AVFCAM

Enter villa Yeah, who do you want to play when you're down on your luck and need a win?! Aston Villa. If only this was like FIFA and we could play ourselves...even then we'd probably draw or lose.

Any idea when Kozak is due back? He got some important goals last year. As said above he was in light training earlier in the summer but all has gone quiet now...

I wasn't too sure about why he'd been offered a contract so soon after returning to the lineup, but I suppose it shows that Lamborghini never doubted his ability, but he would play him genuinely for financial reasons. He has been a model pro throughout his bomb squad days, so it's logical to think he is rated by the manager and staff. He could have been a real baby about it, but he's just got on with things. Just get Delph signed, I'm not even that fussed on Vlaar at the moment, just get Delph signed.

We needed a big result in this poor run, so to start by winning is a huge boost. Fair play to Baker, he played incredibly well, buts lets not start getting carried away, he's got to show a lot more of that before you can forget his calamitous games last season. This however was an excellent way to start silencing the critics!

Don't think you can blame lambert for it. If nothing happens then you should look to the man who has allowed nearly every other team in the league to outspend us. Not there yet though. Lambert is the voice of the organisation, he gets the flak, if he doesn't agree with what is being done, he shouldn't be the face.

I'm pretty much convinced that come11pm we will be disappointed and Lambert will wheel out the old 'we tried to make things happen but it just didn't come off' line just like every window. We will all be pissed off because the club have had months to do this...the world will keep on turning and we will still have glaring deficiencies in the squad.

Do people forget about some of the most recent finalists of the cups? Wigan, Sunderland...or are we not even at their level anymore?!

Yeah but we'll only score 1 in 3 as well.

Another loss that I fully expected. Another loss this weekend and we'll be rock bottom by October. How Lambert is still in a job amazes me!?

More chance of me signing for Villa

Wow, Lambert really is pushing us to the next level. Losing at home, again, not scoring at home, again.

Surely you couldn't guarantee that Grealish would create anything? Some people need to stop bigging up our so-called talents. Grealish is 18 years old and has experience only from League 1. As we saw from United's humiliation at MK Dons yesterday, being good in the Youth team doesn't necessarily mean you are going to hack it with the big boys. Chances are he will never make it, they rarely do from our Academy, so throwing him out on the pitch just like that would be suicide. I know nothing about this player as I haven't seen him play before, but if he is any good he will be given minutes here and there and get the chance to prove he is capable. Certainly shouldn't start games right away when we finally have options in our squad. THIS. THIS. 1000 times THIS. We are always looking at our 'other options' when things are bad. Joe Bennett was poor, Luna is better. Luna is poor, Bennett was better. Gary Gardener will be our saviour...as he continues to have contributed a grand total of zero 3 seasons later. Even with injuries, he's obviously not as good as people seem to make out. Bannan was the same and I'm afraid he was pretty average most of the time. When he wasn't average, he was awful. Carruthers is so good we've just sold him to MK Dons. Yet the was people were talking on here, we'd got Lionel Messi in our ranks. Because times are hard as a Villa fan lately, we consistently clutch at straws of hope, most of which would seem pretty pathetic if we stood back and took a look at them. As Pap has said, an 18 year old with experience of L1 suddenly created enough for us to win games?! Come one now! If he was that good, Cit£h, or Yanited would have snapped him up. Although I hope I am wrong and he is fantastic...I just won't hold my breath, Come on the Villa, or something like that...

His goals to game ratio with us is better than most of the squad

I think one of the good things with Lambert's gambles is that they can be moved on because they're cheap, and not on big wages. Definitely different to a lot of our recruits over the last 8 years or so. That's the first time anyone has put it that way, it's a very good point.

When I think about it, he was always one of the players I didn't want on the ball near our area, both for Sunderland or Fulham, whenever he played at Villa Park.

I'll tell you what, since this was announced I've been disappointed with it... However... Having read this thread I've actually come round to it. He's 'only' 29, like others, I thought he was older, at least a few years miles left on the clock. He scores a handful a season, we need goals and he's not worse than what we have, not by a long way. Not what we would be wanting in a perfect world, but it's definitely better than we were getting last year!

Anyone who thinks Bendtner would be a good signing needs to have a good word with themselves. He was average at Arsenal. Renowned for being poor everywhere apart from in his own head. A complete waste of money.

Surely he is better than Senderos though...

I'd like to think they've put some kind of clause into the contract regarding injuries. I wouldn't be surprised if he's back less than 5 games before he's out again

Sorry Sutton, I can possible understand Chelsea, maybe at a push, but Man City are definitely NOT self sustainable...their wage bill is higher than such powerhouses as the New York Yankees and the Chicago Bulls...2 of arguably the biggest brands. Up until a handful of years ago, Manchester City were just a second team in Manchester that most outside the Uk didn't know. They're not running Manchester City to become sustainable, they're running them as an advertising vehicle to promote their country.

This. Why is something so simple made so complicated. You'd sell far more shirts making something people want, than by making something that has fancy frills and go faster stripes and speed holes...fans rarely care about innovation on kits, they just want the colours and the badge.

