Rob182

I disagree. Harewood and Heskey had nothing going for them, and never did (apart from 2 or 3 'important' goals in their years here). The players that did have potential or promise were either given ridiculous contracts or stupid transfer fees: Davies £10m, NRC £8.5m, Cuellar £7.5m etc etc Regardng your point about other teams paying for players (Park/ Mertesacker/ Gervinho etc etc), I would actually be interested to see the difference between the bigger clubs' signings and their transfer fees, compared to ours over the years. Obviously the bigger clubs have much more 'pull' so they can offer better quality players lower wages than we would have to, because they have the lure of European football. But, inspite of that, I've seen players like Vermaelen (sp?) and Kompany go for similar prices to Cuellar and NRC. Like you say, no managers get it right every time, but I feel that MONs success rate was rather low, when you consider transfer fee, wages & contract offered, sell on value and potential to improve or decline.

It finished 6th 3 times in a row. Go and look how many teams have managed that level of consistency since the prem began? The squad got more points every season. .... and then imploded. How many of the other teams that were around us have had a number of players on high wages, barely getting a game, and then running their contracts down until they left for free (or being left in our side because no-one else would take them off us, with their high wages)? Shorey, Beye, Davies, Harewood, NRC, Sidwell and to a lesser extent Luke Young & Routledge are names that come to mind that were given decent wages, and then left to rot on the bench (or in Sidwell's case, picking up his usual 20 minutes at the end of each game). The main difference between us and the teams with a similar wage bill Everton/ Liverpool/ Spurs/ Man City (for a season)/ Newcastle, is that they have been able to get rid of the players they didn't want/ use. We didn't, that was MON's fault, IMO.

Benteke is always being caught offside on my game, should I train his anticipation or his position, to fix this?

I liked MON while he was here (in the same way that I liked Houllier and I gave McLeish a chance for longer than most - I'm just positive, and consistent with it!) but MON would never have been 'Our Moyes', which is what I think we've needed for a while. Lambert's had a below average season, riddled with mistakes and dodgy decisions. But I do see him having the potential to build a team here, whilst cutting the costs, playing good football and preparing for the future. Put up with a sqeaky-bum-season and, if we survive, hopefully we'll move on next year with a bit of building and steady improvement!

Were we consistently the 6th highest wage spenders for the 3 years we finished 6th?

I sold Lichaj, Herd, Bannan & Stevens as soon as I got to January, just to free up some wages and try to generate some transfer funds. Now Lowton and Vlaar need resting, Baker is out for 2 months and Dunne is severley lacking match fitness I hate this game. My last game was a 1-1 draw against Spurs, with Sylla at centre back and Westwood at rightback, due to lack of options!

I think thats what Delph is good at, driving into the space from a deeper position.. He was an attacking player at Leeds and that hasn't changed. He's not a defensive midfielder, never has been. Though he was an attacking player at Leeds, if I remember correctly, he was played as a central midfielder and a left midfielder. I'd love to see him behind a striker, or in an advanced CM position, but he does lack a quality first touch that is really needed in that position.

I'm not a massive fan of Bannan, but he used to impress me on the odd occasion. I think he is a decent (maybe 'below average') squad player. I hope we keep him, just to make up the numbers in the squad, on low wages. I do prefer him starting on the bench than on the pitch, though!

I think we play better with a 4-2-3-1, as opposed to a 4-3-3. I too would like to see a 3 of Delph, Westwood and Sylla, but unless Delph is in an advanced role. I think it's a bit too defensive.

interesting, as actually it's a fact. I also think the "he was allowed to run amok with spending and almost bankrupted the club over paying on wages and it was all his fault until Lerner stepped in to rescue us" thing is over played too. How is it fact Richard? 'We finished 6th place' is fact, but our wage bill was higher than Spurs' and they finished higher than us, so I don't understand how our wages could be '6th place wages' when another team finished higher with a, supposedly, lower wage bill.

Briny, what are the similar points you could make in response to ender4's 'wishlist' ? The majority of them are a product of a manager staying with a team and implementing his tactics/ building his side for more than 1 season (which we have really missed in the past few seasons). Time equals progress, in my opinion. Of course, mistakes will still be made, we will still leak goals at times. But I do think that if Lambert is allowed to build on his team, we will see steady progress. Also, I don't think it's a certainty that Benteke will leave. He's contracted for another 2 or 3 years. Lambert is a stubborn bugger, and if we stay up, I can see Benteke staying for another season at least.

If I did, it can't have been more than £100k for all the new staff members I was bringing in

Clark did console Baker. He didn't hug him but he came and patted him on his head, as if to say "Never mind". But as Pez1974 said, Clark doing it will have a lesser effect to an experienced pro doing it.

Yesssssssssss, thank **** for that

I'm psychic!!

I'd be tempted to take off Bannan, bring on Zog and go to a 4-2-3-1 just to try for that 3rd goal. Knowing us, though, we would end up conceding two

Sylla seems to like a one touch pass

Good effort Sylla

... Lovely assist from Bannan..

Yesssssssssss

Sylla's having a decent game by the looks of things, getting stuck in nicely.

Am I right in thinking we're playing 433, with Westwood central, Bannan on the left and Sylla on the right of the midfield 3? That's what it looks like to me

Well done Lambert, that's what happens when you play these youngsters... They score and set up goals. Ffsssssss....

I don't mind that Bannan is playing. We don't have many betters options; Delph suspended, KEA injured, Holman and Dawkins aren't CMs and playing Clark in midfield would mean Bennett starting at the back. I'm just happy Vlaar is back. 2-1 Villa, nervy nervy game. I'm biting my nails already

I downloaded this off Amazon US for £11. Chuffed! ...until I started playing it and got extremely frustrated! The wage budget is ridiculous. I've got the updated version, so I'm guessing that the wages of Dawkins and Sylla from the start of the season are effecting it. I did the usual thing you do, where you get rid of a bunch of coaches, scouts and assistant managers, then replace them with better ones. BUT.. it would not let me hire a new assistant manager! Even though I was keeping within the 'possible wages' for a new Assistant Manager, it kept saying that we do not have enough funds to complete the transfer. I eventually had to promote Cowans to Assistant Manager, and then appoint a new reserve manager :S Not a good start to my game!