bobzy

Ah, fair enough. Try this one, see if you get any luck; http://www.nutjob.eu/njtvx32.html

Can you not watch it SGC?

Not really, Liverpool playing well to be honest. Our keeper has made a couple of decent saves though.

Beautiful goal by the Liverpool lad

Fair shout. Apparently he went to coach somewhere instead.

Haven't we also got Michael Henke as our chief scout or something?

It's not 20 goals, doesn't count.

Roberto Martinez would've been superb - it's a shame we didn't get him.

Redknapp would be an absolutely terrible call.

If throwing money around is the wrong move then, generally, January is the wrong window in which you want to be doing your business.

Er How old was Withe when he signed for us? 29 wasn't he?

I'd genuinely be amazed if he'd come, but that's exactly the kind of manager I'd want if Lambert went.

http://espnfc.com/player/_/id/153290/jonathan-schmid?cc=5739 Not bad stats in fairness.

I had a bet on them to beat someone in the Europa League at 11/4 odds or something and it actually happened. That's all I know about Freiburg

Very fair and I won't crap all over the thread anymore

Sigh. I've been over all of this before but... ...we've reduced our outgoings significantly which has quite obviously held the club back (weren't we spending something crazy like 90% of our revenue on wages alone?). A lot of this has revolved around getting rid of players that were initially signed up on silly contracts (entirely the club/Lerner's fault). As these have been shipped out, we've needed to replace them with cheaper options on nowhere near as high wages to get the basis of a squad (which is what you bemoaned) in place. Due to the age of most of these players, most would have some sort of resale value further down the line if we needed to sell. This is essentially an added bonus as we're currently losing older players for nothing. Once this squad is in place, as it pretty much is now, we should be looking to add quality players into it. All of this can't be done within 18 months and, naturally, replacing an entire team or even a managerial set up (Man Utd, Tottenham, Watford, Wigan) will likely mean a decline in performances and quality until this comes to fruition. If you think you're getting a quality squad and first team by spending £40m on 16 players you're on a drug that I'd love to get hold of. More insults doesn't make your argument right homie as you like to call people. He didn't have to replace an entire team though did he and he certainly didn't have to replace those already at the club with lower league and inexperienced players in what could only be deemed as a cull all at once. He was given a budget and as the Chief Executive has already stated it was up to Lambert how he spent that. Interesting to find that now after a record of 50 games under Lambert with only 12 wins he has now decided that we need experienced players and before you go into the same tiresome and boring well used excuse of not being able to afford experienced players we have signed one on loan and been linked to another who's value is somewhere in the region of 1m which isn't far off in what we paid for several of Lambert's failed signings. Ok homie? I haven't insulted you once in there - just addressed what I saw fit r.e: your squad concerns. I don't understand what you're not getting here though. We've purchased a new squad. A new squad! The underpinning of this certainly seems to have been buying cheaper, younger players who have presumably been deemed to have certain qualities that could see them improve at a higher level whilst their age means they could be sold on if the situation arose. You seem pretty fixated on the young issue, though. Almost holding it to Lambert's head like a verbal gun. Lambert has said previously that he prefers players who are "young and hungry" (or words to those effect) but I don't remember him ever saying that these are the only players he'd ever sign? Indeed, Vlaar and KEA seem to go against this - along with the loan signing of Holt. In my mind, once you have the makings of a squad in place, you can then assess where the weaknesses are and address them accordingly. To me, this is roughly where we are now and a lot will depend on what budget is given to Lambert/whoever is the manager next during summer. We need some reinforcement this month in my eyes, but I think summer will be the main hive of activity - and in many ways that makes sense. Anyhow, we are now in a better position as a football club than we have been in a long while - the only thing lacking is quality on the pitch. Perhaps this your sole concern and we should spend our way into oblivion purely to maintain a certain level on the pitch? Fair enough if it is, too. For me, I'm glad we've addressed a major fault in the ownership and running of the club and can see exactly how we're on a much better footing for going forwards. Am I saying everyone of Lambert's signings have been brilliant? No. Am I saying our squad is the best squad in the league? No. Am I saying Lambert has worked absolute wonders at the club? No. What I am saying is that we are now heading in the right direction with an easily maintained squad that only needs quality players added to it. Be this under Lerner, under a new owner, under Lambert or under a new manager, the club is setup in a sustainable manner which is hasn't been for years. This isn't good news for you though homie? Nevermind, keep moaning. Edit: I forgot to mention that, obviously, any signing for around £2m or less has a certain gamble factor surrounding them. I can't believe that anyone would have thought that all "bargain" players we've signed were going to be awesome.

