Albrighton Going to Leicester

[brian green]

I admire your optimism Ads but I do not share it.   The club is about as fucked up as it can be, in my personal opinion.

[Matt Collins]

That's the spirit

And a lot of sense in there too

But the flip side is:
- this will be fifth year in a row of struggle. We can't keep getting away with it. Nobody else has for that long
- the mood is awful and the vibe is utterly shambolic
- we'd have been down with absolutely no question in both of the last two years without benteke and he's out till after Xmas
- our best hope is to be resolute defensively but lambert's track record on that is poor
- teams that end the season in poor form often start the next season in the same way

It's not impossible or certain. But its hard to argue we're on an upward trajectory and there isn't much more room to fall without dropping

We could do with a couple of teams being absolute no hopers next year. But burnley aside I can't see anyone else being down by January

Two good loan signings are an absolute must.

[Legion]

We could do with a couple of teams being absolute no hopers next year. But burnley aside I can't see anyone else being down by January
 

Us, perhaps?

[Ads]

I don't really think it matters what happened the season before or the season before that. Each game is unique and twists on its own circumstances. Liverpool went from 7th to 2nd, Man United, 1st to 7th, the Albion from mid-table to 17th. What is a concern is how much quality you can consistently put on the pitch. Come the end of last season, you were scratching your head to find more than three or four decent players.

If you assume we will struggle, then we have Okore, Kozak, Benteke, N'Zogbia, Bent etc returning to our squad. The likes of Leicester and Burnley will try and sign players to improve, but if they're of the level of Albrighton supplying David Nugent, then forgive me if I am not too concerned in May.

I think the side and bench that walks out on the 16th August will be significantly stronger than the one that departed White Hart Lane.

[Monty]

Bent will never play for us again. And frankly I don't want him to - he wasn't much of an asset in Fulham's struggle against relegation.

Edit: apparently the news this morning is that he might play for us again. Fab. Christ knows we've got enough movement in the side - what we really need is more stasis.

[Boz]

Lambert might have discovered the odd diamond in Benteke, Vlaar and Okore, but consider these against Tonev, Helenius, Luna and Sylla who are available for transfer and you have to wonder about how good Lambert's ability to spot a player is?

Given the injury problems with Benteke and Kozak, why would he let Helenius go at this time, unless he's turned out to be not Premiership material, but then neither are several others who he's keeping.

I think Lambert's managerial ability has been found wanting at B6 and I wouldn't be surprised that at another club with better coaches and manager, some of Lambert's bargain buys might well turn out to be what he saw in them, but he and his assistants weren't good enough to bring them on.

[Monty]

Lambert might have discovered the odd diamond in Benteke, Vlaar and Okore, but consider these against Tonev, Helenius, Luna and Sylla who are available for transfer and you have to wonder about how good Lambert's ability to spot a player is?

The main thing there is the difference in transfer fees. When Lambert spent a bit more the players have always been good (I'd add Kozak to that list), and I think that a couple of his bargains - Westwood, Lowton, Bacuna - have delivered far more than could be expected for the fees.

I agree entirely with the last paragraph of your post, though: Lambert may be good at signing players, but he's rubbish at using them.

[not3bad]

Maybe it's a cunning ruse.

There's nothing cunning about the Villa under Randy Lerner though. There are no cunning stunts.

[mattjpa]

I don't think Albrighton has developed enough over the past few years to earn a 'bumper new deal.'   

But for the sake of a not leaving a significant gap in an already light squad, it might have been worth splitting the difference and offering him £25-28K. Then offering an increase on that if he can hold onto a regular first team place.  He might still have opted for Leicester, and if he had, good luck to him.

But it does seem a bit off that we are letting a homegrown player, and a player with decent ability and work ethic go for nowt.

How do you know this didn't happen? From Albrighton's perspective, he is not only being offered circa £10k more than the figure you suggest, he is also being offered a regular first team place I imagine, something he will be keen to have at this stage of his career.

