jackbauer24

I'm going, but I don't really want to! I have a season ticket and normally wouldn't think twice about going to cup games but this time I'm only going because my other half wants to having never experienced the true derby. An important reason behind my reluctance is the fact it's a no win situation for Villa really. Win and we should have, scrap through and we're lucky, lose and it's humilation. Where's the glory? Blues go in to this game with nothing to lose, even a loss can be covered with the 'we matched them for x minutes' line. Obviously add in our awful form, it being a generally nasty environment, it being a Tuesday night, it being live on Sky and being rather overpriced for an early round League Cup game I can fully understand people staying away. I should have.

I've said this in another thread but I don't think we currently can afford Gil and Grealish in same team. They are selfish luxury players that will look worse when they are along side someone of a similar ilk. Gil, Grealish and Sinclair all looked bad today because there was no one grafting along side them to let them do their thing and we can't have that many lightweight passengers at the moment. Gil wasn't bad today, he was just largely anonymous like the rest of our luxury players. The defence, Sanchez and Westwood must have had a good 95% of the possession we had today.

Without doubt, man of the match today. He was exceptional with his saves, average with his distribution and poor with some of his kicks but was still better than everyone else on the pitch purely by the fact I thought he did SOMETHING well!

He's not good enough for our starting eleven, his footballing brain is possibly the slowest I've ever seen. He's also surprisingly weak, he gets pushed iff the ball constantly. I'll be beginning to miss El Ahmadi at this rate!

He was offering nothing today because Sherwood set up the team badly, his position was redundant as Gil/Grealish were operating behind a lone striker and balls stopped at the half way line and were then hopefully booted high forward. He shouldn't have been subbed, he should have taken Gabby's place or played more centrally.

You have to question a manager who sets us up so lightly in midfield against physical teams. You have to question a manager whose subs make zero sense. You have to question a manager who doesn't trust his own signings to start up front. You have to question a manager who seemed to play Richards up front for last ten minutes today! Lots of questions. But I don't think Sherwood has the answers.

Grealish, like Gil, Bacuna and Sinclair, is a luxury player at the moment. He won't graft, he won't work for the team but he'll have sporadic moments of genius. Maybe he'll develop further but at the moment he's too focused on clever turns and step overs than actually looking at what's going on around him. His contribution largely comes from being fouled in dangerous areas but yet to see him provide much from a pass. We can't afford to play them all together, we need more bite in midfield and they're all too selfish for that.

It is rather telling that Sherwood isn't starting either of the strikers he signed. They were always cheap gambles but as yet, if they can't displace the 'prolific' Gabby from the starting line up then you do have to worry if they'll have any impact this season. We actually finished with Richards almost playing as a striker...

I've been saying it for weeks, for me this is just a given. We are going down, there is no question in my mind. Has anyone really seen anything that suggests otherwise? We offer zero attacking threat. Our midfield is very lightweight. The team has no fight in them. No-one takes responsibility. The strikers are all awful, even Sherwood isn't starting his own signings, Sherwood has no idea about tactics or substitutions in particular. Positives? Some individually talented players who may pop up with goal or two through their own invention but offer little to the team After our opening fixtures, having watched all the games (inc preseason) there is nothing that suggests this team can survive. And hardly as if Lerner will actually invest money in to the team in Jan. Not buying a striker like Austin is going to see us relegated - no point having Gil and Grealish feeding a non-existant strike force.

Am I reading this right? I'm not a betting man but this website that accumulates the odds from most of the big bookies seems to have us as FAVOURITES for the drop? Admittedly I am reading it as a table and have no idea what any of the numbers mean... http://www.statto.com/football/odds/england/premier-league/relegation

