DCJonah

Ok let's get say someone like Ian Dowie, happy with that?

When they are shit after a few games we'll just sack them and get someone else in how about Steve Keane?

Baring in mind it's free each time you sack and hire a manager.

I didn't say I want someone like Dowie. I just think that saying a manager like Mourinho could't do any better is wrong.

There will be no Premier League teams in for Bannan when we get relegated.

The grass is not always greener, a dream team of taggert and Jose couldn't sort us out currently.

I really don't like comments like this. It's almost like you're saying Lambert is doing a good job.

He's spent over £20m and made us the worst attacking and defending team in the Prem. That's some achievement.

Randy won't sack him so we'll continue with this shit into the Championship. Lambert has been a complete disaster. Even a good manager can at least organise a team of shit players to be difficult to beat.

http://www.birminghammail.co.uk/sport/sport-opinion/mat-kendrick-says-aston-villa-1216226

Mat Kendrick has done a story suggesting that Warnock should be brought back into the squad if he's not sold in January. He obviously doesn't think that Lambert isn't allowed to select him.

Due to financial constraints he couldn't pick them if he wanted to

Warnock and Hutton's attitude wouldn't help the youngsters it would hinder

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).

Some rumours.... Though, point 8 is rather suspect.

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.

Why don't we cut out the middle man then as this is clearly where the massive problem lies then is it not?

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

Guzan is playing for free is he?

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.

I wasn't including Holman as Lambert didn't sign him, McLeish did (please keep up). Look up the 8 players I'm talking about if you want to

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.

People here asking for Hutton and Warnock back - you know as well as I do that we would be no better with those two and then people would be saying Lambert was crazy to stick with them and should have signed two young players

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.

Brilliant argument

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.

Brilliant

8 players in, £18m spent on fees, minimum wages spend. That only buys you potential not guaranteed performance

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?

No you've got it the wrong way round - I don't tell anyone who to sign - I leave that to the professionals

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!

Your point about Michu is weak - there are probably 250 clubs around the world who wish they'd signed Michu so Lambert is hardly a plum for not doing so. Laudrup managed Mallorca last season so its not surprising he got the jump on everyone

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.

Bennett hasn't showed his full potential yet but I'm willing to give him time rather than write him off after a handful of games in one of the poorest squads we've ever had - If it is your style to write young players off after a few games thats your perogative

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.

It's very easy to sit there and say "he should have bought in better players in the summer" - if it's so easy to bring these fantastic players in for peanuts, name a few. Thing is, they dont exist.

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...

Also the second part of your post contradicts the first part - should Lambert only buy players who the majority of fans have heard of or is he supposed to send his "huge army of scouts around the world" to uncover these bargain wonder players you keep talking about (but can't name any of)

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 has 2 games to save his job

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.

But then when his hands are tied behind his back what else is he supposed to do on such a little budget when he also needs to chop the wage bill dramatically and also be able to sign enough players to cover every position that we needed!! What did people expect to happen??

• 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.

No - if you are claiming that he could have bought players for the same money who are "much better" you need to name a few

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.

Warnock was bad last year, I can't believe Lambert paid £3.5m for someone worse than warnock. How on earth can u spend that kind of money and end up with a worse full back than warnock ffs !

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.

If he does not buy another left back then warnock should play.

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.

Easily said isn't it

It's not that his signings are not good enough, it's that what is already here is not good enough

Imagine putting KEA in alongside Barry.....I'd guess he'd look a lot better

Imagine Bennett with Milner in front of him......I'd guess he'd look a lot better

Imagine Clark / Baker with Laursen / Mellberg alongside him......I'd guess he'd look a lot better

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 are currently spending like a championship club.

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.

I agree with you on that. But, he spent £7m on a striker to replace Heskey. He had to do that because we had nobody other than Bent to put the ball in the net. Weimann has turned out to be a bonus for us. We needed new full backs because the last two were useless. He's brought in players that are equally out of sorts but, we're they his first choices? I would guess not!

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'd say its just as much if not more about the wages than the fees. For 20 mill and having to at best balance the wages with those who left ( Heskey, Cuellar, Collins ) and most likely reduce it then in all fairness you were not going to sign proven quality for that. The squad needed quantity and proven quality and we were not getting both. It seems Lambert gambled on going with quantity and signing potential from lower leagues and players from foreign leagues unproven in the Premier League. This gamble combined with the lack of backing has backfired.

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.