TonyDaley

I personally think it's an 'ego' thing, and by that I mean sherwoods. The way I see it Gil is a lambert signing who was brought in to save our season, now sherwood is there and wants to save our club from relegation but his ego wants him to do it with the team that has struggled all season and not use lambert last throw of the dice to help him. Now I may be wrong but I can't see any other reason why he hasn't got minutes, yes yesterday I can see the virtue of having the work horse weiman instead, the Sunderland game was fine as we blooded a youngster, but stoke, Newcastle and Swansea were games Gil was brought in for to help us unlock teams we otherwise seem incapable of not matter who is at the helm. I suppose the QPR game will tell us more, but anything less than a win without Gil getting game time will not help sherwood. I am all for him being in charge, yes tactically a bit niave (but no more so than our last manager). UTV

Poor subsitutions cost us at least a point today, first one had no choice but last 2 were wrong, no so much who came off but who came on.

Scratching my head trying to think of the logic behind that selection. Middle 3 of Westwood - Delph - cleverly doesn't work and won't work as it's not the right dynamics, you need a big ball winner with lots of energy none tick those boxes. The front 3, yes in theory it should work, by pass midfield with long balls up to benteke with gabby/nzog running of him, prob is none are on form. Or is it 4-4-2, with nzog and cleverly wide, again weak choice, as 2 in middle will get over run. God I hope I am so far wrong, but the only way I see us getting anything out of this is with a goal first 10 minutes, anything later and we will crumble. Just hope seeing as Tim is getting paid a wad loads more than me to do this he has a master plan, just don't see it. Utv

Exactly this, what pulis has done is set the team up to their strengths and instilled some self belief in them - 2 things we were severely lacking today, I personally don't think we set up right today and the 2 of the 3 subs were shocking (3rd was only option). Set the team up and play to our strengths it's not rocket science!!!

I would have chose a few other words to describe it!! Looks like he has put all his eggs in his ego and Motivational skills to save us as his selection and tactics (looking at selection) looked flawed and smack of he doesn't know what to do. This formation only works with Delph, gabby and benteke playing on top form, which judging by this season we ate in for a long afternoon

Hopefully am proved wrong but that's a team selection for a draw at best or just he is just expecting benteke to return to form and save us, what I have seen of sherwoods selection so far is shot, he is relying on his ego to save us

Think it was a case of doing to much, look at his stats, he had more touches and passes, tackles than any other player and was second in other stats. He is not there to play cross field balls or cutting through balls but always seems to be in a position to do so (of which I saw 2 quality long passes from him). Gets caught out as he isn't in the right position with the right midfield around him. I would.like to see him just behind Delph and someone else (maybe bacuna) with them.to.told to get ball of Sanchez and drive forward leaving Sanchez in middle of park to protect back 4. Think people are criticsing for doing a job he shouldn't be, it's all down to tactics

I think the experience thing is a question mark on sherwood compaired to if it had bèn Petrov, Laursen or mellberg purely because what they lack in experience they make up for with ties/history and passion for the club, not saying that is right or wrong but that's how I see it.

Not sure how I feel about this, was one of those who lobbied for lambert and admit i thought he needed to go at the beginning of the season. Not sure this is what we needed, it's one of those where we might as well stuck with lambert as for all sherwoods potential he is not proven in this environment, I would have personally gone with an experienced manager on a short term contract and reassessed in summer or a number 2 to take the pressure of lambert, see where we are at the end of season and get a manager suited to the situation (promotion push or get up the table). That being said I as usual will get behind the team and hope for that "new manager syndrome" of us getting some valuable points onboard and getting safe. We have some winnable fixtures coming up and could go on a little run. I just worry that if we don't get that it could be to late for this team and sadly will drop out of the league. I think the nucleus of a good team is there, hopefully sherwood has the man management skills to get the best out of them (I don't know him well enough to judge and don't think the stint as spurs boss gave any evidence) and I will say he was the type of player who you would have said had potential for management. Tactically I am not sure but as before never really paid much attention to spurs when he was there. It's a gamble and we are due some luck. UTV

I think with todays subs we will see Vlaar back in the starting 11 - prob for okore. Just to be clear thats not what i would do, just what i think lambert will. I think he will go with: Guzan Hutton. Vlaar. Clarke. Cissokho. Sanchez. Cleverly. Delph. (All playing DM) N'Zogbia. Agbonlahor. Weimann Benteke I would go Guzan Hutton. Okore. Clarke. Cissokho Sanchez Bacuna. Delph. Cleverley Weimann Benteke We will go to hold on and maybe nick a goal...........

11 or 10 men, do you not think we could have won if we didnt play to nick a goal and hold on, i can sort of understand that approach against a team on top form or one of the big 6 but if we dont try and win 8 times out of 10 we wont win.

