Cambridge-AVFC

Thinking behind Spearing is we haven't really got much meat in our midfield and Spearing brings that. I wouldn't be against the signing of Spearing, he could do a job giving our defence much needed protection.

Nah not really. I'd rather James McCarthy, maybe even Maloney to be a squad player. Maloney would walk into our side atm. He's had a very good season. Would you drop Gabby or Weimann though? I think i'd choose those two before Maloney. I hope we're not going to sign Spearing, that would be disappointing. Its harsh, but I'll probably drop Andi, although he's currently my favourite Villa player I just think Maloney is a better winger than him. Although we'll lose the work rate and the clever dynamic runs, with Maloney you'll have a technically better, more creative player who crosses wonderfully. But to be fair, if we had Maloney, I think we'll play 4-2-3-1 more and have Maloney at CAM

Nah not really. I'd rather James McCarthy, maybe even Maloney to be a squad player. Maloney would walk into our side atm. He's had a very good season.

Mertens is a top drawer player. I think he keeps Miralles out of the Belgian team? If we sign him, he will be comfortably our best player and will improve our strikeforce significantly. Really rate the lad, however I doubt he'll come to us.

I'm a little annoyed Zog didn't play. Zog was the best player on the pitch against Fulham by a million miles and he scored, since then he's barely played, he may have not played at all. Lambert is confusing at times. o tbf on Lambo, since the Fulham game we lost to Man Utd and Chelsea. Beat both Sunderland and Norwich, and drew to Wigan. So I think its paid off dropping Zog.

Barry would be a worldie signing. But he's too good for us.

Very very very impressed with Sylla. He's everything we were crying out for in midfield. A box to box athlete who gives that extra bit of meat.

I stopped reading here. He has. In comparison to other players, he hasn't. Please name me one player who has played worse? 1) Holman 2) Herd 3) Bent 4) Clark 5) Bennett 6) Albrighton 7) Lichaj 8) Bowery 9) Delfounseo 10) El Ahmadi To name a few. Holman has more assists and more goals than Bannan despite playing less games. Herd has been injured most of the season but showed a lot more promise than Bannan. Bent has scored goals which will probably keep Villa in the league. Clark has been a liability this season, but still scored a goal - more than Bannan - cost us a number of goals also, but it is disputable whether he has done in general worse than Bannan who has done nothing. Bennett has had more good games than bad games and has shown signs of being a decent left back - Bannan hasn't shown he is capable of dictating a game in the manner he needs to at this level. Albrighton is possibly the only player in the squad who is worse than Bannan. But at least he hasn't featured as much as Bannan else goodness knows where we would be... we can barely afford to carry one player like Bannan let alone two. Lichaj has got the same number of assists as Bannan despite playing less than half the amount of games from a defensive position. A bit harsh to say he's even worse than Bannan when he is clearly a backup to one of the players of the season. I think most people would love a player of this quality as backup to Lowton. Bowery came from League 2... give him more than a couple of games to prove himself. Delfounso has featured in 1 game this season... this really is scraping the bottom of the barrel. El Ahmadi hasn't been brilliant but has at least scored a goal and has only been in the country for a year... Bannan has been in the first team for 5 years... I wouldn't go as far as saying he's been worse than Bannan. Holman - Holman's a winger/centre attacking midfielder, of course he's scored more goals. He started the season really well, but has since been found out as a very below average footballer. Herd - An outdated player who offers no ability whatsoever. Bennett - He's improved a great deal, but it doesn't detract from the absolute dire performances we saw at the start of the season. Even in these last few games he's been everything i expect a LB to be. Clark - Yeah Clark has scored a goal this season, that goal came from a wonderful Bannan cross. Bent - Not his fault that he's played badly. But he's still played worse than Bannan. Albrighton - So we agree he's played worse? Good. Lichaj - He's been meh. Bannan has been better than meh this season. Bowery - So we agree he's played worse? Good. Delfounseo - Played worse. El Ahmadi - He's looked ordinary and has had 2 good games. Bannan has contributed more than him this year.

Oh yeah I forgot about Ireland. 11) Ireland

I stopped reading here. He has. In comparison to other players, he hasn't. Please name me one player who has played worse? 1) Holman 2) Herd 3) Bent 4) Clark 5) Bennett 6) Albrighton 7) Lichaj 8) Bowery 9) Delfounseo 10) El Ahmadi To name a few.

I stopped reading here. He has. In comparison to other players, he hasn't.

