Aston Villa v Everton Post-Match Thread

[pauliewalnuts]

I think we could have done with getting Barry in over the summer, I know this is with hindsight but we need an old head in the middle to replace Stan Petrov. Of course this goes against PL's policy but he showed his value today and it sounds like he wanted to come back to the Villa. Still think we will be ok.

I think it's more like we just won't pay the wages of players like Barry anymore. Sadly we're looking in the bargain basement these days and our one and only luxury is Benteke.

I think it is pretty hard not to agree with that.

Lambert said in midweek he wanted to pair Lukaku with Benteke, but wages were the issue. Wages weren't the issue for Albion (notoriously tight) or Everton (similarly not flush), though. That makes you wonder.

Ultimately, we are shopping for cheap wages players from selling leagues these days. I am sure we pushed the boat out a bit to keep Benteke, but I do not expect us to suddenly change this policy.

The problem with that is that, unless you are a truly exceptional manager, of the top level, turning cheap, low wage players into a team who can not just survive, but do something in the Premier League is nigh on impossible.

I like the fact that we have been having a go, but there is a very thin line indeed between having a reduced wage bill and cheap signings and setting yourself up as a club which is taking a progressive approach and trying to grow something, and becoming a Wigan (prior to last season) club, bobbing along pointlessly.

Over the last few years, our expectations have been downscaled massively. We used to compete with clubs like Spurs and Everton, both of whom have squads way, way better than ours. We understand why we are in this position, and we have shown that we are willing to buy into the new approach we are taking, but the flip side of that is that we have to show progress, we have to show it is actually going somewhere.

I was underwhelmed by the "more of the same" nature of our signings in the summer, I didn't really see how just chucking more of the same at it was going to work, I wanted us to show a little more ambition. Not by signing 20m players, but by buying in the odd one or two more proven players, players of a slightly elevated quality to show we could push on.

I am certainly not going to start clamouring for the manager to get sacked, but I do look at what we have now, squad wise, and note that none of the summer's signings seem to have improved us much if at all (Okore apart, injury makes it hard to call on him), and several of last season's decent performers seem to have got worse.

I can't see how that is a situation which is going to improve us much, but am willing to be persuaded otherwise. It has to start happening soon, though. It's hard not to think that the poster who a couple of pages back pointed out "there always seems to be an excuse" has got a point.

[Legion]

They took their chances, we didn't take ours. We were hardly clinical in front of goal. We could have been out of sight at half-time. An end-to-end game which would probably have been very enjoyable and exciting to watch for a neutral. I'd prefer a few ground-out wins at the moment.

[taylorsworkrate]

Southampton have conceded just 3 goals this season - decent teams are built from the back with a solid spine down the middle - we still concede far too many soft goals and miss too many sitters.

That's the most frustrating thing for me. I can understand the likes of Chelsea, Man City, Tottenham and even Everton being much better than us.

However, its when a team like Southampton appears to be light years ahead of us that it really starts to grate.

[saunders_heroes]

I like Lambert and hope and believe he will build something worthwhile at Villa

but I have to say we played one of the few teams today where I would gladly swap managers

Marteniz has turned us down at least once and I think that says everything about the direction Randy Lerner is taking us.
He wants everything on the cheap.

[pauliewalnuts]

I like Lambert and hope and believe he will build something worthwhile at Villa

but I have to say we played one of the few teams today where I would gladly swap managers

Marteniz has turned us down at least once and I think that says everything about the direction Randy Lerner is taking us.
He wants everything on the cheap.

To be fair, Bill Kenwright seems allergic to spending money. I don't think that's got much to do with it, I think it was more about timing.

[andyh]

I'm not sure why all the chances we missed in the first half meant we could have been out of sight. I seem to recall Everton having 3 great chances as well.
If anything, it could have been 3-3 at half time, but It certainly wasn't one way traffic.

[eastie]

I like Lambert and hope and believe he will build something worthwhile at Villa

but I have to say we played one of the few teams today where I would gladly swap managers

Marteniz has turned us down at least once and I think that says everything about the direction Randy Lerner is taking us.
He wants everything on the cheap.

Even though we never actually spoke to him - he may have turned down the chance to speak to us but he was never offered the job.

[pauliewalnuts]

I like Lambert and hope and believe he will build something worthwhile at Villa

but I have to say we played one of the few teams today where I would gladly swap managers

Marteniz has turned us down at least once and I think that says everything about the direction Randy Lerner is taking us.
He wants everything on the cheap.

Even though we never actually spoke to him - he may have turned down the chance to speak to us but he was never offered the job.

He still turned us down.

"Roberto, do you want to talk to us about becoming our manager?"
"No."

He turned us down, didn't want to be considered for the job. The fact he wasn't offered it is neither here nor there.

[saunders_heroes]

I like Lambert and hope and believe he will build something worthwhile at Villa

but I have to say we played one of the few teams today where I would gladly swap managers

Marteniz has turned us down at least once and I think that says everything about the direction Randy Lerner is taking us.
He wants everything on the cheap.

Even though we never actually spoke to him - he may have turned down the chance to speak to us but he was never offered the job.

He still turned us down.

"Roberto, do you want to talk to us about becoming our manager?"
"No."

He turned us down, didn't want to be considered for the job. The fact he wasn't offered it is neither here nor there.

And I'm pretty certain when we sounded him out he asked us what sort of money he'd be working with. Obviously a polite "thanks but no thanks" would be the reply.

[Legion]

[eastie]

If you are manager of wigan and decide not to speak about managing  aston villa then I'm glad he did say no - he may have had a good start at goodison but it won't last once injuries strike - the best 2 players are both loanees  and the squad lacks strength -Martinez was relegated at wigan and is no great shakes in my view as a manager.

