jackbauer24

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!

This is a lot more than five words or phrases. Sorry, hadn't realised the rules! I'll try again; Bare minimum Pathetic A big con Wage reducing Enough to distract the masses from the truth

For me it's irrelevant, all budget should be directed at a striker not a defender. We've choices, even if not great, in defence. Last year we had Gabby, Benteke, Weimann and Bent, now we have Gabby, Gestede, Ayew and Kozak. As it stands, I think last years strike force was better. Gabby is worse, however good Gestede may prove to be he is still a long way off Benteke. Weimann and Ayew feel similar. Bent and Kozak have both been left out! Happily for Lerner the wage bill is lower with new strike force though...

I'm going to offend a lot of people here but if you're happy with our transfer window (imagining it closed today) then I believe you are an easily distracted, deluded individual who has been beaten down so much over the years that you accept what is currently a pathetic window filled with hope and prospects rather than more guaranteed quality. At best this window has been one massive gamble. We have more evenly distributed quality across the squad but consequentially now have no standout players. We have replaced dozens of players either through choice or because we had to but have spent less than £1m despite this massive turnover. We've also managed to slash the wage bill again no doubt. I'm fuming few others see this. Buying lots of players does not mean it's been a good window. Our defence is marginally improved, our midfield is unchanged, arguably a little worse at moment but with potential to be a little better and our strike force looks useless. At best we have stood still, unfortunately most other teams have attempted to improve - we've just tried to put out the fires caused by such significant departures. I don't even want much - one proven striker and I'll accept it's been an ok, even interesting window, with potential. If we spent another £20m then I'd call it the best window ever! But replace three star players and a handful of other players with a bunch of slightly more expensive gambles than usual then it's not a good window. How are fans happy that we've spent £0.5m of our 'own' money when we finished 17th, lost our best players and slashed the wage bill again?! Football Manager has a lot to answer for!

I don't want to write off our attacking options so soon BUT we have to acknowledge that they are, at best, a gamble. Gestede has never played at this level and, so far, has little to his game other than aerial ability. He may well develop but do we have time to wait when the other option is Ayew. Ayew has yet to prove he is a proficient scorer at a high level. He is in a new country in a new league. Again he may develop but now we have two 'maybes'. Then there is Gabby. Enough said on that topic. And Kozak, who doesn't even make the squad. We have a lot of gambles, we need a more reliable striker. Whilst nothing is ever certain, we need to put our money on more sure a bet. Adebayor would be a safer option than what we have, despite obvious issues. Berahino would cost too much. Austin fits the bill perfectly. Without a more assured striker we are not going to score the goals to survive this season. Please spend more than half a million this transfer window Lerner!

Guzan is the 'safe' scapegoat because he's not a new signing. Giving him any significant blame for Palace's winner is laughable. Evidently neither Sherwood or any of the media have even mentioned any culpability on Guzan yet the experts on VT seem to be able to blame him for everything. Actually I believe we're not being harsh enough. He was at fault for not making Clark stronger for the first goal. He was also at fault for Gabby's miss when through on goal because he stood a little too far to the left and the light refracted off his head and caught Gabby's eye. He was also to blame for Gestede being able to do very little with his headers and flickons, he should have been kicking the ball at a 47° angle and not a 45° angle like a championship goalkeeper. I also have it on good authority that he changed Sherwood's decision to replace Gabby with Sinclair because he didn't like the fact Sanchez was playing so well after stealing his banana on the coach... He was however incredibly lucky to save the shots he did and he didn't even realise he was catching crosses and corners as he was just waving to his girlfriend in the crowd... Guzan had a fine game today, some good parts, some weaker ones. To attach blame to him for the winning goal is the most desperate search for a scapegoat I've seen in... well probably a week on these boards! Amavi made the mistake today. I'm not going to slate him either, mistakes happen. Guzan f*cked up against City last season. When they make mistakes you can highlight them, but don't make up ridiculous scenarios that assign blame that doesn't belong. Otherwise we might as well blame Traore for the goal has he got dispossessed 36 moves before hand and that changed everything after it...

It really infuriates me that Lerner is getting a little bit of a free pass this year because we've been so active in the transfer window, despite actually investing very very little. It isn't good enough for a club of our size, no sorry, scratch that, it isn't good enough for the size of club we used to be. Once again we will have spent less than at least 80% of the rest of the division despite needing it more than all of them. We were the worst team to survive, we lost three or four of our best players from that rubbish side, we have struggled to score goals all preseason and in our first three games and yet still no investment. I simply hate Lerner now. It annoys me that I get so annoyed by it, I should be used to it by now! But what bothers me even more is those that can't see this lack of investment - it's all well and good being optimistic about the signings we have made but to praise him for doing the absolute bare minimum is shocking. If we can't even expect to spend £10m after sales now, how small time a club are we? Season after season I'm told it's because we spent so frivolously under MON - that was ages ago now! Even the last of the big earners have left this summer too. Where the f*ck is the money?! According to transfermarkt, we have spent £140k! To put it in to further perspective, WBA have spent £24m, Leicester £22m, Bournemouth £17m, Watford £20m, Sunderland £17m and Newcastle £45m all after their player sales too. This is the same Sunderland and Newcastle who have been (and in Sunderland's case are being) slated for under investment. Only four teams have currently spent less, Spurs will resolve that before the window closes for sure and the others are the miraculous Saints and then Stoke and Everton who hardly have relegation concerns being solid midtable teams. The more I think about it the more I get annoyed! How do some of you stay so calm?! Is it resignation? Is it eternal optimism? The pound signs should be back out for Lerner. He is a disgrace of a 'custodian'.

