On Villa, I think Lambert is nearing the sack, would be good riddance to him in my opinion.

On Top Four, it's madness no one seems to be able to get a grip in Third or Fourth, personally I think Arsenal and United will ultimately do it but you never know. Liverpool have a tough run in from here on out.

 

City aren't exactly safe the way they are playing of late either.  Depending on their next couple of results they might just find them fighting for a top 4 spot themselves....love it.

City aren't exactly safe the way they are playing of late either. Depending on their next couple of results they might just find them fighting for a top 4 spot themselves....love it.

Because I think City could drop points tonight I reckon they won't and I think they'l go on a run now. We just have to make sure we don't have to many slip ups from here on out. But of City do lose tonight they'll have a bigger problem that if they're gonna keep pace with us.

They won't have toure or bony will they? Pretty sure I heard they were still in ivory coast celebrating.

How is Lambert still manager of Villa?

I'd love to see Villa get relegated.

Lambert should have been sacked last year.

sh*t fans.

Joke of an owner.

Rememer when te Villa fans backed Randy Lerner after O'Neill quit over the Milner dosh. Bet they wish they could go back to those days now.

Theres a Villa fan in my work and she hates Lambert and Lerner. She says Lambert got a new 4 year contract last septmeber and they wont sack him because of this.

Lerner been trying to sell the club as it steadily declined, but who knows what happens next.

She is 100% convinced they will be relegated.

I'd love to see Villa get relegated.

Lambert should have been sacked last year.

sh*t fans.

Joke of an owner.

 

Villa, is there a less interesting club than them? Never win anything, never challenge for anything, never qualify for Europe, never go down, perennially last on MOTD. They're just... there. Year in, year out. Even their 'where's your European Cup' chant is obsolete.

The thought of QPR staying up though...

Villa, is there a less interesting club than them? Never win anything, never challenge for anything, never qualify for Europe, never go down, perennially last on MOTD. They're just... there. Year in, year out. Even their 'where's your European Cup' chant is obsolete.

 

I feel Sunderland might be less interesting, although by a whisker.

Edited February 11, 201511 yr by Valerie

I don't have any particularly strong opinions one way or the other regarding Villa (except when we lose to them), so I would be largely indifferent to their relegation, as inevitable as it might seem. Obviously I would prefer Leicester and Burnley (and to a lesser extent Hull) to stay up, but if Villa going down means that we are stuck with QPR for another season I am whole-heartedly behind the former's survival.

 

Presumably Lambert is still at Villa for the same reason that their transfer budget has been dwindling - Lerner is a tight bar steward who doesn't want to pay a severance fee. Lambert extended his contract until 2018 at the beginning of last season, and is supposedly on £2m/year (not the most reliable or up-to-date source), so in order to sack him (as deserved as it might be) they'd have to pay out millions in lost earnings which they could have wasted on some hopeless English youngster everyone else gave up on or the latest Scandinavian 'wonderkid'.

 

Other questions that would need answering:

- What other remotely decent managers are actually available?

- What other remotely decent managers would even want to join Villa in their current state?

- Who else could actually achieve anything with Villa's current [terrible] squad?

 

To be honest, this might be one of those situations where a year away from the Premier League (although admittedly away from Premier League income) could do them some good, à la Newcastle 2009/10. They can dump some of the high earners, sell the likes of Benteke who is, based on recent form, probably worth more to them in transfer fees (considering how highly he is still rated for some reason) than he is in the squad, and integrate some of the youngsters into a more cohesive and trusted first XI who would be more comfortable and would probably develop better in the Championship. With their attendances and 'club prestige' they likely won't be away from the Premier League for long and will also be able to arrest the terminal decline they seem to be stuck in.

"I don't celebrate when I score, because it's my job"

"Does a postman celebrate when he delivers a letter?"

No....i don`t!

I dislike Villa but I don't hate them. I would certainly like to see them relegated, but obviously QPR would be better, especially if they drop down the Football League.

 

In my opinion, Benteke is just another in a long line of one season success strikers, who come over and do really well in their first season or two then fade, like Michu, Jelavic etc.

QPR first and foremost but after that would be happy to see Villa and Sunderland go down. I just find them to be boring clubs.

QPR first and foremost but after that would be happy to see Villa and Sunderland go down. I just find them to be boring clubs.

 

 

and the fact they take points of us every season annoys me

What if.... the PL table ends up like this and Arsenal wins CL and Liverpool or Spurs win EL ? So #3 & #4 in the table will miss out for CL? 
1)Chelsea
2)City
3)Southampton
4)United
5)Arsenal (CL Winners)
6)Liverpool (EL Winners)

(taking the positions from current PL table standings assumingly)

That would annoy me if they were to take the spots of those who fought hard all season to get top 4.  I think if that were the case, top 4 still stands and then the two winners (if outside of top 4) still get places in the CL.

