romavillan

It'll get worse after we get hammered tomorrow. I can't see him pulling it round, he clearly has balls going by his presser but we've been waiting for some of that sort of spirit to come out on the pitch and they've gone the other way, playing cautious neutered football and then just evaporated. I'd love him to do it, as omariqy said above, but again I just cannot see it happening. 4 points is really very scary indeed, if we get to 4 points from 12 games played you'd think we had one foot in the Championship already and his position must be untenable there surely?

Yeah I read that last night, that's why I said that the board and the manager have both been briefing the press in different directions...

Looks like both sides are briefing the media in opposing directions. Handbags at dawn via third parties in the press. How very crap. It would appear Sherwood is helping to dig his own grave though briefing against the club will not go unnoticed and will not help his relationship with his players or the board. I really don't get it, if he had our interests at heart then he would be concentrating on points scored in the league not petty point scoring in the press. We really are in a bad way right now and the only medicine is points. Chelsea away and then Swansea doesn't say points to me either.

I'm all for continuity, I argued as much backing Lambert for ages as I genuinely believed in his career he had shown enough to have some faith in him to sort us out. I think ultimately avfc broke his mind though With Sherwood, I find it very hard to have the same faith in him. I'd love us to smash Chelsea and Swansea and go on a run and Sherwood turn out to be genius. I have 0% faith in that outcome though and we need some points fast. If that means Sherwood getting a P45, then so be it.

One of the worst signings value for money wise the club has ever made surely. I disagree about him being a useless player, he has a load of talent he *could* have been a very good player indeed. He obvisouly doesn't care about that though as long as the bank balance looks tasty. Shame.

Ferguson is always brought out in support of giving managers more time and rightly so, United sticking with him when they had the finger on the trigger turned them into one of the biggest clubs in the world. I'm all for giving a manager time, I argued a lot on here for giving Lambert time. He'd shown at the end of the first season that he could play an attacking brand of football using a lot of our academy players, I think I was always waiting for a return to that in some way and he just disappeared into his shell and we lost our way after the big beatings etc. Sherwood in fairness in some games last season and in a few pf the first games this season had us peppering the opposition goal and looking dangerous with some flair. It seems to just be getting worse though now, we're neither one thing nor the other again. Once again we can't score and can't keep clean sheets. It seemed like he had a commitment to a style and a philosophy of attacking football at one point. Now it all seems pretty haphazard and rudderless. Switching to a 4-2-4 away from home against a good side at 2-0 up with 25 mins to go was nothing short of completey mental. Instead of sticking to how we played in the 65 mins before then though he's tried to shore things up and castrated the attack in the process. Is more time for him going to work? I don't remember Ferguson saying he didn't want half his squad, that they weren't fit and a whole heap of other knackers when he was under pressure. I don't have a very clear memory of it as I was pretty young then but I think he always seemed pretty convinced with what he was doing and determined to hold on to what he thought was the right course. Tim has been slagging his own squad off and saying the complete opposite and showing on the pitch a lack of convictiion in the principles that have supplied the only positives of his reign. 8 games is not a lot with a new squad. We have only 4 points though, and the signs don't point to Tim having a clear direction, if he is unsure how can the squad be fully committed to what he wants to do?

Yeah I read the full story, it's a nothing interview really. The only hints he drops between talking about salmon fishing in Canada is that a week ago he was terrified about someone phoning to offer him a job but now he was quite looking forward to it. He mentions that he'd like an "English experience" again, saying Spain is always either Barca or Real. He then talks a bit about who might win the champs league (includes PSG with Di Maria as one of his favourites among the usual suspects) and says Serie A is really open now Fiorentina have surprised the bigger names in transition. Now, the likelihood of any of this adding up to Carlo coming here to be our manager is slim to non existent. If he'd said he wanted to take a struggling English club and try to get them up the table then maybe we could read something in to that. He really would want to be able to have another crack at the Champions league surely? Even if he came and was the most amazing manager we've ever had, you'd say it'd take a few years to even qualify let alone have a crack at it. He's not getting any younger so I really doubt that.

Of course it was. Why on earth else would we put it in there? I think we often forget that people in charge of football clubs do, on the whole, know what they're doing. We get caught up in the pantomime of it all. There's no way that clause was put in there for any other reason than Delph wouldn't sign the contract without it. The guys in charge of the contracts at the club didn't just chuck it in there for a laugh. Without it, Delph would have left in the summer anyway. But he would have left for free. Why are people still struggling with this? Apparently because I'm stupid Still, makes the whole big screen announcement all the more bonkers doesn't it? But I guess that's for another thread. Sherwood though! Can't wait for the Chelsea game :S

You're saying I'm handsome right?

I'd argue that in Delph's case it was not a benefit, unless it being set at the value was the only reason he signed his last contract with us. He could and should have commanded a higher fee, Man City could have forked out more for a bench warmer. They have in the past. Benteke, 100% benefit yes, it made it clear that the price was set and no haggling would bring it down.

