NIVillan

Well if we keep our form up we will be in a much more powerful position to be attracting quality players.

Join the revolution before you miss out etc

Well if we keep our form up we will be in a much more powerful position to be attracting quality players.

Join the revolution before you miss out etc

Cant we just enjoy a very good away performance with some excellent goals.

Now can anyone say we would have seen a goal of the quality of the second last year?

Slowly but surely we are improving.

As for Europe - Wasnt we in a similar situation in terms of league position in O'Leary's first season. We just missed qualifying for Europe on the last day of the season. So it can be done and it will be fun trying.

Quotes on various sites lastnight said Villa looked good on the ball etc.

The team is starting to blend - Onwards and Upwards

Not sure if I have missed this in the discussion BUT

Bent had a serious Injury at the end of last season and has not yet proved he is back to his best. Could our medical staff know something we dont and the real reason he is not being picked. Bent should not just walk straight back into the team. Perhaps he isnt putting the training in etc.

Just a thought

http://sportsnewsireland.com/soccer/soccer_irish/aston-villa-set-to-loan-darren-bent-to-liverpool-26112012/

On Loan to Liverpool ? See above link

If I were him, I'd find the comparisons to Mark Delaney a bit insulting - he's much better than he was, Delaney had **** all technical ability and lost his head fairly easily.

Funny being so bad that we missed Delaney so much when he retired.

If we can shift him to someone like QPR for around 5 or 6M I would bite their hands off and be thrilled about what Lamber could do with that considering what he has found so far for less than that

Would you want him to go to a 'relgation rival'?

In the run up to the game people were predicting that Arsenal would tear us a new one, that Lambert could not do defensive tactics etc etc etc. Now we have not lost, not conceeded then Arsenal weren't that good?

Especially against an Arsenal Side that Beat Spurs 5-2 the week before.

BTW for Big John's love of Doug Consider:

1982 : Doug takes Control of Villa. They are current Champions of Europe and have won the European Supercup.

I think it was just before losing 2-0 to Penerol in World Club Championship.

That Season Finish 6th and qualify for UEFA Cup. We go out of European Cup at quarter against Juventus.

5 Seasons later - 1987 We begin our first season in Division 2 for 21 years.

5 Years to go from European Champions to Relegated.

Richard,

Big John seems to think that Randy's personal wealth is the property of Aston Villa and should only be be spent on the Villa.

Spending 20 million is being backed in my book. Though I might be too old now and do not understand the price of things. Mars bars were 10p in my day you know

Is the season over? Have we gone through January already? Of course we haven't

Paul Lambert was given funds to get players he wanted in positions he wanted for the plan he has. He was backed, with more than just a token, with £20M more than a lot of clubs in our league.

He will be backed again in January and in terms of determining whether or not that backing has been sufficient or successful I'm afraid it is a little premature to be saying one way or the other

But what you can say, quite categorically, is that he was indeed backed, and will be again

Look at the first page of this thread. He said the same quote before he joined Villa.

We sold Platt and used the money to build a team that challenged for the title. If that is what happens with this kid Im all for it.

Last Week I sold him on FIFA 13 and bought Hernandez That was more to do with his age than anything else.

An using a game as real life is always relevant

Scapegoat of the Week!

_{It was on McLeish's watch that we bought Edna Stevens and Brent Holman so he did have some sort of plan - We probably wouldnt have liked it but I think he had one}

Based on what he has achieved with Everton i would say its more than plausible that he would have got us into the Champions League by now given the funding O'Neill received and it would only be a stupid thing to say if it was an impossibility.

Could be that he is a perfect fit for Everton and the way they work. He hasnt a record of buying top playes but has a record of buying players that get you 5th/6th.

I think he is a great manager but Everton is Everton and we are Villa. Two different clubs which can have two different reactions to Moyes style of management

I think he is overated. The fact that Ireland who hasnt done anything special is rated above him says it all.

Could perhaps do a job coming on late in a game but he is not a Starter.

The fact he is always pictured with a beer in his hands shows he hasnt the mental strength to really push himself beyond what he is now

I m terrified of where we are and yet I remain very pleased with Lambert. Illogical I know but there you are. The truth is I like the way he wants us to play and I like his signing philosophy.

This is where I am as well. Pleased we have Lambert at the helm and Trust him. Cant explain why considering the results.

Have to disagree there smetrov, I'm Lambert's biggest fan!

Why you a big fat one?

Hang on I've just read the transcript. Pretty sure lambert says "he's dropped" sarcastically when asked what he thought of Bentekes 2 goals for Belgium.

Against Scotland should be added to give Lamberts comments context

We would not have signed him anyway. Lambert clearly has a problem with players who earn much more than him

We Lambert hasnt started wrestling his players to the ground in training yet

Nowhere near as much as he lost a) in the credit crunch and as he spent trying to revive the fortunes of a formerly decent English football club

Having shed all his cash, hundreds of millions of it on their club, these fans are now showing their ingratitude.

I'm sure as fans we used to be all about class. Different era I guess.

The other thing is that it is his money not Villa's money. He doesnt have to spend on the Villa.

Agree about the different class, we used to understand that you built a team over time and gave managers time to develop it.

I'm not questioning him, but if he gets us relegated then he should be sacked. There should be no reward of managerial stability for chronic failure. He would have done something that none of his predecessors of recent years managed and that's to take us down.

Relegation = he goes down as the WORST manager in our PL history.

No he doesnt. Lambert would go down as having the worst finishing position in the PL (As if that is the only history that matters).

To mark a manager as the worst in history you have to take into account factors of what they were working with and the situation of the club at the time.

Can O'Leary finishing 6th be considered a better achievement than ONeil finishing 6th with far greate resources.

which to be fair could have gone elsewhere, after all where did the investment for downing and young come from. I am a critic of Lerner and he needs to go a lot further to bring me totally on side but the last window he at least started the backing. Need another two or three windows like that

I agree with what Richard has been saying. The above about the investment. The money for Downing and Young in the first place came from Lerner's pockets so if he kept some of it to pay for the other outlay he had to do you cant complain.

He is trying to get the club to run it self finance wise which is a good thing if he did decide to leave. We dont want a Portsmouth situation where the owner decided he doesnt want to play anymore and leaves the club financially crippled.

Earlier comment by Richard I agree with is the turnaround in the team. Do people expect Lambert to turn around one of the worst teams in Premiership history that didnt get relegated to European places contenders in the matter of a couple of months?

Moyes had very rocky times before he stabalised Everton. Look at Hughes at QPR, spent a bundle and still bottom of the League.

This rebuilding has probably been the biggest task since 1987 when Taylor came into a club on its knees. We didnt start that season that well either and that was in the old Second Division.

Perhaps Lambert thought the Big Man and the Whippet could unsettle the Baggies Defense and bringing on Bent later would result in a Goal