Last summer was largely consumed with a will he stay or will he go saga regarding Christian Benteke. This year it has been Ron Vlaar the man whose Villa status we have been sweating out. After barely surviving with out captain last year, he can’t be sold at any price this year.
Vlaar has a year left on his contract. It is said contracts are worthless in football. In part this is due to reticence by the clubs to let a player’s contract wind down. It almost takes a series of unforeseen circumstances for a player to reach free agency. The fear is always losing the player for nothing. That fear undermines the clubs’ leverage.
That is certainly a difference between football in Europe and sports here in the US. Depending on how the club is doing the club may well hold on to a player for the duration of his contract. This is especially true if the club is trying to win something. Essentially this is what Dortmund did with Lewandowski last season. Instead of cashing in, they held fast and kept the player to give themselves the best chance at winning the Champions League again.
Sadly our overarching goal this season is Premier League survival. With the tenuous state the club is in relegation is more unthinkable that it otherwise would be. Having seen how the club perform with and without Vlaar shows how critical he is to surviving this year. Pairing Okore with Senderos, Clark,
Baker, or Defender X brought in to replace Vlaar does not instill me with loads of confidence. If we keep the player and he helps us escape three relegation battles that’s a fair return on an initial £3m investment.
If I had more faith in the defense and the rest of the team I may feel differently. When we cashed in on Barry, Young, Milner, and Downing relegation didn’t feel like as real of a threat as it does at the moment. The balance sheet is certainly healthier than it was back then. The club has to stay up and buy Randy Lerner enough time to find a buyer who can take the club forward. In the mean time Ronald Koeman can pound sand.
The Author
Jason Chalifour
I am a regular columnist for Aston Villa Life with my column running every Friday and have been writing at least semi-regularly about Aston Villa since 2010. I also run my own General Sports Website www.98ontheblack.comComments 176
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Lambert seemed pretty deflated when talking about Vlaar. Sounds like he’s on his way which would be a massive blow and just bring the club even further down than it is
Of have a good start ( hahaha) then maybe he might stay, if we lose our first 2 or 3 games then he will probably be out of here
Jason you are saying what is on everybody’s minds right now, more so than any new blood – or old blood in new shirts!
Frem – you are right – we need to put on a good show in the first few games to convince Ron we have a better chance of staying up. I’m not sure that any move hr might consider would be towards the south coast anyway as S’ton is in a state of flux right now as well.
It’s a question right now as to who is playing for us as from tomorrow.
UTV
Not just for Vlaar, but Lambert needs to show something. He said yesterday the last two seasons have been shite and we obviously need to do better
Our first two games really aren’t easy. Then we go I to September with like all the top 6 to play. We could rock bottom hands down
Lambert also said we can’t use the young excuse anymore( even though it was only him saying it) and the players are men now
It’s very worrying. He needs to show tomorrow a change in style. No gabby, Wiemann or Kea. No parking the bus, pass, attack, excite. No more crap
I can’t understand why Lambert’s even talking about selling Ron Vlaar: he’s got a year left on his contract, he’s the only proven decent defender at the club and if he’s in the team it means that one of Baker and Clark isn’t.
What are we going to get for a 29 year old with a year left on his contract, £4 million? If we’re that cash strapped then we deserve to go down. He should be seeing out his contract, offer him a tidy bonus if he plays 30 plus games and we stay up and then he’s free to leave on a Bosman. If we lose him to Southampton we may as well close the doors now.
Spot on Andrew. We are better of keeping him then selling for 4 or 5 mill. 10 mill at least before we consider
I think we are that cash strapped though that we would take 4 or 5 mill for Randy to pocket and Herd to be the replacement
Read in the appear we played the most amount of long balls last season. No surprise but that needs to change this season
Frem, that would be a massive gamble though. If do we sell Vlaar and end up getting relegated, Vlaar’s transfer fee will seem like loose change. Lerner’s finding it hard to sell a Premiership club. He’ll find it a lot harder if we end up in the Championship.
Southampton have just paid £12.5 million for Shane Long. Hilarious.
After their transfer dealings everyone knows that they have money to spend, so transfer fees will be inflated.
If we get an offer of over £10 million or more for Vlaar, then we should sell. He has a year left on his contract and is quite injury prone. If we don’t get what is over the odds for a player with a year left then we should just let him see out his contract.
Ultimately it has to be what is in Villa’s interests. If it is in our interests to get an over inflated fee and sign someone decent for less money then fine.
I would love him to sign a new deal but either way, Villa will come out OK with this one.
Ye, that’s mad Droyd. Vlaar is worth at least the same then. Club captain and a great work cup
I can’t see Vlaar signing a new deal. I think he will want out this month whilst his stock is high after the WC
That’s true Andrew, but this club will accept a bid that’s close to 10 mill for sure
A few people on other sites think Lambert will out the door fairly soon if the first few games don’t go well
Droyd, I wouldn’t sell Vlaar for £10 million. I wouldn’t trust Lambert to find a replacement even if he was given all of the transfer fee to spend. We might be lucky and end up with an upgrade on Baker and Clark, but I can’t see us signing a genuine top class defender and Vlaar has shown that’s what he is.
Im with droyd on this one.If silly money is offered it would be impolite not to take their arm off. Vlaar is a decent ch but before the world cup he wouldn’t have made it into the top ten premiership ch’s list. No one is irreplaceable.
Hi all
i said before the world cup that Vlaar would be a wanted man by the end of it
I partly agree with Droyd in that a large bid for a guy in his last year is not to be sniffed at — but i dread to think what lambert would replace him with
as far as i am concerened we would have gone down without vlaars imput and don’t think my opinion would change if he left now — so in that sense it just isnt worth selling vlaar imo
Morning Lifers
Prox,you beat me too the punch.People have short memories,Vlaar has missed chunks of the seasons due to injury,and never appears injured for the Dutch.Yes he was excellent at the WC,but in the end Ron Vlaar will do what is best for RV,not what is best for AVFC.If you want loyalty,get a dog.
