onje_villa Posted August 23, 2012 Share Posted August 23, 2012 "When God wants to punish he sends us what we want." Eh? So if we want Dunne out of the club, Randy will punish us with someone fatter, drunker and slower? OMG!!! Its the Second Coming. And Lo, He gaveth unto the Villans of Aston their hearts desire. He walked amongst them, and they did know him as God. There was much rejoicing and it was good. Welcome Paul. :!: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GarethRDR Posted August 23, 2012 Share Posted August 23, 2012 Torn between knowing any deal we can get for Dunne at this stage is good business, but it'll leave us weak at the back on paper. Hope if there's no direct replacement lined up that either Clark or Baker can make the step up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stanthemanisgod Posted August 23, 2012 Share Posted August 23, 2012 Torn between knowing any deal we can get for Dunne at this stage is good business, but it'll leave us weak at the back on paper. Hope if there's no direct replacement lined up that either Clark or Baker can make the step up. Lambert's had a look at the squad and it's his call, his job on the line if it goes wrong. It would, however, be interesting to see if Dunne would have gotten anywhere the squad on Saturday if fit, or he'd have been outcast like Warnock and Hutton. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big_John_10 Posted August 23, 2012 Share Posted August 23, 2012 I certainly wouldn't argue that Lambert hasn't got a clue. I think he's trying to make the best of a limited budget. It's that i'm not impressed with. While defoe would be a good signing it doesn't seem right that we have to weaken our defence in order to get him. Surely with our wage bill at around 50% and our small net spend so far it wouldn't be too much to sell Dunne, sign a cheaper replacement and sign someone like Defoe. Now that would be a positive move for the club. Also given the comments Lambert made about dunne only a few weeks ago I'd be surprised if he genuinely felt replacing him with Chris Herd was better for the club. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DeepDish Posted August 23, 2012 Share Posted August 23, 2012 1) I think Lambert is a good manager 2) I have wanted to get rid of Dunne for over one year 3) We are getting rid of Dunne 4) Since I still believe in 1, I am happy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr_Pangloss Posted August 23, 2012 Share Posted August 23, 2012 He's trying to get rid of the bad apples/piss takers, excellent. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stanthemanisgod Posted August 23, 2012 Share Posted August 23, 2012 I certainly wouldn't argue that Lambert hasn't got a clue. I think he's trying to make the best of a limited budget. It's that i'm not impressed with. While defoe would be a good signing it doesn't seem right that we have to weaken our defence in order to get him. Surely with our wage bill at around 50% and our small net spend so far it wouldn't be too much to sell Dunne, sign a cheaper replacement and sign someone like Defoe. Now that would be a positive move for the club. Also given the comments Lambert made about dunne only a few weeks ago I'd be surprised if he genuinely felt replacing him with Chris Herd was better for the club. But that's the nature of his job, our wage bill is restricted w could sit here and argue why or whether it should be all day long but it won't change the way in which our business will need to be conducted. It's all relative, yes selling Dunne buying a cheaper CB and still having money for Defoe would be the ideal solution, but I would still argue Dunne for Defoe is a positive move, albeit one that comes with a high degree of risk. But it's Lambert's job to manage risk. The flip side of the coin is that we also need to give our young players a chance, lots of people happy to moan about the club selling Cahill without giving him a chance. Your issue is clearly the finance side of things and that's fine but where do you go from there? It's not going to change if you ask me, and if we want to continue to have players like Bent on their wages then the rest of the budget has to be managed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oaks Posted August 23, 2012 Share Posted August 23, 2012 I would only be happy to sell Dunne, if a replacement was incoming. If Dunne goes we've effectively sold our 3 best centre halfs and bought in 1. Now I think Clark and Baker are potentially decent, we are still short, and I think experience is very important at centre back. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stanthemanisgod Posted August 23, 2012 Share Posted August 23, 2012 Fair enough, so if it was Dunne or Defoe would you still pick Dunne? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oaks Posted August 23, 2012 Share Posted August 23, 2012 Fair enough, so if it was Dunne or Defoe would you still pick Dunne? Yes I think the defence is potentially weaker than the forwards I would be happy to go into season with Bent, Gabby and Weimann up front, but not with Vlaar, Clark and Baker without much cover for the fullbacks if Hutton and Warnock don't leave and are frozen out. I trust Lambert, but I am nervous about the squad ATM, and I don't think we can gamble, because this team almost went down last season. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stanthemanisgod Posted August 23, 2012 Share Posted August 23, 2012 I'm not sure. Not convinced there's enough goals from Bent alone, equally the defence looks suspect even with Dunne. But that's why Lambo is paid the big bucks to make that decision. He'll have an idea on where Clark, Baker and Herd are, and also where The Fonz and Weiman are Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ozvillafan Posted August 23, 2012 VT Supporter Share Posted August 23, 2012 Sell him. Better off having inexperienced players who want to play and learn than a experienced troublemaker on his last legs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HolteEndRob Posted August 23, 2012 Share Posted August 23, 2012 I am fully behind Lambert BUT, if we do sell Dunne and we don't bring in another centre half then it is a huge mistake! Having Vlaar, Clark, Baker and apparently Herd to cover the centre is not good enough. From what I've seen of Baker I'm not impressed. He should be out on loan. I'm not the biggest fan of Clark either. He seems far too lightweight, especially if him and Vlaar are going to be the number one pairing. As for Herd, I know he's a natural right back but can he even play centre half? I have my doubts! Very big risk to sell Dunne and not replace him. Imagine if Vlaar gets injured! Would you be confident seeing Clark and Baker as our centre half partnership? I definitely wouldn't. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
roadoftrinity Posted August 23, 2012 Share Posted August 23, 2012 I am fully behind Lambert BUT, if we do sell Dunne and we don't bring in another centre half then it is a huge mistake! Having Vlaar, Clark, Baker and apparently Herd to cover the centre is not good enough. From what I've seen of Baker I'm not impressed. He should be out on loan. I'm not the biggest fan of Clark either. He seems far too lightweight, especially if him and Vlaar are going to be the number one pairing. As for Herd, I know he's a natural right back but can he even play centre half? I have my doubts! Very big risk to sell Dunne and not replace him. Imagine if Vlaar gets injured! Would you be confident seeing Clark and Baker as our centre half partnership? I definitely wouldn't. I wasn't confident watching Dunne and Collins as centre half partnership either, in fact most the time last season after watching them to clowns play I was fuming. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PompeyVillan Posted August 23, 2012 Share Posted August 23, 2012 I don't think Clark is very good, so I think we need a replacement for Dunne. I think Baker is a bit better than Clark. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big_John_10 Posted August 23, 2012 Share Posted August 23, 2012 Your issue is clearly the finance side of things and that's fine but where do you go from there? It's not going to change if you ask me, and if we want to continue to have players like Bent on their wages then the rest of the budget has to be managed. My whole issue is the finance. Now i'm sure someone will tell me we can't compete with man city, which is great, but every fan has accepted we can't spend stupid amounts. We're Aston Villa, our income is bigger than the majority of teams in the premiership, we should have higher ambitions than just surviving, and I really don't see why it's acceptable that in order to strengthen one area we have to weaken another. I mean could you imagine the same scenario under Doug and the difference in attitudes towards it? If this is our position then how can we ever expect to be anything but mediocre? And like I've said before if this is what we have to accept then what was all the fuss about with Doug? I wonder if anyone perfectly happy with what's going on now ever held up a £ sign. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Papillon Posted August 23, 2012 Share Posted August 23, 2012 If we sell Hutton, Dunne and Warnock before the windows shuts Mr. Lambert should have some deals properly lined up or we can end up pretty ****. We have already sold Collins as well, so our squad looks incredibly slim. Sure we have Baker and Clark, but we desperately need some experience back there with Vlaar. Vlaar, Clark and Baker, as it stands, is one of the weakest lines in the Premier League. Not the worst of course, but one injury would seriously wreck our season. Vlaar, as I understand, has had a lot of injuries in his career thus far. I am not a fan of the initially mentioned players, but I would rather have Dunne and Warnock in the squad compared to some young, unproven Championship-player. For a stopper, experience and influence is often more important than anything else. Imagine Van Persie and Rooney against Baker and Clark.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GREAT_BEARD_OF_ZEUS Posted August 23, 2012 Share Posted August 23, 2012 I remember us all wishing for Dunne to come back from injury at the end of last season to help stop the relegation slide! I'm no fan of his, and if we've got a replacement lined up then fine - but we simply CANNOT have one senior central defender at the club. Clark is good in my eyes, but perhaps a season off being 1st choice in the central pairing. And should (god help us) Vlaar get injured, We've got a horribly lightweight and inexperienced back 4 which for me will spell relegation! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lexicon Posted August 23, 2012 Share Posted August 23, 2012 If Dunne's contract is up in a year anyway it would probably make more sense to keep him unless we have a replacement in mind. If, however, he is holding up the signing of other players because he's on a very big wage - then we need to get ship him out now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oaks Posted August 23, 2012 Share Posted August 23, 2012 I think it's highly likley that if a player goes out one comes in, I would just like it to be like for like foe Dunne and Warnock. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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