Skruff

Is there room for one more?

Got the game for myself as a Christmas Present yesterday. Had to start out with Aston Villa although i miss having a transfer budget. Currently 5th in the league with 30 games played. Got Honda in on free transfer and Eduardo Saviola on a 6 month long loan in January. Hope I'll be able to push for that champions league spot. Fingers crossed.

I think they just lost their ability to look into the future.

A referee is there to uphold(correct word?) the law. If technology helps doing that it's great. Guy dives, he should be caught. Someone throws in a dirty elbow should be caught. It's not something that should simply pass just because the referee had his back turned or view blocked by a player. Especially not when it's there for everyone to see. A simple replay, that's ready 2 seconds after the incident where you clearly see what happens in any given situation. Any referee would make their mind up even before the players were done pretending to be hurt or discussing/complaining to ref wether it was yellow card or not. Have the 4th official watch a screen and communicate with referee, just in the same way as the linesmen do. Or heck, give the referee a ipad attached to his belt. A referee making a mistake is a man who's there to upheld the law but fails too. A player making a mistake is an athlete testing his skills and being challenged by other athletes. It's in no way comparable in my opinion.

I'm getting so tired of foood. Ghafhfhah. 1000 calori shake: 2 tbs olive oil 4 scoops of protein powder (Preferably choco or icecoffe flavor) 2 tbs(topped 80gram ish) peanutbutter (Get organic peanutbutter if you're worried about the saturated fat) 1 Banana 250-300ml of whole milk Freez the Bananas and you got a rather tasty milkshake/smoothie. Change the proteinpowder with a gainer and you're looking at 1600cals. Add some pure coco if you want more chocolate taste. Bon Appetite

The only people I've seen mention sacking Lambert bar one poster are the people saying it would be ridiculous to sack him. Maybe I've missed some posts. So just in case, sacking him would be ridiculous!

I think a problem has been Weimann's struggle as well as Benteke since his injury. That is the main thrust of our more entertaining style last season not playing well this season. I still think by far the most important thing this season has been the improvement in defending and some attacking instinct had to be sacrificed. I mean, if we could settle the defence and still score goals for fun like last year we would probably be second behind Arsenal, that ain't gonna happen when we're averaging below £3m a signing. Judging by the evidence that Lambert really wanted an attacking midfielder and I assume will get one or two in the next couple of windows, I would expect that the football will improve, just give it time! Give him the benefit of the doubt. Yes, I think theres good explanations for why we're playing like we're playing, and the players form and injuries is a major factor. I also believe you have to build your team from the back, sort out the defense and go from there. With such a young team we're going to have many ups and downs. I still have patience and belief in Lambert. But my expectations for footballing play this season based on second half of the previous one, and our preseason are so far from what we're seeing now. Therefore I'm disappointed and a bit frustrated. At the same time if you look at the table, I'm pleased with where we're at, but I fear that if we continue with our current style of play. We're going to start slipping down the table. Another thing that I find hugely disappointing is Lambert stubbornness to stick with players who's clearly out form when there's others on the bench who might make a far better appearance, it's a two-edged sword. Even though I'm patient I don't think he should be above criticism. Let's be honest, we've been served some dreadful football this season. I think it's possible to produce more entertaining with our current squad. There is a middle ground between 8 man defence and 4 strikers + 2 wingers.

------------------Guzan------------------ Lowton----Clark----Baker-----Luna -------------Herd-----Westwood-------------- ------------------KEA---------------- Allbrigthon/Tonev------------Agbonlahor/Tonev --------------Benteke------------------

Albrighton? The good old hasn't played for ages so he must be good chestnut? Gabby other than the first 4 games has been poor with the Soton game an exception. He's looked lively enough the times he's come on and considering how weimann has been I think it's worth giving him a go at the wing. Gabby is always a threat even though he's a bit hit and miss the only other option as of now would be Tonev which might not be to bad either. Besides Gabby hasn't been playing very wide but more off Bentekes shoulder which hasn't been to successfull. Bottom line is, I'd like to see us play with more with and midfield who's a little more dynamic when we're in possession.

Just posted in nother thread that I'd like to see Allbrigthon and Gabbyor/Tonev played on the wings and go for a 4-5-1 with either Kozak or Benteke on top. We're sorely missing the overlapping and one/twos with our fullbacks and widemen. Your post just underlines what my thoughts. Thank you Kwan.