Nothing suprises me in footy ,well until yesterday.£12M for Shane Long,a few months after he was bought for £7M…..utterly stunned TWELVE MILLION,yes 2 x 6,4 x3 ……..12 flippin million.
Bruce I have new found respect for you,I salute you.You have rinsed the Saints,as they are awash with lolly,I can`t get my nut around this one.Long has the best agent in world football.A decent forward,works his nuts off for the cause and a busy player,but come on £19M in fees in less than a year.Maybe we should rinse S`ton for £15M if they want Vlaar?
what it comes down to is how much doesn’t it? and if its used to buy and not pocketed. Dawson is surplus for maybe £4m leaving us maybe £10 mil plus to upgrade midfield and a forward/winger to add to sanchez presuming he comes. orsimply put £10m+ on top of our £10m transfer kitty buys 3-4 decent players if your shrewd. And don’t forget Lambert was buying younger players and rarely looked in the 26-29 bracket so there are players to be had just little resale value.
Vlaar is good there is no doubt but he is injury prone and that won’t get better at his age so a 3 year contract on big money would be back to the days of dunne and co. and yes I know Dawson is injury prone 🙂
Andrew P is right. IF someone offered £10m+ it still needs Lerner to let the money be reinvested and it needs Lambert to find the right player to replace him in the next 2 weeks and counting. Long odds against that.
Senderos is nowhere near as good as Vlaar and believe me I’m not Vlaar’s biggest fan. Are there better players than Vlaar out there? Of course there are. In our current price range? Less obvious.
Ridiculosuly, Okore has already been elevated to McGrath status merely by the fact he isn’t Clark or Baker. We can hope he will attain that status but some on here have already awarded it based on one full and two part league appearances. All of which we lost.
steve w
on that basis then we might as well bin Grealish, senderos, richardson, who have all appeared in losses this pre-season, think your going a bit OTT on people liking Okore when the other options are baker herd clarke senderos?!! who have all been tried and had mediocre success at this level. Okore is an unknown quantity but shows promise nothing more but I believe he is in the top 2 centre halves we have
all things considered.
Hello B6, how are things with you? Agree with all of that, and if we were in a different situation with better alternatives, I’d say cash in now. I wouldn’t offer him another contract and if he helps keep us up I’d be happy to see him walk away on a Bosman next summer.
As things stand I think our season and possibly our Premier League status will depend upon keeping Vlaar and getting Benteke back fit and firing.
Prox is right when he says no one is irreplaceable. I said the same think when we took that waste of skin, Steven Ireland, and £16 million for James Millner. The £16 million turned out to be just enough to pay Ireland’s wages while he was with us. We’d have been better off donating it all to Oxfam,
I don’t think we can afford to lose Vlaar. We all know what happens when we sell our best players, we fall apart. He media are slaughtering us already, imagine what will happen of we sell Vlaar
I do worry though that Lambert isn’t going to change style from last season. The last 3 pre season games we have been utterly dire. Very defensive, and clueless, awful football, no attacking quality. All just like last season
I`m well Andrew,I trust you and yours are in fine fettle too.
Would I like Vlaar to stay?Of course,but gone are the days I would fret over a player departing.Players come and go,life goes on.
I have a hunch Vlaar will sit tight,sign a pre contract agreement or whatever they call it in Jan.and move on a freebie in July 2015.
steve w
those three games he played in, 1-2 away at chelsea where ivanovic should of been sent off and scored the winner along with terrys hand ball, a 1-0 loss to Liverpool on the back of three games in 7 days against top opposition, and injured against newcastle 30 mins in at 0-1 (ben arfa taking the piss out of luna and scoring on vlaars side ) we go on to equalise then concede 6 mins later all without him on the pitch. oh and League Cup third round we beat Rotherham United 3–0 first clean sheet for ever 🙂
Things are fine here thanks, B6. Saw my folks last night. Getting old but still with us. Been a good summer – soon to be derailed by the start of the football season, but who knows, Vlaar night be sold, Okore’s injury might recur and Baker and Clark could turn out to be the new Alan Evans and Ken McNaught. Don’t hold your breath.
Mark – that is what I said. Okore is an unknown quantity – a completely unknown quantity – so people already heralding him a great player (and many have) need to step back and get a grip.
On the other hand Baker and Clark are completely known quantities so I can understand why people assume Okore is automatically better.
So with a promising unknown and several very unpromising knowns, we should not be contemplating selling Vlaar.
Seriously? Lambert signs Vlaar for £3 million. But some of you dread to think what he would spend £10 million on to replace him with.
Just think about that for a moment will you?
Droyd, yes seriously. Lambert signed Vlaar, Benteke and Bacuna. He also signed Joe Bennett, Antonio Luna, Alexandser Tonev and Jordan Bowery. Any realistic replacement for Vlaar would represent a gamble, Vlaar is pivotal and I don’t think we are in a position to gamble.
Droyd – thought about it
when lambert came in Randy was giving him decent money to spend along with a realistic prem lge wage ceiling
now he is clawing ever penny back that he can and has possibly the lowest wages available in the lge
that along with the hit and miss nature of Lambo’s buying skills leads me to think just keep your best defender as 10mil 15mil 20mil is no good to us the fans or the club as a whole if we go down
OK. Do you seriously think Bennett, Luna, Tonev and Bowery are/were on anywhere near the same wages as Vlaar?
Or in the real world, Lambert was allowed to sign two or three players on decent money and the rest of the squad on peanuts?
