bobzy

For me, he's just doing a decent enough job. It's not been brilliant at all but it's not been bad either. You've just got to hope we're now done with "rebuilding" a squad (I actually think the loan signings hint at this) and can add proper quality. He may well be tactically limited to an extent and not all of his signings have worked out (obviously), but I'm encouraged by the fact that he recognises exactly what we need and that he/his scouting team has picked up Benteke, Vlaar and Bacuna in particular whilst also recognising that Guzan was a keeper to... keep. Okore also looks like he'll be a very good purchase. There's enough there for me to think he'd do well in buying the right players with the right money and he's a young manager who will be learning all the time.

Standard 2-0 Mourinho bore fest win as his top class side produce no classy football at all and instead remain "solid", but Hazard bothers to turn up and scores twice.

That's cool, I don't like him either.

Would it not be better for Villa if he chose Ireland over England. Very few Villa players get called up to the England squad and when they do they usually leave us. See Downing, Barry, Young. It seems to be the mentality that you have to play in one of the bigger teams to play for England. Also he would be under a lot less media pressure/abuse playing in the Ireland squad and would have a far better chance of becoming an Irish cult hero than an English one. And lets be honest its much more fun being an Irish one. So from a Villa point of view I definetely hope he stays with Ireland. And its nothing to do with me being Irish either. Honest. Produced more England internationals than any other club. Since the beginning of time or...?

"Not fail haikus - Li amazed" He's got all the anagrams sewn up!

I agree with that (apart from the Prem level bit possibly; one season wonders do exist after all), but if you're giving me £25-30m to spend on a player, I go for the proven purchase every time. You can take a gamble on a Benteke for the level of money we paid for him - but you go for proven players in the higher price brackets. Hindsight is a wonderful thing and Spurs, knowing what we all do now, may well have preferred to take Benteke on. Not ridiculous to have made the decision they did, though (and I'm pleased they made it anyway ).

If they had any brains he would have been playing for them this season. Indeed. I find it absolutely hilarious that they wouldn't give us £25m for Benteke yet went out and blew £26m on Soldado. So do I. What a ridiculous decision. Come on lads, it's hardly ridiculous. Soldado has a whole career of scoring at a rate of roughly a goal every other game (including at International level) - Benteke had had one very good season in the Premier League.

Lamela absolutely destroyed us in the cup. No idea why he doesn't get more of a look-in at Spurs.

I wouldn't quite put it like that. I would just hope that instead of sanctimoniously lecturing those who actually pay to go to the matches, perhaps some empathy can be employed to understand why the crowd behave as they do. I personally would refrain from booing during the game and would wait until the interval but I won't blame or criticise those who do as it is completely understandable. Hardly lecturing to suggest that it may not be the greatest action in the world to boo the team after 3 minutes. Understandable to be unhappy with recent seasons, understandable to be unhappy with the manager, understandable to be unhappy with the board, understandable to boo at full-time having witnessed a terrible game, can't understand why you'd want to berate the team so early on.

I don't think he does necessarily, but he's a) experienced and b ) won't be put off by needing to perform under pressure. He may not perform well but it doesn't heap pressure onto younger players. Agree that a youngster should've been given 10 minutes against Norwich rather than Holt though. Pointless substitution.

It's all psychological. If I was sat at my desk and cocked up then had my team booing me and pointing out my glaring error, it's not going to make me feel any better and, if anything, I'd just be more worried about doing the same thing again. Therefore, I'd become more cautious - adopting the safest route possible to ensure that doesn't happen again. Translated to football terms? Just get rid of the ball and make sure the opposition doesn't score (again). That isn't to say players make their decisions based on the crowd, but there's likely to be a subconscious element that will have some (hopefully extremely minimal) impact. Same way that when a goal goes in, it can often be followed up by another - you feel good, you become more expressive and want to do the same thing (to get the acclaim) again.

This argument has been done many times before but by your logic, all those who used to criticise Alex McLeish (and still do) are also wrong. Blackburn fans who were not professional managers themselves had no right to slate Steve Kean I take it? Wrong. By my logic, everyone is equally entitled to have an opinion regarding the players/manager/fans and being a season-ticket holder makes you no more qualified to do so.

No-one has said the fans have the biggest impact on the team? It's obviously the players followed by the manager followed by the coaching staff etc. etc. It's just that supporting the team rather than booing them after 3 minutes would help (or, hey, maybe it wouldn't - we won 4-1 after all!)

Out of interest, how many of those slating the manager are professional football managers themselves? Just curious.

Probably to set up Agbonlahor against Norwich last season (and this was better)?

Replacing Bent with Benteke was terrible, likewise Given with Guzan and Collins with Vlaar. I wish Lambert would stop replacing our key players with duds.

Every single goal. He celebrated none of them. Similarly Baker after Benteke's header - nothing at all. Aren't these actual fans of the club too? Should I be worried?!

Don't worry guys - if he's any good, Arsenal will take him off our hands for £300k at the age of 16

3 minutes in. 3 minutes! You might as well have just been venting frustrations before the **** whistle had been blown.

God yes. Genuine threat at set pieces as well.

This one. I was so excited at getting to see him play for Villa and then the break happened . His goal against Chelsea was stunning though.

There's a difference between booing at full time (or even half time) and getting on the players backs after 3 **** minutes. We can only help ourselves, though. If our fans want to boo, they'll boo.

John, I thought he lost the crowd at home to Palace to be fair. Parts of the Holte (my ST is in the lower) were signing 'Getting sacked in the morning' at full time on Boxing Day. I'm guilty of booing at the end of that game as that is exactly how I felt best to express my horror and disgust, but I didn't sing that... Great win yesterday and I am happy for Paul and the team. One swallow doesn't make a summer however and crikey we have had to endure at home. This will be a big summer for Villa. I think we will all know a bit more about the future of AVFC and Paul. Whilst I, personally, would never boo a manager or the team - I "get it" at the end of a game. What I don't understand is the booing immediately starting after conceeding a goal. Against Norwich, 3 minutes in - TIME TO BOO. Against West Brom, 5 minutes in - TIME TO BOO. It's infuriating. Let your frustrations known at the end of a game if the game has been terrible but how about getting behind the team when we conceed rather than jumping on their backs? (As an aside, I also don't like that we sing "SOTC" after scoring goals... with Blues neither involved in the game nor the league.)

Probably down to the players we have within the system (and why we and Lambert want a creative mid). Westwood would be our best option at the moment (in my opinion) to be playing slightly further forward as he can pick a pass... but he's also the calmest midfielder we have with regards to not leaving the back line exposed. Our possession has been decent the past few games to be honest. I wonder if it's something we've worked on more during training?

I still prefer Clark over him - Baker is a bit too rash for me. Has stepped up well though so fair play.