Lambert in or out? Poll reset with majority 'in', 7th May

[N'ZMAV]

Swansea always come flying out the blocks at home. We somehow go away with it, maybe it was luck? good. I hope it was. We've hardly had any luck all season.

[Percy McCarthy]

Swansea always come flying out the blocks at home. We somehow go away with it, maybe it was luck? good. I hope it was. We've hardly had any luck all season.

Ain't that the bastard truth.

[Merv]

In, definitely. Too much change in recent years. We hit rock bottom in many ways last season and we're starting all over again. Most of the remaining senior players are a waste of space; PL has identified this and is trying to reshape the squad. The easy thing would be to play them, but he's moving them on. Takes time, it's poor at the moment but it's a long term project. Got to grit our teeth and see it through. Don't see any point getting rid of this manager.

[Greg N'Ash]

hasn't Randy consistently got his cheque book out? I can't think of another Chairman/Owner who has sunk more money into the club. If there has been, I apologose. i think RL has many shortcomings as a businessman but I don't think you can ever acuse the guy of not backing the club financially. IMO things would improve dramatically with a CEO who combined PF's obvious commercial acumen and marketing skills with an in depth knowlege of how to run a major football club

Lerner's cheque book has been pretty much closed since MON left.

Last summer 25m spent - money in 2m
Season before 17m spent - money in 38m
Season before 32m spent - money in 27m

There's a few we sold where they don't know the fees like sidwell, but best case scenario is you're looking at a net spend of 7m or 2 and a bit million a season. Add all the wages he's cut dumping the big earners from the MON years and he's comfortably saved more than he's spent.

[Concrete John]

As I see it we have a confidence issue right now, which was created by the hammering Chelsea gave us.  When we got to half time at 0-0 against Spurs you could see them up it a little and we were on top at the beginning of the 2nd half, but once they scored it was game over as the heads dropped.  Same with Wigan where we grew into the game after the early goal, but once the 2nd went in the heads dropped again.  Swansea we were poor 1st half, but when we scored we gained some confidence and were the better side in the 2nd.  Let's hope the late equaliser doesn't destroy the confidence again. 

So the question becomes why are we letting in so mnay goals?  In the run we had leading up to the Liverpool game we were very tight at the back.  I think we need Vlaar back, but I'd also be platying Baker ahead of Clark right now if he was fit.

 

[eastie]

I have faith in Vlaar and baker as a pairing , move Clark into a defensive midfield position and we will be more solid when all fit.

I don't think dunne will play a part so I'd look to get an experienced defender as cover .

We need two new midfielders as well , one creative one and one tough tackling ball winner to help protect the defence more.

[paul_e]

let's put some perspective here.

The vast majority of the the problems have been down to inexperience and naivety, from both the manager and the players.

Looking at our squad at the start of the season (excluding those who were transfer listed) we should have been able to field...

Given
Lowton Vlaar Dunne Bennett
Holman KEA Ireland Nzogbia
Gabby Bent

only 2 of those are youngsters with no experience, the others are either experienced premier league players or are experienced players from Holland who have enough quality to survive in this league.

Take the 9 experienced guys and review their season:

Given - Looked his age in the summer and carried that form into the season - was terrible against Everton
Vlaar - Has looked a decent signing but picked up a fairly innocuous injury that has kept him out for 5-6 weeks
Dunne - Was due back in September but for whatever reason still isn't remotely ready to play
Holman - Has looked good at times and works his balls off, but gives the ball away too much
KEA - Looked exceptional early on but has faded badly, hasn't got to grips with the pace of the game at all
Ireland - Oxygen thief, the more other experienced players have faded the more he's hidden from taking any responsibility
Nzogbia - lots of injuries and when fit still has a tendancy to over play, looked good against Norwich before another injury
Gabby - Works hard, scares defenders but just doesn't look like scoring, then picked up a  n injury which is keeping him out
Bent - Hard to judge him, if Ireland and Nzogbia were working he'd look good, lots of injury problems

It reads of poor form and injuries for everyone except Holman who is the only experienced player who's really offered anything in recent weeks, and he's not someone you can build a team around.

[eastie]

let's put some perspective here.

The vast majority of the the problems have been down to inexperience and naivety, from both the manager and the players.

Looking at our squad at the start of the season (excluding those who were transfer listed) we should have been able to field...

Given
Lowton Vlaar Dunne Bennett
Holman KEA Ireland Nzogbia
Gabby Bent

only 2 of those are youngsters with no experience, the others are either experienced premier league players or are experienced players from Holland who have enough quality to survive in this league.

