sharkyvilla

If I was a billionnaire who had just pocketed another billion I would. If we can't shift hutton and Warnock will it bankrupt us? It won't be ideal but with the prem money going up this year, finishing higher should cover that issue. I bet O'Neill knocked on Lerner's door every transfer window saying that. It's one thing having ago at Lerner for his record over the past 2 seasons but it's another wanting him to make the same mistakes again

Again, I've said this before but if Lambert only had 6-8m to spend he wouldn't have blown almost half of it on a League 1 full-back so early in the window. We actually did some deals reasonably early in the summer compared to the other clubs largely because Vlaar had a release clause that could be activated immediately and Feyenoord were pretty desperate to sell El Ahmadi because they need money. Other than in those circumstances it is difficult to force other teams to sell players until they themselves are more certain of their own transfer strategy, and that will become clearer towards the end of the August. Managers will become much more keen to offload players for cheaper/on loan or pay over the odds to get a player in. To me there is just no evidence that our shopping is over and the fact that there are no rumours means nothing when the club goes out of its way to do its business in silence. We do need to balance the books as well because we are midway through the recovery from our overindulgence in better times. Lambert seems well aware of that judging by his willingness to let people move on and has come to the club on that premise. I don't think we'll do earth-shattering business like the 40m we spent each summer a few years back but there is still time to add quality.

Arseballs

Can't believe this thread is 12 pages long

There was the odd flicker of hope in terms of performance around Christmas if I remember correctly where Ireland and N'Zogbia actually turned up, only for McLeish to turn back to plan A of Heskey on the right wing a week or two later because it was against a club who were supposed to be better than us. That's what wound me up the most about McLeish. Still, in terms of using up a season so we could get rid of some of the wasters at the club without getting relegated he kind of achieved what he was supposed to. We then sacked him at the first opportunity and the whole period is best forgotten. UTV

Ollson is a similar shade to Howard isn't he?

Yep, v Stoke. Kenwyne snuck in with the u-21s In all seriousness I think this is bollocks, if we didn't want another transfer to come out we'd hardly arrange it for when a crowd would be in attendance. Well that was fun whilst it lasted... Unless he's having a medical, in which case it doesn't really matter...

How long before someone mentions the 'r' word. And I don't mean Regis. It's all very exciting anyhow. I just wish people who spot players at training ground had a better knowledge of what footballers look like.

I see Mbia is Cameroonian, maybe Makoun put in a good word for us

10m for Jarvis and up to 9.5m for Dawson shows how easy it is to blow a massive load of cash when buying from England. If we signed them then we would just be making the same mistake all over again

I just can't see why if Lambert only had £8m to spend he blew it so early in the window and almost half of it on a League 1 fullback. All logic points to getting a couple more players in imo

...except for Aston Villa

Considering he had the best batting and bowling averages for England I'm surprised KP didn't get the man of the series award

There was pretty much a concensus where we thought 10th-12th would be a good result for this season and 1-0 away defeats will be part and parcel of that. There's only so much a manager can do instantly with a painfully average squad with still some players who shouldn't really be here that are hard to shift. I really hate the negativity of some fans, I wish they would at least try to forgive and forget what has gone before and try to concentrate on the new start.

And more than likely haemorrhaging money again... Adam is on £65.000 at Liverpool Carrol on £60.000-90.000 and Adam Johnson is on £ 85.000 at City Even if you take the figures with a pinch of salt, how much would those players be willing to decrease their wages for the honour of playing at Aston villa? Surely it's only haemorrhaging money if we pay those kinds of wages and then not play them. That's where our money troubles have stemmed from. Bent on 70K a week is good value, Heskey and co on 50K is where the problem lay. I'm sure if we signed them we would pay the going rate.

15 minutes into the season and he's on a hattrick already. Let the 2012/13 wankfest begin

I quite like the idea. I think we'd need someone like Huddlestone to screen infront of the back 3 so that if Zog gets caught up field, Clark can just move across to left-back and Huddlestone can just slip into the middle as cover. I think it'd be the most likely we'd ever see N'Zogbia being useful in a Villa shirt tbh.

If we could get him in on loan on those wages with a set transfer fee and pay increase if we chose to keep him at the end of the season then I would settle for that. It gives everyone an incentive to make it work.

Heskey's still available isn't he?

I think Ireland's job would be a lot easier if he had the likes of Dyer and Sinclair playing on each wing with pace and lots of movement so he has other creative options rather than just a throughball to Bent that the centrehalves can telegraph before he's even passed it. I can see why people would think he would do better at Swansea than here. Unless we can bring in a couple of those players then I struggle to see how we can get the best out of Ireland as he doesn't naturally score goals himself.

Wether we set up to play possession football with the idea of attacking or set up defensively and play long ball does it ultimately matter if we don't create chances? No doubt Lamberts approach is the right thing but i don't think it's all going to click and these current players are going to turn into a great attacking side. The approach is right, the idea is right but he needs to bring in quality attacking players. True, that's why I'm hoping Lambert has some quality lined up to come in during the next week or two and he's just laying the founations of a passing game to get the best out of whoever he brings in. It could be one signing that makes all the difference and turns us from being toothless to a potent attacking threat, the problem is working out who that player is and how to get them in.

He's not really got an eye for a goal. If you're playing in the final third then you really need to chip in with goals. The problem is that he can't really play in a central midfield pair either, but if he's on 70K a week you have to at least try and use him. Robbie Keane was more use in his loan spell than Ireland has been in his entire Villa career and we could really do with someone like him at the moment.

We played this kind of passing football under Houllier and Bent scored loads. The difference is that we haven't got Young and Downing, Bent will score goals in any team if he gets opportunities, we just need better creators. I agree with you about Warnock.

He is utter barry white. We just aren't the right club for him, if we could somehow shift him out and get Adam Johnson in, even if it's just on loan, I'd be in dreamland

edit: double post