brummie

You have easily enough good players to not be anywhere near the relegation places. Watching the match last night it was pretty gobsmacking to see largely the same bunch of players turn out such a half-arsed, not bothered, unmotivated performance, much as they did last season. When you were making signings last year, you were the envy of a good chunk of the league for having identified so many decent French players, and then the same last January when you brought in Sissoko. I specifically remember, for example, on numerous occasions as the January window closed and you and us were both struggling, hearing Villa fans reflect that you had successfully bought yourselves out of trouble. You need new faces in now, that's obvious, but there is a long way from that state of affairs to what you have now, which is somehow managing to fashion out of a decent squad of players, a side which looks like considerably less than the sum of its parts. Baffling.

Available and cheap: http://i.telegraph.co.uk/multimedia/archive/02096/stepehen-ireland_2096300b.jpg

Nah. That'd be at odds with Arsenal's Groundhog Season they've had on repeat for a few years. They'll do sufficiently well - only just - in the CL to contribute enough to the usual papering over of the cracks. It's the Arsenal way.

I just saw Pardew talking about the "disrespectful" bid for Cabaye. I don't get that. How is it disrespectful? It is a laughably low bid which nobody expects to be successful, but I don't see why a manager of a PL club should be surprised to receive a bid for one of his players at any point during the transfer window. Then the whole "we prepared for three days with Cabaye" yada yada yada spiel is a pretty transparent piece of nonsense. He looks like he's squirming and making excuses after one game of the season. I can see why you'd find him annoying.

I didn't see the whole thing, but dived in and out of it, and from what I saw there didn't look to be much effort or desire there. If it was a fixture later in the season you might say it was one where the players looked like they were trying to get the manager sacked.

I remember how derisory i felt when we signed MFH (Marlon Fucking Harewood).

Do you believe Arsenals £10m for Cabaye and £6m for Williams were arrogant? Or will you choose to ignore those bids and forget they were ever made because it isn't as cliche to shit on Arsenal? Did I mention Arsenal? Clown. That's my point. You say we're arrogant for making a £28m bid but most clubs, i.e. Arsenal, start low when they begin negotiations (not that I think we've bid low.) Exactly - Arsenal. How's that strategy working out for them these days?

See, I know what you mean by saying they are worth more to Everton, but that's the whole point - the second bit doesn't really come into it. Everton don't need to even consider what would be the realistic value of those players on the open market, because that's not what they are dealing with - the only thing that matters to them is how much Fellaini and Baines are worth to them. Everton have no obligation to provide "value" in the transfer market. I fully understand that, but I believe we have bid market value for these players expecting a counter offer closer to Evertons worth of these players. I don't see how a £28m bid is arrogant or derisory, even if it wasn't the receiving teams estimation of their players. It might not be derisory for you and I, but that's not the point, Everton are saying that they find the bid derisory - ie in terms of what they think the players are worth, and I'd imagine it also has something to do with Moyes having good reason to know how much they'd be likely to let them go for.

It's pretty obvious what is going on. They get tremendous stick from their fans on Saturday, so Monday morning, Arsene is hitting up google or maybe browsing Fifa Ultimate Team, looking to see where he can buy someone. Anyone, just get someone in.

See, I know what you mean by saying they are worth more to Everton, but that's the whole point - the second bit doesn't really come into it. Everton don't need to even consider what would be the realistic value of those players on the open market, because that's not what they are dealing with - the only thing that matters to them is how much Fellaini and Baines are worth to them. Everton have no obligation to provide "value" in the transfer market. You also have to remember, you are talking about Everton's two most important players, two weeks before the transfer window closed. If there was a real desire from Man United to get these two players in, maybe they should have made their move weeks ago? Everton are now going to do what we did with Benteke, what Liverpool are doing with Suarez, and what Spurs appear to be doing with Bale - making it clear how important those players are to them, and really, who can blame them?

As an outsider, I'd say 12m is an absolute joke. It is interesting seeing what is happening so far this season - clubs insisting on big, big money before they'll move on their key players, and there seems to be less movement as a result.

Yeah, I thought similar, "hang on, they mean 28m for the pair?" - as if that's going to get accepted.

This MOTD2 is way way way better than it used to be. The funny bits at the end, ha ha ha, awesome. Not at all assuming we're an audience of absolute fucking cretins.

Gus Poyet is odd. His accent sounds like he arrived in the country for the first time yesterday, but if you listen to what he's actually saying, it is grammatically pretty good.

The "there aren't players good enough out there to buy" argument is absolutely nonsense. It doesn't stand up to even the most cursory examination.

Remember where you are. Yeah, I know but hey ho, you know what I mean ...

I love Kevin Phillips. He'd still be scoring at 50 let alone 40 given the chance.

I was enjoying the return of Premier League football, but the reminder that Chelsea FC still exist has taken the shine off it.

This assessment by Pat Nevin of Mourinho is marvellous stuff. Just marvellous.

Away kit. I think it's actually not too bad. Of course, being a grown adult, I'm against being seen dead in a replica kit but hey ho.... Looks a bit "busy" if you know what I mean Yeah, I do. I also wonder if the reason we've got a third kit this year (last season's away kit, that bright green thing) is because the away shirt is a bit too close to the home shirt (ie claret-ish bits) for when we play West Ham. If you squint at the new home kit, it is lovely, and the positioning of the circular bit above the sponsor's name makes it look like our old badge in the middle, thus rendering it like the European Cup winning season kit. Then when you look closer, there's far too much fussy bollocks on it.

Away kit. I think it's actually not too bad. Of course, being a grown adult, I'm against being seen dead in a replica kit but hey ho....

Tell you what, if there's one thing that sums up us under Lambert, it is this. You're the Villa left back, you're away at Arsenal, you're winning 2-1, you're under the cosh quite a bit, but there are 85 minutes gone, you just need to stay back, keep a tight line, play it safe and see out the next few minutes and take the three points. Instead of that, you find yourself galloping up the pitch and scoring a third. Don't get me wrong, we're still plenty flaky at the back, and when we go to Chelsea in midweek, neither a win or an 8-0 defeat would surprise me, but fuck, it might be nerve-jangling, terrifying stuff from time to time, but it is never boring.

It's like MON is operating the graphics.

See also: O'Neill, Martin.

Sadly, that's what is likely to happen when you get anywhere near Benteke. Watch the last defender here from the friendly against Malaga last week. Ended up with a broken collar bone. Not to mention Chris Smalling last season: