NeilS

I cant see us getting to 34 points so you cant see us get 12 points in 15 games? sure To be fair the last 19 games or 1/2 a season has seen us manage 12 points scoring a whopping 7 goals in the process, so it is a fair concern in my opinion.

I'd take a goal if I was offered it now never mind a point to be honest. I was talking a point minimum. I have put a quid on at 9/1 for a Villa win, it is going to happen i tell you. Reality is i will never see that £1 again, would probably have had better luck buying a scratch card.

We need to start by grabbing a point against Chelsea, and hopefully a goal as well just to break the run if anything. Then we have to hope the addition of Gil and Sinclair start to pay off. So far they haven't had the chance to play together against the also rans in the PL, so it remains to be seen whether they will make the difference required. To be fair, they can't do a lot worse than those who held their places before them so I have a little hope. I think (and this is a big if),IF we can get Vlaar and Senderos fit, then we will probably get enough points on the board. Clark and Okore have done ok, but they struggle against the top quality players and I would prefer the experience of Vlaar and Senderos at the back.

To be fair, Pochetino has always given youth players a chance both at Southampton and Spurs. Alli will back his own ability, and if he does well enough he will probably see that he gets a chance.

It is going to be hard work persuading any decent players to sign for us after that horror showing yesterday. The brief moment of positivity around the club from the Cup win has been blown away, and replaced with the reality of the situation we are in. Therefore I think we are probably done for this window.

I think we are going down this year, I have thought this for a few months now. The lack of goals scored will be our downfall, I had hoped for a miracle and that things might change with Benteke coming back, but that looks less likely with each passing game. It is going to take one hell of a turnaround for us to stay up now, one which I am not sure Lambert is capable of. Depressing times being a Villa fan at the moment. The only hope is that Lerner and Fox act quickly and give us a fighting chance, but history shows Lerner never fires mid season.

I am old enough to remember the Turner/McNeill years, and these are just as bad in my opinion. The lack of goals is a disgrace, and I think the guy has no clue how to change it. He is just out of his depth as the job is too big for him and he looks like a broken man. I think it is best for all parties that he leaves, for us as a club and for him so he can possibly resurect his career at a lower club before it is too late. Unfortunately I think as a club we should have removed him about a month ago, and given a new manager the window to bring some players in. I think we have left it too late to do anything now, so we are probably going to struggle to find a manager who is willing to come in and try to save us with no option to buy a player in. So for now, I think we are stuck with him until the end of the season. We need to pray for a miracle and that the team can find a way to grind out the odd victory here and there to get us over the line. I am sick of this every year! Lerner and Lambert Out!

Earlier in this thread I said I wasn't sure about Sinclair, and I still am not sure whether he will be up to what we require. I am happy it is on a loan with a view to a permanent deal, it means we a chance to try before we buy and gives the lad a chance to prove himself. Hopefully he will prove me and any other doubters wrong and be a hit for us.

Yeah it might be for the best to give him a little break and take him out of the firing line. I can understand Lambert's reluctance though as Gabby is not a prolific goalscorer, and didn't step up to the plate at the end of last season when we were dropping like a stone in Benteke's abscence. In the medium term (Tail end of the season) though, it may make all the difference.

I remember hearing an interview years ago with a former pro on Soccer Saturday (May have been Merson, but can't remember), who was talking about coming back from long term injury. He said something along the lines that when you first come back into the team it is great and you are playing off adrenaline for the first few games, then you hit a wall and struggle as you haven't had the pre-season others have had so your conditioning isn't quite up to everyone elses standards. The former pro also said that sometimes fans mis-interpret lack of confidence for disinterest. This may be what has happened here with Benteke? I hope so anyway, and fingers crossed Benteke can grab a couple of goals in consecutive games to get him up and running again. With the introduction of Gil into the team, hopefully the goals aren't too far away for him.

By my rough calculation we scored maybe 9 goals in 16 games without Benteke, so I think it is safe to say the problems run deeper than CB being in a bad run of form. The scoring ratio has not really improved upon his return either, but so far you can kind of cut CB some slack as he has had an horrendous injury so it will take him time to get fully back and confident. I definitly would not sell him at this moment in time though as I think that would see us go down, it would be madness.Neither Gabby, Weimann or the midfield stepped up with much in the way of goal contributions in CB's abscence, so I think that it is a little unfair and shortsighted to be laying all of the blame at Benteke's feet. We have got to try and utilise CB better, and hopefully with the addition of a couple of players (one hopefully being Gil) we can create better chances more regularly which in itself will give us more likelihood of scoring more often.

