How would you feel....

[pauliewalnuts]

Do you think PL is frightened of making a "big" signing?

 Sissokho on a free would have been an inspired signing, Ince would be a good long term buy, but expensive now, and Belhanda wanted too much money.But i have to say we would'nt be where we are now, and i wonder if he likes having fledglings to control, is Villa too big a club for him,

 We will see in the next 3/4 weeks, if we don't get two wins in the next two home games, then he needs to show some mettle with RL and insist on being, finally , backed.If not then he's not the manager i thought/hoped he'd be.

We're supposed to be competing with clubs like Newcastle.

Look at their squad, then look at our squad. I totally appreciate the arguments why we've a worse squad than Newcastle, but look at the gap, not just the fact theirs is better, look at by how much it is better.

The absolute worse thing he can do is by more of the same sort of players yet again in January. Do that, and another mediocre finish (or worse) and I really think the entire plan needs looking at again.

[dave.woodhall]

Do you think PL is frightened of making a "big" signing?

 Sissokho on a free would have been an inspired signing, Ince would be a good long term buy, but expensive now, and Belhanda wanted too much money.But i have to say we would'nt be where we are now, and i wonder if he likes having fledglings to control, is Villa too big a club for him,

 We will see in the next 3/4 weeks, if we don't get two wins in the next two home games, then he needs to show some mettle with RL and insist on being, finally , backed.If not then he's not the manager i thought/hoped he'd be.

I don't think he's afraid but he does seem to want to have a point to prove. As Paul e (and maybe someone else, or maybe Paul said it twice) said, his £4 million  + signings are fine, it's the cheap ones that let him down. He can pick up good stuff at Aldi, just keep him out of the 99p shop. 

[PaulWinch again]

Do you think PL is frightened of making a "big" signing?

 Sissokho on a free would have been an inspired signing, Ince would be a good long term buy, but expensive now, and Belhanda wanted too much money.But i have to say we would'nt be where we are now, and i wonder if he likes having fledglings to control, is Villa too big a club for him,

 We will see in the next 3/4 weeks, if we don't get two wins in the next two home games, then he needs to show some mettle with RL and insist on being, finally , backed.If not then he's not the manager i thought/hoped he'd be.

We're supposed to be competing with clubs like Newcastle.

Look at their squad, then look at our squad. I totally appreciate the arguments why we've a worse squad than Newcastle, but look at the gap, not just the fact theirs is better, look at by how much it is better.

The absolute worse thing he can do is by more of the same sort of players yet again in January. Do that, and another mediocre finish (or worse) and I really think the entire plan needs looking at again.

I agree we've filled out the squad, we need quality additions now.

[pauliewalnuts]

Do you think PL is frightened of making a "big" signing?

 Sissokho on a free would have been an inspired signing, Ince would be a good long term buy, but expensive now, and Belhanda wanted too much money.But i have to say we would'nt be where we are now, and i wonder if he likes having fledglings to control, is Villa too big a club for him,

 We will see in the next 3/4 weeks, if we don't get two wins in the next two home games, then he needs to show some mettle with RL and insist on being, finally , backed.If not then he's not the manager i thought/hoped he'd be.

I don't think he's afraid but he does seem to want to have a point to prove. As Paul e (and maybe someone else, or maybe Paul said it twice) said, his £4 million  + signings are fine, it's the cheap ones that let him down. He can pick up good stuff at Aldi, just keep him out of the 99p shop. 

Maybe the problem is that when you buy players from the lower leagues for 1m or so, you ultimately get players who have only played in the lower leagues, and are worth 1m because, well, they're not very good yet.

I keep saying it, but it seems obvious to me - if the buying loads of cheap young players thing was that easy, everyone would be doing it. In fact, when has it ever worked in this league?

[Rudy Can't Fail]

Right now I'd take John Gregory until the end of the season. Somebody that knows the club, would be willing to work with what his got and could give the youngsters a boost of confidence. He'd also have us passing the ball and moving. It would give us time to find a long term replacement, preferably from the continent.

Keeping Lambert now is only delaying the obvious.

Have you been at the Sagres again?  John Gregory?

Ha! I'm assuming it will take the board 3 months to find their man so we'll need a stop gap. Gregory would keep us up. I'm not sure Lambert will.

Dear Lord, Mark, get a grip.

Ha! Well if you can think of a better short term solution that can keep us up until the end of the season and won't cost a fortune, fire away.

[pauliewalnuts]

Right now I'd take John Gregory until the end of the season. Somebody that knows the club, would be willing to work with what his got and could give the youngsters a boost of confidence. He'd also have us passing the ball and moving. It would give us time to find a long term replacement, preferably from the continent.

Keeping Lambert now is only delaying the obvious.

