punkiller1981

Echo the thoughts of most if not all this is a good move. Butch Wilkins talks with more sense and knowledge than most in the game. For me more signs that the club are getting things off the pitch right finally. Hopefully its not to late for this to start having a positive impact on the team

The paper is saying today the has been no enquiry so far. Looking at it I don't see any of the top 4 going for him because he probably wouldn't be a starter for any of them and other than city I can't see them paying £32 mil for a bench warmer. That leaves Liverpool and spurs realistically, Liverpool can't or won't pay his valuation. Spurs in my opinion would not be a big step up, it would be a very slight step but he will still never get champions league football there. Add to that they have Daniel levy doing deals for them and he seems to value players they don't want anymore about double there realistic value and a player we don't want to sell he seems to value about 10 millions less than we do. I know it can't happen but I would love us to say one club we will not be dealing with on this are Spurs. Based on nothing other than my own warped thinking I'm struggling to see where he is going to go if he does leave us. However I would still be shocked if he was still at villa come January.

Just a thought I have been having. When was the last time we had a manager leave us to take a "better" job. My memory makes graham taylor to england as the last one. The reason I ask that is because if another club ie Man Utd or a job like england came up and they wanted our manager that would suggest we have been doing well. On that basis either we have appointed generally crap managers or the board have not supported the manager as they should or a combination of the two.

Just a thought I have been having. When was the last time we had a manager leave us to take a "better" job. My memory makes graham taylor to england as the last one. The reason I ask that is because if another club ie Man Utd or a job like england came up and they wanted our manager that would suggest we have been doing well. On that basis either we have appointed generally crap managers or the board have not supported the manager as they should or a combination of the two.

The manager past or future are not the problem the board room level is the problem. What right minded manager would want to join villa. Unless you win the champions league you get a load of people calling for your head. O'leary hounded out mccleish hounded out Lambert hounded out. I'm not saying any of these are great managers but any future manager is going to look at vills say right boardroom chaos not budget and supports wanting you out the second things dont go well. Good luck villa from this shambles to the next

Good Lord not sherwood.

I hate to say it everybody but I think I'm done with villa. I actually can't take how angry this club makes me and I don't think it's fair on the family for them to see me as angry as I have been over the last 4-5 years. I have been a villa fan since 1989 and I'm 33 years old now so I have stuck with it for long enough. The club is rotten from the inside and its rotting its self all the way through. This isn't based on losing to Hull or even about getting relegated which I think is now going to happen. I honestly don't think a change of manager will help I don't even think a change of owner will help. The is just a negative defeating vibe that will forever hang over the club. I currently feel a bubbling anger inside that I am struggling to suppress

The obvious one would be Eddie Howe for me but then he would probably get hung out to dry by the board like Lambert has. Plus he wouldn't ever come here. Also another name to throw out there Sean dyche at Burney doing a great job and seems to have a really positive approach.

As things stand he is convicted and had a failed appeal so I consider him a convicted rapist for ever unless the law of the land tells me otherwise. On that basis I do not understand why any football club/manager would be so morally bankrupt as to want a rapist on there payroll. Unfortunately it seems it's only when the sponsors tell them they don't want there name associated with rape do they suddenly say we were only in negotiations. As for the PFA they may as well issue a statement saying evens is a hero and the girl was begging for it. I really do think there handling of this is a disgrace. It is almost as if these clubs seem to think we are all going to forget he has been convicted "it's fine everybody will have forgotten about it in a week it will blow over and he might grab is a couple of goals". Pathetic really and I hope a massive deal gets made of it to stop that unapologetic convicted rapist ever getting a contract on this country. I heard Phil brown (who I think is a clueless idiot anyway) saying on the radio that he has served his time so get back on with playing. A. He can't possibley be rehabilitated as he hasn't even admitted what he did was wrong and B if he was a bank manger who did half a five year sentence for fraud would they say well banking is his only skill so he has to be allowed a job in banking. Not a chance, I think Evans and the PFA should accept that unless he is somehow not convicted of rape what he did on that night is the reason his football career in this country is over.

Hi rob You are probably right about me being exaggerating but that is born out of frustration at these people with the Lambert out agenda probably the same ones who put the David o'leary banner up a few years back and my point was simply who do we get that replaces him that would improve things. These idiots that shout lambert out very rarely seem to come up with great alternatives that would realistically work under our financial constraints. When I say I think we will have enough to stay up I'm not suggesting i would bet my house on it I just think we will based on what I have seen of all the teams this year. However as I said I think most of the time the football is appalling aimless idea less and unadventures but perhaps Lambert has decided to build from the back get us solid then sort the goals/creativity out. I think personally the main problem we have is that we still only have the counter attack as an effective way of playing and at home that works ok against sides like Man Utd but when you play palace or Blackpool who don't come at us and leave space we have no idea of how to break sides down.

