bobzy

Only 15?  Won a good header at the back shortly after his run and pass as well by the way.

Ha - it's like I made Green appear!  Just made a good little run.

Haven't noticed Green at all.  Strain has looked decent, Lyons-Foster just made a crucial interception.  It's been mainly Liverpool though.

Great stuff, who scored?

According to the lineups on Page 41, McKirdy scored with O'Brien getting the assist.

O'Brien basically ran down the line, called for the pass then put a great low cross into the box.  McKirdy slid in between two defenders to poke it under the keeper.

Equaliser on the break!  Great run and cross by... someone.

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.

I would have thought Paul Lambert would have at least some contacts from his time in Germany?  

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.

 

The only way we will get Hoolahan is if the club panics and throws rediculous money at him which would be the wrong move...

 

...Hopefully we have a scouting system in place that has identified targets this window

 

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

 

I was thinking the other day that this whole Holt episode was reminding me of something way back in the cobwebbed section of what remains of my brain.. I've mulled over it a while and thought..... Hmm Ageing player...... Bulky Centre Forward............

 

Journeyman.......................Slow............ Sluggish........... Moaning fanbase........................She's got nice t***...oops back on topic........

 

What'd we buy him for murmurings.......Past it..........Etc .....Etc...

 

 

Then i thought   ...I remember the last time we had all this

 

His name was Peter Withe!

Er How old was Withe when he signed for us?

 

29 wasn't he?

I suggested Lucine Favre.  No idea if he'd fancy it, but a lot of managers would like a chance to manage in the Premier League.

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.

Heard a bit of something about Jonathan Schmid. I had to Google him. Anyone, by any small chance, somehow seen Freiberg play this season!?

Edit: I must add that I am certainly not ITK and neither do I like all the ITK nonsense.

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

No news just bickering? Yes? Ok then, see you all tomorrow.

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

 

 

Which is exactly my point. After signing 16 players and spending 40 plus million we are no better off than under previous managers.

 

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.

 

 

Just edited before I saw your post.

So you reckon then that with 12 games won out of 50 Lambert has purchased a good enough squad. Previous results have already shown that when our first team players are injured in particular Vlaar, results take a nose dive. Funny that.

 

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.

It will be no surprise to me that when Holt does play, finds himself in the right position at the right time and scores a tap in which even the ordinary layman on the street might score, his signing will be vindicated and deemed a master stroke by Lambert.

"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?