Morpheus Posted October 23, 2012 Share Posted October 23, 2012 I'm not saying we could have got lots of fantastic players, but at least a mix with say one or two from abroad (e.g Vlaar and Holman), one or two youngsters (Westwood, Bennett), and some PL experience. Lambert had plenty of choice, there were several Premier league players who moved around; Diame and Carroll have been quality at West Ham, players like N'Zonzi, Hoilett and Bosingwa would improve us imo. Lambert made a choice to go all out for youngsters and trying to unearth gems from abroad, which with some players comes off, some it doesn't. The key was 'some' of his budget going on PL experience, you say we needed more than 3/4 decent players, which I agree with. Lambert's policy, however, has not left us with more than 3/4 decent signings. In a few years time there's a chance more of them might come good, but we need to improve on last season. Excellent post and i also have been banging on about this for quite a while now. Furthermore, Lambert's budget could actually have been more than what he actually spent? Just before the window closed we did place a bid for Dempsey which would substantiate Lambert's statement that Lerner did make funding available for more established stars. I agree that we should have went in for Carrol on loan with a view to buy instead of spending 7m on Benteke. Diame also on a free would have given us the DM we are badly missing at the moment and i would have purchased Adam instead of KEA for his delivery on free kicks and corners alone. Adam can also pick a killer pass. On recent evidence, KEA cannot. A midfield parring of Adam and Diame with Carrol upfront with Albrighton and a new winger would have given us a much better balance. As it is, we have a midfield with no creativity, no real DM and we are playing without width which is contributing to the lack of cutting edge within the team. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
villan_007 Posted October 23, 2012 Share Posted October 23, 2012 Even in a tight budget we could have added some experience - Hitz and NRC for example ? On one year deals with an option for a second while the kids come on. Hargreaves & Owen on pay as you go ? wow! just wow. say that back to yourself again and tell me you didnt burst out laughing?? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mantis Posted October 23, 2012 Share Posted October 23, 2012 Adam? Lol. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ryanvilla_1994 Posted October 23, 2012 Share Posted October 23, 2012 Adam isn't exactly tearing up any trees at Stoke is he? Think he looked so good at blackpool because the team was built around him. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Papillon Posted October 24, 2012 Share Posted October 24, 2012 One should of course not write all things off in late October, but the home game to Norwich really is a must-win for me. We are currently 17th in the league and all the teams under us will overtake us with one single win each. The thing is that we have a tough away game to Sunderland up next, before Man Utd (h), Man City (a) and Arsenal (h). These are four games on the trot where we will be (huge) underdogs and statistically I would reckon 2 points is a very good outcome from the last three. Now I am not saying we will automatically relegate if we do not win against Norwich, but chances are we are going to be under the relegation zone within two-three weeks if we don't. We have both the players and time on our side to escape relegation come May, but once you are under that line after 10-15 matches something happen to the players and fans. The panic comes along and suddenly the path to stay safe is worryingly harder. If we can win against Norwich and then suddenly beat Arsenal (I assume we will lose heavily at Etihad and home to United unfortunately), then everything would be more assured and we could keep on going with some distance to the teams under us, so let's pray that happens. I really don't want to get that ghost of relegation surrounding us, especially when we have so many young and limited players without any experience. We seemingly lack those players to carry the team up from the dark times, since Dunne and Given are not playing at all. I guess they are more grumpy rather than supportive. So 3 points are vital against Norwich I think, another poor display and a loss would be hugely detrimental to the team and fans, we would be pissed off! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Raver50032 Posted October 24, 2012 Share Posted October 24, 2012 So glad Adam decided not to join a half arsed club like Aston Villa... Aston Villa? Who are they? They didn't discover football in Somerset until Holloway played for QPR. By that time, all anyone wanted to know about was Liverpool and Manchester United. Liverpool? WTF happened to them? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mantis Posted October 24, 2012 Share Posted October 24, 2012 We won't be huge underdogs against Sunderland. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pacbuddies Posted October 24, 2012 Share Posted October 24, 2012 For the first time ever I don't give a toss whether we get relegated or not. I have had the stuffing knocked out of me over the past few seasons and I no longer get excited when we win or get depressed when we lose. 0ver 40 years of passion gone in the blink of an eye. I will still always support Villa though. There is no other team. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CI Posted October 24, 2012 Share Posted October 24, 2012 Relegation would be devastating Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
R.I.C.O. Posted October 24, 2012 Share Posted October 24, 2012 Lose against Norwich and we are royally ****. I'm really worried they will be far more up for this that we are, wanting to get one over Lambert etc. A win would set us up nicely for the trip to Sunderland and the tougher games to come. Defeat against a team as shite as Norwich would be a catastrophe. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CI Posted October 24, 2012 Share Posted October 24, 2012 The major concern is that Norwich may not only be "more up for Saturday" than us, the scary thing is, they may have better players than us. Goodnight. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mantis Posted October 24, 2012 Share Posted October 24, 2012 One factor people seem to be forgetting is that Lambert will also be very keen to beat Norwich. You can bet that if the situation was reversed and we were the small club and Norwich had just poached Lambert from us people would be saying things like "Lambert will have Norwich up for this one", "Lambert will want to prove a point" or "they'll want it more". In fact similar things were said before we played O'Neill managed Sunderland last season, although we're bigger than Sunderland and O'Neill was never poached from us but it was a similar situation. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
R.I.C.O. Posted October 24, 2012 Share Posted October 24, 2012 I'm sorry but teams look to us as a soft touch right now. We are an easy 3 points. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mantis Posted October 24, 2012 Share Posted October 24, 2012 Perhaps that could work in our favour as teams could get complacent and underestimate us. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Woodytom Posted October 24, 2012 Share Posted October 24, 2012 I no longer get excited when we win or get depressed when we lose. Very much where I am tbh Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
R.I.C.O. Posted October 24, 2012 Share Posted October 24, 2012 Well, perhaps. Against Swansea you could see the welsh had high expectations and pranced around expecting to win. Man City were not really taking that game seriously and made many changes but with the quality in their first XI you'd expect them to win. I'm just concerned that with our crap midfield and useless defence we can be beaten easily by anyone, regardless of whether we are underdogs or not. This team has all the worst hallmarks of the Houllier playing style with the error-proneness of Taylor's second spell in charge. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KHV Posted October 24, 2012 Share Posted October 24, 2012 I think we will go down unfortunately. I'm kind of settled on that fact now. Maybe I can be surprised at the end of season and we will stay up. Doubt it though, we are a complete shambles and cannot defend for beans. We run about a lot though which is good for the old fitness levels. We can run around a lot because the players are young and hungry/cheap and of limited abilty Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CI Posted October 24, 2012 Share Posted October 24, 2012 On another day Swansea would have been 2 or 3 up before we had a Sniff based on chances missed and at least 1 WC Guzan save Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mantis Posted October 24, 2012 Share Posted October 24, 2012 On another day Swansea would have been 2 or 3 up before we had a Sniff based on chances missed and at least 1 WC Guzan save And on another day we would've comfortably beat Southampton. Works both ways. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CI Posted October 24, 2012 Share Posted October 24, 2012 True. Spurs away aswell perhaps we should have won And Newcastle Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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