I do love that quote, I imagine you were one of the guys shouting Lambert out on Sunday??? What do we honestly expect at the moment? I think we are lucky we he hasn't jacked long before now. He is a manager who had a good reputation before joining villa and we give him no resources and a shambles behind the scenes and then blame him because we are not challenging for the top 4/6. I think we need to get a reality check. This isn't me saying I'm happy with the way we are playing because I'm not, I think I could still be sat in the Holte End now waiting For us at score against palace, that was one of the worst games i have paid to watch. So I think lambert has a lot to answer for in terms of style but who do we honestly think will come in and be better given the situation. Can anyone give a genuine realistic alternative ?? Eddie Howe maybe but will he want to damage his reputation? Doubtful. I think we have done far more damage to Lambert than he has to villa. I'm terms of getting relegated we will be in no danger because boring and lacking in goals we are the team has solidity and the spine of the team put together for 12 ish million by lambert of Guzan okore Sanchez and benteke will be enough to keep us well clear

Hopefully not. I think we can replace anybody else but I think benteke with what he offers us and what players we can attract is irreplaceable.

Birmigham Mail have quoted Benteke as saying or was a mistake to ask for a transfer and wants to repay lamberts faith by building a side around him. Make of that what you will but at least I think it shows he is feeling positive. Or he goes in January

stop playing clark & baker world be a start for me, that should hopefully see better results which might giv me some faith. Also perhaps show the players the chelsea game at home last season and ask them why they can't play like that more often. And by that i mean the tempo, pressing, work rate etc and results will come.

The Mirror today has a quote "Colombia international Carlos Sanchez will fly in to join Aston Villa from Spain's elche before the start of the season" and thats from the mirror so it has to be 100% true and in no way just speculation.

the reason i say its worse is because it highlighted how we can play and how we chose to play against the sides such as stoke. Clearly it was important we won those games but annoys me we didn't perform like that more often.

Poor Season no denying that, in my opinion made worse by results against teams like Arsenal, Man City & Chelsea. Watching thoughs performances and then seeing the pathetic effort put in against stoke for example after we went 1 nil up after 5 minutes makes me angry. I know people always say you can have a go at the players ability but the effort can't be questioned thats rubbish, the effort against stoke wasn't there i don't think we put in one decent tackle all game. I accept that this could be down to the manager and his tactics but for me i think the efforts of some of the players in a lot of games was not good enough and i don't understand why? On the manager i was a big fan of Lambert when he was at Norwich the way he got them working hard chasing down and pressing all over the pitch, just like we did aganst Chelsea and guess what we got a result. But my faith in him is disappearing rapidly why set up a side to press the opposition for 7-8 games a season and then the rest of the time sit off and let poor sides pass around us it really makes no sense to me. Another issue i have with the team/manager is how deep we defend the defence drops off so deep (yes i admit are defence other than Vlarr is Championship standard at best and League 1/2 for Baker) and our midfield almost drops on to the toes of the already deep defence. Yesterday against Spurs every clearence from the defence just dropped nice and easily into Midfield for say sandro to have all the time in the world to then start another attack off. We should be pushing out getting pressure on the 2nd ball. We don't win any second balls because we sit so deep and then the ball gets cleared over the head of the midfeld and we are on the back foot again. I don't get the tactics, i can't be because we want to keep a clean sheet because we haven't kept many of them so dropping deep does not stop us conceding lots of goals. Back in MON day its used to frustrate me the amount of games we threw away by gettign a goal and then dropping on oto our own 6 yard line and trying to see the game out and ultimatly not being good enough to do it but now we do it frm the first whistle. Is it just me or would you rather have lost 6 nil at city and perhaps tried to get out our own half? i felt ashamed of the tactics in that game. to sum up some crap players badly organised rant over for now and i still love Villa even if i don't like them right now.

