I’m sure I don’t need to tell anyone how big a game this is.
But the fact is a lot rides on it, as it really could be a season defining game.
It’s quite simple for me.
If we can win this one, it might bode well in giving us a real confidence boost ahead of what would normally be some very winnable games that follow.
But if we lose, you have to wonder how much it will affect a side that already seem incredibly low in confidence, especially when it comes to the attack side of our game.
Enough of telling you what you already know though, so on to squad news;
I don’t think we have any major problems now, do we?
Vlaar’s fit and could well start, if Lambert feels he’s sharp enough.
And of course, Benteke is also available after being dropped on Saturday. I’d play him in this one, personally.
As for Hull, they have new signing Dame N’Doye available and striker Nikica Jelavic might be ready for a return after his knee injury.
Thoughts?
Well, I didn’t see the Man City – Hull game, so the question is did Hull get lucky or actually play well when they got that point? From what I’ve read, they played pretty well at the back and put in a resolute display.
But the important point is, they seemed dejected after City equalised.
Which could prove telling.
In my opinion, a lot will boil down to which side feel more up for it.
How much did Okore’s goal mean to us against Chelsea? And did it give us any extra confidence?
The truth is, I can’t see past a draw, either 0-0 or 1-1.
I just don’t believe the way we play will lead to us beating Hull. We always seem to do poorly against the teams around us after all, don’t we?
Although, in fairness with two wins in something like twenty, you could probably say we don’t do well against anyone.
And I don’t believe Lambert has enough about him to pull anything out of the bag, as in trying something different, to get the result.
I’d actually take that draw, something I can hardly believe I’m saying, but that’s what we’re down to.
I see Lambert has been defending Cleverley today.
My view’s fairly straightforward there. While I appreciate that the manager should defend his players, how Cleverley, who has played lots of games, gets a start over Bacuna, who has actually created something in his rare appearances, is just beyond me.
Cleverley has had lots of time to get into the swing, but he’s been awful in going forward.
Unless the priority is just to stop the opposition scoring.
In which case he’s only been poor.
He needs dropping, the same as Lambert is quick to drop others, even though they’ve offered way more.
It’s no wonder I want Lambert out.
Lambert still believes the club will be fine,how fucking deluded can one individual be.just seen on my local news channel talking to fans after the game they want his head now about fucking time Sunday will be a joke games on the Tele hopefully no one turns up fuck off Lerner & take your chimp with you.
It’s the longest dying act ever seen; another worst ever record for a Lambert who will leave with more unwanted records than any manager in the history of the football league. That’s a record in itself – you couldn’t make this sh*t up. Roy of the Rovers anyone 🙂
Hitchy you’re a genius, Roy Race what a manager won the title in 78 and if hadn’t seriously wounded by that lone gunman in 81(and of course the terrorist bomb of 86 and the unfortunate earthquake of 88) he’d of built a dynasty that’d lasted a 1000 years.
Get him in.
You bloody trainspotter BWS!!!! Lol!!!
I’d love to see a Flying Scotsman, well one flying out of Villa Park at 100 mph!
😀
For fuck sake BWS , I can’t stop coughing with that its a cracker. Flying Scotsman. Love it.
🙂 Cheers Bill, I do me best.
We have a chance now with FA cup weekend to get rid, get a new manager in and he would have a good week with the team before the next league game.
Who to get in that is the question? Who is out their and wants the challange.
I would try and get Steve Mclaren, great coach
McLaren for me too
McClaren is settled. He won’t be stupid enough to move to our gaff. Especially under Lerner…
And with anti feelings last time he was mooted as Villa manager not a chance – and look who we eventually ended up with!
Any club would of sacked Lambert by now so why hasn’t Lerner sacked Lambert?Maybe it’s in Lamberts contract just to stay in the Premier League on a low budget.While we pay £45 a game Randy Lerner is selfishly ruining AVFC without a care just so he can get his money back.Lerner stays away because he is guilty of trying to get his money back without protecting AVFCs status while we the supporters get on Lamberts back.Lerner did exactly the same to Mcleish.Lerner has been slowly wrecking AVFC like a poisoner slowly kills somebody.While we the loyal supporter continuously unselfishly pay £45 a game into the club Lerner has prayed on our loyalty to AVFC and treated the club like a loan shark.
