McGregor1888

Benteke is currently the joint 14th highest goalscorer in the Premier League. I can see him being with us for a year or two yet.

What makes you think the manager hasn't? I'm pretty sure he's made his feelings known to the players. not in the mail he didn't....thats the only place I can make a judgement...Discretion CAN be a great cop out....i think the fans need to know he wasn't happy with that, is called commitment I reckon most fans with common sense will know he was not happy with the result and - like all decent managers in all kinds of professions - he'll keep his thoughts about his players/staff behind closed doors.

What makes you think the manager hasn't? I'm pretty sure he's made his feelings known to the players.

Great news for the club to be planning ahead.

Poor day out there some of the younger players - this is a time when they need patience and support. Lambert will get them up and running again.

If only I could be as cool as you. My hero. Madam, you are making me blush!

The club was at the end of a "cycle" (the O'Neill era) when it decided to cut its losses on various O'Neill signings. We are in a new cycle now and I can't see anyone being sold. It seems to me as though, because we have all but guaranteed our league safety, people are now looking for something else to needlessly worry and stress about. I'm very much looking forward to the summer and seeing who we add to the squad - enjoy the ride folks and stop needlessly stressing.

Welbeck? No thanks. Sigurdsson? Yes please. When normal service is resumed and we are sitting above Spurs next season we'll snap the Icelandic lad up.

I think most people are relaxed.

Please, folks, do yourselves a favour and ignore this rubbish. Bacuna will be with us for a few of years yet - unless the manager wants to replace him with a better option. The only way Arsenal would be able to even have a sniff of a player from us is if said player was near the end of their contract and Villa were looking to do business. I think it's pretty clear that Villa are looking to build again and there is no chance any of this squad will leave unless they are surplus to requirements. The only things these articles do is consistently belittle Villa, take it on the chin and enjoy it when we march up the table next season.

I don't think fans who are praising him "now" are doing it on the back of one result, there's been pretty consistent voices around here who can see the bigger picture and the context of our performances. Of course, people have the right to be critical, but my point is that even when presented with evidence that quite clearly shows we are progressing there are people who will say otherwise. Yes, there have been times when the team has struggled this season but some people are willing to put such performances into context and not allow such growing pains to derail the whole project. This is the Premier League's youngest squad and we had five (or was it six?) academy lads in our squad on Saturday. What we are doing is not easy and not a quick fix - there are going to be days that try our patience but, at the end of the day, you have to show some faith in what is going on and not panic over the slightest setback. Overall Lambert is doing a fantastic job: he's bombed out the trouble-makers and deadwood, he has reduced our wage bill, he has scouted and signed some players who will be worth far more than what we paid for them, he has brought stability AND he is moving us back up that table. Yes, we've taken some real kickings along the way but that has to happen. We could lose to Stoke in our next match (touch wood we won't) but it still won't derail the progress we are clearly making. I said at the start of this season that I was looking for an 8th-13th finish and, all being well we'll get it. Next season I'll be looking for us to kick on again and aim for something from 5th to 9th. We are getting there. Lambert is ambitious - hopefully Lerner and PF have the ambition to match.

....a graph charting a running total our return from 38 games from start of the season up to date - As I've been saying consistently results are constantly improving under Lambert. With decent backing in the summer I expect a further improvement next season Thanks for posting this, it's interesting to see. The sad thing is you can highlight evidence like this as much as you like but there'll always be people around who will argue black is white and vice versa. The thing is that when we hit bumps in the road with this young squad (still the youngest in the Premier League, by the way) we have that minority of fans (I'm not referring to anyone here) who would rather hit the panic button than look at the bigger picture. When times are rocky you need people around you who will support and lift - the last thing you need are people who actively enjoy pecking away at players, the manager and club whilst draining away the hope of others in the stands who come to support the team. There'll be some people in the Villa Park crowd who will see evidence like this, shrug their shoulders and continue with their match-going policy of giving both barrels to the manager and team - neanderthals who can't get it into their heads that you can't rebuild a football club from top to bottom in eighteen months. Lambert is doing a superb job.

I don't have high expectations of Lambert. I'd just like to him to play better football, and not buy so many bad footballers. But managers tend not to change their spots, so it's unlikely that Arsene Wenger or Brendan Rodgers will next season turn into hoofball maestros, and I think it's unlikely that we'll ever see consistently decent football under Lambert, he just doesn't have the ability. He may or may not be allowed to buy slightly better players, but I wouldn't trust him to make the right call to be honest, and I also wouldn't trust him to get us playing a higher standard of football either. Lambert has made the right call at every crucial stage of his Villa career so far.

I've seen very little from Jenkinson to suggest he is anything other than average.

It's an assumption to think he'll miss out on World Cups if he opts for Ireland. It wasn't so long ago (for me, anyway!) when Ireland were qualifying for World Cups and England weren't. As someone else has pointed out, there's some decent young players coming through for Ireland now - who knows what will happen in the future? Success comes in cycles.

My hunch is he will be getting a senior Ireland call-up very soon.

Soldado wouldn't fit in our wage structure, so we're safe from that. Why would Tottenham buy Benteke in the summer? Makes just as much sense as the rumor about Chelsea buying him last summer, when they already had a younger and dare I say better version of him in their ranks. Tottenham haven't thrown Soldado out yet and they are probably going to give him at least another season, some players need time as we all know. They also have Adebayor who has scored 8 and assisted 5 in 13 games this season, it's not like Benteke is delivering beyond these guys at the moment. Benteke has had a tough year and he has been pretty poor in many games, so again, why would Tottenham sell a proven but struggling striker for someone who is not yet proven and also struggling for many games? Maybe in two years, but certainly not in the summer. For Tottenham that is... Soldado is in his prime in terms of his age and Adebayor is only 30, he has one or two seasons at the top level in him. If Tottenham are buying another striker it will be someone who has a lot more to offer compared to Benteke, and someone with a bigger name I would presume. You clearly rate Tottenham very highly indeed!

I'm not sure where the idea that Spurs had a choice between Benteke and Soldado came form...the tabloids, perhaps? I don't buy it for a minute. They signed the only player of the two that they had a genuine chance of getting.

I can't believe anyone around here is genuinely worried that a club like spurs could sign Benteke off us. There's zero chance of this happening.

If you hurl abuse at any member of Villa staff I have no problem with said member of Villa staff giving some back. Fair play to Lambert for showing fight and passion and ramming it down a boo-boy's throat. It's amazing how these precious flowers act all shocked and hurt when the nasty Villa boss has a go back at them - they are an embarrassment to themselves as well as the club. It would be great if these neanderthals cleared off and followed another club.

It's very clear that quite a lot of people simply don't understand the patience and time that goes into rebuilding a football club in the manner Villa are doing it. Maybe these people are young and lack the life-experience to appreciate how this type of thing works? Maybe these people are older fans who are simply frustrated because they aren't getting any younger and they are desperate to see Villa win trophies again in the here and now? I understand the frustrations but I'm pretty certain we are going about things the right way with the right manager. I see year on year improvement with Lambert, I see stability and I see progress on and off the pitch - I feel we're heading in the right direction. Let's see where we are in twelve months' time.

Its just you blaming the fans for Lamberts inadiquacies of not being able to coach, motivate and instill confidence in the team. The problem is a lot of fans don't understand the time it takes to build and develop a team.

That's not a fact - it's one of your many opinions.

Today's result confirms my opinion that Lambert is doing a very good job so far.

Love it, exactly what I'm thinking. Spot on. Everyone is analysing the financial results of the club and remarking on how it looks as though we will be breaking even next season forgetting that this is due in no small part to Lambert's efforts of the past eighteen months.