danceoftheshamen

Not confident at all i have to say although like many i do think we will get better eventually. My biggest concern is we are playing with fire for the 3rd season in a row. We've had 3 seasons of squad decimation the like of which i've never witnessed before. I shudder to think of the list of players we have either released, sold or had poached from us over the last 36 months. We have replaced quality, skill & solid experience with Youth, potential & inexperience. That is one risky policy in the World's toughest league especially when considering we barely survived the last two campaigns & we have now decimated the squad still further! Having said all that i do like Lambert & think he has signed some real gems......for the future! My biggest worry is where we will be by the time that happens. We are playing kind of ok in patches but the inexperience is really costing us at the moment, either with a sitter being missed or a goal conceded as players struggle to find their feet having been quite literally thrown in the deep end. Many of these guys will turn out to be top players for sure but how long is it going to take as we do not have much time for things to start turning. We need a couple of big wins now to make up for the bad start. Here's to hoping :s This is possibly one of the biggest seasons in the history of Aston Villa FC.

I can see his potential.. trouble is we are a side who badly lack creativity, which was obvious last season & has been for a long time now & it's baffling how we still have done nothing about it. The one thing i kept saying in the transfer window was we badly needed some more creativity as without it, no matter how good your strikers are, you ain't gonna score many goals & guess what!*? I agree with PL that he can be a real player (if he learns how to finish) but as a team i fail to see how we can afford to have another heskeyite finisher in the side... If he was at Old Trafford he'd get a hatfull but he's never gonna put away the pathetic 1 or 2 chances we create in a game. He is indeed costing us points & that is very worrying as we could easily be bottom by Christmas with the fixtures we have coming up.

Did the trick though with Bent didn't it...as in not starting him... He looked more focussed than recently i thought when he came on. We need him firing as it seems Weimann is going through one of those lean spells & Benteke has a touch of rabbitinheadlightitis. As for Gabby well he is his usual unpredictable self as he's always been... Brilliant one minute & anonymous the next.

I think we have to remember he is only 21.. I like the look of him actually & can see him developing into some player in time with the right coaching. It's just a case of how quickly & well he learns really.

I would also like to mirror this statement as i too have strayed into negativity on occasion... I think the sheer number of false dawns we have had to endure since those European cup winning days have taken their toll For the 1st time since those days i think we are finally, at the start of, the right road.

Embarrassing.. utterley embarrassing that today... getting hammered by a side newly promoted & bottom of the table. That has completely ruined the false dawn of the last 2 games.. Southampton are crud one of the worst teams in this division ... but well above our level it seems. Shocking!.. 4-1 by a poor newly promoted side.

I remember the last title win as i was a season ticket holder that year (how lucky was i ) & i have to say it was made even sweeter as we were so unfancied at the time. I remember it was all about Liverpool, Leeds & well erm Nott'm Forest & we were never really taken seriously until we beat Liverpool 2-0 with goals from Withe & Mortimer. Anyways it was just such a genuine feeling of a really good football team having simply won through good honest hard work great play & no little skill I cannot imagine how it would feel to "Buy" the title like Man City & Chelsea.. It did not impress me personally one bit. Ok it was dramatic in that last game with City & QPR but how can that be deemed anywhere close to the achievement of that Villa side in 80-81? Or the Everton win in the 80's? So i'm torn as of course it would be brilliant to witness but i really don't thing it counts for a lot when won in that way. Just picture a formula 1 race with 17 Go Karts & 3 Formula 1 cars in it... Well that is the equivalent of the Premier League right now & it's farcical.. The only achievement is the team who finishes 4th as the top 3 are only competing against themselves in my opinion..How boring quite frankly. No wonder they keep billing it as "the greatest season ever" & all that nonsense.. it's a deliberate marketing ploy as it is clear it is just a very tiresome 3 horse race.. if anything the relegation battle is more interesting than the Title race. So yeah i'd love us to win it of course i would but it would be sweeter to win it genuinely. Is that possible? ... If it was a level playing field yes but it isn't as those top 3 are also protected by the officials so actually no it's impossible. Winning the league is now finishing 4th in my eyes.

This is so true... I speak with people day in day out & show them a way they can work hard & over time can become very wealthy & it never ceases to amaze me how they continually turn it down when they see a bit of hard work is involved in the 1st 3 - 5 years :? Bizarre!.. They'd rather get £300 NOW in a typical JOB than get 10,000 per month but have to wait for it to build up?! Odd Can you please tell me how I can be earning £10,000 a month please PM me PieFace if your serious

This is so true... I speak with people day in day out & show them a way they can work hard & over time can become very wealthy & it never ceases to amaze me how they continually turn it down when they see a bit of hard work is involved in the 1st 3 - 5 years :? Bizarre!.. They'd rather get £300 NOW in a typical JOB than get 10,000 per month but have to wait for it to build up?! Odd

Would be pleased with that this season MM. Of course we would all like to be challenging for Europe etc but after the turbulence of the last couple of seasons just steadying the ship, playing a better brand of football & continuing freshening up the squad is great progress for me. Really looking forward to seeing the new guys play. It will no doubt take several more games before we start to see any real evidence of their impact however so the key is to pick up some results along the way such as at Newcastle & then i think we can all start to look upwards for a change. Interesting times

I think the constant negativity & booing thing is a sign of difficiences in our culture. The work i do covers a lot of research in this area actually & it is a fact that peoples brains are actually altering due to the internet & gaming culture. Many severely lack people skills as quite simply they do not do anything except sit on the PC or play games on the playstation, xbox etc so the basic way in which our brains are wired is actually altering according to latest university studies. People are mimicking the behavioral pattern they have created by spending so much time on mobile phones, texting, playing games & surfing the internet generally. This has caused people to be ridiculously impatient & in some cases shockingly ignorant & petulant. If you get bored with a game what do you do?...Say it's rubbish & get a new one? Throw it away? flog it or exchange it maybe?.. This creates a type of behavior by programming the brain to act that way in everyday life.. Scary stuff! Many drag this unrealistically impatient & dismissive behavior into real life...Well sorry but it just doesn't work in the real World. Then couple that with the lack of people skills caused by simply not spending enough time learning these skills due to spending hour after hour & day after day in an imaginary World over which you have complete control & you suddenly see why we get the childish booing when a real game of football is maybe not going to plan... This is of course widespread not just with our fans.