I've not read every single page of the last however many hundred of this thread, so I may be repeating something someone already said, but, if were up to me, I'd rather Randy didn't sell. I'd rather he bought in someone that knows the game, an advisor(s), or even a DoF perhaps in the same ilk as Bobby Charlton (also SAF now) at Man Yoo, or even an exec that knows the game. The way I see it, Lerner has been a good Chairman of the 'business', he's managed to curb the losses, and make us as close to breaking even as we are now. The 'shareholders' would be happy. He's made community and our moral image incredibly important (although treatment of some players, Alan Hutton in particular, leaves a little to desired), so those on the outside think he is a wonderful owner. In the eyes of the customers however (us) he's not seen as a good owner, as the product we are provided isn't up to scratch. This is because Lerner is in business, not in football. Imagine if he'd had football minded people advising him throughout his reign... "Randy, I'm not sure about some of these deals, Nigel and Steve are both good players, but they're not worth that much a week, especially at this point in their careers" "Randy, I know Martin thinks they'll improve us, but we will not get value for money on (enter any number of player's names here)" "Randy, £26m is a lot of money, but James is one hell of a player, we'd need to spend a huge portion of that trying to find someone who could fill his shoes, without him, we only have Stan to hold the midfield together on his own. Stephen Ireland is a luxury player, he's good, but at his wages, he's never going to be worth that, he isn't a replacement for Milner" "Randy, I know Sir Alex is a huge fan of Alex McLeish, but honestly, that isn't going to fly here, he's not only managed our rivals, he's relegated them. Unless he wins us the league, I'm not sure whether he would ever be accepted" "Randy, balancing the books is a necessity, but we risk alienating the fans by stripping the team back so quickly. These lads may be cheap, but I'm not sure they're up to the job, especially when all blooded together at the same time. We may survive, but you'll lose all the fans who came back when we were winning more. Lose them and the millions the club spent under Martin would then become completely wasted, we don't have the players to show for it, the silverware or even the increased revenues as we would lose it by driving people back out the door" "Randy, I know we need to bring the wages in line, but this lad really will improve us, his sell on value could be huge as well" The caution I have about selling is that, while there are some fantastic owners to have, Chelsea, Cit£h, Liverpool and PSG all have them...there are a lot more terrible owners, Portsmouth, Blues, Cit£h (Shinawatra), Cardiff, Blackburn, Malaga, Notts County (little different I know) can all testify to that. Blues were screaming for Gold, Sullivan and Brady to leave the club, they did and look where they are now. Their "owner" has been locked up for tax evasion, leaving them, in the poop with no money and no chance. Malaga's filthy rich owner gave up half way through and decided he didn't want to play football teams anymore, so he pulled the plug, almost bankrupting the club with no way of paying the wages he had sanctioned. If Abramovich or the Sheikhs pulled out, Chelsea and City might be bankrupt in months, they just couldn't afford to pay those players for long periods without their wealthy sugar daddies. Randy sold the Browns to somebody who he probably felt was a decent person, as I don't feel Randy is the type of owner who would let a club willingly go to somebody unsuitable. That man has just been arrested by the FBI on suspicion of fraud...an offence that would mean serious jail time if found guilty. Imagine if that happened to us. Most people with a lot of money who are interested in football clubs are usually not old money, they're usually newer money from countries with growing economies (or economies that were growing), India, Russian, China to name a few. For these people to amassed such wealth, it's highly likely that they'll have stepped on some toes to get there, with some coming from backgrounds where corruption is far more commonplace than in the US and UK (although, that's not to say that the US or UK are squeaky clean by any means). QPR were taken over by a nice chap, Tony Fernandes, he had a few quid, not afraid to spend, which he did, changing too much too soon and they got relegated. Yes, they'd not long been promoted, but we're not that far ahead of them teams being promoted this year. Then there is Red Bull, if that even was a genuine rumour. I support Aston Villa, not Aston Red Bulls or Red Bull Villa. Our badge shows a rampant Lion, not a corporate logo of a Bull. We play our games at Villa Park, not the Red Bull Arena. Red Bull buy a club as a vehicle to showcase their brand, that's how they make money, that's why they're successful. Tradition doesn't mean as much to them as it does to us. If Premier League survival was so important, I'm surprised why so many would welcome this option, as it would probably mean a lot of people would be watching non league football watching a new start up team in the same mould as FC United of Manchester. I can see a lot of the older fans especially not wanting to let go of the traditional side of the club totally, in exchange for this new modern business that football has become. Maybe I'm wrong, maybe this is the dawn of a new day for Aston Villa Football Club. Maybe we will become a force to be reckoned with in Europe who can challenge for titles, which of course, would be great, but let's be honest, there are far more stories of woe when it comes to new owners. I'd much rather try and improve with a responsible owner who had the advice needed to help us be a mid table club who can try and make our way up the table than to lose the heart and should of the club and to tumble into oblivion when things all go wrong.

I just can't understand what we do in training. Passes going astray, play breaking down, mistakes galore...all of which have been present all year, yet we still don't learn from them. You've got to say, the only 1st team quality players are Delph, Guzan, Vlaar (85% of the time), Benteke (when he can be bothered), Kozak (who did look decent in the short time he played), Okore (but we've not seen enough to really say that), Bacuna (just) and Bertrand(who wouldn't sign for us in a million years). Gabby is too inconsistent, Wiemann has lost what he had last year, the clowns at CB are just disasters waiting to happen, Westwood is like Delph, but not as good, KEA is all effort but no product, like Holman was, The talk of N'Zogbia of being almost back turned out to be PR crap just like the Dunne talk last year. This club takes us for mugs so much, but then, with so many willing to blindly renew even when unhappy, I suppose I can't blame them.

Off topic a bit, but did you see Barkley's goal yesterday?! Jheeez!?!?!

Hull have won 3 of 17 away games, losing 11. Now they have both eyes firmly on a cup final. You make it sound like us drawing is going to be one of the upsets of the season. I can think of several teams who have come to Villa Park this season with an appalling away/form record until faced with cuddly Aston Villa. Newcastle Stoke Fulham United - had a string of defeats before their visit to Villa Park. No reason at all why Hull can't add to that the way things are right now. Exactly my point, we are the team to play when on a bad run. Rooney always finishes a dry spell against us. Yanited battered us, one of the few teams they've battered all year. I'm hoping for a win, but if I'm honest, I'm expecting a loss...again.