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

[Ads]

We need new players more than we need a new manager at this point.

The writing is on the wall for me. We are going down, unless, new blood, quality, is brought in.

We are not adrift and something can be done, but I don't think Lerner will. The man is a fool.

[PaulWinch again]

He's making a mess, but it's a fucking awful under funded squad as well.

[Des Little]

At the risk of stating the bleedin' obvious, if Lambert isn't backed financially now, we are doomed. It's that simple.

[villan from luton]

I have got my doubts about Lambert, his body language on Tuesday was a disgrace IMO considering we have a young team in need of help. I just cannot see how we can afford to replace him and who the feck we can bring in

[eric woolban woolban]

Randy hasn't got the business nous. Everything he touches fails! Was handed down MBNA wasn't he?

[Dave Clark Five]

If we sacked Lambert thats 3 different managers gone in last two seasons we will end up like Blackburn.

I'm not happy obviously but you don't change a club that has flirted with relegation two seasons in a row in half a season.

Lerners business plan or lack of one is the problem.

But he is changing it. We aren't flirting with relegation anymore, we are near certs now.

Theres 15 games left and we're in the relegation zone on goal difference, near certs? stop being a fucking drama queen!

Here we go. Bed wetting, drama queen etc. Where will you be if we do go down?

[ktvillan]

I've been behind Lambert as, unlike McLeish, I thought he had the right idea and a plan that made sense, if implemented properly over time.  That said,, for the last 6 games or so Lambert has looked completely clueless in terms of tactics, formation, motivation, and ability to organise a defence.  We've made the same mistakes over and over again and look no closer to remedying them.   Many of us said from early on that selling or ostracising most of the experienced players on the books and relying on youngsters was a very risky strategy.  There have been times when we've looked okay but just lately we have relegation written all over us.  The defence are like rabbits in the headlights, the amount of ballwatching and headless chicken style ball chasing is almost comical.  Yet we don't seem to have anyone lined up to improve matters.

But I'm not convinced it's all Lambert's fault.  One wonders why sell Collins with Dunne still injured,Vlaar new to the league, and only Clark, Baker and Herd in reserve?  Why loan out Makoun again with Petrov out? Why discard Hutton and Warnock when, as poor as they can be, we don't have anyone better?  The obvious answer is to reduce the pressure on the wage bill.  Well fantastic business sense Randy, save 10m on the wage bill and rush headlong into losing 100m+ in future TV and PL revenues.  Fucking genius. 

[Dave Clark Five]

I will vote to keep him as I don't trust the board to make another decision. Let him have some funds, bring some one bodies in and it might just give us a kick up the arse and confidence we need.

You don't trust the board (if you can call it that) to make a decision. Do you trust them to spend some money? This isn't someone's personal pension fund, it is the Villa. Not having a go at you by the way. We're all in the shit together.

[ozzjim]

We need 3 maybe 4 options before the end of the month and will need to win 2-3 on the spin at some point. Every loss sticks more in the needs to spend column.

[pestria]

The way I see it is we are going down if we continue along with same plan.  In my opinion the squad not good enough. We have the fatal combination of forwards and attacking midfielders who can't score and defenders who can't ... well defend.

There are only two options.

1. Back Lambert with enough funds to make survival reasonably safe.

2. Sack Lambert and get someone else in who thinks they can make a silk purse out of sows ear.

Again in my opinion, option 2 simply isn't viable.

I wish Lambert would have the integrity to publicly say 'sack me or back me', and to actually resign if they don't back him.  It's the only way to keep his reputation in tact and to clearly mark out to Lerner and the football world in general what a fuck up the club is at the moment.

The crying shame is that I know this is asking too much in modern football.

[Chipsticks]

I've been behind Lambert as, unlike McLeish, I thought he had the right idea and a plan that made sense, if implemented properly over time.  That said,, for the last 6 games or so Lambert has looked completely clueless in terms of tactics, formation, motivation, and ability to organise a defence.  We've made the same mistakes over and over again and look no closer to remedying them.   Many of us said from early on that selling or ostracising most of the experienced players on the books and relying on youngsters was a very risky strategy.  There have been times when we've looked okay but just lately we have relegation written all over us.  The defence are like rabbits in the headlights, the amount of ballwatching and headless chicken style ball chasing is almost comical.  Yet we don't seem to have anyone lined up to improve matters.

