LondonLax

Holt is just a thug

Really ? - Weve lost Vlaar for around 7 games - then Gabby for the odd game here and there. In recent seasons that been our best in terms of injuries. By the law of averages I reckon we will get more next year Baker's been out quite a lot, not to mention we've had squad players injured all season. Ok key players like Benteke, Weimann and Westwood have kept injury free but it's still good to have options. Dunne's been injured all year as well. You are always going to get injuries, every season, but we have been lucky this year. Perhaps having young players has helped a bit with that.

Seriously I think if we keep Benteke we can finish top 8 With the same side our defense will still be rubbish. We need to strengthen to ensure we are not fighting relegation again.

Any news on the team today?

A childhood Villa fan apparently. He says he had the 82 away strip as a kid.

Sounds like a bluff to help negotiations to me.

The sports cafe in Haymarket, just Piccadilly Circus, always shows every 3pm game as far as I know.

He does make a more changes than the average manager from one match to the next, for better or worse. It has the advantage of tailoring the side to the opposition but a drawback of players not getting to play together match after match to form partnerships and an understanding. Probably an issue in defence more than anywhere. There are often comparisons with Brendan Rodgers who does the opposite in some respects by playing the same system every week. Rodgers tries to get his players to perfect that short passing game playing out from the back and holding possession rather than switching up the tactics when required. It is often noted though that Lambert has a very good record against Rodgers sides, perhaps he has a method to counteract the Rodgers system.

The RWC kicks off on the 18th of September 2015 Stevo! oh! I am getting a bit of deja vu on this page...

Winning trophies with Porto is a bit different than Stoke, isn't it? The Portuguese league is essentially a three club league; the same could be said of most leagues. He took the best Portuguese club of the last 20 years and won. Not saying he's not worthy of praise. But I'd like to see him take a truly shit side and build them up. He got the Porto job by over achieving with a small portugese club. He then over acheved with Porto and has continued to be successful and win titles and trophies with every club since. He doesn't have to take a step back to taking over a small Portuguese club again (or a small Premier League club) he has already done it. It's not like he is some sort of football god who wins every trophy on offer every season but he is a very good manager with a record that only the very best can compare with.

I actually don't mind the guy. He is just passionate which is going to rub people up the wrong way if you are on the wrong end of it but his own fans will love him for it.

Bayern have been absolutely incredible all season.

I wouldn't describe his time at Madrid as a failure either. I didn't think anyone would be able to beat Barcelona at the height of their powers and he did it over a league season causing Guardiola to go into a self imposed exile. His record in matches against 'the best team the world has ever seen' has been very good as well. As Rev says, winning the Champions League takes a load of luck, any one of 8 teams could win it and you wouldn't be surprised at any of them.

Yeah, or maybe he should take a team from a mediocre league and win the UEFA Cup and the Champions League with them in back to back seasons. THEN we would find out if he is any good or not!

I think a second season makes sense for both parties if we stay up. Then we will sell him on and with him well in 12 months time and reinvest the money into a settled squad.

I recon most Wigan fans would perfer a cup win with relegation than a cup loss and staying up for a another season in the Prem if such a choice was offered. Why do we support out teams? Ultimately to see them win trophies, not just scraping above 38 points every season.

He should have played last week against Man U and snapped at Rooney's heels. Rooney wouldn't have had so much time and space to pick out passes.

I agree. It was a yellow card but they won't get anything on appeal. The FA don't repeal a refs judgement, only if he has made a genuine mistake would it get overturned.

If I were to predict, I think Wigan will only get 4 points from their last 4 games. They are unlikely to get 3 wins from 4 (though they did last season!) but the FA cup final is a bit of a distraction for them.

I really hope that performance can become more frequent (though I'm not expecting them to score 6 every week!). I might even allow myself to start to believe we are lining up a dortmund style revolution

Not mathematically but I think it does realistically.

I hope your mate went up to Villa Park for that one!

I wish he had a bit more confidence to have a shot when in a good position. Got through one on one and lost his nerve and tried to shift it onto the other foot.

He was winning tackles high up the pitch. That is a very useful attribute to have.

A win next weekend and we can lock this.