a beard ages any man !!! i took his age of Wikipedia which has his birthday as 23rd April 1991 which makes him 23 assuming wikipedia can be relied upon

firstly this guy isn't good enough for the premier league/championship, his level is league 1 downwards. I genuinly think no side in the championship would be breakign there necks to sign this guy. Firslty positioning if Vlarr isn't playing is awful and only marginally better when he is. secondly his tackling is a liability he dives in telegraphing every tackle and only a matter of time before he is sent off. Thirdly he gets dominated in the air against any striker who is of a similar size to him. Fourthly he has no football brain, his decision making is dreadful and his use of the ball shocking it does feel like somebody has dragged a guy of the streets who has never even watched a game of football and said fight kick anything that moves. He is 23 now (birthday today) he isn't a kid anymore he is well on with his career he isn't going to improve enough now to ever be good enough. We can't keep saying he is a young lad he will improve and develop cos that just isn't happening. Same with Clark who is 24 not developing not improving not good enough although clark does seem to have some sort of football brain. I do however admire the commitment Baker shows he would geniunly run through a brick wall for the club but we need far more than that at this level. On a side issue i remember watching villa 7-8 years ago and thinking christ ridgewell is crap but i really like the look of gary cahill. Easy to say now i know considering he is a chelsea and England regular putting in MOM performance in the champions league S/F. Along with running the club into the ground from a financial point of view MON also sold a player who would now if he had stayed been our captian and probably our best player. I know this thread is about baker but i just think we let that tosser MON off to light with this crime he commited against our club. Its not like playing cahill at the time was a big gamble he was playing to a high level even back then. That sale made me angry back then and it makes be angry still to this day. MON what a .......................

I go along with what i think is the general feeling of lambert is probably the right/best man for the job currently. He was the man i wanted after mcleish and last season he had my full support. He still does have my support but the result against chelsea makes me question it to a certain extent. I watched that game delighted with the pressing, hard work and tempo and the resutl was deserved, then i watch stoke and we start well pressing get 1 nil up and we sit back and hardly put a tackle in for the rest of the game and get our pants pulled down making what i consider to be a poor stoke side missing there best midfield player look like barcalona passign around us. For FS press and play at tempo and we would have beaten stoke, then the united game i just new we would capitulate against a side who a struggling with confidence and form and lets be honest are poor compared to other seasons. this is were my frustration with lambert starts, why press chelsea so well and then not bother doing it against stoke it nakes no sense to me and for me its happened to often this season. Good performances on occasions with high tempo but far to often lack lusture slow ponderous naive showings against average sides. I will add that i think the players should take a share of the responsability for poor perfromances. I am still backing lambert but this summer is a massive one for him IMO he needs backing by the board and i think he will get it right but if we have a season next year like the last 2 i will find it hard to keep the faith. I know he has his hands tide to a certain extent but we need to improve.

i agree the whole culture has to be changed in terms of how we play. The is a reason why we don't win many games, firstly that we support or few good players with complete dross. More worringly for me is our desire to try and play games by touching the ball as little as possiable, Southampton we won the game with hardly an possession. I know that stats like that can look misleading but lets be honest how many teams win games with such minimal possession, that result was a freak i would say. We need to gain and keep better possession and that comes from all through the team. Also another worrying trend i have noticed which i think has been with us since the MON era is if we are winning drop so deep the midfield drops right onto our defence. So as a result any ball cleared by are defence goes back over our midfields head and drops back with the oppoisition midfield and they attack again. We do the inevitable and at some point crack under the pressure and concede and all the players look forlorn becuase we ahve conceded despite it beign inevitable.

