AXD

Agreed that the key players are kompany, witsel and courtois. De Bruyne played a key role in the qualifiers, but his form dropped recently. Again, benteke was not a key player for belgium. Starting every game doesn't mean you're the star. Compare it to Westwood for us, he features in every game with decent performances but he is not our star (different role I know) When fit benteke is the first choice striker for belgium, but without him the likes of hazard, Mertens, de Bruyne and Mirallas still pose enough threat to any team. Add lukaku to that and it is impossible to say that belgium has 'lost it's sting in attack' Dude, I highly doubt that u even watched the games Benteke was def a keyplayer for us the way he controls the bal and hold it while the rest of the attackers can move in was absolute very important for our gameplay u will see on the WC how poor lukaku is in keeping the ball and playing on a small surface. I have watched all of them, thank you. That's also why I'm pretty sure croatia didn't play with 3 defenders in the game against Belgium. They did play high upfield because they needed to win. 'the way he controls the ball and hold it while the rest of the attackers can move'- is just the way the team is set up. Lukaku got into trouble for saying he didn't like playing with his back to goal. Again, Benteke is an important player for Belgium, but not the key player. Just this week Wilmots again stated that the first names on his sheet are Courtois, Kompany, WItsel, Hazard and De Bruyne. Granted, he's made this comment while Benteke is injured, but he doesn't say anything like 'if Benteke were fit, he would be there as well'. Lukaku is different, but not as bad as you make him out to be.

tell that to the Swiss :-)

No way, you should be pro-villa. Liverpool winning or losing the league does not affect us in any way. That they lose today is good for villa. The fact that gerrard makes a mistake is bad luck for him, but the wankfest on this board gives me the impression that there are a lot of frustrated villa supporters. Pro-scouse infiltration on VT- Not being anti-Liverpool makes me pro? Well done mate, solid reasoning.

No way, you should be pro-villa. Liverpool winning or losing the league does not affect us in any way. That they lose today is good for villa. The fact that gerrard makes a mistake is bad luck for him, but the wankfest on this board gives me the impression that there are a lot of frustrated villa supporters.

Happy that Chelsea won as it now gives them something to play for against norwich and Cardiff. That being said, the anti-Liverpool sentiment on this board is beyond pathetic.

Agreed that the key players are kompany, witsel and courtois. De Bruyne played a key role in the qualifiers, but his form dropped recently. Again, benteke was not a key player for belgium. Starting every game doesn't mean you're the star. Compare it to Westwood for us, he features in every game with decent performances but he is not our star (different role I know) When fit benteke is the first choice striker for belgium, but without him the likes of hazard, Mertens, de Bruyne and Mirallas still pose enough threat to any team. Add lukaku to that and it is impossible to say that belgium has 'lost it's sting in attack'

Norwich, cardiff and fulham are going down imo. everyone knows about norwich's run, cardiff have sunderland & newcastle away and chelsea at home, so they need 2 wins because of their GD to overtake us fulham with stoke away and palace at home need 2 wins because of their GD to overtake us

Yes it must be. There's a lot on Lukaku's shoulders now. One player you couldn't do without is Hazard. Hazard isn't even half as important for us as benteke is our whole attack was build on benteke now were like a bee without an angle Lukaku is not ready to carry the weight of our team and ofcourse it sucks for aston villa to i hope wer going to stay in the PL that's realism right out the window. Who won the away game at Croatia? Benteke is one of the players that can be replaced, with Lukaku. He's a good player for Belgium, but plan B is just as good. Saying that Hazard is not important is just rubbish.

don't judge players after one season. Nobody thought KEA was a good signing last season but he has done well this year. Vice versa with Lowton

Believe he was out in the middle east for a while after Marseille. I liked him at OM but I wouldn't see him as a big step up from Lambert. I remember him taking OM from relegation spots to 3rd. He probably won't do the same here, but he has loads of experience with some decent teams. I do believe him to be better manager than Lambert

Christoph daum? Not the most exciting style of football, but he brings structure and discipline Another european coach that comes to mind is Eric Gerets, did well at PSV, Marseille, Wolfsburg,... Don't know what he's up to these days

Di matteo?

same here, injuries can excuse some things, but today he showed a complete lack of tactical insight. Any suggestions to replace him? Who is available right now?

I've always given Lambert the benefit of the doubt, but this defeat is totally on him. You could see the goal coming, we needed a sub. also, 5-3-2 away at palace????

Sounds like plan

Seems about right. I'd send tonev and sylla on loan though. Still think they might improve if they play a full season as regular starters

odjidja is a strong box to box player, similar mould to Delph. I'm not sure he's exactly what we need but would be a good squad player and an upgrade on KEA

You can say this about Delph, Clark and maybe even Westwood (though the last one is debatable) KEA and Vlaar have also improved

I noticed we started to play well when we changed to our regular 4-3-3 with weimann coming on. This 5-3-2 Lambert keeps playing against top sides is asking for trouble

this is such a reasonable and well thought through post, I might just print it out and hang it in a frame

That's not how football works though. By your logic Leeds should be spending more than some PL clubs. If they were in the PL then yes but obviously not without the TV money. Leeds deserves to be in the PL, their history and supporters are a lot more impressive than some russian millionaire buying a top status. (but that's a completely different discussion)

If ti's between us, Schalke and Anderlecht, we are the best choice for Defour. Schalke is obviously a better club, playing for european spots in germany but he would risk getting in the same situation as at porto, being on the bench too often. We are offering him the chance to play in a better league and next to Westwood and delph we have a midfield spot for grabs. He'll probably talk to benteke about us and seeing as he extended over the summer, he'll probably be positive about villa and Lambert.

Can most of the posters here go and support Bayern or Barcelona or something. Seeing as they expect their team to play world class football every game. I think even on a SHA or baggies board we don't get this kind of posting about villa.

What you do in your private time doesn't concern us mate

Albrighton or helenius on for weimann please The only reason I know he's onthe pitch is because I read it online