Use your brain.
steve w
you also said “We can hope he will attain that status but some on here have already awarded it based on one full and two part league appearances. All of which we lost.”
those games I’ve outlined earlier and considering whom they were against he didn’t disgrace himself at 19 years old, not really a fair assessment of his part in those matches as you implied to be of god status we shouldn’t lose if he’s that good? he showed a lot of promise but fortune/ poor team play went against us but his inclusion wasn’t the deciding factor in the results or as far as I can remember any of the goals. Just saying 🙂
Blaming Lambert for the Villa’s woes is on a par with the mongs that blame the Conservatives for all the problems Labour caused during their 13 year economic arsonage of Great Britain.
Droyd, stop being so pompous. I think Runtings is spot on. Lambert’s transfer record is sketchy and I wouldn’t be confident that with a few quid to spend Lambert would sign an adequate replacement for Vlaar, That’s the gamble.
The only predictable stories are the ones that catch us off guard. Take S’ton who sold the farm. Now add CP to the mix with Pulis leaving. More shit happens behind the scenes than we will ever know about and both of those scenarios have happened to Villa in the past 4 years. Two of the most unstabilising events a team can endure.
http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/news/how-tony-pulis-steve-parishs-4053877
Will he stay or will he go? Who knows? Until the teams have some say in their players after a contract is finished regarding re-signing or some form of compensation when said player moves on, it’s always going to be a crap shoot regardless of who the player is. Too many things can ruin a relationship between a player and team and to have the ability to run to Mom (agent) and beg them to fix things is the way of the game right now. Vlaar is good no question but he is injury prone, he is getting on, and his play in the WC–was that a new level he reached or just playing his socks off in a pairing that was absolutely perfect for the style of play he prefers? The answer to all of this is having a back up plan if he goes and a plan if he stays. To receive enough of a transfer fee to purchase anew with either proven performance (an educated guess that it will continue at Villa) or future potential (also an educated guess). No one knows how a player will turn out in a different kit just look at Andy Carrol. Will Luke Shaw play like a £12 mill player? Nope. We can hope for blue skies or wring our hands over new signing and it never turns out as we had expected whether good, bad, or indifferent. In most cases individual talent will take a back seat to proper pairings of players.
For sure, Lambert made some horrendous signings a year ago. Do you really think those are the players he wanted to sign? His first choices?
Or due to financial constraints they were the best he could get?
With £10 mill plus to spend on a defender, do you think he would be signing unknown Europeans like Helenius, Luna, Tonev etc?
Seriously?
Droyd, I’m getting bored with this, but firstly you’re assuming Lerner will allow Lambert to re-invest all of any fee we might receive for Vlaar and you’re also assuming Lerner will relax the current wage structure. Even if both assumptions are correct, Lambert has then got 2 weeks to identify an international quality defender and to persuade his target that signing for Villa would represent a good career move. Good luck with that – I don’t imagine they will be queuing round the block. And then we’ve still got to hope that the signing turns out to be one of Lambert’s better ones. On balance I’d stick with Ron Vlaar, seriously.
Droyd, arsonage ?????
Your taking the piss now.
Sketchy ? That’s being nice. His transfer record is awful
Just listening to Van Gal saying the most important thing is fans are pleased, entertained and understand how there team plays
Lambert cares about none of these things
He will be the first to be sacked ( hopefully )
Andrew P – Firstly I am not making assumptions at all. I’m just defending Lambert. You are criticising his judgement on signings. I am merely pointing out that there is more to his signings than meets the eye.
I would love for us to retain Vlaar as I have stated earlier in this thread. However, a big offer for an injury prone 29 year old with one year left on his contract would make sense to us.
Centre backs can be found. Lambert and Keane will already have a “what if” lined up. The likes of Benteke are much harder to find.
I agree that Baker, Clark, Okore, Senderos etc without Vlaar are not good enough and a replacement must be found.
He spent 3 mill on Joe Bennett as well as Vlaar. Evens it’s self out. 3 mill on Tonev also.
Prox – No. Firstly I despise Tories, Lib Dems, Labour etc. Politicians are scum.
However it is a fact that Labour destroy the economy and the Conservatives don’t. It is that simple.
Arsonage is a non-word admittedly but I quite like it. 🙂
Frem – transfer fees are a mere piss in the ocean compared to wages.
You can’t buy anything for under £3 mill. Remember Lambert’s first challenge was to fill out the squad offering peanuts and wages in bottle caps.
Where the fuck is Carlos Sanchez? I had it on good authority that he was going to sign on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday of this week.
Jason, it’s always nice when you post an article that’s on everyone’s mind.
Droyd, February 29th is the day. 🙂
Droyd, apparently he legged it back to Colombia when he heard Lambert was thinking about selling Ron Vlaar.
He’s finally signed now thank god
Hopefully can do well alongside Delph
HAHA!
He’s signed
As long as Senderos isn’t Vlaar’s replacement I think a good season is possible.
🙂 Droyd — i get it you think lambert is a good manager that has just not had the money to spend
I couldnt6 disagree with that more
Why – the main thing is the style – sorry non style of football– other managers have proved in the past if you play good football you can go very far — we have spent a lot of money on seriously poor players
he does not seem to be able to get the bst out of or improve , motivate players he has brought
his communication skills has had the fan’s drifting further away from the club rather than pulling it together
he has spent more than most other teams in this lge
pray tell -what are his good points
;
even the feeder club southampton thinks they are bigger than us now
Mark – I should have left out the line about losing all the league games Okore played in as it seems you think I’m blaming him for the defeats.
The fact remains he’s played one full and two part games, so all I’m saying is that the expectation level placed on him on what he has achieved is unhelpful and unrealistic.
