A.V.F.C

Sorry, I'm struggling to understand this. Are you saying you'd prefer Brett Holman in our team than Leo Messi? Second question, are you actually mental? I may well be mental. Who knows ? But my view is simply that for our Team right now, with what Pl is trying to do, a Holman playing how he did on Saturday is more beneficial than it would be to have Messi. Everybody on the planet knows Messis abilities, I am not stupid. I think there is more to it than that. In the same way I wouldn't want Rooney or Ronaldo either. If people think it is ridiculous that is up to them. You're not mental, you're an idiot. What PL has consistently talked about is playing the right way, I am pretty sure players like Rooney/Ronaldo/ Messi fit very very well into that ethos, and certainly swapping Holman for one of them detracts nothing. There will always be another 100mph worker who'll get in a teams face, but there are no other Ronaldos, or Messi. I actually think you should apologise for making me waste a minute typing this in reply to you and seriously re-evaluate your life.

Don't be so ridiculous. I like Holman myself but what is this garbage.

Twitter is v.annoying during transfer time. The fake ITK accounts are one thing but some of the people as well. Who on earth is this Julie Bayley character, must unfollow her because I swear everything she has heard from 'whispers' and her 'HP sauces' has been a load of **** bollocks and I am fed up of seeing her pop up on my timeline. Whittingham never did join....

Hmm, this Clark thing isn't going well thus far.

In a way it's good what has happened. I genuinely believe Lambert held a delusional view that the squad was actually good enough. We had a positive pre-season, and lots of players who have generally been poor for us (Bannan/N'Zogbia etc) all did reasonably well. You always hear about Bannan and Ireland being absolute whizzes in training full of skill and ability, but it's never quite transcended it's way onto the pitch. I think he thought it would (this is not me writing anyone off this season, least of all Ireland, just easy examples) I think only today has he grasped exactly how big the job he's taken on actually is. It's a declining club that's sick and hurting. I think today will have been a huge eye opener and I am now CONVINCED we will strengthen.

Believe me mate i'd love to be wrong we all want new players but i'd rather be skeptical and then pleasantly surprised than to get my hopes up and be disappointed.

Yep, v Stoke. Kenwyne snuck in with the u-21s In all seriousness I think this is bollocks, if we didn't want another transfer to come out we'd hardly arrange it for when a crowd would be in attendance.

Ive not seen anything from him which mentions Villa, Charlie Adam and Andy Carroll in the same section.

We ain't getting Johnson, so rather than torture yourselves for the next 48 hours until he winds up with O'Neill just accept it now and move on. Sunderland will defo go on a late splurge and it will be frustrating too watch but it's not our club so deal with it.

We haven't played a style based on good technical football for a long while. MON was quite entertaining but in a completely different way. It will take a while. It might take less time of Charles N'Zogbia took his finger out his arse and started remembering he's a Premier League player. I agree with some of the points in the opening post but again like so many people it smacks of knee jerk reaction (not to discredit a v.well written and readable post). I'd like Bannan to get a game in the next match, i'd also like to be seeing a debut. Also I think a lot of people have commented on how narrow we were, I think the full backs are meant to contribute to this but Baker simply doesn't have that forward side of the game in his locker so a new LB could help that situation as well. Hopefully once Henke gets out and about we'll sign some players which will mean this style of football IS suitable and nobody can pretend playing this way and getting results is the ideal we all want.

He made some bad choices when he had the ball and he looked off the pace but it was his first Premier League game, some players get straight into it and some don't, West Ham are horrible as well it was a tough place for a debut. What I don't understand is all these people who were saying 'it won't happen overnight', 'this is a long term project' etc are so judgmental after one match. I think the real problem is, people were deluded about our team/squad ahead of West Ham and arrogantly dismissed West Ham as a team we would automatically beat solely on the basis that we have Paul Lambert instead of Alex McLeish, that's why so many people are disappointed and angry. I reckon Brett will do alright, for me he will only be a squaddie in the long term anyway Agbonlahor will have that spot when he is back (or we dare to dream we may sign a winger...). We'll be fine.

Thing is we actually are. Neither attractive prospects for anyone.

Was needed imo. It is frustrating looking at what we were capable of spending once, and seeing how it was spent compared to how it could and should have been spent. The club is still a big club and with a bit of restoration this season it's still an attractive club for players joining the Premier League. An intelligent approach to scouting and recruitment was exactly what we needed, wouldn't be at all surprised to see us going for some young players for the future as early as January. What this really hits home to me though is that the new era is about to begin, pre-season can pass you by sometimes (I know not so much this time as we've had a few ins and we've all been looking to see how we'd set up) but now days away and with a backroom addition which points to a much more up to date and clever way of managing a football club it just hits me that this could, and HOPEFULLY will, be the start of something special under Paul Lambert. Let's be honest, we deserve a **** break because the last 2 years have been an absolute nightmare, and I defy many clubs to match the amount of turmoil, change around and downright shit injury luck we've had.

