Well, where to start? It is obvious to many what the problems are at Aston Villa at the moment and if you were to put ten Aston Villa fans in a room, most would probably agree, possibly after some debate, that it really isn't Paul Lambert.
Please note the part above where I've said 'probably' and 'debate'. And let me quickly summarise why I also wrote 'most'.
He's still a puppy
First; let's not forget that this is the managers second season in the Premier League and he's on a very steep learning curve that doesn't allow for that many mistakes or do-overs.
And in fairness, everyone should agree, that what he is trying to do is admirable. And one thing that is pretty clear to me is that he is trying to get the football right. He is trying to have people pass the ball and keep it, even if some of the players still haven't figured out that sometimes it is better to go backwards and keep the ball rather than forward and lose it.
And figuring that out is easier when you have someone with experience in the side telling you, scrap that, shouting at you that you've messed up, not patting you on the back telling you it was a good try.
But the argument that Lambert is out of his depth is a strong one. Not as strong as the one that Paul Faulkner is out of his depth, but we'll leave that for another post. This post is about right now and the simple truth is Lambert really shouldn't be fired.
Lambert needs cash
I really don't like writing about this next bit but the thing is, as things look right now, we are in trouble and there is the serious possibility of relegation.
We have sixteen games left and even if we got a point from every one of them, we'd struggle to stay up and I write about points, because it doesn't really look like we're going to get that many wins, unless things change.
And don't hate me for writing this next bit, but Vlaar isn't the answer. Neither is Dunne. Neither for that matter is Warnock or Ireland, although with all four, you never know. Our predicament is more serious.
We need a Roy Keane in the middle of the park and a Paul McGrath in the back four and here is the kicker; we're not going to get them unless we offer a serious amount of money and just for the rest of the season. And making this happen isn't going to be easy.
We need old heads and we probably also need a fit and ready to go Darren Bent also.
And, these players need to be brought in this week. Scrap that too, these players need to be brought in by Wednesday. These players need to be at Bodymoor, getting to know everyone and ready to play on Saturday.
I'm not overreacting
You can argue over the specific number, but I think, as of today, we need twenty two points from the remaining sixteen games and you can look at this in a lot of ways, but I like to keep it simple; we need seven wins and a draw.
It is vitally important that we stay in the Premier League. Not just for Lerner and his cash (it gets serious next year) but for our club and our future.
If anyone thinks we're not in a whole heap of trouble right now, wake up! And it isn't the likes of Tom Huddlestone we should be bringing in until the end of the season, it's Wesley Sneijder on £150,000 a week and someone else just like him for the back four.
You think I'm mad; think about the £60mn we'll be missing out on next season if we don't stay up and there is no guarantee we'll bounce straight back.