Grant Holt - confirmed on loan

[Hillbilly]

This is Lambert admitting he has screwed up.

Oh come off it. How is it?

Young and hungry, young and hungry, young and hungry, young and hungry, young and hungry. Then all of a sudden, out of nowhere, old and clearly very well fed. And not a twilight-of-a-great-career-and-fancies-a-go-somewhere-different, could-be-an-inspiration-to-the-younger-players Zola, Raul, del Piero, Larsson. Grant bloody Holt. Do you see what I'm getting at? This is desperate stuff.

Or, he brought in a specific type of player to cover a specific short-term need which arose through a player breaking his leg in training. A player breaking his leg is surely always 'out-of-nowhere'.

Benteke. Agbonlahor. Weimann. Helenius. Bowery. Delfouneso. Bent. Burke. If Lambert can't find a way to get a functioning forward line out of that mob without signing Holt, what the hell does he do all day?

[SheffieldVillain]

This is Lambert admitting he has screwed up.

Oh come off it. How is it?

Young and hungry, young and hungry, young and hungry, young and hungry, young and hungry. Then all of a sudden, out of nowhere, old and clearly very well fed. And not a twilight-of-a-great-career-and-fancies-a-go-somewhere-different, could-be-an-inspiration-to-the-younger-players Zola, Raul, del Piero, Larsson. Grant bloody Holt. Do you see what I'm getting at? This is desperate stuff.

Or, he brought in a specific type of player to cover a specific short-term need which arose through a player breaking his leg in training. A player breaking his leg is surely always 'out-of-nowhere'.

Benteke. Agbonlahor. Weimann. Helenius. Bowery. Delfouneso. Bent. Burke. If Lambert can't find a way to get a functioning forward line out of that mob without signing Holt, what the hell does he do all day?

Bent, Burke and Delfouneso are on loan. That would leave us with Benteke, Agbonlahor and Weimann as experienced strikers, Helenius and Bowery with very little experience. Should Benteke then get crippled, people would rightly be asking why we didn't have any experienced cover.

Now, I'm not saying that Holt is a great signing, anything but. However, assuming that the budget whatever it is will be earmarked for other positions, if you're narrowing down the choice to a cheap short-term 6 month deal for an experienced player with top flight experience, there really weren't a lot of candidates. To have signed nobody or to have signed yet another young and promising striker would have been daft.  So basically, no, it wasn't Lambert 'admitting he was wrong' but the circumstances in this situation dictating the type of signing.

[Hillbilly]

This is Lambert admitting he has screwed up.

Oh come off it. How is it?

Young and hungry, young and hungry, young and hungry, young and hungry, young and hungry. Then all of a sudden, out of nowhere, old and clearly very well fed. And not a twilight-of-a-great-career-and-fancies-a-go-somewhere-different, could-be-an-inspiration-to-the-younger-players Zola, Raul, del Piero, Larsson. Grant bloody Holt. Do you see what I'm getting at? This is desperate stuff.

Or, he brought in a specific type of player to cover a specific short-term need which arose through a player breaking his leg in training. A player breaking his leg is surely always 'out-of-nowhere'.

Benteke. Agbonlahor. Weimann. Helenius. Bowery. Delfouneso. Bent. Burke. If Lambert can't find a way to get a functioning forward line out of that mob without signing Holt, what the hell does he do all day?

Bent, Burke and Delfouneso are on loan, as you well know. That would leave us with Benteke, Agbonlahor and Weimann as experienced strikers, Helenius and Bowery with very little experience. Should Benteke then get crippled, people would rightly be asking why we didn't have any cover.

One would hope Bent, Burke and Delfouneso would have recall terms but this is the Villa so probably not.

It's not beyond the wit of a half-decent manager to construct a team with two or even one striker so there's three bites of the cherry with Benteke, Agbonlahor and Weimann. I don't buy the "Helenius is not ready" thing - top player in the Danish league and capped by Denmark. Bowery I'll give you.

