VillaAndLoyal

How you can say that about a 21-year-old kid who has only just broke through to the first team this season is beyond me? I agree that pass to Holmann was very frustrating but there's no point using it as a stick to beat him with. He did spot the pass, he just didn't release the ball as soon as he should have.

Raver, yes we played well below what we are capable of last night. And well below recent performances of the last month or so. But I disagree that we were in any way 'lucky' or that we posed no attacking threat or failed to break Reading down. Despite our poor performance, we broke down the Reading defence on numerous occasions and created lots of chances. Wiemann, Bentekkers x2, Clark x2, Baker all had great chances before the winning goal so I can't see how you can say that with any seriousness. Reading, on the other hand, were truly dire all game and created very little bar a couple of half chances. If any team was going to win last night, it was us, and we did. At 0-0 my friend turned to me and said: 'Are Reading actually playing for the draw?' and he was right, they were, and time wasting to boot. So I think you are being a little negative in your summary of last night - we got the job done at the end of the day.

Really like Andi and hope Lambert keeps faith in him when he has an average performance, like yesterday.

Whereas keeping the matter 'private' is really benefiting the club dont_do_it_doug, isn't it? Plenty of managers come out from time-to-time and admit to having had disagreements with certain players. Heck, you only have to look at our last three managers to see that. But this isn't, as you state, to make me feel personally better. Far from it. This current situation is doing Villa no favours a.) on the football pitch, b.) in making Bent as attractive a proposition for prospective buyers as possible and c.) it is leaving a negative storm hanging over the club's head at a time when we need to be focused 100 per cent on winning football games. The longer this saga goes on, the more damage it will do to our club and the less money we will get for him. CI, if you think we will recoup up to £20 million for him when clubs fully realise we are trying to offload him then I think you are being massively (understatement of the century) optimistic.

This issue is completely bizarre in every sense of the word and I think Paul Lambert is handling it really, really badly. If they have had a massive bust-up, surely you would still put a proven goalscorer like Darren on the bench at least for the good of the club? Surely you would want him retaining match sharpness so he is more of an asset to sell in January? Like the journos have said and questioned him on, you don't go from (one minute) talking him up and making him captain and then the next minute putting him behind Jordan effing Bowery in the squad. It just doesn't make sense, in any conceivable way. Something has clearly happened and I honestly cannot see what Paul Lambert's thinking is by hiding the truth from people and carrying on this saga - which is what it has become. At the end of the day, of course the media are going to keep asking questions as it's a totally perplexing situation. PL should either bring him back into his plans and then listen to sensible offers in January or simply tell the fans: 'Yes we've had a disagreement and I would be willing to listen to offers for him'. Like others have said, by casting him completely aside, we're not going to get above £5 million for him when clubs know we are trying to offload him. I'm fully behind the Lambert project, and actually agreed with his decision to originally drop Bent. But this is getting ridiculous now and, as I said, his handling of the situation is terrible and very MON-esque.

I'm a big fan of Stevie and think he is harshly criticised on here due to his high wages and expectations which are too high also. Remember this was a young player who had one good season at Man City before all the superstars came in - he is not a player who could get in a top four team regularly and I think he admitted as much recently. But that said, he is by and away our best midfielder and has a lot of quality for a club such as ours. He is inconsistent, yes, but constantly being brought back and then dropped again throughout his Villa career cannot have helped. He needs a long run in the team and for people to put their faith in him. When he came on yesterday, the difference in quality, intelligence and composure on the ball was stark. He has also shone in other games this season such as Sunderland and Newcastle away - in the latter match he completely ran the show against some stiff midfield opposition. He was one of our better players against Manchester City and I can't for the life of me work out why he has been dropped since. He must start at QPR, simple.

My prediction: Westwood will be playing in United's midfield in 2/3 seasons time. High praise indeed, but from what I have seen of him it is warranted.

