HeyAnty

Agreed that Lambert is the man to lead us to the top 10. We arent going to get much further unless we invest more. Much has been said about our football this season and i agree its been as poor as ive seen, even under Mcleish. One thing did make me shudder though when i saw it in another post yest. We didn't score in October at all. Out of 15 games we only scored in 8 this season and one of them we did score was Rotherham. Seriously worrying we cant seem to score. Aston villa 0 - 0 Sunderland West Ham 0 - 0 Aston villa Hull 0 - 0 Aston villa Aston villa 0 - 2 Everton Aston villa 0 - 2 spurs

Southampton's style of play will suit us. It may sound strange but id rather play them away than 70% of the bottom prem teams. Reason- at home they never sit back and dont wait to be broken down. They also play a very high line at home. I wouldn't be surprised if we get a good result here giving our counter attacking ability and pace. 1-2 to Villa

Big call indeed but I think he should have dropped him for Sunderland and Southampton and brought him back in for Man U. That would have given him a chance to sort out any lingering fitness issues and give him a real incentive to do well in his return game. [Edit - on 2nd thoughts, bring him back at Fulham because I am going to that game. ] See ya there. First away game in London since we beat Arsenal under O'Neil. Hope Gabby does the job against Fulham.

Shows how important Lambert rates him to the team. Wasn't even on the bench on Monday night and started yesterday after 6 weeks out. Done ok yest considering this.

Seconded.

He never jumped for the ball today when up against oshea and was always caught on his wrong side. He won every 50/50 header last season, didnt even attempt to win them today and gave cheap free after free away because of it. Im glad Bentekke is at Villa and his form will only be temporary. However i will say this, i'll never love Bentekke like i do guzan/gabby/petrov after his antics in the summer. Can say he was young and was badly advised but there just excuses to me.

"Usually" being the key word there. I didn't even say we should look for an AM on the cheap, I just find the obsession with getting one for "at least" a certain amount a bit odd. Im not really specifying an exact amount, but making a point that if we are to get the ACM we need we will have to spend at least 9 or 10 mill because they are hard to come by and thats why they cost more than any other position. How do you know we can't get the AM we need for less than that? Obviously I think we should perhaps push the boat out a little on this one but if we can get the AM we need for say £5m instead of 10 I don't see the problem with that. From experience of watching the transfer market . Put it to u this way, can u get a quality striker for 5 million. I doubt u can and IMO a quality ACM is harder to come by than a 5 mill striker.

"Usually" being the key word there. I didn't even say we should look for an AM on the cheap, I just find the obsession with getting one for "at least" a certain amount a bit odd. Im not really specifying an exact amount, but making a point that if we are to get the ACM we need we will have to spend at least 9 or 10 mill because they are hard to come by and thats why they cost more than any other position.

Not sure if I agree he's been our best player all season, but I'm happy to read he is respected. Fair play HeyAnty. Who u think is our best player is thus far, it has to be a defender with the clean sheets we are keeping surely?

Well your entitled to your opinion and i respect it. Just one thing though, sunderland were well off side in that incident. Wasn't even close

Im not the only one who thinks hes awful. Besides what did Clarke do wrong today besides keeping a clean sheet and never giving the ball away? Ie u think he was poor, u have to back it up with a reason

See i buy in to buying young up incoming hungry players and believe what we are doing is right. However every rule has an exception and a quality ACM is it. Its the one position on the pitch where u get what u pay for. Even young ACM mids who show quality are costly.

There were a number of games last season where Benteke was anonymous, for most of the match, then won us the game, out of nowhere, so I can understand Lambert's hesitation to take him off. I understand that, but we didnt have a similar sized player like kozac on the bench last season. In fairness it was pointless taking Bentekke off with 5 mins to go as kozac wasnt going to change anything then

We cant hold on to the ball. The amount of time we get into the final 3rd and lose it is shocking. But this is where a top no.10 would change things. I really hope we splash out at least 10 mill on one come jan

He went missing in second half. Think he ran out of steam in fairness

And useless to boot

Another good performance today. Turning in to a very good defender. His reading of the game one time in the first half today, when he stepped up to play off side from a ball over the top shows that he is maturing into what we expected 2-3 years back. Been our best player all season.

What i dont understand is how he was kept on for 85min when he was obvs throwing his toys out of the pram. Kozac done more damage the 9 min he was on

Absolutely. Or even to avoid getting embroiled in another relegation struggle.I think Sunderland will be hyped up for this after their 6-1 last outing at Villa park. Though i think there defence is still shocking especially in the air. Dont be surprised to see Bentekke and Kozack up front. Gabby wont start as it showed against west brom he was only able for 15-20 mins I don't have the time to follow other club, so correct me if I am wrong. Haven't Sunderland had a massive turnover in player since last season? If so, I doubt the new players know about or care about the score last season. Apparently they haven't forgot. http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/25007494

Yup he is off to boro http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/25143739 Doubt they will pay much of his wages

Absolutely. Or even to avoid getting embroiled in another relegation struggle. I think Sunderland will be hyped up for this after their 6-1 last outing at Villa park. Though i think there defence is still shocking especially in the air. Dont be surprised to see Bentekke and Kozack up front. Gabby wont start as it showed against west brom he was only able for 15-20 mins

I cant for the life of me work it out either. Total U turn

I think it is the style of football is the reason why we are doing better. Its not the performances because we havent been good from the start of the season. This being backed up by possession stats and direct football stats(passes from Guzan to Bentekke was 50% more than between any other pair in our team on Monday night) Hey i was Lambert no 1 supporter and still am but i just cant understand what we are trying to achieve this season tactics wise, were i did and was excited by them last season.

An average young prem team will concede less goals playing hoof ball (which we have been doing this season) than an average young prem team who tried to play football ( which we did last season). Probably score 1 or 2 more at that. All IMO. I just hope our plan is to get safe this season as quick as possible by whatever means then give the team more license to play.

Rules regarding about living within a certain distance of the club and not lying about the fact you had been back staying in sheffield and your house in sutton is empty because your missus is missing her mum. Is this for real? I believe it to be, his house on four oaks was empty as his missus was homesick. The club sent people round and dicovered he hadnt been living there, didn't go down too well with Mr Lambert. Dont know what the situation is now but thats why he was missing from squads The clown. How long a round trip would that take in traffic?