I stopped going over two years ago because you could see what L&L were doing. I still stick by the argument that if you attend, you back the owner. Look at Scudamore yeaterday complaining about empty seats. It’s the only way to get through to the twat – embarrass him. If we go down, the crowd should hold upside down pound/dollar signs!!!
That’s what I say ,don’t go don’t buy, and it they ring tell them to fuck off.
Lerner doesn’t care what league we are in.Lerner can keep recouping his losses in the championship or even League one.Then when he has recouped ALL his losses and a bit more he will sell AVFC whatever league we are in for a pittance and there’s nothing we can do about it.Its called Killing me softly useless business man I think not more like a loan shark
Agreed Jay Dee – sell assets (players), take the parachute payments and put the club in administration, then sell of BH etc. we have no club, just a memory and he makes a return on his investment!
Don’t forget you heard this conspiracy theory here first 🙂
So a training facility makes the club?
BWS you missed the etc after BH and it was meant to be ‘tongue in cheek’
Andy Gray says no reason to charge fans so much to attend…oh and thinks were are doomed………….http://talksport.com/football/exclusive-gray-fears-relegation-aston-villa-after-lack-january-additions-150203134942
everybodys blaming lerner hes not putting out the team to play these tactics its obvious the players cant play something alien to them but they must be being told play my way or go over there and play with grealish, n’zogbia,bacuna, lowton, gardner, bent,robinson,helanuis,tonev,sylla,and probably many more i have missed.i can imagine keen,telling lambert that these tactics are shit and gabby sticking up for them because he gets undeserved game time, i suppose we have to wait for another book before we find out just what is happening down at villa park
sorry signed in wrong
everybodys blaming lerner hes not putting out the team to play these tactics its obvious the players cant play something alien to them but they must be being told play my way or go over there and play with grealish, n’zogbia,bacuna, lowton, gardner, bent,robinson,helanuis,tonev,sylla,and probably many more i have missed.i can imagine keen,telling lambert that these tactics are shit and gabby sticking up for them because he gets undeserved game time, i suppose we have to wait for another book before we find out just what is happening down at villa park
Randy Lerner doesn’t care about Team,manager,what league we are in all AVFC is to Lerner now is a money,losses recoupment tool.Lerner does not care about AVFC anymore.Lerner can recoup his losses whoever is the manager in whatever league.If he recoups all and we are in say league one he can then sell small and still get a profit out of AVFC.Hes being ruthless yanks are known for destroying firms,companies without caring once they have had enough just so they get their money back and make some profit.
Lambert’s managed to break a couple more records this week –
José Mourinho has now won a game at VP
Villa have lost to Hull.
Paul does your talent know no bounds?
Had a beer with a good mate last night and we sat down and wroke the villa team down, and on paper it is not a bad team. in fact it is a top half table team, I’m not saying its champions league quality, but good enough to get by without sweating.
So please Mr. lambert explain to us why we play the worst football in the EPL and the worst scoring record in History?????
If you are a decent man you would do the right thing and leave our Great Club.
Well it looks like Lambert will not be fired, and he is unlikely to quit. i suspect he will eventually get fired at the end of the season, particularly if we go down.
I am absolutely convinced we will be relegated. The club is defeated from the top down. The problems within the team are blindingly obvious but Lambert has shown week in week out that he can’t sort them. The club is in a state of paralysis. Lerner won’t spend (too late now) and won’t fire Lambert. Lambert has been in a downward spiral of poor results resulting in ever more cautious play, playing players out of position in systems that do not suit us. With every defeat it just get’s worse. A forward line that couldn’t hit a barn door even if there were three barn doors side by side, a midfield that gets a nose bleed in the attacking third. You would be hard pressed to somehow do worse.
I have given up any hope that we can get out of this. The squad is good enough (without being exceptional) and our league position isn’t so bad that it’s unsurvivable. It’s irrelevant though as Lambert is not going to get us out of this. The whole club reeks of the stench of relegation.
Is it a top half team though? I like yourself keep thinking the same but are we being biased because it’s Aston Villa? Ultimately the team is as good as the position in the league is it not?
Adam I speak to other Club Fans and they all seem to agree we have a mid table squad…. maybe its because they feel sorry for me.
