jonno_2004

I like him. Think he's a clever player and will do well in the right system. A promising thing for me is that he is also tactically aware defensively - made some good interceptions and tackles yesterday, and providing he will be lining up on the right side it is a good thing he is covering that side well. He hasn't hit the ground running, but he hasn't sat back and sulked when things haven't gone his way.

Think we need another striker who guarantees goals - the only one I can think of with proven Prem experience is Charlie Austin. I think Ayew will come into his own with a creative player behind him (such as Grealish or Gil), although while I don't believe Gil will suddenly be the answer to all our problems, I think Ayew has the potential to make clever runs and they will work well together. It will certainly be a gamble going into the season with the current strikeforce though.

Touché - lol . Just really pisses me off those few little words. I'm sure other fans don't turn round and say x is too good for us (not that I'd know for definite). Wonder if Tim came out and said amavi is too good for us and be gone in a season or two the same ones saying the same thing would lay into him with venom ? Also, the fact our left backs have been so consistently terrible for the past how many years and we suddenly see one that is capable of doing things such as running with the ball and passing accurately to a member of the same team it may tend to produce opinions like that.

Was impressed with him last night - wasn't bullied off the ball in a situation where I thought he would have been in the past. Both him and Clark were guilty of some silly diagonals though. Seems to be an issue with the formation that there is a disconnect between the midfield and front 3 which forces those passes though.

Impressive again - only worry is something Neville pointed out is that our organisation at set pieces was dire - needs to be addressed urgently but isn't solely the fault of Richards. Wouldn't blame him for their goal either - Gana was knackered and lost his man, and the ball took an unlucky deflection. Simple as that.

Am I really seeing this guy being written off after playing around 60 minutes for us in total, and grabbing a winner in that time? It's obvious he isn't as good as Benteke and we would have had to shell out the best part of £30-40 million if we were looking for that sort of immediate impact. Sherwood is building a squad that doesn't revolve around having one or two star players and if Gestede can chip in with 10 or so goals this season and grab a few more winners in the process he will have done a cracking job IMO. I'm not going to look too much into the fact he didn't score against Manchester United in the 30 minutes he had on the pitch.

We seem to be learning from past mistakes in sorting these contracts out early which can only be a good thing. Hoping Westwood can now push on in our new look midfield, but I'll be reserving judgement in this area until 10-15 games in - would be too easy to get all giddy with our 100% win ratio so far this season

I don't think we have anyone in the squad right now if we're going to play with an 'anchorman' at the base of the diamond who I'd prefer - Sanchez included. Arguably I'd go with two players at the base, one dropping and one pushing on - Veretout and Gana, with Gil/Grealish in front behind the striker - and miss Westwood out all together. Then again, I'm not the manager... but good thing is we seem to have more options than we have in a while in terms of playing style.

Big Baggies fan isn't he? Seemed to love it when the first half of the Delph saga kicked off in Portugal. What he churns out isn't worth the recycled paper it's written on.

I don't think he usually has quality in his passing at all. In fact I think his passing is one of his big weaknesses. However, he is capable of that one or two killer passes in a game that splits a defence apart and makes a chance. If you get a game where he doesn't make one of those killer passes, like it sounds like he did on Saturday, and you're not left with much. Totally agree. If Hutton could only rediscover his form of late Rangers/early Spurs he would be nailed on to start, until when or if that ever happens we'll always be lacking at RB when it's a toss up between him and Bacuna.

Be interesting to see who is rated more highly - Westy or Jack Cork? Swansea got him for around £3m didn't they? Been impressed whenever I've seen him play.

Was impressed yesterday, especially with Richards' athleticism. Much greater challenges ahead than Wilson however.