If I was picking the team tomorrow he’d be in it.
I think PL might be able to bring in a decent player..
The more pressing question is can he get a team to perform.. play decent football.. and have a different game plan to the sh!t thats been served up the last two seasons?
We were truly awful at the back end of last season against bottom half teams..
For me PL should have been removed in the summer due to his poor tactics.. style of play,, sybs etc..
The first three games is our season IMO.. take 1 point and less from those three and come Oct we will be rock bottom with a couple of points..
In the Vlaar sell or keep debate, it’s a no brainer, we simply don’t have another proven Centre Half at the club, who is up to standard, so unless it’s stupid money, Vlaar stays for me.
As for is he replaceable , yes of course he is, but as Andrew P points out, the chances of replacing him with quite in the current climate are extremely slim.
When Vlaar/Benteke were purchased, we had a European scout, who undoubtably assisted in bringing them to Villas attention , I also agree with many fans view, that I seriously doubt Lambert’s ability to find and attract a quality replacement given his purchasing record as Villa gaffer , and that’s before we add the Lerner( asset stripper) factor.
Lambert has bought in Luna, Bowery, KEA, Bennett, Steer, Dawkins, Cole, Senderos, Bacuna, Bertrand, Kozak, All of which are IMHO are not good enough and wasted money, Lowton and Westwood are borderline.
Sanchez has signed, let’s hope we see a shift change regarding our signings, there seems to be something going on behind the scenes at VP, I’m hoping for a miracle of new rich football mad owner, knowledgable CEO ie Cortese and a new manager, someone with a clue unlike mumbles Lambert.
Runtings – Have a look at Lambert’s record at Norwich to see how good he is.
At Aston Villa, he inherited a club with an ENORMOUS wage bill that had just narrowly avoided relegation.
The current situation is that he has slashed that wage bill to a manageable, sustainable level whilst improving on our league position since we had the disease that was McLeish.
We would have finished higher than 15th last season was it not for a freakish injury list.
Lambert has made mistakes for sure and the football has been utter garbage. I find myself defending him, not because he has been amazing but his critics fail to acknowledge the enormity of the task he has faced.
I try to offer balance in the face of mass hysteria.
Just checked and we are the still the 6th highest spenders in the last 5yrs
People think Okore will be this kind of God. What I’ve seen his pre season, he’s very dodgy. He’s played 2 and half games, in one of them Sturridge walked round him for a goal and he was involved in what should have been a pen to Liverpool. He might turn out good, but he’s got a long way to go
Hopefully we will get a winger now like Gnabry or Chadli. We need someone.
He really hasn’t faced that hard of a task. He’s just failed big time. Hughes done fine at Stoke, Pullis done brilliant at Palace when they were all but down, same as Poyet
They faced huge tasks. Lambert didn’t. He had it cosy compared to those two.
Droyd: Lambert has made mistakes for sure and the football has been utter garbage. I find myself defending him, not because he has been amazing but his critics fail to acknowledge the enormity of the task he has faced.
Yes, you’ve made a valid point (about what’s been imposed on him). But those mistakes HE has made have certainly not helped – one of the worst i.m.o. being taking on a job that entails speaking to fans as though we’re idiots!
But now Faulkner has gone, perhaps we’ll be seeing (hearing!) some clear-speak instead of gobbled-gook. I hope!
WAGES, WAGES, WAGES.
FORGET TRANSFER FEES!
Lambert is heading into his 3rd season. Pullis had 8 months but is now seen as the better manager by far. He done the double over our twat
Frem – For once you make a good point. 🙂
Okore – huge potential but he is very raw and coming back from an awful injury.
S-A-N-C-H-E-Z !!!!!!!!!!! Yeah!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Well I reckon that’s a step forward. He’s the right kind of player we needed anyway i.m.o.
Droyd look at his task in exactly the same way that you discribed
It was a tough ask and i was happy when he was appointed at the time
after the middle of last season i stopped defending him or believing in hisv ability to take this club forward and had many a heated debate on here with the very sharped toungued steamer
but the penny dropped when i saw there was no real football phylosophy to lambert along with important factors listed above
For me it’s like moyes to man u – this is too big a club for the lkes of lambert and he is out of his depth
when teams with less resorce than us can both beat us but most importantly consistantly play much,much better football than us it’s time to give up the goust imo
Onkore came with a reputation as a rough diamond that had some impressive displays in champs lge the previous year
He is a player i look forward to settling in the team and seeing how he develops
He is not there and may not get there but is one young player that we should both give time and have high hopes for
One quality player on £50k pw, is the same as 5 shit ones who never play on £10k pw, add to that some were on a lot more in the £15-£25k pw region, and for me it’s false economy.
The utilisation and creation of the bomb squad, whilst still paying them was baffling at best,especially when it became obvious they weren’t going to be bought.
Were still paying part of Luna, Sylla, Tonev etc wages whilst on loan. The club INCLUDING lambert have spunked so much dough up the wall it’s frightening, all Lambert has succeeded in becoming is a council version of MON, he has created a large unbalanced squad devoid of quality and ability, most of which we are desperate to offload.
Agreed John. Despite my overriding belief that every transfer represents a bit of a punt, especially so when you’re bringing South Americans into the Premier League, I’d say that based on what I saw during the World Cup, Sanchez represents exactly the type of player we’ve being crying out for for ages. Hopefully, Westwood and Delph will feel the benefit of playing in front of him.
Yes, Andrew, til today the midfield was still too light i.m.o.
Maybe we have something resembling a team at long last!!
Frem
I agree, Pulis would have been greater with a groan if he had been appointed at the time Lambert was, now he is seen as the new Pep in comparison, Lambert has been an abject failure and is no better ( possibly worse) than Mcleish, he’s certainly on par in the popularity stakes, as soon as he is sacked/resigns/leaves I will rejoice, I honestly don’t see him making Xmas.
