bobzy

Also more sustainable. If we can afford a one-off fee for signing that's fine. What you don't want is to tie someone down on huge wages only for shit creek to be 3 years down the line (again). That's what we've just spent 2 years or so undoing after all...

I don't think anyone would feel that was 'bullshit.' He could turn out to be a very good manager and if he does then he will get my full support but and it's a big but, at the moment considering his overall record with us to date he has a long way to go to reach that point. I love this. He doesn't get your full support at the moment because he hasn't delivered anything remarkable to date but, if he does, then you'll be right behind him. Unreal You do make some very good points bobzy in general debate but where you continually let yourself down is putting words in poster's mouths to suit whatever agenda you are on. I've never stated that I expect Lambert to be remarkable and it's just as well because he hasn't been. I was only taking the piss r.e: the support aspect. I don't think he's done a fantastic job or anything like but I'm still completely supportive of the manager. Seems silly not to support him otherwise (unless he was quite literally destroying the club, of course).

Our objective to lower the wage bill has been (almost) completed... so let's just undo all of that by signing players on £60-70k/week again. Yes

I don't think anyone would feel that was 'bullshit.' He could turn out to be a very good manager and if he does then he will get my full support but and it's a big but, at the moment considering his overall record with us to date he has a long way to go to reach that point. I love this. He doesn't get your full support at the moment because he hasn't delivered anything remarkable to date but, if he does, then you'll be right behind him. Unreal

What has happened with him at Spurs? Barely even got a look in but looked like a quality player at Schalke. Reckon he just needs a fresh start or hasn't adapted to the physical style of the Premier League (cliché ahoy!)? Would love to see him given a chance at Villa but I think he'll have better offers...

It'd be horrible, for me. Just look at the Man City fanbase - they've turned from being the darlings of Manchester to a bunch of spoilt brats (almost). They (and other clubs) destroy anything that resembles the soul of football. Players don't go to these clubs to progress; it's all just pure greed. Top scorer in the Bundesliga? Yeah, we'll just sign him for £30m and stick him on the bench. Terrible, terrible attitude. I'd hate it, I really would

The Rock gif is one of my favourites. It always get a like.

I hate to be a miserable ballbag here, but we are very much in that list when it comes to quality at the moment. There are just 6 points between us. I don't think the implication is that we aren't in with those teams - I see it as questioning why, if Ince is that good, Everton/Liverpool/Tottenham etc. aren't in for him.

Yeah we shouldn't expect the owner to back the manager properly. Good plan for the future that.

Exactly this. Ince is undoubtedly an exciting prospect, but he's not what we need right now.

I posted the original response to BJ then also quoted the Taarabt post from jacketspuds and responded. It looks like the site has shoved it all into one post

So why do you think we'd have to pay over the odds on a gamble this window then? Is Lambert not capable of signing good players worth the money this window? I don't think this needs explaining, but buying players in January is an expensive business. People don't want to let go of their talent in the middle of the season so there's very little value for money out there - something which we need to be particularly cautious with. Why don't you understand this? God no. Lazy, selfish, greedy player. Great individual on his day but offers very little else and his attitude isn't worth the hassle. If Fulham don't want him, that speaks volumes. Q.P.R. can keep him.

So do you not trust Lambert to find decent players? He found Benteke and Kozak as the only real examples of him spending "proper money" - Benteke is an absolute hit and Kozak, whilst nowhere near as good, has something about him and can find the net. With regards to budget players, he realised the mistake we'd made in releasing Guzan and brought in Vlaar, Okore (shame about the injury) and Bacuna (and also Bertrand on loan who looks solid) all of which I think are good to very good signings. Lowton and Sylla contributed well last season too, although have dipped this time round. However, we've also seen some misses - Luna, Tonev, El Ahmadi and Bennett in my opinion. Aside from El Ahmadi, these are young enough to learn and/or sell on for a fee. Tonev is the mystery as there's definitely a player in there somewhere but we're yet to have seen it. So, in short, yes - I do trust Lambert to find decent players and I think he'd do a good job if he had the money to spend. You're more than welcome to point the finger of blame at Lerner this window if you want but, in my opinion and as a general rule of thumb, the spending should be done in the summer. If we don't spend in the region of £15/20m this summer I'll be worried. Furthermore, that £15/20m would "only" need to go on 3 £7m~ ish players to be a big improvement on the team and I think Lambert has shown with Benteke/Okore that he can find decent players within that region. Time will tell I suppose.

I'd like us to as well, but I'd rather we spent wisely in the summer than pay, let's say for example, £12m for Kiyotake now. Hoolahan would be a cheap, short term "something different" and I think that would be a wise type of transfer. I don't want us to blow any sort of budget in January rather than the summer.

