you are mates with a villa fan you are not going to be bothered about them. Better football and better players are the only way to change that.

Valbuena http://www.express.co.uk/sport/football/448304/Chelsea-refuse-to-give-up-on-Lewandowski-with-Arsenal-target-Florian-Thauvin-on-the-radar

I've been saying this for a while too. It's as though Lambert wants the strikers to get closer together so their link up play can improve. But it's really having the opposite effect and the drastic consequence of it is that we play SO narrow. And that narrow play doesn't just affect our attack. Oh god no. That's not the only problem. A massive problem is that it affects the way we defend. Noticed how Sasha Riether, John Arne Riise, Luke Shaw, Nathan Clyne have all been very influential in the last couple of games? That's because there is literally nobody tracking back on them. We have a bunch of players clogging up the midfield and forward areas...with just our full backs to cover the flanks. Bacuna and Luna are not great full backs by any stretch of the imagination, but they are being caught out so often because they are getting no help from a winger or wide forward. They are facing a 2-on-1 every time the opposition attack with their full back and winger. It contributes to our low possession, because the opposition can always recycle it and play it out to the full backs to put us under pressure again. It also explains why every time Bacuna gets the ball at the moment, he seems to smash it forwards. Because he's got no other option. Clark and Vlaar can pass the ball out to Bacuna and Luna, but then they have to turn around give it back because there is nothing in front of them, or just hoof it in to our strikers. You see the vicious cycle we have appearing? To cut a long story short, I don't think it is just Lambert encouraging us to play a long ball game. I think it is the lack of width and movement which is making our football so difficult to watch, and so ineffective going forward.

We're buying young players that are cheap, raw and often only coming here because the bigger teams don't want them or haven't picked up on them. They all have a lot to work on but Lambert has gone after them because he thinks they have the technique, pace, strength and attitude to succeed at Premier League level. It depends entirely what Lambert sees on the pitch and in training. He can see whether they are improving, he can see whether he thinks they will be good enough long term. Some players I was entirely convinced with before - like Weimann Lowton Benteke - have had poor seasons so far. Some players I was pretty sure weren't good enough - like Vlaar Clark El Ahmadi - have done much better this season. It is clearly going to take longer than 1 year to work out who is good enough. How long exactly? I don't know.

Tough to call this one. Apparently Fulham were unlucky not to get something against Spurs. Berbatov played his best game of the season, Dejagah and Kacaniklic running beyond him gave them a real threat. Meulensteen definitely has the backing of the fans. Then again, we're unbeaten in 5 and they have lost 6 (7 inc cup) in a row. Fulham aren't as good as Southampton. Crucially, they have very little pace at the back or in central midfield. On our side, Vlaar and Luna out is a blow. I would have been pretty confident if we could field the same squad as on Wednesday. But that leaves us with only Bacuna Lowton Clark Baker and Herd as fit defenders (no chance Lambert will throw Donacien in until he's at least been out on loan). So we either change our system to 4 at the back, which will allow Fulham to get in behind us more and have more success around our box, or we stick with 5 but have to play Herd at centre back and Lowton or Bacuna out of position on the left. The outcome of this game depends entirely on whether Clark and Baker can perform in the absence of Vlaar.

Good post. For now it's all about points on the board, in whatever way is most effective. We need to make absolutely certain we will not be in another relegation fight. Once we have established a stable position, maybe bought a couple of players that can help our possession game and break teams down, then we can look to be more adventurous. It's not like these players are incapable of keeping the ball when the manager wants us to. We had 56% possession in our game at home to Southampton last season, for example. We might not have any brilliant attacking midfielders that can carve open a defence, but from a technical point of view this squad is more than capable. I have been saying for a few weeks - Lambert and the coaching staff are teaching this squad how to play football, 1 part of the game at a time. Right now they are learning how to be tough to beat, how to defend well as a unit. The rest of it will come later.

At the start of the season I said 50 points is a good target. I see no reason to change that, and we are on track for it. I think (or at least I would like to think) we are in a mini league with Southampton Newcastle Swansea and West Brom for the spots between 8th and 12th. If we get 50 points we are guaranteed to finish within that bracket. We can't influence what the other teams do so it's not worth worrying about really. We more or less ripped everything up and started from scratch when Lambert came in. We are a long way behind the clubs like Southampton and Swansea in terms of squad/style development and stability. Their form or progress is none of our concern. What we do on the pitch and the number of points we can put on the board is all that matters.

What if his form doesnt return.... Just saying How do I answer that though. We beat Citeh without him, so maybe if he's still shit in a month we drop him. Let's assume he's on the mend though, given that he has recently been injured, until it becomes clear that he isn't. My moneys on Albrighton to start getting the creativity going again and setting up a few goals. Long shot but i like to gamble I don't think we've got our first choice front 3 of Weimann Benteke Agbonlahor on the pitch too many times this season. They've all had pretty lengthy injuries. Getting them fit and playing together is crucial to our scoring form. I think they'll all start tomorrow. The Norwich game looked the most likely. Gabby was on fire, and it was only a matter of time before Benteke put one home. Shame about what actually happened, and how he's been ever since. Another example of bad luck eh. Agree. Those 20 minutes vs Norwich were the best CB has played this season. Weimann looked dangerous from the left, Gabby playing in behind the striker with I think Tonev on the right? We looked a real threat in that first half.