With our fixtures I expect him to have us firmly nailed in the bottom 3 after the first 10 games, unless there are some miracle signings and he takes his head out of his arse.
Sanchez`s biggest asset,is winning the ball back.Considering how much we give the ball away,he will be a busy fella.Welcome to him as well as Senderos,Cole,Keane,Richarson and the rest,
He is a strong physical player,so,plenty of yellow and reds to come.All we need now is for him to get a long term injury in his first game,which seems compulsory for our signings.
Only being cynical for a laugh,let`s hope he becomes a legend at Villa.
COYVB.
Was Sanchez registered in time for the clayheads???
Or More likely to make his debut against Ant and Decs lot next sat
evening all!
so now we have 2 possibel formations for tomorow 3-5-2 and 433
3-5-2
guzan
vlaar okore dross
grealish bacuna sanchez delph richardson
bent wieman/cole/nzog/gab
or
guzan
hutton vlaar okore sisskho
sanchex delph
westwood
grealish nzog
bent
it think it will be 433 – what does Y’all think!
on vlaar, there no point letting him go.
even if he won;t sign a new contract, we need to keep him and let him go next year.
its only 3/4 mill and we’ve wasted so much more on other poop.
it would be a psychological blow to the us fans the team and lambo, if he went now.
if he has to be forced to stay then so be it.
i can’t go with if he gets offered double wages then who can blame him bollocks.
out team comes first. he can ger double next year with a big signing on fee.
I don’t think Sanchez can play tomorrow
Roger- like the second line up, hate the first though. 5 at the back is so defensive, especially when Lambert does it. Not sure why we signed Richardson. He’s no LB or LM so I don’t see what he will be doing.
Gabby and Wiemann will start tomorrow what ever happens. Lambert loves em to bits although they are shite. Grealish might get 5 mins from the sub bench if he’s lucky even though the game will pass by and we are crying out for some creativity. Will stick KEA on instead to try and create something
I hope it’s
Guzan
Hutton
Vlaar
Dross
sissy
Delph
Gardner
Zoggy
Grealish
Bacuna
Bent
One thing is for sure we are crying out for another wide man. We have know one really. Lambert better not be planning on putting Gabby and Wiemann there again. Just look at them last season
wow! the OS is slow.
at 16,53
http://www.express.co.uk/sport/football/499755/CONFIRMED-Aston-Villa-snap-up-World-Cup-star-Carlos-Sanchez
the os
approx 17.45
http://www.avfc.co.uk/page/NewsDetail/0,,10265~4076148,00.html
wonder what they were doing on the OS – that so many other reports it before them
interestingly he knew who we were – oh yeah JPA!
they are both Colombian!
Maybe we could get some more Colombians to follow him then
shame we didn’t follow this line at the club – we could have had James Rodriguez a few years ago .
Angel! come and help use out – if you were such a hero order some good Colombians to villa park
sanchez won’t be playing tomorow
hope fully lambo will make subs changes in games at the 60 min mark this year, i would hope keane will have some say in thsi.
30 mins for the subs most likely,, will make big diff in games this could would be a realistic use for grealish and cole,
Droyd,
Though I identify with the customary pragmatism of your commentary you’re skating very close to the disingenuous with your pardon of lamberts performance as villa manager. The man , despite the challenge s of his position has not displayed the skills necessary to manage a mid tier premiership team and you know it. The job is beyond him.
we should have kept albrigton. shame for him his injured tomorow
http://www.leicestermercury.co.uk/Marc-Albrighton-added-growing-Leicester-City/story-22298823-detail/story.html
him grealish and nzog, maybe cole if he can stay fit – we could have had 2 sets of wingers there
prox – lol!
turn on radio wm right now – its fans villa song on
its a villa fan song on the franksy show
steve w 🙂
On Lamberts signings, considering the constrictions to turn up 2 world class players in Vlaar and Benteke for less than £10m in this day and age isn’t bad. westwood kosak sanchez bacuna would have been ok in Mons team. milner was Mons best signing. If benteke and vlaar were sold they would be starters for all of the top sides bar city IMO. Yet young, downing and milner all subs at bigger clubs and the rest of mons signings overpaid or over the hill or average (did MON sign bouma liked him and carew).
I agree on Lamberts coaching it stinks or maybe the players stink in applying it either way its shit. I don’t understand how pullis took a team like palace and played attacking football with someone else’s team yet built a hoof team full of Neanderthals at stoke? whereas hughes has polished pullis’s turd and has them playing football why didn’t pullis do the same?
On okore, he’s got a dodgy knee so he’s half the way there to god status, get the lad down the pub and jobs a goodun.
🙂
Hey rog,
Please tell me your actual surname isnt ‘muffin’.
That would put you in the same unfortunate category as people like richard head , mike hunt , and the grotesquely unlucky peter foyle.
Apparently a take over bid has been accepted. More news to follow sometime
Hope it’s true, and hope there mega rich
prox, no thankfully its not.
rogermuffin is a alias / tag / nickname/ online name i sort of randomlly developed.
frem – hope its someone who knows waht there doing.
with sanchez not playing tomorow,
i reckon we may get this.
guzan
hutton vlar dross sisy
westy delhp
kea cole/nzog
bent wieman
with wieman and nzog/cole swaping postions
droyd – keep it up – some one one this site needs to stick up for lmabo.
i think your on your own for now, lets hope something magical happens ( grealish ) to increase his fans here.
ok hes not the best , (& thats putting it milldy), but considering the freemasons and aluminati are against us 🙂 – what we going do?
prox re:- unfortunate names
i had a teacher call andrew pratt when at college.
