Initial impressions under PL

[mr underhill]

can i just say i was merely playing devil's advocate. I'm not against PL at all and I'm fat from convinced OGS would have put any more points on the board, i just like speculating on what if's especially as his name has now been linked to other eEnglish clubs. I have to say though that I would be faintly pissed off if he turned us down only to pitch up in the Championship.

[Dante Lavelli]

can i just say i was merely playing devil's advocate. I'm not against PL at all and I'm fat from convinced OGS would have put any more points on the board, i just like speculating on what if's especially as his name has now been linked to other eEnglish clubs. I have to say though that I would be faintly pissed off if he turned us down only to pitch up in the Championship.

I think with OGS the truth was pretty much as was reported.  The noise coming out if Villa was that he was one of a number of managers being looked at.  The sudden press speculation and the conduct of their chairman effectively put him in a position of 'resign' or 'stay' and there was no guarantee of the Villa job at the end of it if he had he quit from Molde.

Therefore good luck to him if he ends up in the Championship, I do not see it that he would have rejected us and chosen them, the circumstances are completely different.  That just my opinion by the way, not based on any special information.

[dave.woodhall]

I think - in fact I'm pretty sure - that the job was his for the asking. The Molde chairman got to him, basically saying that if he left their sponsor would pull out, the club would go bust, the town and surrounding region would come to a grinding halt, the Norwegian economy would collapse, the government would fall, there would be riots on the streets and it would be ALL his fault. I also think we got caught up in the idea that the new Clough was arriving and what ultimately happened turned out for the best.

[Matt Collins]

My worry is lack of quality. We've too many shit players, or players who aren't near the finished article. Lambert may have to break his ethos, and Lerner his purse open, and sign a quality, established player. Someone who's been there and done it. Particularly in a very weak midfield area. In all honesty, our midfield is bottom 6 standard. It's the most important area too. It can hinder you defence and your attack, and so far this is proving so.

I take your point regarding the midfield getting overrun at times.  But part of this must be down to all the new faces getting to know each other more.  As for the whole Lerner and his purse thing - it's bollocks frankly - only an Oligarch like Abramovich or an Oil Prince could sustain the losses Villa have made over the last 3 years and not do something about it.

As for quality established players - wouldn't Holman, El Ahmadi, and Vlaar fit that bill?

And ok - yes we have signed young hungry talent like Lowton, Bennett, Westwood, and Benteke - but I see balance in that policy.

We've got the right man in the managers office finally - and while it may take him some time - I think our results will improve as the squad adapt to his ways - and to each other.  And if we do sell Darren - that frees up an awful lot of wage space to sign up two or three of Europe's hot prospects.  Not Christiano Ronaldo obviously, but I'll take Lambert's choices over the 'established' likes of Reo-Coker, C Davies, and Habib Beye, anyday.

Keep the faith.

I worry about the midfield too. But is ours actually worse than say:
Fulham: duff, sidwell, Baird, Richardson
Sunderland: Johnson, McLean, cattermole,Larsson
Stoke: etherington, Kighty, Adam, nzonzi
West ham: Nolan, diame, Noble, Jarvis

There's probably 2/3 players there that we could have signed without being greeted by moans of frustration from fans

[damon loves JT]

Maybe Solskjaer just really, really likes chicken

[supertom]

My worry is lack of quality. We've too many shit players, or players who aren't near the finished article. Lambert may have to break his ethos, and Lerner his purse open, and sign a quality, established player. Someone who's been there and done it. Particularly in a very weak midfield area. In all honesty, our midfield is bottom 6 standard. It's the most important area too. It can hinder you defence and your attack, and so far this is proving so.

I take your point regarding the midfield getting overrun at times.  But part of this must be down to all the new faces getting to know each other more.  As for the whole Lerner and his purse thing - it's bollocks frankly - only an Oligarch like Abramovich or an Oil Prince could sustain the losses Villa have made over the last 3 years and not do something about it.

As for quality established players - wouldn't Holman, El Ahmadi, and Vlaar fit that bill?

And ok - yes we have signed young hungry talent like Lowton, Bennett, Westwood, and Benteke - but I see balance in that policy.

We've got the right man in the managers office finally - and while it may take him some time - I think our results will improve as the squad adapt to his ways - and to each other.  And if we do sell Darren - that frees up an awful lot of wage space to sign up two or three of Europe's hot prospects.  Not Christiano Ronaldo obviously, but I'll take Lambert's choices over the 'established' likes of Reo-Coker, C Davies, and Habib Beye, anyday.

Keep the faith.

I worry about the midfield too. But is ours actually worse than say:
Fulham: duff, sidwell, Baird, Richardson
Sunderland: Johnson, McLean, cattermole,Larsson
Stoke: etherington, Kighty, Adam, nzonzi
West ham: Nolan, diame, Noble, Jarvis

There's probably 2/3 players there that we could have signed without being greeted by moans of frustration from fans

Some of those midfields are pretty ordinary, but there's at a rough guess at least 200 prem games of experience in each one and far more in some. That counts towards something in some games. Potentially we've players who can make for a midfield better than any of those, but that said right now we're behind those teams. Some of those players aren't great but are solid prem players. Reliable. Something sadly, I just don't think Delph or Bannan will ever be. Kevin Nolan will get the hammers at least 10 goals this season from midfield. If their front men chip in too, those goals will keep them up comfortably. At Fulham, Duffs been around donkeys years. He's not brilliant but you know what you get from him, he'll chip in and he'll bust a gut. Again, Albrighton won't come close to being the winger Duff is. Damian Duff. I think that says it all about where we're at right now.

KEA has promise. Westwood could go either way. I think we need a known qauntity and finished article in the middle who knows what they're doing. My worry with PL is that his ethos goes against that. We'll see but if we don't sort the midfield out, and IMO, that needs new faces because we're short on not just experience but also quality, we could go down. The longer we go and can't win the harder it'll be to break the cycle.

But unfortunately, all those midfields are more effective premier league midfields than ours right now. In a year or two? Ours will be a lot better. In a year we could be in the Championship though and there-in lies the problem. Mr Rock, let me introduce you to Mr Hard place.