Who do you want as the next manager? New poll option.

[Ron Manager]

Christ ! TalkSport is unbelievable The media in general seem well miffed that he is coming to us and are suggesting it's a downwards / sideways move on the basis of us having one awful season. They really make me sick but also quite smug as they clearly do not like the fact that we are still attract top targets,they were the same when we signed Bent. Well up yours the lot of you. We know the truth

That's the trouble: Villa have no one in the club who can raise our profile with the media. I can recall Phil Mepham being there a few years ago and our profile seemed much higher . They let shitheads like DW spout off without any form of rebuke. I'm afraid if people keep on and on saying we're 'too small' it tends to stick and that's how we're perceived. As I posted before, the PR is completely rubbish at the club and it needs addressing. Dare I say it, at least the General used to fight our corner with the media.

Dave's not going to like this but Doug would have addressed the matter of the gobby Northerner as only he could. Doug would have chortled and then verbally patronised Mr Whelan until he begged for mercy.

[wookster]

I get the impression from stuff flying about that PL is not a tracksuit manager, another MON comparisson, who are his coaches and are they coming too?

[tomd2103]

I think players like Stephen Ireland are in for a shock with Paul Lambert about. Shape up or f**k off.

In fairness Ireland worked really hard for the team last year. He wouldn't be the first name I'd think of in terms of 'shaping up or fucking off.'

I thought he was average at times. Hard working? Nah. Player of the season? No

He was the one player that made kind of an effort though. No player stood out over the season. They were all less that mediocre. The great Gabby did fcuk all. He's a player that has been coasting of his potential as a good prospect for a few seasons now. He's the guy that might get a wake up call.

Ireland only really put in the effort when it suited him last season.  Remember Newcastle away when he told McLeish to "f**k off" because he had the temerity to have a go at him for not tracking back?  Also, the fact that he only managed 16 league games this season speaks volumes. 

[tomd2103]

I thought Darren Bent was a proper centre forward, his record seems to suggest that! They can keep Holt, somebody has to eat all of Delia's burnt offerings. Can we give them Warnock as Lambert's compo?

At Norwich Lambert had Holt (goalscorer), Jackson (speed merchant) and Morison (target man), and he rotated them throughout the season.  For me, Bent and Gabby are similar but better players than Holt and Jackson, so that would leave the traditional style target man.  He's not exactly had the best of times at Wolves, but what about Kevin Doyle? 

Actually, both Holt and Morison are target men. It wasn't overly subtle.

You really aren't a fan of Lambert are you Monty?

I guess Monty is of a similar opinion to myself.  Norwich last year got wide fast and got a lot of balls into the box.  Morison, Holt and Wilbraham made up the majority of the attack, all of whom like crosses and are good playing with their back to goal.  It percentages football, that can be very effective with the right playing staff but it's unlikely to break us into the top 4.

For me Lambert is an acceptance that 5-8 and aiming for the europa league is our place in the world, we can't complain after the last couple of years but I see us hitting a similar glass ceiling to when MoN was in charge.

The problem is, once you're a big club teams are more comfortable defending deep and forcing you to break them down.  No one has done that to Norwich so, if he comes, we don't know what he'll do when teams come for a point (and are capable of holding out for it).  If he can figure that out then he'll be a great appointment, if not it'll be better than we've had but we won't be looking to extend the trophy room any time soon.

I guess like any inexperienced manager, there are always going to be doubts.  As for the point in bold, Spurs played that way last season and they managed to get in the top four!!  as for strikers who like crosses, I can recall Bent scoring quite a few goals for us off crosses since he arrived. 

[hartman_1982]

I think players like Stephen Ireland are in for a shock with Paul Lambert about. Shape up or f**k off.

In fairness Ireland worked really hard for the team last year. He wouldn't be the first name I'd think of in terms of 'shaping up or fucking off.'

I thought he was average at times. Hard working? Nah. Player of the season? No

He was the one player that made kind of an effort though. No player stood out over the season. They were all less that mediocre. The great Gabby did fcuk all. He's a player that has been coasting of his potential as a good prospect for a few seasons now. He's the guy that might get a wake up call.

Ireland only really put in the effort when it suited him last season.  Remember Newcastle away when he told McLeish to "f**k off" because he had the temerity to have a go at him for not tracking back?  Also, the fact that he only managed 16 league games this season speaks volumes. 

He only cam in to the side around Xmas though. I thought he worked hard and showed real glimpses of quality during the back end of last season. I just hope he has finally knuckled down and sorted his head out. Just to conclude, I can't fault him for telling AM to fuck off!

