Pez1974

£1.75m according to Kendrick, also looking to complete another deal tomorrow.

You're just being greedy now!

4.

Point v's WHam, and a win out of the blue, because we can do stuff like that. The only problem is that we will, say, beat ManC but have gifted 3 points to relegation rivals.

But I might be drunk

Good luck to him - it ain't his fault he's shit. Hopefully he does a good job a few months, and they take him on.

IMO he isn't good enough. He is a walking card, and should have been sent off at least twice last season. Lowton will make mistakes too, but should learn and become a better player over the next 12 months. Plus he's a lot cheaper, which is the club we are now.

This is great. I never get in before the lock, but have now!

Gotta get me a funny picture.

Guys quality, and clearly loves the club.

Someone will probably **** up the new contract though

Shit - €10m for him. 3 or 4 years ago we'd have been able to afford that. Except MON would have preferred someone who was 28 and already played in the Premier League!

About what we agreed for Ireland isn't it. On he will probably be on less wages too.

^{I think getting rid of Hutton is more important. Warnock is gone in 5 months anyway, so although it would be nice to save his wages, the 2 1/2 (?) years left of Huttons is more important.}

La Liga strugglers Real Mallorca want to sign Aston Villa full-back Alan Hutton, according to skysports.com

And we want them to sign him. Do they need 2?

Warnock, Hutton, Ireland, Bannan and N'Zogbia get led to their execution.

That'd be **** funny.

Intersting stuff, and I love the stats. What they don't show is the why? Why do our defenders not pass to the midfield, for example. I also think that many people blame the midfield for the pressure we always have on us. Yeah, Bannan and Delph may complete passes, but if they are hospital balls which the defenders lose, whose fault is that really? I suspect the stats will show the midfielder completed the pass and the defender lost it, or hoffed it long and out of trouble.

I suspect that Wigan game on the last day of the season may well be to decide which club goes down!

I feel the same. And I don't expect us to win.

I think I'd be tempted too. They're not the best options, but I'm just sick of seeing Barry Bannan in our side.

I'd go for something like this

- - - - - - - - - - - - Benteke - - - - - - - - - - -

Gabby - - - - - - - N'Zogbia - - - - Wiemann

- - - - Warnock/Clark - - Westwood - - - - -

Bennett - Dunne/Baker - Vlaar - - Lowton

- - - - - - - - - - - - - Guzan - - - - - - - - - - - -

Warnock used to play in CM for Blackburn occasionally, and he did have a few decent games there for us last season when Petrov was absent (I'm sure he scored a half decent goal aswell).

I actually think Lowton and Bennett will both look much better when played in a back 4. Especially Bennett, who could do with not having to shoulder a wingback role where he has to think about attacking and defending.

I can't understand why people put Weimann out wide. He is a finsher; he can't cross or pass very well (although by the standard of recently, he is as good as anyone else) and his decision making is quite poor. However, his finishing is outstanding. Play him alongside Benteke and he will score goals. His workrate upfront is a bonus, not a reason to play him out of position.

This thread is hilarious, moaning about flags that were free, if you felt that strongly about it why did you wave them? You obviously did because the entire place was awash with flags being waved and it looked brilliant and it added to what was an unusually good atmosphere. But I guess its something to moan about and act cool "I snapped mine in half" ha ha ha me caveman me strong.

Grumpy! If nothing else, the picture on page 2 is worth the thread alone.

Mine went hom for my 4 year old daughter. She loves stuff like that. She didn't want it!

Welcome to the new rant section of Villa Talk!

As for last night, although there were certain players who were not close to good enough, I will actually blame Lambert most of all last night.

The line up confused me, as it did not suggest a coherent shape to the team. Barcelona get away with it, but they are good with good players. We can't and didn't.

Ireland, N'Zogbia, Gabby and Bannan all seemed to have a 'floating' role, with only Benteke and Delph having an actual role to play outside of the defense. This was massively exacerbated in the second half when we lost a miniscule of creativity from Bannan (who at least kept the ball moving in the first half) for the statue that was Bent, and worse still when we lost some width in the team by replacing Bennett. At this point Bradford only had to deal with a frontal attack, and they did. So for the, the tactics were shocking, and if PL planned this, we have a problem. If the players did not know what they were doing, we have a problem.

Bennett made a couple of mistakes early on with passes, and a few in the crowd got on his back and his head dropped. After the played the cross for Benteke's goals, half the team rushed to him - he is clearly struggling with confidence, and I think too many fans are quick to get on at him, instead of trying to support him.

Finally, congrats to Bradford. We were shite across 3 halves of football, but they could only beat what was put in front of them.

West Ham manager Sam Allardyce says he is finding it tricky to bring in the defensive reinforcements he needs. "We've been trying in the whole of the window to try and bring in a defender, but not been able to clinch a deal yet," he said. "That is probably because we have been looking for a short-term deal in loans, as in terms of not permanent deals."

Got a left back and a right back for you if you want Sam. Both internationals. And they have both played with one of your centre halfs, meaning that can play with minimum adjustment. You can have 'em both for **** all, just pay their wages.

PS. as we are being so nice and helpful, any chance of Diame in return? Or Noble?

Pretty tense - need to start fast and get an early goal or 3 to settle us all down.

