AntrimBlack

A shame really - just has not lived up to the hype. Did he get a new 2 year deal?

As for Hutton, during the McLeish era, he always looked like a red card about to happen. He has definitely improved during his loan spells away. He earned his move to Spurs, but perhaps that big move went to his head, whatever, he suffered a big dip in form, and has now recovered his form, so I really admire him for that.

/facepalm Indeed. I am sure Lambert loved bombing out an internatioanl right back who played his entire career in top flight football and replacing him with a league 1 player. Sorry, you've both lost me. How does me saying that Lambert was following orders from people higher up in the club disagree with your comment? I've said all along that I don't think it was Lambert's decision. I cannot believe that any manager would sign up to, and indeed remain in, a position where he is being instructed by people who have proved they know little about football, as to which players in the squad he can play. I would be disappointed in Lambert if that was the case. I prefer to think that it was his idea, that he saw it was not working and changed his mind, hence the bomb squad back in and young and hungry out, as that would show some guts.

Benteke has made it clear from the first moment he joined us that he would be off the moment he got an offer from a top team. It is pointless to think of anything other than the money we can get for him and what we can do with that money.

I agree. It's like he is now a man playing out there rather than a boy. Of course he's still going to make errors now and then, but he looks so much more composed now and has a nice aggression to his game as showed in the tackle on Ulloa at the end of the first half. I loved the look he gave him afterwards as well! I know I have said this before, but I always noticed that he mostly did the talking during the huddles. I think he loves the responsibility.

Good win and good performance apart from last 10 minutes. Hutton my MOM. What a goal ! Clark, Okore, Sanchez and Benteke all played well, though Benteke should have taken very good chances. Nzogbia was useless, Cleverly too much square or backward passing, Guzan too much hoofing, especially when we should have been holding possession towards the end against 10 men. Where is his brain? Grealish deserves more game time, confident and wants the ball - good attempt on goal, too. 11th now, can we build on this.

Actually, I thought we missed his energy and drive.

Vlaar has given us good service in his time with us, and value for money. Delph, however, has not been value for money, and in my opinion, he is not as good as he, and many posters, think he is.

This. Deplh and Vlaar should both be sold in January.

Unfortunately contracts mean very little now, CV, if the player wants to go.

That certainly looks positive. Come on, Paul, prove me wrong to doubt you. I can take it.

By that I think you mean that we should expect less. I think the vast majority on here already expect less. Does not mean we like it. I would say we are worried rather than negative.

Who do we rely on next season when Benteke is gone? We just stagger from one season to the next. This is the perennial problem for teams like us outside the top places.

Benteke has not played enough games to make any reasonable comparison.

We should definitely sell Vlaar in January if we can. I feel we have enough cover. However, I am not convinced that any other team which would be a step up will be interested. In his place, I would wait for the summer and a lucrative move on a free transfer.

Depends, papers have touted £8m for Vlaar, if we got that or similar for Delph too then I woudl think we'd see at least 2 plus Clevery come in. I do not want to let Delph go under any circumstances though, IMO we shoudl offer him silly money, the captains armband and build a team around him. Delph is not that good.

Great result because of a battling performance from the players, but completely disorganised. They need the help of a really good coach. Voted Hutton MOM, he was superb. Took Benteke a while to get into the game, but a sublime goal. Clark was very good, and Sanchez had a good game - was everywhere. Weimann had his usual high energy game, could miss his presence in the next game. Guzan had a dodgy game, as had Okore, but Okore shows signs of being an excellent player. Cleverly put in a shift, but to little effect, we really should be looking to get someone better than him. Westwood was his usual inconspicuous self, he really is a lightweight in this division. Agbonlahor is a passenger in this team - needs dropped. Important 3 points. Love it when we win, no matter how we do it!

Yes Okore for me was our best player. Not even close to it in my opinion. He is improving, but certainly had a number of lapses. Clark, on the other hand, was excellent. Thank god for our academy, without him and Baker, we would have been in even greater trouble.

Worse than Everton? So many to choose from, impossible.

He seemed to be quite far forward. Was also in the box when the penalty was awarded. You would think that he would at least be worth an extension to his contract.

No way should Weimann be dropped and Agbonlahor be retained in the team.

No argument there. He is barely managing a bottom 5 team at the moment.

Why did Lambert recall Robinson from Preston, and then not replace him for Agbonlahor at an early stage during the second half when it was obvious that Agbonlahor had decided he had done enough for the day.

Lambert gets the flak because he is unable to fire the team up to maintain the level of performance that got us the lead. We always sit back to protect a one goal lead. He replaced Weimann with Richardson - that was a clear message - protect the lead. He cannot wash his hands of responsibility for everything that happens on the pitch.

Hmmm, To be honest i'd rather him acknowledge that we are actually 16th rather than saying we are joint 13th. Absolutely. No such thing as joint 13th. You have to acknowledge goal difference. You can be relegated with goal difference. If goal difference takes us down sitting in 18th, it would be scant comfort to be told we were actually joint 15th! He is clutching at straws.