mcben

That was a very, very important game for us (both fans and players) psychologically. Lose that and heads would have dropped, fear crept in.

But performance-wise that was a real confidence booster. We will lose games this season for sure, but we have the makings of a team here. Good work Mr. Lambert.

Agreed. We were as good as I could have hoped for today - barring one of our other chances getting past Krul. 1-1 was an excellent result and our next three matches after the international break will give our first win and hopefully one or two more.

So much negativity about our signings: the fact is we were in the top half of the league for net spending. I'm very optimistic about what they can achieve. I don't care where the players are bought from - La Liga or League Two - once they have a Villa shirt on, that's all I need. I would prefer one of Lambert's picks from League Two with the right personality with the right attitude on the right wages to an overpaid star that doesn't want to be at Villa. We're not going to win the league so let's not spend like we are going to.

Optimism = 9/10

Holman is famous in Australia for being a real 'trier' - as in, not the most gifted, but a hard worker and a real team player. Most similar to Stephen Ireland in our squad I reckon. Ideal in any of the '3' in a 4-2-3-1 or as the '1' in a 4-3-1-2.

I think we saw all of that today, and there will be plenty more performances like this. He'll never give up, he'll track back, he'll make the runs forward, he'll link up and try passes with some success and some failure. I think there is a role for him in the side this season - absolutely - and going forward as a good member of the squad that can light up a game.

In short, he'll always give 100% but the output will vary.

Kjparton: " He turned a bunch of lower league players into a team who finished 12th in the premier league. Above Villa. We've spent 20m+ this window. On players that I believe are better than some players we have bought in previous windows (Hutton, N'zogbia, and other shitheads). What you can do is get down to Villa Park and cheer these lads on. They'll need all the help they can get."

Great post. 10/10 I'm really excited about this team.

Is there a list of most popular clubs sorted by total season ticket holders anywhere?

A look at all of Paul Lambert's Premier League signings and how they fared. Useful to see what sort of a wheeler dealer he is. For my money the overwhelming majority of his signings have two things in common:

- They represent good value for money

- They're players that are yet to reach their peak performance

Aston Villa 12/13

Karim El Ahmadi - 27 - CM - Feyenoord - £2.5m

Matthew Lowton - 23 - RB - Sheffield United - £3m

Brad Guzan - 27 - GK - Unattached - N/A

Ron Vlaar - 27 - CD - Feyenoord - £3.2m

Joe Bennett - 22 - LB - Middlesbrough - £2.5m

Christian Benteke - 21 - ST - Genk - £7m

Jordan Bowery - 21 - ST - Chesterfield - £500K

Ashley Westwood - 22 - CM - Crewe - £2m

Norwich 11/12

Ryan Bennett - 21 - CD - Peterborough United - £3m (bought in January, loaned back to end of Feb, made 8 PL starts for 1 clean sheet v AVFC)

Jonathan Howson - 23 - CM - Leeds - £1m (bought in January, 11 PL starts for 1G/1A)

Daniel Ayala - 20 - CD - Liverpool FC - £750K (7 starts, 2 clean sheets - now at Notts Forest)

Kyle Naughton - 22 - RB - Spurs - Loan (32 starts, 1A, 3 clean sheets)

Steve Morison - 27 - ST - Millwall - £2m (22 starts, 12 subs, 9G, 4A)

James Vaughan - 22 - ST - Everton - £2m (1 start, missed most of season with injury)

Anthony Pilkington - 23 - CM/LM - Huddersfield Town - £2m (22 starts, 8G, 1A)

Elliott Bennett - 22 - RM - Brighton - £1.5m (22 starts, 1G/5A)

Ritchie de Laet - 22 - CD - Manchester Utd - Loan (6 starts)

Bradley Johnson - 24 - CM - Leeds - Free (25 starts, 2G/5A)

Remarkable how many players he plucked from lower leagues or from non-playing roles that were able to contribute to Norwich's season last year.

So if past form is any guide, we should stop thinking that Lambert will be attracted to big name players. He's not. He will continue to buy players that have done well in lower leagues or aren't getting chances at bigger clubs that represent value. Perhaps that's why Lerner (who isn't an idiot as many people say) was attracted to him in the first place.

I won't mention a particular book about baseball but it seems he's very much that way inclined.

EDIT: Deadline day signings included

I don't see it that way, though I understand and respect why others do.

Since O'Neill left, we've been thinking it was "a season of transition". It never was though, just season after season of confusion and treading water, slowly sinking.

This actually is a season of transition. The signings we are making, and the players we are letting go, signify a change at more than a superficial level.

O'Neill left, I suspect, because the funding wasn't there to sustain a money-fuelled lunge for the PL, because for all his best efforts his approach on that budget wasn't going to deliver it, and because the game had changed to make that approach on a limited budget perhaps forever impossible where it might have worked a couple of years previously.

Since then, there has been no strategy, no vision, no real idea about how to move on.

In my view, we now have a manager who does have a clear view about what to do. He has been given a different and more limited (but perhaps harder) remit than O'Neill, to cut running costs but deliver performance better than those spending equivalent amounts. On the evidence of a couple of months, he knows what he's doing.

I'm quite content to let him play this out for a couple of years, and not judge according to whether clubs like Gent do or don't make a certain decision in the next few hours.

There's a strategic direction (even if it's not to win the league), there's some well-informed decision-making taking place, there seems to be some alignment between the manager, the board, the finance, and implementing decisions.

Which is not to say it will all fall into place quickly. Few things do. But we might just possibly have made a key appointment, which will shape our future as Wenger's appointment shaped the Arse all those years ago.

Lerner may not know his arse from his elbow, but he may have made a good appointment here. Raging against the approach may be justified on the basis of the last three years, but would be massively undermining and distracting for Lambert. Let's give it a few months at least before we start with the pitchforks and torches.

Good post. Some sensible points made here.

Seconded.

Thirded. Can't understand why there is so much negativity at the minute. Granted, we will not be competing for CL spots but I do think Lambert has started a complete overhaul and I am liking the players that he has bought in given the budgetary limitations. KEA and Vlaar look good, Holman is an asset and Lowton and Bennett look to be good signings for sensible money with real upside.

The key for Lambert, IMO, is to get the legacy assets/experienced players playing to their potential: NZogbia, Ireland, Dunne, Given, Gabby and Bent need to fire for us to have a strong season. It looks like Ireland has started well, carrying on from his form in the second half of last season. We now need NZogbia to join the party. If we can get those two working together we will have a creative axis that is as good as any teams outside the top 6/7.

The third block is the youth. Big season for Delph but I think this kid really has it BUT he needs to be used in the right way, as a deeper lying playmaker playing alongside another deeper lying CM'er (KEA). I am hoping that Lambert can get Marc back on the right track after McTool did his best to ruin him. Baker looks promising and I am really excited by Carruthers from the brief sightings I have had. I am uncertain about Bannan and not sure about Clark as a CB, with the latter being a magnet for cards.

It would also help, obviously, if we could off load the freeloaders - Warnock and Hutton.

Fourthed. I have struggled with the fact that West Ham and Fulham - smaller clubs than Villa that we should be finishing above - are showing greater ambition and are likely to finish above us. I make MC, MU, Arse, Chelski, Liverpool, Spurs, Newcastle, Everton as certainties to finish above us. The rest we can compete with, even if we don't finish 9th - best of the rest.

We are in a genuine transition as Lambert plays such a different brand of football to the most recent three managers.

I believe in Lerner's project with Lambert, mainly because I believe in Lambert's ability as a man-manager, as a tactician and as a football person. We will succeed but as others have posted, this will take time.

To finish on an interesting stat - Villa are ranked 8th in terms of net transfer spend this summer. Chelsea 86m, Man Utd 46m, Liverpool 33m, Southampton 19m, West Ham 18m, Sunderland 16m & Norwich 9.2m beats out our 9m. Link: http://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/en/premier-league/transferuebersicht/wettbewerb_GB1.html

So to say Lerner isn't backing the project is crazy.

By my reading, this is where we'll sit in Man City's fixtures in September

16th Stoke (A) - 21st Real Madrid (A) - 24th Arsenal (H) - 27th Aston Villa (H) - 30th Fulham (A)

To contrast ours

24th Southampton (A) - 27th Man City (A) - 1st WBA (H)

So no doubt they'll rest their stars. Coming off two tough games with a tricky away day to come in the League. Hopefully we'll play a strong team that can gel and nick the result, then use the confidence to beat WBA!!

I agree. No one over 40 would be good

I keep telling myself it will work out in the end but I saw both games in league and we were dire so so bad, Adam for 4 mil is a must its in our budgegt and lets get him, if I was lamber Id ask vlaar and KEA who we should get in dutch league

Everton was diabolical but I thought we were OK against West Ham, controlled the game, just couldn't find the route to goal. That will come once our creative half gels with mdifield. Holman, KEA, Ireland, Delph need time to get it together. Gabby back will help a lot.

Please Pleas Please fellow fans tell me it aint just me that thinks Lambert has been told to build for next season in the championship, Bennett and Lowton are youngsters with no pl experiance baker and lichaj have hardly any neither talk of getting Stephens and bowery is beyond a joke. I have kept on saying it dosnt matter what aplyers get if they aint good enough to make a immediete impact they aint worth having. Relegation is on its way. There is 2 big days left yet we need 3 maybe 4 quality addtions FACT

Ok then, throw some names of who we realistically should sign.

Have some faith villan501. Individual by individual, Norwich weren't good enough for 12th last year but Lambert got them playing together well and the whole was greater than the sum of the parts.

Gawd I wish Villa's name was linked with Berba. At 4m with two, perhaps three, quality seasons left in him, in an another class. I think he'd eat up the chance to stay in the Premiership. His last full season he won the golden boot. It frustrates me that Fulham have overtaken Villa in terms of links to big players.

(Link: http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2012/aug/30/dimitar-berbatov-fulham-fiorentina-juventus)

I just wonder, as good a player Berbatov undoubtedly is, would a partnership between him and Bent leave a space between them and the midfield? Maybe it's the wingers jobs to fill those spaces.

Although, do you think Berbatov and Bent would get in each others way? I think they may do and his wage would be high.

I think Berba-Bent with Ireland or Holman behind would suit PL's preferred 4-3-1-2 perfectly. Come to think of it, there are probably less than a handful of strikers I'd like in that role. We'd have a striking partnership that would be top 4 in the league.

But his wage demands would break our structure and he won't come.

Gawd I wish Villa's name was linked with Berba. At 4m with two, perhaps three, quality seasons left in him, in an another class. I think he'd eat up the chance to stay in the Premiership. His last full season he won the golden boot. It frustrates me that Fulham have overtaken Villa in terms of links to big players.

(Link: http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2012/aug/30/dimitar-berbatov-fulham-fiorentina-juventus)

I could watch that all day

Aw come on, enough of the A-League hate. It's not as good as the Premier League - what league is? As an Australian I like both leagues, but to hate on the A-League is counter-productive. We need to back it and maybe one day get to a level where we can compete for excellent players. Although we'll never compete with Europe/South America. Australia is a developing football nation.

Or are people still upset about this:

javascript:emoticon(':clap:')

Thanks ender4. Who is that quoting?

I have no problem with the design

But I think the players will think they're hopeless - a bit worried about the functionality. The shorts have a funny thing going on.

Jesus, it's just a shirt, short and socks. It's not going to dramatically affect their performance. The shorts just have a shorter bit on the trim, the players won't even notice it.

And collars... who plays with collars these days?

Denmark for one, and we should be thankful we don't have that shit on our shirt. Poor form Adidas. Anyway, Macron drew inspiration from the '80-'81 League Champions shirt, which indeed has a collar.

But that's my point. Granted, it's only a fraction of what goes towards performance but every part of sports science is engineered to make a difference, otherwise players would still be playing in old kits with woolen socks and heavy screw-in boots.

Squillions of dollars are spent on this sort of research. I don't like to think we've gone backwards in that regard.

How is the recovery going? God I'd love to see him playing again. Is this even possible?

I have no problem with the design

But I think the players will think they're hopeless - a bit worried about the functionality. The shorts have a funny thing going on. And collars... who plays with collars these days?

Great article and totally sums up how I feel about the appointment.

As fans we've got to get behind Lambert, give him time to make this team his own. UTV

Thanks NowDoINotLikeThat - pretty much exactly as I'd imagined / hoped.

Cuellar is in my best XI. Clark is knocking on the door and will hopefully get there by the start of next season and I'm happy that Ireland is getting some minutes as he is under-performing at the moment and its worth giving a few chances to hit top gear.

I haven't seen the match but would love any detailed thoughts on the three new players tonight - King Carlos, Clark and Ireland - and whether they did well enough to keep challenging for positions in the new year?

G'Day General,

After ten years of Villa support from the other side of the world - Tasmania - I am stoked to be making a debut appearance at Villa Park for the last game of the season - 24 May v Newcastle.

I was travelling to UK for a holiday and completely re-routed it when I realised I was arriving too late for a Villa game. The fact that the game could make or break the season makes it all the better!

Unfortunately I am coming up a bit stuck when it comes to getting tickets: the woman at the ticketing office that I talked it through with said they cannot guarantee tickets for international travellers - especially for category A games.

General - what is your advice? Is there a scheme for international supporters or someway I can guarantee a ticket rather than just watch it from a Brummie pub? (Which Im sure would be great as well!)

Cheers, Ben