Shaw_nuff

I think this is the next part of Lambert's plan. Really? I'll tell you what worries me about the last 8 months or so, is Lambert's taste for a 9'11" front man. Granted, there are times when you should mix it up and also I think tekkers turned out to be better on the deck than he first anticipated. But it all points to a particular style of play. Direct and counter attacking? I have no problem with us being able to counter or going direct to a target man. Me neither.... that wasn't my point.

Well, he won't play him unless forced so maybe he is a target man 'work in progress'. In your view what is he then? Genuine question. And how do you know that? Why would Lambert buy somebody that isn't a target man in order to turn him into one? There are plenty out there. He's good with the ball at his feet. Got good technique but not as strong as you might think. That's not even my view - that's the kind of player he is. His height is virtually irrelevant to that. Ok, fair enough. I'll rephrase that.... Helenius can describe himself as the next Iniesta or Tony Morley, doesn't mean it's gonna happen. Look, let's be honest, we all know where players this tall end up playing in this league. He's no number 10.

Well, he won't play him unless forced so maybe he is a target man 'work in progress'. In your view what is he then? Genuine question.

I think this is the next part of Lambert's plan. Really? I'll tell you what worries me about the last 8 months or so, is Lambert's taste for a 9'11" front man. Granted, there are times when you should mix it up and also I think tekkers turned out to be better on the deck than he first anticipated. But it all points to a particular style of play.

Good point. It really does appear that the Premier league is morphing into two distinct leagues of ten teams - those fighting for europe and those fighting relegation. There used to be a middle layer of clubs that would be well clear of both with half a dozen games to go, but not any longer. Villa is well ensconced in the latter and the problem is we are the biggest club of the bottom-half league and viewed as a club in terminal decline. We're like the Ottoman Empire of the 19th century, but rather than being the 'sick man of Europe', we're the sick man of the Premier league.

Where we are:

Motivation has f*** all to do with it. You can call me Xavi until you're blue in the face, it ain't going to make me any better if I'm a championship player at best in the middle of a one-tactic team.

Look on the bright side, we'll be first on the tele.

Much needed result. Better performance. Still 'meh' though. Poyet has his work cut out. Fair's fair though - progress on the last month or so.

I disagree. Against Swansea, around the 60th minute, some fans started to boo. Within seconds of that, a huge chant of 'Villa, Villa, Villa' drowned them out. 5-10 minutes later it happened again. A backpass to the keeper (or something equally irrelevant but somehow disgraceful) caused more boos, and again the Holte roared in their support, to cover the boos again. That was my biggest indication, to date, that Lambert still has the majority on his side. We were chanting, not to spur the players on, but to cover the boos and stop any loss of confidence that it could have caused to the team. There are plenty of fans concerned at the goings on but who will never boo.... I'm one of them.

Well, he'd better sort it soon or we're down. I'd take 17th right now. From four games in we were starting to get spanked in performance but luck with results was with us.... the our luck ran out and we're now getting spanked on both fronts. I don't expect us to outpass the best teams but i do expect players being paid professional money to be able to pass to a team mate. 25% possession at home will kill us - Vlar for one is made of balsa wood and will break down again if he keeps getting turned constantly. Survive this season and PL gets until next Xmas for me to show this 'vision'.

Do you think the 'big name loan' is the one that made him "fall off his chair"? He didn't fall off his chair. Randy pulled it from underneath him and took it to a car boot sale.

I haven't posted on this thread until now because I really wanted to work out how I felt. Thanks for the info HH, much appreciated if mostly common knowledge to be honest. I have been one of the most critical (dumbfounded if I'm honest) with what has been happening on the pitch since the Man City luckfest. However, I've always maintained that PL should be given two and a half years minimum. This time next year should be the real assessment point (barring the real risk of relegation). Going back over the financial restrictions imposed does give the situation a little more clarity...............BUT - my memory keeps dragging up the mind-blowingly awful football we are currently enduring. I have never seen anything this bad. I want to believe it's an aberration on the way to better things, but It is so bad that have my doubts.

It's the 'fickle' tag that's kept the crowd relatively quiet for now. It was an undeserved throw-away comment that stuck and none of us fans want to live up to it so we're actually too patient considering the tripe served up, me included.

It's what happens when you chase the ball for the best part of 20 games. It will only get worse as our players become more and more knackered - I've never seen such a string of worrying possession stats.

A bit harsh. hopefully that area of his game will improve. i think on the right wing he could do some damage with that pace. Yeah, to the corner flag.

Bacuna can't play football. Every time i see him he has that dead giveaway hunched-over look of someone who can't control a ball. His free kicks have been great, but it masks his open play which is nothing short of shite. 2/10

It's not negative, it's an observation and it's where HH's explanation falls down - and it's only the second hurdle. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to work out the stages of the plan, but when the second section is falling apart at the seams, what's left to build on?

Red Bull Park? No thanks and I don't care how much money there is. It's the quickest way to neuter a club in one fell swoop.

Maybe Mervyn King can buy us out with that big fat index-linked pension of his which he and his fraudster, thieving bankster mates stole from the rest of the world?

I wish we'd spend more time learning the difference between deluded and delusional.

Lerner knows that the whole western economy is in a 'dead cat bounce' (google it if it needs explaining). There is no more money. Soon all our railways, care homes and football clubs etc. will be owned by arabs, chinese and malasians. Enjoy!

In San Francisco Apparently. At least his heart is:

If we narrowed it to the width of a pencil we might win games At least we'd draw them......... coat, me, fetch.

I'd tell Sid to blow the dust off his boots right now.