Some? Constantly slated since he's been here. I don't understand why. While I think he's a solid, tidy player and has done a decent job at times in difficult circumstances, it isn't the fault of others if you can't understand that some people will a) highlight they want a greater contribution from him, or b. they feel he can be improved on, like a lot of players we've seen the past few years. People (not you by the way) digging out the Petrov argument is also rather silly - we were perceived to be challenging for the top 4 and fans arguably wanted more from a seasoned international they thought was brought in to create rather than recycle the ball. Totally different scenarios (and eras!)

In fact, didn't Lambert go in for him last year? Would've been direct replacement for Westwood I imagine.

Player of the year in a team that finished 8th last year. I think the way we view our own players is a bit mad at times.

Odd one are Sunderland - their reaction when we signed Bent will always mean I have a feeling for them like the turd that wouldn't flush, as has been the case the past few years. A bit like us in others' eyes I guess. Still, my best mate supports them so our ongoing unbeaten streak through one of the worst periods of Villa football I can remember is definitely a highlight.

Yep. He'll be in the mix when the sack race starts this season. He'll pop up at Sunderland I reckon. Yep, good chance of that. Leicester, Bournemouth, West Brom even Norwich. If/when those guys sack their manager I could see him being amongst the candidates. Probably not Watford. Just imagine the series of events that would have to occur at Bournemouth to sack Eddie Howe, a man who has masterminded their navigation up from the doldrums, and end up with Paul Lambert. No one deserves that!

Never thought I'd be mildly excited to see the quality of Stoke's signings.. I suppose if they can attract the calibre of Bojan and Afellay, so can... Have a feeling Benteke is going to storm it today - those unappreciative Scouse f-er's don't deserve him.

Felt a bit sorry for Guzan last season as his form did dip after keeping us in a lot of games over the past couple of years. Shot stopping/positioning looked back up to its best yesterday although his kicking was dreadful - luckily it's something he should be making a real effort to work on in training everyday to make up for the fact he isn't as natural as some keepers with the ball at his feet. That said, if that kick at the end had deflected off the striker in a more unfortunate way and they'd equalised I think we'd be looking for a new keeper next week.

Was very impressed with him yesterday - more of the same please!

'Overpriced' may not be the perfect term to describe Stefan's point, as I don't think he's talking about value. In a world where Jake Livermore is 'worth' £8m, surely Westwood's market value would be at least £5m? I suppose it depends whether teams are silly enough to pay that much for the likes of Livermore, or look abroad for better value.

I don't think he's a cheap naff signing at all, he's a solid player. My original point was if we want to push on we can get better in that position, not a player who was bought under the constraints of the Lambert budget era (and in hindsight we got a bit more than what we paid for). A bit more? Absolute nonsense. For a 500k player, we've got far more than a 'bit more' than we paid for. With Bowery we got 'a bit more' than we paid for. You've definitely got the thesaurus out today haven't you. We paid £500k for Westwood, and we got a solid player who would be sold for more than £500k at today's prices. How much more would be determined by forces in the transfer market at the time. Whether that value would be 'overpriced' or not is left to be seen. He's been part of a team that has been best of the rest for 3 years largely pulled along by an excellent Benteke in which he has made a decent contribution.

Erm, when it comes to English players? Yes, yes they do. English players of a certain age are often more expensive than their continental counterparts. Westwood is worth at least £8 million by today's standards, I'd say. He's much better than a lot of people think, he just doesn't have a flashy role. Quite unbelievable that some people are picking on him when he provided the assist for the goal yesterday. Westwood is suffering from Petrov-itis, it would seem. I'd be happily surprised if a team paid that much for him. There are plenty of tidy midfielders in the Championship, as you can see from the promoted sides. I don't think getting an assist bans people from looking at ways to improve the team, and if that means having a player different to Westwood then so be it. Given he takes the majority of the corners, I'd be hoping for an assist now and again too.

I don't think he's a cheap naff signing at all, he's a solid player. My original point was if we want to push on we can get better in that position, not a player who was bought under the constraints of the Lambert budget era (and in hindsight we got a bit more than what we paid for).

Yes, because most teams apply the 'Liverpool method' in valuing players don't they..