Just when you think that things couldn't get any worse....

[Risso]

Exactly right Kevin.  Lambert chose to buy the players he did, nobody forced him to buy the likes of Bennett who is clearly years off being ready for the Premier League.  Sacking Lambert would cost a few quid of course, but the cost to the club of him relegating us will be twenty times that, at least.  Lambert taking us down could set us back years, even if Lerner can afford to finance the club in the Championship, which I doubt.

So you doubt Lerner could afford to finance the club in the Championship? but then say Lambert chose to buy the players he did? So if he wanted to buy experienced Premier League players for more money on bigger contracts, you think Lerner would have said yes to this? Or are you saying we should have gambled the long term future of the club by doing a QPR and staying in the league for the holy grail of the TV money?

Ho could have bought better players with the money he spent.  It's only really Benteke that's been an outright success.

[KevinGage]

The players we lost were players we wanted to get shot of, and -in the case of Cuellar- they weren't first team regulars anyway. So it's not as if PL inherited a decimated squad compared to 2011/12.

A left back, centre mid, and centre back were obvious priorities.   Such was his buying prowess last summer, two of those positions still are.

I reckon you're the only one who thought the squad from last season only needed 3 or 4 players, even before the departures in the summer.

I'll clarify that, we needed 3/4 players good enough to come straight into the side.

Probably 6/7 additions in total, be they promising youngsters, free transfers or whatever else. We were obviously not in the market fot the very best free transfers -they'd have had better options than us. 

But the scope was there to address our major weakspots and strengthen the squad as a whole.

[Jockey Randall]

yet people still suggest he's done a shocking job by taking us from a squad that probably would have finished bottom to a place above the relegation zone? I just don't understand it.

Firstly, I don't think that squad even as was was the worst in the league.   Worse than Reading?  Worse than Norwich, Southampton, West Ham and Wigan? 

Petrov's absence was known from the time he took the job.  The only situation where PL might have been unlucky is Dunne's absence, which was believed to be short-term initially.

That might have impacted his decision making re central defence -but if he was being proactive, he'd have known Dunne's best days were behind him anyway, and would have gone about sourcing a replacement.

As to your last part, after the season we've endured so far, is it any wonder some might think he's done a shocking job?  If you don't get that now, you never will.

Regardless of whether you think the squad was the worst or not you must surely acknowledge they were definitely up there? Plus all those sides you mentioned were built over at least one previous season and they did not have the repair job we had on our hands when he took the job.

You last comment sums it up for me - after the season we've endured so far? We were shite at the start of the summer, we finished a stumbling over the line 16th ffs! Missing Petrov for the whole season would probably have seen us relegated. Currently we are still struggling after a massive overhaul and the birth of a plan which will only bear fruit a few years from now. Just because we are Aston Villa does not give us some right to be performing at a higher level than the quality of our team suggests. I think that must be where a lot of this belief that he's done a bad job has come from, because the facts just don't back this up.

[Jockey Randall]

Exactly right Kevin.  Lambert chose to buy the players he did, nobody forced him to buy the likes of Bennett who is clearly years off being ready for the Premier League.  Sacking Lambert would cost a few quid of course, but the cost to the club of him relegating us will be twenty times that, at least.  Lambert taking us down could set us back years, even if Lerner can afford to finance the club in the Championship, which I doubt.

So you doubt Lerner could afford to finance the club in the Championship? but then say Lambert chose to buy the players he did? So if he wanted to buy experienced Premier League players for more money on bigger contracts, you think Lerner would have said yes to this? Or are you saying we should have gambled the long term future of the club by doing a QPR and staying in the league for the holy grail of the TV money?

Ho could have bought better players with the money he spent.  It's only really Benteke that's been an outright success.

Any chance of any names? Who could we have got here on £20k a week that are better than what we have?

[Risso]

Any chance of any names? Who could we have got here on £20k a week that are better than what we have?

Is there any evidence that all of our new recruits are on £20k max?

[Jockey Randall]

Any chance of any names? Who could we have got here on £20k a week that are better than what we have?

Is there any evidence that all of our new recruits are on £20k max?

There have been rumours of this but I put this out there as more of an average of what I think the recent signings are on. Are you saying you think we can afford regular signings of £30k/£40k a week players?

[Chris Smith]

Any chance of any names? Who could we have got here on £20k a week that are better than what we have?

Is there any evidence that all of our new recruits are on £20k max?

There have been rumours of this but I put this out there as more of an average of what I think the recent signings are on. Are you saying you think we can afford regular signings of £30k/£40k a week players?

