Woody1000

Great news!

Glad to see that he's won you over mate. He's playing so well right now, I hope Tim manages to convince him to stay at Villa Park.

I believe it's due to not being in our PL squad?

I don't know exactly where it happened, but something changed in Lambert's style during his time with us. It was probably in his 2nd season right around when Benteke got his first injury. Paul Lambert should've been the manager we've now got in Tim Sherwood. Paul Lambert made his name by setting up his teams to play on the front foot, teams that would always have a go regardless of the opposition. He proved at Norwich that he could do it, but his time at Villa will be largely remembered for some of the most turgid football most of us have seen in our times as Villa fans. I wish him well for his next job, I'm sure he tried his best.

Gabby comes straight back in for N'Zogbia for me, and if he's playing like he was before his injury, then I don't see any reason why we can't win all of our last 3 league games and possibly a cup final.... Him and Benteke were really forming a good partnership before the injury, and if he can chip in with a couple of goals on his return as well as Benteke carrying on his great form, then who knows how well we can finish the season?

Fair play to him. Sanchez had taken his place in the team, he came back in for the semi-final and hasn't put a foot wrong since.

Can I just say that as someone who was very sceptical at first, I am now firmly on the Jack Grealish bandwagon. His first touch is sublime, and he keeps the ball so well. This boy is destined for a big future.

Sounds like made up horse shit to me. I can't imagine Sherwood will be making any decisions until the end of the season, because until then he hasn't seen enough of the players and isn't even 100% certain what league we'll be in. And how can it be a 'done deal' outside of the transfer window anyway? It was at my Godfather's birthday meal, it was a friend of his who has a ST at Swansea. Said about them being in for him just before signing him ourselves, and said that it was pretty much a done deal. What struck me was the way that he said it so casually, rather than trying to sound ITK and show off. I'm only passing on what I was told, I'm not saying that it's 100%.

Not claiming to be ITK, but a Swansea City ST holder told me that AW to them in the summer is a done deal. I'm interested to see how that develops....

I just hope we go for it, really go for it. We know that Benteke can do some serious damage against them, he's done it before. I will definitely be wearing my brown pants at 3pm though.....

Excellent post. That's pretty much how I feel as well tbh.

I really like Gil from the glimpses that I've seen, but I am starting to wonder if he is a luxury that a team like ours cannot afford. You look at players like Adel Taarabt when they are on the ball, and see absolute brilliance at times, but the lack of work-rate defensively is the main reason that they don't play regularly. Perhaps this is the main reason that Carles hasn't been getting a game. It's a shame because myself like most on here have been clamouring for us to sign a player like him for a few years now. I think it's a case of him being the hero that we want, but not the one that we need.

No more than a squad player for me. Always puts in a shift, but lacks quality and composure. Sure he's played out of position, but I don't think for one minute that if he played 38 games up front that he could score 20 goals.

Jack's confidence looked absolutely shot when he came on. We don't know the ins and outs of things, but judging by the occasional Twitter outbursts from him, I think it's been quite a difficult season for him. He's still very young, and hopefully this is all a learning curve for him. I think it's for the best that he go out to the Championship on loan, as it could do more bad than good for him development-wise playing in our run-in when there will be a lot of tight games.

I find the situation difficult in my mind as I feel the man to keep us up may not be the best man moving forward. What I mean is that to stay up this season is going to take a certain degree of 'scrapping', when ideally the new manager is going to be one that implements a style of football that is both attractive, and more importantly successful.

What about Petrov as caretaker until the end of the season?

I hope he gets a job where his hands aren't tied. Of course he's made mistakes that only he is accountable for, but I would like to see him get a fresh start. Good luck for the future Paul, unfortunately this just hasn't worked out.

Remember benteke getting everyone on there feet? I do. He did it a couple of weeks ago. I think its ridiculous the way he is being written off. But that's for a different thread. I wouldn't say he's been written off, but there were people talking about him being world class a couple of months ago. He's not been looking anywhere near that standard for weeks now, and he's in serious danger of being labelled a one-season wonder. On topic, delight with Gil's debut. If he can play anywhere near Saturday's level, then we've got a cracking little player on our hands. For all Lambert's faults, if Randy actually gives him £3m+ for a player then he comes up with the goods. I don't know why more English clubs don't get more players from Spain that play for the smaller La Liga clubs to be quite honest - unless they play for Real or Barca, their salary is relatively low so most english teams could offer to double the player's wages, and still fit it into their wage structure. Plus the fact that Their superior technical ability compared to British players is embarrassing to be quite honest! The irony is that if he was British, he would probably cost 4 times the price. It's laughable!

Come on the Villa!!!!

Double post

Vlaar should have to wait his turn, Clark and Okore have been excellent and neither deserves the drop. Knowing our luck with injuries, I'm sure Ron will get his chance soon enough.

I can see what you're saying, but it's a very difficult adjustment to make when the direction of the ball changes, especially when it's to the side that you've been moving across from. We'll have to agree to disagree. Thanks for replying though mate!

Sorry to pick on you Zatman, but can you explain how it was a bad mistake?

Looking great, so composed on the ball. If I were the club then I would get him to sign an extension quickly, because he will be playing at a top level one day, and we will get top money for him when we do sell. In the mean time, I'm going to enjoy watching the kid develop over the couple of seasons we still have him - he'll make the odd blunder due to his age, but he's athletic and intelligent, and he's a pleasure to watch.