Panto_Villan

Hey, chill out. If he turns out to be awful defensively we can always go back to Bennett.

Thanks guys. I think we can discount Mackay because it's not a season in the Premier League if you're in the Championship, leaving Lambert 6th overall after one season. Madness. I really hope he sticks around for at least three seasons, because by then he'll have a squad entirely filled with players he bought or kept rather than players he inherited. There must come a point where your performances are improved by actually having the players you want to play the system you want to play. I also think that the "buy young" idea means he'll be more likely to stay than the average manager. It's not like being a chequebook manager where you can just buy half a new team immediately - the buying young philosophy takes time to bear fruit and hopefully Lambert will want to be around to see the results.

I'd rather he didn't go to the world cup. He feels like "our" player far more than someone like Benteke does, so if Arsenal picked him up I'd be gutted. Off the international scene and under the radar is the best way.

A thought just struck me today - with Moyes moving to United and Pulis getting the boot, is Lambert now one of the top 5 longest-serving managers in the league?

That Guardian article is excellent. I like the way he's actually researched the transfers - Okore could have gone to Chelsea, Bacuna allegedly not being very good etc. A step further than most journalists will take it, so well done that man.

So we should have used a system based on Bent getting service from the wings - presumably we should have bought Young and Downing back from United and Liverpool to do so? You are aware we sold them, right?

Is it not conceivable that Lambert has a pot of money to spend and he doesn't want to piss it all up the wall immediately on an overpriced player, because he knows he'll have less money to spend later if he does so? That doesn't mean he's not being backed or has a halo around his head, it just means that he knows there is a finite amount of money available and want to use it wisely.

Bear in mind it's his job to fill column inches, whether or not there's any actual transfer news going on (and I'm sure if there was they'd be writing about that instead). Seems a lot of irrational hatred for journalists on this website.

I'd love to see the figures for the numbers sold compared to last year.

I heard he turned up for the last game wearing a suit. I mean, who does that?

Apparently the company going into liquidation, CCFC Ltd, isn't the only company that actually makes up the club. So they're only partially in liquidation, or something. EDIT - link here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/23548760

Is this....is this why we've not got rid of Joe Bennett?

DayZ is kinda full of hackers now, I think. It also needs Arma II Combined Ops to run, and takes quite a bit of getting used to the controls to figure out what's going on. It was awesome when it first came out, though! As Webbs says, friends make it even more fun.

Point proved?

AAAARGH!

Nothing wrong with being a panto villan!

The good news is we may not have seen the last of Bannan at Villa Park. He's Scottish, and therefore will be a football manager later in life. I think I can also detect a hint of ginger in his hair, and I know the club has a special place in its heart for ginger Scottish managers. I for one welcome our future football overlord. Barry Bannan's Claret and Blue Army! UTB!

Good. I'm glad he's gone. I have no personal dislike to the kid but he's infuriating to watch because he's continually giving the ball to the other team and is utterly ineffectual at trying to win it back when they do have it. I'd much rather have someone like Sylla there who does some stupid stuff occasionally but does actually have a presence on the pitch.

I think the thing here is everyone who likes him says they think he's got potential rather than he's actually a good player. I don't think he'll get a new contract until he actually becomes a good player, as presumably he's already got at least two years more on his existing contract. Clark is pretty poor, but I think everyone else who was given a contract warranted it and tbh I think it's good that Lambert isn't just handing them out like candy.

I don't like him, but I think he earned my respect last season with the way he stuck to it despite some awful performances and taking a lot of stick from the crowd. It can't be easy to keep coming back for more after some of those errors, so I don't think he's weak mentally. He does look physically weak, though, and pretty ineffectual when it comes to actually defending the box. He's got a decent cross on him and gets forward, but I think he needs to get a bit bigger and a bit wiser before I'll feel comfortable with him there.

At the moment, yes, but that's only because he's injured To be honest I wasn't told and didn't ask - I'd be surprised if even Joe himself knew that at this stage. I think they'll probably only find out when the first game comes around. The gossip I have: he's got lots of money, has just bought a house in Birmingham and has a couple of (allegedly vile) dogs. And he's injured at the moment, but that's been reported in the press already I think. JulieB I am not.

He was injured. He was due to play the game before last but picked up a knock in training. Was sent swimming instead. A friend of mine knows his girlfriend, so I get all the inside gossip on him...but I kinda hope she moves on to a player I actually care about. I tried to suggest Lowton or Westwood, they look like the kinda guy who would treat a woman right (no homo).

I don't think Hutton's especially done anything wrong (professionally) either tbh.

Nah, it was that Liverpool game in December IMO. Other clubs have known all about him for quite a while, yet his best performances have come AFTER they'll all have known what he's about. I think, like Drogba, on his day the guy is unplayable. His day came quite often in the second half of last season, but he still went missing in some games, arguably more than a top level striker should I logged on to VillaTalk and opened up a bunch of threads, the first of which was the Barry Bannan thread (top of the forum at the time). I assumed you guys were talking about Bannan and was grinning happily to myself about how good this forum is at irony when I realised that my browser actually opens tabs in reverse order Still, yeah...Benteke's pretty good an' all that...

I look forward to us using 11 subs at half time in the Premiership.