Take the 9 experienced guys and review their season:

Given - Looked his age in the summer and carried that form into the season - was terrible against Everton
Vlaar - Has looked a decent signing but picked up a fairly innocuous injury that has kept him out for 5-6 weeks
Dunne - Was due back in September but for whatever reason still isn't remotely ready to play
Holman - Has looked good at times and works his balls off, but gives the ball away too much
KEA - Looked exceptional early on but has faded badly, hasn't got to grips with the pace of the game at all
Ireland - Oxygen thief, the more other experienced players have faded the more he's hidden from taking any responsibility
Nzogbia - lots of injuries and when fit still has a tendancy to over play, looked good against Norwich before another injury
Gabby - Works hard, scares defenders but just doesn't look like scoring, then picked up a  n injury which is keeping him out
Bent - Hard to judge him, if Ireland and Nzogbia were working he'd look good, lots of injury problems

It reads of poor form and injuries for everyone except Holman who is the only experienced player who's really offered anything in recent weeks, and he's not someone you can build a team around.

Fair assessment Paul, of those 9 though how many do you think are deserving of a regular place when fit ?

[MarkM]

I voted Lambert out, simply because there was no 'not sure' option and I wanted to see how the vote was going.

I am not convinced by Lambert, his policy on the players he has bought and played has not worked out and some of his tactical decisions have been baffling.

After 20 games we are only 1 point from the relegation zone after suffering an awful start and having our worse ever top flight result etc...

Although the optimism around VP is far better than last season and the team does pass the ball better [all be it backwards and sideways quite a lot] I am still not conviced we are improving, the result at Liverpool was good but for large parts of the game we were severly under the boot heal of Liverpool [as was the same against Swansea] had we not got the rub of the green and those teams had been able to score when they were on top we would be 4 points worse off and deep in the relegation zone. I dont think that either of those results was down to any tacticle genius from Lambert but was instead down to some good individual performances [Guzan for one] and some good luck.

I hope Lambert does succeed, I hope he finally desides that having the whole team full of relatively inexperienced youngsters [although at what age do they stop being called youngsters is something I am confused about!!!] is not a good idea and instead tries to balance the team with some experienced heads who can help to bring the other players on and give us some much needed leadership on the pitch.

[Concrete John]

let's put some perspective here.

The vast majority of the the problems have been down to inexperience and naivety, from both the manager and the players.

Looking at our squad at the start of the season (excluding those who were transfer listed) we should have been able to field...

Given
Lowton Vlaar Dunne Bennett
Holman KEA Ireland Nzogbia
Gabby Bent

only 2 of those are youngsters with no experience, the others are either experienced premier league players or are experienced players from Holland who have enough quality to survive in this league.

Take the 9 experienced guys and review their season:

Given - Looked his age in the summer and carried that form into the season - was terrible against Everton
Vlaar - Has looked a decent signing but picked up a fairly innocuous injury that has kept him out for 5-6 weeks
Dunne - Was due back in September but for whatever reason still isn't remotely ready to play
Holman - Has looked good at times and works his balls off, but gives the ball away too much
KEA - Looked exceptional early on but has faded badly, hasn't got to grips with the pace of the game at all
Ireland - Oxygen thief, the more other experienced players have faded the more he's hidden from taking any responsibility
Nzogbia - lots of injuries and when fit still has a tendancy to over play, looked good against Norwich before another injury
Gabby - Works hard, scares defenders but just doesn't look like scoring, then picked up a  n injury which is keeping him out
Bent - Hard to judge him, if Ireland and Nzogbia were working he'd look good, lots of injury problems

It reads of poor form and injuries for everyone except Holman who is the only experienced player who's really offered anything in recent weeks, and he's not someone you can build a team around.

Pretty much exactly my thoughts.

There is experience in this squad, but for one reason or another those players either aren't playing or are out of form.  When you also add in Makoun, Warnock and Hutton, we're also paying a lot in wages and getting very little back for it.

[Greg N'Ash]

let's put some perspective here.

The vast majority of the the problems have been down to inexperience and naivety, from both the manager and the players.

Looking at our squad at the start of the season (excluding those who were transfer listed) we should have been able to field...

Given
Lowton Vlaar Dunne Bennett
Holman KEA Ireland Nzogbia
Gabby Bent

only 2 of those are youngsters with no experience, the others are either experienced premier league players or are experienced players from Holland who have enough quality to survive in this league.

