CI Posted December 28, 2012 Share Posted December 28, 2012 I've just worked out I've been to 11 villa PL games this season in which we've scored 8 and conceded 22. Best performance was swansea by a country mile. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Morley_crosses_to_Withe Posted December 28, 2012 Share Posted December 28, 2012 Hilarious Why use statistics when you can just spout emotive, unsubstantiated rubbish This doesn't even make sense?! How is saying that McLeish's final 19 games and Lambert's first 19 games have happened across two separate periods punctuated by a summer/pre season!? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The_Lions_Roar Posted December 28, 2012 Share Posted December 28, 2012 This is the team that was fielded in our 19th game last season: Bradley Guzan, Carlos Cuellar, James Collins, Richard Dunne, Stephen Warnock, Marc Albrighton, Stiliyan Petrov, Ciaran Clark, Charles N'Zogbia, Stephen Ireland, Gabriel Agbonlahor And this is the team that was fielded in our 19th game this season: Bradley Guzan, Matthew Lowton, Chris Herd, Ciaran Clark, Nathan Baker, Joe Bennett, Ashley Westwood, Karim El Ahmadi, Fabian Delph, Brett Holman, Christian Benteke Struggle as I try I am having difficulty seeing the progress. Are we a better/stronger team now than we were circa 12 months ago? Is the team stronger? No. Is that Lamberts fault? No. Every man and his dog knows we had to reduce the wage bill so Lamberts had to bring in younger players and rely on those coming through. Lamberts hands been forced in a way, i'd hate to see how we'd be doing if AM had to do the same. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AndyBM Posted December 28, 2012 Share Posted December 28, 2012 theres no denying we look stronger 12 months ago, but by cutting the wage bill you will be weakening the team, whicch in turn means we struggle to get points and will be lower down the league, could even lead to relegation... so is cutting the wage bill really worth it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
danceoftheshamen Posted December 28, 2012 Share Posted December 28, 2012 With this wage bill thing I still find it quite bizarre.. I understand of course we had to ultimately reduce the wage bill but it's the crazy pace with which this has happened that i can't fathom. It's what 3 season in a row now that we have been battling relegation?.. So what do we do? ... Sell our best players again & then replace them with unproven ones?! It's frankly odd. For me this should've been done much more gradually rather than repeatedly risking our Premier League status as we have done. We could so easily gone down last season & but for a win at Chelsea we would have done. The latest two batterings will have destroyed confidence surely & we now have a must win game against the mighty Wigan. For me they are favourites to win taking into account our last two shocking displays..Make no mistake they are well capable of beating us & if they do i genuinely fear for us. I just hope to god we don't concede first as i just can't see us coming back from that with the present mindset of the players. It needs sorting in January thats for sure. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CI Posted December 28, 2012 Share Posted December 28, 2012 With TV revenues about to rocket 70% seems a bit odd to be slashing wages still. That horse bolted years ago. If we go down there's a good chance we won't be back for years (if ever). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The_Lions_Roar Posted December 28, 2012 Share Posted December 28, 2012 theres no denying we look stronger 12 months ago, but by cutting the wage bill you will be weakening the team, whicch in turn means we struggle to get points and will be lower down the league, could even lead to relegation... so is cutting the wage bill really worth it? I think for the long term future of the club then yes. It should of been a more gradual process though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big_John_10 Posted December 28, 2012 Share Posted December 28, 2012 How much more do we have to cut? What level does it have to get to? Don't we have around the 7th highest income in the league? Yet it seems we want our spending to be on par with teams that just aim to survive. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The_Lions_Roar Posted December 28, 2012 Share Posted December 28, 2012 I'd expect that we're now hopefully at a level where we don't have to cut anymore particularly with the potential to money next season. However if we get related then it would be a different story. There's still a lot of high earners at the club doing very little. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Con Posted December 28, 2012 Share Posted December 28, 2012 (edited) pacbuddies, on 28 December 2012 - 04:51 PM, said: This is the team that was fielded in our 19th game last season: Bradley Guzan, Carlos Cuellar, James Collins, Richard Dunne, Stephen Warnock, Marc Albrighton, Stiliyan Petrov, Ciaran Clark, Charles N'Zogbia, Stephen Ireland,Gabriel Agbonlahor And this is the team that was fielded in our 19th game this season: Bradley Guzan, Matthew Lowton, Chris Herd, Ciaran Clark, Nathan Baker, Joe Bennett, Ashley Westwood, Karim El Ahmadi, Fabian Delph, Brett Holman, Christian Benteke Struggle as I try I am having difficulty seeing the progress. Are we a better/stronger team now than we were circa 12 months ago? Guzan vs Guzan = same guy Cuellar vs Lowton = Cuellar was a CD not a proper SB/WB. Lowton is much more talented in that position. Collins vs Vlaar or Baker = Vlaar is more talented, with more experience than Collins. Baker has less experience but is more talented. Dunne vs Clark = Clark is more talented, less experience. Warnock vs Bennett/Stevens/Lichaj = Lichaj is the only Villa player with a positive goal difference whilst playing this season (+1). He is better defensively than Warnock, and has decent amount of experience. Not convinced Bennett is more offensive talent than Warnock and is not more experienced, and has the worst goal difference of the 3 (-13). Stevens is not more experienced. I've not seen him enough to judge his performances. Albrighton vs Holman = Holman is more experienced and has been doing a good job. Petrov vs Herd = We miss Petrov. Herd has been playing out of position in CD. Did well against Liverpool but Chelsea and Tottenham are great teams. Herd has a lot of talent and always makes a great effort. N'Zogbia vs Delph = N'Zog never really performed for us. Delph is not a regular for us so is not a fair example. Benteke is better. Ireland vs El Ahmadi = Ireland is our senior midfielder, earns highest wage, but never performs to his wage level. Barry Bannan has taken his spot, and done much better. 