Lambert Out?

[Risso]

But had you heard of any of those players before Newcastle bought them?

When MON was paying way over the odds for experienced Premier League players we were clamouring for cheap foreign imports. Now we're getting cheap foreign imports some are clamouring for experienced Premier League players.

Who says we're fickle?

Idiots, mainly.  I just want to see decent players, I don't really care where they come from.  Mostly, we've bought a right load of old shite the last couple of years.

[Ad@m]

But had you heard of any of those players before Newcastle bought them?

When MON was paying way over the odds for experienced Premier League players we were clamouring for cheap foreign imports. Now we're getting cheap foreign imports some are clamouring for experienced Premier League players.

Who says we're fickle?

Idiots, mainly.  I just want to see decent players, I don't really care where they come from.  Mostly, we've bought a right load of old shite the last couple of years.

I agree we've had a lot to put up with as fans since MON left but if we're going down the road of buying players from overseas or lower leagues they're not going to hit the ground running immediately.

If to stay up we have to go buying Warnocks or Sidwells for silly money then I'm not sure I like that idea.

As a fellow bean counter Risso, you know as well as I do that if any business carries on doing the same thing it has done before then at best it'll get the same result, but its more likely it'll actually go backwards.

[supertom]

But had you heard of any of those players before Newcastle bought them?

When MON was paying way over the odds for experienced Premier League players we were clamouring for cheap foreign imports. Now we're getting cheap foreign imports some are clamouring for experienced Premier League players.

Who says we're fickle?

Idiots, mainly.  I just want to see decent players, I don't really care where they come from.  Mostly, we've bought a right load of old shite the last couple of years.

I don't think people necessarily want the likes of Sidwell back (though actually, I think even he'd improve our midfield somewhat...sad statement) but we do need a better mix.
The point has always been that we've got the balance wrong. Not enough decent young buys or foreign gems by O Neill and too much spent on Harewoods etc who didn't play and picked up obscene wages.

Now it's the case that we signed a load of players over the summer from lower leagues or from abroad from a frankly average Dutch league.

For me if we sign 6 players in a window, I'd want them all to be good players and then it be 2 who you know what you're gonna get, 2 youngsters and 2 lower cost foreign players with potential. It's all about balance.

Come Jan if we sign a decent experienced centre half and  CM, who have played in this league, or a top standard (and suited to our league) then we'll be much better. We lack leaders, wiser heads, organisers. Midfield especially is sorely lacking in quality and experience.

[john in oz]

No point sacking the manager, it's the team that are awful, not him.

   who is picking the team?

[usav]

I still can't believe I have to see this thread everytime I login to this website.  Any of you who think Lambert is not an improvement on the sacks of shit who were on the bench last year and did so much to destroy the great name of our club need to spend some time on the naughty step.

In what way is this season better than last so far?   It isn't.

I didn't understand the mass jubilation when we got Lambert, in the same way I didn't understand the mass hysteria last season.   Two shit managers, with a shit squad.   What do you expect to happen on the pitch?   The only difference is one of them didn't work for that lot down the road.

I didn't get this either, his appointment was truly underwhelming.

There is a huge difference in approach, that is obvious. Lambert wants to win games and is prepared to try. Whether he has the skill to manage this bunch of players to get results is a moot point but at least he's trying.

I'd rather go down fighting than go down hiding.

I didn't see much fight yesterday.....unless you count a red card.

[onje_villa]

What was the attendance yesterday ? Watching on telly here the top of the Holte looked half empty, the top of Trinity and the North stand looked the same.

Your view of the attendance will have been affected by the fact that so many there didn't seem to bother too much with the actual game. I have to say I have never seen such a phenomenal amount of arriving late and leaving early as yesterday. Most of the crowd around me in the Lower Holte didn't arrive till about 10 - 15 minutes into the game, left over 10 minutes before the end, and didn't bother with the 10 minutes either side of half time!
Norwich's fans sung "Is there a fire drill?" and "Your support is fucking shit" & it is hard to argue when it becomes easier to beat the traffic by staying till the final whistle.

I have to agree that the atmosphere was non-existent, I was in Trinity (yeah I know...) and it was my first game since being back in the country and I tried to encourage the team (plus a fair bit of moaning) but everyone else was completely quiet. Could have heard a mouse fart. It's embarrassing, it's hard to start singing when you're the only one in a whole stand.

To be fair, it's probably a result of the dross being served up for a few years now, the away support is phenomenal.

[TonyD]

He still gets my support for now.   But if he keeps playing Delph over Bannan and keeping Bent on the bench,  then that support will fade pretty quickly.  We give these managers so much respect for their so called knowledge of the game, yet anybody with half a brain can see we need somebody that can pass the ball and bring our strikers into the game.  Let's hope PL doesn't go the way of the typical overated distinctly mediocre stuborn managers we have had to endure at VP of late.

[onje_villa]

I still can't believe I have to see this thread everytime I login to this website.  Any of you who think Lambert is not an improvement on the sacks of shit who were on the bench last year and did so much to destroy the great name of our club need to spend some time on the naughty step.

In what way is this season better than last so far?   It isn't.

I didn't understand the mass jubilation when we got Lambert, in the same way I didn't understand the mass hysteria last season.   Two shit managers, with a shit squad.   What do you expect to happen on the pitch?   The only difference is one of them didn't work for that lot down the road.

I didn't get this either, his appointment was truly underwhelming.

There is a huge difference in approach, that is obvious. Lambert wants to win games and is prepared to try. Whether he has the skill to manage this bunch of players to get results is a moot point but at least he's trying.

I'd rather go down fighting than go down hiding.

I didn't see much fight yesterday.....unless you count a red card.

Agreed. I like Lambert and I agree with Adam that a different long-term plan is needed but saying that we're suddenly fighting and going for wins this season is just blinkered. We fought well against Newcastle, we played very well against Swansea and Man City, elsewhere we've been pretty poor or exceptionally poor. I've seen two games in the last couple of years, yesterday and home to Swansea under McLeish, to be honest, they were both dire and likely to induce long-lasting depression.

I also don't buy that it's not the manager's fault. It certainly was his fault yesterday, he picked the team, chose the tactics and substitutions and it appears that he's no idea what his best team/formation is.

What gets me is all the pushing forward looking for wins seems to have gone out of the window, that was a very negative performance yesterday. We're at home and our full backs barely got forward all afternoon.

[SoccerHQ]

But had you heard of any of those players before Newcastle bought them?

When MON was paying way over the odds for experienced Premier League players we were clamouring for cheap foreign imports. Now we're getting cheap foreign imports some are clamouring for experienced Premier League players.

Who says we're fickle?

Come on now you sound like Shearer on MOTD when he'd never heard of Ben Arfa who'd played for France in euro 2008, Lyon in the champions league and had been previously linked with Arsenal or Demba Ba who'd been scoring goals for West Ham.

In fairness you could probably say all our signings in the summer were unknown bar Ron Vlaar who played a game or two for Holland in the euros this summer.

I'm not against getting cheap talent from home and abroad as long as they supplement good quality in the starting 11 and build up the squad.

It's a worry to me when we sign Lowton and Bennett and they instantly become our first choice full backs. Lowton has done o.k for me, Bennett looks to me like he needed another season in the championship.

[sirlordbaltimore]

After eleven games, Lambert's definitely got to start taking his portion of the blame. We look as feeble and disorganised as we did on the opening day. And that's just not good enough. He's failed to implement a system that gets the best out of what we have, and he still clearly has no idea what his best eleven is. Shocking

I still put the vast majority of the blame for our dismal demise at Randy's door though. After raking in almost 70m from the sales of a quality midfield (Barry, Milner, Downing and Young) yesterdays midfield 4 cost approx 11m in total.

That's the reason we've gone to shit. We've tried to replace very good players with cheap squad ones. When we sold Downing & Young for a combined 38m, we should've spent the majority of it replacing them with at the very least, players of equal ability. Instead we spent 10m on N'Zogbia, who has never been a supplier, his stats were always stacked in favour of completed dribbles and a few goals rather than assists which both Young and Downing gave us in spades

How can N'Zogbia, be expected to replace TWO excellent creative players that provided us (and mainly Darren Bent) with so much pace, energy and a cutting edge ?

[KevinGage]

I think the myth about who we like to think we can attract and who we really can attract was demonstrated when MON left - it was the Curbishleys and McClarens.

Except that's not quite right. 

The likes of Koeman, Svennis and Rijkaard said they wanted to be considered for the post in 2010.  We eventually got Houllier. A year later Sanchez Flores wanted the job.   

Who we could attract and who Lerner wants are obviously two separate things though.

Deadbeats like Alan 'interesting' Curbishley and McLaren should have been nowhere near contention. McLeish shouldn't have even been in the top 100 candidates. 

[Legion]

I'll never understand the appointment of TSM.

[KevinGage]

When they make a decision that bad, they can do anything. 

[ktvillan]

I have to say my reaction when we appointed PL was a bit mixed but at least (or so I thought) it was a damn sight more promising than TSM.   And initially he made all the right noises about possession, young hungry players, tactics etc.  But it all seems to have got stuck somewhere, and what looked like clever rotation to suit the opposition and keep everyone involved is starting to look like a manager who has lost the plot a bit, or who is desperately trying to find a combination that works after being dealt a shit hand.

If you look at post match threads, the fairly obvious faults are repeated by poster after poster - no width, no creativity, no leaders, no dynamism, insufficient PL experience,  a poor/non-existent midfield,  some academy and lower league signings lacking in PL quality.  Yet, as always seems to be the case, the manager seems to be the last to see the painfully obvious.

It's still early days and it might just click. Yet yesterday, every man and his dog could see that bringing Bent on when down to 10 men was effectively taking us down to 9 men, and just about as wrong as you could get it - except Lambert.   Which is a bit worrying.

But then I always wanted Jol as boss, or failing that (less impressively) Hughes.

[gervilla]

I'll never understand the appointment of TSM.

I don't think you are alone there.