Villarocker

I feel sorry for Balotelli in some ways and then in other ways I think he's insane. The racism is bang out of order and the only way he'll ever get it to stop is by pretending it doesn't bother him. Everyone has their drawbacks and each of us gets called named based on them. If you're small the first thing people will insult you on is your height. Bald and the first thing people see if your hairline. Fat, and the first thing they see is your waistline. With black folks the colour of the skin is the first thing that white people see. I have heard many Asians called Pakis in the past and thought "that guy is a tool on two accounts. Firstly, he's a racist. Secondly, he can't tell the difference between between Sikh and a Muslim." It's easy to say but Balotelli needs to find a way to ignore the comments on his colour and concentrate on the things he is good at, playing football. The goals will shut mouths. But, he needs to stop with the long face and spoilt brat look. He does himself no favours sometimes and gets in in the news for wacky things. To stay on topic - Man United = hahahahahahahahaha

The lads that sit behind me in K7 call Cleverley 'Clevs' and Delph 'Dalph', but that second one might just be the way it sounds in his funny, teenage voice. Either way, still annoying. I guess you must be one of a few that refer to Gabby as Agbonlahor, then. It's not worth it mate! You can save a lot of breath by calling him Gabby like the rest of us.

They can train at Villa Park!

I can't believe that Lambert allowed a bug to infect his players - Lambert and bug OUT!

It certainly DISTURBED me to see our line-up today!

Definitely to blame for 2nd goal but overall performance wasn't great either. Should definitely have scored and would have done if headed back across the 'keeper, which should be common practice. Surely 5th choice when all CB's are fit?

The guy was hapless today but, give the fella a chance to settle ad then see what he's made of. It's well know that our league is fast paced so he's going to need plenty of time to adapt to it. Lambert probably didn't do him any favours throwing him to that game!

I've not been Westwood's biggest fan but, this season so far, he's been outstanding. Big miss for us today and it showed. The next Villa player to play for England?

Feel sorry for Sanchez. He's been really poor but clearly way off the pace of this league. I hope he gets up to speed and is a success. Clark has been poor and has surely blown his chance at Villa and is now 5th choice cb? Not based on this game alone but last couple of seasons.

Bring back the 'Are we the new Stoke' thread. I guess these stats show one thing - we are defending better!

Has any other Villa manager divided fan opinion like Paul Lambert does?

You've got to be kidding right? Not at all. I would hasten to add that having a good start so far this season does not constitute "improvement". We started last season well too. Fair point Ozzy. The Liverpool display, whilst defensively a major improvement, still resembled the backs-to-the-wall performances often seen from Villa in the last couple of seasons. Great if we win but not so great if we capitulate. I still think the season will contain ups and downs but don't think we'll be in fear of relegation like the last 2-3 seasons. However, I would like to think that we will be a stronger and more physical team who won't get bullied around like the past few seasons, and that alone makes me a lot happier as a Villa fan.

I thought the exact same thing. Unless any "long term strategy" is for as long as the club is up for sale for before being bought, it makes no sense. If a Bajillionaire comes in tomorrow and gives Randy the money he wants, is that the long term strategy over? Maybe the long term strategy is for the club to remain up for sale and whilst it remains that way it will continue to be run in a professional way, whereby it keeps hold of, what the existing management deems to be, it's main assets. Seems pretty sensible to me.

I think some people are looking at this way too deeply. Lambert's remit was to oversee things whilst the wage bill was cut. He's done that and now only has a couple of the big earners, who will leave soon, to go. Then, it was to keep us in the league whilst doing this, which he's also achieved. We are now into the third season and Lambert's transfer policy has changed and he's done a great job in the summer and found himself with an experienced team and a good start to the season but, I think the contract is about the start to the season. I think it's for two reasons. Achieving the goals set in his first two years and to stave off interest from other suitors, such as Newcastle. Lambert may not be everybody's cup of tea but I am sure there'll be many Chairmen out there who are thinking that he'd be great for their clubs. I think we should just all be happy with our we're doing doing and let the club get on with doing well right now.

my last reply was deleted but yea it was me and we were lambasted for it, just as it was last month when I mentioned how well he had played for Scotland even through the wilderness years. Said he was a quality player, mocked for it ForfarVillan, does your sharing of the praise regarding Hutton mean that you are not an independence seeker ?

I don't think we'll win the title this year. Maybe if we'd added another two full backs to the squad to cover the two Al's but until that happens I think we'll just have to settle for the runners-up spot. Maybe next season though!

There's no way you're a 36 inch chest son. Feels more like a 30 to me!

Here we are now entertain us...... certainly true of the team at the moment.

It's great watching a proper left back playing for the Villa. Well done Aly, keep it up mate.

Full praise to Lambert for what he's done over the summer. He's brought in experience and it's made a huge difference, together with Keane has number two. Keep it up Paul, you're doing great.

Seems like we carry more of a physical threat this season and there can only be one person responsible for that. To be fair though, if any of us had been given a coaching role at Villa, wouldn't we have started by saying that the team is too much of an easy touch? I know I am pretty certain Keano would have told them all to toughen up and get stuck in more. Whatever has been said it's certainly working.

Should have gone to Specsavers.

It was really, really refreshing to see a Villa player use some dirty tactics. For far too long we've had a squeaky clean team so it was great to see Big Phil have a few cheeky kicks at Balotelli. Surely Keano had something to do with this? Can just imagine him in training having a word in Phil's ear telling him to wind up Balotelli and throw him off his game.

Fixed again? Is Vlaar out for the Liverpool game or not? I hope that Okore replaces him if concrete Ron is injured.

So that is now four Premier League clubs up for sale. Is this pure coincidence or is this the beginning of the death of the Premier League due to the huge and obscene amounts of money needed to compete? Let's face it, if you own something that takes part in competitions, you would want a realistic chance to win something in exchange for your investment. English football is currently just an open trophy store to a select band of clubs - Man City, Man Utd, Chelsea, Liverpool and Arsenal, with the exception of the odd cup upset. This is also where the biggest names wish to play their football and even if they do play for another top flight club, they only use it as a stepping stone until a "bigger" club comes in for them. What happens if other non elite clubs follow suit and their owners lose belief in the hope of ever winning anything? How long would it then be before a certain group of clubs decide to part company with the elite, or, will it be the elite clubs that seek to part company first and live their dream of a European League, with the rest of the elite clubs from around Europe? Whatever happens, I believe that having three other Premier League clubs up for sale cannot be good for Villa. We have an owner who has had enough and wants to sell up. He's going to find that even harder to do now, surely. And, if that is the case, Villa are only going to continue to struggle in the bargain basement of the Premier League, unless of course Lerner somehow re-ignites his passion for the club.