Be realistic, it's quiet enough as it is, no way are we going to sign Poulsen AND another LB, esp Bennett whose first team at his current club. We'll buy a first choice LB I am sure and then it will be Stevens and Lichaj who cover that position.

People were saying 'OMG can't believe we're linked with Doumbia! GREAT signing', and he's in the championship, and only attracted real Prem interest from West Brom! Dunno why people would want to lie to themselves if they don't have a clue about the player.

If he joins i'll wait and see how he does. With far too many of our foreign links people have just made statements without having a clue about the player. The Yacine Brahimi hype for example, no man or his dog had heard of the man then suddenly people were genuinely saddened when we didn't get him. Without prior research i'd defy anyone to name a domestic defensive mistake Poulsen has made for his club, you cannot form an opinion based solely on Euro games as surely the fact that our own country has great players who are shite on the world stage should tell people it's not always a true reflection. He does look like one of those who may have the odd error but people need to wise up, some guy on twitter claimed he'd done some 'research' on lbs for Villa, and I actually unfollowed as it was such a **** random list of people who he'd definitely never ever watched consistently. Attacking full backs are quite common place now, Warnock is terrible defensively anyway weve seen the rash challenging and dodgy positioning, if we're aiming to have the ball a lot more than last season then that shifts the focus on what skill sets our full back needs. Simon Poulsen on a free and Warnock out for a fee for me is good business and (most likely) an improvement to our side. If people are willing to give Lowton from league 1 a chance then I cannot fathom people writing Poulsen off as a shit defender already. (I speak here mainly of the oh so knowledgeable twitter army)

Sturridge, Welbeck and Walcott all in their last year, could be a few shock moves around the league. We should have a serious look at Sturridge if he is available, v.talented boy, a fan of the club and whilst selfish he'd be v.useful as he can play up front of out wide if we needed him to, him and Bent could be pretty tasty.

Day light robbery if true, by Wenger. Doubt it is though, as Theo is in the last year of his deal, so surely Chelsea would just sit that out. So is Daniel Sturridge.

How many starts though? from last season form Ronaldo would struggle to get 10 goals for a Alex McLeish side Thats a good point. The fonz doesnt get many starts. But dont you wonder why ? I recall Mcleish picking the youngsters over him for the bench last season which clearly shows how bad he actually is. He got starts in the championship and look at how that finished. IMO hes not good enough to be in the side at all the quicker we get rid the better. As for weimann ive heard mixed reviews but i wouldnt mind giving him just a few more chances this year. McLeish is a **** idiot though.

Sounds like it might have been a false rumour which many of us bought into. That is the peril of Twitter though, no smoke without fire is less valid with Twitter as smoke is so easy to come by on there and can come from any course and spiral into a trend! I hope there is something in it, I think a young player with some skills will get the bums of seats and in the limited coverage any of us have seen of him he does look to have that type of style, and we need some flair in our team for sure.

Really not a fan of Woodward. AVTV is potentially a great thing for fans but he is awful, as is his commentary and his cringeworthy awkward interaction with the people at Villa he interviews who must be wondering how this special man has got the job. Remember Samuel goal, 'a curler, a pearler, an absolute swirler' or of course for every penalty we score..."Ready..Steady!...GOAL" Eurgh.

Welcome Karim! He seems genuinely delighted to be here and we need people with pride, belief, and ability if we want to rise back up the table. I really hope he provides all these things and if the limited snippets we have seen of him, along with the testimonies of his former supporters, are anything to go by then this could well be a cracking signing for us. This is only the beginning.

If we want them both we will get them. Was always gonna be drawn out, McNally is a stubborn bellend and will seek to alleviate his Lambert annoyance by negotiating some decent compo for these boys.

Crazy slutbucket. As for Chris, I was a fan last season, I really do think he did well in his own right and not just as a shining light in a shit team. Deserves a lot of credit for massive strides he has made. He definitely has a part to play, he's fairly versatile and he has that bit of bite some of our current crop lack. He's actually a decent footballer as well which I think some people ignore because he's got a tackle in him. Aside from his GateCrasher incident I had him down as one of the more likeable lads in the squad, dumb as a post mind.

This. Bouma was literally terrible, and for quite a long period as well. Give Makoun a chance, he joined half way through a season and joined a struggling side, it's mind boggling that he's been written off, esp with us so badly lacking in numbers.