[Jimbo]

I think we could have done with getting Barry in over the summer, I know this is with hindsight but we need an old head in the middle to replace Stan Petrov. Of course this goes against PL's policy but he showed his value today and it sounds like he wanted to come back to the Villa. Still think we will be ok.

I think it's more like we just won't pay the wages of players like Barry anymore. Sadly we're looking in the bargain basement these days and our one and only luxury is Benteke.

I think it is pretty hard not to agree with that.

Lambert said in midweek he wanted to pair Lukaku with Benteke, but wages were the issue. Wages weren't the issue for Albion (notoriously tight) or Everton (similarly not flush), though. That makes you wonder.

Ultimately, we are shopping for cheap wages players from selling leagues these days. I am sure we pushed the boat out a bit to keep Benteke, but I do not expect us to suddenly change this policy.

The problem with that is that, unless you are a truly exceptional manager, of the top level, turning cheap, low wage players into a team who can not just survive, but do something in the Premier League is nigh on impossible.

I like the fact that we have been having a go, but there is a very thin line indeed between having a reduced wage bill and cheap signings and setting yourself up as a club which is taking a progressive approach and trying to grow something, and becoming a Wigan (prior to last season) club, bobbing along pointlessly.

Over the last few years, our expectations have been downscaled massively. We used to compete with clubs like Spurs and Everton, both of whom have squads way, way better than ours. We understand why we are in this position, and we have shown that we are willing to buy into the new approach we are taking, but the flip side of that is that we have to show progress, we have to show it is actually going somewhere.

I was underwhelmed by the "more of the same" nature of our signings in the summer, I didn't really see how just chucking more of the same at it was going to work, I wanted us to show a little more ambition. Not by signing 20m players, but by buying in the odd one or two more proven players, players of a slightly elevated quality to show we could push on.

I am certainly not going to start clamouring for the manager to get sacked, but I do look at what we have now, squad wise, and note that none of the summer's signings seem to have improved us much if at all (Okore apart, injury makes it hard to call on him), and several of last season's decent performers seem to have got worse.

I can't see how that is a situation which is going to improve us much, but am willing to be persuaded otherwise. It has to start happening soon, though. It's hard not to think that the poster who a couple of pages back pointed out "there always seems to be an excuse" has got a point.

Good post, Paulie. Ultimately, if we continue to buy Championship standard players and pay them Championship wages then sooner or later we're going to find ourselves in the Championship. We need quality if we're going to compete in the Premier League.

[pauliewalnuts]

And I'm pretty certain when we sounded him out he asked us what sort of money he'd be working with. Obviously a polite "thanks but no thanks" would be the reply.

I doubt it got that far. He certainly wouldn't have been told how much money there would be to spend without interviewing for the job.

Like I said, Everton went years without spending money on a single player, Kenwright is far tighter with his money than Lerner.

Everton appointed him when he'd just got Wigan relegated, but had won the FA Cup for them. If we had approached him for our job a year later than we did, I think the reply would have been different.

[saunders_heroes]

I think we could have done with getting Barry in over the summer, I know this is with hindsight but we need an old head in the middle to replace Stan Petrov. Of course this goes against PL's policy but he showed his value today and it sounds like he wanted to come back to the Villa. Still think we will be ok.

I think it's more like we just won't pay the wages of players like Barry anymore. Sadly we're looking in the bargain basement these days and our one and only luxury is Benteke.

I think it is pretty hard not to agree with that.

Lambert said in midweek he wanted to pair Lukaku with Benteke, but wages were the issue. Wages weren't the issue for Albion (notoriously tight) or Everton (similarly not flush), though. That makes you wonder.

Ultimately, we are shopping for cheap wages players from selling leagues these days. I am sure we pushed the boat out a bit to keep Benteke, but I do not expect us to suddenly change this policy.

The problem with that is that, unless you are a truly exceptional manager, of the top level, turning cheap, low wage players into a team who can not just survive, but do something in the Premier League is nigh on impossible.

I like the fact that we have been having a go, but there is a very thin line indeed between having a reduced wage bill and cheap signings and setting yourself up as a club which is taking a progressive approach and trying to grow something, and becoming a Wigan (prior to last season) club, bobbing along pointlessly.

Over the last few years, our expectations have been downscaled massively. We used to compete with clubs like Spurs and Everton, both of whom have squads way, way better than ours. We understand why we are in this position, and we have shown that we are willing to buy into the new approach we are taking, but the flip side of that is that we have to show progress, we have to show it is actually going somewhere.

I was underwhelmed by the "more of the same" nature of our signings in the summer, I didn't really see how just chucking more of the same at it was going to work, I wanted us to show a little more ambition. Not by signing 20m players, but by buying in the odd one or two more proven players, players of a slightly elevated quality to show we could push on.

I am certainly not going to start clamouring for the manager to get sacked, but I do look at what we have now, squad wise, and note that none of the summer's signings seem to have improved us much if at all (Okore apart, injury makes it hard to call on him), and several of last season's decent performers seem to have got worse.

I can't see how that is a situation which is going to improve us much, but am willing to be persuaded otherwise. It has to start happening soon, though. It's hard not to think that the poster who a couple of pages back pointed out "there always seems to be an excuse" has got a point.

Agree with all of that. The Albion story really depressed me this week. If ever we needed proof of where we're at in the world of football at the moment that was it. I'm no fan of Lambert but his hands are tied behind his back by the ever tight Randy Lerner. I know this might sound OTT, but I curse the day he ever took over the club.

[Legion]

Git