I have always been a big lambert fan and to be honest i still think he is the best man for the job at the moment and i say this while being very angry and wanting to throw chairs and tables at most of the players. I agree its lamberts job to get the players playing but look at what we have got and be realistic about were we are at. Guzan - decent keeper wouldn't look out of place in majority of sides. Bacuna - probably not good enough makes to many mistakes, gives the ball away to much and decision making is very poor. Vlaar- the one saving grace probably our best player if he does not play we may as well hand the 3 point over. Baker - not good enough for a championship side, wins very few headers for a centre half, tackling is a liablity, postioning awful, distribution pathetic, looks like he is running in quick sand and general all round lack of a clue about football. Looks like a big lad and someone has said just run and kick anything that comes near you. Bertund - Ok on loan better than what we have had a left back but not convinced he is worth spending loads of money on, lets be honest the is a reason why chelsea don't want him. Having said that he does improve us at left back so for a reasonable fee and wages sign him up but don't go excessive to get him just because he played a champions league final. Westwood - Generally good, passes well and gets us moving needs to control games for longer periods though but is a bright spot. El Ahamidi - Looks ok in patches plays some nice football sometimes but not effective enough. Delph - tries hard, puts himself about looks to be positive and with the right people around him could become a good player but he isn't an 18 year old any more so needs to start delivering. Weinmann - can't get to grips with this guy he clearly has no first touch, no football brain no real quality on the ball either passing or shooting but runs around like a made thing and seems to make himself popular for that. Gabby - The only forward player to actually look like he might score yesterday works hard still causes defences a problem. Benteke - Not sure how interested he is but lambert needs to get him playing, still a big strong powerful lad, first touch is not great and his movement needs to improve but we all know he is a good player and he will scare defences. Clarke - not great seems to have a footballing brain but not the ability to do what his brain wants him to do. better however than baker in my opinion but not by much Sylla - disapointing not good enough Bennett - not good enough Albrighton - inconsistant sometimes good some times really poor but perhaps needs a run of games. I am not going to go through anymore players but my point is we have 4-5 decent players but after that the players we have would not get in most championship sides hence why nobody ever tries to sign them from us. I don't know the in's and out's of Lerner/Faulkner/Lambert relationship but my belief is that he kind of has his hands tied money wise. We have spent money on a few players but you get what you pay for so we need to make decent investment in the team. Lambert needs to build a midfield that isn't dominated every single game regardless of who we play. If he can get okore in with vlaar next year then i think that is a decent CB partnetship. Upfront we have benteke (if he stays but the way he is playing he will be staying) and gabby i think given decent service they will be fine. So in summary lambert has his hands tied but next year if we stay up (i think we will just) then its time for lambert to start delivering, ireland's gone given's probably gone, a lot of the big wages are gone. Time for the excusses to stop from all running the club.

Just my opinon here but i would already be thinking about another new contract for this guy giving him what ever wage he wants to sign for 6-7 years. i appriciate this might sound mad but lets face it by now i think we all know this guy is the real deal and by giving him a huge contract the only a risk if he gets injured but i am sure we could get insurance to cover this eventuality. The long contract would show commitment by us and him to the cause and also mean a massive fee if anyone wants to buy him. I normally take the view on players that if i was running Villa everybody would be for sale at anytime as long as we got a great price for them that was on Villa's terms based on the fact that i have full confidence in the clubs ability to find replacement's of same or better quality that are perhaps a bit unproven. In Benteke's case he is so key to our play that i am not sure how we replace him if and when he does leave. I would also have put a clause in his contract which gifted him a 40-50% pay rise every year that he scores 15+ league goals but also adding an extra year onto that contract. While on the subject of contacts if this Okore is as good as people think he will be then by christmas time if he is another player looking the real deal then get him on a very long term contract with performance incentives etc. We need to be proactive in our contract negotiations keep constantly reviewing thinsg making sure we get best value for money while keeping and rewarding our best players.

I think this is fantastic news for the club and for ash and proof to me that somebody is giving a bit of forward planning too. I would have actually given him a 6 year contract make it heavily incentivised but with a sensible basic salary. I know 6 years is a risk with injuries etc but to me it shows faith in him and would give him a massive confidence boost like Arsenal did with fabragas, plus if he does turn out to be as good as we think he is and one of the top clubs comes knocking then we can get an even bigger fee for him. Also this shows me as well that you can create a side to compete in the premier league with good quality youth products combined with excellent young talent in the lower leagues and then add in 2/3 more experienced players. I genuinely think there are more rough diamonds in league one/two similar to lowton and westwood and I think we are the perfect club to find them and develop them and from a commercial point of view they don't require huge wages either.

I agree this one made me actually lol why on earth would spurs think that offering the option of any of these players would interest us its basically saying we want your best player because we are in London and think we are a big club but in reality we are not and can't afford him so we will offer you a load of crap that can't get in our first team play but also we think each of these payers are worth about £10 million so we are actually offering you an amazing deal. We should tell them if they want him they stump up the cash and they do it now not in installments over the next 2 years. The reality is they have already spent £17 million on one player and don't have the funds to spend 25-30 on another so think they can try and get benteke on the cheap. Its like going into a shop and saying i really like that tv and my house is a much better place for it to be but i can't afford it so i am going ot take it off your hands half price and chuck in an old betamax to sweeten the deal. It wouldn't happen we need to stand firm on this have a price we will sell at and if nobody meets it say to benteke tough mate nobody rates you as highly as you rate yourself so fet to training. I will be so bloody angry if we accept any player exchange espeically after getting such a good deal with Ireland from man city in the Milner deal.