A Pratt was so funny to see around on clooge notice boards, he , was not taken seriously at all.
college!
going to do
roger
what are you drinking tonight? we once had a college teacher we called den cod as he had a passing resemblance to ken dodd oh we laughed 🙂
prox
precisely why I don’t use my real name wayne,
Random, but my electrical tutor for my first year is Tony Dailys brother but he didn’t talk much about him
“We will do everything this season to improve – we have to improve on the last two seasons. There’s no way I want to be down there fighting relegation again, we need to be pushing on up that table.”
So please resign out of respect for this football club
Lambert will turn his tactics around and it will feel like a new manager signing. 🙂 It won’t matter how much money the new owner has if he won’t spend much.
I can think of eight international players past and present on Villa’s squad. Does Gabby have a cap? nine then.
Great news that Sanchez has signed up!!!
Wow Frem could new ownership really be happening???
Prox/Rog, I kid you not my secondary school English teacher (a pratt) named his son Mike Hunt and the secretaries would say frequently ‘Would Mike Hunt pls come to the office’ because he was always in trouble.
True story, no word of a lie.
I think we may proof alot of these Villa for relegation pundits very wrong this season, let’s hope so. We need at least win in our first 3 matches however or things could go horribly wrong.
UTV
Frem, PL has infuriated me at times with his anti-football but he’s done some very good work this summer and seems to be improving, I’m giving the man the benefit of the doubt until he deserves otherwise.
Hey Ron, I’m excited for the season too. And I think Lambert has turned a corner.
I’m wondering whether the credit for signing Sanchez should go to Roy Keane?
After all, I’d imagine that Sanchez is the type of player Keane can relate to and has probably seen the weakness in Villa’s midfield.
Must have been Keane John. We all know Lambert wouldn’t have bought a CM player if it was just him
hope he changes to style and not the same shit as last season and this pre season
I’ve read some predicted line up full of crap people think Lambert will start. Kea Gabby Wiemann and Richardson all in it. Scary
Apparently Gabby won’t stArt today which is a big change. Finally get rid of him.
Grealish Zoggy Bent hopefully all to start and no 5 at the back
Going in the Stoke end today. Been twice before, we lost and drew so it’s time we win
We better attack and pass it around today. No more 1 shot in 90 mins, getting passed of the park and putting 11 men behind the ball. It’s time we attack and excite
nobody really knows to what extent Lambert has say over players, so as much as Keane could of influenced the sanchez signings? he could equally be responsible for cole senderos siss and richardson who knows?
Ahem
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/teams/ipswich-town/5207753/Roy-Keane-in-the-transfer-market-Hits-and-misses.html
frem
I’d take a solid performance and a win over style for this one, we lost twice to them last season
rogermuffin – thanks. I don’t care what others throw at me, I will always formulate my own opinions. I have an anonymous political twitter account with thousands of followers. I get all sorts of grief on there, even death threats from scousers.
So minor disagreements with fellow Villa fans is nothing. It’s good to debate.
I think Lambert has slightly underperformed so far as manager but we are right to stick with him. There is too much chopping and changing in football and ultimately it doesn’t do any good. I think we will benefit from continuity this season.
Plenty of rumours on Twitter that we will start with a 3-5-2 and that Gabby will be left out.
I wonder if Cissokho would be the left sided central defender in a back 3 with Richardson as wing back? Senderos in the middle of the 3 as he uses the ball well?
droyd
so your saying this is Lambert nearly a his best? just slightly under ? we should go far then at least 12th when he’s firing on all cylinders 🙂
this sounds great I’m looking forward to more revelations from gulag AV
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-2726493/Stephen-Ireland-Aston-Villa-took-p-train-field-own.html?ITO=1490&ns_mchannel=rss&ns_campaign=1490
droyd
many of us didn’t fancy this man but we may have missed the boat
How much has Hughes changed Stoke City since taking over from Pulis?
‘‘The change in philosophy has been quite radical on playing style, transfer policy and setting ambitious targets… and meeting them.
‘‘He’s definitely a glass half-full man as opposed to Pulis, who was more glass-half-empty.
‘‘But he has also been very respectful of the past and his predecessor, in both words and deeds.
Mark,
I agree with your point, but the fact that Sanchez is a player in the Keane mould (sort of), then there is a ready connection.
Agreed, Keane could well have been involved in other signings too, but what I’m really suggesting is that Lambert doesn’t seem to do much in the way of selecting players to buy based on this and previous reports of how other signings were obtained.
It’s only a discussion point … we know very little about anything that goes on within the walls of VP in reality, so anything we talk about in terms of events behind the scenes are speculation.
No,Mr Ireland……you took the hiss,by picking up an abundance of ££££ and producing zilch in return.You have always taken the hiss,and no doubt you will do the same at Stoke,where you don`t seem to be able to get off the bench.You lied about a family beravement to give playing for your country.Jog on son,there is no one left to lie to.
Although some of last seasons performances (or lack off) had me raging, I do think Lambert has had his work cut out and I think he has far more to offer. I’m quietly optimistic we’ll do much better than most expect this season.
Or am I deluding myself again???? UTV
If we can get another winger or play maker in and everyone fit the team would be
……………..Guzan………………
Hutton…Vlaar…Okore…Chissoko….
N zog…..Sanchez…Delph…Richardson/New Winger..
…………………….Cole/New NO.10……
………………Benteke…………..
That is not a bad team at all.. we need Benteke back asap and firing.. with Bent and Kozak back up..
Ideally a No.10 would be brillaint.. would def fit our system and add to a decent middle two of Delph and Sanchez..
Give Grealish more game time too from the bench..
Really hope we get another decent attack minded player in before window shuts..
I know this is very hypothetical and dream land..
