Grievemeister

The lad made a mistake and as it has been pointed out, if it was Benteke or McGrath everyone would offer support. The kid is 23 and is being hounded by fans for what reason is beggers belief. He never stopped trying once he pulled the C & B shirt on. Ok he may not be good enough in most peoples eyes but does it really warrant the abuse he receives? Frankly I find this brutal criticism embarrasing. Shouldn't the fans abuse be distributed at certain players that don't want to move from the club cause they are happy playing in the reserves whilst picking up Hollywood wages?

If the rumour is that Lambert is really pissed off with him and wants him out, and Levy the Cock doesnt come up with the goods, this could truly f*ck up his career. Cause Lambert won't want him anywhere near the first team. Personally for me, he is one away from Suarez, Anelka and Tevez! Everything I despise in a footballer.

IMO you cannot play Bannan in a 442 in the PL. Its gets shoved off the ball to easy. You put him in a 5 man midfield as an attacking midfielder I believe he'll do the business. His short passing is as good as any player and he is creative, but he needs that support from the midfield. In all honesty Savage had a point what he said on MOD. Our midfielders dont get to support our strikers enough, I think he should be the player to move forward when we break. Westwood to spray the passes from teh middle & Sylla to control defensive side of the midfield. At the moment the midfield arent doing any of these things, they aret getting forward or helping the defence enough to stop us leaking goals. This maybe an option. Like Liverpool did with Gerrard, Alonso and Mascherano.

TBH I would have kept him and stuck him in CM in front of the back 4. I think he would have done a good job for us in this position like he has done for Cov and Blackburn, Not his fault he was asked to play in a position that was alien to him

Of course, or maybe they have too many top internationals for him to get a chance

I'd love it if he had a storming game tonight after reading some of this:-)

I can guaruntee that I know many Everton fans that wanted Moyes gone just a few seasons ago, saying is tactics were totally inept and the style of football is rubbish. 11 years on and this is his best squad, yes, its taken 11 years! Lambert for me is still the man, relegated or not, he will come good. The onus for me is the Chairman, Lambert needs a little help and Lerner has come out in the kindest way and said 'keep fighting'.

I agree with the previous post. You can only defend what is happening at that time, he made a mistake, he recovered and knocked to ball out for a corner, it happens in every game, The goal came from the actual corner which could have been cleared easily, Hanson had tonnes of space round him and could have picked any spot all day long. We can nit pick at various points of the game, the fact is the corner could have been defended properly, and we have the players to do this quite easily! For me Bennett is young and has potential, he is good at getting forward and will learn to defend properly as he matures. I remember a certain Mr Bale and Mr A cole in their youth had exaclty the same experience as to what JB is going through now.

Are you ITK

Jagielka? Lowton has the potential to be as good as him

Outrageous. I remember a week or so back PL was doing an after match interview on MOTD and one question fired at him was something along the lines of "How long will it be before success arrives or something" and he rightly answered that he has just got in the door! No one seems to have patience anymore.. If you don't win your first 5 games, score shitloads of goals in these games and conceed no goals then the pressure is on, the players are scape goated and all need sold and a new manager in the door to make it miraculously all better on a shoe string budget. PL has enough success under his belt as a player and so far as a manager he is doing not too bad either. Personally I have not put any expectation on his head in his first season here except for adding to the squad slightly, assess the players he has inherited and the whole setup of the place while steadying the ship, stopping any rot that has set in and progressing from there. He is a bigger improvement on the last 2 ass clowns we have had as managers who the fans where against from the minute they where even muted as being manager. I would allow him 2 full seasons before expecting any real chance of success and top 6 finishes. Anything achieved above the minor expectation in these first 2 seasons will be a definate improvement and a miracle worked. Spot on. People seem to forget the David Moyes factor, it has taken him 11 years to put together a team that i think are in a decent shout of a champs league place. When he first took over they were in dire straits, he finished his 1st season in 15th place, 5 years later 4th place, then 11th, then the past 5 years has seen them float between 5th and 8th. So after 5 years in charge he then became consistant. It has taken him this long to become a good manager who most Villa fans would have loved at VP before Lambert was appointed. I remember a few seasons ago there were many Everton fans who wanted Moyes gone becasue of the type of football Everton were playing, Kenwright stuck with him and look at there style and consistancy. They are a very good team. Lambert will need the same time. Villa fans should just enjoy what we have at the moment and let us build on what we have got. We'll have our ups and downs but I am sure Randy has got this one right and it will take time.

