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

[Risso]

Baker and Clark are both kids, and even without injuries they're prone to mistakes and periods of not playing well.  As I keep saying, he was gambling our entire back line on players with very little or no Premier League experience, and it's madness.  All of our decent sides have been built on a bedrock of a firm defence, but Lowton, Vlaar, Baker, Clark, Bennett, Lichaj and Stevens were never going to deliver that.  Certainly not this season anyway.

[SamTheMouse]

Lamberts transfer dealings have in the main been very encouraging

I agree. The only one he looks to have fluffed is KEA, and even he might end up being OK, given time. There's no arguing that Westwood and Lowton are just the sort of signings the club needs to make for the longer term, Bennett looks like he will take longer to make the grade but you can see the potential, and let's not forget Benteke, whose value has surely doubled in the mere months since he joined. He also brought Guzan back, with stunning results. Vlaar is very solid and has slotted in really well, so much so that we have missed him enormously in recent games. Nope, I trust  this man with Randy's cash, no worries.

Frankly, if we hadn't had such fucking awful luck with injuries, this thread wouldn't even have been started.

Which of the long term injured was he regulary playing?

And how were we doing before the injuries kicked in?

Well, before the injuries kicked in - and particularly the injury to Vlaar which has really cost us - we were doing largely shit with intermittent 20 or 30 minute spells of really promising football. But we were grinding out enough results to suggest that we'd stay up reasonably comfortably. It's only the last few games that the crap has well and truly hit the fan and we've been getting spanked. I would imagine that had Vlaar and Dunne been available over the festive period, Lambert would have played them. And losing Gabby has a far bigger impact than most people allow for, too, as he runs the channels effectively and can pull wide to ease pressure on the midfield. Opponents are definitely wary of his pace, even if he's playing indifferently.

[eastie]

Baker and Clark are both kids, and even without injuries they're prone to mistakes and periods of not playing well.  As I keep saying, he was gambling our entire back line on players with very little or no Premier League experience, and it's madness.  All of our decent sides have been built on a bedrock of a firm defence, but Lowton, Vlaar, Baker, Clark, Bennett, Lichaj and Stevens were never going to deliver that.  Certainly not this season anyway.

Neither are kids - both in their 20s and good enough to play at this level , though perhaps in need of an experienced partner.

[Risso]

Baker and Clark are both kids, and even without injuries they're prone to mistakes and periods of not playing well.  As I keep saying, he was gambling our entire back line on players with very little or no Premier League experience, and it's madness.  All of our decent sides have been built on a bedrock of a firm defence, but Lowton, Vlaar, Baker, Clark, Bennett, Lichaj and Stevens were never going to deliver that.  Certainly not this season anyway.

Neither are kids - both in their 20s and good enough to play at this level , though perhaps in need of an experienced partner.

I think a 21 year old player with half a dozen first team games to his name can reasonably be referred to as a 'kid' in footballing terms.  But if you want to be petty, let's go with "young and inexperienced" then.

[eastie]

Not being petty ris, just that kids implies young untried players whereas baker and Clark have been around the 1st team squad for a couple of years .

[saunders_heroes]

Baker and Clark are both kids, and even without injuries they're prone to mistakes and periods of not playing well.  As I keep saying, he was gambling our entire back line on players with very little or no Premier League experience, and it's madness.  All of our decent sides have been built on a bedrock of a firm defence, but Lowton, Vlaar, Baker, Clark, Bennett, Lichaj and Stevens were never going to deliver that.  Certainly not this season anyway.

Spot on.

[eastie]

Baker and Clark are both kids, and even without injuries they're prone to mistakes and periods of not playing well.  As I keep saying, he was gambling our entire back line on players with very little or no Premier League experience, and it's madness.  All of our decent sides have been built on a bedrock of a firm defence, but Lowton, Vlaar, Baker, Clark, Bennett, Lichaj and Stevens were never going to deliver that.  Certainly not this season anyway.

Spot on.

Spot on that lambert should have foresaw 3 of his 4 central defenders would be injured at the same time?

He may have made some mistakes but be fair to the guy - he's not to blame for that.

[pedro25]

Not being petty ris, just that kids implies young untried players whereas baker and Clark have been around the 1st team squad for a couple of years .

I agree they are not kids and as far as I'm concerned are both perfectly competent, shame only one of them is fit.

[paul_e]

As others have said, I just don't think, at the time, it was that big a risk, certainly not if buying a central defender had stopped us buying Benteke or Westwood as may have been the case.  I think it was an understandable gamble which has backfired with a very harsh run of injuries.

He should remedy it in this window though as, even if he gets fit, we only have 17 games left on Dunne's contract so we may as well now get his replacement in.

[saunders_heroes]

Baker and Clark are both kids, and even without injuries they're prone to mistakes and periods of not playing well.  As I keep saying, he was gambling our entire back line on players with very little or no Premier League experience, and it's madness.  All of our decent sides have been built on a bedrock of a firm defence, but Lowton, Vlaar, Baker, Clark, Bennett, Lichaj and Stevens were never going to deliver that.  Certainly not this season anyway.

Spot on.

Spot on that lambert should have foresaw 3 of his 4 central defenders would be injured at the same time?

He may have made some mistakes but be fair to the guy - he's not to blame for that.

He should have never have gone into the season with such inexperience at the back. We've struggled even players were fit. Only Dunne may have made a difference. The sooner he's back the better.

[eastie]

Baker and Clark are both kids, and even without injuries they're prone to mistakes and periods of not playing well.  As I keep saying, he was gambling our entire back line on players with very little or no Premier League experience, and it's madness.  All of our decent sides have been built on a bedrock of a firm defence, but Lowton, Vlaar, Baker, Clark, Bennett, Lichaj and Stevens were never going to deliver that.  Certainly not this season anyway.

Spot on.

Spot on that lambert should have foresaw 3 of his 4 central defenders would be injured at the same time?

He may have made some mistakes but be fair to the guy - he's not to blame for that.

He should have never have gone into the season with such inexperience at the back. We've struggled even players were fit. Only Dunne may have made a difference. The sooner he's back the better.

To be honest I'd be surprised if dunne plays for us again.

[Apyadg]

Quite, I bet Lambert would have liked to use Petrov, Makoun and Gardner at times this season, as well as Dunne, to lose 4 players for an entire 1st half of the season is rank bad luck, to lose half a dozen on top for several weeks has compounded this massively.

Oh come on. He knew Petrov and Dunne wouldn't be playing, and he sent Makoun out on loan.

[Rip Van We Go Again]

Needing a break, Jesus how many games are players these days able to play before they break down and need a break?

Comparing players now to those of days gone by is like comparing thoroughbred racehorses to carthorses. Playing too many games might deprive them of 1 or 2% of their sharpness. You and I wouldn't notice that but it's the difference between making a last-ditch tackle and the goal we let in yesterday. 

Exactly why i'd give Benteke a break on Saturday.

[LeeB]

Quite, I bet Lambert would have liked to use Petrov, Makoun and Gardner at times this season, as well as Dunne, to lose 4 players for an entire 1st half of the season is rank bad luck, to lose half a dozen on top for several weeks has compounded this massively.

Oh come on. He knew Petrov and Dunne wouldn't be playing, and he sent Makoun out on loan.

We couldn't play Makoun due to work permit issues, but I blame Lambert for not finding a way around employment law.

It's not good enough.

[LeeB]

55 pages in and nobody has put anything like a convincing argument forward for moving him on.