Rowett has done a great job so far. But to be fair Lambert had a pretty good record at that level, gaining back to back promotions with Norwich. So it remains to be seen that Rowett is indeed a better manager than Lambert. If he does well for them, then I guess he will be head hunted by one of the many bigger clubs than sha, then we will see if he is a better manager or not?

He's here until the end of the season I think people need to get used to that Yep, I don't think he would be allowed to buy players like Gil if he was leaving this month. He is here for the remainder of this season at least, we have got to hope that maybe with another signing or two this window we can turn a corner and start scoring a bit more frequently and winning a few more games.

I am very wary of this deal, and wouldn't do it if it was down to me, Sinclair has barely played over the last few years, and has been earning a nice wage for doing very little. This makes me wonder whether he still has the sharpness and ability, as you would expect those things to get worse with the lack of playing time. We have been down the route of buying these squad players from the top teams and hoping to turn them into our stars before with Sidwell, Ireland etc. and it has always failed leaving us picking up large wages which could have been spent better. Also while looking at his record I notice most of his best work was at Championship level, bar one good season at Swansea in the PL. So I question whether that it was a one off season. It is too big a risk for my liking, and would rather look for better value abroad. The only way I would be ok with him coming this window is if it was on loan until the summer, give him a chance to prove himself.

Yeah this was the one I was trying to remember. I remembered Charlton won, but not who they were playing. I also remember Clive Mendonca scored a hat trick in the game. I watched it down the pub with my friends, and considering none of us supported either team it was a riveting match.

Let's be honest, he can hardly make us less effective up front. It is however a lot to ask of a young lad coming in from a foreign country into a new league and expecting him to save our bacon. Hopefully this guy won't be the only signing this window, and we can afford to let him settle into the league with little pressure. Fingers crossed the fact that he knows a few of our players already will help him to settle in quicker than normal.

To be honest whoever we draw will be a tough draw, we have struggled against all opposition from various levels home and away over the last few years.

The change in style was necessary as we were very one dimensional. As mentioned above this is not going to see an overnight improvement as these things take time to come to fruition. The style will evolve over time with the addition of players who fit into the system and current players confidence in the style growing, our players currently are all high energy and have been used to playing long ball counter attacking football which is ok as a plan b but not a plan a. A lot of people on here have been talking about buying in a creative midfielder, which to be honest in our previous system he would probably have been a waste. If the rest of the team can't keep the ball, then a creative midfielder would not get enough of the ball to do anything with. In my opinion the players most at threat of losing their places in the first team with this new system should be Gabby and Andi. Neither of those two have offered anywhere near enough of a goal threat, or much in the way of assists. Also both have a tendancy to lose the ball with bad control. We have clearly not scored enough and if we continue with this formation then those would be the two I would be looking to replace.

A big relief that we got the three points last night. As mentioned above we need to build on that and pick up a run of victories now. If that happens then I will start to feel a bit more positive about our situation. If we can get a few victories under our belt, then maybe with growing confidence we will start to see a better standard of football and in turn more goals. As Richard says, we will not be truely out of the scrap for a long time yet though. We have seen previously that we can go on terrible runs of form, and a few injuries will set us right back again.

It was a great finish, using the defender as a shield to place the ball in the corner and giving the goalkeeper no chance. Hopefully the first of quite a few goals for him this season.

I think that I saw Phelan at Norwich in a coaching role on our local news channel earlier this week. I was in the gym at the time, and relying on subtitles though so it may not be a reliable account of what was said. I would guess that Lambert wouldn't want to appoint Meulensteen, for the reason that he is a likely candidate to take over from him. See Jol and Meulensteen at Fulham.

Only 1 person to blame here, and that is Darren Bent. The guy is finished as a top level player, I would be very surprised if he gets a decent club come in for him in the summer. His chance to prove Lambert wrong was last season at Fulham, and he messed that chance up.

Yeah he knows how to say the right things, which I guess he is hoping will dampen some of the anger towards him. It is nice that he says nice things about the club, but right now I would like a few victories strung together so we can start climbing the table again. Can he get the team he has built to do it? I remain to be convinced.

I can see us going down this season as well. The lack of goals is going to be our downfall.

I agree with that. I am happy for the lad that he has a couple of goals to his name, and hopefully he can build on this and offer the complete all round game to matches in the Championship. If it were down to me I would be tempted to leave him at Brighton on loan for the whole season, make sure he has a proper run of games to build his confidence levels rather than coming back here to sit on the bench or play for the U21's. Then I would review his position in the team during the summer.