But I'm not convinced it's all Lambert's fault.  One wonders why sell Collins with Dunne still injured,Vlaar new to the league, and only Clark, Baker and Herd in reserve?  Why loan out Makoun again with Petrov out? Why discard Hutton and Warnock when, as poor as they can be, we don't have anyone better?  The obvious answer is to reduce the pressure on the wage bill.  Well fantastic business sense Randy, save 10m on the wage bill and rush headlong into losing 100m+ in future TV and PL revenues.  Fucking genius. 

Loaning Makoun out was our only real option due to his work permit issues. The rest I agree with, but we all thought they were good ideas at the start of the season. The majority of people on here were calling for Lambert, and there was a lot of 'sell the whole team and start again' towards the end of last season.

[Ian.]

I will vote to keep him as I don't trust the board to make another decision. Let him have some funds, bring some one bodies in and it might just give us a kick up the arse and confidence we need.

You don't trust the board (if you can call it that) to make a decision. Do you trust them to spend some money? This isn't someone's personal pension fund, it is the Villa. Not having a go at you by the way. We're all in the shit together.

I am worried they might sack Lambert and then have not an inkling of what to do next. I'm not convinced either, that enough money will be made available to bring in the players we need now.
We are all in this together, quite right and I hope something will be done soon. With each defeat the players and manager look more defeated.

[VillaAlways]

I will vote to keep him as I don't trust the board to make another decision. Let him have some funds, bring some one bodies in and it might just give us a kick up the arse and confidence we need.

You don't trust the board (if you can call it that) to make a decision. Do you trust them to spend some money? This isn't someone's personal pension fund, it is the Villa. Not having a go at you by the way. We're all in the shit together.

I am worried they might sack Lambert and then have not an inkling of what to do next. I'm not convinced either, that enough money will be made available to bring in the players we need now.
We are all in this together, quite right and I hope something will be done soon. With each defeat the players and manager look more defeated.

Sack Lambert? Not a chance,that would require making a decision.It will be head in the sand,fingers crossed andhope for the best like last season.I absolutely despise the people running our club

[Drummond]

His mumbling, repetitive post match interviews are barely intelligible so I have no faith in his ability to rouse and gee up players, particularly those for whom English is not their first language.

This crap keeps being trotted out, yet he's perfectly easy to understand by anyone who actually listens.

When he's interviewed, the interviewers all manage to understand what he's saying too.

[pauliewalnuts]

Well that's a shit result.

We have to stick with Lambert. We simply need to go through this pain in order to come out the other end. If we don't we're truly screwed for many years.

It's certainly looking more like we'll go down but I still think we should stick with Lambert.

This.

I agree, too.

He has put together a sequence of results that should get any manager in the league sacked, but he's still the best option for us.

That madness isn't his fault, it is a reflection of where we are as a club.

I'm really struggling to see how he is the best option for us ? No other team in all the leagues would tolerate these results including the conference.It's embarrassing

Yes, you're right, not many teams would put up with this, but that's missing the wider point.

The point is not whether Lambert has been poor up to now - look at the results, look at some of the records we've broken, of course it has been shit, there's not a single person on this site who would disagree with that.

But that's not the question at hand.

The question at hand is whether or not we should sack him now, not whether he deserves the sack. Sack him now, and you've got to find a new manager, and a new backroom staff. You're changing the entire football management of the club.

You've then got to do that, and get them all installed, and get them to identify their transfer targets, and get them all in within 2.5 weeks.

It isn't going to happen.

The obvious thing which would improve this side is the acquisition of two or three players in positions which we can all identify. That is the answer, not wasting more money which we do not have on paying off yet another manager, and getting a new bloke in, who'll be chosen on the basis of "fuck, we need to get someone in ASAP" rather than finding the best man to take the club forward over a period of years.

The easy, obvious thing is to say sack the manager and maybe things will get better. The clever thing is to back the manager with money for the players we need.

You could change manager in the next seven days, but the new guy would be confronted with exactly the same group of players - too young, too unbothered, and clearly not good enough for this level. That isn't going to change overnight.