17/18 points this season with Bannan on the pitch. I'd take Bannan over Ireland for ever game. He's earning his money. Agbonlahor vs Agbonlahor = Same guy. In general our team is less experienced but younger and more talented. Our team last season would not have beaten Liverpool 1-3 away from home. They did not have the talent to do that. Would they have lost 8-0 to Chelsea? A few seasons before they lost 7-1. So they could have done. There are improvements every part of the pitch this season but the progress is masked by inconsistencies that are down to inexperience. More talent, less experience. More experience being gained by the match. I'm very happy with this trade-off and have no worries whatsoever about relegation. Edited December 28, 2012 by Con Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pacbuddies Posted December 28, 2012 Share Posted December 28, 2012 You really thought we were outclassed at Anfield? I rest my case m'lord Yes I did. Liverpool could have and should have been out of reach but luckily for us they had a poor day in front of goal (which they put right against Fulham). I am no lover of Liverpool and they are nowhere near the quality of team they used to be but we got out of jail and managed to capitalise on it. However, Chelsea and Tottenham were not so inept in front of goal and put us out of the game with the goals that they deserved. It pains me to say it but we much are closer (in terms of quality and quantity) to the sides at the bottom than we are to the sides at the top. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big_John_10 Posted December 28, 2012 Share Posted December 28, 2012 Our team last season would not have beaten Liverpool 1-3 away from home. They did not have the talent to do that. They beat Chelsea by the same score. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Con Posted December 28, 2012 Share Posted December 28, 2012 Our team last season would not have beaten Liverpool 1-3 away from home. They did not have the talent to do that. They beat Chelsea by the same score. Fair enough, but they did not win in such style. Plus, Chelsea had Lulz playing in CD that day. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pacbuddies Posted December 28, 2012 Share Posted December 28, 2012 (edited) Fair enough, but they did not win in such style. Plus, Chelsea had Lulz playing in CD that day. Chelsea were and still are a better team than Liverpool. We beat them last season with a team of players that you state didn't have the talent to win at Anfield. They obviously had the talent to win at Stamford Bridge though. PS. Having Luiz playing in CD at the time we played them was not the reason we beat them. Edited December 28, 2012 by pacbuddies Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Morpheus Posted December 28, 2012 Share Posted December 28, 2012 I'd expect that we're now hopefully at a level where we don't have to cut anymore particularly with the potential to money next season. However if we get related then it would be a different story. There's still a lot of high earners at the club doing very little. Those high earners are slowly being given the boot. It will be interesting to see if both Ireland and Bent are moved on in January and who we bring in? That will tell me if we are beginning to prepare for life in the Championship? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pacbuddies Posted December 28, 2012 Share Posted December 28, 2012 Those high earners are slowly being given the boot. It will be interesting to see if both Ireland and Bent are moved on in January and who we bring in? That will tell me if we are beginning to prepare for life in the Championship? I wouldn't be surprised to see Bent, Ireland and N'Zogbia moved on in January. I think Dunne would be going with them if he didn't have a long term injury. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CI Posted December 28, 2012 Share Posted December 28, 2012 If those players are sold then you just hope Lambert gets ALL the income to reinvest . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ciggiesnbeer Posted December 28, 2012 Share Posted December 28, 2012 If those players are sold then you just hope Lambert gets ALL the income to reinvest . I think he will, but he will use the money his way. he is not going to change. Actually I think he will get an extra 20 million even if he sells nobody. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The_Lions_Roar Posted December 28, 2012 Share Posted December 28, 2012 I think he will, but he will use the money his way. he is not going to change. Actually I think he will get an extra 20 million even if he sells nobody. His way? Is his hand not being forced? Or maybe he has the choice between signing an average prem league player for 4 mil on 30k a week. Or signing a promising lower league player for 2 mil on 20k a week. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ciggiesnbeer Posted December 28, 2012 Share Posted December 28, 2012 His way? Is his hand not being forced? Or maybe he has the choice between signing an average prem league player for 4 mil on 30k a week. Or signing a promising lower league player for 2 mil on 20k a week. He has said in interviews these are the kinds of players he likes and he wont change. I take him at his word. He doesnt strike me as the kind of guy who gets strong armed, he has his budget and he can spend it as he sees fit. Personally i like the kinds of players he buys in general, I cant deny though it would be nice to see an occasional marquee signing, although in retrospect Benteke perhaps was one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts