David-Copenhagen

As I see it there is a way round FFP. We "just" need to beef up income from non football areas. E.g. start producing all match food and sell to other clubs as well. In short just expand the overall business to include other streams of revenue. I have not seen a ban on making money on other stuff than transfers and sponsors.

I agree with that lineup. And I have a sneaky feeling that Tekkers is really up for this game.

His pass for the first goal was pure quality and showed just how good he can be. Best pass of the game.

A win great. But I will be happy with a point, this is a "must not lose game". 

For me he is a good MF and one we should hold on too.

Has the rules regarding qualification for Europe in the the FA cup been changed??

Well won pen and a couple of decent crosses but the sooner we get cissokho back defending, the better. Lowton at LM could work but his lack of pace and positioning puts a lot of pressure on the team at times, like when Okore bailed him out after he was stranded in no man's land.

I was just about to point this out. He was very slow getting back and that left our left side wide open.

Great to hear. All the best to you and your family.

Good results. Now for the cup :-)

I agree we need to show some self belief

We need to see if we can form a partnership on the left as well. Hutton and Gil seam to have clicked well but the left side is still not very potent. I would be tempted to go with Sinclair on the left, Gil on the right and keep Delph, Lawton and Cleverly in the center. Benteke has to start. Come on Villa boys. UTV VTID

I've always supported Lambert. He came into the club under restrictions, he's still under restrictions, but he's come in and got the club 'settled'. Wage bill is under control, he's made some decent purchases, and dare I say there is an amount of positivity at the club.

 

Unfortunately all this is useless if you aren't getting the results. Not only is he not getting the results, he's not getting the performances we would expect from a squad of our talent. We have a strong squad on paper, we should easily be finishing mid-table / Top 10. We have international calibre players, we have capped players, we have youth and energy.. Why are we struggling so?

 

The responsibility has to land on Lambert's shoulder. It's the tactics, plain and simple. Yes, the players need to execute those tactics, but from the looks of our matches this season the majority of the time he has got them wrong. We need someone in who can get the best out of the players we have. I think that despite his friendship with Lerner he's working on borrowed time.

I agree with this in general. What I don't understand is why change the tactics mid season??? I know we had below 30% possession before and actually had more possession than Arsenal yesterday, but what good does it do when there is no end product?? 

In the long run possession might be a good thing, but right now we need goals and direct play suits us better - so why take this huge gamble. Surely Guardiola is not that convincing??

So happy to see him play so well. He always had that captain material about him. I would be happy to see him take the captaincy next year. Him and Okore are great together and CB makes great captains.  

Loved that goal. Can't wait to see him play live in the FA cup final :-)

I can't see him being off in the summer, why should he sign now if he was wanted by a club he wanted to go to? His agent must have talked with all potentially interested clubs and if he was wanted by e.g. Liverpool, why not wait the 3-4 months and get a huge sign on fee? 

Great news. Not an AM but we have Gil for that now and Delph has a huge engine. Great piece of biss by the club. Is there hope after all?

Could do a lot, lot worse than Danny Ings or Charlie Austin. People are utterly deluded - the reality is these days they are probably too good for us! Face it, we're not a big club in the eyes of anyone but ourselves. Please stop being so proud.

I think signing that kind of players is almost the worst thing we could do. They are decent, but not more and they are at their peak. They will cost a lot more than continental players and there is very little reason to think that we could sell them on for more than we pay (OK maybe Ings since he is a free transfer). 

What little money we do have needs to go to players like Sanchez, Vlaar, Okore or Benteke. Known quantities that are not playing in England. 

Sounds like a great game so far :-(

I wish all of you a happy new year and success for Aston Villa above all.

If you watch highlights you can see the ref going for yellow and then getting told by the 4th official that it is a red. For me it is a harsh red, really harsh. 

Sanchez absolute quality. Bacuna and Grealish need to start next game.

Sums it up really.......

N'Zogbia looks good I think. We just need to up the tempo a lot.

I just hope that Clark has a good game, I really like him - espesially after that tackle.

Come on Villa - I am ready wearing the shirt as always - give them hell.

Disapointing to see Okore dropped, but maybee he needs a breather, it must be hard mentally with so many games in a short time.

UTV

I agree this is the time to give him a 5 year deal