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

[Ian.]

And if they do, can we trust them to pick another manager? Christ that is a frightening prospect. We all thought Lambert was a great choice but for them to have to do it again. Oh Jesus, I don't think I could go through with that. What a mess.

[bertlambshank]

Can't be arsed to think about this anymore right now, im goin to bed to dream of Rotterdam 82!

Wanking material.

[phantom limb]

I'm wavering towards changing my vote, massive pressure against Southampton now. I don't even know who we'd get in as manager instead, but this is only ending up one way if things carry on like this.

[SoccerHQ]

Should we lose to Soton I expect the crowd will turn like they did at Bolton last season.

Really, if we lose to Southampton, then I think he can't complain if he gets the bullet.

I have a feeling Southampton might have more organisation spirit and fight than us.

They also have some decent attacking players. Lambert will lead the line, Ramirez will float in the hole just behind him (not a clue who in midfield will pick him up) and Puncheon and Do Prado, two pacey wide players will have enjoying watching Hines ripping Bennett to shreds. I expect Stevens to be the left back on Saturday.

[Rudy Can't Fail]

Di Matteo on an 18 month contract I would take.

And if the worst happens you can apply the same as with Lambert as he got WBA out of the championship first time.

I don't see the point though. Lerner won't allow any manager to sign PL standard players. He wants a team full of lower league players on practically YTS wages. That why we're in trouble.

That's the thing a lot of people don't seem to get.

Yes, blah blah blah, Lambert bought these players, but if he's been given a restrictive wage bill to work with - and this is the club which have spent three years talking about nothing BUT the wage bill, so it doesn't take much of a trip of the imagination - then he's going to be limited in the sort of player he can get in.

Had Clint Dempsey agreed to join us in the summer am I to assume we'd have offered him £20k a week?

It doesn't matter, does it, because it never got that far.

We don't just need one player on Dempsey style money, either, we need several, and really quickly.

The fact remains that were after him and it's widely reported he's on £85k a week at Spurs.

Like all clubs the wage bill is an issue with the possible exception of Man City. To pretend otherwise is nonsense. Sadly we have shite players on huge wages (Ireland, N'Zogbia, Given, Delph, Dunne etc) that we don't need. It's the manager's job to choose who he wants within his budget but it's also his responsibility to convince his chairman they are worth it and he'll get the best out of them.

To simplify it, we've bought some seriously over priced, over paid shite and we need to get rid of them to free up the wage bill. Either that or the manager gets them performing to their cost value.

[Somniloquism]

Di Matteo on an 18 month contract I would take.

And if the worst happens you can apply the same as with Lambert as he got WBA out of the championship first time.

The problem is any new manager will still have the same squad that we have now which is a culmination of the dross purchased by MON, GH, TSM and now PL.

They say every manager gets a few transfers wrong, we are stuck with what's left of four managers wrong decisions, plus the kids and Lambert's decent ones.

I'd hope for a new manager bounce. Debatable whether we had that with Lambert but we did win vs Swansea and got a decent point at Newcastle in his first 4 games.

We need to win 5 games to survive. Southampton, QPR, Fulham and Newcastle at home and Reading away are the ones I'm looking at.

If we don't beat Southampton, I don't have much faith we'll win many more under lambert tbh.

And QPR was supposed to have a new manager bounce yet it took how many matches to record their first win after 'Arry joined. The bounce normally only happens if the players are good enough but just don't want to perform for the manager. These ones are just not good enough or are just lacking so much in confidence that they are as good as useless. Confidence across one player might just be fixed by a change of manager, (Benitez and Torres maybe), across so many kids would need someone like Fergie and even he would struggle.

Unless we buy well and wisely, we are down no matter who is the manager. Lambert seems to have shown with Benteke, Lowton, Westwood and making the decision to recover Guzan that he can get decent players in. Unfortunately KEA and Bennett shows he can make mistakes as well. The jury is still out on Bowery and Vlaar as we have not seen enough from them compared to the others.