Three games in and I assume the optimism has withered a little?! Yes lots of signings, but lots of quality to replace. And are we any better a side? Fair enough, it's too early to call but early indications are we have a more balanced side with no obvious weak players but also far less stand out players. We spent a lot because we had to but, again early, it looks like another season of struggle without a star to keep us up. Where are the goals coming from? As it stands we have spent maybe £1m more than we've made and that simply isn't good enough if we are to progress. If Lerner can't even sanction one quality signing from a budget other than sales then we are going to be in for a long hard season. And we all know it's the lack of a striker that will harm us. Once again we are going to be one of the lowest net spenders in the league (currently 16th) and for a team that finished 17th and lost three or four of its best players it's not good enough. If this is it, I actually think despite being an interesting window it is actually a bad one. There's no disputing it's been interesting and very active but that doesn't mean it's been a good window either.

I'm a Net Spend Police Officer! I really think it shows whether you are treading water, sinking or moving forward. Top teams can afford to have small net spends (but often don't) midtable teams can flip either way due to anomalies such as selling one good player (Southampton) and relegation battlers need significant spend to survive. Yes we made a lot of money this summer but that just means we lost a lot of quality. We are currently 16th of all teams based on net spend this window. I can see us being even lower come the close of the window. We have spent less than Bournemouth, Norwich and Watford who have been promoted. We have spent less than Sunderland, Leicester and West Brom who we battled for survival. Without spending money we are in big trouble, all we've done is turn our crap team with superstars into an average team with no standouts. When WBA are consistently outspending us, I hate to say it, but maybe we need to reevaluate our place in football. Who really thinks relegation isn't a case of when rather than if?

I think we only NEED one more quality signing. We will be fine if we spend every penny we have on a consistent goal scorer. Might be nice to have more depth in defence etc but the only thing we need is a striker, without one we're in big big trouble.

We have zero goal threat so every game this season will be a struggle. Ok, Amavi makes a mistake but it happens, can't say we weren't lucky to get the equaliser. Don't get the Guzan blame at all. He played it to a Villa player who had time to take a bad touch. He was trying to start a quick counter attack for the win. What would be the point of smashing it down field to an ineffectual Gabby and Gestede? No blame for Guzan on that one, think some people just like to target him these days. In the off season all we have done is spread any quality we had more evenly around the team, losing great players but upgrading poor ones. So now we are team of average players instead of a rubbish one with a few stars. However, it just means we will are still going to struggle this season and every season until we bring up the squad as a whole - and that's never going to happen when you can only spend money made from player sales. It is clear to everyone we need a striker. Even Sherwood. So he's tried bargain hunting in Gestede and Ayew and tried praying that Gabby steps up finally. Both are, at best, gambles. A loan attempt for Adebayor shows Sherwood realises we are short. Lerner needs to spend a little bit of cash on a more likely source of goals and it seems the best realistic target should be Austin. If we don't bring in a recognised scorer, we ARE going down. I have no doubt.

To be fair, goalkeeper, defenders and midfield have played well. The problem is that we offer absolutely zero goal threat. And it doesn't matter if you have world class defenders and midfielders, if you can't score you're going to lose games by narrow margins - like we are. This game is now finished, we can't score so 0-0 was always going to be only hope. Oh... Traore scored

Gut feeling (with my pessimistic mindset as usual); Finish 16th Scoring less than 38 goals Finishing with minus goal difference No player scoring over ten goals Expenditure after sales being less than £10m Player of the year (both categories); Amavi First player sold next season; Amavi Carling Cup Quarter-finalists FA Cup Fourth Round Significant injury to key player around Christmas

Whether we're in for him or not, Austin would be perfect for us. A bit of Premier experience, an English player for that 'balance' that has been talked of and lowish fee and wages. £15m is not a lot for ANY striker, never mind one who scored freely in this league last season and broke in to the England squad. People talk of injuries but 1) a 'Nilis' could happen to any signing, you insure for that as best you can and 2) I seem to recall our most adored player having a slight issue with his knees! The problem we have now is that we are using Randy money instead of sales so any chance of significant expenditure is radically reduced. Yes, it's the net spend argument and we're still one of the lowest spenders because Randy will not invest so IF we get any further players I expect them to be for nominal fees or loans.

Currently sitting in the sun (late thirty degrees) but didn't find match. John Bull only showing licensed games. Here for another ten days as at Sziget festival but will miss Utd game as music in full swing by then. Spent a few prefestival days around Budapest, been here before but went around a few of the ruin bars and had a great night. Cheap food, cheap beer, great weather. Good times!