villaglint

Tom....is that you ? Or his Dad maybe? Hope your not his agent because you wont be the most popular on here if you are!

Yes I think Sanchez Sterling could be a very interesting match up in the next game. Personally I would go with Sanchez, Westwood, Delph, Cleverly - keep us really solid and try to control the game then Weimann and Gabby upfront. Zog still looks rusty to me and not sure this is a game he will thrive in. We'll need everyone working their bollox off. I think Sanchez could be key for us in this game though if I were Rodgers I would play him wide backing him to have more success against Hutton who while being great going forward this season hasn't really been tested defensively. Also they'll have Ballotelli to occupy us in the centre who always scores against us.

Confusing as ever - good news to have him as I think he improves us and gives us more options. How long it lasts I dont know - cant work out whether this puts us in a stronger position or weaker to get him permanently. At least we'll be able to see if he is any good for us first. £7.5m for Tom Cleverly with 6 months on their contract seems bizarre. If that is the deal agreed in Jan. Big IF

Another las Ramblas storey. I was there with a number of friends about 4 months ago. We we're all walking down las Ramblas and being mindful of pick pockets as it is a major issue there. Anyway a friend on mine went to put his hands in his pockets and there was a hand already in them. In a mixture of shock and anger he grabbed the guys hand really hard and just kind of generally shook him, my friends a big lad and very very strong. Think the thief was shitting himself but my mate let go and he ran away quite a bizarre moment but I'd rather it happen on main strip than down a side road where I've heard some much worse stories

Not knocking the club boyangel, just saying if I had £8m to spend which is over 70% of overall budget if have made sure I spent it in alloted time and not left it so late with all my eggs in one basket.

Seem odd to anyone else that after penny pinching all summer we kept £8m of our powder dry and then failed to spend it. Did the Cleverly deal need to be so last minute? Were there no other options? Not convinced the Canales deal would have been in the same ball park. Doesn't stack up to me but that's Villa for you.

Final verdict on summer Randy still a knob so as you were there. I reckon Lambert has done OK though, squad has had a much needed facelift and we've barely spent a penny. Fingers crossed it's enough. Right now I'm reasonably confident we'll be comparatively safer than we have been but it's a long tough season and things can change fast.

Oh well...that feels more like being a Villa fan. Had me going for a minute there. Canales....ha, we'll laugh about this in years to come. Won't we?

BBC reporting Sadio Mane having medical at Southampton seemed to remember he was twitter linked to us last year

Guillem Balague ‏@GuillemBalague 2m No way whatsover that Canales leaves Real Sociedad to sign for Aston Villa Anyone want some piss with those chips

Decent signing for the baggies to be fair

I was just watching a video of Ayew and then we make a bid for Canales! Deadline day is a lot more fun when your actually involved

Ayew would be exciting always impressed me in the handful of games I've seen him in past. With regards to us or QPR it may well be neither of us and all bullshit but surely they have to run out of money at some point they have been signing players for no doubt massive wages recently and I'm sure I read a storey about them almost going bankrupt a few months back?

Thing is with Lennon while he is a player I have always liked (Premier league wise) I don't see him as being a Lambert player. He is an out and out winger which we never play, Lambert tends to prefer wide forwards, players with more of a goal threat. Not that he has bought any of these in his time here mind!

I was watching Jack closely during all the little drills they do and in some ways you can see he is far above the other players in terms of speed of technique and ability to take the ball in tight situations. For a player of his age that is very encouraging indeed. The other things that really struck me was how much banter he had with all the players around him, looks like he is a really popular member of the squad and I'm sure all the senior players are doing everything they can to help support him during this period. I think Lambert has it spot on at the moment feeding him in slowly, I am sure Jack will get a decent run of starts before the season is out.

Between him and Delph we have some serious pace and legs in CM. Very nice to see both of them getting up in support and beyond strikers, also both of them work tirelessly getting back as well, pair of them very epitome of box to box today. Thought he didn't have best of days against Newcastle but credit to Lambert for giving him another run today

Glad he's back but still looks pretty rusty to me, hopefully he'll improve with a few more games as he's been out a long time

MOTM match for me today, best I've seen him play in a good long time. Lot of people saying he took up good positions and that's def true, however he always does that his movement has always been good. Problem has been last season whenever he got fed the ball in these good spots his first touch was so bad he almost always gave it away. He didn't do that today and was back to looking like the Andi of year before. Moving the ball quickly, working relentlessly, linking well and looking a threat in front of goal. I said to my old man about 5 mins before his goal that he deserved one today so I'm chuffed for him that it came off. If he can keep this up it will be a massive bonus for us I wasn't expecting.

I'm not going to vilify the guy for missing a big chance, it happens. I also think he's a useful player to have coming off the bench his strikers instinct is still there and he'll score us an important goal or two yet of that I'm sure. That all said I completely agree that he looks a player who has lost his motivation for the game. I struggle to see how a professional athlete can be in the shape he's in right now.

Agreed, also if he turns us into a mid table team he will have proved excellent value!

So after getting over the initial surprise at the link with Cleverly I've thought about and would be very happy of we did manage to get Cleverly. He'd be an improvement on the first team, help us to control games and also fit in well with the rest of players we have. Also think we'd give him the platform to really kick on an improve by being the main man rather a kid as he was at Utd. He's not going to solve all our problems with regards to breaking teams down but he'd definitely help with those issues. Bearing in mind earlier in summer it looked like we we're only after frees I'm struggling to see how signing a recent England international could be anything other than exciting. If we get it will be another step towards safety this year and right now all I care about is not getting relegated before a new owner comes in

Yeah I don't really get the negativity either. I have seen him play I'd estimate about 15 full games and in most of those games he's been decent, some very decent. If others have seen him much more and think he's crap fair enough but he looks like he was the weapons to be a threat to me and that is half the battle. As for the fee seems about par for the course this summer, doesn't make it right but doesn't make it wrong either if the buyer is willing to pay it then that is his value.

Yes agree good move for him hopefully he can get his fitness and confidence up and come back a different player similar to Albrighton last year. Def are short though especially if we lose KEA as well? Maybe there is a call back if we get injuries or maybe someone else is coming in?

I'll agree with some of the other posts above that not losing and maybe being slightly more conservative was in this sense not a negative in my eyes. For the first time in a very long time we have looked like a premier league football team for two games in a row. We look well organised and tough to break down. If we can keep that up then we are half way there in terms of safety which is all I care about this year. His subs were slightly cautious on Sat but to be honest I thought they were spot on. Newcastle were actually starting to come in to the game and exert a bit of pressure which Lambert completely shut down with the Sanchez sub. Think he would have added the guile in Grealish but couldn't because of Cissokho. Anyway 4 points from two games is a decent start, lets get a result on Sunday and with the confidence I'd back to cause at least one upset (maybe a point!) in the horrible run we've got after that.

I'd actually take that right now and be pretty happy with it. Main thing at the moment is he stays for this year and helps keep us up. That gives us 12 months to sell the club and hopefully show him we have a better future. If that doesnt happen then it gives us a good amount of time to plan for a replacement. He is without doubt a decent player but not irreplaceable in my opinion. His value to us is far greater to us in the immediate term than it is the long term.