For what its worth Guzan - 6 - Not a lot to do, not alot wrong with what he did. Hutton - 7 - Fighter, maybe needs to ca.done a bit, good defending not so good going forward. Cissokho - 6 - Good defensively, poor going forward. Didnt deserve to go off. Okore - 8 - MOTM - Am really impressed with this guy, good in air, strong in tackle, reads game pretty well and looks for a ball out of defence. Clarke - 7 - Another solid performance, looked confused when told to go left back looked like he was caught between going 3 at back or back 4. Sanchez - 7 - Some good balls out wide, there to break up play and start attacks. Cleverley - 6 - Tactics let hime down, doesnt need to.play so deep with sanchez but no support if in middle on his own. Nothing good or bad. Richardson - 0 - Bad decision, bad touch, stupid tackle. N'Zogbia - 4 - Doesnt bring anything to team, cant defend, cant beat a man or see a pass. Needs to go back tos basics. Agbonlahor - 4 - Game seems to pass him by, never close enough to benteke, falls over if wind blows. Benteke - 6 - No lack of effort, but needs 2 things 1 runners of him or 2 crosses, he doesnt get neither of his team mates. Subs Delph - 6 - Looked better when pushed up, doesnt need to be in same space as sanchez, with all 3 midfielders doing same role with no attacking threat. Vlaar - 5 - Not sure why was brought on, did nothing. Weimann - 5 - Didnt know where he was playing, left back, left wing back or left mid. Why not just push hime up to run of benteke. Ref - Thought he was very good, very rarely (if ever put a foot wrong) Manager - No comment Tactics - Wrong first eleven, if your gonna play 3 centre midfielders dont have them all doing effectively the same job. Not suprised about result, think the last few vames have papered over the cracks. Think we will be alright just dont expect anything, we will win a few game we dont deserve or wouldnt have put money on but will lose the majority.

Think the subs were completley wrong, they were more of a threat on the wings, bringing on vlaar seemed to confuse the back line and gave the team NO shape what so ever, moving a centre back who hadnt done nothing wrong out to left back in place of someone who was defensively strong seems tome like he just wanted to get vlaar on the pitch any way he could but at the detrement of th tea. Cleverly and agbonlahor should have come off for weiman and grealish. We needed a goal, the defence were doing fine dont think wba threatened much and after the goal they were never gonna try for the second. Clarke/okore looked lke they didnt know where to play, okore in the space of 5 mins was right back, centre back, leff back and then midfield. His starting 11 leaves us hoping to a goal or hang on, he needs to take a risk, trust the defence (which on the hole is solid) but atleast give them something to fight for, creativity is something we are not set up for, doesnt really play any of our midfielders in the position to, 1 of the 3 needs to be told to play higher up. The mans tactical nouse is shocking, benteke is our biggest assist but we dont play to his strengths, he needs 2 things to be effective 1 - players running off him, both creates space for him to do something or play some one in - n'zog and gabby just dont do it and 2 - crosses, we dont cross and when we do it doesnt beat the first player.

I saw enough today to want him in the team against the bottom half teams. IMO he offers more than N'Zogbia, Richardson and Bacuna, yeah he gave the ball away a few times (no more than just about every other player) but at least he has a forward pass in him. The ball through to richardson was fine just good covering defending and initially the ball to him was slightly behind him - which to me is a constant in our play the only balls forward we want to play are from the back up to benteke every thing else goes accross and back i think with jack in the hole he can at least keep the ball moving forward. Saw enough in his closing down and work rate as well which makes me believe with game time he can do a good job for us.

Squad as it is now (with injuries) ---------------------------Guzan----------------------------- Hutton---------Vlaar----------Senderos--------Cissokho- -------Delph---------Sanchez----------Westwood-------- ----N`Zogbia---------------------------------Grealish------ ------------------------Wiemann----------------------------- Subs - Given, Okore, Clark, Cole, Agbonlahor, Richardson, Bacuna Once all fully fit (and 1 more signing Cleverley) ---------------------------Guzan----------------------------- Hutton---------Vlaar----------Senderos--------Cissokho- -------Delph---------Sanchez----------Westwood-------- --------------Cleverley-------N`Zogbia/Grealish---------- ---------------------------Benteke----------------------------- Subs: Given, Okore, Kozak, Richardson, Clark, Weimann, Cole

Have to agree with this, would even hazard a guess most people writing off Cleverly as a decent signing are only doing so on the back of the criticism he has got over the england team - yes he is prob not good enough for england but i believe he is certainly good enough to go straight in our starting 11 and improve us. If he does come i think many will be pleasantly surprised - a midfiled trio of Sanchez, Delph and Cleverly i think would work well.