Even if it is about an emergency forward (and I don't think it is), there have got to be better options than Holt.

[SheffieldVillain]

One would hope Bent, Burke and Delfouneso would have recall terms but this is the Villa so probably not.

It's not beyond the wit of a half-decent manager to construct a team with two or even one striker so there's three bites of the cherry with Benteke, Agbonlahor and Weimann. I don't buy the "Helenius is not ready" thing - top player in the Danish league and capped by Denmark. Bowery I'll give you.

Even if it is about an emergency forward (and I don't think it is), there have got to be better options than Holt.

If a fee has been paid for a loan I don't think they can be recalled, so you can forget Bent for a start. If you're seriously suggesting Burke or Delfouneso as decent options for the rest of this season, you must have seen something in them no-one else has.

You're missing the point. Yes, an attack could be constructed with Benteke, Agbonlahor and Weimann. And very easily next week Benteke could take a boot in the knee and miss the next two months.

Frankly the idea that it isn't about an emergency forward and Holt has been brought in as part of a long term plan is just plain daft. For a start, if that was the case, why not buy him outright rather than on loan?

[Hillbilly]

One would hope Bent, Burke and Delfouneso would have recall terms but this is the Villa so probably not.

It's not beyond the wit of a half-decent manager to construct a team with two or even one striker so there's three bites of the cherry with Benteke, Agbonlahor and Weimann. I don't buy the "Helenius is not ready" thing - top player in the Danish league and capped by Denmark. Bowery I'll give you.

Even if it is about an emergency forward (and I don't think it is), there have got to be better options than Holt.

If a fee has been paid for a loan I don't think they can be recalled, so you can forget Bent for a start. If you're seriously suggesting Burke or Delfouneso as decent options for the rest of this season, you must have seen something in them no-one else has.

You're missing the point. Yes, an attack could be constructed with Benteke, Agbonlahor and Weimann. And very easily next week Benteke could take a boot in the knee and miss the next two months.

Frankly the idea that it isn't about an emergency forward and Holt has been brought in as part of a long term plan is just plain daft. For a start, if that was the case, why not buy him outright rather than on loan?

What I'm saying is that he's not an emergency forward because there's no forward emergency. Or at least there wouldn't be if Lambert had a clue. And it's becoming apparent that he doesn't and the signing of Holt seems to confirm this. We have three decent forwards and a couple of spares and none of them are scoring despite showing previously that they are perfectly capable of doing so at this level. It's like seeing a Reliant Robin next to a Ferrari and concluding that the Robin will go faster if you strap on an extra wheel. The problem is not the number of wheels, it's the engine and the transmission.

[SheffieldVillain]

One would hope Bent, Burke and Delfouneso would have recall terms but this is the Villa so probably not.

It's not beyond the wit of a half-decent manager to construct a team with two or even one striker so there's three bites of the cherry with Benteke, Agbonlahor and Weimann. I don't buy the "Helenius is not ready" thing - top player in the Danish league and capped by Denmark. Bowery I'll give you.

Even if it is about an emergency forward (and I don't think it is), there have got to be better options than Holt.

If a fee has been paid for a loan I don't think they can be recalled, so you can forget Bent for a start. If you're seriously suggesting Burke or Delfouneso as decent options for the rest of this season, you must have seen something in them no-one else has.

You're missing the point. Yes, an attack could be constructed with Benteke, Agbonlahor and Weimann. And very easily next week Benteke could take a boot in the knee and miss the next two months.

Frankly the idea that it isn't about an emergency forward and Holt has been brought in as part of a long term plan is just plain daft. For a start, if that was the case, why not buy him outright rather than on loan?

What I'm saying is that he's not an emergency forward because there's no forward emergency. Or at least there wouldn't be if Lambert had a clue. And it's becoming apparent that he doesn't and the signing of Holt seems to confirm this. We have three decent forwards and a couple of spares and none of them are scoring despite showing previously that they are perfectly capable of doing so at this level. It's like seeing a Reliant Robin next to a Ferrari and concluding that the Robin will go faster if you strap on an extra wheel. The problem is not the number of wheels, it's the engine and the transmission.