Made a promise to myself to give the team total support for the game - but will let rip at the end if we go out.

I am picking up my cousin who said to "be there for 6:00, if we want to be in the ground for 7:15" **** idiot, hasn't he seen outside this week!

The curse of the Villa shirt sponsor strikes again. Don't all the firms end up going belly up -

Davenports

Mita

CDWS

MG

AST

Be afraid Genting

LDV?

Not a massive worry for me. If the glass were half full, negotiating a new deal having secured European football by winning the League cup for a record equalling 5th (?) time, we should be getting more next season anyway.

He wouldn't dare **** this up. Would he?

Nah, he must know that us going out would be major headlines. After the Southampton penalty, and his previous with us, any controversy will be plastered everyone.

Surely the little **** wouldn't dare?!?!

Anyhow

Would people take the rumoured £13m offer from Newcastle for Bent IF Lerner allowed the money to be reinvested in new players

It's a toughie as potentially we are selling to a relegation rival but on the other hand Bent isn't doing a lot for us about now and 2 or 3 new players might work better for us

Yep. But no player excahnges unless we initiate them

Agree on the need to keep PL, as consistency is the big issue at the club.

I would love to think that next season would be the brave new dawn, but I thought that this season was meant to be the new dawn too. Yes, we lose another couple of high earners, and perhaps we can shift some of the clutter both in the high earners (Ireland, Hutton, Given, Bent, etc) that are left, and some of the ex-academy players (Bannan, Delfouneso, Albrighton, etc) but that leaves us needing to bring in another shed load of players, presumably from the lower leagues or overseas, and another rollercoaster.

I am desparate for us to stay up and show real progress under the new business model, but fear we could stay like Wigan for another few seasons, rather than make progress.

Hutton for me is a big no for me. He has barely put a foot right since he joined the club; poor defender, walking yellow/red card and contributes almost nothing going forward. Why we would play he ahead of Lowton, who has been sound, sometimes very good, and has great potential.

Warnock is another matter. He clearly has ability, and has shown some form for us in the past, albeit infrequently. However, LB is a problem position for us, as is DCM where he did OK for a few games last season. For me, he is worth a punt, perhaps Milwall, if no-one else wants him. The fact that he is a tosser doesn't really come in to it - are there many footballers who aren't tossers nowadays?

Get rid of ASAP:

Warnock

Hutton

Bent (I think Weimann does his job much better and cheaper)

Ireland

Makoun

Delfouneso (useless)

Get rid of as soon as we have a replacement

Dunne

Given (much cheaper 2nd choice keeper needed)

Lichaj (surely we can find a better reserve FB)

Stevens (see above)

Bannan

N'Zogbia (get rid whilst we can still get a fee and get someone more consistent and cheaper)

Albrighton

Gabby (too inconsistent and wages are way too high - probably move him off to the north east!)

There is simply too many there to get rid of in one transfer window, although I would expect at least 6 or 7 to go given the states of contracts and playing time this season. However, I think there is some resale value there, ut no more than £30m, which doesn't come close to replacing them all. This is why Bent and Ireland made the top list, as they would probably command some fees, and maybe Gabby and N'Zogbia are the others for whom we can get decent money.

Next season is the last chance for:

Clark - either step up or be a squad player

Bennett - deserves a second season

KEA - deserves a second season

Holman - deserves a second season

Herd - settle for him being a squad player

Delph - looked OK in some games, either step up or be a squad player

Good luck Paul!

The balance in the squad is all wrong, and with the injuries we have had, this has been shown up. The likes of Clark, Herd, Delph are fine as squad players - it's just that they are first teamers. However, Lambert inherited this - he didn't create it.

Yesterday Lambert got his tactics right (for the first time in a while), and the team looked good. Then Delph got a knock, and we brought on.....Bannan. Not even close to a like-for-like replacement in the circumstances. No problems with the Zog for Holman subtitution - Holman ain't got a lot of talent, but we can't afford better.

For me, a really good DCM and we look much better for the rest of the season, esp if we can keep Vlaar and/or Dunne fit.

Once Dunne and Warnock go at the end of the season (plus hopefully a few others who add little value - Ireland, Given, Makoun, Hutton (I know), Bannan, Delfouneso, and perhaps Albrighton and Stevens depending upon what they earn), Lambert can afford to continue the work he has started.

Wow Hairyhands vs Mazrim - pistols at dawn!!!

At least this is a bit more exciting than the transfer window.

The point about ITKs is nearly always that they only have part of the story and I'm not sure some of the sources of the info currently being fed to Villatalk at present have anything like the full picture of what is happening at the club. (And, in saying that, I am not laying any claim of my own to be an ITK!)

Spot on.

Plus, nobody seems to take account of the fact that if they are ITK, they may only have been fed the 'story' that the person wants known, not the 'facts'.

Just because Dunne is back training doesn't mean he'll be ready for game time any time soon I'd imagine can't imagine him being anywhere close to match fit.

I agree, as he has been known it the past to have a bit of a weight issue.

But.....given the tweet below, this does kinda suggest he isn't too far away (he said, probably reading way too much into the word unlikely, because he needs some hope!)

Mat Kendrick ‏@MatKendrick

Lambert hinted that Vlaar will start for #avfc at #wba, Bennett is back from flu, Bent should train today, but Dunne unlikely to make squad