VILLAMARV

You all know Faulker (who I despise by the way) has a big input into who we sign money available etc. Him and his people, who obviously know **** all about football, are Lerners advisors. I believe if Faulkner said we are desperate for money, it would be available. He has a big say in who we sign! It was his decision to bring in McLeish remember. This bloke gets away with murder. I mean what do you think he does at our club???

he sits around lighting cigars off of burning bundles of £50's doesnt he?

One reasonable transfer free, one brilliant signing. Really makes me wonder what Lambert could do with a decent budget.

me too. I think we have to be careful what we wish for with Lambert. I have real belief that if he's given time and money he could attract some proper players to this club over the next few years. 

When Vlaar was out for weeks, people were saying as soon as he comes back, the defence will be better. Unfortunately that has not been the case. I think this is a scenario where a players reputation gets enhanced when he is no there. Absence makes the heart grow fonder.

goals conceded in League games with/without Vlaar

with    : 29 goals in 16 games (goals conceded per game 1.81)

without:  20 goals in 9 games (goals conceded per game 2.22)

(before the injury this was 22 in 13 @ 1.69)

not that much in it! but hopefully I found some stats to back up my own point of view ;P

yes we've let in 7 in the last 3 games since his return but we'd let in 18 in the previous 5 league games without him. It may not be perfect but it has definitely improved since his return. the night and day/ying and yang of the Bradford results would also suggest as much. 

It's so alarming how much things have changed since Lerner took over and was rightly hailed as a saviour. We pushed for Champions League and he kept all of his promises. But now look. Complete mismanagement during and after the MON era has left us in the shit and, besides the managerial appointments (and to be fair besides McLeish I am fine with them) there are 2 key points:

 

1) If he couldn't sustain what he was authorising MON to do, he should never have authorised it; and

 

2) If he can't sustain our Premier League status and can't afford to make us successful, he should sell up.

 

We all know this to be true. Yet for him this club is a business venture and he probably wont go until he has been repaid by the company, which is also difficult for us because no doubt he is a secured creditor who could pull our club apart if the business went into insolvency. This wouldn't be too much of an issue if he could sell his stock and make a profit but that seems unlikely. Therefore until he is repaid he has us at gun point and he isn't going to let us go until he is safe with his funds.

 

And therein lies the problem. Football should never have gotten to a stage where the business side and financial side of things dictates what happens on the pitch. But alas it has and there isn't anything we can do about it. I just wish he could have the heart to leave us and let our club be successful at the hands of someone else, regardless of how it affects him as a business man.

 

If you don't have an interest in the sporting side of things, you should not be buying sports teams. Us loyal fans just get **** over by men in suits wanting to make a bit of money, a bit of fame and a bit of a statement.

Pretty much this. I think the key thing in all this is how is the debt set up and what the deal with the trust fund is. I dont know, and feel free to correct me if im wrong (i know you dont need the pep talk!) but is it not possible to set up trusts which have fixed conditions. If the debt is owed to the trust it could be on fixed long term (like generational) conditions? For me this is the missing piece of the financial jigsaw and I suspect we will never find out until he sells up. last years figures are going to make interesting if depressing reading. 

We are not in a good position though. The only person associated with Villa who would get anything out of Benteke being sold is Lerner because he'd be at least doubling what he paid for him. The money wouldn't be reinvested into the team properly and we'd end up with someone nowhere as good as his replacement! There is no silver lining! 

with Benteke I would argue we are in a good position, considering that on the pitch he is a HUGE influence and off the pitch we have a player under contract until 2016 that other people admire as much as we do. If a transfer bid does come in in the future we can play the Barry game with them. Name our price and stick to it.

Lerner may well be rubbing his hands in glee, hoping to sell him on in the summer and make a good £10-15m profit in one year on one player. That would probably make him happy as he wouldn't have to delve into his pockets again in order to pay the bills and keep the lights on as he has done every year since he took over. Who knows?

my original post was basically saying stop finding something to complain about in Benteke (unless defending corners is your thing!) and enjoy him while we got him.

Ha! Contracts mean absolutely nothing in football anymore. They haven't for years!

yeah, I know. but it aint all doom and gloom imo. It Isn't suggested he has a release clause so even if he is to leave we actually are in a good position for a change. no reason to suggest we'd get mugged off on the price. Just unhappy people ripping apart the silver lining

Defending Corners - As Bad As People Think?

Yes.

we simply HAVE to start winning at VP.  W.Ham, QPR, Fulham and Sunderland all to visit. We need to win those games.

I know its bad. I know we're all hurting. but can we just enjoy the fact that we've actually got a decent striker again after all this time, misplaced hope and false dawns. 

imo we should all be praying to all and any god/s and entities,touching as many lucky inanimate objects as we can find and throwing as much as we can find down the wishing well in the hope he doesnt get injured rather than getting down about the fact that he wont end his career here.

It's not nailed on that he would go. Maybe he's driven by greed, who knows but if he has any sense he would stay with a club that loves him for a few years, improve his first touch (which is why he'd be on the bench at Man City/ Utd imo), and be assured of a regular starting spot. I doubt his place in the Belgium squad would be in jeopardy wherever he plays tbh. Clubs may well be interested in him but contracts are contracts.

this is true:

He's better than Collins in every conceivable way except for maybe in the air. 

+ this is surely the way forward:

I'd like to see Baker instead of Clark alongside Vlaar. 

+ this is basically what I came here to add to this thread:

Fellaini has made a mug of much better defenders than Vlaar. He's a brilliant player.

No shame at all for Vlaar yesterday, he had a good game. Clark is the problem, shockingly bad.

I understand why you say that - I think the problem is Baker's lack of attacking ability. No easy answer really

For me, Baker is a CB plain and simple. If he could stay injury free along with Vlaar I think it's the way forward. He's a big lad and can really head the ball. when we have played him at LB in previous years he has been found seriously lacking in pace imo. 

anyway here's what I thought about yesterday.......now I've calmed down a bit!!

Guzan - made some good saves. Ooozes determination. different class to Given on the last 2 years evidence imo.

Bennett - was really poor again yesterday though. Dont get me wrong the lad applied himself and didnt just get mauled like when he was faced with Lennon. But he doesn't look ready yet (I'll not write him off forever just yet) and I saw someone say on another thread that we've won only one game he started this season - and that was when he got stretchered off at sunderland. Lichaj or Enda should be given a run - if nothing else to take bennett out of the firing line a bit. 

Clark - for me is going to end up a DMC like Barry. He also lacks the pace to be an effective LB and certainly doesn't have the physical presence to be a CB. Really poor game yesterday.

Vlaar - was our best defender, which may not say alot! but better players than him have and will be caught out by a fellaini header from a baines corner. Wish he would concentrate on the ball a little bit more than the man at set pieces but without him we would have NO defence. Other than the 2 corners he's been at fault for (Bradford/Everton) what have people got to complain about with this guy? I don't get the criticism of him from some quarters. 

Lowton - great assist and application. Never seems to know whether to press the ball or stay in line for 2nd and 3rd phase attacks though. Decision making will need to improve with experience but  I believe it will.

KEA - Total passenger. Game completely passed him by.

Westwood - GOOD GAME. not too much posession but great cross for Gabbys goal. He seems to me to be the only midfielder whose positioning is any good. closes down well, competative. Best performance Ive seen from him in claret and blue so far imho.

Weimann - not his best game but not his worst. Gutting he wasnt on the near post for the corner though. could've won the game, chance was on his wrong foot. May not be "a winger" but runs good angles and is a handful for the opposition.

Nzog - as someone else has said. Good first half, lost in the second. Great ball to Benteke for the first too.