The word 'emergency' is overly emotive really. Kozak, our reserve central striker is injured. That has nothing to do with Lambert having a clue or not. I'm sure you wouldn't say that Gabby or Weimann are the same kind of striker? Holt is just an option. Nothing more, nothing less.

He may not even figure above one or two sub appearances. It really doesn't matter. But if we suddenly pick up one or two knocks and are down to Weimann, Bowery and Helenius to lead the line, then at least we have an option there. A fairly crap option maybe, but an option all the same.

It's not about strapping on an extra wheel, to use your analogy but rather having a spare tyre in the boot in case of a breakdown. Because a car with one wheel missing is going nowhere.

[willywombat]

Well said Sheff, my feelings exactly

[brontebilly]

if we needed a forward, we would have been better off bringing in one that could play wide in a 433 or else one that can drop off the front man.

Benteke and Gabby can play the one down the middle role. Tonev and Weimann have been woeful thus far so bringing in an upgrade on them might have been a decent option.

However Lambert thought it best to bring in a lumbering oaf instead and blow wages that could have been used in improving our midfield.

[Hookeysmith]

Bent, Burke and Delfouneso are on loan

And lets face it - they are never going to be good enough for the first team

its odd that PL was actually a midfielder but he hasnt got a clue when it comes to midfield at villa

Nearly every team can say that - there are loads of managers who struggle to find a great player in the position they became famous for

[aj2k77]

How come we need experienced back up now Paul is it because you've realised your transfer policy has been poor and every team needs its chiefs?

[Richard E]

How come we need experienced back up now Paul is it because you've realised your transfer policy has been poor and every team needs its chiefs?

But isn't he damned if he does and damned if he doesn't on that basis? If he didn't try and bring in more experience people on here would be criticising him for stubborness and inflexibility.

[Ads]

The way I see it, it's a poor signing, I can't see what the bloke sees in him, he's clearly past it, and is brought in to fill a position we don't really need to fill. I appreciate he's going to be "a proper man" behind the scenes and what not, but I'm not too sure if that justifies the fact we'll be paying his wages.

That "proper man" stuff is really annoying. It's painfully close to John Terry and the "man-up" school. I know it's just a turn of phrase and I'm not going to go all Andrea Dworkin here, but this old-school blokiness (and the old-school Britisher football associated) is a bit irking.

Why?

Maybe he is just tired of our kids being a bunch of fannys, when everybody else is bullying, chirping in the ref's ear, moaning like mad, while nudging, backing in and elbowing their way to free kicks.

[Jimbo]

Maybe he isn't articulate enough to say: experienced, wily player with a robust and infectious personality.

[Damo70]

The way I see it, it's a poor signing, I can't see what the bloke sees in him, he's clearly past it, and is brought in to fill a position we don't really need to fill. I appreciate he's going to be "a proper man" behind the scenes and what not, but I'm not too sure if that justifies the fact we'll be paying his wages.

That "proper man" stuff is really annoying. It's painfully close to John Terry and the "man-up" school. I know it's just a turn of phrase and I'm not going to go all Andrea Dworkin here, but this old-school blokiness (and the old-school Britisher football associated) is a bit irking.

Why?

Maybe he is just tired of our kids being a bunch of fannys, when everybody else is bullying, chirping in the ref's ear, moaning like mad, while nudging, backing in and elbowing their way to free kicks.

You have just reminded me how much he wound me up when he played at Villa Park last year. I think I called him every swear word I know and possibly even made up a couple of new ones just for him. So credit where it is due if he can wind up our opponents as much as he did me.

[Ads]

There is no needle in our side or squad whatsoever. Look at Monday's game. Arsenal spent more time rolling around and moaning to the referee than they did anything else.