Shillzz, that is spooky. I agree with every word of that. Ireland HAS to start and Benteke was having one of his poorer games for us I thought until he came up with the powerful header which won us the game. He had already missed a couple of good chances. I guess it shows what a great talent we have that he can play like that and still win us three points. Bannan was superb against Arsenal but had a real stinker in this game, but I would keep the faith in him for the time being. Westwood oozes class on the ball and (here comes an exaggeration) if he keeps developing like this he'll probably be in United's midfield in two/three years time. Laugh all you want, but that's my personal prediction based on what I've seen of him so far. I really like Wiemann but, admittedly, it wasn't his best game against Reading. But those calling for him to be dropped all of a sudden are being rather harsh imo. He looks like a very good player in the making and it wasn't just him who was wasteful with chances last night (Bentekkers, Clark, Baker etc...). The performances have been improving for the last month, but without the points tally to show for it. Last night was all about getting the three points at any cost, which we did. That was the objective. We've shown we can play pretty football, which is good to see, but if we have to alter our approach slightly to grind out a few wins then that is fine by me.

On paper, we've made a shocking start to the season. But the game isn't played on paper and we are looking, and playing, so much better than last season. You can tell the fans appreciate what a big transformation is being made and of course that is bound to take time. Some of the passing movements are fantastic and for the first 45 minutes and the last 15/20 I thought our young team passed Albion off the pitch - as well as creating the better chances. How we didn't win I'll never know. We need to cut out these mistakes at the back however as they're proving costly. We fell apart against Soton and for 20 minutes in the second-half it looked like we had again. Still not sure about Ron Vlaar - for such a big man he doesn't always win the aerial battles and he does seem prone to a mistake which we can't really afford. What I like about Paul Lambert is that he's not scared to drop anyone and I thought it was absolutely the right decision to not start Bent - a decision clearly vindicated by winding Bent up and giving him the kick up the arse he needs. However I thought he should have started with Wiemann, not Benteke. He didn't have his best game today, clearly, but some of the comments about him are, well, frankly bizarre. He looked lively in spells last week and played fantastically well on his debut against Swansea - one bad game today and everyone is seemingly writing him off? Give the lad some time - he looks a lot better than Angel did when he first signed. Albion fans were awful as per usual. Sitting down in the upper tier and hardly heard them at all from the Holte. We did hear them singing about them being the 'Kings of the Midlands' at full-time though which was highly amusing! Villa Park was rocking at times thanks to our support, as my throat can now testify to. All things considered, we are improving. Just need to start grinding out some wins now though!

Like what? I can't remember a single top class performance from Ireland since he joined us. What's he done that's been so impressive to you? You clearly weren't up at Newcastle a few weeks ago. Another class to the other 21 players on the field.

He didn't answer for me. I answered on the previous page. For the benefit of those which want to here my viewpoint on them, here goes: 1. Given the young players in your squad I would say it's been a decent start. Nothing special. Nothing too much to worry about. 2. Excellent start for us. Never expected it. Clarke has us playing fluent football whilst still being very good defensively. 3. It's changing. You're no longer the bullies you once were. I would say at the moment in time, we have a far better squad than you and I think that will tell over the course of the season. Our team is capable of winning a cup competition, just whether we can and will is another question. The fact Randy is also cutting his cloth accordingly will only help turn the tables. 4. I love the club and the supporters are brilliant. If you want me to switch it to a Villa related question. Don't particularly like the club and the arrogance which surrounds it's supporters. 5. Plenty of inconsistency and a below mid-table finish. 6. Top half finish, plenty of fluent football and a decent run in one of the cups. 7. Fantastic summer transfer window for us. The permanent signing of Foster and the fact we retained our better players was also vitally important. The signings of Lukaku and Yacob have also been remarkable, Yacob has fitted in superbly well and I fully expect him to dictate the game on Sunday. Rosenberg again is another with a pedigree who will bring something to us as the season progresses. El Ghanassy is learning the game in this country and Popov will provide competition and experience to Liam Ridgewell. 8. You should look out for Morrison who has been superb for us and Lukaku who will look to bully your centre halves. Don't really fear anyone in your side bar Benteke who looks decent so far. Providing we don't allow him any service, I'm not going to worry about Bent. 9. Foster; Reid, McAuley, Olsson, Ridgewell; Yacob, Mulumbu; Brunt, Morrison, Gera; Long 10. 1-1. Yes, we may be arrogant in the minds of other Midlands' clubs fans. But arrogance in terms of Midlands' football is born off the back of being the most successful and biggest club, by quite some way. In reality, all Villa fans do in general is state facts. Last season you finished above us for the first time in 32 years. Now all of a sudden Tesco think the 'footballing landscape' is changing - do you not see how small time and naive that makes you look? Like others have said, we had all this hype from Small Heath when they managed to finish above us. It all points to the very obvious fact that it's a major accomplishment for another Midlands club to finish above the Villa and I'm big enough to say well done when it happens. But it doesn't happen very often at all and all this unadulterated excitement that you somehow think you're 'overtaking' us is frankly embarrassing. It just highlights the gulf that still exists between the two clubs. I'd much rather be arrogant than deluded.

