AXD

this is the reason why we still need Bent. if Benteke plays bad he needs to subbed just like any other player would be. Bowery isn't t the player to have an impact and the other option is to change your tactics during a game (which I'm not sure all of our players can do/understand)

How many times did he get us points last season ? ( quite a few I should think ) And I remember he got us the goal against WBA at VP earlier this season and the free kick Vs West Ham last week.Also don't forget that he hardly plays now, so you can't expect a top performance from a player that only plays once a month.I say we should play him reguarly and his performances will get better still. I think he will get more opportunities than just once a month. what if something happens to Benteke? (injury, suspension, tired,...) with bent we have a valuable replacement who can still play with Weimann and Gabby wide. It'll just be different way of passing. other than Bent we have no alternatives up front (Bowery is far from ready) unless we play an ordinary 4-4-2 with Gabby and Weimann but then we lack wings, only Nzogbia can play there as albrighton is nowhere to be found lately. I don't even see a reason to sell bent at the end of the season if we stay up. we won't get that much money anyway (apart from cutting our wages), but he can still add something next season of Lambert gives him more chances.

personally I'm not a fan of Ireland, but the continuous bashing is over the top. He has played a few decent games this season as well in octobre. Wasn't he voted Aston Villa's Supporters' player of the season last season? must have done something right in the eyes of quite a few people.

surely if we can beat west ham at home, we can also win against Fulham QPR and sunderland at home. even 2 out of those 3 is 6 points. adding a crazy thought, but if we're lucky, ManU will be champions by the time we play them. I'd rather play them in a game that's meaningless to them than a game that matters. On the same note, wigan could be relegated before the last game, which could also be to our advantage

How many posts is that bashing Vlaar in a few minutes? the guy is not giving a world class performance, but it's not like he causing us all sorts of problems

15th on 36 points. Not sure how I did it but I have: 15 Villa 36pts 16 Reading 35pts 17 Fulham 34pts 18 Norwich 34pts 19 Wigan 25 pts 20 QPR pts it'll be all very close strangely I can't really see Fulham dropping that low though

Fulham and sunderland are not on a freefall. they are exactly in the positions you woudl expect them, lower mid-table. they are still picking up points from time to time and have some decent experienced players. I can't say the same for norwich

We shouldn't be focussing on QPR but on reading, wigan and southampton. two of those sides have to finish below us. QPR will only become a threat if they have a decent run.

norwich is becoming interesting for us. this is a game they should win at home. their next games Everton (H), ManU (A) thery'e still some points out of the relegation zone, but they are one of the teams that are likely to get sucked in if they they don't start picking up points soon. also, wigan and QPR losing with 3 goal difference is a plus. if we can do something about our goal difference.

reading is losing, so that helps

I'm glad to see an normal strategy, not a 5-3-2 or 3-5-2 or whatever that was. KEA wasn't great so I'd put Delph back in for his tenacity, take the yellow card per game as a given. Also glad to see Nzogbia finally becoming the player we always hoped for. Him and Gabby can help Benteke put real pressure on defences. Our game is improving, let's bring on WestHam

I hope to see -------------Guzan Lowton-Vlaar-Baker-Clark ----Westwood--Delph------ ----------Nzogbia------------- Weimann-------------Gabby -------------Benteke---------- delph and westwood work well together even though you can be sure delph will make a foul he doesn't have to at some point, so he'll be subbed round the 70th minute for Sylla. Our defence is a problem, as all our CB are on in this setting, but I just don't want to see Bennett starting again. Our bench will not be to impressive either I Fear,s o hopefully these 11 can do it

I'm less gutted today than I was right after the game. A draw away at Everton is a good result which a lot of teams in the PL would take, even the ones in the european spots. Sadly the other results didn't go our way. A win next week could lift us out of the relegation zone, but this season has shown us that we can only get points when none are expected, not when we really have to (eg Wigan, newcastle, southampton,...). it will be between us Southampton, Wigan and reading. I don't believe QPR can get a run going. crucial for us will be the games against reading and QPR mid march.6 out of 6 could see us in a good position

would have taken weimann of instead though. zog can hol the ball

next season is leading up to the world cup, so some of th international players like vlaar, weimann and guzan will want to show themselves on the highest stage to get selected for holland, austria and the US (maybe austria is not so important as less likely to qualify). So Vlaar and Guzan probably leave as well

true, when they're in a rot, their management does something about it (changing coach, buying new players,...)

the restrictions on wages aren't helping, but he didn't seem to have too many restrictions on transfer budget over the summer. he just wasted most of it on future players, while we needed present day palyers. A new manager usually gives a fresh start to many players and gives an new morale, something we could do with right now. the whole 5-3-2 or 3-5-2 system Lambert's playing obviously isn't working, but he continues to use it. add to that his stubborn ways with certain players (Bent, Warnock, Ireland stay out mostly, Bennett, Bannan stay on even if they don't perfom at all). Lambart has had a lot of credit, but there is no sign of improvement. Because Lerner has not done anything, we might as well stick it out. Even if a new coach were appointed today, how is he possibly going to sign new players that are worth signing in 5 days. We can only hope there is some luck coming our way in the next few games, because we're not going to do it on talent, incoming transfers or tactical approach. Let's hope reading and wigan continue to screw up as much as we do, QPR not to find form and that newcastle can't fit in their new players in time.

