Gylfi's goal was great though. That hit reminded me of his goal vs Hull.

Funnily enough I wanted Anichebe at Spurs back when he was at Everton. He has gone massively downhill ever since though.

Yeah true enough, it can be frustrating on here at times but we've all got valid opinions.. maybe there's one or two that want a new team every transfer window but they're best ignored.

For me the dream is to sell Ade and replace him with A. Striker. Vlad to be replaced by Dier/Veljkovic. We've got enough in midfield with everyone available imo, and getting a CM to gel mid season could cause more problems than it solves.

Anichebe done the job today, Thudd wanted Long IIRC.. Right now I'm confident we've got 2 strikers that could leave and be replaced by either of them two and we'd be better off.

Sometimes just bringing in a fresh face,.even if they're not a big name can work - changing the dressing room chemistry and waking up those going through the motions.

I mean, Nelsen and Saha were past it but they very nearly did the job!

Yeh true, its not uncommon for average players to join a club and have high initial success like Jevlavic/Cisse etc. It's just whether or not the short-term outweighs the long-term benefits.

That's a fair point too, we could do without more 'dead wood' but I'd sooner we took a punt than stuck with the all too predictable.. those short term benefits could be a trophy or a season in the CL.

I know Chronic has a point too - signings guarantee nothing, but we've got our best XI sorted now, and Kane is our only real threat up front.

Which is why I don't quite get the animosity from the football-manager fans on here, slating Levy after a bad result (often keep quiet after a win). We need to spend sensibly, we have enough waste in our squad already.
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Thats all some posters on here say is buy buy buy they seem unable to handle the concept that this needs money.

All we have done now for 5 or 6 years is spend money like its going out of fashion and still we are talking about most of the players we have bought not being good enough.

Add it up, Darren Bent, David Bentley, Alan Hutton, Wilson Palacios, Soldado, Adebayor, Pauliniho, Pav, Gomes, Dembele, Capoue, Kaboul (re-sign) Lamela, Davies, Chiriches to name a few and the list is damned endless as well as being ridiculous and yet all anybody says is we need to buy some new players.

I wonder if some of our posters have 15 cars in their drive where they buy one crap one then another crap one and keep going but unable to get rid of any of the old ones.

Surely people must understand the basics when it comes to money.

Well said Grand!

We have a under 21 team from 2 seasons ago that pretty much walked the league only to be undone by a poor performance and outstanding performance by a team we had beaten 4-0 previously in Utd!

Poch was spot on with his praise for them players and they do deserve a chance to be inter grated into the first team at the expense of some deadwood that needs selling

We have a fictional stadium to build (by the time the first brick is laid I dare say we will hav already full paid for it)

You really have to look at the way he set it up yesterday.

One proper fullback
Three central midfielders

The problem with it is it straightjackets you in to a a 433 of sorts. None of the central midfielders are the type to play off a centre forward, which means the wide players have to get closer to the centre forward to support him to be effective.

If they do this it also means both fullbacks have to be on their attacking game - unfortunate if you have a centre back in one of the positions.

Problems compounded by taking off the only direct pace we had in Townsend. You look at that side, and what jumps out at me is to take one of the midfield three, and bring on Eriksen or Adebayor.

Very much an AVB line up yesterday.

Surely people must understand the basics when it comes to money.

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Like the fact we've sold players to buy all of those? I've had a load of cars - when it doesn't work so well, or suit what I need, I sell it, or trade it in and spend a bit of cash on something that'll do the job.

Some people on here have no ambition beyond breaking even. All I'm saying is the strikers aren't good enough. It's not going to bankrupt us spending a net 10m or so on one that could make the difference. Best case we'll win something, worst case we'll have to sell again and lose a bit on the fee.

Anyway, please name the posters cos I haven't seen anyone saying 'buy buy buy' beyond replacing the dead wood.

Problems compounded by taking off the only direct pace we had in Townsend. You look at that side, and what jumps out at me is to take one of the midfield three, and bring on Eriksen or Adebayor.

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That's a football manager post.

Some people

Let's look in our garage for a bit..

Lennon - doesn't start
BAE - won't start
Ade - fires into life occasionally but gawd knows for how long

We hold onto deprecating assets like rusting minis on the drive in the vain hope someone will come out of nowhere and buy it. Sometimes you just have to cut your losses and move on.

No, just common sense, an understanding of football, and empirical evidence of that not working for us over the last 18months.

Nice try, but you'll have to get up a lot earlier

Was only messing HRH

I didn't see the game yesterday but i agree we need pace in the side, and width on one side at least. Lamela did well though if the highlights are anything to go by.

my point is Soldado hasn't worked either, quite clearly, for me it's just as obvious we're too slow to sell unwanted squad players, and has been a problem for too long.

I didn't see it either, just the highlights, but I've seen enough similar sides of ours to know where the problems will lie. It's neither-here-nor-there side.

Should really have started both Ade (instead of one of the centre mids) and Soldado, and given Lamela the freer role in front of Rose

Ade and Soldado as a pairing

From accounts of people at the game we lost it in midfield, lots of sideways passes going on.. probably didn't help not having a focal point for the attack.

A bit of support, probably what both could do with at present.

Baptism of fire, but even Yedlin for Chiriches could have made a real difference.

Hey ho, sheet happens - we've squeaked enough 2-1s latterly ourselves so can't complain too much. We still have two cup competitions to keep us busy, as well as the league programme. The odd week in three off may actually help us in the long-term, as disappointing as it is now

I see Berahino had a good game yesterday with 2 assists.

Won't get him now. Had we have been more urgent near the start of the window then maybe.

Spurtle

Pulis has already said last minute deals ain't happening, he wants the money to spend elsewhere.. Villa are properly skint these days, I bet a similar amount would land Benteke.

HRH.. onwards and upwards

Villa are desperate for goals, so logic would say they wouldn't sell but Benteke isn't scoring either.

If we could get Benteke in, and they could sign a couple of forwards to replace him...you never know.

Makes you wonder though, he has Darren Bent on the books still. Not the greatest player as we know, but he has a proven track record of scoring goals for teams that arent exactly devastating attacking-wise - Charlton, Sunderland and early Villa

Bent scored for Derby yesterday.. he's done with at the top level now though.

I dunno, at least Kane's signed up

We need that bullyboy option for me, have done for years. Not solely to go all Crazy Gang, but it's a lovely weapon to have

Bales not sure about Benteke anymore. He looks about as useful as Ade at the moment, and has been that way ever since his injury problem.

Can't realky judge any striker who plays for Villa. When the likes of Richardson, Cole and Cleverley are tasked with supplying the bullets, I'd doubt that Batistuta in his prime would score many goals for them.

Hopefully Villa will go down and we can take Benteke off them in the summer.

Forget summer we should be talking about now while we're competing on 3 fronts. Maybe it would have been 4 fronts had we got someone else in by now.

Our attitude to the Jan transfer window is just so poor.