1. What are your thoughts on the start to the season you have made? Inconsistent. We've been beyond dire and, as seen tonight against Man City, we've been able to beat the best. It will remain like this for much of the season until Paul Lambert really gets a settled team together. 2. What are your thoughts on our start to the season? You have made a flying start to the season, no question. Any team with goals in the side will do fine in this league. 3. Do you feel that the authority of West Midlands football is changing? I.e. We're finally becoming top dogs ahead of yourselves? No, not at all. As others have said, last season we had our worst manager in modern times and a team that very nearly, and perhaps deserved, to get relegated. Even in one of our darkest seasons in the top flight, the Albion only finished 9 points ahead of us. Credit for doing so, and you probably have a better team at this moment in time. But football changes very quickly and how successful a club is, is usually based on its achievements over a far longer period than a season or two. 4. What are your opinions of WBA as a club and its supporters? Strange club Albion. I never really had a true dislike for them as our rivalry is most definitely with the blue half of Birmingham. However, in my experience this attitude from a majority of Villa fans seems to wind Albion fans up even more as they call us 'arrogant' etc. But the simple fact of the matter is, if Albion had been by far the most successful Midlands club since it formed then us Villa fans would probably hate your guts. It hasn't worked out that way thus far, meaning you have always been very much an after thought when it comes to rivalries. Some of the hatred I've seen from Albion towards Villa is very hostile but in the main this simply isn't replicated. 5. What are you expecting from Villa for the remainder of the season? As I said, more ups and downs and probably a 12th place finish which would be an acceptable first season for PL. 6. What are you expecting from Albion for the remainder of the season? I think you will finish 10th or 11th, probably just above us. 7. Your thoughts on your summer transfer business? Ask me in January. So far, most of the signings looks either good or promising. Ron Vlaar is probably the pick of the bunch, along with Benteke. 8. Players we should look out for, and players you fear in our side? Gabby needs no introduction to derby games. So far it is mostly Blues he has caused misery for; I'm sure he'll be fired up for Sunday. 9. Team Paul Lambert is most likely to choose on Sunday? Lambert likes to rotate so it could literally be anything. But I tip Gabby to start up top, what with it being a derby. God knows who will start in goal. 10. And finally, score predictions? Could go either way but I'm feeling an optimistic 2-1 to the Villa.

Gabby gets himself in a rut sometimes and it can prove frustrating to watch him. I'm not sure what it is, but it seems to happen time and time again. So coupled with the fact that he can be massively inconsistent with his goal scoring, it can attract criticism from a lot of people. But the simple fact is, when Gabby is hungry and fit, he is our most dangerous striker. Not the most clinical, but the most dangerous. I genuinely believe that when he's on form and in the team, even when he isn't scoring, defenders are very wary of him which creates more space for other players. If Paul Lambert can somehow keep that sharpness and hunger in Gabby for a longer period of time then he would be in my starting line-up most weeks. Well in Gabs!

Unbelievable. Even when he doesn't play through injury, our performance without him is still used as a 'reason' why he shouldn't be in the team. Incredible what lengths some people will go to to score points.

Was he worth the money we paid? Definitely. As his goals in that first season kept us in this division. Pure and simple. Is the way he plays frustrating? Definitely. All the more frustrating because against Newcastle and Swansea he proved he CAN drop deep and get involved with the game, instead on standing on the last man for 90 minutes as a spectator. Why doesn't he do that every game? None of us know. Is he following instructions? Is he lazy? Everyone can make up their own minds. But, as others have said, with the current lack of quality out wide can we really afford to have him in the team? He scored yesterday so I would give him a little run in the side with Andy and see how things go. But just because he is our marquee signing I would not be afraid to drop him if needs be.

