NeilS

I think Lambert has done well with Jack so far, given him little tasters here and there and gradually increase his playing time. He is giving Jack some pressure situations without it being overwhelming, like coming on against Stoke and Hull when needing to see the game out. Also, it should hopefully keep his feet on the floor, and not get ahead of himself and become over confident. We have just got to hope that we sign him up to a new deal soon. I would imagine that this contract should be easier to secure than the Vlaar and Delph deals.

Yeah, that sounds a bit steep for someone with 6 months left on their contract?

Hmmm not sure what is going on here. From the outside looking at the reports I am not keen to be doing this deal. However, I am old enough to have seen many things mis-reported over the years and don't always believe what news outlets report. So if he does turn up for us, I hope he does well and enjoys it here.

I doubt that this is true, as there would be other reports leaking out if it were. In my opinion though, that ship has sailed and I wouldn't want him here now. If he wanted to play for us he wouldn't have messed us about, there was plenty of time to sort the deal out from the bid going in, he obviously didn't want the move. So it would feel like he is here because he had no other choice, and I couldn't see the fans giving him any time as a result.

I'm pretty sure I read that it was Canales' club that scuppered the deal - they weren't prepared to let him leave. It could be that Canales was prepared to come. Maybe to be rekindled in January? Ah really, I must have missed that report. I thought that the last report I saw was on Sky Sports News saying that Canales had rejected us. I guess there are lots of mis-reporting going on on deadline day as it is all a big rush to get deals done.

Sometimes things aren't meant to be. I thought Cleverley may join and be a useful player for us, coming with a point to prove and a hunger to succeed. It looks like he was another looking to feather his nest, with football coming a poor second in his thoughts. After all of the shenanigans and delaying tactics he and his agent used, the only thing that disappoints me is that we didn't pull the plug sooner. Regarding the Sergio Canales deal, I can't say I know alot about the guy. I recognise the name, but haven't seen him play. Looking at his history, it looks like he has suffered badly with his ACL. Which kind of leaves me thinking that he may be someone who you are watching always in fear of him breaking down. The thing I find strange about this bid is that usually you would get an idea of if a player is interested in joining the club before entering a bid. Maybe Villa did and he indicated that he may wish to join, but then changed his mind, but the way that Ballague stated he would never join Villa suggests that it was a shot in the dark. As it happens, I hope what we have got here already and with a bit of luck with injuries, should hopefully see us to a mid table finish. Although as a Villa fan I always want better for my team, if you would have offered me that 2 months ago I would have bitten your hand off.

I am very happy with our start in the league, and the points already on the board. I would normally say we probably would lose most of those games, but over the last couple of season we seem to do the opposite of what is expected. However, I think the fact that these games come one after the other is going to take it's toll on us. Our players are going to be more and more exhausted mentally and physically after each game. It is going to be a case of how quickly we can recover if things take a turn for the worse. Hopefully we will get off to a decent start and momentum will carry us through. I hope for 4-5 points from those matches if we can get a win in one of them, but wouldn't be suprised to see us struggle and get 0-2 points and our optimism quickly disolve.

Another defeat to lower league opposition. I can handle the odd one, but this is ridiculous. At least this joker will be gone by the end of this season. How anybody thinks he is doing a good job, regardless of the strict budget he is working under. The only reason he is still in a job is because nobody else would want the job while we are up for sale.

Weimann reminds me of a slightly less angry version of Paul Dickov. Lots of industry, but not really going to score a load of goals at the top level. It is something I have thought for a while, and hoped that I would be proved wrong. It looked like he might prove me wrong the season before last, but he has regressed badly over the last 12 months, whether that is down to loss of desire or whether he has been found out and hasn't improved I am not sure. He needs to improve drastically if he wants to continue at this level.

Although I would have liked a victory today I am content with a point, albeit we still look a bit short of goals in the squad (bar Benteke). Last season ended embarrassingly, with us leaking goals at a ridiculous rate. We had no back bone, and often would let a match like today end in defeat. I am happy with the work Lambert has done so far this summer. It looks like he has rectified our biggest problem, and made us more secure at the back. Hopefully this trend will continue into the season as the defence gains further confidence and understanding. The one aspect Lambert still needs to address is the lack of goals coming from midfield and the supporting forwards. Hopefully in the remainder of the window Lambert can address this issue, as even when Benteke and Kozak come back we would still be reliant on those two to get all of the goals. If not Then that would mean we are still very much one dimensional, and that would be unfair on the returning duo to expect them to pick up where they left off after such a long layoff.