Certainly an improvement on being a loser who the manager didn't want to sign who isn't fit when you lose and having a genius manager when you win. I'd love to see us trying to play proper possession passing football, if Rodgers would bring that then I'm all for it.

A mauling at the bridge followed by a cry-baby outburst from Tim could be enough. Some papers saying he's in trouble with Rodgers potentially waiting in the wings. On Rodgers, he finished 2nd in the league which isn't a bad acheivement surely, they had Suarez before then and didn't get close.

Can't see Le Favre coming. I'd like Montella, we can offer big money with respect to most Serie A sides and the only step up from where he was is to a champions league club. Garcia has just signed a new deal, Juve are in trouble but look to be sticking to their guns. He might fancy a spell in England to get some experience and build his reputation some more. Di Matteo is available, and if nothing else has shown he can organise a defence Apart from that, of the available managers, there's not many with a good record that are gettable. We should try for Rodgers if Sherwood is a dead man walking, Allardyce too would do. I bet we'd consider Pearson but I'd prefer not to. We are in such limbo now, I'm just waiting and waiting till we get completely humbled at the Bridge, it's like a death sentence. Be very interesting to see Sherwood's reaction and the club's reacton to that.

The "will come to villa bit" is the hard part to judge, there's a list of who's available here

Good! I'm honestly surprised that anyone would turn their nose up at Allardyce. In our current situation it would be foolish, you're right. As much as at heart I'm a "purist" right now what is important is staying in this league, and a percentages manager who gets results will do just fine.

I think they are a big part of the problem I think they're the middle-sized part of the problem. I think we have a better squad now than we have had for a few years. Squad as a whole, we obviously don't have Benteke or anything similar, but we have a better squad. They need organising properly.

If we get relegated maybe, I'd like to think we'd be aiming a littel higher right now though.

I really don't think the players are the problem. We forget also that we have massive financial clout when compared to other clubs in Europe, certainly those with similar records over the past 4 or 5 years. We can pay someone very hansomely, I mentioned Montella, he isn't an experienced old head but he's **** good and has managed 200+ games in Serie A already. His Fiorentina played some very nice football at times too. There must be spanish, german league equivalents to Montella that I am too ignorant to name too Obviously I'm not saying lets get Ancelotti (although I would possibly die of sex wee dehydration if that happened) as I'm more realistic than that, but someone who has reached an obstacle in there own country and coudl do with some experience in the prem to up their profile and if successfull guarantee them a shot at a top job at home. There must be a few out there surely...

I don't think anybody has said it needs to be British. Certainly what I've said is it needs to be somebody proven. It just so happens that the man I would choose is British. There's been a few posts about getting someone with prem experience. I don't think it's necessary, Montella would be awesome with our current group IMHO.

I'm not entirely convinced by the has to be british argument, look at Ranieri at Leicester. Flores at Watford too. There are managers with a good record, in Serie A, the Bundesliga and Spain which we should be running the rule over AS WELL as british managers. The only obvious british candidates are Sam, Rodgers and Moyes. Moyes won't come and it could be too soon for Rodgers, he could want some time to lick his wounds first. our failings seem to me to be the sort of thing a good italian or german coach would sort out. defensive organisation, possession of the football for example we have difficulty with it seems. some decent movement up top would go a miss either. i don't really think it's that much of a gamble.

Waiting for this is torture, can't see anything other than a royal beating. I'm not even sure I can bring myself to watch it.

I think if we get schooled at Chelsea and Swansea his post match interview might lead to a stay in a mental hospital.

Not just clocks ticking, he's basically come out and said he didn't want to sign half of them. That's really not going to help.

Yep as BOF said less than the sum of it's parts at the moment. The thing I don't understand is this going back in to his shell, he obviously can't organise us well enough even with double training to concentrate, stay compact and play on the counter for 90 mins, so why try?! He was all about making chances and scoring goals, we had something like 50 shots in 2 games early in the season, we need to be getting back to that kind of spirit in order to get points, we need to score a couple at least to win, and one at least to draw it seems so crippling our attack and giving 2/3rds of the pitch away isn't going to help. --------------- Guzan --------------- Hutton--Richards--Clark--Amavi ---------Sanchez---Gana----------- --Traore-------Gil-------Grealish-- ----------------Ayew------------------ and tell the front four to swap around play close to each other and shoot on sight! That side should be able to keep the ball as well, even doing that better is going to help our defenders as if we've got it upfield they aren't in danger. I really think this team is potentially a lot better than what we've had the last 2 or 3 years, I'm pretty sure we're underperforming and I'm not sure Tim knows what to do about it.

Stoke have champions league winners in their squad. Sunderland I agree are a load of crap but Stoke really do have some very good players and a decent manager, they will not struggle this year.