Gabby - We'd be SOOOOO **** without him. keep it up

Benteke - There is nothing I need to say here. When his first touch improves he's going to be unstoppable. made Heitinga look like a Villa defender.

subs:

Sylla - came on for Nzog originally. Was visibly nervous. obviously told to patrol the half way line and close down in their half. I liked this and thought it was a good idea from Lambert in not putting too much pressure on him. KEA went off Sylla went back alongside Westwood, showed good application looked like he hadnt trained much with us tbh. As everyone said, hard to judge on a cameo. looks like a battler though

Holman - Came on for KEA (did he get a knock?) totally ineffective - took over the Nzog/sylla role. Ran around and closed down as ever. cant remember him touching the ball

Baker - came on for gabby at the death, mostly to run the clock down a bit add a bit of steel. shame he didnt double up on Fellaini in hindsight!! late sub not involved basically.

All in all a heart breaking, spirit raising, bitterly crushing, moral boosting draw clutched from the jaws of victory.

In the cold light of day though I gotta say they showed the fight they need for the run in. I'm starting to think 1 clean sheet from anywhere, anyhow would give the nippers so much self belief. Being 2 up and conceding 1 this team has just simply GOT to find "another gear" from somewhere. The equaliser was inevitable, and in truth we were lucky to come away with a point at the end. Everton are a good team and showed it. We weren't embarrased like we were at VP though. draw was probably a fair result overall. 

and yeah the ref was shit.

bad game again today. too lightweight against Anichebe. No Idea why Baker didn't start. 

Low expectations this month. 3 points in Feb would give me hope. March is HUGE imo coz we need back to back wins against Reading & QPR. I can't remember back to back wins. I literally can't remember the last time it happened.

What has Bannan done significantly wrong in games? Because again, I don't see how any of the abuse(its gone past criticism) he gets is at all justified. No one has justified there hatred as of yet. Bannan tries harder than most, does his job well(deep lying playmaker) yet people brandish him as shite for the most insignifacant reasons like 'he passed the ball in the air to Baker for 6 yards'....who cares? He got the ball from A to B and we retained possession. Bannan is classy on the ball, something no one else at Villa is. Westwood is economical but safer than Bannan, and it seems that Yacouba Sylla is just a battering ram and an enforcer. Therefore we need a little tenacity and a good range of passing which Bannan has in abundance.

IMO Bannan is one of the few midfielders we have who can actually cross - Ive seen it with my own eyes before. Just not this year so much. If you've seen the last 20 or so Bannan floaty corners you would understand the fans frustration. If you've been watching this season you will now remember all the times he has come deep to get the ball off the centre backs or full/wing backs to stop them just lumping a long ball forward and then just lumping it forward himself and losing possession time and time and time again. his positioning has also been questioned in that he leaves fellow midfielders isolated on the ball. It's probably fair to say that lots of people just come here and say "he's shit" but to suggest there's no reason why we're criticising him and that no-one ever says why is simply untrue.

Who has claimed Bannan is world class?

 

Go back and find the quote or stop labelling Bannan supporters.

He's the "scottish Iniesta" isn't he? Some people thought that meant he was from Scotland and played like Iniesta i.e. world class. They didn't realise it's just what Iniesta's game would be like if he eat Battered Mars Bars for tea, liked the pop and went out drink driving on the motorway

Heat maps should be banned

I've got no problem with people using evidence to back up their opinions. even if i dont agree with them. Fair enough its gone a bit off topic in here, but in fairness to con his hatred of the 3-5-2 is well documented (along with most of us) and people like Cambridge-AVFC (see above) want to see some evidence to back up peoples opinions. 

Does Clark count as whole unit ? 

lol not in the back 4 imo

It will be an interesting battle tomorrow between him and Fellaini

talk about thrown in the deep end eh?

you are aware when graham taylor signed him he did not do anything of any note for the next 5 years? and that at that time you could still grab decent players such as david platt from lower leagues?

yeah, just making the point (albeit sarcastically) that it doesn't really matter where they come from. aimed at those saying sylla must be crap coz i don't know the club we've bought him off.

