markavfc40

Spot on. He cost 250k and was comfortably one of our best ever pound for pound Premiership signings. Good solid player who never gave less than 100%. Really nice down to earth lad as well.

Spot on Gareth and Richard of all people should know the responsibilities of the Council.

Seriosuly? you really think Bent can do what Weimann and Gabby are doing? They are basically playing either side of Benteke but when we don't have the ball are dropping back into midfield. In fact Gabby is working that hard that on numerous occasions he has found himself at left back. They are both working there bollocks off, working the channels, closing down, tracking back. They aren't scoring a shit load of goals although if you include cup competitions the are doing OK. Gabby is still a great outlet when we are under pressure. One things for sure Bent cannot do what either Gabby or Weimann are currently being asked to. He doesn't have it in him to play that role.

That would be a very short sighted way to look at things. Despite Bent being in the side over the last 18 months or so we have struggled to score goals. Now Bent may score 18 goals over a season out of a 38 goal team total. What would be better though is for the team to be scoring say 55+ goals over a season regardless of what amount any individual player is scoring. I doubt that Lambert will be looking for a direct replacement for Bent in terms of simply a poacher. If he wanted that you may as well just keep Bent. I 'd imagine he will stick with the current set up of a focal point in Benteke and players either side who can play off him which is currently Gabby and Weimann who bang in a few goals,work there bollocks off and are happy to run the channels and track back when needed. Another forward may well be brought in but they won't be in the Bent mould. What we really lack is goals from midflield. A couple of midfielders who will bang in 8 -10 goals a piece a season. We really need the team as a whole to be contributing more goals. The last season we scored a shit load of goals I think was 07/08 and goals were coming from all areas. We need that again and I would think that is what Lambert is trying to build not focus on building a team around/to accommodate one player.

When he leaves I can't say I will miss him. I have never really taken to him despite his goals. I think its down to his lack of work rate and the fact if he isn't scoring he is doing next to nothing. When the chips are down he isn't the kind of player that will bust a gut for you. He is arguably the best goalscorer we have had since Dean Saunders but sadly he doesn't have the heart that Deano had. He'd have sweat blood for Villa where has Bent hardly breaks sweat. He will score goals for his new club but so be it. We will hopefully spend the 10 - 12 mill we get for him wisely and move onwards and upwards. Facts are that despite Bent being here we have continued in the main to struggle. He is a luxury player. The final piece in the jigsaw if you like but as things stand we are lacking the players to supply him and we certainly can't afford to carry him.

I am sure a few on here like me know that we have a gay footballer playing for us. I am not going to name him on a public forum before anyone asks. There will certainly be other gay footballers playing in the Premiership and it is a sad indictment on the game that they don't feel they can come out. Racial abuse in the form of chanting is rightly now seen as a no no but abusing someone due to their sexuality is seen as fair game by many fans. They should hang their heads in shame. Like Trent says I doubt we will see an openly gay footballer in this country any time soon.

On paper it would seem that way. Looking at his last three clubs you could hardly blame him for leaving Colchester to go to a much bigger club in Norwich. He spent three years at Norwich, did a great job, enhanced his reputation and then moved to a bigger club in us, all be it one going through a bad time at the moment. For me he has a reputation for moving on to bigger clubs. I don't have a problem with that. For him to move on to a bigger club than us he will have had to have done an excellent job here and that would mean getting us back in and around the top 6 and some long cup runs. If he does that there will only be a handful of bigger clubs for him to move on to. To get us competing again in the upper third of the league is going to take time and in that regard I guess he knows it is a long term project and that until he has achieved that he is unlikely to get any offers from bigger clubs.

Given the opposition I'd imagine Ireland will be back in against Reading as we look to be more attacking. I could see the logic in playing KEA yesterday as he offers more defensively. Personally I think Holman would be a decent shout in the middle. He has a great engine, can go box to box, good movement and would be a goal threat.

In all fairness you know **** all about what has gone on behind the scenes. For all you know Bent could have said unless unless I am starting I ain't sitting on the bench any more. Bottom line is when a new manager comes in he will quickly decide who he does and doesn't fancy. After two years of instability this club now needs to stick with Lambert. That includes accepting his decisions on who he does and doesn't want to retain from what he inherited. Lambert isn't stupid enough to bite his nose off to spite his face. If he thinks Bent, or any player for that matter, can fit into the way he wants us to play and can do a job he will pick him. If not he won't.

Really been impressed with Lowton both at right back and when he has had to switch to centre back. He seems to take it all in his stride. Reminds me a little of Mark Delaney who we also brought from the lower leagues and comfortably made the step up. He could also switch to centre back when needed.

On here its a handful of posters overall I'd say its a tiny minority. Certainly at the games he has the backing of the supporters. Paul Lamberts Claret and Blue Army was doing the rounds for a good proportion of the second half yesterday. Most of us can see what he is trying to do. He has already instilled in the players a great work ethic. Trying to change our style of play was always going to take a lot longer but at times we do play some very nice stuff. Personally I think we need a couple of proven quality players in January who know what the Prem is all about and can hit the ground running to play alongside the lads we currently have who are still trying to find their feet at this level. That should hopefully be enough to see us safe this season. After that with decent backing from Lerner, or whoever, I can see us really kicking on.

Link if anyone needs it: http://www.stream2watch.me/boxing/ricky-hatton-vs-vyacheslav-senchenko-live-stream

Work rate tonight was from every player was excellent. In terms of effort you could ask no more. We also at times played some nice stuff. Stand out performer for me was Gabby who was everywhere and put a great shift in. Also fair play to the young lads at the back who all did well especially when Ron went off. We continue to play with the same intensity we did tonight we will pick up at least a couple of wins in the next 3 games.

