Charles N'zogbia update

[Clampy]

I would say that Albrightons contract is nowhere near Gabby's current contract, and even if Gabby takes a cut, will still be more than Albrighton.

I'd say Albrighton is on more than you would expect for a player of his age and experience though, which is why I feel Lambert has a problem with playing him, and only has done when he has few options. Just ask yourself why he was sent on loan to Wigan this season, when he was fit enough and comfortably good enough to play in the first team, as he has shown in the few games he's played recently.

He was sent to Wigan to get some game time after an injury. If he didn't want him here, he would have let Wigan keep him until the end of the season. You keep saying Lambert has a problem playing him but he is playing him. He's made 15 appearances under him this season. He started up at Old Trafford when we didn't have any injuries.

[Somniloquism]

And both Bannan and Bent have since shown that they can't do it at teams below us (how many starts has Bannan had under Pulis?)

As someone with Palace family, I can assure you they all loved Bannan. In fact when he was the best player on the pitch against us on Boxing Day they all said after the game 'that was Bannan on a 6 performance, you should've seen him last week'

I wouldn't read too much into Pulis not playing him because it's quite obvious Pulis doesn't like small technical players in his side. He sent Williams one of their other best prospects on loan to Ipswich for a similar reason (and much to their annoyance)

I don't doubt that he has played well as you knew he could and we did say that Pulis was going to be the end of his career there. But I do remember plenty of "Not good enough", "hope he never plays again" type posts after most of his matches for us. I expect the main issue is he need lots of similar passing players around him (think Steven Davis at Southampton) or he needs more playing experience at a decent club at lower levels like Championship or Scottish league (think Steven Davis at Rangers).

[Somniloquism]

How can a manager be reluctant to play a player, that F...ing Aston Villa are paying his wages, I dont care if he is on two pounds a week or 50k, we as a club employ footballers to play football, or at least thats what I thought we did.

Bent, NZogbia, Hutton.. and that's not even counting all the others over the past two years. Ireland, Given...even Lowton at times this year.

How can we justify the miss-management of so many resources? Our league position certainly doesn't...

Yes, lets play those players, they would certainly improve our league position. We already have full backs who give away freekicks in dangerous areas, but we need one who is a sending off waiting to happen. Lets get in a keeper who is past it.
Lets get in a midfielder who had plenty of chances last year, who was not signed by any manager and bombed out of the first team by FOUR other managers before he went to Stoke. Lets play another Striker who isn't scoring but one that doesn't even try up front if the ball doesn't come correctly.

[JUAN PABLO]

Expect Martinez to buy him and he will have a cracking season

I still think Lambert did not want Marc Albrighton here neither , he has had to suck egg a bit because he looks better recently than most of his signings. 

It's Albrightons wages. The only reason he hasn't been playing. He is on one of the old regime on a relatively large contract. Lambert is squeezing him out of the club.

You can't say that really when he's started the last two games and been generally been involved since he came back from Wigan.

He has had to play him , Albrighton has worked hard and tried to make something happen , we can argue If he is a quality prem player but we all love to see a player work hard like he has , while most of the rest have been crap .   If Lambert starts to drop him now , and keeps playing Weimann for example ,  the 10% pro Lambert lot will start to turn too.

 He was our best player by far ( cant remember which game , came on as sub I think ) a few games ago and was dropped again next game , crazy decision by Lambert again.

My gut feeling is , Lambert did not want him . He wanted his own men , the problem is , they have not been as good as Albrighton.

[pooligan]

I agree with you JP ,Lambert just does not seem to like Albrighton for some reason. Like you, i remember a few games back ,the lad coming on and playing well enough to be voted man of the match .Next match,the clueless one left him out. Even when he has played ,more often than not ,he has been taken off. How he was taken off and wiemann left on against Fulham,only Lambert knows

[Walmley_Villa]

A decent manager should be able to work and motivate pretty much any player. We can't afford for him to bring a bunch of 'yes' men in. I loved watching Everton yesterday, you can see that they have bought into the philosophy and players such as Naismith are transformed as he has a manager who believes in him and is keeping him in the team on merit. I don't see Lambert rewarding good performances.

[silhillvilla]

Just catching up on this new

what a joke of a club we have become

[Toronto Villa]

Just catching up on this new

what a joke of a club we have become

no we are not. We are in a poor position on the pitch but that doesn't make us a joke of a club. Outside of our fans nobody really cares about our internal troubles, so if you think others are laughing at us they're not. They don't care. And if you say our local neighbours are laughing, they should look in the mirror.

[silhillvilla]

See TV I see it very different . Plenty of people including journos see us as a basket case .

[Isa]

I would say he has failed a drug test and that's the reason for lack of involvement.

According to Kendrick and others,  he and Lambert had a falling out during the last end-of-season awards dinner. Let's not forget that he was stripped of his shirt-number even before the injury.

Funny that as the injury was in June and no squad numbers were issued until August.

Err..they were revealed in June actually.

[ciggiesnbeer]

How can a manager be reluctant to play a player, that F...ing Aston Villa are paying his wages, I dont care if he is on two pounds a week or 50k, we as a club employ footballers to play football, or at least thats what I thought we did.

Bent, NZogbia, Hutton.. and that's not even counting all the others over the past two years. Ireland, Given...even Lowton at times this year.

How can we justify the miss-management of so many resources? Our league position certainly doesn't...

Yes, lets play those players, they would certainly improve our league position. We already have full backs who give away freekicks in dangerous areas, but we need one who is a sending off waiting to happen. Lets get in a keeper who is past it.
Lets get in a midfielder who had plenty of chances last year, who was not signed by any manager and bombed out of the first team by FOUR other managers before he went to Stoke. Lets play another Striker who isn't scoring but one that doesn't even try up front if the ball doesn't come correctly.

Ouch. The truth hurts. I am slightly more depressed now.

[Somniloquism]

I would say he has failed a drug test and that's the reason for lack of involvement.

According to Kendrick and others,  he and Lambert had a falling out during the last end-of-season awards dinner. Let's not forget that he was stripped of his shirt-number even before the injury.

Funny that as the injury was in June and no squad numbers were issued until August.

Err..they were revealed in June actually.

So squad numbers are always revealed at the start of pre season before anyone is signed. I never knew that. And why did we announce ours in June when every other team waited to July and August. Faulkner obviously knows nothing about football.

[dave.woodhall]

I would say he has failed a drug test and that's the reason for lack of involvement.

According to Kendrick and others,  he and Lambert had a falling out during the last end-of-season awards dinner. Let's not forget that he was stripped of his shirt-number even before the injury.

Funny that as the injury was in June and no squad numbers were issued until August.

Err..they were revealed in June actually.

So squad numbers are always revealed at the start of pre season before anyone is signed. I never knew that. And why did we announce ours in June when every other team waited to July and August. Faulkner obviously knows nothing about football.

http://www.birminghammail.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/aston-villa-squad-numbers-revealed-5316171

Split the difference and call it July 24th.

[Isa]

You'd think anybody without the memory of a goldfish would've remembered this anyway. The news about N'Zogbia being stripped of the No. 10 shirt came way earlier than August.

[dave.woodhall]

You'd think anybody without the memory of a goldfish would've remembered this anyway. The news about N'Zogbia being stripped of the No. 10 shirt came way earlier than August.

A week earlier by the looks of it.