Stick With Paul Lambert

Very harsh on Bent. He came on for 20 minutes when the ball was almost constantly in our own penalty area. Apart from that, a well thought-out piece which I agree with.

Bent seems to split opinion, I'm with you romanianvillan, I like the player!

It goes without saying that fans should be sticking with Paul Lambert...the vast majority wanted him in charge!!! The bottom line is that our squad is on par with those from 15th and down, and anyone who thinks otherwise needs a reality check. Our generation of youngsters coming through are not necessarily as good as most (myself included) originally thought. Albrighton, Clark, Bannan, Lichaj, the Fonz et al have 2 years of Premier League experience behind them now, we can't keep using the excuse that they are complete novices. Despite his excellent work ethic, Holman seems to be lacking when it comes to his skill on the ball, Gabby is a shell of his former self and Bent seems to be out of favour, which is no surprise when we have a team who has won 2 league games in 2012, and needs players who will graft and work to maintain a certain shape. Rant over, Guzan has proven that MON was right to bring him to England, he just needed someone to believe in him, Vlaar looks solid and Benteke is a handful, and every game so far has found himself in positions with a good opportunity to score. I still think we'll be fine, but more investment in Jan is needed I feel.

AS Franco said it is ludicrous to even consider getting rid of PL even if the unthinkable happened Id stick with him... Its like anything if we can see it theres no doubt PL sees the problems we face I dont think he wants to get rid of Bent and I dont see him letting him go... I think PL looks at our team and thinks we are too weak to start Bent however we are getting to the point where he is going to have to bite the bullet and play Bent and Benteke together... B&B may not be as powerful as Cisse and Ba but they have that potential... All our problems lie in MF the backline is is not as strong as we would like but its better than the teams around us... Our MF is below par in both attack and defence and any attempt to make it better one way or the other makes it imbalanced... Losing Petrov has left a gapping hole in MF the time of Carruthers is among us Im not sure if he is injured or not but when he is fit we should give him a blast at RM... IMO Albie is useless to us when we are struggling...

Can I add that this isn't based on just the last game, this is based on all of the performances over the first 3 months of the season

If they carry on the way they are, they'll be down well before Easter.... more like Burns Night.

Who said we should sack PL?!? We are a very long way away from that right now. Also why are so many people so down on Bent? "Looks disinterested / Bent apart the commitment can not be questioned"?!?! Gob smacked.

444 -- Many of us are hoping that Lambo will turn Villa into a 'top team' so the club doesn't have to sell players like Benteke. Hopefully, the club will be attracting top talent not selling it. If Villa are going to be a feeder club for 'top' teams what is the point? This is Villa -- former champions of Europe -- we're talking about after all.

TelfordVilla calls it right. We have who we have until January at least and so all we can do is support the manager and the players. Post-mortem in May whether we do stay up (and 17th would do for me) or we drop. Having said all that we should not be having these sort of discussions about A.V.F.C. We are in a p*ss poor position and oh so predictable once Lambert and his bargain basement boys were in place.

The salient point of all the troubles at Villa Park this season isn't whether we stick with Lambert, it is whether the chairman backs him. It should also be stated that, although there is never a good time to be relegated, this is the absolute worst season to get relegated. TV revenue goes up 70% next year and any team that ends up missing out on that bumper payday will end up playing catch up for about 10 years afterwards. The only way to address that would be, assuming promotion was achieved fairly soon, for said clubs chairman to dig deep in their own pockets to close the gap and try and recoup at a later date once the club is stable in the Premiership again. Based on recent behaviours and attitudes can anyone see Randy doing that? Or is it more likely he, or should I say his mouthpiece Pork Face Faulkner, will keep rabbitting on about things like record kit deals (which I assume have clauses in reducing the money paid to Villa in the event of relegation, likewise the shirt sponsorship with Genting) which have nothing to do with the players in the squad and quality of football on the pitch. I find it ridiculous that everyone at the club had a look at our playing squad and thought 'They should see us safe this year', when anyone with a modicum of common sense could see an inexperienced lightweight squad that was likely to be in the position they are now. Their collective lack of nouse in the transfer market has been evident under the last 3 managers, always being reactive and buying late (meaning we have had to pay a premium to get the players in - Bent for £24million anyone?) rather than planning ahead and allowing players time to bed in in pre-season Randy seems to be trying to replicate Man Utd in the mid 90's, but without putting his hand in his pocket. Man Utd may have won stuff with a team which included plenty of youth players - Beckham, Neville x 2, Scholes, Butt et al, but these were supplemented by high quality senior players - Schmeichel, Irwin, Keane, Ince, Giggs, Cantona etc, and did it from a position of strength having won plenty of trophies in the preceding years. The senior players in our squad are not of this quality and Albrighton, Herd and the new arrivals are never going to be as good as their counterparts. If you want to improve Villa, try doing something other than reading Fergie's biography like appointing a Chief Executive who knows something about football and backing your Manager. A conservative estimate of the interest paid on your cash wealth is between £25-30million per year, yet we are unable to match the wages paid by teams like Fulham and QPR?

Thanks VillaWillRiseAgain. If he isn't willing to put his own money in he is as much use as a chairman as you or I.

Don't think that we're that far off Merlin. 20 mills worth of experience will repay itself by being passed on to the kids. I concur VWRA. Good post Heavy D!!