DCJonah

Why would the financial contraints regarding Hutton and Warnock apply to Lambert but not to McLeish? Lambert bombed out Hutton from the start, but Warnock was featuring in preseason until Nottingham Forest away (where he had an absolute mare).

I'm not saying it will happen (as I know nothing), but haven't Sony already done this with the PS3 and Vita? I'm pretty sure the advert for PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale made of point of saying Vita and PS3 players can play together.

I'm guessing you mean Faulkner? I wouldn't have a problem with replacing him.

No, but guess what, we were paying him last season as well. Anyway, as I said, I think people are bored with us going around in circles. Lets just agree to disagree, and hope that we get some decent players in before the end of the month.

Yet the same still applies when you replace Holman with Guzan.

Nice selective quoting while leaving out the point of using the money saved to improve CB and CM (our weakest positions in the entire squad). Lambert has really masterminded a good defence though. You're right.

I think Warnock is better than Bennett, and Lowton and Hutton are about the same (although I think Lowton will be the better player). I think we'd be better off if we had stuck with Hutton and Warnock, and then spent the £6m (saved on not signing Bennett and Lowton) on a CB and CM.

You're right. A much better arguement is to claim that because a person who works in IT (myself) can't name a player, then there is no one out there that could improve us. I'm guessing we should just call it there as we'll obviously never agree, and people are probably bored with us going around in circles.

6 players really (as Holman was free, and Bowery was only £500k). He signed Vlaar for £3m and he's looked a solid CB. Instead of Bennett, is it out of the question that he may have signed another experienced CB for the same money?

And again you miss the point. You didn't know about Benteke last season, I didn't know about him either. But guess what, he's been a very good signing. Amazing isn't it. I don't know how Lambert discovered a player that neither of us had ever heard of! I'm not blaming Lambert for not signing Michu. I was simply making the point (AGAIN) that just because I can't name a player, that doesn't mean they aren't out there. I'd never heard of Michu until Swansea signed him. I haven't given up on Bennett, he's clearly low on confidence and needs taking out of the firing line. I just don't think we can be signing players and waiting for them to show their full potential. We need players that are ready to come in and perform.

Amazing! so there isn't a better LB in the world that we could've got for the £3.5m we paid for Bennett? There are obviously players out there that would improve our team (while remaining within our budget). Look at Michu. Swnasea signed him for £2m, do you think the majority of football fans knew about him before he came to the Premier League? I don't... No it doesn't. I was simply making a point that because we can't name players, it doesn't mean they aren't out there. I guess you were telling everyone that we should sign this young 21 year old Striker from Gent last season?

I think he's safe until the end of the season. Lerner doesn't come across as the sort of man to sack someone 6 months into their job. I still can't believe people want Lambert to stay even if we get relegated though.

I expected him to strengthen our squad in the key areas we were weak (CB and CM) I expected him to spend wisely (not waste £6m on fullbacks when that position wasn't a priority) I expected us to improve with our performances and results (compared to last season). None of the above has happened. I'm not blaming Lambert for everything. Yes, there are probably wage restrictions in place, and we have been on a steady decline since MON left. I just don't agree with the people that are blaming Lerner for the entire thing. I think Lambert has been given enough resources to steer us away from releagation.

So you expect me (who doesn't work for a football club, has a normal 9-5 job) to be able to name players from around the world that are available, know their value, their wage demands, etc? Ridiculous! It's not my job VillaCas, it's Lamberts, and he's paid a fortune to do it. He has scouts to send all around the world to watch football games, advise him, etc. I would say a lot of our fans had never heard of the majority of our summer signings.

I think Warnock was decent in the MON days, but since Houllier destroyed his confidence, he's been very poor. Spending £3.5m of our budget on Bennett when there were positions that needed more attention was a poor decision.

There is no chance of recalling Warnock, the bridges have been burnt. So if we do sign another LB, that will be 4 on the wage bill.

To be fair to Daniel, he doesn't have the resources, and isn't paid millions to buy players to improve Aston Villa. It's pretty stupid claiming that because he can't name names, that the players aren't out there. The simple fact is, he's had money, and hasn't spent it wisely. We were the 6th highest spenders in the summer. I also think we'll spend around £10m by the end of January. I would've thought that would eclipse the majority of our relegation rivals.

He's been poor, but so have all of our defence. I think it's slightly unfair to write him off yet though. He's 23 years old and shouldn't be expected to be our captain, and have to organise our defence. At this stage of his career, he should only be featuring in cup games, and the odd time our first choice CB's are injured/suspended. It doesn't help that he's playing with other young unexperienced defenders alongside him.

Were the fullback positions really that important? We had both Hutton and Warnock (who featured the season before) and then had Stevens, Lichaj, and Herd that could all fill in/challenge for the position. Instead we went into the season with Vlaar, two untested youngsters in Clark and Baker, and Dunne having a longterm injury. I'm very happy with the Benteke signing, I think he'll go on to be a good Premier League player. We did, however, manage to stay up last season even though Bent missed a large part of the season. I would say both CB and CM were more important positions to fill before looking at fullbacks and a new striker though.

I agree that Lambert has had restrictions to work to, and that we won't be offering big wages. I imagine teams such as West Brom, Stoke, Swansea, and Norwich will all have similar restrictions, but are all comfortably above us. The fact that we have these restrictions in place makes it even more ridiculous that we signed another 2 full backs. We're now paying wages for 3 RB's and 3 LB's, when we could've bought a CB and a CM instead.

Holman was free and Bowery was apparently £500k (so it's really only 6 players that we've spent £20m on).

I think he's had enough money to steer us away from relegation. £20m to spend on players is something that a lot of teams above (and the majority of our relegation rivals) would love to be able to do. That's why I think it's such a waste of money. We obviously needed quite a few recruits and he chose 2 positions where we already had a starter and cover. The £6m spent on Bennett and Lowton could've got us another CB and CM.

I'm not saying Warnock is good (because I don't think he is), but we've kept hold of Warnock (so probably still paying him £40k a week) and signed another LB in Bennett for £3m who I think is a worse player.

Agreed. Unfortunately Lambert wasted money on 2 fullbacks that weren't needed, and El Ahmadi.

I agree that Lambert probably hasn't got the ability to offer wages of £45k-£60k+ for new players. I would've thought teams such as West Brom, Swansea, Stoke and Norwich have a similar structure, and they're all comfortably above us. Yeah, they'll have some players that break the structure (like we do with Dunne, Bent, Ireland, possibly Given and N'Zogbia) but they won't be paying huge money for the majority of their players. It's just a case that these clubs have bought their players more wisely.