brummie

Us and Dempsey is a smokescreen to show Genk we've other options if they don't get sensible on the price for Benteke.

I'd love to see Stephen Warnock to anyone.

This is about right for me. We're experimenting and getting used to an entirely new style, largely with players who aren't used to playing in that style. We show moments of extreme promise, but also moments of real weakness. I actually think playing a team like you would suit us much more than a "down your throat" team like West Ham on the first day, but even so, you're too gelled as a team for us. I think it'll be 2-0, possibly 3-1

Really? Fletcher is a bog standard PL striker they've paid well over the top for. Johnson is decent, if erratic. Cuellar is really about as average as it gets at RB (which is where he'll play mos tof the season). Saha is about 72 years old, and frail

When they go into administration. Here's a question that I should probably put in the daft football questions thread, but, most football clubs are in a lot of debt, certainly the ones in the PL. They're in this debt because obviously their owners have taken out loans rather than paying from their own pocket. Since the financial meltdown do we know if banks are still as willing to loan money to clubs? A lot of clubs, the owner has lent the money to the club. So, Villa's debts are all to Randy Lerner, which means that should he sell the club, those injections of cash will show as loans which still need to be paid back, which is as it should be. Clubs who go and borrow money from commercial sources are really asking for it.

This is a brilliant article. It is about what Lambert is trying to change with us, primarily, but it is also about MON's antiquated approach to the game, and is something Sunderland fans should really be reading. http://fourfourtwo.com/blogs/statszone/archive/2012/08/30/lambert-tries-to-drag-anachronistic-villa-into-modernity.aspx

Only difference is you occasionally get clubs other than the predictable ones in the final, and sometimes winning it.

What do you reckon of Villa this season, brummie? Started out pretty badly but I caught out a couple of preseason friendlies and you looked actually exciting there. Fragile like paper tissue, but exciting. Not expecting anything this season, it's got to be about putting the work in to transform the club, and the way we play. First game of the season, against West Ham, we passed around excellently for much of the game. I can't remember the last time we had 65% possession. Like you said, though, fragile. The squad isn't strong enough, we have got to add bodies this week.

Ha ha ha, excellent!

Hi, Martin, how you settling in the north east?

I think it is time to kill off the League Cup. Nobody gives a shit any more, at least until they get to the semi finals. 15k at our place last night, including 2,900 Tranmere fans. Although not helped by 20 quid tickets. That's a nice reduction, but more than that match is worth. Anyway, re last weekend, we were dross but Everton were superb. Best Everton performance I've seen since the mid 80s team. They'll do well this season, if they can avoid injuries, 5th or 6th. Unfortunately, I reckon that'll be the point Moyes is offered a really good job, and leaves.

I would be mortified The thing they should be most worried about is that MON has learned absolutely nothing, and is making the same expensive moves he always has done. It's not so much about 14m for Fletcher being over the top, it is that it's a lazy signing - uk based, too much, big money etc etc, in other words, exactly like I've been banging on about for ages.

Not really. What happened with us was, away from home, we'd soak up pressure and break on the counter attack, using the pace we had up front. It worked fantastically, and we must have had one of the best away records in the league, certainly the last 3 seasons. The problem was, once teams suss out that that's how you play, when they come to your place, they almost never play into your hands, so they'll frequently sit back rather than press you, and invite you to open them up. The problem was that for a good three years at home, we'd frequently toil, struggle and fail to unlock sides like that, which meant we had a terrible low goal tally at home. The last two seasons, we scored - I think - 28 goals at home, but both those years there were two 5-0 thrashings of relegation fodder, which left 18 goals stretched against 17 home matches, a goal a game basically. When people went on about "them Villa fans moaning about MON", they were basically talking about the football at home, which for ages was turgid crap to watch, and produced hardly any goals.

I honestly mean this, but he's exceeded his own low standards with that one. No mistake at all. I reckon about 70% likely we'll see a £10m bid for McGeady on deadline day, what do you think? I would be entirely unsurprised.

I honestly mean this, but he's exceeded his own low standards with that one. No mistake at all.

Oops, it was actually three days ago. Still...

At 15.25 today, it will be EXACTLY one year since Heskey last scored. True fact, fact fans.

That's fucking ridiculous. How can anyone think that's true? I just don't believe for one single moment that MON will sign a croatian fullback. Not unless he's been living in Stevenage or Basildon or somewhere nice and British for a few years. MON's idea of scouting a player is testing him on the last two years of Eastenders.

Hmm, fair point, but then again he sacked Dalglish, which shows a fair amount of cojones in that part of the world.

I reckon he'll be gone well before the end of the season.

What would you say was his worst? Re-coker 8.5 from west ham? Cuellar 8 mill from rangers? Davies 7.5 mill from wba? Young 5 mil from boro? Heskey 4 mil from wigan? Davies was 9.5m, not 7.5 However, I think if you look at the broader picture, Heskey is the worst. Firstly, we quite blatantly needed a striker to push on from 6th. Bent went to Sunderland for 10m. Martin signed Marlon Harewood for 4m, and then Heskey. Secondly, there's the question of age. Heskey was given a 3.5 year contract, when he was about to turn 32, on 65k a week. I shall say no more.

So long as they sign Warnock, I don't care. Good start for us, then utterly, utterly awful for over two entire years.

I observe MON has made no major change to his transfer policy. 14m for Fletcher? If anything, that's even more desperate than his most desperate moments with us.

Did anyone listen to James Richardson's podcast on the Guardian this week? They were indulging in some piss take re why Sunderland can't sign players - basically because they'd have to live in Sunderland. Barry Glendenning was alluding to there being a nice hotel in the area that a few of the players stay in during the week.

Crazy that it's so long ago. Think it's the fact he looks so deceptively young, he's one of those that I still seem to picture as a 23 year old trying to fulfill his potential. How the fuck has he managed to last at Spurs for 8 years now!? We had him on loan last season. I think we got one substitute appearance out of him until he got injured and was out the rest of the season.