As I explained in more detail in the match thread, I thought the decision to drop Andy was the single most bizarre decision from yesterday. Lambert says he picks on merit and I cannot see any reason why his performance from Swansea would merit him being dropped. Yes, Benteke did well when he came on, but what manager changes a winning team? Very harsh on young Andreas and I hope he's back in the starting line-up for Handsworth FC on Sunday.

We were terrible first half too & people are again delusional about Ireland. He was average to middling at best, Bannan had a better first half. Holman & KEA were really poor over the full 90. In the Stephen Ireland thread you said "he was the best of a bad bunch" and now you're saying something different? Make your mind up... Your personal vendetta against Ireland has more holes in it than our defence did yesterday.

I was disappointed with Vlaar today. As captain, he should have done more to instill confidence in the lads after the equaliser. Instead, with seemingly no leadership on the pitch, our whole team collapsed in front of our eyes. I like Ron, and think he is an improvement on Dunne & Collins. But he does seem prone to the odd mistake.

Best player again today. When he went off, we collapsed soon after.

I'm really not sure whether today was the blip, or if Newcastle and Swansea was the one-off. Time will tell as so far we have been toothless against a really poor side (West Ham), utterly dire (Everton), really good (Newcastle), really good again (Swansea) and utterly dire again (S'ton). I'm surprised nobody has mentioned the following point but for me today the biggest mistake, and the most worrying thing, was Paul Lambert dropping Andreas Wiemann from the starting line-up. Why on earth would you change a winning team? Since he joined the club, PL has made clear his policy of 'play well, stay in the team, play poorly, you'll get dropped' which begs the question why he deviated from this way of thinking today. Wiemann has looked lively so far this season and his exclusion from the first team was very harsh. But, apart from being a strange move, what that one decision did is change our whole way of playing. Neither of the forward players were dropping deep to collect the ball or working hard to press Southampton defenders in possession, two things Wiemann does very well, and it showed. Not to mention that, by having both Bent and Benteke playing, we resorted to hoofball which is a complete reverse from what we all thought PL was trying to do. It just did not work. Very strange decision for me that and one which played a big part in the final outcome of the game. We were very average in the first half and perhaps a bit fortunate to go in 1-0 up. Even in the first half, our midfield was getting far to overrun and we were letting Southampton run riot down their left wing. Fortunately for us, the Saints were just as average and we weren't punished. Having said that, for our lack of quality in the first 45 I was still impressed overall with our endeavour and work rate, particularly from players such as Ireland and Holman. Second half started in much the same way, with both sides attacking but with little quality and then the free-for-all started after Lambert levelled. As others have said, it was a complete and utter collapse. The Saints did up their game, and the crowd got behind them finally, but even so that scoreline is definitely of our own doing. We fell apart in all areas of the pitch and it could have easily been 7 or 8 considering they missed a couple of chances first half. When a team collapses like that, it shows a real lack of confidence which is even more worrying considering we had come off the back of two superb performances. What it also shows, for me, is a lack of leadership and so Ron Vlaar as captain must take a fair share of blame for not rallying the troops after the equaliser. Westwood looked out of his depth, KEA looked anonymous which for a centre midfield player is alarming, Holman faded badly in the second-half, Lichaj had a shocker, Vlaar as I said lacked leadership and fell apart too and I'm afraid to say Joe Bennett when he came on looked horribly lightweight and didn't look like any improvement on Lichaj at all. Bent was anonymous as usual, apart from his goal which let's be honest a partially sighted monkey could have stuck in the net. Benteke was pretty anonymous too although he knows how to pick a pass and seems to have great vision and a footballing brain which is important. His lack of a workrate could prove frustrating, even more so when paired with Darren. Our defence was clearly awful today but for me the midfield was mostly to blame as Southampton had far too many runners which just sliced through into the gap between midfield and defence at ease. That makes it far harder to defend against. If Ireland really has broken his arm, how are we going to fare without him? As I see it, he could well be crucial to our season. Our midfield is our biggest problem area in my opinion and without him in it, we are even less creative and even more lightweight. Strange times at Villa. Can't work out if we are on the brink of having a decent team, or are relegation fodder. But it is worrying how few points we have picked up from relatively easy games. Man City in midweek could well be a cricket score - second team/youth team or not. And I do hope Lambert sticks to his principles re: playing a passing game and picking players on merit, and that today was a badly thought out one-off.

