Robbie09

Hmmm, I wouldn't say he was overrated, as I never rated him at all. I recall everyone pretty much blamed him for us not winning the league the year we signed him. I thought he was a carthorse, and he did nothing to change my mind. The only good thing about him was he his name fitted in at the end of one of my favourite Villa songs to sing when pissed up in the pub! Alot of money with very little return though. As good as GT was for us during his first spell as a manager, it still puzzles me that we signed Cascarino rather than his strike partner at the time.

try here Are we signing Torres then?

He'd fit in with their anti football philosophy. Perfect match for Allardyce

Tommy Johnson and Tony Cascarino.

Top post Blandy. Sid was a joy to watch, and a gentleman too. We should name a stand after him and not after the bloke who lined his owned pockets.

Malmaisson often have deals on so worth a look.

We need more players with final product now. Bolasie was my call in the Summer window. Everyone raves about Zaha but for me Bolasie is the better talent. Would love to see him in a Villa shirt. A couple of Palace season ticket holders that work with me have been saying for the last 2 seasons that Bolasie is far better than Zaha. It would need big money to tempt them to sell.

That jug eared tosser Lineker wouldn't have played for England had Gary Shaw not retired through injury. I bet the t*** wouldn't make the same statement had it been against Everton.

Predicted a Desmond before the game. Great first half and good to see Weimann grab a goal. Redknapp highlighted how well he played in negating Gerrard first half - hopefully some of his critics will cut him some slack. Just hope Gabby is ok for the Boggies. Had he stayed on the pitch we would be talking about a victory now. I thought KEA done ok first half, the midfield was competent. Voted Vlaar but I think all the lads deserve credit tonight.

Yes to Frimpong if he's a freebie.

By a country mile. Ditto, ditto - no-one else comes close I doubt there'll ever be a better midfielder at Villa. Cowans was that good. Cropley had the makings of becoming a star before he broke his leg against the Boggies.

Hopefully Anelka will be available to play against us as he is way past his best and I'd rather we faced him than their other striking options. No need for any disciplinary action just yet.....

Predicted a Desmond for the Arsenal game and think we'll get one tomorrow with Benteke and Gabby scoring.

Yes I was thinking he might play LM to offer a little more protection to Luna/Bennett

Good signing. 2 down, 2 more signings please Lambo

Savage is a t**t. I couldn't give a flying f*** about his opinion.

If it's a loan then it means Okore won't need to be rushed back and we can cope with the inevitable injuries and suspensions.

Faulkner admitted in his interview with Tom Dross that January was a bad time to buy so I suspect this is why the signings are short gap loans rather than permanent deals. I'm okay with this in principle if it means we buy better in the summer. I'd be royally pissed off if the sum total of our ambition in August are the likes of Grant Holt and Scott Dann.

Yes - Do you?

I'm sure the fact that Guidetti and Hughes were at City together worked in Stoke's favour if indeed we were interested in taking him on loan.

Spoke to a friend of mine who has played against Holt. Described him as a defenders nightmare so I'm happy to go with his opinion.

Close call but Deano gets my vote. I had my first season ticket in the early 70's so I don't remember too much of Lockhead and Rioch. Benteke during the second half of last season was as cool and clinical as the best of them though.

If he demands to move then will Naaarich want to keep him? Still expect this deal to happen.

Sigh. I've been over all of this before but... ...we've reduced our outgoings significantly which has quite obviously held the club back (weren't we spending something crazy like 90% of our revenue on wages alone?). A lot of this has revolved around getting rid of players that were initially signed up on silly contracts (entirely the club/Lerner's fault). As these have been shipped out, we've needed to replace them with cheaper options on nowhere near as high wages to get the basis of a squad (which is what you bemoaned) in place. Due to the age of most of these players, most would have some sort of resale value further down the line if we needed to sell. This is essentially an added bonus as we're currently losing older players for nothing. Once this squad is in place, as it pretty much is now, we should be looking to add quality players into it. All of this can't be done within 18 months and, naturally, replacing an entire team or even a managerial set up (Man Utd, Tottenham, Watford, Wigan) will likely mean a decline in performances and quality until this comes to fruition. If you think you're getting a quality squad and first team by spending £40m on 16 players you're on a drug that I'd love to get hold of. Welcome to the forum Bobzy - nice to see a little sense posted for a change. The warped argument that is most rolled out is "Lambert has spent £40m but not improved the squad" Now if you were to spend £40m adding to an established squad you would expect the outcome to be a pretty competitive unit however when you are completely replacing a squad £40m is small change. Lambert has spent £40m on 16 players and at the same time we have shipped out 18 players that cost us £80m - in effect a net spend of minus £40m All that being said, given the financial restrictions, I still think that we have done some good business Goalkeepers - We have replaced Given and Marshall with Guzan and Steer at zero cost and on probably half the wages Defence - Lowton, Vlaar, Okore, Luna for 11m or Hutton, Collins, Dunne, Warnock for 20m - no contest for me and at less than half the wages Midfield - Makoun, Ireland, Bannon, Holman at 14m or Westwood, Bacuna, KEA, Sylla at half that and half the wages - no contest Forwards - Benteke 7m or Bent 24m? Heskey or Kozak? Even though not setting the world on fire, Bennett for Stevens and Helenius for Fonz are still improvements. Bowery might not make it but cost peanuts. Only Tonev has been a failure so far. In the next few windows, I'm sure we will work to up the quality of the first XI, buying two or three quality players each season and integrating academy prospects as they become ready, whilst moving on those that don't make it Even if we only bring in say Hoolahan and Naughton in this window, I still see it as a step in the right direction Sadly, given the situation we find ourselves in there are no quick fixes - Lambert has my 100% to sort this out. Agree with every point you make VillaCas.

£60 fuel? WTF do you drive?