I'd have been about 8 or 9 when I first saw Dallas as it was staple viewing in our house when I was growing up. The guy was a legend. A real character both on and off screen. RIP Larry

Has anyone claimed that those three seasons were faultless? I am not sure any team has ever been able to claim that. I can’t be asked to look at the stats but how many draws/defeats in those runs of wins were there? If I could be bothered to trawl back over the results of those seasons I am sure I could find some runs of say 5 wins in 7, 6 wins in 8, 8 wins in 12. Facts are for those three seasons we improved on our point’s total season on season, achieved our highest ever 38 game Prem season total and for the first time in over 50 years finished top six three seasons on the spin. Reached our first final in a decade, played in Europe, reagulary gave the big boys a game and never lost a local derby. As an aside to that we also averaged over 40k for the first time in over 50 years and had two other seasons that would rank amongst our highest in that period. Not major achievements but given our recent history not to be sniffed at either and should be considered relative success. Well certainly compared to what went before and what has come since. As for us luckily recouping 54 mill on 3 players why was that lucky? I am also wondering where you got your figures from. Young was sold for 17 mill, Downing for 20 mill and Milner 20 mill + Ireland who was rated at around 7 mill at the time. Thats 64 mill. Even luckier

We are crying out for Stiliyan Petrov in the heart of our team now especially with all the young inexperienced lads we have . You listen to any of the younger lads who have been at the club a while and they will all have nothing but great things to stay about Stan and what a positive influence he was. The man never gave less than a 100% and regardless of how things were going for him on the pitch he would always try and encourage those around him. He led by example.

Even if some of the blame is pushed on to Faulkner, which given his position in the club seems reasonable, it should be remembered that Lerner is the man who appointed him. It seems his last three appointments, pre Lambert, into the most important non playing roles in the club have all been really poor. I think Lambert is a good manager but unless he is given substantial funds to spend and allowed to pay the wages that proven quality players will want then I can see us remaining in deep trouble for the whole of this season.

How long you been following the Villa pal? Off the top of my head in 07/08 we had three weeks on the spin where we beat Bolton 4-0, Derby 6-0 and Blues 6-1 you don't get much better spells of trouncing teams than that. I am pretty sure in that season we also beat Newcastle 4-1, Wrexham 5-0 and Bolton away 4-0. As others have said if we did go down it won't necessarily work that we will start giving teams a good hiding. It certainly hasn't worked like that for the vast majority of teams that have been relegated.

Looks like a promising player who may well be able to step up to Prem level given a little time. Unfortunately what we need now and will need in January is 2 or 3 proven quality players at this level who can hit the ground running and immediately improve us. I have no probelm with signings like this but they need to be made alongside players of proven quality at this level. If not come May we will find ourselves with an improving side with potential but facing life in the Championship.

Your right things were picking up. It coincided with the useless, over the hill ,disrespectful pratt being ill. In the 10 games he wasn't at the club - 5 under KMac and 5 under GMac we took 15 points. In the 28 games he was in charge we took just 33 points whilst serving up some of the most gutless tripe I have had the misfortune to witness in my 30 years following us. Houlliers fate was sealed after the Wolves home game and he was always off at the end of that season much like a decison was made on McLeish after the Bolton game last season. I still can't believe he took the best part of 5 mill out of this club for 6 months work.

Wages as proportion of turnover was 90% in 2010/11. I'd imagine it is down to around 60% now.

Simply not true. In 2010/11 we had a turnover of 92 million the 7th highest in the Premier League behind Man Utd, Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool, Spurs and Man City but ahead of similar sized clubs in Everton , Newcastle, Sunderland and way ahead of the likes of Stoke, Wigan, West Brom etc.

Reminds me of something my mate said to me in the Dome nightclub back in 1994 when some fat piece was giving me the eye.

In all fairness Richard considering the state we were in I don't consider a 17 mill net spend as any like sufficient backing and so it seems to be proving. The squad needed numbers but also needed proven quality at this level. The two clearly couldn't be achieved with 17 mill so it seems the proven quality had to be sacrificed. I think the players we signed were decent and many have hopefully not shown/reached anything like there potential but as things stand we are in no position to wait to find out. In January we need 2 or 3 proven quality players at this level who wil hit the ground running much like the signing of Bent in 2011 when we also found ourselves in deep trouble. That kind of proven quality will again cost major money though. I just hope Lerner is again prepared to splash that level of money both in fees and wages.

What did he build exactly? Under O’Neill we spent what 70 mill net in 4 years. This took us from a club that had just finished 16th and going backwards for a few years to one that finished 6th three times on the spin with the 8th, 6th and 6th highest wage bill. Did he really expect more from his investment both in terms of fees and wages than that? Did having the 6th highest wage bill entitle us to finish in the top 4 and win things? Given our starting base when he arrived did a 70 mill net spend in 4 years entitle us to overtake the likes of Liverpool, Arsenal, Spurs, Chelsea, Man Utd who had years of investment and then more recently Man City? He pretty much did half a rebuilding job and then downed tools. As for us not coming I don’t agree with that. In 2007/8 we averaged over 40k for the first time in over 50 years. In 2008/9 we averaged 39.5k. Even in 2009/10 with two long cup runs to fork out for we still averaged over 38.5k. This was whilst finishing 6th remember not competing for the title. Attendances have not surprisingly dropped off rapidly over the last couple of seasons and if our downward spiral continues they will continue to do so. As in life in football you reap what you sow and Lerner most certainly is.