Ironsid

It might be a bit early to compare P.L. to previous managers but I begin to detect similarities with the great Ron Saunders. When he came in we weren't exactly pulling up trees. He built a team by promoting youngsters from within the club, buying hungry young unknowns and adding quality such as Mortimer. He welded them into a team that allied hard work with skill and look where that got us. We were never really given the credit for the quality of football he promoted but the three teams he built compare favourably with any of the so called big teams of the 70s and 80s. So now we've got a manager who buys hungry young players and gets them to play with a fair degree of skill and a great deal of hard work. Pehaps it's too early to draw any conclusions but what I saw against Swansea on Saturday gave me cause for optimism. I really enjoyed it and I can't say as much for the last couple of seasons.

I'll start judging the new lads after I've seen them against Swansea. Until then I know nothing about them apart what's been written. I'm a bit more tolerant than my mate. He watched the first half of Juan Pablo Angel's debut before turning to me and saying, "He's no bloody good!"

What worries me about squad depth is the game changer coming off the bench. When things aren't going to plan who comes on to have a major influence on the game? Who comes on to get the crowd buzzing? Who energises the team with his appearance on the pitch? Maybe one of the new lads can fill that role.

I don't think you can ever fall out of love with your club. You can become disillusioned, angry at its shortcomings or just plain pissed off at the stupidity of owners and managers but they aren't the club. I think football fans are short term pessimists but long term optimists. We believe, against all evidence, that our club will rise again. I've experienced the lows and the highs but I stay a Villa fan. The glory hunters can switch allegiances at the drop of a hat but the real fans could no more do that than change the colour of their blood. However, I can see why fans become brassed off at the way football has been corrupted. It started, in my opinion, with the introduction of the premier league. We've got a competition dominated by three clubs and I wouldn't bet my missus's money on any other club winning it in the next ten years. Then there's the "Champions League". Here's a competition where, if you get knocked out at the group stage, you get parachuted into the Europa League: reward for failure! Don't get me started on the cheating, diving, injury feigning prima donnas who infest the modern game. Given all that you still can't shake off your loyalty and you keep hoping for better. U.T.V.!!

I've been going down the Villa since 1972 and I've seen some threadbare squads in my time. This one ranks among the weakest and the ones in the past have usually resulted in the drop or some squeaky bum last minute reprieves. Without some new blood in the next week we're in for the third brush with relegation in a row. It's a sad reflection on the state Villa's been reduced to that fans are even considering the possibility after two games. If Lambert's the man for the job, and most fans seem to have agreed that he is, then the powers that be need to divy up the spondulix and give him the tools to do the job properly. We haven't got limitless funds but surely it's worth investing to avoid the losses that would come with the unthinkable. Sorry to state the bleeding obvious.

Take your binoculars or you'll see bugger all!

Sorry! Double post:finger trouble!

I like the idea of possession, passing football. It needs a decent winger and someone to provide the killer pass for Bent. It must be nice for the midfielders to end the game without stiff necks caused by howitzer shells looping over their heads.

I like the idea of possession, passing football. It needs a decent winger and someone to provide the killer pass for Bent. It must be nice for the midfielders to end the game without stiff necks caused by howitzer shells looping over their heads.

Warnock and Hutton! Has the bidding war started yet? If we're counting on unloading them first before we can strengthen we might be in for a long wait.

Nigel Sims, remember him?

I know you shouldn't compare Vlaar with an immortal, but I don't remember Paul McGrath being blessed with blistering pace. He didn't half know how to read a game though and he couldn't half time a tackle. If Vlaar has half his awareness he could be a useful defender.

I agree with Bickster on this one. Make sure a defender can do what it says on the tin first. If he can add something to the attack now and again it's a bonus. I think Lichaj falls into this class of player.

Boxer ain't he? He should be able to mix it!

Agreed. Petrov should stay on the squad page.

If it is to be Lambert then I'm happy to give him a good chance. What we don't want is someone who comes in, incurs the wrath of the fans and then disappears leaving us to start all over again next year. He must have been promised funds to begin moulding the squad to his specifications; after all one of his reasons for, allegedly, being prepared to leave Norwich is the lack of funds he felt he needed to push them further along. I can't see him coming to us if the only money he gets comes from wheeling and dealing.

Please don't let it be one of those ever-presents on the merrygo round. You know ,the Bruces Strachans etc who fiddle about for two or three seasons before flopping and ending up on gardening leave until another bunch of mugs take them on.

I'm a bit wary of coming out in favour of a particular candidate because you can look a right prat if he bombs. I know who I don't want though. Non of the odds and sods who seem to rotate from one club to another. You know the Bruce's, McCarthys and Strachans of this world. Let's have someone fresh with a new outlook.

Money talks,class walks! our history is far more illustrious than theirs but posters who say their location trumps us every time now are right. Have to say though I like their philosophy as stated in that banner you see around their stands. "THE GAME IS ABOUT GLORY" Unfortunately the game is more about money now and they trump us on that too.

"No man, no problem." Joseph Stalin. A bit extreme perhaps but I'll bet Stalin would have solved the present problem before now. I wonder if dear old Doug studied his methods.

Reminds me of when Sonny Bono allegedly invited a record producer round to his and Cher's place after he had spent $75000 doing it up. The record producer said, "You mean you spent $75000 at Woolworths?"

How long before that old joke appears again. You know the one; we're now being called "Aston Villa Nil."

I once heard someone give S. Teale the nickname of "Thud". I think that mantle's been well and truly passed on.

I was at his funeral in a packed Coleshill Church. A very good attendance with some notable Villa faces present including Sid Cowans. It's strange when you see these guys on the pitch going about their work and you don't give a thought to their lives in the outside world or the talents they posses. Nigel was an excellent musician and it was moving to hear the music played as his coffin was brought into church. It was a recording of Nigel himself playing the clarinet. A top class performance. R.I.P.

Excellent analysis! I particularly agree with your suggestion that a system with Agbonlahor playing on the same side as Bale would have been more effective. For a start it would have meant Bale having to give some consideration to defensive duties instead of having the freedom to get in in advanced positions so often. The worry of what Gabby's pace might have done to Assou Ekotto in a one on one situation could have limited Bale's adventurous instincts a bit. Once Villa got possession Tottenham didn't have to worry too much about the outlet on the right.