Nothing to do with an impressive defensive display by Cardiff then? No other variables than draw=failure? Granted Turner was solid and Marshall made some great saves, but we should have won and would have if the players Decision Making was better something the coaches/manager need to work on. By that I mean the 2 big points in the game - Gabby not hitting it first time and Westwood crossing (behind) and andi who couldn't get good contact on, now Westwood should have shot across the goal. These are the things that need ironing out on the training pitch and that to me is the Managers responsibility. There were numerous other examples that could have been used to highlight that point. Now many would argue that's down to the players and yes I agree to an extent but that's what the training ground is for. We make things hard for ourselves and IMO we should be closer to the bottom of the table and would be except a few flukes wins (Man City for one).

As we have shown we don't tend to do our business in th public eye so no one really knows (barring hoolihan) who we were after and the reasons we didn't get a midfielder, and looking at other transfers in the league, there are only 2 who I would have liked at the club (not including top 6 teams), Holtby which would be down to wages and Ince but he has shown he is only after a bit of money as a stop gap and is not what we really need in terms of position at the moment, other than that the rest are over priced, unproven and prob paid with lucrative wages for a short term loan. We are capable of finishing 8th-10th with the current team, now let's push on and then in the summer use the budget to buy 2 midfielders and bertrand - I personally think we will spend circa £20m on 3 in summer!!!

Everton - Draw (3-3) Cardiff - Win West Spam - Win Newcastle - Draw So 8 points for me.

HH thanks for the post, I have no doubt that it is an honest appraisal from someone connected to the club (in some way), but to be candidly honest it does nothing to ease my worries. Most people could have taken an educated guess at the 'project' and understood the reasons behind the wage cull. Yes the squad needed an overhaul and I am of the belief the quick way was the correct course of action. Now the players brought in can not be that bad, all would have been scouted and all (after some research) have the backing of some ex pro's and are part of their country's setup. They are on paper no worse than players at teams around and above us in the league, although we did miss out on a few transfers in the summer who I believe would have been in our range (Huddleston prime example). This now brings me on to the part you missed out on your post, the reason I believe we are 'miles away' from where we want to be - Tactics and Organisation. We just don't seem to be able to organise ourselves both defensively and offensively, players are employed to do jobs they are not suited for, which in turns makes them look bad players. As has been mentioned earlier, our tactics and Organisation would make messi look a sub-standard player. This is where the 'project' fails and no matter what the club do next won't work. Now I wanted Lambert and still do, but he needs to go back to tactics school and the coaches need to earn their pay otherwise this is the best it gets for us. A cast off from another team won't improve us enough to stay up only the players currently here will, and that means setting them up correctly and having them.understand their roles. The injuries to Vlaar and Benteke have just added a convenient excuse, but that is not the reason for our current form. So in answer to your post, yes I agree with what the club is doing off the pitch for the project and in that sense we are in a stronger position and should see it flourish long term (providing the on pitch is sorted) In a question to you, is there another reason (barring deemed not ready) why Helenius does not have more minutes on the pitch and how close is Gary Gardner to getting some first team.minutes?

General, I have a question about the auctions for the `Poppy` shirts. The decision to auction them for charity is good, but i can not understand why it was split between Acorns and Help for Hereos and not between Acorns and the Royal British Legion who run with the `Poppy` appeal. The Royal British Legion do more for the forces over here (yes i am a current serving member) but H4H is just more publiscised by the SUN. I just feel the RBL should have been the rightful receiptiant of the proceeds as it is there `Poppy` appeal the shirts were utilising and raising awarness for. Lest we forget

A. Young J. Milner S. Downing S. Warnock G. Agbonlahor As long as we push on after x-mas they all have a good chance of making the squad maybe not the team which will prob be 0. Would love it if all did, with the additions of: F. Delph C. Davies As that would mean we had a blinding season

General, Just a bit of feedback about the Stadium Tours. Some good, Some not so good. To start with, I tried to order online but could not get some information. I wished to know whether it was pushchair friendly or if not was there a place we could leave it, an how I could go about purchasing a family ticket online. Unable to find these answers online, i mailed the given email address (ticketsales@avfc.co.uk) on the 23rd of August with these questions, specifically about the tour on the 27th as wanted to take family around (as we have moved due to job) and take boy to his first game that night. I finally received an answer on the 28th August, 5 days after my mail and a day after the tour (of which i stated the date in the subject), to me this is not very good communications and potential could lose ticket sales. I went ahead and booked the day before. On a plus side, the Tour was absolutely fantastic and extremely good value for money. Over 2 hours long with an enthusiastic tour host who was very helpful and knowledgable, my Boy and Wife left virtually gobsmacked at the stadium and the club in itselfs (their only previous experience was fratton park and the Nou Camp). What the club is striving to achieve is clearly visable around the stadium, and i was proud to call myself a villa fan. Just to make a question of it, what is the lead time laid down for replying to emails? Thank you, UTV