I think I must be watching a different game to a lot of you. I've a season ticket sitting practically next to Sherwood and my eye sight is perfect, yet I'm not seeing this massive improvement in performances others seem to be! We haven't actually dominated a game all season and to highlight Sunderland and Leicester games in particular as points that got away gives a great deal of credit when it's not due! Sunderland game might be closest to that but actually they took the lead and hardly had to fight for an eqaliser at the death. And we were at home against a definite relegation rival who hadn't picked up a point before us. We hardly peppered their goal for a winner, think we had something like 6 shots on target. Deserved to win? Maybe. Bossed them, no chance. And Leicester, who basically played badly first half and just stepped up to a normal gear and brushed us aside in te second half. Maybe if you're looking for unfair results you should turn to our one win this season against newly promted Bournemouth, a team that pretty much played us off the park in the first half and then we began to match them more in the second. If we should have more against Sunderland we equally could gave had less against Bournemouth. People also say at least we aren't reliant on Benteke as much which is great in principle but just means we actually CAN'T rely on our strikers at the moment. Our midfield will score more goals than our strikers and I doubt that's a good sign! I take the argument the team needs time to gel but it takes ZERO time to learn how to scrap. There is no excuse for giving up and not fighting for points and that's what this team does constantly. You have to be grinding out draws and wins against the teams we've played or you will be in trouble regardless of the 'better performance' and 'we'll get better over time' arguments. I love how much hope people have that it's just going to click but I don't see it. Can hardly blame injuries yet and relying on youngsters who still have to learn whatever their potential is just the desperate hopes of a beaten down fan base. I'd rather be playing badly but have more points on the board, than playing our current below average and having very few points on the board! With the games we've played, the manner of our performances, the team 'bottle', the lack of goal threat, the odd substitutions and the reliance on youngsters I just can't see how we won't be fighting relegation this year. I have seen NOTHING to suggest we will. All I've seen is enough to know Grealish and Traore might have enough about them to be sold for a healthy profit next summer.

Someone mentioned it on here previously, but does it not worry people that we're pretty much pinning our hopes of surviving on Grealish and Traore who have less than 50 top flight games (in whatever league) between them?! However good they may prove to be I still think it highlights how much trouble we're in. People aren't thinking we'll survive because we've got players that just need to find their feet, they're thinking we'll survive because two youngsters might reach the potential that they obviously haven't shown yet! Another words hope over any evidence. Based on the first five games our fight is with Sunderland not to be bottom come Christmas. We're yet to see a good, even solid, 90minutes, and that includes pre-season. Tim Sherwood has got a lot of people worried wih his selections and tactics and shows little sign he's got a grasp on how to set us up. He's also used the term "we go again" a few too many times for my liking

I'm sure I'll take some abuse for this, but at the very least this thread needs reopening. This isn't a reaction to today, this is a reflection on where we stand with five games gone, or over 10% of the season if you'd prefer! We've played against one good team yet only have four points. One win against newly promoted Bournemouth, inability to win at home against awful Sunderland, losing today. Sherwood showing, at best, complete inexperience with his substitutions. No obvious striker and no clear game plans. Lots of unknown quantities either ability wise or whether they'll settle in the league/ country. I personally think we're in massive trouble but it would only be the most optimistic of fans who doesn't think this at least needs discussing.

I'm sure I'll take some abuse for this, but at the very least this thread needs reopening. This isn't a reaction to today, this is a reflection on where we stand with five games gone, or over 10% of the season if you'd prefer! We've played against one good team yet only have four points. One win against newly promoted Bournemouth, inability to win at home against awful Sunderland, losing today. Sherwood showing, at best, complete inexperience with his substitutions. No obvious striker and no clear game plans. Lots of unknown quantities either ability wise or whether they'll settle in the league/ country. I personally think we're in massive trouble but it would only be the most optimistic of fans who doesn't think this at least needs discussing.

This isn't reactionary, I've been saying it since September 1st, Villa are going down. Bits of brilliance from players doesn't disguise the fact the team as a whole doesn't work well together. We offer little collective threat going forward, the midfield is too light weight and the defence constantly bottle it. How many goals is that we've let in during the last five to ten minutes? I also don't see a solid Sherwood plan, he's chopping and changing and doesn't know what to do, and his substitutions are either wrong or way too late. 5 games in, very few difficult games, one win against a newly promoted team, draw against Sunderland at home who will be the leagues whipping boys, letting a two goal slip against Leicester. We have no striker and Sinclair, who is our closest thing to one, is hot and cold. Fantastic finish from Grealish today but if we're honest he didn't have a great game and him, Gil, Bacuna are all luxury players and unlikely to all be firing on the same day which instantly puts you at a disadvantage. Gabby is only use as a sub, Ayew and Gestede are going to need a lot of time. 4 points from our opening fixtures is pathetic frankly. We may get better as players bed in but it will be too little too late and no doubt injuries will start to build too. I have zero faith we are magically going to improve due to time or the will of hopeful Villa fans. Very annoyed, it was obvious from thd second half kick off that we weren't going to get anything from this game. Fortunately there will be no tension of whether we stay up or get relegated this season as it'll be obvious by early April.

I like the idea of a back three and think it could work if both Amavi and Bacuna have the energy to turn it in to a back five as needed or there is a very clear understanding of how Sanchez could slot in as needed. With Richards to the right of a back three we'd be getting the best of his former RB knowledge but with less demand on pace, we'd have experience down the centre with Lescott and then Clarke helped out by the better of our two wide me in Amavi. The midfield shouldn't be over run as you've got Sanchez stepping up if Bacuna and Amavi are back and vice versa. That's the key, Sanchez will need to be the disciplined one knowing whether to push forward or sit back and let Bacuna and Amavi do their thing. Something along the lines of; Guzan Richards Lescott Clarke Bacuna Amavi Sanchez Traore Westwood Gueye Grealish Sinclair With changes in personnel, mostly midfield, depending on the opposition. Sinclair is scoring goals for fun and Sherwood has hinted he may use him more as a striker but doesn't mean him, Grealish and Traore couldn't be rotated and swapped for likes of Gestede and Ayew. Can't see Kozak featuring heavily and think Gabby only really has a role as sub from this point on.

I hate this man so much. Talksport (yes I know!) have done some research in to net spend (it's not just us who are interested in it!) and looked at the 13 teams who have remained in the league over the last five years. It makes for some very depressing, if not surprising, reading: 13. Tottenham with net spend of £2.5m - helped by Bale's £65m sale no doubt! 12. Aston Villa with net spend of £15.4m - so £3m a season as has been a figure banded around here a lot 11. Stoke City with a net spend of £26.1m - over 50% more than us already 10. Everton with a net spend of £29.1m - yes, tight-fisted Everton have spent nearly double our amount. 09. Swansea with a net spend of £31.8m 08. West Brom with a net spend of £42m - our local rivals have spent THREE times as much as we have 07. Sunderland with a net spend of £43.7m - commonly referred in the press and under invested. 06. Arsenal with a net spend of £47.1m 05. Newcastle with a net spend of £69m - again, the selling for assets ridiculous Mike Ashley has invested nearly five times as much 04 - 01. Top four obviously! (http://talksport.com/football/premier-league-clubs-ranked-net-spend-last-five-summer-transfer-windows-150903165355) When you see the figures like this it does make me wonder how there can be any blame at managers feet with such a lack of investment year on year. In fact you could argue even the likes of McLeish and Lambert did well considering the budget. It really makes my blood boil that the press, especially the local press, aren't highlighting this more. It's DISGUSTING. Furthermore, where the hell is the money?! How can Stoke, Swansea and West Brom in particular be bringing in more money than we are?! Then there would be the wages argument, but I can't find that anywhere, obviously it was big but now it must be very very low. But surely no bigger than the above teams. Or people may argue we are still paying for over spending prior to this time - well that would mean by now we should be matching the above teams, and yet we still can't. West Brom still spent £27m this season. And it's not revisionism, it's not rose tinted glasses, but Ellis would have been slaughtered week on week for this lack of investment. He at least had the balls to show up! Why are me more accepting of it because it's Lerner? Where are the fans protests? Why isn't there more of a fuss? Why are we accepting this? Have we been beaten down so much that we just don't have any fight left? At the very least, forgetting the wish to be a top six/four club, we should be competing with the likes of Everton, Sunderland etc. I know this will fall on deaf ears, I just get annoyed that there are so few people who care any more.