So how do you explain his man of the match performance up at Newcastle then? I'd hardly call them "lesser" opposition. So much rubbish is spouted about Stephen Ireland because of a number of reasons - too many than I care to go into. Yes, he has acted like a prat in the past. And, yes, he needs to be far more consistent for us. But, you can tell he is trying to knuckle down more under Lambert, and his quality still shines through on occasions. What he needs is a regular run in the side now, which he is getting at the moment, to prove that he can produce performances like the one up at Newcastle on a regular basis. If he can, he will be one of the first names down on the teamsheet. Of that I have no doubt. If your going to quote then quote the whole comment! He may have been your MOM but he wasn't mine! To me it was clear that Holman was MOM against Newcastle. I personally think the billing Ireland gets that newcastle display should be the MINIMUM we expect! If he is our best player then he should be getting MOM's more than any other player, but really the only MOM he has this season is against Tranmere! That includes preseason as well! Your entitled to your opinion, but really Ireland is one of many good players at Villa and out of all of them he is the one capable of more, yet always plays within himself! It's clear his head isn't right to me. I quoted the part relevant to my response. We can go round in circles about who we thought was man of the match at Newcastle. Fact of the matter is he was named as the best Villa player by a number of the top national papers and had his best game in a Villa shirt (by far) by completely bossing that midfield. He oozed class against Newcastle, no doubt spurred on by the 'reception' he got from the Geordies. I'm not sure where you get the idea from that he's our best player. I haven't suggested that and I'm not aware of anyone else who has either. What I'm saying is Ireland does have potential to play like he did at Newcastle every week. To do that, he needs a run in the side and a bit of support from the fans and management staff around him - he is that sort of player. The signs are encouraging so far as PL obviously seems to rate him and his performances have generally been good, even though it's too early in the season to judge. But for many reasons people on here are quick to make him a scapegoat and vilify him. You say the Newcastle performance is the minimum you expect from him - well, why? This is Stephen Ireland we're talking about, not Messi. He had one good season at Manchester City and I think people need to put that in perspective and be realistic about the maximum he is capable of.

He's big, he's hench, he's smashing your defence! Benteke! Benteke!

So how do you explain his man of the match performance up at Newcastle then? I'd hardly call them "lesser" opposition. So much rubbish is spouted about Stephen Ireland because of a number of reasons - too many than I care to go into. Yes, he has acted like a prat in the past. And, yes, he needs to be far more consistent for us. But, you can tell he is trying to knuckle down more under Lambert, and his quality still shines through on occasions. What he needs is a regular run in the side now, which he is getting at the moment, to prove that he can produce performances like the one up at Newcastle on a regular basis. If he can, he will be one of the first names down on the teamsheet. Of that I have no doubt.

He's big, he's hench, he's smashing your defence! Benteke! Benteke! 8)

This result was in the pipeline after the Newcastle game, which we also played outstanding in. It felt fantastic walking out of Villa Park after a positive 90 minutes in what must have been the best home game in more than two years of hell. I've seen some over-reactions on here already - people comparing PL to Sir Alex, and calling him "world class" - but after what we've been through the last two seasons I think it is understandable. Bent played well today, as he did at Newcastle. Someone (presumably PL) has given him a kick up the backside and he is responding. Far more involved today and did some very positive things. Holman is simply a machine - he is not human the amount of running he does. Mo Farah would be proud of that! Guzan, Ireland, Bannan, Ohh Ahh Ron Vlaar, and Lowton - all played really well too. All of our new signings look good and how nice is it to buy a fairly expensive striker and for him to play really well on his home debut and score a goal?! Fantastic and more to the point: exciting. We now have players fighting for places and that can only be a good thing as long as PL sticks to his ethic of play well and you're in, play poorly and you're out. I'm not expecting big things this season - I would be so happy to keep playing this entertaining football and for us to finish around mid-table, without the stress of relegation. If we keep playing like the last two games, we will have a far better season and can finally start looking up, rather than down. Fair play to Swansea also for joining in with the 19th minute ovation. Huge respect to them. Up the Villa!