[David_Nab]

Should we lose to Soton I expect the crowd will turn like they did at Bolton last season.

Really, if we lose to Southampton, then I think he can't complain if he gets the bullet.

I have a feeling Southampton might have more organisation spirit and fight than us.

They also have some decent attacking players. Lambert will lead the line, Ramirez will float in the hole just behind him (not a clue who in midfield will pick him up) and Puncheon and Do Prado, two pacey wide players will have enjoying watching Hines ripping Bennett to shreds. I expect Stevens to be the left back on Saturday.

Exactly they ripped us apart last time and we had Vlaar then.They are more solid at the back.I can't see us beating them not after tonight ...

[pauliewalnuts]

Of course we need to get rid of the overpaid shite, but unfortunately, we also need several players in with the requisite quality and experience, who are going to add to the wage bill - before we shit the expensive shirkers off.

The chances are nobody is going to buy Warnock or Hutton in this window. So then what do we do? Wait till the summer and risk going down?

I would also be utterly amazed to find Dempsey was on anything like that at Spurs, Spurs who run a tight wages structure.

[Somniloquism]

And if they do, can we trust them to pick another manager? Christ that is a frightening prospect. We all thought Lambert was a great choice but for them to have to do it again. Oh Jesus, I don't think I could go through with that. What a mess.

The only difference between Lerner and the Venkys is that Lerner was smart enough not to be interviewed so the world did not realise early on how clueless in football he actually is. (Oh and the Venkys know how to be successful in business outside of football).

[SoccerHQ]

Di Matteo on an 18 month contract I would take.

And if the worst happens you can apply the same as with Lambert as he got WBA out of the championship first time.

The problem is any new manager will still have the same squad that we have now which is a culmination of the dross purchased by MON, GH, TSM and now PL.

They say every manager gets a few transfers wrong, we are stuck with what's left of four managers wrong decisions, plus the kids and Lambert's decent ones.

I'd hope for a new manager bounce. Debatable whether we had that with Lambert but we did win vs Swansea and got a decent point at Newcastle in his first 4 games.

We need to win 5 games to survive. Southampton, QPR, Fulham and Newcastle at home and Reading away are the ones I'm looking at.

If we don't beat Southampton, I don't have much faith we'll win many more under lambert tbh.

And QPR was supposed to have a new manager bounce yet it took how many matches to record their first win after 'Arry joined. The bounce normally only happens if the players are good enough but just don't want to perform for the manager. These ones are just not good enough or are just lacking so much in confidence that they are as good as useless. Confidence across one player might just be fixed by a change of manager, (Benitez and Torres maybe), across so many kids would need someone like Fergie and even he would struggle.

Unless we buy well and wisely, we are down no matter who is the manager. Lambert seems to have shown with Benteke, Lowton, Westwood and making the decision to recover Guzan that he can get decent players in. Unfortunately KEA and Bennett shows he can make mistakes as well. The jury is still out on Bowery and Vlaar as we have not seen enough from them compared to the others.

QPR drew their first 3 games under him and then won against Fulham after losing every week under Hughes

I'd take 6 points from the next 4 games tbh.

[Rancid custard]

I just want a bit of stability. How about this, MON bails and we wobble, Houllier comes in, clears some out brings some in, he bails when his heart goes, we bring in Mcleish, he clears some out brings some in, gets the boot, Lambert comes in clears some out brings some in...

Who in their right mind would come and join us with that worrying trend? Who could we convince to leave their current job just to let history repeat itself? The team's pretty much been picking itself because of injuries and we need a couple of shrewd January signings to keep the wolf from the door, that's all.

I subscribe to this view, but you have to admit he's not exactly doing a good job, is he? The whole thing is just an awful mess and has been since Pubehead spat his dummy.

