Daweii

Couldn't have stopped that no matter what.. It's just one of those things, we've still been by far the better side.

You can tell Holman was not a Lambert purchase.. Every single one of Lamberts purchases are good technically gifted passing players, Holman is.. I don't know what he is but it's not amazing to watch like some of KEA, Vlaar and Lowton play in that half..

We win today we go 13th in the league.. That is how closely bunched every team is right now. Yes I know many are expecting a loss but if we can pull of a win we will be above Liverpool, Tottenham, Sunderland etc.. I know it looks doom and gloom but any game is winnable.

This is going to be an exciting game. I gotta say I'm loving this I really am, the adrenaline that flows before a Villa match is such a rush I don't think I'd trade it for anything.. I'm hoping a 2-1 win for Villa but we all know Cisse is going to destroy us.

He's had it too easy here. I am just glad that Lambert isn't giving him an easy ride, if Gabby wants to stay at this club then he has to fight for it which is something he has never had to do. We may just get the best out of him now.

Whether we get relegated or not I really don't care.. I am just going to enjoy our time in this league as personally I don't think we'll be in it in 5 years no matter how much we improve. We as a club are being priced out of this league, the average price of a player is between £10-£20 million and that's for average Premier League players. The average wage is now £60k a week.. We can shop abroad but eventually our luck will run out and we will be out of the Premier League because we couldn't keep up with the massive spending that is going on, we won't be the only one suffering this fate either so we aren't alone in being priced out, but I'm just going to enjoy the league while we are in it.

Did Collins just not give a **** here? He's playing pretty well for West Ham..

I think the fans aren't stupid, the fans should hopefully realise it took Lambert 3 years to get Norwich to the Premier League and kept them there. Yes he turned their fortunes around in the lower leagues, but it wasn't an instant thing and he lost several of his first games in charge. His team quickly learned how to play proper football though. I say by January we will be about 15th, but most importantly we'll be starting to craft wins out of games we considered un-winnable last season.

Every game is going to be like a cup game for us and any team playing us, Villa right now are an unknown quantity and just like lower league teams in the cup are always prone to surprises. Yes we are risking relegation with this move, but in my opinion we are being priced out of this league anyway so we may as well try something daring and new.

His smile looks so forced as if he's had to take a massive pay cut to make the move lol.

Quite a few teams we cannot compete with now. Sunderland, QPR, Stoke, Everton. Reading and Southampton have a bit of money behind them and put players before jets. Fulham and West Ham have backing from their chair-men - and will certainly finish above us if the squad stays the same. if the squad is like this for September onwards, I call for Lerner to go. According to their spending we are behind 14 clubs including the typical Top 6 candidates. 15 if you include Newcastle in that as well so we are behind.. Man Utd, Man City, Chelsea, Arsenal, Liverpool, Newcastle, Tottenham, Everton, Stoke, Sunderland, QPR, Reading, Southampton, Fulham and West Ham.. Now if you include with that teams with flat a flat out better squad then we are also behind West Brom and Swansea.. So that puts us 18th in the league with Wigan and Norwich below us. Now of course some teams are going to underachieve, but this is something that is going to get worse and worse season on season. I mean you look at the kind of spending going on that we are not doing ultimately meaning we will fall further behind. If we really are this far behind the other clubs then it's not a case of if we get relegated it is a case of when..

This will be a huge blow to him.. I'd like to think Vlaar could offer him support but Vlaar was 24/25 when he did his knee, he was close to the finished article so it was just a case of getting back to fitness. Gardner is 20, he's already missed one year of development to miss another will affect his overall skill a lot. I hope for his sake that he is like his brother and gets to his best late so he still has a chance at the highest level, but he has a mountain to climb now.

I actually think it says a lot about our aspirations as a club.. I see it as if we balance the books and work towards Europe we'll actually be able to play in Europe. You look at the likes of QPR and they may make it Top 6 with all the players they are buying, but good luck playing in the Uefa League when almost 100% of your revenue is going on wages..

Spending big =/= acquiring quality. Vlaar and KEA for example may be "bargain bucket" signings but they appear to be just as capable as many of the big-money British players that are going around at the moment. This is what we all wanted to see isn't it? Scouting further afield (lower leagues and abroad) to acquire good players but for less money. Obviously we'd all like more signings but I see nothing wrong with looking for both quality and value. Spunking loads of money on already "established" players is what got us into this mess in the first place. Its about like the argument of playing styles:- You can't always play the passing the game Sometimes the long ball work You need the odd clogger in your team You can't build a team purley from bargains, just like you can't build one from academy kids - or for that matter a whole team of big time charlies ! Its early days and Lambert appears to have got some good players in for nominal fees - however that good work will be undone unless we sometimes play the going rate - ie £7m for Philips, £6m Cresswell etc UTV To me a price is just a number it doesn't dictate quality in most cases. Yes in cases with players like Messi and Ronaldo then the price does dictate quality, but the players we are looking at it's easy to overpay. I mean Benteke, he's valued at what £2.5 million does that mean we are bargain buying? Benteke is better than Carroll, should we buy Carroll just so we didn't buy a player for less than £5 million? I'll be happy if Creswell is the only player we buy for the going rate as it means we did some smart deals, deals that may actually end in us making a profit when they move on in a few years.

So best case scenario we get Benteke, M'Bia, Brahimi and Poulsen in.. I like that for a best case, what I'd be happy with is just two of those.

I would like to Adam Johnson here.. I do still think that unless Liverpool or Everton are interested there aren't many clubs as big as us chasing his signature.

Lambert really cannot get this wrong.. If it's Poulsen we have solved the left back position, if it's M'Bia we have solved our midfield issue and if it's Jones or Defoe we have solved our striker issue. Then of course it could be Heskey but Lambert wouldn't do that to us right?..

If it's M'Bia I will forgive Lambert for putting off buying a Left Back.. We need a player like M'Bia he's the missing link needed to win the midfield battle in games.

This has got to be the first time I have scoured Wikipedia looking for Left Backs with the criteria that "they must be black".. It's also the first time I've chosen someone just to see his picture and say "nope, can't be him he's white". Oh football you make me do some rather odd stuff at times..

I still think 2-1 win Villa then 2-0 win Villa against Newcastle.. I am vowing to stay optimistic all season so not one of my predictions will be a loss or a draw just so you know lol.

2-1 win to Villa.. Though this game is one the media expect us to lose, the fans aren't confident so it gives our side all the more reason to go out and surprise everyone. I think if we manage to beat Everton then we may be on for a nice season after all as Everton after their Man Utd result look a real threat this season.

Relegation candidates? Villa? Pfft.. We're above Man Utd after the first game of the season, that's not too bad.

See ya Jean.. I hope he signed one of his famous jumpers so we could frame it somewhere at Villa Park.. His jumper was iconic even though he wasn't, it would be a shame to get nothing from his time here.

Gabby hasn't offered us all that much in the last few seasons so I wouldn't really miss him, so yeah I'd be up for sacrificing Gabby to get those two in.

I wouldn't say no to Carroll, the guy was great at Newcastle, wasn't played well at Liverpool and as such has lost his reputation as a threat upfront.. The guy could be the target man we have been looking for and may work well with Bent.