To be fair on Bannan, he hasn't played badly this season. He's just been a scapegoat for the most part of it. I think he's done more good things than bad this season. With Bannan, it seems like everything bad he does is emphasised and everything good he does is brushed under the carpet or twisted in a way to bash Bannan more. Also people seem to bash Bannan for the sake of bashing Bannan. Perfect examples: people slating him for a chipped back pass to Given against Bradford even though we retained possession and people slating Bannan for a little 10 yard chipped pass to Baker, even though baker controlled it and we retained possession. One thing we've seen from Bannan this year is, he tries his hardest, works ever so hard and at times he's ran himself into the ground. I think we've seen him mature a bit, he doesn't really punt long aimless balls now, he's matured in such a way that he is prepared to go simple. Although he does sometimes try and force it a bit too much. I think for what he does and what he offered to us this year, he has certainly been a help.

But he didn't say that?

I've been saying for the last few weeks on Barry Bannan's thread that he shouldn't have played ahead of Bannan. My god has he proved me wrong. He played superbly today, he was everywhere. More of the same from Fab!

Unlucky today from the boys. We played really well and also these few weeks have shown how far we've come as a team. Compare this to last year when we looked so uncreative and it was just dire. To the start of the season where we lacked bite up front and just seemed contempt in passing the ball slowly. To midway through the season where if we went a goal down, we'd lose the game. Now look at us, full of character, full of energy and a constant threat going forward. Its been a joy watching the Villa over the past few games. On to the game, no complaints. I didn't think the referee was especially bad. As for the sending off, I think it was more on Benteke than the ref. It was stupid to try and control the ball like that, especially after Ramires got red carded for a high foot. But Benteke will learn, however he will be a big big miss against Wigan. Thought we matched Chelsea for best parts of the game when it was 11 vs 11. We looked the better, more hungry side and deserved our lead. When Ramires got sent off, we looked comfortable and if Benteke would've stayed on the pitch it wouldn't have been a surprise if we beat them by 3 goals as they looked toothless. Benteke's red changed the game and from then on we looked second best. Lambert should've maybe brought on subs as we did start to towards the end, but 10 vs 10 against Chelsea was always gonna be a tough ask to hold on. Guzan 7 - Made a few good saves, nothing he could've done about the goals. Lichaj 6.5 - Solid enough defensively. Going forward, he's a poor man's Lowton. Vlaar 7.5 - Very good performance by the big man. He was concrete today. Baker 7 - Maybe could've got tighter for the first goal? Other then that, he showed great maturity not diving in to any challenges especially after receiving a yellow in the first 4 mins. Bennett 7 - Bright going forward, solid at the back. Sylla 7.5 - Impressive performance by the big man, got stuck in and looked tidy in possession. I really like the look of him. Westwood 7 - Kept things ticking over nicely and gave good enough protection to the back 4. Unlucky not to score. Delph 8 - What a fantastic perfomance by Fabian. he was brilliant. Full of energy, penetrating runs and very tidy in possession. Was a threat, are we finally starting to see the bright youngster we paid 8 million for? Weimann 6.5 - Hard working, movement off the ball is superb. Things didn't quite fall for him today, but he gave his all. Agbonlahor 7 - Constant threat, his pace frightens defenders. Benteke 7 - Great goal. General play was superb. However stupid of him to get sent off, tbf it was his stupid tackle which cost us the game.

I'm going to say when Ron Vlaar fully recovered from injury. It was then we scrapped this 5-2-3 nonsense and went back to our 4-2-3-1/-4-3-3.

Absolutely no chance we'll get De Bruyne. He is way too good for us and will cost in excess of £15 million. Also even if we do get him, if you were Kevin De Bruyne, would you want to go to come to us? It'll be very much like Clint Dempsey at the start of the season. In my opinion, the most high profile player we could get is Scott Sinclair.

Tbf, every time we win shouldn't be a trigger to bash one of our players. What does it say about us as fans, that every time we win a game we bash a product of our own youth academy for the simple reason that he wasn't playing. I think we should talk about him when he next plays a game.

Fantastic win, something I haven't seen a Villa team do in a very long while...win without playing well. Guzan 6.5. -Solid enough, made me sh*t myself when he came for that cross in the 93rd min. Lowton N/A - Feel for him. He was superb against Sunderland, hopefully he'll be back soon. Vlaar 7 - Solid, very solid. Marshalled the defence very well and got the job done. Baker 7 - Tough start to the game. But really came into the game and was very solid. Bennett 5 - Stupid foul to give away. Although he's come on heaps and bounds, he needs to cut out these stupid mistakes, which almost cost us today. Other than that, I felt Snodgrass had the beating of him. Sylla 6 - Done well, put himself about however i felt like the game kinda passed him by. However he provided sufficient cover for Lichaj throughout the game. Westwood 7 - What a fantastic ball for the second goal. He was very good today, really coming into this Carrick-esque role. More of the same please. Delph 7.5 - This is annoying for me, as I've been saying all season that Delph is sh*te...and now he's proving me wrong. Very good performance. Put himself about and was good enough on the ball. Weimann 5.5 - Rare bad game for the Austrian, almost scored in the second half, but overall was quiet. Agbonlahor 8 - Wonderful by Gabby. He was superb, was a real threat from the off. This season, Gabby has seem to become a better footballer, in terms of technique. As of late we've seen cross field passing, teasing whipped crosses(even though he was doing them last season) and good long shots. Loving this from Gabby. Benteke 5 - Few nice touches here and there, but was very poor for his standards. Subs Lichaj 6.5 - Decent going forward, solid defensively Holman 6 - Was livelyish, but I want him to run about and press more though.