I'm not his most vehement supporter, but he has my full support for the time being. He certainly made the right noises upon his arrival (as most would to be fair), he was talking about playing the right way, even if you're down by a couple and chasing a game That every player should try their heart out for 90 minutes, and we saw early flashes of that. He talked about bringing in players of a younger age because it wasn't too late to mold them, drill disciplines into them and making an impression on them for the greater long term good, I believe he said that it wasn't a dig at the older pro's but that you just can't change their game when they get to a certain age. He talked about how we were a bunch of route one hoofers who couldn't keep the ball down. When he brought in Vlaar our distribution from the back was better and we were keeping it down.

Fast forward a few months and it would seem that he's done the complete opposite to all the problems he identified. We hoof it up field because we haven't got a decent midfield, the kids are ill disciplined at the complete basics, like staying tight to your man and not letting them goal side when marking, not getting dragged out of position, and trying to hit 30 yard hopeful passes instead of short triangles. We capitulate, roll over and die at the 65 minute mark in virtually every game. he started putting it all right, then all of a sudden we started going backwards. We went from 4-4-2 to 4-5-1 to 3-5-2 to 5-2-1-2, he's been doing the okey cokey with Shay and Brad while trying to juggle the Zog's bipolar form, Bannan's 'I'm the finished article' attitude, Ireland's general crapness at life, no midfield width for which he seems to think Gabby and Andi are the way forward, swapping out kids for kids and a midfield that like to kick the ball straight to the oppositions feet.

The thing that makes it tolerable for me is I see flashes of the team we could be, rather than the team we are. Every now and again Clark will keep it low, release Westwood who finds Bannan who miraculously hits his pass spot on to Benteke who heads in on to Weimann who slots it under the advancing keeper. You just have to put up with about 60 minutes of shit to be treated to it.

[danlanza]

Di Matteo on an 18 month contract I would take.

And if the worst happens you can apply the same as with Lambert as he got WBA out of the championship first time.

I don't see the point though. Lerner won't allow any manager to sign PL standard players. He wants a team full of lower league players on practically YTS wages. That why we're in trouble.

That's the thing a lot of people don't seem to get.

Yes, blah blah blah, Lambert bought these players, but if he's been given a restrictive wage bill to work with - and this is the club which have spent three years talking about nothing BUT the wage bill, so it doesn't take much of a trip of the imagination - then he's going to be limited in the sort of player he can get in.

Had Clint Dempsey agreed to join us in the summer am I to assume we'd have offered him £20k a week?

It doesn't matter, does it, because it never got that far.

We don't just need one player on Dempsey style money, either, we need several, and really quickly.

The fact remains that were after him and it's widely reported he's on £85k a week at Spurs.

Like all clubs the wage bill is an issue with the possible exception of Man City. To pretend otherwise is nonsense. Sadly we have shite players on huge wages (Ireland, N'Zogbia, Given, Delph, Dunne etc) that we don't need. It's the manager's job to choose who he wants within his budget but it's also his responsibility to convince his chairman they are worth it and he'll get the best out of them.

To simplify it, we've bought some seriously over priced, over paid shite and we need to get rid of them to free up the wage bill. Either that or the manager gets them performing to their cost value.

We do not need to change the manager. Yes we are in the shit but sacking Lambert would only put us further in the shit. I do not know the answers but surely now is not the time to sack Lambert. Wait two weeks, if we have beaten Saints and the Albion and got to wembley then all is good. If we have lost all three then i might have a different view. Until then i will stick with Lambert, but by the skin of my teeth

[Risso]

How could we be worse if we sacked Lambert?  Could the defence get any worse?  Could we be more disorganised?  Could we score fewer goals?

[pauliewalnuts]

How could we be worse if we sacked Lambert?  Could the defence get any worse?  Could we be more disorganised?  Could we score fewer goals?

We may - I pray - be sorting out signings right now. Some of them might be decent. Changing manager now would kybosh that for starters.

Put it this way, if we're not sorting out reinforcements, then I think we are fucked, whoever the manager.

[neo_Villan]

If Lambo is sacked, who to replace him? RDM is maybe most obvious and he did rejuvinate Chelsea last season. Maybe we could go back for OGS. The Norweigan league is over now isn't it?