TJVillan

It was actually 3-4-3. Vlaar Baker Clark; Bacuna KEA Westy Delph; Weimann Gabby CB. We improved dramatically because we brought on pace and energy up front. We had 3 players up the pitch, Westwood got up to support them well so they weren't too isolated. The difficulty with playing that too often is it was high risk. We became very open in midfield. But based on the West Ham and Man City games when we definitely were playing 3-5-2, those were poor performances in which our strikers were isolated for 95% of the game.

What if his form doesnt return.... Just sayingHow 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.

Then again, it is encouraging that our defensive record is the 6th best in the league. We've only conceded 4 more than Arsenal who have the best record. None of our strikers are in form. We had no trouble scoring against the likes of Arsenal and Chelsea earlier in the season. At some point we will start firing again.

There is a difference between defending well, being direct and turning their defence...and what happens when we play 3-5-2. When we've played 3-5-2 recently it's turned into 5-3-0-0-0-0-0-0-2. Those 0's indicate 60 yards between our midfield on the edge of our box and the 2 totally stranded strikers. Note also that the wing backs are completely pegged back to avoid the opposition winger and full back exploiting a 1-2. When we play 3-5-2 our only attacking option or way of getting out of our half is to hoof it straight down the middle and hope one of our strikers can bring it down. They then have to beat about 4 players and shoot, or hold it up for 10 seconds while the midfield arrive to support. The tendency to hoof down the pitch and the wing backs/midfield sitting too deep will only be exaggerated by a Southampton team that press high. 4-3-3. 4-2-3-1. 4-4-1-1. 3-4-3. 3-4-2-1. Anything but 3-5-2 .

If that was the case why did we lose 2-0 and 4-0 to Spurs and their insanely high line? It comes down to quality. If Benteke can stay onside and find a bit of form we might have a chance.

Neither of the above offer any kind of viable strategy the manager should use. There are bo oil barrens throwing their money at Villa. Villa are run by Randy Lerner and until that changes the manager has to work within our current financial circumstances. Anyone else have any bright ideas?

I would consider £54 million a season, losses to the extent that we had to sell an entire squad and cut the wage bill by half pretty crippling. I understand you were being sarcastic but I was being serious. I see so much moaning about Lambert and the clubs plan but nobody can offer a viable alternative.

I'd spend it all on Charlie Adam, Dimitar Berbatov and compensation to buy out Harry Redknapp's contract and replace myself with him. Job done. Champions League here we come! Don't see why not . We've already spent millions on compensation to other managers as it is and currently have a midfield who couldn't trap a bag of cement plus strikers who can't score so any help would be welcome. Your solution to crippling losses is to get us into even more debt. How helpful. Anyone else?

And that's why Fulham, Stoke and QPR are all destined for European qualification in a few years Anyone else?

Congratulations. You've just been appointed Aston Villa manager. You're given a mandate to cut £25 million a year off the wage bill, a transfer budget of £20 million a season. Useful info: you've had a couple of torrid seasons and most established players don't want to join you right now. The likes of QPR are offering experienced premier league players outrageous wages, inflating the market beyond belief. the fans are angry, losing faith in the club and want rid of this bunch of underachieving overpaid so called senior players. How do you proceed? What is your strategy to get Villa back into Europe, where the fans demand you to be? This is the question I would like to ask all of you that doubt Lambert's strategy or the direction the club is going. So far nobody has been able to give me a viable alternative.

I don't think they are as good as everyone is making out, but they are better than us, especially on current form. Won 5 Drawn 2 Lost 0 is their home record in all comps this season. We'd do very well to get a point and a win would be exceptional. 3-0 them. We've got lucky the last couple of games, I think it will run out here. That or we'll suddenly hit form. Hopefully the latter!

Errrr no. Errr...aren't you cheery? Obviously the Coyle interview now confirms we did recall him. I think he's there for cover and stand by what I said: I think if Lambert was seriously considering starting him he would not have sent him to Wigan in the first place. I don't think he rates him. His contract is up in the summer and doesn't look like it will be renewed.

Absolutely nothing to read into this at the moment. His loan is expiring. We don't know if he is coming back because he is being "recalled" or Wigan are still deciding whether they want him longer term or Wigan don't want him or we just want him back as cover. But I think if Lambert was seriously considering starting him he would not have sent him to Wigan in the first place. I don't think he rates him. His contract is up in the summer and doesn't look like it will be renewed.

Interesting, how many of them are draws? Good stat though. that team would have been Fulham. so since then we have beaten Sunderland, Reading, Stoke, Liverpool, NOrwich x2, plus beating Arsenal so winning 7 away games in a year is pretty impressive As someone mentioned above only Man United (when they won the title and RVP turned up big time), Chelsea (where we were robbed blind by the ref) and Arsenal (we got revenge in August) have beaten us on our travels this year. In fact, our away record since January 1st 2013 is better than Man City's and matches Chelsea's at joint 5th best in the league. Played 15, won 5, drawn 7, lost 3. Extremely impressive.