Sigh. I've been over all of this before but... ...we've reduced our outgoings significantly which has quite obviously held the club back (weren't we spending something crazy like 90% of our revenue on wages alone?). A lot of this has revolved around getting rid of players that were initially signed up on silly contracts (entirely the club/Lerner's fault). As these have been shipped out, we've needed to replace them with cheaper options on nowhere near as high wages to get the basis of a squad (which is what you bemoaned) in place. Due to the age of most of these players, most would have some sort of resale value further down the line if we needed to sell. This is essentially an added bonus as we're currently losing older players for nothing. Once this squad is in place, as it pretty much is now, we should be looking to add quality players into it. All of this can't be done within 18 months and, naturally, replacing an entire team or even a managerial set up (Man Utd, Tottenham, Watford, Wigan) will likely mean a decline in performances and quality until this comes to fruition. If you think you're getting a quality squad and first team by spending £40m on 16 players you're on a drug that I'd love to get hold of.

That was back in the days when the owner was prepared to dig deep into his pockets. We were in a worse position at this stage least season then we are now and we ended up with Sylla and Dawkins. Its not always moaning its realism of where we are at. It is moaning - nothing more, nothing less. Of course we should be realistic when it comes to transfers on the whole, but we're not even halfway through the window. I agree that we were in a worse position last season, but I'm also going to reserve judgement on the January window when it comes to February. We simply cannot know what will happen between now and then. If February rolls around and we've only signed Grant Holt on loan, by all means moan your head off (not you specifically). But why not just wait and see instead of just constantly being outwardly negative (again, not you)?

If we added 5 quality players to our first team, I think our squad is good enough - yes. Is our first team good enough at the moment? No. Next idiotic statement please. Errr thats half the team ? Well worked out homie.

"Finds himself in the right position at the right time" being a terrible trait for a goalscorer. Why do you even bother supporting Villa, by the way?

No you sure couldn't but we have similar responses each window so I would have thought by now I should have expected it. It still surprises me that it surprises me I remember similar comments last year and by jove the retorts were correct as we ended up with Sylla and borrowed Dawkins in the last few minutes of the window. And they are both important parts of this well oiled, well performing team. Oh hang on. That's right, Dawkins hardly featured and Sylla is another one of those players Lambert has bought but doesn't appear to want to play them. Don't let me get in the way of your constant negativity, but we also signed Darren Bent in a) January and b ) further along in the month than we are now. Back to moaning though, please.

A lot of the criticism towards Delph stems from the fact that we have almost zero creativity in the middle of the park. For example, people say he has no end product. Now this is fine, and fair enough really as he doesn't, but that shouldn't (in my opinion) be his main role - it's just that alongside Westwood and KEA, he actively looks like a more attacking player. What works for him is his engine and ability to run with the ball. His passing/awareness needs to improve but there have been games where he has absolutely bossed the midfield (esp against Chelsea). If we continue to play a midfield trio and get a genuine creator in there, I think Delph will flourish.

If we added 5 quality players to our first team, I think our squad is good enough - yes. Is our first team good enough at the moment? No. Next idiotic statement please.

The problem is though that most of Lambert's signings have proven to be crap. At a push only four out 16 Lambert signings would be kept under a new manager, Guzan, Vlaar, Benteke and maybe Bacuna which would mean another rebuild. Someone has never heard of a squad.

It's not even about Benteke learning from Holt. Lambert likes playing with a target man, our backup target man has a broken leg. Holt is a cheap alternative to bring in for 5 months. Furthermore, Lambert has worked with Holt and knows his strengths and how he likes to play etc. Guidetti is an unexperienced risk. Academy players are unexperienced risks. There are probably no other suitable players to draft in for such a short term period that won't cost over £20k a week. Grant Holt is not an exceptional footballer, but we're not **** signing him permanently. Really can't see the problem with this.