I think our problem is not seeing the full picture what is going on here at AVFC.Regardless of manager,relegation or league Lerner has openly said he wants out.Lerner has to look a little bit still interested so we the supporters keep putting money into his “Recoupment & Losses”pot.Why would Lerner suddenly change strategy if we get relegated?Doesnt matter now to Lerner as he’s takien a massive hit in his divorce he has no millions to spend anymore on his broken playtoy that is Aston Villa.Lerner also owns a shopping mall amongst other things in America and that’s where his bread and butter lies in America.So put Villa up for sale at a massive price that nobody will be interested in to look like he is doing the right thing whilst recouping his losses at the cost of AVFC.We could go as low as League 1 and it wouldn’t matter to Lerner just so long as he gets his money back long term then sell cheap after recouping all.This runs way way deeper than the managers he employs with ridiculous restrictions he’s getting his money back from those restrictions.Its got nothing to do with financial fair play.I fear Lerner is out to recoup all his losses at whatever cost to AVFC.
JD I don’t get how that works.
So we get relegated and stay down, the sky money stop coming in and the parachute payments finish. We are then a lot less of an appealing proposition to any sponsors/ advertising, so that revenue stream drops.
So just how would he recoup his loses?
Lerners been cutting costs since 2010 slowly but stringently.Thats 5 years ago.Why do you think Lambert hasn’t been sacked yet?Lerners openly said he wants out.Hes only planning to be around for say another couple of years.It doesn’t matter to Lerner he’s not going to change his money recoupment strategy if we get relegated.Why do you think that guys been brought in to maximise the brand sales of AVFC.Hes getting out and it doesn’t matter to what cost to AVFC.How do teams in the Championship make money they are not pin pot money clubs.Lerner knows how to take believe me and that’s what he’s doing right now.I know what you are saying but Lerner can still take from the club regardless of league.When he is done taking and we are floundering in the lower depths of League 1 you will see what I mean.Lerner doesn’t have to be in the Premier league to recoup if he wants out which he does.
Well good luck to him with that JD cause he’s got two hopes and one of them is Bob.
Have a read of this -http://www.theguardian.com/news/datablog/2014/may/22/championship-club-accounts-profit-loss-and-the-wage-bill
We go down (and stay down) and he can kiss goodbye to his millions.
Hmmmm can’t understand that one, I dislike what Lerner has done to our club as much as anyone, but he is a man with a rich history of banking so can probably utilise a spreadsheet or two…. If we go down he will lose millions, no sky money, decreased gate receipts, fall in revenue when he has just employed two revenue generators to the board…
great article BWS, I think it shows that Lerner will not want us relegated, so lets hope he is in his Jetstream on his way to lob Lambert.
Yep, and that’s why I think Lambert’s a dead man walking.
JD I agree and disagree…
Lerner has put Lambert under massive financial constraints due to his excitement when buying the club and now us fans are being punished due to his naivety in football….
But Lambert has had cash and our squad is not that bad (mid table), he has no technical ability and his man management is now showing through by blaming his players.
I think Lerner would sh1t himself if the Villa were relegated, but he seems to always react to problems rather than see them coming (appt then sacking Mcleish & trying to buy Lambert after the Arse game to name but a few)…. He can now see us getting relegated and in Fox I can only hope he will be told we are in the brown stuff….. And sack the buffoon, which is the best outcome we can hope for at the moment.
He’ll change strategy if we go down simply because it will take decades foe him to recoup his cash without the EPL TV money…
To shit himself if we got relegated would mean he still has to care about the fate of AVFC.The way we have declined rapidly is testament to the fact Lerner does not care.Our undoing lies within thinking that Lerner still cares about our great club he does not.Our loyalty is our undoing.Our squad is biastly being touted around as a mid table squad why it’s shit low budget bargain take a chance on lost their way players.The pattern in restrictions has been the undoing of now Mcleish & Lambert ok maybe Lambert could of done better but the pattern remains the same the supporters turn on the monkey not the organ grinder.Fail to see this pattern and not face up to Lerner doesn’t give a flying fuck anymore and you have yourself believing it’s all the managers fault the way Lerner likes it.Lerner is ruthlessly recouping his losses with no regard of our fate we will drop like a stone until Lerner has gone.UTV
Throughout their slide down the table – they were top in heady August – Lambert has maintained an unshakeable belief that Villa will not go down. He reiterated it here, although there was also the admission that his side may have to rethink their way of playing having dropped into the drop zone for the first time in 2014-15.
