Matt1874

IMO we stayed up despite Lambert's team selection last season. Benteke and Agbonlahor's goals kept us up. Sylla and Bowery playing didn't.

Everyone fit: Guzan Bacuna Okore Vlaar Luna KEA Delph Lowton Nzogbia Agbonlahor Benteke Now (with Delph back): Guzan Bacuna Vlaar Baker Clark KEA Delph Lowton Helenius Tonev Benteke

I think we kind of agree really! Just shows how poor our squad is that the best option we have as anchor man is someone who looks like a rabbit caught in the headlights when he's got the ball at his feet.

If Sylla is in the team then I would play him as the deepest midfielder as he's strong and likes a tackle. But I'd rather he didn't play at all as I don't think he is (or ever will be) good enough.

Trouble is I'm not sure I'd be that comfortable with him sitting in front of the defence. He's that clueless with the ball at his feet I'd be worried about him making the odd clanger and putting the opposition in on goal. That's true but when you consider we have a decent footballer at DM and it isn't actually making much difference to the football played anyway, then I'd go with industry over football for now sadly. I'd leave Sylla (and possibly Westwood) on the bench. If Delph's fit I'd maybe look at playing a 4-2-3-1 with Delph and KEA as the 2, Lowton RM, Tonev LM (assuming everyone else still out) and play Helenius AM (worth a proper look) behind Benteke.

Trouble is I'm not sure I'd be that comfortable with him sitting in front of the defence. He's that clueless with the ball at his feet I'd be worried about him making the odd clanger and putting the opposition in on goal.

Bacuna RB, Lowton RM. Lowton our most creative player a lot of last season. Best crosser we have.

Get Sylla off for someone less shit

Sylla just doesn't know what to do when he's got the ball.

How can you possibly call Okore an excellent signing and in the same time claim jury's still out on Kozak, surely jury's still out on both of them. Also, Lowton and Vlaar have been major parts of the worst Villa premier league defence ever assembled. They can be classified as OK signings at best IMO. I think it's clear to see that Okore will be a great player and is already an improvement on Clark and Baker. Vlaar is a good player who's under rated on here. Just as Weimann is incredibly over rated. Lowton for me is already an excellent player who we miss. So much of our best play went through him last season. I'd have him instead of Weimann. I say jury's out on Kozak more out of hope than expectation as he looks useless. But Benteke looked like the new Heskey when we bought him.

Well quite a lot of times that increase is purely because we bought them, not because they are actually better. If you take any cheap lower league/small foreign league player and put them in a premier league team their value is boosted a bit just because they are now a 'Premier League player'. They are still the same mediocre cheap player you bought though. Some are mediocre but IMO likes of Guzan, Benteke, Lowton, Okore, Vlaar have been excellent signings which outweigh the bad (likes of Bowery). Jury's still out on likes of Kozak (doesn't look good so far), Helenius, Tonev I'm not defending Lambert as i'm far from his biggest fan but with the budget he's had I think he's done pretty well and I don't think we're far off from having a decent line up. E.g. Lowton, Okore and Nzogbia (not that I think that'll happen) in for Baker, Weimann and Tonev is a good team.

To be fair to Lambert, on the flipside, the players he's brought in (and let's not forget Guzan in that list) are worth far more overall now than what we paid for them. It's just making a team out of them that he struggles with.

I would bet my last penny that Lambert would want a player as good as Barry in the team but was put off by his wage demands. You can blame Lerner for that. Bargain basement - that's where Villa shop these days. It's hard to say want Lambert wants. If we already have good players at the club on high wages he just lets them rot in the reserves until they're worthless. Nzogbia will be next. And Barry's age is way above what Lambert would contemplate.

Lambert has IMO overall shown pretty good dealings in the transfer market. Although I think the savings made by getting some of the big earners off our wage bill would have been greater (actually selling the likes of Bent and Ireland for decent sums) if he hadn't taken millions off their value by bombing them out. And he seems popular with the players. But he seems to struggle with picking the right starting XI, making the right call on subs, tactics etc. Which can be the difference between winning and losing.

I'm sick of hearing about how hard he tries. If he's not good enough he shouldn't be in the team. For me he's very over rated. He's an average striker who's a poor wide player. Even if he tries hard. It's not enough.

Guzan Bacuna Vlaar Baker Luna KEA Delph Lowton Helenius Agbonlahor Benteke Weimann needs to be dropped. For me Bacuna looks more defensively solid than Lowton but we miss Lowton's creativity and he should be in the team. Weimann in my opinion offers very little at RM and hard work alone isn't enough. We need someone who can make things happen. Especially at home where we can't rely on counter attacking. Which is why i'd also give Helenius a start. His best position is meant to be off the front man. He looks a clever, creative player and could link up well with Benteke. It's worth a try. Playing Westwood, Delph and KEA together doesn't offer enough going forward. I don't know if Clark's fit or not but i'd play Baker as we need his presence against Lukaku and for me he's a better defender than Clark despite Clark's recent form.

Yep

Yep kind of what I was saying. We look more solid with Bacuna at RB but I think we need to accomodate Lowton's attacking threat. Weimann wide right doesn't work for me. I think Lowton should be given a chance there. Kozak and Benteke, when he's fit, would get better service and we're crying out for creativity. Especially at home

Unless Lowton's got an injury or something's happened behind the scenes it's a joke that he didn't make the squad. One of our only players who looks like making something happen. And from right back. Fair play to Bacuna who's been brillant lately but Lowton's got to be starting for me. Maybe wide right instead of Weimann. Or at the front of a middle 3 with Delph and KEA behind. I think he's capable of playing there.

Hello. I'm Matt. I live in Nottingham and have done since around 1998 but grew up in Birmingham and had a season ticket through most of the 90s. I get to the odd game when I can and took my 5 year old son to his first game against Malaga.