But imagine we get taken over eith 3 days of window left .. and have a mad few days of spending on Hernadez.. Dembele.. Agger.. Maxime Lestienne.. 🙂
steven Ireland. u r a joker.
didn’t think to use your initiative and spend time training yourself? u need a trainer to tell u how to?
Never heard of Google? what about the rest of the bomb squad? u could have trained with them.
bet the twat scores now
Team News
#AVFC: Guzan, Hutton, Vlaar [c], Senderos, Cissokho, Westwood, Delph, Richardson, N’Zogbia, Weimann, Agbonlahor.
#AVFC subs: Given, Baker, Clark, Bacuna, El Ahmadi, Bent, Grealish.
Happy it is a back four.. Sanchez can slot in next week..
Happy that N Zog is starting..
But FFS what is his love in with Weimann and Gabby.. think outside the box man..!
lionheart
its 433 I’m guessing that’s why, I’m actually disappointed Bent isn’t in
so much for man utd revival 1-2 swansea 🙂
JL
I don’t buy into the whole Lambert leaves buying players to others, the majority of the scouting yes but that’s the norm. for one how would you feel after the last bunch did so badly? wouldn’t you have said stuff this I can do better?
steamer, ST75, SWV, Liam
happy returns of the season lads hope your all keeping well
Mark,
What you and I might do doesn’t seem to equate to what PL does, not only in this matter but other things too! 🙂
Aah Wiemann and Gabby. Fuck you Lambert. Richardson as well. Jesus
Guess we will park the bus as usual. In the Stoke end now. Good away following. May e for once the players can give them something back
Hopefully Lambert won’t be with us long
frem
have a good day mate remember deep breaths and relax
ashley williams looks decent for swansea, midlands lad too
all I hope is gabby has cleared his bowels and regained some speed
At last have managed to catch up on all the posts here, since my last visit. I have yelled criticised and put Lambert down, but asmore and more has come out, and Lambert has now started saying what he really feels, he has my sympathy and think that this season he will come good. I am in agreement with the Droyd, and we all need to back him now. He could have walked away many times in the last 12 months or so, but I admire him. He came to Villa to a job and he has stuck to his guns, no matter what restraints have been placed on him, He has not done a MON or a Tony Pullis and walked out on the team and the fans. Give the guy a chance now, maybe we will see a very different Villa now that a lot of the shackles have come off.
So it’s here, we go again, unfortunately it’s been a poor summer, with both Lerner and Lambert still stinking the place out , I think most thought they would have gone by now. Both have failed and will leave sooner rather than later. Sanchez looks to be a decent signing , however looking at today’s line up, I’m not hopeful of much at the Britannia, Stoke easily did the double over us last term, and we really don’t look much better than last year . Okores is out, and it shows what a shit state we are in that Senderos walks in and starts, Gabby, Weimann up front don’t fill me with hope on the goal scoring front, and this from a team that only scored 39 goals last season. I’m going into the new season devoid of any hope, I just pray we are taken over and these fuckers leave soon.
Today I think it will be Stoke 2-1 Villa
frem. hope u get a view better than a post. and good on u 4 going to the away end.
I meant the Stoke end
come on boys! UTV
B62
The Samaritans are there if you need them mate, never feel your alone
Gabby cows arse banjo
You useless twat Gabby. A tap in and you miss
Retire
I’ll be a happy lad when Agbonlahor’s contract expires next summer. Woeful forward without his old pace.
Surely Robinson or Burke would pose more of a threat. Defence looking ok at this point. Might be a good idea to get some neck braces so the midfield have to look up
Oh and why is nzogbia always on the right ? He,s wasted there
Well lads should be 1 up at least, not exactly electric but neither are stoke
wahey! we’re giving them a game.
Been quite impress with the new boys. Senderos has kept it tidy and simple, holds the line with Vlaar much better than Baker and Clark and that’s from the much talked about experience he brings. Richardson has been lively and should have an assist to his name. Cissokho has been good getting up and down the field. It’s the old problems of Weimann and Agbonlahor’s lack of dynamism in their approach, poor use of set pieces and the central midfield staying too narrow in general that have hampered us but we should be 1-0 up in all fairness. Get Bent on we don’t need Gabby’s apparent work rate for this game.
beers? check.
glen moray? check.
villa looking half decent? check.
Josh
Your right gabby having zero effect no hold up and no threat, would even chance grealish he would torment stokes big lumps with the ball at his feet. Bent has to come on now
thanks swansea
Mark I phoned the Samaritans, it’s constantly engaged, I think Steamer has got them on speed dial
Ian
Ian and b62
yes?
Guess what you can’t put a smiley on from an iPad
And that’s 1-0 cancell the Samaritans
Qpr losing talk us through it ‘array
I’d be bringing Given in next game as well. Guzan has put us in some trouble today and his kicking is worse than before. We’ve got a big squad with options for the first time in years so if someone is not performing they should be dropped.
Guzman needs a wake up call, grealish coming on let’s hope crouch has amare
here we crouch and on. and bang it on his head.
jack grealish on to save the day?
Bloody hell a sensible sub
Grealish had to trust himself there and go it alone
loving the scores today are we top? 🙂
Vlaar and Senderos go together well. Just got to watch Senderos against the pacier, tricky forwards as his legs are made of wood. Hutton and Vlaar if they maintain todays standard however can cover him perfectly. Or we have Okore. Again, it’s all about using the squad and we’ve amassed a fairly balanced one particularly in defence if Ron stays. Another winger/forward or two and we have very good options and a decent first team.
Happy day. 1 down 37 to go. 🙂
Great Result, now if it comes out we have been sold and can move on up, this could be a top start.