I think the main issue is that teams aren't allowing us to play much on the counter-attack anymore, which has been our biggest strength. This is also why I think we've been pickig up points vs bigger opposition as the lesser teams feel easier sitting back against us while the bigger ones are most likey to push up. The space between midfield and the strikers is an issue, but the biggest is that our wide forwards isn't wide enough and their lack threatning runs makes it very predictable. What do we do, lump it up to Benteke, who's surrounded by 2-3 defending players, because he's the only threat. So either he fails to controll it or ends up with a poor layoff because he's under way to much preassure. I think he feels he's getting fouled a lot and deserves freekicks, and in a sence "gives up" in the duels because of that. He needs to be more cynical and learn to deal with defenders being more dirty to deal with him. Our midfield is far to static aswell, there's no forward movment from them(without the ball at their feet) threathing the central space.Both Westwood and Delph drops deep to get to ball or offer "support pass" option. While the third midfielder usually lurks around in the middle of the pitch ready to receive the ball with his back towards the opposition. We've pretty much stopped overlapping with the fullbacks and playing one-two combinations with the widemen which has been a huge asset. Not playing Lowton and Luna/Bennet being injured doesn't help. I would like to see us play a 4-5-1. WIth Benteke or Kozak on top. Allbrigthon and Gabby on the wings.

What worries me is that we've looked far worse as a footballing team this half of the season then we did the second half of last season. Even though we're picking up results we managed to do this playing entertaing football the latter half of last season. So why not now? Had a though start? Yes, but we looked at the start of the season, then what we do now. We've even made additions to the squad. I expected us to build from what we were seeing last season, but we have not. Which is something that dissapoints me. It hurts saying this but I'm finding Aston Villa boring to watch these days.

Matty did that? Yep, ran straight to Berbatov and the camera zoomed in on it. As Ponky said, it looked even worse as Berbatov told him no and pointed to Tonev. Tonev having his shirt seems a little different as it was obviouslt set beforehand, he is one of his country's most famous stars/players and they had a conversation after the game which maybe boosts Tonev's confidence a bit. Matty on the other hand just looked like a fan who was waiting for the whistle to blow so he could go ask him for it. I don't see the issue with this at all.

I still wondering why Okore is being labled as our best centerback after only playing a few games. He did look very very promising though, but with the tremendous steps Clark has made and considering Okore only played a handful of games i think it's a rather bold statement. (I was about to type state boldment, lol)

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This is getting ridicolous.

Wealth, could always pay for a sex change or new organs.

Nope, check it out for one month first. I certainly wasn't happy with the product 4 months ago. But they might have improved, by the sound of it. So I suggest you check it out for a month before you do something as rash as paying for 12. I'm gonna start my subscription again to so how it is now myself

Soulless was a clumsy choice of wording as I'm far more affectionate towards our current team, and they show a lot more of passion and fighting spirit. I think "look out of ideas" would be more suiting in hindsight. But we're painfully dire to watch except for the goals we somehow manage to score away from home. If you can't see the similarities to how we looked under McLeish to how we've looked so far during _this season_ would you mind explaining the differences? I'm mainly thinking about our defensive setup, 5 defenders, 3 rather defensive midfielders who sit very deep, strikers isolated, not being able to string passes together, the amount of hoofing, low possession and few chances created.

Might pass them this week

Why did people want McLeish gone then? What? That is no way comparable and you know that. We were in a relegation battle for that whole season and scraped safety with a minute number of games to go. We don't look like being in a relegation battle this year and the original assertion was 'even if we're mid table then I want him sacked'. Regarding Houllier, we were in a relegation battle for much of the season and 2 wins at the back end don't hide that. Also Houllier disrespected the fans on more than one occasion. We finally have something in place worth building and people would get rid of that so nonchalantly. It's baffling. I just always thought style of play was one of the biggest reason for people wanting McLeish out, even before we were in the relegation battle. At times we're just a soulless and boring to watch as we were under McLeish, if not worse. The biggest difference is that we're picking up 3 points instead of 1, mainly due to great individual performances. When that's said, I don't want Lambert out and I fully support him. That doesn't make the football we're playing entertaining to watch though. We look out of ideas at home, and that worries me. However, Rome wasn't built in a day. I believe you need to organize and make your team solid defensively before you can obtain a more attractive attacking style of play, it need to be in the backbone of the team. It's also easier and takes less time to organize a team defensively even if your team consist of players with limited skills. Just look at most lower table teams. Even with the right players at your disposal it takes time to build a good attacking side and it's not done in one season, just look at how Swansea did it over the years, or how tottenham struggles the second season of AVB reign, even though they have some great(and new) players at their disposal. I will remain patient, and I also expect we'll see more entertaining football comes second half of the season.

Why did people want McLeish gone then?

Guess that makes 3 shots on target in 3 years then.

Suck it bitches

Fergietime?