I have made no secret of my continuing disappointment in Lerner and his disregard for Aston Villa. I think this window has been a very entertaining failure. That's best way I can put it. If you make a team of the players we've signed and play it against a team of the players who've left (as I did in another thread) then it becomes fairly apparent we have, at best, stood still. The quality is more evenly been spread so areas such as defence are improved but strikeforce weakened, where as the midfield has also more evenly spread the quality. Ultimately though, the lack of a more recognisable striker will hurt us. We released Bent, Weimann, Helenius and kids and should have replaced them more ambitiously, Benteke was not replaceable in a realistic budget. And that is the final element; we all accept we have a limited budget but given we lost our best players, needed an overhaul, have a new manager and finished 17th last season, I'm fuming that we spent so little money that wasn't from sales and even more disappointed that Lerner has somehow managed to sneak this past a large majority of fans who have been seduced by the pure numbers rather than the difference in quality. He can sell the whole first XI next season for £30m but as long as we buy 40 relatively unknown foreign players for £10m that may or may not end up both being good enough and settling in the Premier League it will keep the masses happy. No money doesn't necessarily equal success, but lack of investment guarantees failure.

Certainly interesting but the question is - is it a good change? I'll try to bite my tongue on the whole net spend thing for now so let's just do a quick comparison with that team above vs who we have sold/replaced/released/loaned Given Lowton Vlaar Baker Luna Delph Cleverley Herd Sylla Benteke Weimann Subs: Bent Helenius Tonev Stevens Burke Now, if those two teams faced each other who do you think would win? My opinion - the released team. Even if you argue it'd be close or narrow either way, we finished 17th last season. We needed more investment this summer and this wasn't good enough and was just a 'clever' way of disguising the fact we've stood still, at best. Does anyone really think the new XI would beat the released XI?!

He isn't but no point debating that one. As for the prices I believe its £1m plus £1m in add on's while Evans is £6m plus £2m in add on's. I think we are getting the better deal but irrespective of if we are or not I don't think Sherwood has £8m to spend on a CB. Slightly OT, but what is really horrible about what Trent is saying is we can't compete financially with WBA... god that's depressing. Not new information, but still depressing. Probably largely the reason we didn't get Lescott when he left City as we couldn't / wouldn't compete with WBA on wages.

Has Hitz retired?

It's one of those classic VT problems - there is a quote from the manager and people will either take it at face value, or they will say "smokescreen". In fact, it does make you wonder what the point of information/ the club talking is - they don't say something, we speculate, they do say something, we speculate what they REALLY mean... Anyway, the point of that mini rant was that Skysports have a little video of Sherwood's press conference today saying he desn't think there will be any more players in, and it'd be a surprise to him and we'd need to get rid of players first! So are you: 1) Going to take that on face value or 2) Say it's all a smokescreen to cover the fact we have £30m still left to spend

Well Birmingham Mail have a nice simple graph that shows Lerner's net investment. It was in response to Lambert's belief we've changed our transfer policy and how he was supported more than Sherwood so far. 12/13 Lerner spent £24m 13/14 Lerner spent £16m 14/15 Lerner spent £9m 15/16 Lerner spent £5m so far. Now I'm no mathematician, but even I see a little pattern developing! With that in mind we can assume a few things; 1) The wages have also been reduced over that period 2) We aren't in the market for any players in the +£10m range from this point on 3) Lerner is reducing year on year his expenditure 4) Next year's net spend will be about £2m if the graph stays constant!

He's scored two hattricks in a Villa shirt in a month. If we're not going to invest in a striker then he's clearly the next best thing.

Stevo985 I agree with you 100% but you have been arguing your case for ages so do yourself a favour and leave it be. Like you've stated, it's a witchhunt. He rolls it, it's his fault. He kicks it down field, it comes back, his fault. He kicks it in to touch, it comes back, his fault. He pings a perfect pass to Gabby, who loses it as the Palace defender dribbles past eight players and scores, his fault. He drops it at his feet, decides to go on a marauding run, skipping past the entire palace team and finishes with a thirty yard rocket in to the top corner - good defending by Bacuna to give away corner, Guzan was lucky! I agree with most things you say on here, so probably best to give up being the lone voice of reason in a mob!