Mark Delaney played for Carmarthen Town for instance and I doubt many feel he was a bad signing or not good enough even though he spent less than a season at Cardiff before we snapped him up. I'm sure League deux is of higher standard than the league of wales.

Hopefully Sylla Westwood/Delph sitting in front of the back 4 tomorrow with Bannan on the bench or even better back in the reserves

back 4 with 2 holding midfielders? sounds far too sensible!

season is over in the US and his loan expired. Still contracted to Spurs till the summer. San Jose want to sign him in the summer and have made that common knowledge. so since he's got a few months to decide what to do (and see who offers him a contract) Lambert's decided to look at a player now before he will be free in the summer (unless Spurs re-sign him again) and see if he can cut it in the prem. Even if Spurs offer him a new contract there's no reason he would sign it and if he does well here he might end up with contract offers from all 3. 

need 3 points against W.Ham ( I reckon Big Sam has done pretty good for them this window. Interesting Loans, lets hope they dont gel quickly) and 3 points against Reading (need to be 3 up with 10 mins to go). If we can keep the game respectable against Everton, Man City and Arsenal I'll be happy and the team could gain some heart (3-2 loss to Man Utd had plenty of positives......well 1st half did anyway!!!!)

Looking at the other teams fixtures and form too it suggests that the table will be looking worse before it starts to look better. 

If we lose the next 5 or get a couple of draws out of them we are seriously getting into the realms of mathematical possibilities rather than any sort of probability.

2 HUGE games are so so so badly needed from somwhere as a bare minimum and fast. If we can find 6 points from somewhere before we play QPR we just might do it......

He will be hungry if nothing else.  Out of contract in the summer so will give it his all to get picked up by another club.  Just means if he is any good we wont get to keep him i suspect.

He's certainly got a career lined up in the MLS if it doesnt happen over here so in that respect he's probably got a bit of a safety net to fall back on even if Spurs let him go. If he's here treading water until he gets to move back to his life in California maybe he wont offer alot? but if he wants a career in the UK this is a great opportuntiy for him to prove himself. hopefully that desire will be what we see from him.

To be honest whatever happens on the pitch will be a bonus for me. If he goes in that dressing room with a smile on his face and a positive attitude, maybe just maybe it will rub off on a few of them. Having a guy whose career was seemingly threatened by injury only to battle back to fitness over a long time to talk to might also raise the spirits of a few on the injury list, give inspiration to the youth players and generally have a positive influence behind the scenes. Having been shipped out on loan to the MLS it seems he took a year to settle then had a good season last year. So he got a chance at last.......and took it. What more can you ask of him than that? I'm sure he will be going all out to impress in training or on the pitch if he gets a game. whether he turns out to be holman or young remains to be seen.

Also there may well be a commercial angle here too. His stock in the MLS certainly rose last year. In a land obsessed with sporting statistics he was as productive as Donovan last year (as someone else here said). So this signing will be getting press in the US, raising the profile of the club in a market with a huge potential revenue stream. We are already mentioned alot (and our games are shown alot) on american soccer channels due to interest in Guzan, Lichaj and having Friedel before them so we have pretty good exposure over there.

as doug said its low risk high potential gain

Or maybe Im wrong! just my opinion.

brilliant 

Oh I can think of many

you been watching too?

Think I read someone saying that the main difference between watching him in Holland was that he used to press much higher up the pitch and being asked to sit deeper doesnt suit him. Im not a watcher of Dutch footie though.

Ive said before I'm a big believer in foreign players being given time to settle - look at begkamp at Arsenal.

hopefully Sylla might bring the best out of him as the only real problems with him I could see when he was playing were being caught out by the physicality and pace of it all (which hopefully he'll get to grips with like Petrov) and the crab like passing he's famed for.

I would agree with the poster that said he's the one central midfielder we've played this year that moves into good positions after releasing the ball too.