It seems unlikely that after going through all that pain to reduce the wage bill we'd then spend the same sort of wages on lesser known replacements.

[pauliewalnuts]

Exactly right Kevin.  Lambert chose to buy the players he did, nobody forced him to buy the likes of Bennett who is clearly years off being ready for the Premier League.  Sacking Lambert would cost a few quid of course, but the cost to the club of him relegating us will be twenty times that, at least.  Lambert taking us down could set us back years, even if Lerner can afford to finance the club in the Championship, which I doubt.

So you doubt Lerner could afford to finance the club in the Championship? but then say Lambert chose to buy the players he did? So if he wanted to buy experienced Premier League players for more money on bigger contracts, you think Lerner would have said yes to this? Or are you saying we should have gambled the long term future of the club by doing a QPR and staying in the league for the holy grail of the TV money?

Ho could have bought better players with the money he spent.  It's only really Benteke that's been an outright success.

There's really no arguing with spin like that, you're so determined to cast everything in the darkest light possible.

What about Westwood? There seems to be general agreement he's done very well. Most people would also suggest Lowton has done well, too.

And then what about Guzan - who had actually left the club before Lambert got him back in?

[peter w]

Exactly right Kevin.  Lambert chose to buy the players he did, nobody forced him to buy the likes of Bennett who is clearly years off being ready for the Premier League.  Sacking Lambert would cost a few quid of course, but the cost to the club of him relegating us will be twenty times that, at least.  Lambert taking us down could set us back years, even if Lerner can afford to finance the club in the Championship, which I doubt.

So you doubt Lerner could afford to finance the club in the Championship? but then say Lambert chose to buy the players he did? So if he wanted to buy experienced Premier League players for more money on bigger contracts, you think Lerner would have said yes to this? Or are you saying we should have gambled the long term future of the club by doing a QPR and staying in the league for the holy grail of the TV money?

Ho could have bought better players with the money he spent.  It's only really Benteke that's been an outright success.

There's really no arguing with spin like that, you're so determined to cast everything in the darkest light possible.

What about Westwood? There seems to be general agreement he's done very well. Most people would also suggest Lowton has done well, too.

And then what about Guzan - who had actually left the club before Lambert got him back in?

well that's because that isn't much but a dark light. Yes Lowton and westwood have done well but only Benteke has been an outstanding success. Other than him which other of our players do you think any other teams would want? we'd pick one or two from most around us. We're just ahead of Reading. Great.

[KevinGage]

I think that must be where a lot of this belief that he's done a bad job has come from, because the facts just don't back this up.

Aye.

If you ignore the league table, our goals against, our goal difference and the various maulings we've had this campaign, you're probably right.

[Jockey Randall]

I suppose it all comes down to how much you believe in Lambert and his youth plan and whether we should follow it through. Imo it's short term pain, long term gain - there you go Lerner, get those next bright future style scarves printed!

[pauliewalnuts]

well that's because that isn't much but a dark light. Yes Lowton and westwood have done well but only Benteke has been an outstanding success. Other than him which other of our players do you think any other teams would want? we'd pick one or two from most around us. We're just ahead of Reading. Great.

He said outright success, not outstanding success, though.

Personally, I wouldn't even describe Benteke as an outstanding success, but I think it is unfair to lumber the likes of Westwood, Guzan et al with the implied label of failure (which is what I am sure Risso is trying to do).

[Jockey Randall]

I think that must be where a lot of this belief that he's done a bad job has come from, because the facts just don't back this up.

Aye.

If you ignore the league table, our goals against, our goal difference and the various maulings we've had this campaign, you're probably right.

It's more a case of you ignoring the fact we got 38 points last season, lost our captain and best midfielder after 29 games, then didn't win a game after that. So yeah you're probably right that squad he inherited were outstanding weren't they?

[Risso]

Westwood has looked OK in patches, but how many assists does he have?  How much protection does he afford the defence?  Not much in the way of either.  And Lowton has been as bad as the rest of the defence for months now, after a bright start.

And really, Guzan as a Lambert signing?  He'd been offered a new deal at the end of the season.

[Risso]

Any chance of any names? Who could we have got here on £20k a week that are better than what we have?

Is there any evidence that all of our new recruits are on £20k max?

There have been rumours of this but I put this out there as more of an average of what I think the recent signings are on. Are you saying you think we can afford regular signings of £30k/£40k a week players?

I'd imagine there's a budget for transfer fee and wages.  I'm sure that if Lambert wanted to spend the £10K a week that Bowery gets by paying somebody £30K instead of £20K, that would have been allowed.