Not Lambert's finest hour last night. But we pretty much saw everything bad and everything good he brings. Bizarre tactics. I looked at that team and went "2 big men up front away from home with no width - that is never going to work, we won't create anything and we'll be overrun in midfield". And to nobody's surprise exactly that happened. We won against Cardiff starting the game like that, but did he forget we were awful in that one until he brought on Lowton and changed the formation?! Strange that he thought it would achieve success, there was nothing at all to suggest it would. Inexperienced players. You don't really need me to run through this one, but it was clear all over the pitch. Defensive mistakes, inability to keep the ball, poor decision making in attack and generally panicking. Hoofball. Play 2 big men up front with no midfield outlet and that is what you are going to get. McAuley and Olsson absolutely loved it. Starting slowly. We've conceded the first goal most of any premier league team this season. It makes it so difficult. Character. We were shocking, we went 2-0 down, but we did not give up when we could have crumbled. We fought back and stole a point we didn't deserve. Work rate and pace up front. We can frighten any defence when we get it right. Though Kozak and Benteke worked pretty hard, they didn't cause them many problems. Weimann and Gabby came on and though they weren't great technically or beating several players, having them sprinting at the West Brom backline made things happen. They lifted the team, we piled players forward, the balls were raining into their box and we got the goals. Picking up points when playing badly. A very nice thing we've started this season. Norwich - not great, won. Man City - awful for most of the game, won. Hull - not great, got a point. West Ham - pathetic, got a point. Cardiff - poor, won. West Brom - woeful for an hour, got a point. If we can start winning the games we play well, we'll be challenging for the title! A LOT to work on in the coming weeks. Lambert's tactics have to improve as well. But after all that we are level with 10th - we play the bottom team at home this weekend whilst West Brom and Newcastle play each other, Swansea go to Man City and Southampton go to Chelsea. A real chance to make some ground in the mid table battle.

Started the season very poor, I gave him a lot of stick. Signs recently he has been improving, thought he was much better against Everton, then in the 2nd half last night he was back to his best. Hopefully the goal will give him confidence. When he plays well, we keep possession so much better and we can get our attacks flowing. I think part of the problem this season has been that teams recognise that he is our supply line. If they get onto him quickly they can stop us creating anything. He's going to have to learn to deal with that if he is to become a top player. What a goal it was. Good position to take up, sublime first touch and perfect finish. Great to see our midfielders actually getting into the box. When they do they score! More of that please Ash.

Utterly abysmal last night. Should be dropped from the squad until he can learn to pass the ball 5 yards.

Moyes finished 17th in his 2nd season in charge of Everton after that, Everton finished 4th-8th in 8 of his 9 remaining seasons. Fergie finished 11th in his 2nd season, 13th in his 3rd season and 6th in his 4th season at United. After that he finished between 1st and 3rd for 22 seasons. Klopp finished 6th in his 1st season, 5th in his 2nd season at Dortmund. In the 3 following seasons he has won the league twice, 2nd once, won the German cup and beaten in the last minute of a Champions League final. And they were only been beaten by a truly special Bayern team in both competitions. If you don't give a manager time to build something then you will never know what they are truly capable of.

Whether Lerner wants to sell or not, we had to get to a stage where we weren't losing money. And unless he sells to a saudi prince or an oil magnet, the strategy will remain very similar. We have to spend only what we can afford. When we are getting next to nothing from selling players, then we won't have much to spend. It might sound dull but without an über-billionaire backing us slow sustainable progress is the only way to do it.

Kozak deserves a run in the side but 2 big men up top away from home just doesn't work. You need 1 that can drop off and help out the midfield. We won at Norwich playing 4-4-2ish but Gabby was dropping into midfield a lot. Benteke and Kozak just don't do that.

Lerner has now got the finances in check. He continues to provide decent money for transfers. He has brought in a manager that most are fully behind with a strategy that is sustainable and can make us successful long term if executed well. I think he's finally got his s*** together. I'm not saying Randy is the best owner by any stretch, but at least he is no longer making poor decisions that hold us back. I don't want him to sell up just for the sake of "getting him out", when he sells I want it to be to someone that knows what they are doing, and have the resources to make us a top side.

He picks up £1.5 million a year for turning up to reserve team training. I wouldn't feel too sorry for him. He was very poor and rightly replaced. It is disappointing for all concerned that he hasn't been sold. His contract is up in 2015 but I'm sure he will be gone by next summer, maybe even January.

Assuming Gabby is still injured, I would like to see: Guzan Lowton Vlaar Baker Clark Westwood Bacuna Delph Weimann Tonev Benteke But I think Lambert will stick with Bacuna at right back, Sylla or El Ahmadi in midfield and Luna will return if fit. Kozak on the bench. Really don't think we can play 2 big men up front away at West Brom...unless it's 3-5-2. God I hate 3-5-2.

How many points the other teams get is none of our concern. We can't influence what happens to them. I think 50 points is a decent but achievable target for this season. So far we are on track to get that.

I just hope we score the first goal tomorrow. That would be a novelty. We've only done it 1 time in 10 games (Every other team in the league has opened the scoring at least 3 times). If we do it will force Cardiff to open up and we are well equipped to exploit that. Win and we could go 9th. So stop with all your and try a bit of By New Year we will be in or around the top 10 and you lot will all cheer up a bit. Feel free to quote me on that.