I have genuinely not got the foggiest idea whatsoever of how it's going to go!.....Which i guess is kind of interesting in a sadistic kind of way :? Really not a clue.... i just hope we survive is all at this point.

My opinion on the window?... In all honesty?..... I havn't a clue I don't think i have seen any of these players ever play so how would i know?.. It really is just a case of ...Over to you Mr Lambert! Hope it works out i really do would be great...If we stay up well thats all i'm hoping for now this season anything else is genuinely a bonus! Good luck to all the new signings...Make us proud lads.......Please

Was good to hear PL on SKY just... all the panel were saying he had done a good job & had made some good signings typical of Paul Lambert.. Young & hungry who he can mould into an effective unit as he did at Norwich etc... He said he was delighted with the signings & just hoped us fans would be a bit patient & allow them time to gel/get up to speed etc.. Said if we gave them time they would do well.

Yay! at last a few crumbs of hope!.. Would be happy with the Charlton guy, Benteke & Bowry (one covers the other) & Benayoun would be the icing & give SI some much needed competition.

Seems to depend on who you listen to as to how this guy is rated... I think it's a very wise move personally as if we sign Benteke for example this guy would provide immediate competition for him.. otherwise we are back in the same old position if for example Benteke got injured or hit poor form. I agree with the above post too that it is disrespectful to both the player & Paul Lambert to dismiss this guy before he has even signed. Frankly given a choice of listening to our manager or some "hearsay" off some fan somewhere, i know who i am listening to!

I remember not so long back when it was actually worth watching these games against the likes of Man Sheikhty... Now it's just completely pointless. Even if we played out of our skins the Ref would make sure we didn't progress regardless... Awful draw! Still at least we won a game in the week which may help confidence a little. The scary thing is i just read through the teams left in & it was like Nah we'd lose to them...Oh & them..& them..oh & them etc Scary how far we have fallen whilst most others have improved.

Agree the key is survival by hook or by crook this season.. Do that & it could be exciting times.

Understand your concerns villan501... It is a worry but when you look we do have a pretty experienced spine in the team... ..................Given ............Vlaar....Dunne ...................Kea .................Ireland .............Bent....Gabby It's not ideal & we certainly lack experienced back up should we get injuries... Our season most likely hinges on these 6/7 players in my opinion.. I have put Vlaar & Kea in as they are experienced, albeit in a different league & both are internationals too. I don't think it's a coincidence that our form is suffering with Dunne & Gabby injured. We need all of these guys to stay injury free. We maybe can cope with 1 injured but 2 & we are struggling. I also think we are suffering as Kea & Vlaar adjust to the pace of the Prem etc. Or lets say i think we will be better once they are a bit more familiarized. Still think we could do with a bit more experienced cover in midfield however. We need a younger Michael Essein... a midfield general as we are badly missing Stan. As for relegation? Well who knows? I think the Prem is a bit of an unknown quantity this season with so many teams having signed practically new teams entirely. But i don't think we are buying for the Championship, at least not intentionally.

Ah in that case he may as well join QPR.. Confused? what happened to the financial fair play rules? Are we the only club attempting to work within them coz it certainly looks like it :shock: Think we should petition Uefa

Very pleased with this signing.. Hopefully will give us a better balance & more options when going forward. Welcome on board!

Can't believe the reactions on here.. Goodness me.. Give the guy a chance will ye!.. He's 21!.. Clearly PL has seen something in him he likes which is fine with me!..We have all been saying how we lack creativity & maybe this is part of the solution... perhaps he sees him as a perfect foil for Bent?.. Could be loads of reasons.. Also the guy from the BBC stated his scoring ratio was quite low due to a high number of appearances from the bench.

Yup.. this would explain the "stressful day" comments he made yesterday.. Looks like he's a bit torn between his boyhood club & all the comforts & familiarity it brings or the glamor of the Premier League albeit with a team which is in his eyes a bit of an unknown quantity maybe?... Lets put it this way... do you think he would be hesitating if it was Liverpool or Man U after him?... Sounds like he is maybe lacking in a bit of confidence in more ways than one... We don't get a very good press up in Geordie land.. They seem to class us as a "Bad football team" I know i do a lot of work up there.. & they don't look on us very favorably at all.. It's all about Newcastle, Sunderland, Middlesboro & then the top 4.

Exactly right Richard...inexperience can only go so deep before it counts against a team. Just a bit... i.e no more than a couple of youngsters at a time, can be good as it adds an "unknown" element... too much however severely effects results in most cases. The exception being that Man U side back in the day but that was a one off it appears.

That article is spot on for me.. exactly how i see it.. the guy needs to wake up, Man up or ship out! & quick! We have a ship that is struggling like heck to stay afloat & all he's doing is selling off parts of the hull making the holes bigger & thus we keep sinking quicker & quicker. Bizarre.. really bizarre.. & the only thing i can think of is he genuinely hasn't got a clue. this club is run by accountants which is all well & good but not when every other Premier League club is run by the desire to be successful! Wake up & smell the coffee Randy..you can still be a hero here but time is rapidly running out for you & this once great football club.