AVFCAM

My main reservation about selling him would be that no matter how good Gabby looked earlier in the season ", he's not score huge amounts and he has gone off the boil a bit as per usual. Wiemann has also shown he isn't up to being the main striker as his goals have tailed off as well... We'd need to buy a goal scorer to replace him, but how easy is that? Without him, we could struggle again.

I don't think his position should be in doubt. When we play well we have beaten the best teams in the league. When we play badly we can be awful. Today was hideous but let's not forget how good we were last week so quickly. Let's also not forget this is a work in progress and that we STILL have to get rid of some dead wood. Time to judge whether this project will be a success is this time next year. I don't think his position should be in doubt. When we play well we have beaten the best teams in the league. When we play badly we can be awful. Today was hideous but let's not forget how good we were last week so quickly. Let's also not forget this is a work in progress and that we STILL have to get rid of some dead wood. Time to judge whether this project will be a success is this time next year. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying get rid. The last 2 have shown that there IS something there. My point was that those who labelled the calls for Lambert to go, knee jerk reactions, are the same people who suddenly claimed our troubles were over and that he was indeed the messiah after 2 (arguably excellent) wins...when we find ourselves right back where we have been pretty much all year...disappointed after a terrible performance...albeit in a position of, or as as close to bring a position of safety.

Who was it last week who said people were wrong to question Lambert?

I can see where you are trying to come from here, but let's not let 2 (massive) wins cloud what was a pretty terrible run previously. I'm really pleased things have clicked the last 2 games, but I'm still concerned at the lack of consistency up until the Norwich game. If we'd been more consistent, we'd be much closer the Southampton and Newcastle. Don't get me wrong here, excellent result again, the boys really have earned their crust these last2 games, and Lambert's tactics have been spot on, I just don't think it's really the right time to start with the 'told you so' attitude just yet...

Something that made me think over the weekend... I'm not convinced by Lambert, our lack of consistency is a huge issue. When he was appointed, I was relatively happy. He wasn't my first choice. What has really made me think is that my first choice, Ole Gunnar Solksjaer, looks to be out of his depth at Cardiff...perhaps 'out of his depth' isn't the right way to describe it, more 'the ship was already beyond recuse when he arrived'. Another favourite to take the job was Roberto Martinez, although he never really wanted the job. I have met Martinez a few times through work and he is a top bloke, but I wasn't convinced about him succeeding at Villa...but he's managed to do very well at Everton. As much as I am unhappy with Lambert at present, it really has made me think about whether the grass is greener. Yes, Martinez May have done wonders here, which is not what I would've thought, but the guy I would have chosen, the guy I was gutted decided to turn us down, could actually have struggled far more than Lambert has. Conclusion?! I should never pick our managers, but I want some improvement from Lambert.

Up until Benteke's goal we were, as per usual, dog shit. Granted, the following 20 minutes were some of our best all season and then the rest of the game was a good performance. The problem is that we are don't see this sort of performance consistently, well, apart from a run of 5 last year. If we can carry this on, then great, maybe I'll start to see what people defend him for. Although, he can't be judged on the next few games if they go badly, we can't expect much anyway. A very good result today though, the players played well and managed to pull back from a poor start. The manager picked those players, so credit must also go to him! Fingers crossed for a shock few points over the next few games, the quicker we get 3 more wins, the better.

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Wow. We still need to up our game, but wow.

It's different from under McLeish because we could actually defend when he was in charge, so our lack of scoring wasn't as much of an issue.

Some people seem so surprised. We've been dog shit pretty much constantly for a while now...why would today be any different?!

I'm pleased for Hutton, he's never said a bad word about the situation, he's just expressed a desire to play. Hopefully this will lead to something more permanent for both him and the club.

I admire your loyalty, but not as much as I value my free time, my mental well being and the money I save.

Realistically, we need 4 wins to hit 40, although there's no guarantee that will be enough. If we can't muster 4 wins (or more) out of those games, we don't deserve to stay up.

Well, we've struggled against the teams who were promoted last year. We got knocked out the cup by a teem TWO league lower than us....

Lerner loves fans like you. To be honest, by April it may be a bit too late, confidence could be shot.

Or that one game doesn't change things so dramatically and I'll continue to believe a manager should be judged after 2 and a half seasons. You say 'one game'...and you're right, one game means nothing, and another game means nothing...on it's own. We're not looking at just one game though. We lost to West Ham, one game. We drew with Cardiff (a team just beaten 4-0 by Hull), yes we played well, but we couldn't get a goal. We lost to Newcastle...just one game...but again, with all the other games, it becomes many games.

