AXD

I would like Herd to stay as far away from playing as possible. As shown yesterday, at least Delph has potential to be good

let's not forget, the few good players we do have will be bought by other clubs when we relegate

I agree with getting scott dann, fits in our budget but would be a great asset

players that want to play in the premier league, an advantage we'll lose if we don't act this month

add to that: starting with a team that barely escaped relegation last season and replacing most of the experienced players by youngsters. Bent, one of the top scorers in PL history, sometimes wasn't even on the bench when fit, Ireland (our player of the year of last season) seems te be getting blamed for bad midfield performances while bannan keeps his spot. Warnock, Hutton,... not improving anyone. players don't seem to improve their skills under lambert. he doesn't get them fired up at half-time either, as was shown today. a coach for team battling relegation needs to be capable of getting palyers to take the opposition by the throat when leaving the dressing room, or at least trying to; today they started doing that after they got a chance 15mins into second half and with the supporters roaring them on, not their coach roaring them on.

the one that scares me about the game is that Lambert probably thinks our problems lie in our attack, cause the penalty wasn't a penalty and we couldn't score even when dominating. I for one did not see a team coming out of the dressing room fired up by their coach ready to give everything. It was after they started to have a few chances round the 60th minute with the crowd behind them that the team started to dominate; That is how they should always be playing and it's up to the coach to get them there. So after this game, I'm no longer a believer in lambert. at the start of the season we played well at times and still lost, we don't even have that anymore. also, Lambert is proving to be very stubborn (eg Ireland, Bent struggling to get in the side), which is fine when you're winning more often than not. He's just not doing it for us. a new coach is needed along with a few experienced defensive players. a CB of 10m is a necessity, no time to go looking for bargains.

some great supporters on this board

He's not good enough for Arsenal just yet. But with 3 years as a starter at ajax under the belt, he'd be an asset for us Good for us if arsenal are not moving for him, I don't want Arsenal to top our offer like they did with Vermaelen (imagine if he signed for us a few years back) I agree he hasn't been progressing as much, that's why he will not make it to one of the big clubs just yet, but he would do fine for Villa but if he were as bad as you say, he would have been replaced a long time ago and not be made vice-captain this season.

He is played right back for Belgium because he very good defensively and there is noone better. if they want someone strong on the ball who can make a run, they play Gillet. Strange to hear you say Alderweireld is a poor defender. he may not be of the same class vertonghen and vermaelen were, but he's still a solid player

make that one for holland and belgium combined. Belgium has sold most of it's talent in the last few years, holland is more expensive, but also has a better league and players

then he should be more than good enough to play for us. he's back from loan anyway, I say lambert should give him a chance

thank you Bent's goal, he makes it look so easy. no extra touch, straight into the corner. He can start more often as far as I'm concerned. Good pass from N'Zogbia as well. let these guys play a bit more often, with Zog and Gabby or midfield looks a lot better already imo

true, so it's good that they get one too theirs isn't as motivational as our two: playing for a final at wembley or playing because you couldn't beat a lower league team before (WIgan and Sunderland), I think there's a huge difference for a player here

a few of our relegation rivals have replays, so that's good Wigan away Sunderland home QPR away not bad for us to have them play more games

interested? yes can we get him? no edit: his contract is running out by the end of the season though, and he has indicated he wants to play in the PL. If he pulls a Benteke-move, he might force his club to sell to us.

because football is not exact science, plus they've had quite a few injuries as well. Also, I never said anything about 'great players', I reacted to Pardew claiming he has not enough experience players in his team, while they have quite a few more then we do. I think many of the players I mentioned wouldn't have a problem claiming a starting position in our squad. Coloccini for example is not the greatest talent ever, but I'd take him over our defenders, even Vlaar (who is a good player, but not the world class defender some make him out to be)

if he feels that way with the likes of Ben Arfa, Cabaye, Tioté, Gutierrez, Coloccini,... in his squad, Lambert should rethink his strategy

it should be our general policy indeed, but you need to start with experience. Something PL didn't do at all, he pretty much blocked out every player who has played more than 100 games in the PL for example. if a seasoned team like Stoke would put Lowton in their defence, he would be allowed to play a crappy game once in a while because you would have Huth or Shawcross who know how to handle that. If lowton plays a crappy game for us, Baker and Clark would panic, run out of position to easily,... MON went too much with experience, PL too much with kids. But in the end MON did a lot better, I don't see us challenging for european positions just yet.

I could live with a bit more 'here and now'-MON transfer policy at the moment. Buying for the future is all nice and well if you have an established team. We need results NOW not when the likes of Lowton, Westwood and other Bennetts have reached their full potential. So if Stephens is all we're going for, we'll need a shitload of luck to survive, as again he's for the future

thanks again chelsea. QPR has been improving the last few weeks. next game against southampton is a must win for us. the loss against wigan will cost us dearly if we don't start to pick up points soon Good news is that newcastle is performing awfully and are about to lose their topscorer. Hopefully we can get ahead of them. Reading, Wigan, Southampton, Newcastle are the teams I'd say will be battling relegation with us. QPR is a question mark

I didn't say they were all Gods Personally, I'd be happy with Djourou and Rosicky to strengthen our defence and midfield. and maybe Benayoun and Naughton (though Lowton is doing well, so he's not really necessary) you're right, if we're not careful we'll be battling relegation for months

I don't mind all these youngsters coming in, but since they are long term investments, we need other players who are immediate assets as well. Dale Stephens will not save us on his own, I'll be happy if he performs like westwood. how about loaning from bigger clubs, it's cheap, low risk and teh players will want to show themselves and their actual club Looking at the squads from the big clubs, there are quite a number of players who are rotting on the bench mostly and want to see more action (some have been mentioned here before). ManC: K. Toure, Milner, Guidetti Arsenal: Djourou, Rosicky, Arshavin Chelsea: Ferreira, Malouda, Benayoun Tottenham: Bentley, Naughton, Jenas, Livermore Don't mind their wages, you can agree to only pay half of them. I don't think arsenal would mind to still pay half the salary to rosicky for example if he actually plays for us. it'll get his price up and it's better than paying the whole salary when he's not ding anything.

thank god the rest of the team were in awesome form last season. A guy like Warnock has proven to be a good left back when playing with good players round him (in the MON era). on left back, i would take him over lichaj or Bennett, stevens was to only one who looked decent enough.

I added the prices found on transfermarkt to get an indication. Not all of them are good enough, but they are certainly affordable. Other than that, none of these guys will be in salary ranges which should scare off Villa, they're playing in the championship and none are looking to get back up this season. The ones that are on high wages will be given permission to leave. I think there are certainly 2 or 3 in this list that can strengthen our squad significantly

I quite agree with this, espacially the last sentence. Guzan Lowton - Vlaar - Dunne - Warnock Ireland - Westwood - Bannan - Nzogbia Bent- Benteke Dunne is question mark though, as you never know if he ever returns to his level, Baker/Clark his replacement Bannan should go off for Holman if it's a more power-play game. Subs: Given, Clark/Baker, Stevens, Holman, Albrighton, Weimann, Gabby (so every position can be covered)