AntrimBlack

Why unexpected? He's a decent player, not quite premier league quality but a good footballer regardless. He'll have a career. I agree. I just mean he would not have expected to be given a chance by a Premier League club. Which then leads to him having a good and probably lucrative career in the lower divisions.

I know MOTD is only highlights, but to have featured quite heavily in them, surely that means something. Certainly it means to me that he should be on the pitch from the start.

#nextgeorgebest There's only one!

This was a massive step up for Stevens. I had heard that he was doing ok in the lower divisions, and I would say he is delighted to have been given an opportinity to play in those divisions, instead of in Irish football, where I suspect the salaries are much lower. Good luck to him, nice to see someone get an unexpected break.

I think he is just about good enough for us, so I suspect he will not have that many choices.

Precisely Sorry, guys, but in my opinion you do not quite get it. I agree that our history means little or nothing to anyone else, but it does, and should, mean a lot to us. It makes us that little bit different, as you suggest, Lapal, and that can only be good. Of course I do not think it will get us better players, but to suggest, as you do, Gilberto, that it holds us back, is just incorrect. And it certainly will not sway modern players to join us, but any who do could not fail to feel that history. I get it, I'm just sick of it. Players feel it only because it's rammed down their throats by fans that expect more from players than they are capable of. It's not necessarily a good thing that they feel the history, it's undeserved and unnecessary pressure. You wonder why we've been on the backs of all of our managers in recent years and turned on them easily? Because expectations are too high. Why is this? History! It holds us back because a lot of fans (not necessarily you), still expect us to maintain the standards previously set, which is obviously not possible. Nowhere near possible in fact, when your best players leave every season, which previously wasn't the case. There's nothing wrong in being proud of past glories as long as it doesn't negatively impact the club currently, which I believe it does. I do not think our expectations are based on our history, I just think they are what any club in our position would have. I actually think our fans are very patient and surprisingly understanding. But I do not think our history has a negative impact, so we will just have to disagree on that one.

Precisely Sorry, guys, but in my opinion you do not quite get it. I agree that our history means little or nothing to anyone else, but it does, and should, mean a lot to us. It makes us that little bit different, as you suggest, Lapal, and that can only be good. Of course I do not think it will get us better players, but to suggest, as you do, Gilberto, that it holds us back, is just incorrect. And it certainly will not sway modern players to join us, but any who do could not fail to feel that history.

Never. That is what carries me through the bad times. Our history. Very few clubs have the history that we have. We should be proud.

It is the bit you do not mention, Tro, because we do not have any standout players there. Agbonlahor, Weimann, Nzogbia, that is the problem area, no creativity. Cannot see much changing until we address that problem area.

Think you are being a bit premature.

This is unfortunately very true. Thanks for an excellent report.

Westwood is a very average player, and should not be captain of this club.

That was terrible, especially the front three. Benteke is to good to drop just in case he starts to score again, but Agbonlahor and Weimann need to be benched. Robinson in for Agbonlahor, he cannot do any worse. Grealish did not do particularly well, but I think he can make things happen and he needs time on the pitch in order to improve. Lambert needs to do something, he is being too conservative, and I do not think he would be lambasted for trying to make changes that instil a bit of youthful enthusiasm into the team. The performances are lacking any kind of spark. Sanchez MOM, good performances also from Okore and Clark.

That game was made for Cole to start. Agbonlahor at home - really?

Lambert does that. His attacking front three are based on a row of onions.

Agree with everything but that, Stevo. I thought they had 3 really good chances to score, and luckily for us they did not take them.

Well, I am out of here now, so to all my fellow VTers - have a great 2015. I love the debates on here, but remember, there are more important things in life.

I would not be surprised if he signs a new contract, and I have no problem with that. There is, and was in the summer, a complete lack of interest from any big club which would encourage him to leave.

I don't think we would. The problem with our squad overall is that it's pretty... average. Delph has the potential to be a good player, but doesn't really do much for us due to his lack of end product. Vlaar is a good leader and good defender, but isn't so outstanding that he'd be hard to replace (unlike, say, Laursen) - indeed, Okore and Clark showed that during their period of being in the team together. Ideally, we'd keep hold of both of them and add to the team with more quality. Either that or we'd replace them with better players if we got rid of them in January. The worst case scenario would be letting them go in January and not replacing them or adding to the team at all. Even then, a big enough fall to see us get relegated? Unless we pick up a whole heap more injuries/suspensions, I'm not convinced it is. Better results against teams we really should have beaten would have put us in a position where we could have afforded to lose both of them and survive. Vlaar I thought we had cover for, and Delph I do not think has a great impact on any game. But with recent results, I am not so sure we could afford to lose them both. We looked to be safe at one point last season and then dropped alarmingly quickly down the table.

He will have to bulk up a bit.

Errr, if it makes goals yeah! If this possession football don't work and we still can't score goals Lambert will have no choice but to change it anyway, he will have to. Well, it needs to be a mix of both. Why is so difficult to comprehend this. It is all very well to tell them to play out from the back, but look at the number of times recently it has nearly got us in trouble. Do our players not even have the brains to know when to play it long, I was embarrassed for them.

As I have said before, Sanchez is a proper midfielder who makes an impression in the game. Get a couple more like him and forget about Westwood and Cleverly who `do the unseen stuff'.

I wasn't aware that we had to judge Lambert the same way our owner does. well thats the indication whether he has failed in his job not mine or your opinion Well, I have an opinion, and in my opinion Lambert and Lerner have both failed me.

Albrighton really was a one trick pony. I am convinced Grealish is so much more than that.

We are so bereft of energy and ideas up front, I think he should also be looking at Robinson, though I guess two youngsters on the pitch at the same time might be detrimental when it comes to tracking back. I can easily think of two front players they could replace.