Woody1000

No more than a squad player for me. Always puts in a shift, but lacks quality and composure. Sure he's played out of position, but I don't think for one minute that if he played 38 games up front that he could score 20 goals.

Jack's confidence looked absolutely shot when he came on. We don't know the ins and outs of things, but judging by the occasional Twitter outbursts from him, I think it's been quite a difficult season for him. He's still very young, and hopefully this is all a learning curve for him. I think it's for the best that he go out to the Championship on loan, as it could do more bad than good for him development-wise playing in our run-in when there will be a lot of tight games.

I find the situation difficult in my mind as I feel the man to keep us up may not be the best man moving forward. What I mean is that to stay up this season is going to take a certain degree of 'scrapping', when ideally the new manager is going to be one that implements a style of football that is both attractive, and more importantly successful.

What about Petrov as caretaker until the end of the season?

I hope he gets a job where his hands aren't tied. Of course he's made mistakes that only he is accountable for, but I would like to see him get a fresh start. Good luck for the future Paul, unfortunately this just hasn't worked out.

Remember benteke getting everyone on there feet? I do. He did it a couple of weeks ago. I think its ridiculous the way he is being written off. But that's for a different thread. I wouldn't say he's been written off, but there were people talking about him being world class a couple of months ago. He's not been looking anywhere near that standard for weeks now, and he's in serious danger of being labelled a one-season wonder. On topic, delight with Gil's debut. If he can play anywhere near Saturday's level, then we've got a cracking little player on our hands. For all Lambert's faults, if Randy actually gives him £3m+ for a player then he comes up with the goods. I don't know why more English clubs don't get more players from Spain that play for the smaller La Liga clubs to be quite honest - unless they play for Real or Barca, their salary is relatively low so most english teams could offer to double the player's wages, and still fit it into their wage structure. Plus the fact that Their superior technical ability compared to British players is embarrassing to be quite honest! The irony is that if he was British, he would probably cost 4 times the price. It's laughable!

Come on the Villa!!!!

Double post

Vlaar should have to wait his turn, Clark and Okore have been excellent and neither deserves the drop. Knowing our luck with injuries, I'm sure Ron will get his chance soon enough.

I can see what you're saying, but it's a very difficult adjustment to make when the direction of the ball changes, especially when it's to the side that you've been moving across from. We'll have to agree to disagree. Thanks for replying though mate!

Sorry to pick on you Zatman, but can you explain how it was a bad mistake?

Looking great, so composed on the ball. If I were the club then I would get him to sign an extension quickly, because he will be playing at a top level one day, and we will get top money for him when we do sell. In the mean time, I'm going to enjoy watching the kid develop over the couple of seasons we still have him - he'll make the odd blunder due to his age, but he's athletic and intelligent, and he's a pleasure to watch.

I didn't realise until watching on motd2 that today was the first goal of his time at Villa. For me that completes the comeback for him, and fair play to him for that. I don't think the club exactly covered themselves in glory with their handling of him the last couple of years, but I don't think their treatment of him was disgraceful in any way. To have come back into the side the way he has, and make himself one of the first names on the teamsheet is outstanding, and I can admit hand on heart that I had written him off and I was wrong. Definitely my pots so far!

Fair play to them both, they're becoming more like the Mitchell brothers!

But of a mixed bag from today's cameo for me. Put some lovely corners in, and played a lovely cross for Benteke's header. Thought he played a poor ball for Richardson's chance, and could've maybe done a little bit better for his own chance. Definitely way more positives than negatives today though, and he's improving. That is the main thing for me. I think we will see more of these longer sub appearances for him as the season progresses until he is ready for a start. Lambert clearly rates the lad, or he would have him out on loan again IMO.

I agree. It's like he is now a man playing out there rather than a boy. Of course he's still going to make errors now and then, but he looks so much more composed now and has a nice aggression to his game as showed in the tackle on Ulloa at the end of the first half. I loved the look he gave him afterwards as well!

As a keeper myself, I've got to say I've got sympathy for Guzan on the goal. It is very difficult to anticipate deflections and change your momentum from when a player has struck the ball originally. Of course it's easy to watch the slow-motion replay and think that he could've stopped it dead or put it around the post, but the initial reaction at first is to just stop it beating you. Other than that I thought he played well, came for what he needed to, and was even playing more short balls to feet in the first half.

I understand your point, but this is the situation now with FFP - the owner can't just put his hand in his pocket, the club has to generate the income. FFP is basically there to keep the big boys big, and the rest of us feeding from scraps. There are more than enough sticks to hit Lerner with, but the FFP situation in world football is not one of them IMO.

There was a time that I would've argued this, but this is the position we find ourselves in. I know that it'll always be The Holte to 'us', but it will still be a sad day for me when it goes by another name.

I hope he goes to a club like Liverpool, and flops. It might be wrong, but that's the view I hold for players like him who has probably cost us around £100k per game in wages for all the time that he has been injured whilst at the club. Funny what a couple of England caps do, and for all the hyperbole about him, he's not a patch on what the likes of Barry and Milner were for us. As you can probably tell I'm feeling very angry about this, and don't get me wrong the club deserve a lot of the blame. The writing was on the wall really when we had those contact signings in Sept, and his wasn't one of them. For me this should be a lesson to the club that unless they are at an age that warrants less (30+), players who get down to 2 years left sign a new deal, or are sold.

Oh, I agree it's highly unlikely. I was simply saying that figure would be much too good to turn down.

Even if we get fees for Vlaar and Delph?That's a scenario that I hadn't thought of. I can't see us being offered a fee for either that would make it worth selling them, but you never know. I just can't see us being big movers in January based on previous form. Yeah I'm not saying it's likely, I've seen £8m in connection with the Vlaar move with regards to both Arsenal and United. You'd think, Delph would be worth similar money based on his age and potential but there's unlikely to be a team desperate enough for him not to wait till the summer. Could happen though. I think if we could get £8m for Vlaar in January, then we should take it. With his injury record, that would be a fantastic return for a player with 6 months left. I don't know why (possibly foolish optimism) but I think that Delph might just sign a new deal. Like many others probably, I just feel that Delph 'owes' us for the amount of his Villa career that he has spent injured. That said, modern footballers generally don't give a toss about anything but themselves so that is probably a lost cause. We shall have to wait and see what develops....

The problem with the Benteke situation is the better he plays, the less likely we are to see him in a Villa shirt long-term. I think this is the reason that Gabby will be a Villa player for the rest of his career - if he produced his best on a more consistent basis, he would've been snapped up a long time ago. IMO Benteke's injury problems last season are the main reason he is still a Villa player, and as long as he stays injury-free then this will be his final season in Claret and Blue. Let's just hope he has an absolutely phenomenal season, scores the goals that bump us up the league, and we sell him for a massive fee in the summer.

Even if we get fees for Vlaar and Delph? That's a scenario that I hadn't thought of. I can't see us being offered a fee for either that would make it worth selling them, but you never know. I just can't see us being big movers in January based on previous form.