VillanousOne

as much as I wasn't a huge fan of Collins we should have kept him as he could at least defend corners and was sometimes a threat from them, same with Cuellar who i'm sure would have taken a pay cut to stay at Villa. I have no issue with Warnock or Hutton being sold to generate funds for new players, but it didn't happen, so all the while we are paying their wages Lambert should have kept them as part of the squad and brought Lowton and Bennett in gradually. Sending them on loan to teams that will pay a tiny percentage of their wages is a joke. He still could bring them back into the fold, only stubborness and pride is stopping him. I really hope Dunne is fit enough to return for Newcastle.

I love this club I love it's fans, I have followed this great club for over 25 years of my life, and to watch every bad record get broken, every new depth possible stooped to is making it impossible to week in week out to want to expose myself to the ritual embarrassment and humiliation that randy and lambert have somehow engineered. No money to strengthen, no learning from our mistakes on or off the pitch, no future in the premiership. The fact we can't defend crosses or set pieces or score from set pieces lies with the manager, he has had time and money to strengthen the team and sort out our tactics, all he has done is made us weaker. Yes it is not just his fault but until he walks away or is sacked we are just accepting relegation as inevitable. And for those who think its easy to get back up, It isn't, after all we can't even beat Millwall or Bradford so even if we go down we will have the same problems, our defence won't magically improve, you still have to defend corners in the **** championship!

Game over I can't do this anymore

Great they'll pay him £50 a week and we'll pick up the other 60k no doubt

when you break it down though you can see why Lerner is utterly sick of ploughing large sums of cash into the club only for manager's to repeatedly buy players on significant wages who don't do the job expected or don't get played for whatever reason and can't be shifted. He gave Lambert over 20 mil and we somehow managed to go even further backwards as a result, even if we can see that some of those signings have potential - and Benteke for one looks very good. But the policy to promote Clark and Baker - and sign Bennett and Lowton is the reason we are in this mess. Plus an over reliance on Bannan who doesn't offer much presence or leadership in midfield (plus terrible set piece taking), Delph who is battling to overcome years of injury and poor form, Westwood who is only just stepping up to this level and needs some experience around him. Lambert gambled on KEA as the holding/marauding midfielder we needed in Petrov's absence and that gamble failed, although i do think he will get better - but we will be relegated before then. It feels like the worse our performances and results the more determined Lerner has been not to plough more cash in, you'd have thought it would be the opposite but I guess he knows sacking Lambert would be pointless and relegation inevitable. Loans are the only relegation proof option we have but no idea who on earth we could sign to save us on that basis, there is never really a surplus of experience good holding midfielders or defenders around that a club would loan to us. Plus any decent ones that are surplus would be at a big club with a big squad and therefore be on massive wages.

The last time I remember a crisis over lack of transfers and backing for the manager was when deadly doug refused to even pay for Erik bakke's loan wages shortly before o'leary left. Lerner must be fed up with the 'save us from' relegation scenario he has faced ever season since mon left and just finally snapped and said '**** it enough is enough, I've given every manager funds to buy players on big wages and it hasn't made sod all difference, so why should I spunk a load more' I like Bent but I do think we need a defender and midfielders more than we need a goal poacher right now, it seems barmy that he is not being sold to generate funds.

who is RDM?

i would say where the hell do we go from here but most would quickly answer...... 'down a division'

what really hurts is that i am beginning to see good things from the team, Zog has been much better, Benteke is scoring, Delph is looking better, Vlaar is back, Bennett can actually cross a ball but we still get a lot of basics wrong, we can't expect to score three or four goals a game knowing we will concede at least two ourselves!

yep as someone has already said the way Lambert set us up after the goal was like a 7 year old child playing Fifa. the sad thing is i don't think there is a single fan on this board who didn't think we'd concede a goal from a set piece today, in fact i wish i'd put money on it

can you honestly see Swansea or Chelsea doing anything other than rolling Bradford over for the easiest cup final win ever? Don't get me wrong Bradford deserved their win, but any team that can defend will stand a very good chance of winning

Lambert will just say 'we go again.' 'we've no signings planned as Randy and I wouldn't want to in anyway encourage the potential for team/squad improvements'

In the first half we performed at times the best we have all season, i've never seen the players so up for it. Then the goal happened and we just fade away and die. The way we played with no shape and so many forwards was exactly how we played under McCleish only the defence was shit but not as shit as now. Bennett may have **** up for the corner but only he and Delph really tried to make things happen, although in the second half no-one stepped up to lead or direct play. Did anyone notice how for the first 20 mins no-one wanted to pass to Ireland, obviously you can see why after the performance but i def got a vibe that the other players don't like him!

no man of the match, they can all **** off!

why do any of us bother? what total bollocks will Lambert come out with to defend this?

can we buy their entire defence please?

we are such utter shit

delfouneso is heading back from Blackpool to play as we need more strikers on!

who said conceding a corner was like losing a penalty....................

if we lose to Bradford there will be a furore about needing to strengthen, some press reports will dredge up old quotes and spin making us think Lambert will sign someone or wants to. Then Lambert will relase another statement saying we definitely probably will never sign someone unless we sign someone style vague non-commital tinged comment. Everyone will rightly bleat and moan and then we'll sign a player out right or on loan come deadline day. just an opinion but i think we'll sign 'a player' this window but no more than that.

i know it's been said before but i agree that Lambert is playing a cat and mouse game with the press and agents. on one hand he could be managing our expectations by claiming there is little chance of signings - especially if any they are working on don't come off but in the main I think he knows it would be stupid to show his hand to other clubs, he may have even been told off for making the Lescott comments. January is the time that clubs and agents play hardball and do their best to fleece other clubs. I hate this window. In the summer many players are naturally coming out of contract or are seeking a move and clubs are prepared to do business, in January no-one really wants to sell the want to strengthen. Usually it is when one or two clubs finally decide to sell and have to buy that the market starts a carousel of nonsense and players begin to move. The merry go round hasn't started yet i don't think.

if we can't sell them then Lambert should give Hutton and Warnock a try. We are putting far too much pressure on Clark and Lowton, i know Clark should be able to handle it but this is his first real run in the side. We need Dunne and Hutton to come in to relieve the pressure. also Warnock wouldn't do a bad job in midfield. I'm not saying Dunne, Hutton or Warnock are the future, but if they keep us up i don't care what has gone before. We pay them to do a job, not train with the kids. Lambert will get more kudos and respect for saying 'hey it was the right thing to push these players out and give new blood a chance but that hasn't worked out, now i need to do what is best for the club and sacrifice my own pride and ego for the greater good, if i am such a good manager then i should be able to get the best out of even the highest paid player with the poorest attitude as i am paid to do this.'

Because they come from lower divisions? Ok fair play that is a good point.

maybe the issue in part is perception we still look at Bannan, Herd, Clark, Lichaj and co as youngsters, but as you rightly point out they have had enough experience to be judged the same as others. Maybe unlike Guzan, Bannan doesn't have much in the sympathy tank to tide him over for when he plays rubbish, and no Guzan conceding a corner leading to a goal doesn't put him in the same league of crapness as Bannan. Guzan has been one of our best players. But if we survive and get a few more players in then Lowton and Westwood will get far more stick than they do now, i'm not saying they deserve more stick it's just that they get far less criticism than others. I just don't hate Bannan or think he is as rubbish as he is made out to be, he's played ok at times, even had a few good games, i'm entitled to have that opinion. Doesn't mean i want him in the team every week. oh and i am a believer that players do need a long run in the starting eleven to be fully judged and that means standing by them when they are crap, Bannan, Lichaj, Stevens, Herd have never had that so it's hard to dismiss them all as crap when their careers are so stop start. Same with Ireland, he gets two starts - if he is decent in one and crap in the other he gets dropped. Maybe managers don't like his attitude and maybe he doesn't train well, but it's hard to know what he can produce without a run of more than three games. Last season he started a fair few and most thought he was doing ok. I find it hard to believe that the manager thinks so little of him that he can't even play him from the bench or in the cup! Maybe if Bannan started week in and week out we could judge him more evenly, but..........please god no!

Guzan has been great but yesterday he cost us a needless corner and some of his distribution has been poor, I rate Lowton but again of late he has made a fair few errors in possession and not being able to stop anyone from getting crosses in. Westwood has done ok also, but again he's far from perfect - not saying anyone is saying he is. Just saying there are players that people seem to have a lot more patience with and players like Bannan, Ireland, Zog, Bent that people just go over the top about sometimes. We only seem to judge players on how bad they are not on how good they have been, we completely forget any performances that were good. and i don't think Bannan should be starting at all, or even playing asa sub regularly, I think Ireland needs to play more, even if it just means us putting him in the spotlight so we can sell him.