Adam2003

IMO they were poor players then, they're poor players now, and Dunne is even slower than he was. MON got them playing well but he certainly didn't cut out the calamities. Not talking about any troublemaking here - just wandering out of position, missing tackles etc. Now I'm not saying they can't be BETTER under Lambert than under McLeish - I am sure they can - but I would still be happier with a change. But, actually, I'll leave worrying about that decision to Lambert as I trust him to make it. Which is a lovely feeling!

However, I'm more on this school of thought than my last comment.

Why do people keep saying this? 17 goals last season was it? How many goals did our highest scorer have? Because 1. he'd be the new Heskey and 2. It shows a complete lack of imagination and forward-thinking on the part of the new manager You are talking rubbish. How many goals did Heskey have last season? 1. 16 less than the apparent "new Heskey" you speak about. Please forgive me for saying i wouldn't mind someone that actually scores goals. I hate to be a cynic and I'm not normally, but Holt scoring 17 PL goals reminds me a lot of Marlon Harewood scoring 16 PL goals a bit before we bought him.

What's that bloated scouser said now. The usual we're not a big club drivel he's basing his thoughts on our attendances last year and our league position. I wonder if that's why we are maybe looking for a new manager? He said we were the biggest moaners in football! I also say that tbf.

I hope that's true.

Lambert said weeks ago that he thought they were safe so he was going to try new systems, different players and different tactics to guide his thinking in the summer, so I'm not surprised they've dropped a bit. Haha, an easy cop out line then, it's poor management IMHO, their luck and adrenalin has run its course. Lambert will be good for clubs like Norwich, WBA, Derby Coubty, mid sized clubs. I don't see enough tactical nous from him at all, even at the start of this season Norwich were seen as a maverick attacking team who would score goals but couldn't defend Not my choice You've made your mind up and that's fine but he said it when they were flying and I remember thinking what a sensible idea for a club in their position. In the same way that if we'd had 40 points a couple of months back but no realistic European aspirations I would have welcomed McLeish trying out kids like Gary Gardner more with the pressure off. Being brutally honest I haven't seen much of Norwich before or after he said it so I have no idea if they've changed style, been using different players or whatever, all I remember is that he said it and I was envious of them being in a position to say it.

Lambert said weeks ago that he thought they were safe so he was going to try new systems, different players and different tactics to guide his thinking in the summer, so I'm not surprised they've dropped a bit.

I don't agree with you on the Vidic/Stam thing (although they make up the top three with McGrath for me) - but I am gobsmacked that anyone could say Terry is better than McGrath.

LOL

Not defending his lack of goals but I think the wandering is team instructions from McLeish. He doesn't like anyone being too near the opposition area...

Don't forget he isn't that young - 23. looks decent though. Actually reminds me a lot of Darren Fletcher, who came through at a similar age IIRC.

I really don't think we should be looking to sell Gabby, even if he's not first choice at some point, unless we know for a fact that Bent and Weimann won't get injured once next season!

Wow, I'm living in the past! Still think he has time to step up, even if it does look like Weimann's eclipsing him at the moment. But also still agree he has a long way to go.

Agree he needs to progress and work hard but those writing him off at 19 are harsh in my opinion. At his age Gabby was just about to make his debut, and plenty of top strikers the world over were yet to play senior football. Didier Drogba was still two years away from first team football in the French Second Division. Think he sometimes suffers by having been in the same group as Bannan, Clark etc so people forget he's a good couple of years younger than them. Even if he doesn't break through this or next season he still has lots of time on his side. No guarantees, of course, but a lot seem to have given up on him a bit early IMO.

Barrysboots and KHV I take your point. But the point is we have the seventh highest revenues in England. So if (IF) we were being run properly there should only be six clubs able to outspend/outperform us.

Ginko, see your point but Stevens has played in the Europa League, including against this season's very strong Sours side, without embarrassing himself. Just saying, not saying he's definitely going to be a star for us of course.

None of the big brands have ethics issues any more. Those days are long gone, and Nike are now one of the most ethical companies in the world. Nike's factory in Indonesia got stung for millions in compensation for forcing workers to do unpaid overtime literally last month...

Remains to be seen but he's really impressed me in the last couple of months.

Even if you believe that, a midtable team is better than the relegation certainties we were shaping up as before Randy arrived. Whatever else I'll always remember that, so the '**** him' attitude doesn't sit well with me. You're entitled to your opinion of course!

We wont even be doing that this season I'm afraid. Your support of Mcleish, though admirable, is at best misplaced Given our current league position, I would say your prediction that we wont be finishing 6th - 10th could be deemed misplaced as well Richard I think 6th to 10th has become 8th to 12th. Neither excites me, of course, but those thinking we'll be in big trouble are incorrect IMO.

I couldn't disagree more. For all people complain about negativity/creativity etc we have some very good attacking players. We have some promising youth coming through. Our defence is awful. Maybe Dunne is no worse than Collins, but we can improve on both.

This is a huge part of the argument on here and elsewhere. Irish fans (of whom we have a lot, which is great) love Dunne - he's something of a national hero, and that's fair enough. He's rubbish though. An awful player. This 'oh he'll be great most of the time but then have a few howlers' drives me insane. Give me someone who's 7/10 and cuts out the howlers and then we'll stop conceding as many. Our defence (not just him) guarantee goals to the opposition every game. I will judge McLeish firmly on what he does with our defence this summer and Dunne needs to go. And, just as I started this looking at the Irish side of things, just want to say my favourite Villa players ever are mostly Irish - and I love the likes of Robbie Keane and Shay Given now. You can't be too careful with the current racism climate in the Premier League ;-)

Wasn't he secretly injured and waiting for an operation? My recollection is he needed one but agreed to wait until the end of the season so we had cover in an emergency. Think even Gary Mac said now he was going for an operation and that#s why he'd been on the bench and praised his commitment. Like him, hope he stays.

Don't see it at quite that level, especially on an attacking basis. I think he has the potential to be great for us and there were flashes but overall I was frustrated with him more than not yesterday for his positioning. If we started an attack on the right he would be central and there would be no-one wide on the left. Brilliant if we had an overlapping left back but with Warnock it meant too often we looked for the pass left, there was no-one there and we had to come back inside. Of course, no way of knowing if this was him drifting or if that's what he's been told to do. When he was in position to be an option for us it meant he could do great things like set up the first goal, lead the break that led to Gabby's chance etc. But I think we could have had more of those breaks if he'd been holding wider on the left at times instead of pushing up through the middle. HOWEVER on all that. what I would say from the last two games is his defensive work has been great. He's worked very, very hard and it's made a difference. Think he can be a very good player for us - he could do with a goal to get his confidence up and then hopefully we'll see more of the good stuff from the last few games.

I think Delph and Bannan will both go on to be very good players. I'd like to see Delph alongside Herd - I don't mean because I want to drop Petrov, I just mean that I'd like to see Delph play with a holding midfielder at some point.