Aston Villa v Everton Post-Match Thread

[pauliewalnuts]

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.

Who are their best two players? Lukaku and Barry do you mean? Barry is a loanee in the final year of his Man City deal.

it isn't about who their best players are, it is about their squad. It has decent players throughout - the likes of Baines, Jagielka, Distin (even), Mirallas, Osman.

Their squad is way, way better than ours. How many players of ours do you think they'd want in their squad? Benteke? Then who?

[saunders_heroes]

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.

We'll have to agree to disagree on that one then because I'm convinced Villa are still a big draw for ambitious managers, but ambitious managers need realistic budgets. Something Randy Lerner is simply not providing these days.

[eastie]

I am loathe to put the blame on randy - he has put the money on the table - if we are blaming people then lambert must take far more blame - he decides on the players he wants , Kozak was not the priority and that £7m would have been far better off spent elsewhere.

Saunders , how much money has pal lambert spent in his 18 months at villa - certainly far more than a lot of clubs who are above us - randy has backed him - lambert has spent badly in some cases.

[pauliewalnuts]

But didn't Lambert suit the definition "ambitious manager" perfectly?

So how do you explain the fact he came?

[pauliewalnuts]

I am loathe to put the blame on randy - he has put the money on the table - if we are blaming people then lambert must take far more blame - he decides on the players he wants , Kozak was not the priority and that £7m would have been far better off spent elsewhere.

Within the wages framework we have....

[saunders_heroes]

I am loathe to put the blame on randy - he has put the money on the table - if we are blaming people then lambert must take far more blame - he decides on the players he wants , Kozak was not the priority and that £7m would have been far better off spent elsewhere.

He decides on the players he wants with the budget he's provided with though
You're right about the £7m though. Just baffling.

[eastie]

I am loathe to put the blame on randy - he has put the money on the table - if we are blaming people then lambert must take far more blame - he decides on the players he wants , Kozak was not the priority and that £7m would have been far better off spent elsewhere.

Within the wages framework we have....

The wages framework that has seen several players get big new contracts this summer - randy i believe is prepared to pay the wages for the right player as he has proved with benteke .
I believe lambert doesn't want experienced players - maybe he thinks they will question his authority or whatever but he is the one who is not interested in bringing in experience - not randy.

[saunders_heroes]

But didn't Lambert suit the definition "ambitious manager" perfectly?

So how do you explain the fact he came?

Is he all that though? One season in the Prem doesn't prove he's that good. Prem league history is littered with one season wonders, and perhaps he thought he'd never get another chance at a club as big as Villa again?
It's all guesswork though.

[eastie]

I believe lambert should certainly be given more time but I get angry when people talk about randy not backing him - he has spent plenty in the 18 months he has been here and the team hasn't really improved much .

[saunders_heroes]

I am loathe to put the blame on randy - he has put the money on the table - if we are blaming people then lambert must take far more blame - he decides on the players he wants , Kozak was not the priority and that £7m would have been far better off spent elsewhere.

Within the wages framework we have....

The wages framework that has seen several players get big new contracts this summer - randy i believe is prepared to pay the wages for the right player as he has proved with benteke .
I believe lambert doesn't want experienced players - maybe he thinks they will question his authority or whatever but he is the one who is not interested in bringing in experience - not randy.

What big new contracts? I'd say only Benteke is on big money, the rest on a relative pittance.

[saunders_heroes]

I believe lambert should certainly be given more time but I get angry when people talk about randy not backing him - he has spent plenty in the 18 months he has been here and the team hasn't really improved much .

In relative terms he spent absolute peanuts on fees, and more importantly - wages.

[eastie]

But didn't Lambert suit the definition "ambitious manager" perfectly?

So how do you explain the fact he came?

Is he all that though? One season in the Prem doesn't prove he's that good. Prem league history is littered with one season wonders, and perhaps he thought he'd never get another chance at a club as big as Villa again?
It's all guesswork though.

Well he got Norwich into which into midtable in that season which is more than Martinez ever did and yet you rate him so highly.

[VillaAlways]

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.

We'll have to agree to disagree on that one then because I'm convinced Villa are still a big draw for ambitious managers, but ambitious managers need realistic budgets. Something Randy Lerner is simply not providing these days.

It's well documented that Lambert stated that there was more money available than he had actually spent.It's Lamberts belief that he can build a team with young, hungry  players and not experienced ones it's the only way he knows, and no amount of Lerner bashing is going to change that I'm afraid. It's my belief that this is mostly Lamberts philosophy which Lerner is backing rightly or wrongly

[pauliewalnuts]

I am loathe to put the blame on randy - he has put the money on the table - if we are blaming people then lambert must take far more blame - he decides on the players he wants , Kozak was not the priority and that £7m would have been far better off spent elsewhere.

Within the wages framework we have....

The wages framework that has seen several players get big new contracts this summer

No, though. They got improved contracts. If you're Ashley Westwood coming from Crewe, or Weimann from the youth team, or Lowton from Sheffield United, it doesn't take much in wages to get you here in the first place, and there is lots of room to improve your contract without being on a "big" one.

[eastie]

I believe lambert should certainly be given more time but I get angry when people talk about randy not backing him - he has spent plenty in the 18 months he has been here and the team hasn't really improved much .

In relative terms he spent absolute peanuts on fees, and more importantly - wages.

I would say he's spent close on £40m in his 18months here - how much have swansea spent?
I think its wrong for Lerner to carry the can when the manager has bought poorly at times , lerner has backed him .