Danishlad

I'd rather we opened the purse strings and bought Ben Arfa

This is not going to happen

I'd rather we opened the purse strings and bought Ben Arfa

Lambert needs to learn to talk properly, for a start. I'm English, and I can't understand a word he says when he talks... ...how Luna or Tonev, etc, young guys whose English isn't the best can understand him, I'll never know. Probably don't.. ..just sit there nodding. Lambert's well on the road to losing the fans, but how about the dressing room? Anyone think they're sick of him?

I think the goal celebrations and the hard working performances answer that question.

Imagine how amazing that must feel watch 50 odd grand going into your account every week for doing sweet FA.

I would love to do that

If it's a repetition of last January then it would be tantamount to negligence. At the moment we haven't got a striker at the club who will score goals on a regular basis to get us out of trouble. Take that away from last season and where would we have finished?

You could also look at it like this-

Last year we desperately needed Benteke's goals

This year we are eleventh without them,

It's going to be great when he starts scoring again ( it will happen)

All good points DL.

Yes so far we haven't been as reliant on Benteke as last season but I think the worry is that we are still struggling to break teams down when they sit back not allowing us to counter attack especially at home. We have also a tough run of fixtures coming up which could see us drop into the bottom six after not picking up enough points through our easier run of fixtures.

That being said, due to the unpredictability of our team performances we could pick up more points than expected through these difficult fixtures just like at the start of the season but I'm not hopeful that's going to happen?

While I think we are in the mix to get relegated, there are definitely three worse teams than us.

As for the attacking , well I think PL and his staff have tried to get more clean sheets than score goals. The victory at Arsenal found them a way to win matches and he has stuck with it.

He is desperately trying to stay away from more 0-8, 0-4 defeats and constantly picks three def mids. el Ahmadi is a prime example of a player who never gives up. ( he is not good enough though)

I would also love us to get a bums of seats player but if I was the manager I would keep to the plan and find a better left back for starters.

There is a long way to go before we can total football our way to three points.

He is exactly what we need.

Bennett did well at the end of the season. I hope he is given time to get fully fit before being thrown in again.

Luna in my opinion is what we have seen. I can't see him getting better there is no talent.

Bennett I think can improve and was showing that.

If it's a repetition of last January then it would be tantamount to negligence. At the moment we haven't got a striker at the club who will score goals on a regular basis to get us out of trouble. Take that away from last season and where would we have finished?

Last year we desperately needed Benteke's goals

This year we are eleventh without them,

It's going to be great when he starts scoring again ( it will happen)

The news here in the Danish paper Ekstra Bladet ( like the sun), though a little more reliable) is that we want Copenhagens speedy American left back Chip Bargayne.

These Beatles puns are shocking. Can we have some proper links please?

 

Saw on Twitter that Turkish playmaker Satis Facshun wants a move. Worth a bid?

 

His CM partner, Fahkin Nouwhan is better.

Lambert has already signed him

These Beatles puns are shocking. Can we have some proper links please?

 

Saw on Twitter that Turkish playmaker Satis Facshun wants a move. Worth a bid?

who is he and who does he play for? this is a wind up isn't it?

Debeetles FC

He has a song though

Jes Tadej

All my troubles seemed so far away!  

Paper talk here in Denmark says Villa closing in on talentful midfielder Jes Tadej

Where is the article?

And yes our defence is poor. A couple of new defenders are needed. IMO

I do believe we are better than West Ham

We should buy Downing and stick him at left back

West Ham are playing with the longest team I have seen for ages. So much space.

I personally think the fonz is an ok backup for Benteke and could also do a job instead of Gabby if injured.

First proper post on this site so, er, hi everyone(!)  Furthermore, apologies if this has been repeated elsewhere in this 142 page thread...

 

...however, as far as I'm concerned, it's fairly ridiculous to be calling for Lambert's head already.  One of the biggest problems at Villa over the past few seasons has been instability and, whilst this is undoubtedly one of the biggest clichés in football, it certainly doesn't help a club to progress.  We all know what Lambert's remit is/has been - utilize a small budget to re-create an entire squad with the bigger earners (in general) to be removed from the playing staff.  The back end of last season filled most people with hope and some folk on here even dared to predict a top 6 or 8 finish this season which, given last season, always seemed to be a bit optimistic.  This has been the Jekyll and Hyde nature of our fan base for as long as I can remember - 6 months ago we're finishing top 6, now we need to sack the manager.

 

For all Lambert's faults (and there are plenty), we need to look at the bigger picture for a change.  What we will have next season is a squad that has had 2 years of fight instilled within them as well as, hopefully, a blend between the foreign players that have been signed and our British players.  I think this is an important transitional point as many of the squad don't have English as their first language but are being thrust into first team action potentially too soon.  Lambert's fault?  Well, possibly, but being given a relatively small budget to re-build an entire squad means you have to look outside of the British premium territory.

 

And so, coupled with this, we can evaluate his signings to an extent.  I have no doubt that players such as Tonev, Luna, Bacuna, Bowery etc. are not first team players for the long haul.  However, the impression I get is that Lambert does recognise where we are struggling - the signing of Okore in defence (incredibly unlucky with the injury) as we needed to tighten up; the signing of Tonev to score goals from midfield as we were over-reliant on Benteke last season; the signing of a utility player with good set pieces in Bacuna because our squad is small by comparison and we've lacked any real threat on these since Young left; the signing of Kozak because, again, we were over-reliant on Benteke last season; the persuit of Kiyotake as we need a creative midfielder more than anything - and this will more than likely continue this month.

 

Have they all worked out?  No.  Tonev has been useless so far - but then you're working with money that doesn't get you that much quality.  It's more a case of hit (Benteke, Lowton, Bacuna imo) or miss (Tonev, Luna) but the outlay on them doesn't cripple us with more debt if they go wrong.  They're young enough (mid 20's) to sell on for a price that won't £10m less than what we paid for them.  I fully expect more quality to be added now that an initial squad is in place.  Moreso, I'm willing to put up with another season of struggle as long as we secure Premier League survival because this is more than likely Lambert's goal for the first 2 seasons in charge.

 

Our performances need to improve, of course, and the lack of possession we're seeing at the moment is incredibly worrying.  However, this won't happen straight away with yet another change of manager - our squad is short on quality and absolutely everyone can see this.  For me, Lambert has until the end of next season.  If he hasn't made a noted improvement in Aston Villa after 3 seasons in charge, we need to look elsewhere... but at least we'll be financially stable and with a base on which any manager can build.  I'd be far more worried if we were another team in claret and blue who had pinned all our money, hopes and dreams on a striker this season for him not to work out - and it wasn't so long ago that Darren Bent was that player for us.

 

Things could be a lot worse homies.

I think you also have to throw this into the mix.

We lost 8-0 last year when we played a totally open game against Chelsea. We're the fans happy? Of course not.

He has changed it this year so we are definitely harder to beat. Using our strengths to counter attack. Are the fans happy? Still no, the football is poor.

He is working with pittance. Hoping the youngsters come good (Bale).

Building a team that is hard to beat. He needs time. It's a tough job.

Lambert should stick to his plans. If Hoolahan etc are not part of these plans I think we shouldn't buy them. Save the money for class player you want.

I saw that game against Denmark live. Tonev was outstanding.

Making me feel better