AntrimBlack

Or rather (IMO, of course): What various media claims to be what he said was totally misleading ... The original interview I've listened to is quite different from the bits and pieces I've seen online purporting to represent the gist of his interview. In the full interview, I think that he does not come across as someone who has lost his appetite, neither for his job nor for the FA cup, but rather as someone who recognises that the first and foremost task at hand for most PL clubs (including Aston Villa) is PL survival, and if possible, CL qualification, just because that's the way modern football works... If an extended cup run (or indeed winning the cup itself) is possible, that's desirable (even though he feels medals are less worth to the modern player than the value of the individual player's contract), but a bonus - PL achievements take precedence over memorable cup moments. I got the feeling that it's not necessarily what he wants, but simply an acknowledgement of what modern football has become. Oh, and he talks on behalf of most PL clubs and managers, not Aston Villa throughout.... The only thing in the interview strictly referring to Villa was what would affect his team selection most: the upcoming Sheffield United game or the following Arsenal game. IMO, of course. As English is a second language for me I might have misinterpreted what he said. :-) You are absolutely correct in your interpretation. If you look at the transcript, he was asked a general question referring to PL managers in general and he responded accordingly. `something we can do without' was part of the question by the journalist, Lambert did not say these words in his answer. But makes better headlines.

Happy New year to all VT 'ers. Thats it! I am off out!

Anyone would have thought that HH was ITK. You know, by getting team selections spot on regularly, injuries before the press, the news that Benteke had signed a new contract (before it appeared on the ONLY website that broke the news (the OS)) as well as a heap of other information... He could well be the Aston Villa press officer? Dishing out the news to us on here before he hands it to the usual media outlets later? Still, like other's have said, there is little value in speculating. If the club wanted to leak information they would probably leak it to a newspaper, not to a forum.

The most important point for me in that article is that there is no wage cap as long as the wages the player is asking for are within reason. Yeah that bit was pretty funny. "There is no wage cap! There is just a limit to the maxiumum we will pay a player in wages..." It just means that there is no wage cap as such, but we will not pay ridiculous salaries. Nothing wrong with that.

I think Vlaar is our most important outfield player, we look so disjointed when he is not out there. And Clark is a much better player when he partners him.

I have always been of the opinion that he was bought as a back up to Benteke, not a replacement, and this is the role he has fulfilled. As to the player himself, I do not think he has been particularly impressive, but he has definitely shown improvement as he has gained playing time. He is pretty slow, has the occasional good touch, but often not. However, he is an awkward nuisance to defenders and does seem to have the knack of being in the right place to get goals. We may have to defer judgement on him for a while, but he has certainly played his part in our maintaining our position in the league. As you say, samjp, his goals may be worth a lot, and I would suggest if he gets 7 or 8 scruffy goals, he will possibly outscore Agbonlahor and Weimann.

Was he not a director at Birmingham City, Derby County and Wolves prior to moving on to Aston Villa? More of a career move than love, I would suggest.

Would that be with the money he has earned over the years from his time at Aston Villa?

He seriously does not give a flying **** about anyone or anything You just said he made a £1 million donation to childline, is that not worthy of praise similar to the praise Lerner got for donating money to acorns. Was that action and the knighthood unconnected? You should know that to family and friends I am notoriously cynical.

Thanks for your posts, HH, I have no idea if you are ITK, but I do find your posts interesting. Very good thread you have started, and apart from the usual bickering which seems to dog many threads, there have been lots of thoughtful, reasoned posts. For my part, although I buy into the overall plan, I think Lambert changed too much too fast. Young and hungry players, yes, but fewer of them, and costing that little bit more that gives us the extra bit of quality we needed. By filling the squad with cheap players rather than keeping at least some of the `bomb squad' temporarily, I fear that he is now faced with re-building the squad again and placing many of the players he has bought on a new `bomb squad'. Like many others, notwithstanding the injuries, I am perturbed at how poorly and aimlessly this team is playing at the moment, and that surely has got to be down to the coaching staff. Hopefully this team can somehow manage to keep us up, because, for better or worse, I do not believe there will be any change in either management or ownership, so we will have to just stick with it, as we always do, and hope for the best.