What a fantastic performance by the boys. They were a joy to watch today. I thought Lambo's tactics were bang on, we had to go 4-3-3 and boss the game in possession and boy oh boy did it work! Guzan 7 - Nothing he could've done about the goal, otherwise solid. Lowton 9.5 - What a game this guy had. Breathtaking. As much as Benteke will steal the headlines, I thought Matty Lowton was the difference. What a classy performance by the young man. One of the best performances I've seen from a Villa man in a long time. Wonderful. Baker 7.5 - Didn't notice him, which is what I love too see from centre backs. Very accomplished performances from Baker. Ron Vlaar 7.5 - Wasn't as defensively sound as Baker, but what a great goal to open the scoring. OOOOHHH AHH RON VLAAR! Bennett 6.5 - All I wanted from a full back, solid enough defensively and looked bright going forward. More of the same please. Sylla 8.5 - Showed how much of a beast he is. Showed everyone he is the only midfield destroyer we had. Dominated midfield and looked very lively going forward. Although his passing could improve, I think he should be starting for the rest of the season. Westwood 8.5 - Kept things ticking over,. and did what Westwood did great in his usual withdrawn and subtle style of play. No thrills just get it and move it on, everything we did came from Ashley. Delph 7 - Delph worked hard and played well. I've been calling for him to be dropped, but fair play to him, he played well today. I'd like him to be a little bit more tidy in possession, but other than that, more of the same from Delphy. Weimann 7.5 - What a gun he is. Works tirelessly and he is a very accomplished finisher. Cannot help but love Andi. Gabby 7.5 - Congratulations to him for being our top goal scorer in the prem. Was always a threat with his pace, and looked really lively. Benteke 8.5 - Started the game poorly tbh, but grew into it and what more can I say...I hope he starts every game poorly if it means he gets 3!!! He is a goal machine. Subs Bent 5 - Didn't look sharp and his first touch let him down.

Bannan, Sylla, Westwood/El Ahmadi

1) Why are people bashing Bannan for a shot hit the post which eventually led to a goal? 2) Bannan needs to start in a 4-3-3 against Sunderland, preferably for the place of Delph.

Delph's best performances of the season are a hundred times better than Bannan's best performances. Keep your blindfold on tho Paul. Like when? When has Delph ever played well for us? Bannan has been better than Delph this season...fact.

Dropped because of his Liverpool performance. Was absolutely dreadful and hasn't been seen again since... and hopefully we won't see him again. Yeap because we're doing great without him now (Y) . Delph is really really good.... Excellent argument. We fully expected to play Man Utd off their own park and walk away with 3 points without breaking a sweat. Messi would not have made a difference today let alone bloody Barry **** Bannan. Oh so when Bannan and the team played badly against Chelsea and Man City, I seem to remember him getting slaughtered. But when Delph plays badly away at Man Utd, we were expected to lose so it doesn't matter? :L

To be fair, I'm not so much angered by offsides because of the defeat. I'm more upset because it affects our goal difference, 2 of the 3 offside goals could now send us down. I don't care if you give the attacker the benefit of doubt. When its marginal and the linesman calls it, its a 'good call'. There is no grey area, you're either offside or onside and all 3 of the goals were offside. Its impossible to judge Lambo's tactics yesterday as we never got to implement them fully. The first goal was blatantly offside, and the linesman can have no excuse for that. You cannot account for that, although the defending could've been better to the lead up of the goal, it shouldn't of counted and that goal changed the whole complexion of the game. Between the 2 mins to 12 mins I believe we looked really bright on the counter(Benteke missing a golden chance), but we were getting battered defensively. Then RvP just pulls out an absolute worldie. Seriously you cannot defend that goal(despite being offside), but it was a fantastic goal. Than we went in search for the a way back in and Utd just picked us off on the counter. Looking ahead to Sunderland, I think we should, go back to the 4-3-3, take off Delph and N'Zogbia and bring in either El Ahamdi, Bannan or Sylla. I think we can boss possession against Sunderland, especially at home, and control the game. Also why is Delph playing? He's very uninspiring in possession, does very little in the way of creativity. Barely wins a tackle. Gets dominated more often then not. Gives away silly brainless fouls. He occasionally goes on a run where he'll either do a few step overs, cut back and pass it backwards, or do a Ronaldo chop and get tackled.