[JUAN PABLO]

I thought Ireland had a great second half of the season and did see him track back loads , he was a lot better than a lot of players , which I know is not hard but he was .

[ajmant]

A team that is built around Ireland is a team destined for mediocrity - flashes of brilliance but you need much more than that.

[paul_e]

I thought Darren Bent was a proper centre forward, his record seems to suggest that! They can keep Holt, somebody has to eat all of Delia's burnt offerings. Can we give them Warnock as Lambert's compo?

At Norwich Lambert had Holt (goalscorer), Jackson (speed merchant) and Morison (target man), and he rotated them throughout the season.  For me, Bent and Gabby are similar but better players than Holt and Jackson, so that would leave the traditional style target man.  He's not exactly had the best of times at Wolves, but what about Kevin Doyle? 

Actually, both Holt and Morison are target men. It wasn't overly subtle.

You really aren't a fan of Lambert are you Monty?

I guess Monty is of a similar opinion to myself.  Norwich last year got wide fast and got a lot of balls into the box.  Morison, Holt and Wilbraham made up the majority of the attack, all of whom like crosses and are good playing with their back to goal.  It percentages football, that can be very effective with the right playing staff but it's unlikely to break us into the top 4.

For me Lambert is an acceptance that 5-8 and aiming for the europa league is our place in the world, we can't complain after the last couple of years but I see us hitting a similar glass ceiling to when MoN was in charge.

The problem is, once you're a big club teams are more comfortable defending deep and forcing you to break them down.  No one has done that to Norwich so, if he comes, we don't know what he'll do when teams come for a point (and are capable of holding out for it).  If he can figure that out then he'll be a great appointment, if not it'll be better than we've had but we won't be looking to extend the trophy room any time soon.

I guess like any inexperienced manager, there are always going to be doubts.  As for the point in bold, Spurs played that way last season and they managed to get in the top four!!  as for strikers who like crosses, I can recall Bent scoring quite a few goals for us off crosses since he arrived. 

I'll accept to an extent that tottenham played that way but Modric, bale, vdv and to an extent adebayor all offer a little spark of brilliance which was more often than not the difference between them winning and losing.  Bent will score from crosses, I agree and, as I said, I'm not disappointed and I think he'll do a good moyes-like job, I just don't think we'll do much more than that.

I guess the problem for me is Lambert is so obvious, after 2 1/2 weeks we're looking like getting the guy everyone expected the day we sacked the last guy.  After all the "we're looking at all the options and there's no rush" style talk I expected a few names to appear that we'd never have come up with, we got 1 and the expectation of more and then nothing happened for a week before the simple choice appears to have been taken, just seems a bit odd.

[brian green]

Before we get too far off the original subject of this thread I must say that the fact that Dominoes Pizza did not even get to fly in Randy's plane let alone have an interview leaves me pretty cheesed off.

[Chipsticks]

So Swansea are talking to the Wigan assistant about becoming their new manager? How low must their expectations be?

[Summers]

The board know him, and they probably know he'll stick to the beliefs of the club.

[PaulWinch again]

It makes sense I assume he came from Swansea originally, and they want to keep continuity.

[garyshawsknee]

Swansea do have a pretty good record of recruiting managers recently,always try and stick to the same philosophy.

[pauliewalnuts]

So Swansea are talking to the Wigan assistant about becoming their new manager? How low must their expectations be?

If they know him and know how he works, then it's a much better idea than appointing any one of the number of hopeless fucking idiots who show nothing to suggest they know what they're doing, but still get these 3m a year jobs for some reason.

[supertom]

I want to see more from Ireland. I think Gabby will hit form under Lambert again. Possibly he'll be used as and when to have an impact, like Holt was. Bent will flourish. Makoun interests me a lot. I'd like to think he'll get a chance and we'll see the best of him. We're woefully short in central midfield.

Lamberts brought a lot of players up through the leagues who've flourised in the Prem. So maybe we'll finally see Delph produce. Letting him attack would be a start. He'll never be a defensive mid, his tackling's too reckless.

I'd also be tempted to keep Dunney. I think he'll up his game again for Lambert and we need some seniority at the back. I'd still want to see the back of Warnock, Collins and Hutton though.

Interestingly, if you look at how well Hoolahan played last season and how good he's been at Norwich. It makes me optimistic we could finally see Bannan become a key player. Who knows. We've got a squad capable of being solid mid-table, lower upper. A few signings are required if we want to be around Newcastle and Everton, possibly Liverpool next season.  We should be looking to step back ahead of the rest like Fulham, Sunderland, WBA etc.