El-Reacho

Lambert's quotes about Libor's injury would make you think he's having to rethink things now. Perhaps we'll have to wait until the summer for the number 10 if he wants to go and get a replacement for Kozak now.

Goodness, Defour looks half decent, i wonder who first choice is.. Someone cheaper I'd imagine.

Must need some metalwork if he's having surgery tomorrow. Mobility wasn't exactly key to his game so hopefully he can come back to his previous levels.

Maybe it's just his association with McLeish but Scott Dann kind of reminds me of the type of player lambert's tried to rid us of over the past 18 months. Having said that Heitinga could be a good shout, although it's more likely he'd be brought in as cover for Vlaar rather than to form a partnership with him.

It's obviously not the case that Lambert just gives Faulkner a list and says go and get them if he's on the phone discussing wages himself.

Delph's on more than Benteke currently is apparently.

How can Nuremberg be half way through the season and still not won a single game. "NurembergTalk" must be going apocalyptic. Not a great endorsement of Kiyotake that. Seems to have bagged a couple of goals having said that.

They way our performances are at Villa Park at the moment he'd be as paralyzed as the rest of the kids if he got a look in. He needs brought in when there's a few more experienced heads to keep him right, not just Ron Vlaar. It's the same for all the kids we have - they're all shitting themselves and don't want the ball and there's no one on the pitch to calm them down and build their confidence. Hopefully the supposed change in transfer policy will address this to some extent.

Must be a reason Lambert came on board and isn't kicking up a fuss about the transfer kitty. Norwich spent far more than us last summer. He must have been convinced of a plan to take the club forward. He's not the kind of person to jump ship to us just because of our history etc etc...

Comes across as a smug wee shit. He's now become the figure head for the 'not good enough to play for Manchester utd' brigade at Old Trafford.

some Villa supporter that knows Barry claimed we were his #1 choice but there was no interest from Lambert Heard this a few times on various podcasts and stuff.

Sign three players similar to Ron Vlaar (or Bouma/Laursen when we signed them), that is mid to late twenties, relatively high standard, high level of international experience, leadership qualities and strong personality in changing room, and cheap: £3-4m each. One for midfield general role, one for attacking mid/wide player, and one for left back. I don't know who these players could possibly be, but Vlaar was a name I was familiar with because of the Dutch national team but maybe is just not quite top four standard. Three others of this ilk.....

Thought Lambert said everyone would get a look in over the Christmas run.

Doesn't this scare people? Something has to be done about the owner before he cuts again. Awful. I skimmed passed the post not realising it was hands until you brought it up, and having realised it was him, yes it is kind of scary. "No where close to it" (Affording him), Bloody hell what has financially happened to our club?! Nothing. This a choice by the owner. A billionaire concerned about making sure he's financially OK. Nothing wrong with the club. Absolutely true. The club is spending the amount of money that the income generated will allow. This is the club finding its correct financial level. Why should the owner pump any more of his own cash in?

No-one has said we expect to sign 16 superstars on a budget but what we do expect is that they are able to either keep possession or pass to a team mate on a regular basis and you can be a leader on the pitch while not costing much (Roy Keane) just one example. Do you mean like when Roy keane signed for Celtic for free? When he signed for Utd. he was a PL record signing with the two biggest sides in the country chasing him. In today's values he would have gone for around £30m....

AVB is the managerial equivalent of the emperor's new clothes. He either has the best agent in the world or a very powerful PR machine behind him.

its not. yesterday, Cardiff, Fulham, West Ham, Hull. Sunderland and Spurs I be surprised if we created 5 chances from open play in them games combined If this was Eck you would be 1st on here calling for his head and slaughtering the style That would be an exaggeration in my book. Pretty sure we had 5 chances yesterday - Albrighton alone had 4-5 shots on goal, even if they were straight-forward for DeGea.

If our performances follow the same trajectory as last season we could be in quite good shape come the end of the season. To be around the mid-table mark after some brutal performances is quite impressive. Things will click at some stage - hopefully sooner rather than later. The Benteke missed penalty against Everton was the turning point for the team's performances and Benteke's own performances. We'll get another turning point like the West Ham win last season where performances will start to improve. Will likely be a Benteke goal I reckon....

Anyone know what our stats are like regarding defending set pieces? If you concede as many as we did on Saturday the law of averages suggests we will concede a goal. Have we really not progressed from Dec/Jan/Feb when we were utterly atrocious?

We were a bit like that under Gregory - Remember Carbone did something similar in a cup game. Ginola not so much.....

Only De Gea and Lloris better on current form. Hart's off the boil big time. Mignolet looks good too though.

Faulkner still in charge as far as I'm aware and is doing the job Langham did back then. He's doing pretty well too IMHO. Am quite sure decisions such as transfer budget or managerial appointments (McLeish's in particular) are above his pay grade and can't be attributed to him.

Erm - Didn't we concede a goal to Newcastle on Saturday with Clarke on the pitch ? No not with Clarke on the pitch. How many years has Clark been in and around the first team, what five or so? Still some muppets need to learn how to spell his name correctly. Thick. Can't understand this. Even RTE printed his name as Clarke repeatedly during the Ireland qualifier last week.....

Was Roy Keane there? Heard that he was at the All-Ireland yesterday.

Think people are being harsh on him. He's in the same position now that Delph was in this time last year - there's every chance he can turn things around. He'll be further up the pecking order than N'Zogbia based on his wages alone.