This was how I was thinking last season, the Sunderland game almost swung me back, but you've got to work it out as cost per goal or cost per win...

I think that those who are calling the calls for a lambert to be sacked as 'OTT' will continue to defend Lambert staunchly until we actually go down. In isolation, losing to Newcastle isn't so bad, drawing to Cardiff wasn't the end of the world...but look at everything as a whole, the last 2 seasons, and it becomes incredibly hard to defend him.

For the last few years I'd thought about not renewing, then every year, the guys who would sit around me having NOT renewed would laugh at me and the other ST Holders as we watched us lose to Wigan at home. Last season I got tired of it and decided not to renew for this year, I'd had enough of being disappointed. I dreaded going to the games. My wife thought it would help me recapture the enjoyment I used to get out of it...which was partly true, my first game this season was something I really looked forward to...but...it was disappointing, we rolled over and had our bellies rubbed by Newcastle, who were out of form at the time. Then the next game was Everton, where we were alright for the main, but gave away 2 goals and lost. Since then I haven't been back, mainly because the disappointment has continued. I've missed some good days like beating Man City, but I've had more time to do other things. It's a shame as I feel I have really lost touch with Villa by not going, I'm not as devoted as I was. I partly put this down to being done with how woeful we are and our completely lack of learning from mistakes, but I'd be a fool to say that not going every week hadn't contributed to it. I don't regret not renewing, I find disappointment easier to deal with when I haven't forked out near on £600 to watch crap, but I do miss the excitement of walking to a game...as much as you say you'll go whenever you can, you don't, you forget to book time off, you don't look for tickets sale dates as you've not had to before.

I think the most worrying thing about where we are, is that the '3 teams worse than us' are still within touching distance of us, even though they've been atrocious for most of the season...

No, no, not pedantic at all, it's a very fair comment. You are right, we were good for the large part, but it was the sheer inability of our strikers to score, only for us to then ship 2 goals from very few shots. To have said we were dog shit is a little harsh, but the rest of what I said I think was fair.

That's pretty much the position I'm in. Me too. I cared more because it was newcastle who a lot of my mates support. But replace them with any other team and I care very little. When you come to expect defeat and disappointment it really does numb your senses and response to it. Well done those travelling fans again. Aston Villa, Lerner and Lambert don't deserve you. wow. I'm unhappy we lost but to say you didn't care when the goal went in is absolutely disgusting. It's not disgusting, it's a reality. After the previous 3/4 seasons of crap, I decided not renew my season ticket, I was sick of dreading games. I wanted to bring back the excitement of buying a ticket and looking forward to a game. So far this year, I've been to two, Everton and Newcastle at home, in both of which, we were dog shit, again. Since then, I haven't felt the need to spend money on watching us throw away leads and fail to do complete simple footballing tasks such as passing and moving. I've got to a point now where I don't feel shitty for long, at first I laugh, mainly because I try to hide any anger, then I laugh again, as I knew it was coming and the people I'm with knew it was coming. My wife laughs as she tells me 'they've done it again'... Then I realise, I really don't give as much of a shit as I did before. I really am ambivalent (great use of the word above) about it, I just expect the worst now. I'm done with clowns in defence giving the ball away and making mistake and mistake...yes Ron Vlaar, I'm including you in this now I'm done with players like KEA being shoved off the ball as he gets tired after 50 ,minutes I'm done with Wiemann suffering from 'billy big bollucks' syndrome...he certainly didn't miss as many sitters before his new contract I'm done with Benteke losing his ability to play football having been used as a target for our long ball drivel for so long And I'm really done with Lambert's post match rubbish that makes us look like idiots. When you think it can't get worse, it normally does with us, expect to lose at Norwich.

I've said it for months, we'll probably go down. You may moan now, but after what is likely to be 0 points from 3 of our games in March against Chelsea, Citeh and Man Yoo, you'll all start to see it. Hull struggled for goals, so they bought attackers...we loaned Grant Holt.

Don't get me wrong, Hutton is a poor defender, but so is Joe Bennett. The difference would be that Bennett makes more mistakes due to inexperience. (I know they aren't like for like replacements) I'm not saying Hutton should play. I just cannot agree that his is any worse than what we are currently stuck with. Plus, as a few of us have said, I think the way we have treated him makes us look like a bunch of rocket polishers.