hutton, makoun, herd, delfounso, Lichaj ireland and given are not really deadwood, but their wages are too high.

then I'do go for Timmy Simons (we were linked to him a few years ago). He played with Van Bommel at PSV, now he's at Nurnberg. also quite old, but still plays every game possible in a season and is still one of the fastest runners in the Bundesliga. A leader, and great to have in front of your defence as his postioning is excellent. But he's 35 or something, so no go. Just like Van Bommel

I'm not a fan of Heitinga, I think there are better players out there who are within our budget. He has experience but lacks talent. He would still be a good addition to our squad though, but I'm hoping for better

I'd rather we go for Boyata then. similarities: Belgian, right footed, 22y old, can play on various positions in defence pro: used to the premier league, has more match experience, cavanda can still choose for Angola where as Boyata already played official matches for Belgium con: might be little more expensive than cavanda (but we're still not talking big money)

cavanda is a full back, so not exactly what we need. plus, he hasn't even played 20 matches for Lazio, so no experience there. By now Lowton is a more experienced player than Cavanda. if this is all we're after, I seriously concerned. No experience and not the position we need

season 201/2011 was the turning point. first MON left, who was a good coach and motivator. By the end of the season with Milner already gone, we lost both Young and Downing who were our star players, but without a coach with a long term vision who could replace them. when Barry left we were able to cope cause we had a coach that was here for the long haul and it didn't damage us that much, we still had good results after. after the departure of MON, there was a quick succession of players leaving. Carew, Bouma, Davies, Sidwell, L Young, Cuellar, Collins,... were by no means superstars, but when you let your stars go (Milner, Young, Downing) as well as your squad players, there is no continuity. I think a lot of those squad players could have had an added value today with their experience, they could take the pressure off of todays youngsters because people would be looking at the likes of cuellar and sidwell and not to players like Bannan or Clark to lead the team. That doesn't mean we would still be playing for europeans spots, but I'd say we would be better off than we are now. Some of these guys were let go for peanuts. I read a lot of comments they weren't worth their paycheck, but I'm not buying that. Sidwell or L.Young didn't have that kind of wages. Sure they were more expensive than our current youngsters, but I doubt there are many companies were people with experience get paid less than some starter. if a multinational company get's rid of all their high earners, the company would be in chaos as well, because you would be relying on people who aren't ready yet (though they could be in a few years) I get the whole 'cutting back on wages' issue, but when you are a selling club like we, and most of the clubs in the world, are, this should be done more natural. Young and Downing where probably our highest earners at the time, their replacement N'Zogbia seems unlikely to get the same wages straight away. things like that go through improved contract after good performances. Some players were overpaid, obviously, but it seems that we now have the idea that everyone in the last five years was overpaid. This is the English Premier League, not the scottish or even french or dutch. if you want to be in the PL you have to pay like a PL club, not like a Championship team, which we are currently doing apparently. Let's take a look at the transfer policy regarding our key players, taking our team from 2009/2010. Friedel has been decently replaced by Given last season and Guzan this season, no problem here. Warnock, he had a bad season and is now treated like the scum of the earth by some. still everyone bought to replace him comes up short (stevens, Bennett) Dunne, no repacement. granted he is still a villa player and Lambert couldn't foresee him being injured this long. Still he is getting the same comments as Warnock ('deadwood') Collins: everyone's happy he left, but his replacement Vlaar has not shown to be the big man just yet. yet all our hope is set on him to get our defence in line. L.Young: Walker was good when he came, but was only temporary, Hutton failed and lowton is doing as well as he can, but is still learning. break even at best on RB Milner was replaced by Ireland. despite all the negative comments on here, he was our player of the year last season. So the guy has got it in him to be a good player for us. When Young and Downing left, the only replacement was Zog, so 2 flanks had to be covered by 1? there was probably more expected from albrighton, but I don't think you can put the blame on him, we should have had a second replacement. Petrov, our captain, has been replaced by? I guess westwood Carew has not been missed so much. Bent has proven himself with his goals, yet still he is not the popular kid on this board. Benteke has had a few good matches but is not yet the big superstar. Gabby is the only one who is still here. the bench: Cuellar, sidwell, Heskey,... you can always hope that our youngster step up, but when they clearly aren't ready, buying a few good players couldn't hurt. for that, you need a long term vision, which is hard to develop when you change manager and style every season.

apologies, from now I'll check wage demands for any player around the world with you before ever mentioning players again.

Sissoko's contract is expiring, so it should be not too difficult to get him. offer Makoun for a trade as he's well valued in France.