I don't have any particularly strong opinions one way or the other regarding Villa (except when we lose to them), so I would be largely indifferent to their relegation, as inevitable as it might seem. Obviously I would prefer Leicester and Burnley (and to a lesser extent Hull) to stay up, but if Villa going down means that we are stuck with QPR for another season I am whole-heartedly behind the former's survival.

Presumably Lambert is still at Villa for the same reason that their transfer budget has been dwindling - Lerner is a tight bar steward who doesn't want to pay a severance fee. Lambert extended his contract until 2018 at the beginning of last season, and is supposedly on £2m/year (not the most reliable or up-to-date source), so in order to sack him (as deserved as it might be) they'd have to pay out millions in lost earnings which they could have wasted on some hopeless English youngster everyone else gave up on or the latest Scandinavian 'wonderkid'.

Other questions that would need answering:

- What other remotely decent managers are actually available?

- What other remotely decent managers would even want to join Villa in their current state?

- Who else could actually achieve anything with Villa's current [terrible] squad?

To be honest, this might be one of those situations where a year away from the Premier League (although admittedly away from Premier League income) could do them some good, à la Newcastle 2009/10. They can dump some of the high earners, sell the likes of Benteke who is, based on recent form, probably worth more to them in transfer fees (considering how highly he is still rated for some reason) than he is in the squad, and integrate some of the youngsters into a more cohesive and trusted first XI who would be more comfortable and would probably develop better in the Championship. With their attendances and 'club prestige' they likely won't be away from the Premier League for long and will also be able to arrest the terminal decline they seem to be stuck in.

Thats all good in theory, but nearly half of teams who get relegated never return to the premier league.

Edited February 11, 201511 yr by Zola

What if.... the PL table ends up like this and Arsenal wins CL and Liverpool or Spurs win EL ? So #3 & #4 in the table will miss out for CL?

1)Chelsea

2)City

3)Southampton

4)United

5)Arsenal (CL Winners)

6)Liverpool (EL Winners)

(taking the positions from current PL table standings assumingly)

I'm pretty sure 4th and the EL would have to get through any qualifying rounds but you could end up with six teams from the same country in it.

arsenal wins cl 

I'm pretty sure 4th and the EL would have to get through any qualifying rounds but you could end up with six teams from the same country in it.

 

I think the EL winner place is additional to the 4 usual places but CL winners in this case 5th in the Premier League would, I believe, displace the 4th placed team (if that makes sense?!) - so in this example United would miss out

Thats all good in theory, but nearly half of teams who get relegated never return to the premier league.

 

True, then again most teams who get relegated from the Premier League don't have anywhere near Villa's stadium size, fanbase, expectations, youth facilities and international reach, and thus wouldn't be able to get back into the Premier League without a rare 'golden crop' or some other fortuitous set of circumstances.

 

Teams like Barnsley, Wigan, Watford, Blackpool, Bradford, (etc.) weren't really ever expected to make it to the Premier League, never really had the resources to sustain it and thus settled back into the Championship fairly neatly as they were really meeting expectations. Some even racked up massive debts while trying to overachieve by maintaining a top flight status they couldn't really afford and suffered for it when they eventually fell off.

 

Slightly bigger sides might take a little while to recover but generally will sustain another promotion challenge and a top flight-standard side within a few seasons (Blackburn, Norwich, West Brom, Sunderland, Leicester...)

 

Villa are on another level to all of these, plus have the European heritage (sort of) and the expectations to be a solid Premier League side due to decades of habit having set in. Obviously there are exceptions to this (Forest, Leeds, Wednesday, previously Man City) but if Villa went down I would expect them to come back up within two seasons at most.

 

The youngsters that come across as so pedestrian in the Premier League would stand out far more in the Championship and would also have the advantage of gaining consistent first-team status which would in theory help their confidence, cohesion as a team unit and their quality of play. I also imagine they could get a fair amount of money for the likes of Benteke, Delph and maybe Vlaar, which could also go towards rebuilding the side.

I think the EL winner place is additional to the 4 usual places but CL winners in this case 5th in the Premier League would, I believe, displace the 4th placed team (if that makes sense?!) - so in this example United would miss out

I don't think that's the case but I could be wrong

Lambert sacked

Lambert sacked

Blimey. Thanks for the info Zola. I thought he'd hang on as, tbh, he ought to have gone months ago.