People seeing it that way is fine. If this was the summer, I'd be much more concerned as well. Not paying over the odds for a gamble in January though? Not too fussed.

Darren Bent was a panic buy that could've killed us. He scored goals, and his movement off the line is/was superb, but he contributed almost entirely nothing to the team as a whole. We stayed up, which was the most important outcome I suppose (somehow Q.P.R. managed to avoid getting messed up over bringing in Samba in the most dodgy deal of forever), but to hail him as some sort of great signing is ridiculous. As LondonLax says, no resale value, monster wages and a vastly overinflated price tag in the first place. We're still seeing the downsides of this sort of spending - 3 years on. Crazy.

Who single handedly kept us up, Ashley Young, John Carew ... all completely crap January acquisitions Ashley Young and John Carew were basically the exception to the rule as Lerner only took over the club in September (I think?) 2006 meaning we didn't have a proper transfer window to splash that initial cash (Carew was a swap deal for Baros anyway, wasn't he?). Darren Bent was instrumental in both keeping us up and dumping us in the financial pile of doo doo that have since transpired to be in. Are you honestly saying £18m and rising for Darren Bent is a good January acquisition and something to base future signings on?

Keane did a job, Holt and Bertrand could do a job and Sylla was decent back end of last season. Whilst there's nothing there to inspire, that's probably because January is a crap month for transfers on the whole. See; Darren Bent.

We sign Kagawa on loan for 6 months which helps us entice Kiyotake to the club - Villa Talk consequently melts down, literally. I'll get on the phone to PF now.

He "can play" out wide, but that isn't where his strongest position is. That's why it's more of a panic buy (unless they already know Rooney is leaving in the summer or something). Maybe I'm not getting what I'm trying to say across clearly enough. See these articles for what I mean; http://www1.skysports.com/football/news/29326/9126174/juan-mata-to-manchester-united-gary-neville-not-sure-he-fits-philosophy http://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2014/jan/21/juan-mata-manchester-united-chelsea http://www.dailystar.co.uk/columnists/paul-merson/362253/Manchester-United-are-making-a-big-mistake-signing-Juan-Mata And also where he generally scores from in this; http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/25871279 Anyway... enough Man Utd! (Although we should definitely make a cheeky loan offer for Kagawa now - back on topic )

What makes you think they'll "shove him out wide"? I don't. Morpheus stated; "you seemingly have the same type of knowledge to know exactly how Man U are going to play under Moyes. Mata can play out wide by the way but hell lets just forget that." We need to get off the Man Utd chat though

Yeah, there could certainly be truth in that.

I'm not going to get bogged down in this as this is a Villa thread, but I have no idea why you think signing a world class attacking midfielder for a club record fee of £37.5m and then shoving him out wide is a good idea. Barmy.

Man Utd have panic bought a player that (whilst world class) isn't the solution to their problems. Unless you're saying you want us to do just that? Complete rubbish as usual. Man U are rebuilding and consequently need players. Are you going to aim that accusation at every signing they make especially as you say, world class signings. The answer to your second question was already stated in my post (which i've highlighted) but anything to have a dig eh. Man Utd need a central midfielder (maybe even 2) that are going to compete in the middle of the park so teams stop overrunning them - as well as probably another strong centre back to take the pressure off Ferdinand (lost it) and Vidic (losing it). Tom Cleverley, Darren Fletcher (having had his medical concerns) and Phil Jones are not the answer to the midfield problem. Juan Mata, on the other hand, is a fantastic player when he plays in that "number 10" position - just behind the striker. A position that is currently occupied by Wayne Rooney with Shinji Kagawa as backup. Now, either Rooney or Mata are going to be played out of position (once RvP is back) and, in my opinion, that simply isn't how you handle players that really are "that good". Juan Mata is, thus, a world class signing but one that Man Utd do not need to resolve their issues. It's much like us looking for yet another forward now instead of going for a creative midfielder. But yes, "complete rubbish" of course Who are these players that we should've brought in on loan by the way? Do you have some sort of in depth knowledge of available players given "the right level of finance"? Genuinely curious.

I don't think there's many who would be against that but if you think that's all anyone who criticises Lerner wants then you don't read posts very well. As an aside, by the way, I would absolutely be against this. It's always nice to have money spent on improving a squad, but I'd honestly hate to be Man City or Chelsea. Sounds weird, doesn't it? However, I really like the local things that the club still has. For example, I enjoy having kevan on here and reading about Jack Grealish's plights in the early days as a footballer. The fact that we promote players from within our own academy to play for the club. That we've not just had the soul of our club completely taken away. It's "bad enough" that we have a foreign owner, but I'd probably lose most of my interest in Villa if we became an oil club. Chelsea currently play 1 player that has come through their academy, and he was taken from West Ham as a youngster. No thanks.