KobiV

There wouldn't be a dry eye in the house. Haha.

It'd be outstanding if he was able to. We've to get there first, but I think it would make our season. If that didn't give them a kick up the backside I don't know what would.

Given hails 'Inspirational' Petrov as Villa welcome their captain's presence in the dressing room

Fair play to him, would have been interesting to see if it hadn't been a friendly.

I can't understand Blatter, he's ancient and stuck in his ancient ways. What would he have rathered Boating do, stay on the pitch fot the rest of the game, there was only 25 minutes gone. There's not enough money or motivation in the world to have someone listen to that.

A good result, not many negatives. Players who needed to put their hand up today did, good to see players coming back from injuries as well. We need as many injury free as possible. Bent, Nzogbia, Given among a few all did very well, despite the fact they are rumoured to be on their way out.

Is it enough to change Lambert's mind and play the more expierenced players, who knows, but the rate we've been losing and conceding goals, anything's possible and everyone is replaceable.

Thank God for that.

I see your logic now that everything is down to the keeper, therefore simples play 4 midfielders and 6 forwards and we will be ok if we have Given in goal....jeez!

Sarcastic much? Give me a break, I responded to you talking about Guzan and Given, suggesting Given had a long run of matches and you still haven't mentioned what run he has had.

It's a lot more to do than our keeper, Guzan has done well, but 15 goals in 3 games, everyone is droppable.

Given had a long stretch of matches. Guzan has been playing better than him.

Bent and Dunne are injured, with no date set for a return.

Hutton and Warnock had as much of a chance as anyone could possibly expect, and they're not up to it.

N'Zogbia and Ireland have both had more games than their woeful inconsistency would justify, but still often get played when fit in the hope that they might have a decent game.

What long stretch of matches this season has Given played, unless I've slept through it, he's had no stretch, he has had a game here and there in a make shift team in the cup and that's it. Guzan has been slightly better than ok, but those one or two saves amongst complete incompentence has made it seen better than he is. He should have done better against Wigan, he was slow reacting, and really not good enough. 15 goals in 3 games, it's not good enough. Not at this level.

Bent hasn't been injured all season, I'll give you Dunne, but the rest of them haven't been given a chances this season.

None of the guys you've mentioned are worse than the absolute load of crap we have seen recently.

15 goals in 3 games. We don't have a defence or a keeper. Other players are working just as hard and if there is a player who can replace them we should do it. After what we've seen none of the current players deserve to start. At least the other players will fight for their position.

It cannot get any worse than the fools we're seeing now.

A lot of our experienced players are shit though. I understand the need to bring some in but most of the ones we have now just aren't good enough and are on way more than they deserve.

A lot of our inexperienced players are shit as well though. All of our players aren't good enough. Simple as that. At this rate, with this team, we'll be lucky to survive relegation. If the experienced players bring nothing more than experience and control to our less experienced players, then it's worth it.

Our current starting players now, have been given chance after chance after chance, without improving, the majority of them have gotten worse.

The likes of Bent, Given etc should be given a fair go because they're not getting one. The odd game they get they're rusty, why because they lack match practice. You can train as hard as you like but you need match practice. Training just isn't the same.

Give them a go, because every single player who started for our past few games all deserve to be dropped.

I can't see how selling our only experienced players will sort anything. One of the major things we are lacking is experience. They're like headless chickens on the pitch and our defenders might as well be blindfolded, they're unorganised and lacking a leader or any sort of guidance.

Who is going to want to come, who could we possibly convince to move to Villa when we're in this state, things need to improve.

Instead of selling the only experienced players we have like Dunne, N'Zogbia, Given, Ireland, Hutton, Bent, Warnock etc, why not play them when they're fit? These players have all proven themselves during their careers and they are a hell of a lot better than championship type players we'll probably bring in. Give them a chance, it's about time they got one, and honestly it can't possibly get any worse.

You have to earn your place on the pitch, and not one of the current team have done anything to show they deserve their place.

I don't know why he is so against the older players we have, what, if any sort of agenda he has against them, but really and truely, it can't get any worse, we've got nothing to lose.

Shay Given is one of the least communicative goalkeepers on the planet. His mouth barely opens when he's lining up a wall from a free kick. He is usually completely silent. Couple it to his penchant for sticking rididly to his line and never commanding his box and I don't think I could argue he'd settle anything.

He's a man who made a career from being a good reaction shot topper sat behind suicidal defences for a team happy to play to the media.

Guzan is a far, far better choice right now and thus, he has the gloves. Given should be out of the door shortly, if we can manage to find someone daft enough to pay him like we've been doing.

Have you ever sat behind the goal with Given in it? Or Guzan for that matter?

His mouth barely opens when setting up a wall?

https://www.youtube....1u5zYOKI

How you described Given, which I very much disagree with (Given has been a top keeper for over 10 years) is exactly what Guzan is doing now. Given was never one for the media, so I'm not sure where that's coming from.

15 goals in 3 games is not near good enough I'm afraid.

Awful, from 1-11. Hard to see any of them getting into a mid table team.

Given dont command his area at all. Big problem last season, set pieces and corners all due to Given's inabiity to command his own area. Guzan is dropping a little yes, but due to our useless defence, he is losing confidence.

Guzan doesn't do much better, he does not command his defence at all. They are not settled, they looked like they were put together yesterday and that's really not good enough at this stage of the year.

Making one or two good saves in a game where you are otherwise as poor as the outfield players doesn't justify keeping your place. Bringing Given in will settle the backline that badly needs it, even if he brings nothing else that Guzan could, that alone is worth it.

Guzan is just about the only player who can hold his head up this season. If Given had been in goal against Chelsea we would now be the answer to the quiz question - who was the first team ever to concede double figures in a single Premier League game?!

I actually feel quite sad for Guzan. He's spent years here sat on the bench whilst a decent team was out playing. Now he's been thrown in with the shit!

I also feel sorry for him for not being picked for that league cup final against United a few years ago when it was his goalkeeping feats at Sunderland that kept us in the cup earlier on. I thought it a bit harsh on him not to get picked for the final. Trouble is, this time around, Given has been picked for the cup games, so we could get to another final and Guzan might miss out again!

Everyone has been poor, including him, but one or two good saves amongst average form and he's our better player.

We shouldn't accept average.

Given will settle the defence. Guzan has had all season to do so and he hasn't, it's gotten progressively worse as time has gone on when it should have gotten better.

15 goals in 3 games is unacceptable at this level. He was slow to react yesterday, but he gets a free pass because he makes 1 or 2 good saves?

I'm sorry, it's not good enough.

Given was dropped for one mistake after a summer of being injured and unfit, and rightfully has been given Cup games and has done well. Players respect him, and he's a voice in the dressing room, which must be hard to do when he's not playing. Being slightly better than average in a team of shite isn't good enough. They all need to stand up including him.

15 goals in 3 games, it can't really get any worse. At least Given will settle our defence, and will lead from the back like he's done for his entire career.

If he brings nothing else he'd bring that.

Not one player on the pitch has earned their pay, or their position.

Given, Bent, Hutton, Warnock, Dunne, Ireland and Nzogbia bring them all in and try to salvage something because we're going down otherwise.

Guzan has done ok, and credit where credit is due, however, it is because of the incompetence in front of him, that it has made him look better that he has been. One or two good saves and he's our player of the season.

He's done well and has been one of our better players, but he's still be only ok. He was poor yesterday and should have done a lot better

.

Guzan's is inexperienced at this level, he doesn't lead or organise.

Given is a leader, players respect him and look up to him. I've seen both play, I can rarely hear Guzan, you can hear Given screaching even on tv. He's spent years managing that joke of a Newcastle defence and the Irish backs weren't much better.

He's always been a voice in the dressing room, and I imagine that's missing now, it's hard to motivate the players when you are not playing yourself. He is the back against the wall player you need, and to be honest, we've nothing to lose.

He'll bring calm to our defence and that is so balty needed right now.

Awful is all I can say. It's been such a dissapointing season so far. I'm not sure what Lambert's plan is, or how he thinks he's going to fix this. If plan A doesn't work let's go back to plan A.

We lack experience and commitment we have no leaders.

Who are these young players looking to? The only experienced players we have are on the bench or out of the squad. I'm all for give youth a chance but this is ridiculous.

I think it's time we change as many as possible. 15 goals in 3 games is disgraceful.

Our defending is ridiculous. Guzan needs to take control but his lack of experience is telling, the better keepers lead from the back and he's not doing that. He's making up for poor form with one or two top saves, which probably makes him seem our best player, but it's not good enough, not with such an inexperienced backline.

We're are driving towards a cliff, and there's nobody at the wheel to turn it around.

Bring in all the experienced players we have left, and let them try to lead us out of this mess, it will probably improve us and to be honest, 15 goals in 3 games, it really can't get any worse than that.

No excuses, each one of them is incompetent and all deserve a kick up the backside and a dock of wages