Make no mistake - this is relegation form. I said, maybe 6/7 matches ago that we looked like the worst team in the Premiership, and that luck had carried us into a false position. Swansea comprehensively outplayed us, and their players were so much more comfortable on the ball than ours it was embarrassing. And yes, it is down to money, you do have to pay more to get better players, but I doubt that will happen. Also to those calling for Lambert's head, rightly or wrongly, I do not believe that will happen. I think that Lerner will stick with him, and I do not believe Lambert will quit. We can only hope that performances and results will improve sufficiently over the remainder of the season to keep us up, but I am becoming increasingly less optimistic about that. Hope I am wrong. Voted Clark MOM, but in all honestly the entire team apart from him and Guzan were quite clueless. And Clark himself was quite clueless to get a yellow card unnecessarily to put him out of the next match - isn't here an amnesty in the new year? His absence will be a problem considering our options.

The next four games really are important, in that I think they may indicate the sort of performances we can expect over the remainder of the season. And, make no mistake, if the team does not improve massively we will have a relegation fight on our hands. If you take a look at how the teams under us are performing, they are playing better than we are. As I have said before, some freak results have hoisted us into a rather false position which belies the poor standard of our play. As for the match, Albrighton gets MOM for being average but still better than the rest. And why could Lambert not see that Luna was being hung out to dry up against two players - Valencia probably MOM - and get a midfielder to help him.

Seems to be only finding his feet at Notts now, so perhaps not ready for the Championship just yet.

3m for an AM? All that will get is another mediocre midfielder like the ones we already have.

Sidwell is rubbish, as is Beye We were shit on Sunday, but that doesnt make Sidwell or Beye any good Sidwell rubbish? Doesn't say much for our midfielders on Sunday then, and actually he has been playing well for Fulhan.

Very many of us appreciate the information you pass on, so please do not let the detractors drive you away. You should, of course, be careful what you do say, as you do not want to jeopardise your own position, but anything you can pass on would be great.

Will he even be part of the Belgium squad playing the way he is at the moment.

That was an abject performance, and we did not have our luck to carry us through this time. Clark I voted MOM. Guzan was the only one came close, some good saves to keep the score down. Delph is easily the best of our midfield, and is a decent player, but is nowhere near as good a player as many supporters think. Our midfield was largely ineffective for most of the game, and were completely dominated again, not for the first time, by the opposition midfielders. And as for the strikers, when Agbonlahor is your best striker you know you are in trouble. We will get nowhere until we bolster our midfield and striking options with talented and relatively expensive players. We really have enough bargain basement players now, and it is beginning to show. If we cannot afford them, for whatever reason, then we just have to be patient and hope for better times ahead - but watching this lot can be a real chore at times.

Probably the worst badge we have ever had. Someone will now prove me wrong!

This is wrong in so many ways:- Never-was - wrong Has-been - wrong Crap reputation - since he left us Ageing legs - wrong

That was so reminiscent of the goals he used to score for Leeds.

When Benteke is back in form, Kozak will probably be the one coming on as a sub instead of bringing on Bowery, and I am ok with that.

Footballers should at least maintain the pretence of being fans of the teams they play/have played for. Yes, diving is part of his game, but it's a bit rich against the club that you played for for four years. Yes, I know what you are saying, but I really do not expect much from footballers. With some exceptions, of course.

Haven't found anything, er, conrete, yet. Not showing on the physioroom list and a quick google turned up nothing. I think he has become one of the most important players in our team, and hopefully he will not be out too long. At least Clark and Baker have improved on last season, especially Clark. Baker still has his heart-stopping moments.

You are probably right. I do not like loan signings, but Everton are building a season on the back of their loanees.