Have you been at the Sagres again?  John Gregory?

Ha! I'm assuming it will take the board 3 months to find their man so we'll need a stop gap. Gregory would keep us up. I'm not sure Lambert will.

Dear Lord, Mark, get a grip.

Ha! Well if you can think of a better short term solution that can keep us up until the end of the season and won't cost a fortune, fire away.

So, you're suggesting that there is no better short term, realistic option to keep us up than a manager currently warming the hot seat at Crawley, after a few years managing in nothing leagues, or sat at home listening to his Springsteen albums?

[Jon Crofts]

Right now I'd take John Gregory until the end of the season. Somebody that knows the club, would be willing to work with what his got and could give the youngsters a boost of confidence. He'd also have us passing the ball and moving. It would give us time to find a long term replacement, preferably from the continent.

Keeping Lambert now is only delaying the obvious.

Have you been at the Sagres again?  John Gregory?

Ha! I'm assuming it will take the board 3 months to find their man so we'll need a stop gap. Gregory would keep us up. I'm not sure Lambert will.

Dear Lord, Mark, get a grip.

Ha! Well if you can think of a better short term solution that can keep us up until the end of the season and won't cost a fortune, fire away.

So, you're suggesting that there is no better short term, realistic option to keep us up than a manager currently warming the hot seat at Crawley, after a few years managing in nothing leagues, or sat at home listening to his Springsteen albums?

he does speak coherent English though, so that's a plus!

[Monty]

he does speak coherent English though, so that's a plus!

Hilarious. Do you write your own material?

[eric woolban woolban]

It's the lack of experience that's the biggest problem.

Barry was ready to come back until lambert gave it the heave ho.

[barrysleftfoot]

 Its not about him though dave, hes got to do the best for AVFC, and not to just enhance his reputation of finding and developing young players,we desperately need better quality and more experience, Westwood/Lowton/Baker/Clark/Bacuna/Sylla/Albrighton/Weimann/Tonev etc, would all be much better being brought in gradually, and with more experienced players around them.

 I have'nt got a problem with any of his signings, but he needs backing now.

[paul_e]

Do you think PL is frightened of making a "big" signing?

 Sissokho on a free would have been an inspired signing, Ince would be a good long term buy, but expensive now, and Belhanda wanted too much money.But i have to say we would'nt be where we are now, and i wonder if he likes having fledglings to control, is Villa too big a club for him,

 We will see in the next 3/4 weeks, if we don't get two wins in the next two home games, then he needs to show some mettle with RL and insist on being, finally , backed.If not then he's not the manager i thought/hoped he'd be.

I don't think he's afraid but he does seem to want to have a point to prove. As Paul e (and maybe someone else, or maybe Paul said it twice) said, his £4 million  + signings are fine, it's the cheap ones that let him down. He can pick up good stuff at Aldi, just keep him out of the 99p shop. 

Maybe the problem is that when you buy players from the lower leagues for 1m or so, you ultimately get players who have only played in the lower leagues, and are worth 1m because, well, they're not very good yet.

I keep saying it, but it seems obvious to me - if the buying loads of cheap young players thing was that easy, everyone would be doing it. In fact, when has it ever worked in this league?

The thing is though, 5-6 more £1m signings would be completely pointless now because we don't need quantity we need quality, this is the first window where that has genuinely been the case since Lambert arrived.  If he sees that himself and changes it so every window sees a couple of high end signings and maybe 1 or 2 gambles then we will improve.  More importantly he really needs to invest in as many good luck charms as he can find and hope that Vlaar and Benteke come back strong and provide us with quality we know they can bring.

[Rudy Can't Fail]

So, you're suggesting that there is no better short term, realistic option to keep us up than a manager currently warming the hot seat at Crawley, after a few years managing in nothing leagues, or sat at home listening to his Springsteen albums?

I'm sure there are plenty out there that could do a far better job than the current manager, the doubt remains as to whether the board can identify a caretaker manager who would be happy with a 6 month contract. Gregory would, that's for certain. Others, I guess you'd have to ask them. I really hope the board tonight are looking at the details of their contingency plan.

[Jon Crofts]

he does speak coherent English though, so that's a plus!

Hilarious. Do you write your own material?

It's called taking the piss, get over it.

[dave.woodhall]

It's the lack of experience that's the biggest problem.

Barry was ready to come back until lambert gave it the heave ho.

Everyone seems to know that but nobody's said it officially.

[Chico Hamilton III]

3 defeats in a row, 2 of them against teams below us. Today was the first of the 4 "winnable games" over Christmas.

What was his excuse for today? What was the fans' reaction at Stoke? He's had the longest honeymoon period of any Villa manager I can remember. He doesn't deserve the fantastic support he's enjoyed from us