Sounds like an excuse to me as Eck signed him when the salaries were currently being scrutinised.

He didnt do well when Big Eck decided to by-pass the midfield and play appalling football. Under Houllier's passing philosophy he played very well. I think he will flourish under Lambert

The crowd never booed him and never cheered him, that says to me he had the chance to win us over. He didnt and that was evident. Great job, do one!

Which translates as; Thanks Paul, goodbye, we are not accepting your resignation as we want compensation!

Its great being in this position, this time last year we was being rejected by various managers and our options were limited

I was calling for his head but after thinking about it a few days ago he is young and he will make mistakes. He comes across well and I am sure he will be an asset for us. Business wise I dont think we can fault him, the deals he has achieved is the best in our history, footballing wise, I am sure he'll get there in time.

To be honest there ae a number of good young managers out there that will do a job for us; AVB, Martinez, Rodgers, Poyet, Lambert, so compared to last year we have a better range of manangers to choose from

Are you serious?? Have you actually seen Norwich play? Lambert has a plan A and a plan B, he knows how to get the best out of his players and adjust the system with the right players in the right place. I'd take either Martinez, Lambert or Rodgers. The only concern i would have is Martinez's teams can concede a few goals. However if we see an improvement on last season with decent football i will be happy. This will be a long transistion period and I am sure either of tbhese managers with the right backing can definately move us to the top half of the table again.

My feeling on this is that he had lost the dressing room and even if he'd brought on Messi and Ronaldo we still wouldn't have scored. The players knew what they were doing. I thinkthe number of shots we had per game would back your argument there.

Rodgers, Lambert, Martinez for me

Best time to protest will be after the Spurs game, geet right behind the team, as soon as the final whistle goes then protest, the players always come out at the end to applaude the fans as they always do, tehn give it to the manager then.

Very Intersting - Hardly a vote of confidence - 2 possible reasons:- 1.Hes not a selling point 2.He may not be here ! I wasn't stating that as a vote of confidence:-) however I am pretty sure that as the managers have appeared in all the other ST packs I have received (as they are an integral part of the club) I think it shows, as you put, he isnt a good selling point.

Did anyone else think when they got there ST pack through the post that it was weird that AM wasnt in any photos that featured in the booklet.

My opinion - I was shocked when he was first appointed. Not the greatest move by the club but I was willing to back him as I could see he had technically better players than he had at SMA. However - a number of games in and I have to say I think I would have preferred to see Sunday football. There was just nothing about the team, no cohesion, nothing! Then I went to the WBA game and I can honestly say from someone who has been going to games since 84, I, for the first time wanted to leave early. From someone who berates fans for not staying to the bitter end tells you something. Then around Xmas I feel we started to play more of a passing game, this is the only time I thought we turned a corner, then it went totally flat and I have seen nothing since. Comments from AM after the Fulham game giving a slight dig at the fans and the comments after the Arsenal game quote 'Realistically it was always a tall order to get anything from here' was the last straw for me. I'm surprised the away fans didn't demand a refund from Villa after that comment. Anywway he has had a season under his belt, and the football has not improved in the slightest. The club keep saying we have excellent kids, well under this manager we are dangerously close to coaching their footballing skills out of them. I really hope he walks away or the board sack. But for me it is just not about AM and Grant, its also about Paul Faulkner, for him to make the appointment in the first place based on a letter from Hairdryer and a CV that shouts nothing has to be questioned. He simply has to go as well!!!!