I agree with that Samjp. We don't look like scoring many with the current strikers. I guess we have got to hope that we snatch the odd win here and there until Benteke and Kozak come back. Ideally we should be looking for another forward to replace one of the current two. But with finances short we will probably have to make do with what we have for now.

Danny Wellbeck is not good enough for Man Utd, but is plenty good enough for us. As has been mentioned already, he has hardly played in his favoured position for Utd. He would be one of our best forwards if we signed him, probably just behind Benteke , but better than Kozak in terms of ability in my opinion. I would rather have wellbeck than Hernandez if it were a toss up between the two. I think Wellbeck would be a better fit in our team. However, I doubt either would be likely to join here at this moment in time. We just wouldn't be able to afford them.

They have been playing at Sixfields so far this season, but just seen the headline on the beeb that they are heading back to The Ricoh early September.

Robin Russell who was the CFO, and was standing in as CEO after PF left.

Wow, no way is he worth those figures imo. We should have counter offered him £10k per week, with a £65k win bonus. So £10k a week then? Exactly, unfortunately I reckon he would see through my not so cunning plan.

I don't understand the panic either. It has only been three days since this topic has started, so fairly quick in terms of a transfer deal. Does nobody remember the Milan Baros transfer, that went on for months!

Wow, no way is he worth those figures imo. We should have counter offered him £10k per week, with a £65k win bonus.

Me to. This season is one I am dreading, I usually have some small hope of a tiny bit of success, maybe even a decent cup run. I have nothing this year.

Well I'm GUESSING, maybe, possibly, they didn't realise he was ineligible? Well yes clearly they didn't, What I meant was why make a substitution at all with two minutes remaining when the game was already won, it is not like they were needing to waste time. It was a pointless substitution as the guy would have no effect on the result, it wouldn't help the player get his fitness levels up, a total pointless substitution which has cost them dearly.

Just seen the news on the BBC, very lucky indeed on Celtic's part, but what were Legia thinking. Why would you even make that substitution with 2 minutes to go? It is not like it was a close scoreline and they needed to kill off time and the game. Celtic fans must be loving it though, and you can't blame them as we would be the same in their shoes. I do wonder about the new manager though, it may be a short lived reign if things don't improve drastically for him. Celtic shouldn't be getting beaten 6-1 by the likes of Legia Warsaw. Maybe Lennon was doing a pretty good job for them, it is always hartd to tell in a one horse race just how good he was doing, his results in the champions league were pretty good considering who they were up against.

Well the left side is probably our weakest, so maybe an improvement on what we have? I just hope they check his teeth properly in the medical before signing him, as according to Wikipedia he had a problem which scuppered a move to Inter Milan.

Didn't Boardwalk Empire finish at the end of S4? i'm on S2, and i assumed it was all over now? no its got 1 more left, shame really, id hoped they'd keep it going until the other characters such as capone and lucky overtook nucky but it seems like they dont want to I think It is only an 8 episode run this time as well. So not long left now.

Haha. Why would he fly out to Dallas to do a medical? Wouldn't he complete that where we have all of our medical equipment at BMH and locally? Sounds like BS to me.

That is pretty standard manouvre on Swansea's behalf. They are going to test the water and see if they can convince Ki to stay and protect their asset. A lot will depend now on whether Ki is happy to sign an extension and stay at Swansea, or whether he feels that he wants to play elsewhere. If he rejects a new contract, then I guess negotiations will commence between interested clubs and Swansea. He or his Agent to be precise may have already had discussions with interested parties to see what options may be available to him pending contract negotiations. I would guess this may have a way to go yet in terms of whether he signs for us or not, if we are even interested at all?.

England have progressivly got worse since Cook took over the captaincy from Strauss. You have to wonder how much longer the selectors will stick with him? Cook says he won't resign, so you would think the selectors would make the decision for him. England are slipping back to the bad old days again.