Take the 9 experienced guys and review their season:

Given - Looked his age in the summer and carried that form into the season - was terrible against Everton
Vlaar - Has looked a decent signing but picked up a fairly innocuous injury that has kept him out for 5-6 weeks
Dunne - Was due back in September but for whatever reason still isn't remotely ready to play
Holman - Has looked good at times and works his balls off, but gives the ball away too much
KEA - Looked exceptional early on but has faded badly, hasn't got to grips with the pace of the game at all
Ireland - Oxygen thief, the more other experienced players have faded the more he's hidden from taking any responsibility
Nzogbia - lots of injuries and when fit still has a tendancy to over play, looked good against Norwich before another injury
Gabby - Works hard, scares defenders but just doesn't look like scoring, then picked up a  n injury which is keeping him out
Bent - Hard to judge him, if Ireland and Nzogbia were working he'd look good, lots of injury problems

It reads of poor form and injuries for everyone except Holman who is the only experienced player who's really offered anything in recent weeks, and he's not someone you can build a team around.

Petrov getting ill has hit us bad. Out of those experienced players,it doesn't strike you as a team full of leaders does it. Probably Vlaar is the only one. Maybe Given could have influenced the kids in front of him more than Brad but as you say he's been poor.

[paul_e]

That's not really the point, the point is, the experience we so badly need should be there to an extent but for issues of either injury, form or attitude it's not showing and the entire season is resting on the shoulders of youngsters.

Take 5-6 of that list and replace them with players with similar experience who don't have problems and we'd be comfortably mid table.

The thing is we're seeing lots of reports that various young kids aren't good enough and should be sold when the reality is that, if the older players were performing we'd only be seeing cameos of the kids and they'd be good enough for that.  For the 3rd year in a row the senior players are letting us down and kids are taking far too much of the blame.

[Concrete John]

Although the optimism around VP is far better than last season and the team does pass the ball better [all be it backwards and sideways quite a lot] I am still not conviced we are improving, the result at Liverpool was good but for large parts of the game we were severly under the boot heal of Liverpool [as was the same against Swansea] had we not got the rub of the green and those teams had been able to score when they were on top we would be 4 points worse off and deep in the relegation zone. I dont think that either of those results was down to any tacticle genius from Lambert but was instead down to some good individual performances [Guzan for one] and some good luck.

If you say that, then you could also point to games like Man Utd at home and Newcastle away where we didn't get what we deserved and see where an extra 5 points would take us!

[Greg N'Ash]

That's not really the point, the point is, the experience we so badly need should be there to an extent but for issues of either injury, form or attitude it's not showing and the entire season is resting on the shoulders of youngsters.

Take 5-6 of that list and replace them with players with similar experience who don't have problems and we'd be comfortably mid table.

The thing is we're seeing lots of reports that various young kids aren't good enough and should be sold when the reality is that, if the older players were performing we'd only be seeing cameos of the kids and they'd be good enough for that.  For the 3rd year in a row the senior players are letting us down and kids are taking far too much of the blame.

aye but its the 3rd year in a row bit where lambert is culpable. Anyone on here in the summer could have told him half of those players don't perform or can't anymore, so he probably should have shipped them out rather than giving them yet another chance to come good

[dekko]

let's put some perspective here.

The vast majority of the the problems have been down to inexperience and naivety, from both the manager and the players.

Looking at our squad at the start of the season (excluding those who were transfer listed) we should have been able to field...

Given
Lowton Vlaar Dunne Bennett
Holman KEA Ireland Nzogbia
Gabby Bent

only 2 of those are youngsters with no experience, the others are either experienced premier league players or are experienced players from Holland who have enough quality to survive in this league.

Take the 9 experienced guys and review their season:

Given - Looked his age in the summer and carried that form into the season - was terrible against Everton
Vlaar - Has looked a decent signing but picked up a fairly innocuous injury that has kept him out for 5-6 weeks
Dunne - Was due back in September but for whatever reason still isn't remotely ready to play
Holman - Has looked good at times and works his balls off, but gives the ball away too much
KEA - Looked exceptional early on but has faded badly, hasn't got to grips with the pace of the game at all
Ireland - Oxygen thief, the more other experienced players have faded the more he's hidden from taking any responsibility
Nzogbia - lots of injuries and when fit still has a tendancy to over play, looked good against Norwich before another injury
Gabby - Works hard, scares defenders but just doesn't look like scoring, then picked up a  n injury which is keeping him out
Bent - Hard to judge him, if Ireland and Nzogbia were working he'd look good, lots of injury problems

It reads of poor form and injuries for everyone except Holman who is the only experienced player who's really offered anything in recent weeks, and he's not someone you can build a team around.

Excellent post.

Lambert isn't stupid, he knows as well as everyone else that you have to temper youth with experience.  We have plenty of the latter, but sadly they either haven't stepped up to the plate or they're out through injury.