It would have been good to get money for him, Bent & Hutton a year ago, but no-one wanted more than a loan. It is a shame that out of these 3, he is the one without any time left on his contract.

Still, with Benteke & Kozak both injured, I can maybe see the sense in giving Bent a go. I wonder if that level playing field also applies to Helenius?

I would say the fact that the fact we have mentioned nothing about it screams out that we are happy to let him go. We look like fucking amateurs at the moment so why keep schtum to save the dignity of a well paid footballer. They could have easily included a line like "Despite our best efforts to keep Marc at the club, in the current situation we could not match the offers he has had from elsewhere so he has decided to seek a fresh challenge elsewhere. He goes with our best wishes"

But no, they release a slow slurry of basically drivel which, again, tells us fuck all about what has actually gone on

[not3bad]

I would say the fact that the fact we have mentioned nothing about it screams out that we are happy to let him go. We look like fucking amateurs at the moment so why keep schtum to save the dignity of a well paid footballer. They could have easily included a line like "Despite our best efforts to keep Marc at the club, in the current situation we could not match the offers he has had from elsewhere so he has decided to seek a fresh challenge elsewhere. He goes with our best wishes"

But no, they release a slow slurry of basically drivel which, again, tells us fuck all about what has actually gone on

Well put.

[brian green]

Again I admire your positivity Ads, I really do but the reason I cannot buy into the concept that it will be alright on the night is that I see the central issue of funding being constantly fudged by belief that players who have form for underperforming and players who have suffered serious injury can pull us back from the brink where we now seem to be permanently located.  We must have serious and substantial investment in new players of quality.   To me it stares us in the face so when I see hats thrown in the air because the release of Marc and Fonz is going to save us £40K a week I think  so how much is Lescott going to cost us? or Barry or anybody of the quality we so transparently lack.  The whole posture to me is still what was described in these threads as not so much a plan, more an experiment in survival in the Premiership on the cheap.   Sorry, that is the way I see it.

[not3bad]

It wasn't always like this. The way the club communicated the sale of Downing was class. Of course in that case less was more.

[levico]

Again I admire your positivity Ads, I really do but the reason I cannot buy into the concept that it will be alright on the night is that I see the central issue of funding being constantly fudged by belief that players who have form for underperforming and players who have suffered serious injury can pull us back from the brink where we now seem to be permanently located.  We must have serious and substantial investment in new players of quality.   To me it stares us in the face so when I see hats thrown in the air because the release of Marc and Fonz is going to save us £40K a week I think  so how much is Lescott going to cost us? or Barry or anybody of the quality we so transparently lack.  The whole posture to me is still what was described in these threads as not so much a plan, more an experiment in survival in the Premiership on the cheap.   Sorry, that is the way I see it.

In truth I think that's the way a lot of us see it.

[David_Nab]

Albrighton and Delfounso walk away for free to add to the likes of Cuallar / NRC / Dunne / Ireland / Beye /Sidwell

We now have a situation where Bent ,Hutton , Delph , Vlaar and Gabby can also walk away for nothing in a year.

Is it any wonder we have no money , take out Milner / Downing /Young and we are appalling at managing the clubs assets.Who ever takes us over ,whilst a 20bil fortune might be nice the most important thing we need is people who actually know what the hell they are doing.

 

[JUAN PABLO]

I think it's good news that the likes of Bent, N'Zogbia, Hutton etc are coming back into the fold.

For better or worse, we're paying these players a lot of money in wages and I think Bent offers more than Bowery and makes the squad stronger as a result. I don't think Hutton is very good, but if it means we are able to play Bacuna in his right position, then fair enough. He can't do any worse than Lowton.

N'Zogbia is a plus. He is very in and out, but he does have undeniable quality. With Kozak and Okore to come back we seem stronger than what finished the season.

Maybe you should have told this Lambert a year ago

what a poor manager PL has become and the rest of the club ( PF and RL ) letting this carry on for so long .