Pity blues won and Albion got a point
josh
will be different against pace but then again we will have sanchez covering in front of those two. stoke had no idea how to get past us, didn’t move the ball around fast enough. full backs played well and centre halfs never got pulled out of position. if we can maintain that against better opposition and I mean top six we will pick up a few draws but can’t see us getting the wins as we break slower, I would love us to get troy deaney and a decent playmaker, even a second defensive mid would help
b62
let me fill that cup to half way for you mate wba were winning
second in the table come on palace get a draw 🙂
Frem
You have gone quiet. Are the Potters giving you a hiding after Villa beat them..!!!
United in the place they deserve and Villa second…!!!
Quite a nice start to the season..!!
Lambert has done very well since last season ended considering all the turmoil/uncertainty and he surely appreciates the support of Keano.
Big, athletic fullbacks who are putting in some decent crosses, nothing fancy; no more of these 150lb lightweights.
Experienced players who are desperate for another crack at the premier league: especially Hutton who looks like he is determined to stay in this league now he’s been given an unexpected chance (he was absolutely horrible the 1st go around but I will forgive even if I can’t forget).
Better balance of youth and veterans.
Defensive minded away performance yet always getting players into the box.
Had serious doubts about Sendeross but he’s a competitor no matter what else you say about him and he loves being at the Villa.
Nice to see Charlie given some license to roam and create.
Fun to watch an 18yr old Grealish running with the ball from his own half yet having the football brain to lay off a simple ball; if that were our old pal Tonev it would have been shanked at the corner flag.
It’s a shame Gary Gardner’s career has not progressed.
Great to start the season with 3 points because Oct and Nov’s fixtures are not kind to us and another win from the next two would really set us up nicely.
If we get a new owner in I’d like to see this new mgmt partnership stay and be given a chance as they’ve earned that right and it would appear we’ve finally started to lay a decent foundation.
Not saying everything is suddenly perfect but PL seems to have learned a few things (with some Keane influence perhaps) and we’re heading in the right direction at last it would appear.
UTV
one thing I noticed was both Lambert and Keane were up on the touchline numerous times berating the shitty reffing decisions
ronnie
I thought Grealish should of pushed in to the box instead of passing, the runner should of taken a player out wide with him but instead ran into the space Grealish needed, but grealish should of trusted his talent and gone for it, that will come in time he’s no Tonev
Yes Mark,
I watched the game on a mini netbook/notebook (pre tablet but around the same size screen) so I’ll trust your judgement on that one.
I was just pleased as punch that PL stuck him on when he did and that he went for that gallop; like you said he does need to trust his talent but sometimes very good players just play the simple ball when it’s there (Astronautivic looked like Tonev on steroids today and that’s a case in point) and it did result in a cross from Delph(?) right into the path of a waiting Bacuna who should really have done better(if I remember or even saw the sequence correctly).
He’s a thinly built lad and probably won’t get much bigger but if he could give us a player of the class of a Steve McManaman wouldn’t that bring some long overdue excitement back to Villa Park.
Here’s hoping we can make it two on the trot at VP against the Magpies.
ronnie
he reminds me of little, if he can get to that standard then we are talking star.
cant believe its so quiet on here must all be pissed
Mark/Anyone
I didn`t see the match,how did Hutton do today?Has he cut out or reduced the thuggery?What was his distribution like?Cheers.
brasil
hello mate, hutton was steady and played well generally he was like a, wait for it, full back!!!!!
3 points. Who’d have thought it?!
Seems like PL is using the squad he has and the new boys done well. Though I seem to remember typing the same thing about Luna when he scored against Arsenal!
One thing we so seem to have is options in all areas to allow us to vary the way we play. Maybe we have some fo the personal to deliver that this season to avoid become the counter attack team that better teams know how to overcome.
A plan B would be great.
forgot he got forward well too. the defence was much improved on all levels to be honest except guzan who was our worst player
Thanks Mark
All you need as a FB is to win it,give it and stay on your feet.Work within the B4 and hey presto we`ve found a FB after he`s been with us 3 (?) years.Glad to see S.(the victim)Ireland on the losing side.
Mark ,any chance of that £120 you owe me?
brasil
I see what your trying to do there but there’s no way there’s that much interest accrued on that 20p I dropped and you handed back to me nice try sunshine.
as for hutton I don’t actually believe its him or he’s been on a two year how to play fullback course. Ireland looked like the only stoke player that cared he well hates us, good 🙂
Arsenal are a team of midgets, no offence to any midgets who don’t want to be associated with Arsenal.
can’t wait to see how Sanchez fits in and how it will affect our home set up. away will probably stay as today but with a forward up top 🙂
Good result/from all accounts a decent performance.
Away from the game and club, and to things loser to home.
Today was the first game of the season, and no new post, as in previous seasons previewing the game and in our pomp( AVL wise) offering up a review no matter what the result.
I hope Matt is ok, and I fully understand he is busy work wise , this is a great blog/forum and I don’t want it to deteriorate or go under. I fully understand that we have lost some writers for various reasons, perhaps the masses could proffer up a few pieces 😉 thee are a few on here with great knowledge and opinion.
Mark define midget?? At 5ft 7″ I prefer dwarf 😉
b62
sorry mate I was sat down when we met and you looked quite tall, and as far as the dwarf thing there are special sites on the web I’m told, whatever floats your boat
🙂
excellent result and a supprisingly measured performance
i was impessed with sissokho and the back 4 in general
lets hope we can build on today and improve further
vtid
Frem
Can we have your players ratings?
runtingz
question is who makes way for Sanchez?
churchill
you live
Guzan 4 Richardson 8 gabby 5 the rest 7
B62: Good result/from all accounts a decent performance
Effort-wise, yes. And that is important.
But the game was more like ping-ball than soccer.
It can get better tho…