Aston Villa Sack Manager Ads

[Monty]

Disagree Hoyle87. It's not just that his style has that glass ceiling, it's that we've had enough of this particular limited footballing style. Swansea and Southampton have managed to combine progress with a footballing identity - some would say because of it - through many divisions. Moyes' record looks good over 11 years, but how many of the last few years could actually have been better for Everton if someone more like Martinez had been in charge? It could be that Moyes actually limited them for the last few years, and who's to say in the next few years that this limiting will trickle down the league from the top six to the whole division?

It's all well and good to build foundations, but if you're building them out of mud and everyone around you is building on concrete then the foundations are themselves inadequate and restricting - look at Newcastle, who have lots of players capable of playing good stuff, especially when Cabaye was there, but are clearly constrained by Pardew's near-moronic football thinking.

I'm fed up of managers content to make us 'hard to beat' (and harder to watch), to make us 'compact' and 'well-organised', where 'all the players know their jobs' and all of those other patronising euphemisms. I'm fed up with the long ball being considered a legitimate attacking tactic, with all our attacking coming from 'pace on the wings' rather than quality through the middle. I'm fed up with players moving about as freely as if their boots were stitched into the turf, of last-minute goals conceded after 89 minutes of unsuccessful bludgeoning against a simple defensive opposition, of losing the ball from throw-ins, of dreading the weekend arriving for fear of what garbage might be hurled our way this time. If sodding Southampton can do it, then so too can we.

Amen to that, Monty.

This is one of the best posts I've seen on here in a while. Absolutely bang on.

Yes, although i do like to see a winger bombing forward and crossing balls into the box too

Me too, but it only tends to work if you've made space on the overlap and can actually get to the byline to put a ball between keeper and defenders (who are hopefully running towards their own goal by this stage). If all you do is bunt it around and then cross it from the angle then the opposition can just set up to head it away, like that Fulham amateur earlier this season said.

[sirlordbaltimore]

Am i the only one that thinks Bertrand has been bang average ?

I wouldn't be offering more than 3/4m tops for him thats for sure

[curiousorange]

Am i the only one that thinks Bertrand has been bang average ?

I wouldn't be offering more than 3/4m tops for him thats for sure

I quite agree with this. When I first saw him I thought he was vastly superior to Bennett, but as time's passed he's not been nearly as impressive. I partly put that down to joining a failing side though. I'd be disappointed if we paid over the odds for him.

[glasses]

Am i the only one that thinks Bertrand has been bang average ?

I wouldn't be offering more than 3/4m tops for him thats for sure

Not at all on your own in that regard.

He's not a 7m left back that's for sure, although he possibly isn't helped out by the others around him

[glasses]

Suspicious Satsuma beat me to it

[edgysatsuma89]

Is there another satsuma about? We must duel!

[citizenDJ]

I'd say £5 or 6 million for Bertrand would be a decent enough deal. He's a good player, with good experience for his age and is easily good enough for a team such as ours at the moment, and I suspect he'd do a good job at better teams, too - after all, he performed well enough for Chelsea!

[glasses]

Is there another satsuma about? We must duel!

Don't be a confrontational citrus, now

[Clampy]

We haven't looked so weak down the left hand side since Bertrand has come in but I do think there's a lot more to come. He does tend to make decent runs down the left as well.

[saunders_heroes]

Am i the only one that thinks Bertrand has been bang average ?

I wouldn't be offering more than 3/4m tops for him thats for sure

Agreed. He started off pretty well bit since the first 2 or 3 games he's looked decidedly average. I certainly don't want to make his move permanent. 

[ROBBO]

If Lerner is still there Bertrand won't be, he is paid far more by Chelsea than what we pay these days.
Lambert has said he wasn't able to get experienced players in because of the wages they wanted and thats the problem, Lerner has gone from paying wages way over the odds to paying in premiership terms peanuts. Thats why the suggestion that Moyes could come in had me laughing why would he come here when the structure is so restrictive?

[mr underhill]

I don't think anyone was/is seriously suggesting he would come now, but certainly in 2011 or 2012 I'd have welcomed him with open arms. Not that I think he'd have come even then.

[bobdylan]

Currently I'd have more confidence in Bennett at left back than i do in Bacuna or Lowton at right back, so I'd prioritise a new right back over a new left back.

[curiousorange]

Is there another satsuma about? We must duel!

I say we let bygones be bygones and both retire on deuce.

[sirlordbaltimore]

after all, he performed well enough for Chelsea!

How often ? He barely started games for them from memory