GREAT_BEARD_OF_ZEUS

I think Baker plays because he has more of a physical presence than Clark. Take Fulham away last year - he played and he took the role of attacking long balls being launched into our half. He then typically came off injured, and we lost the physical nature of our defence. Vlaar is strong but he's not particularly tall, hence why I think Baker gets the nod. Clark is a good player, but he's not quite strong enough to be a top level CB and he's not quite good enough to be a top level midfielder.

I wouldn't be surprised to see a lot of loan deals go through at the last minute. Clubs like Utd, Spurs, Arsenal etc have clearly decided who is surplus to this season's requirements and will probably spend the next few weeks compiling offers from various clubs. Henandez and Gnabry would be ideal, but there'll be a of teams sniffing and putting in silly bids towards the end as they get desperate.

Please don't let this mean Bacuna is going to play more at RB... the guy is a liability back there.

Good grief, youngsters or not this is a horror show. Amazed they've only got one so far.

"Commentators are watching the proposed sale of Aston Villa with great interest, noting that shares in MSG, the owner of two US teams, are up eight per cent since the Clippers sale announcement." Hmmm I can't work out what the second half of that sentence has to do with us? Why would an increase in MSG shares since the Clippers sale necessarily connect to the sale of our club? Edit: Damn page break - the line is from the article posted by Gabby0878 on the previous page.

Considering every single one of our fullbacks are better going forward than defending, a back 3 with wing-backs would be a very sensible approach. Therefore expect 4-4-2 against Stoke.

The away kit looks good, but sadly as many have already said, our 'Lerner era' abomination of a badge just makes it look crap. First thing i'd hope any new owner would do is change it back, ideally to the pre-92 version, but failing that the last one.

After all the support we've given him I'd hope he'd show us some loyalty and give us his best years... his brother's just a bitter bluenose trying to stir things with comments like that.

I totally expect we will not offer these players enough to warrant them signing new deals and I fully expect the club to then want to cash in on them. Which is why last week in the vlaar thread I was saying we should sell for 10m and got criticised for it That's because not everyone shares your belief that the club will want to cash in so easily. You do know we are still owned by one Mr Randolph Lerner? He will buckle at £3.5m IMO and why not I think he'll have a long wait for his £200m. Plus no one will offer £10m for a player in the final year of his contract, known to be injury prone and playing for a club desperate for money! So? I'm going on past experience. For all his faults we've always got good deals for our star players under Lerner. £12m for Barry and almost £20m for Young - both of whom were in the last year of their contracts. We didn't sell Benteke last year either despite everyone here insisting that Lerner would buckle and sell at the first chance. And I am just going on the fact that last year he wasn't actively looking to sell the club for a huge personal loss. I hope you are right but at the moment I don't trust Lerner to do the right thing for the club as he did in previous years when his interest hadn't waned. Why would the club being up for sale prevent him from doing the right thing with transfers? Survival is just as important as it ever was, if not more so now for Lerner - he'll know that selling Vlaar would hamper our chances. If we do sell though, he'll want to get the most money he can possibly get. It's less about the club being up for sale and more about the fact that the club is rotting from the inside during this period that will prevent them from being diligent and making the best decisions. What i mean by this is that just as our chairman has lost interest, so too will the staff within the club... you can bet your ass Faulkner has been on wind down for a few months now, not to mention other staff who must now be contemplating their positions rather than passionately driving it forward. Would a well run, diligent club send it's Captain's off to the shop window which is the World Cup, without at least trying to renew his fast running out contract?

Not saying he won’t be tempted by CL football, but do remember that Serie A is some way off the Premier League when it comes to wages. Look at Dani Osvaldo for example, leading scorer for Roma for the two seasons prior to moving away (so safe to assume he was a key player) and where did he go? Southampton. Plus at the time they were only halfway through their one standout season – on the face of it he was moving to a relatively recently promoted club. Someone might know of an ulterior motive for why he left, but if not you’d have to assume it was for the money. And regardless of the restrictions being imposed on us, I still think we’ll still put a very decent offer on the table for our captain. So question: Would you up sticks, move your family (inc two young boys) for less money so that you could play CL football? Or sign a long term lucrative contract and stay put? Answer: Move to Man Utd (well someone was going to say it), but if they don’t come in for him I think he could well stop with us.

3 reasons I like this... 1. We have been set up by Lambert to play with a target man... and both our target men are injured. Yes Kozak may be fit by the start of the season, but we won't have any back up and its a gamble to rely on him after such a long lay off. Bentner coming in allows both Kozak and Benteke to gradually get back up to speed. 2. Bentners age. He is only 26 and I think a lot of his off the field problems and on the field attitude has come down to immaturity and the pressure put on him as a very young man. He is often described as a (very) poor man's on Zlatan Ibrahimovich. Zlatan was incredibly inconsistant as a young man and had similar off the field issues, hopefully Bentner will mature as Zlatan has in the second half of his twenties. 3. Roy Keane. I cannot imagine Roy will put up with anything other than 100% from Bentner and perhaps he is finally the person to make him sit up and listen, certainly he has the authority having had such a successful playing career.

Blimey that's certainly seeing the glass as half full. Actually I think that seeing the glass completely full... of champagne... overflowing into a pyramid of more completely full glasses. But hey I like it!

You know how you can set up your email to delay sending messages out until a certain time... well I reckon that's what Randy's done here. Before he packed his suitcase and trundled off to the beach for the summer he thought, "Hmmm what if the fans get restless and journos start to pester me again... hang on I know!!" Expect another one (albeit with a few words changed using shift F7) around the end of August.

Actually it would make a lot of sense to delay it, if the new owner was somehow able to sanction/fund spending in the meantime. The second we get new owners you can guarantee that selling clubs will bump up the asking price quoted to us for players. At the moment we're seen as paupers and as such that actually puts us in a better bargaining position. Saying that I don't believe it.

Totally acceptable, so long as it was prompted by you it sticking through the bottom of the popcorn box.

'And then after I'd convinced him to give you a job, I said "and have you thought about Phillipe Senderos?" ho ho ha ha'

Transfer figures on their own are irrelevant... West Brom might not visibly spend £20m this summer but you can bet the difference in Lescott's wages and that of their average wage are the equivalent of a good few million. Everton are the same - on the face of it they get by spending a relatively small amount. But add up the extra expense in wages of Barry, Delefeou, Traore (even though he hardly played) and Lukaku and I bet it's a big chunk of that £20m figure.

Hurrah!! We're saved

^^^ Agree. Makes it even more confounding that it's pretty much the opposite scenario with the England team.

You have a good point there meatball. That ITV spot is a pretty cushty number, I know I wouldn't give it up for a job which didn't have assurances for the long term (which would be impossible unless new owners had ratified it in some way. Either that or we've guaranteed him a big pay off if it does get cut short - which given the learnings of the last few years, Randy surely would not have allowed.

"Erm... no i'm not"

James Nursey @JamesNursey Expecting a quiet day at #AVFC. Heard no arrivals likely and they have given up on Hoolahan ah shucks

I wouldn't blame Villa for not having a deal in place to sign him permanently. It's very rare a loaning team are willing to do this - whats in it for them? Think about it, its basically a transfer with a money back guarantee if he's shit.

Sorry but football as most of us once knew it is dead. For as long as we can't compete financially, we won't be able to compete on the field. I for one find no pleasure in being the plastic cones of the premier league - just there to make the real teams look good. I'd be 100% for Red Bull taking us over. You'd just have to hope that as a big global brand with sensible, reasonable thinking people at the top, they'd avoid a Cardiff situation and keep our core identity.