“I totally 100% believe that the football club will be fine. There’s good players in the dressing room, we are just missing that little bit in the final third,” Lambert said. “These are the biggest 13 games of our careers coming up. Everybody is going to have to show character from me right down. Big players rise to it anyway and this will be a test for everybody. This is not a time for pretty football. You have to win ugly. No matter how we do it we have to win.”
Is the the piece you meat BWS ? He’s delerius mate.
I get it now Bill, tut silly me – for the past 25 games we’ve just been f**king about that’s why we conceded 34 and scored 12 but now we’re going to see ‘the real Villa’.
Can’t wait Bill, I’m shaking with trepidation.
I’m even going to draw out next years season tickets just to keep my best seats, Does that thick twat live on Mars he’s never right in the head. Sticks out a mile to me his so called team don’t fucking like him, that’s why we don’t win. The day he goes is the day we win, I hope its soon.
its the bloody 13 cup finals comment from Lambert that proves he has gone completely mad…. I wonder as its cup final time we should play how we did against Bradford, Sheffield Utd or Leyton Orient
We have 13 games to play and our last 13 games we amassed a staggering 10 points and we are getting worse……So can we survive on 32 points if… NO…. but he still thinks we will survive.. the bloke is deluded
Keep watching the news and no sign of Lambert’s resignation or sacking.
He started the job in hope which soon turned into a long drawn out tragedy and is finally ending in a complete farce.
How in f***’s name does he still have a job?
Birmingham Mail have finally turned by asking for Lambert to go.
Took them long enough.
http://www.birminghammail.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/birmingham-mail-says—aston-8624784?
ESPN are sticking the boot in too (come on Randy do the right thing)
http://www.espnfc.co.uk/club/aston-villa/362/blog/post/2293606/how-on-earth-is-lambert-still-manager?
But on the mail poll 23% still say back him financially to do a job. Has Lambert got all his family voting for him? No it’s deluded Villa fans-heaven help us!
I can not believe that there are fans still supporting Lambert. These fans are more deluded than Lambert himself.
Can anyone survive indefinitely the pressure mounting on Lambert – actually I don’t think they can. If Fox and the new Commercial Director aren’t rattling the sabre in front of Lerner, they should be before their careers get a kicking it will be difficult to recover from.
I think that 23% are noses taking the piss, some great comments on there I love this one
“Lambert must stay – I’ve backed Villa to take the drop at 11/4”
Out of order but funny.
I was just about to say that 23% are blue noses, BWS , I still cannot believe he’s still at Villa, why haven’t the board got involved are they lambs, who in their right mind back or invest to a dying club?
you predicted the correct score last night bws so your on form lmao.
i give up, nothing left to say on the matter. crazy times of the game i thought, villa were crap and so were hull, in the end we made hull look like brazil. i can’t believe lambert hasn’t been sacked today. its no good blaming lambert for not quitting. i wouldn’t quit, but if this status quo continues, we haven’t a chance of avoiding the drop.
what the fook is lerner waiting for, the players have clearly downed the tools. which is a disgrace in itself. they play for the club, they play for the fans. if they have a problem with the manager, they should go above his head to sort the issues.
heard the (formerpool)german midfielder on talk sport slag off the average players in premier and their wages will increase with the tv increase and not the tickets for the fans , he named gabby as example, mr gray claimed we are doomed also.
p.s whats with our players and corners or basic crossing. we had 7 or 8 corners, 3 different players took um and not one managed to cross a decent ball. mr redcrapp leaves his role and rangers record a away win, its a disgrace what these players are doing, why don’t we promote the players to manage themselves. that way they will try and save our once proud club
Mate I’m sure he’s aleady a legend the other side of the city.
I have another theory when Lambert signed his new 4 year deal because of the restrictions he is under from Lerner wonder whether there was a line in it that bars him from the sack if Villa are relegated?
Mr Fox, if you’re reading this take your own advice and ‘flip the coin’.
You won’t be blamed for taking action but you sure as hell will for standing by and watching Lambert destroy this great club. You are the CEO – act like one.