VILLAMARV

I was just checking out who has what left on their contracts and I'd totally forgotten Hutton's is up in the summer. So that cheered me up a bit.

I wonder if you're target audience are the same optimists suggesting Rudy would be good if we played to his strengths?... Whatever they were.

I saw that too. Either it's lazy journalism or we really are after ALL the midfielders.

Welcome to B6. I'll even add a YAY! if it means no more Bunn.

Nor me. What could have been.

The Mirror (I know right, so I wont be bothered not linking it) suggested Bruce would be willing to listen to offers on McCormack, Jedinak and Elphick in order to free up some funds, that Xia has handed him a relocated feline worth £25m (I should start breeding these transfer kitty's) and that he's after a GK, RB, LM, ST.

Or Gestede

forgot about agathe, good shout. Maybe I'm being harsh on Jlloyd. Then again maybe not

They'd still beat this lot!! 4-4-2.. Enckleman JLloyd Richards Tiler Beye Holman Makoun Salifou Boulding Balaban Ormandroyd

back to the club he came through the ranks at if it's true. Good luck to the man. Pretty torrid time with injuries to say the least. Lets hope he gets a few years playing in at whatever level for his sake just on a human level.

As I said in the summer with the massive turnover in personnel under RDM that under normal circumstances most people would obviously want a more transitional transfer plan not to upset the balance of the squad etc. These are not normal circumstances however and the quicker they all go, the better. There's nothing I'd want to keep about Hutton, Bacuna, Richards, Cissokho, Gardner or Agbonlahor. Westwood's time is surely up. Ayew frustrates me greatly and I don't think he'll be missed, Kozak and Rudy seem to have left the building. I'm glad DrX and the crew are rumoured to be after 5 players. I'll be amazed if we manage to shift any of those first 6 i mentioned though in this window. People's desire to stand up for any of those individually is admirable and from a heart which flows claret and blue, i get it. But we all deep down know they're just not good enough at football.

thought so, and I'm pretty sure I was agreeing with you at the time. (also reading that back the phrase 'banging on' sounds dismissive which wasn't the tone i was really going for, I wasn't calling you out....kudos if anything) I'm not trying to make a case for him being signing of the summer or anything. His performances overall have been pretty disappointing and I for one expected a bit more but the fact that we haven't had a midfielder like him for years imo and importantly - he was available at the time mean im still glad we signed him. I also shudder to think what league position we would be in without him.

Trent, you know I'd ship Ayew out tomorrow too if it was up to me but Gestede is a whole other level of useless in comparison. Both are frustrating yes but Ayew has some undeniable talent, just not the brain to go with it unfortunately. Whereas Gestede was without a doubt one of the least talented footballers to ever grace Villa Park imo.

Man Utd 3rd choice nipper keeper

Although it makes perfect sense to me because I too would have sold him at the earliest opportunity.

I wish him well - even though he was a MASSIVE part of why we went down - but I will not miss him one bit. Thanks for the performance against Rotherham. Fair play you had a good game. Against Rotherham. That once. Boro are almost doing enough for me to finally forgive them for nicking Southgate, Ugo and Boateng all them years ago...............Almost

I was pretty vocal about Jedinak before he signed. Just the sort of player we needed I thought and someone (was it hanoi??) kept banging on about passing stats. I still think the only thing I got wrong about him was the bit about us, the fans, taking him to our hearts. I thought he'd be appreciated by us like the palace fans love him. I still think he'll grow on us but I just hope he gets some help around him. He cant pass. He's never been amazing on the ball. But the Cardiff game kinda shows why he's here and that he's an effective player for us.

I cant work out if the 'he' is Benteke or Jedinak in this question? They both have their own threads on here and everything!! but I would say after missing the Cardiff game it's fairly obvious what Jedinak brings to the table. Benteke was pretty good at goals and offsides imo. Westwood, well here we are 567 pages down the line and the answer is still only passing a bit.

nice try Raver but I think they're having a lovers tiff

Sorry for the earlier pessimism towards the transfer window! Cheers for that tweet DrX. Here's hoping the 5 new players we're in dire need of materialise.....

Absolutely the best thing about him. I suppose having never really paid much attention to his post match interviews in the past I never gave it much thought but absolutely what we needed in that regard. And that's 'we' the fans.

Happy New Year to Mr Bruce. I was always convinced he was the right sort of manager for us where we are but I was one of those with my claret and blue tinted goggles on and didn't want him. I'd have McCarthy over him, I said. I totally think we need building up as a club. The incoming of Xia and the wave of euphoria that followed has subsided and the stark reality of where we are right now seems to have sunk in. We've been a shambles. Last years relegation wasn't even with a whimper on the way out of the door. I remember the votes at the start of the season "where will we finish " etc. I remember being surprised how many people though we'd go straight back up. I think the pessimist in me went for mid table. I still think just making the play-offs (forget the 25% chance of actually winning them for a moment) would be good progress for us this year. But I am delighted we are in the hunt. Despite the obvious shortcoming of certain players and the team as a whole the individual moments that have carried us have carried us. Well done, because as others have said, what you inherited was in need of a shake up. The fun starts now though. We know what we need. can Bruce go out and attract the players we need? Simple as that. Hope was all I asked of Xia in his first season. Turns out we have a small chance to go with that hope. I think we can all agree at least that Bruce is undeniably the best manager we've had this year.

I agree we need a striker at some point but mostly because I think that Gabby, Rudy and Kozak could all leave and it wouldn't make a blind bit of difference to anything other than the bank balance.

Personally I feel more confident when I see his name on the team sheet than when I see Bunn's. If the Gollini out and Johnstone in stuff turns out to be more than a rumour I wonder if there'll be an option to buy on any loan making it more of a deferred payment where FFP is concerned? just a thought.

don't call him ogy