El-Reacho

Is that not what more or less happened when he fell out with Harry at Spurs?

I don't think Bent would be having such a strop if he had already agreed to move somewhere else. It's not like there's any England games he's desperate to get before January. Also if the deal was done and dusted couldn't they announce it? I reckon it's C.

Lambert under pressure here: http://goo.gl/IYVG2

Would seem a shame to swap those two players when they're both at their most effective when they play together. I'd rather see them both in our side rather than Liverpool's though. Both Lambert and Rodgers seem to be against the traditional winger whipping a cross into a fox in the box type mentality though. O'Neill will probably try and buy them both......

Nerves had a big impact last night IMHO. It was the youngest Villa PL team ever according to someone on twitter? You could tell they knew how important this game was and it really seemed to hinder them - especially in the first half. Either the goal, or else Stephen Ireland coming on, or a combination of both really seemed to lift the team and there were fewer mistakes and more authority about how we played. Hopefully they can carry some of that into the QPR game.

Thought he was superb last night. I actually didn't see too much of the dodgy defending people are alluding to but his blocks and tackles were brilliant and his passing in midfield when we had the ball was excellent. I did panic when he gave the ball away with a backheel to no one on the edge of their box and they came up and attacked straight after.

Bit unfair to write him off after three or four cameo appearances this season, poor though he has been. Lambert obviously sees something. His lack of ability to beat his full back doesn't really endear him to our current 433. The season under Houllier showed he was good enough IMHO.

ITK?

Especially when Hutton was signed after we had supposedly learned from paying large sums for mediocre players and then giving them long lucrative contracts.

Wilshere and Sagna were supposedly spared for the same reason - although Wenger put them both on the bench.

Makes you wonder if there was orders from above to break up certain cliques - those guys were not given a chance by Lambert from day 1.

As crap as he was for us, to the outsider his treatment by Lambert has been poor I think. I wonder how Lambert came to the conclusion that Warnock, Hutton, and Collins had nothing to offer, yet Ireland, Delph, Gaby or Zog to name four were equally shit last season had a future. Just wonder if there was some issue behind the scenes with some of those players - I seem to remember McLeish alluding to some issues between the senior plays and the younger players?

I've no issues with Bent being left out of the starting line up - I totally see why, but to leave him out of the squad when fit is bizarre, particularly as the writer points out, all it does is decimate his value in terms of a January sale even further.

Not sure where to post as the Paul Lambert thread is closed but there was a bit of talk about Villa on yesterday's Guardian Football Weekly podcast. Philip Auclair was singing Lambert's praises about how well Villa were set up on Saturday night, and likened us to Borussia Dortmund's current team. I'm not sure whether this is just a lazy comment by him based on Lambert's past as I haven't really seen Dortmund play lately, but he said we are adopting the same tactic of picking out crucial players and hounding them in numbers so they simply can't create anything. He reckoned Lambert had done exceptionally well on Saturday night. I think they all agreed that of the bottom teams there was plenty of life left in ourselves and Southampton.

Bent's lack of dropping deep is the real problem. When Benteke and Bent play together they both need to be right up the pitch and that's a luxury we can't afford right now. I think that's what happened when we got destroyed by Southampton IIRC. Weimann and Gaby will track back and cover the full backs, Gaby has pace, and Weimann can carry the ball past people. Bent can't/won't do any of those things. To play Bent I think we'd have to drop Benteke and play Ireland behind him, so Weimann, Gaby and Ireland will put a shift in when we don't have the ball, and can create for Bent when we do. Bent doesn't give us the safety net of being able to hoof it up field when we're under pressure that Benteke does, because he'll barely even challenge for it let alone win anything. I can understand why Bent wouldn't be starting over Benteke - but I can't understand why Lambert would have Bowery on the bench over him though.

I think we're starting to veer away from the 'passing game' that we were attempting at the start of the season that was unsuccessful, with two up front and a diamond four in the middle. Our passing was visibly bad let alone looking at the stats, but with Bannan and Westwood coming into the team, and Weimann and Gabby playing wider I think we're changing to a more direct counter attacking game with long balls to Benteke, and the likes of Ireland, Weimann and Gabby carrying the ball rather than looking for a pass. The back four and Bannan and Westwood have looked much better at keeping the ball too than at the start of the season. I reckon that sat should improve if we can keep playing like we did on Saturday.

It's amazing how much the team has changed in such a short period of time. In June I'd never heard of Lowton, Holman, Benteke, or Westwood (or Bennett, KEA, Bowery etc for that matter). Guzan had left the club and now not only has he been re-signed but is keeping Given out. It's rare that you see a team change so dramatically - especially in the Premier League. I suppose in hindsight it was never going to click immediately was it?

That's pretty harsh IMHO, Delaney was one of our strongest players, albeit at a time when the squad had zero investment in it. He did a solid job alongside Mellberg at CB because the club couldn't go and buy another centre half. He coaches at the club nowdays doesn't he?

Of course I picked out the bit I took most exception to, but I could have picked out most of your post. You said that supporting Villa in the Championship and Barry Bannan being our best player would be a terrible experience - for me that's not the natural attitude of a football fan supporting their club. I'm not trying to be facetious here, but by what you've written in your post, you are part of the problem that you have actually outlined. If most of Villa's fans are going to bugger off if the club were to drop into the Championship then they're not really the club's fans to begin with; they're there to see Premier League football, not Villa. Therefore, should Randy throw money at the team to create a nothing more than a product that will attract people to Villa Park? I live in Ireland and getting to Villa Park costs me a fair chunk too, but I love it because of the effort I have to go to get there; of being in Birmingham on match day, getting the train with the fans, and being in Villa Park. I don't buy a ticket to see the opposition - I buy a ticket to see Villa, and if the worse case scenario were to happen I will continue to do so regardless of who they are playing.

Nice article that. They didn't mention that Stan's the club's official captain despite the fact he's currently unable to play for us, and is unlikely to this season at least. That was a classy touch from the club/Lambert.

Therefore you are not actually a fan of Villa but a fan of the Premier League? Would you have come over to see Villa play Watford in the PL?

With the exception of Arsenal and Utd (purely because of CR7), all of the top clubs have recouped a fraction of what they've splashed out on players. Liverpool are ready to write off the £20m they spent on Downing. When you take into account what we got for Milner/Barry/Young/Downing we're no worse than the other top clubs. Lerner knew what he was getting into and knew what he was gambling with. Spurs do alright mind you - exception rather than the rule though IMHO.

Mellberg's a good shout. He's 35 now.

Surely we have such a character in Richard Dunne. Could turn out to be a vital player for us this season strangely enough. Scott Parker would be a good call.

He was let go because he had no tactical acumen whatsoever. He inherited and subsequently assembled a superb squad which was as good as Arsenal's and maybe Utd's, but he couldn't compete with them without spending more and more money. We've been down this road with O'Neill and it's quite clear that Lerner wants the club to grow again sustainably - and rightly so; he's had is fingers badly burned. Sustainable growth and Harry Redknapp do not go hand in hand. Throw money at a roll of the dice, high risk CL challenge and Harry - perfect match. He'll be long gone when we have to pick up the pieces again.