Robbie09

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?

Ideally against the Boggies.

It doesn't to me. With Gabby picking up yet another booking last night and heading towards another ban Holt offers a different option.

Agreed. Will benefit from having a more creative player alongside him but always looking for the ball. Not way out of his depth as some are stating.

Ireland has signed for Stoke so no excuses Randy, there's another 50k+ a week off the books.

Agree. They're reasonably well paid and there should be a degree of accountability.

Pray tell

At which point my youngest son said "if only we were"

There are but most will result in warning points being issued!

ohh ye of little faith I'm still keeping the faith, however just to put my mind at rest and improve my productivity at work could you let us have an indication of when our signings will be announced?

See I think this is a big problem with the mindset of our fans. Passing sideways and backwards is absolutely what we need to do. Not keep being so desperate to get it forward that we hoof it up or try a desperate ball that will never work. The best teams probe and pass, pull the other teams out. If fans think that passing sideways and backwards is bad, we'll never progress. Nail on head.

Holt is a better option to have on the bench than Bowery, there will be games that will suit his physical approach.

Plenty of positives from tonight, a lapse in concentration and a slip inside 60 seconds ultimately killed the game. For all their possession, Arsenal didn't have that many shots on goal. Shame some sections of the Holte chose to boo at half time. Thought Vlaar and Clark did well, as did Bacuna and Westwood. Hopefully the second half performance will instill some badly needed confidence into the team.

I know it's not the done thing on VT as any sign of positivity is immediately shot down but I'm going for a Desmond with Tekkers grabbing a brace.

He's also tweeted the team of the year already ahead of tonight's ceremony. Be interested to see if he's right ! Was Tonev in it? Yes, along with Luna and Bowery

Maybe so but Richard isn't usually wide of the mark. If, and it's a big if, the Defour deal fell down at a late stage it suggests there is money available for the right player so I hope to see more than one signing.

I still think there's another signing or two on the way. Richard has proven to be accurate previously and he was upbeat last week so hopefully Wessi won't be our only signing this window.

I'm sorry but where have you heard we couldn't afford Wells? From my mate who works in a chip shop where PF goes to Embarrassing from Villa. Can you ask your mate what PF ordered? Was it (red) herring and chips?