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

[Pat McMahon]

It's not his fault that several players were out of contract, others have been injured and Petrov go ill. We've had to create almost an entire new team while playing competitive games.

I think that's right but the folly lies in creating almost an entire new team for the Premier League almost entirely out of players who have never played in it before, and in some cases never at that standard.

It was always going to be a struggle but I think even the ardent optimists never saw it being quite as bad as this.

I know what you mean Hilts. I was saying to Chico at Millwall that I thought we were really poor at W Ham on the opening day and a lot of people seemed very encouraged by the fact we were able to keep possession by going sideways and backwards a lot. I was just miffed that we lost to an average team.

I thought it would be a long hard slog but I truly didn't expect anything like this season.

[Des Little]

If PL manages to get 2 or 3 in this week I think we have a glimmer. It's a huge ask but a win on Tues and a draw at Everton would make a massive difference. As you can see, I've started a new positive approach to my thinking as my previous misery was getting me down. We can do this!

[pauliewalnuts]

How Lambert is still in charge defies belief IMHO

Agree, Herbert would have pulled the trigger before driving home from Stamford Bridge.

Oh, yes, who can forget how much we loved Doug's decisive leadership at the time. I'll never forget the wailing and crying when he left.

And who would Doug have replaced him with?

"Manager deserves the sack" is one thing.

"Sacking the manager is the best thing for the club, right now" is another entirely, and that's what a lot of people don't seem to get.

[Greg N'Ash]

How Lambert is still in charge defies belief IMHO

Agree, Herbert would have pulled the trigger before driving home from Stamford Bridge.

Oh, yes, who can forget how much we loved Doug's decisive leadership at the time. I'll never forget the wailing and crying when he left.

And who would Doug have replaced him with?

"Manager deserves the sack" is one thing.

"Sacking the manager is the best thing for the club, right now" is another entirely, and that's what a lot of people don't seem to get.

Just a question Paulie but where do you see this ending? Say we go down and Lambert isn't sacked you want him to give it a go in the championship? So next season we go with Lambert with the likes of Benteke, Wiemann and Westwood sold and you want him to try to get us up with  Hutton and Co? We'll be going the other way.

[saunders_heroes]

One thing you see a lot on here is "Manager X would do better than Lambert", but that is not the point. Manager X, Y or Z would have to do significantly better than Lambert if we are to stay up under these circumstances. A bit better won't be enough.

well not really that much better, just as bad/better as TSM.  we've had 20m spent on the squad since he limped to the finish line last May. If we have a weaker squad of players now then that's down to Lambchop. If we haven't then their performances are also down to lampchop.

 Anyway, we're going over old ground here. Sooner or later those saying In or out will be overtaken by events and will be forced to concede they are wrong. I hope its the outs because if you're wrong we'll be down.

It's not his fault that several players were out of contract, others have been injured and Petrov go ill. We've had to create almost an entire new team while playing competitive games.

But then Lambert went out and spent £20m on (mostly) a pile of crap.

[pauliewalnuts]

Just a question Paulie but where do you see this ending? Say we go down and Lambert isn't sacked you want him to give it a go in the championship? So next season we go with Lambert with the likes of Benteke, Wiemann and Westwood sold and you want him to try to get us up with  Hutton and Co? We'll be going the other way.

Yes, I would stick with him.

It's one of those emotive questions, based on the suggestion we should be looking for revenge on the bloke who put us down, but let me ask you this, if we did go down, what sort of names do you think we'd be looking at as manager to replace him?

And, let's not forget, go down and the players you mentioned who'd be offski, would still be offski no matter who the new manager was.

[pauliewalnuts]

One thing you see a lot on here is "Manager X would do better than Lambert", but that is not the point. Manager X, Y or Z would have to do significantly better than Lambert if we are to stay up under these circumstances. A bit better won't be enough.

well not really that much better, just as bad/better as TSM.  we've had 20m spent on the squad since he limped to the finish line last May. If we have a weaker squad of players now then that's down to Lambchop. If we haven't then their performances are also down to lampchop.

 Anyway, we're going over old ground here. Sooner or later those saying In or out will be overtaken by events and will be forced to concede they are wrong. I hope its the outs because if you're wrong we'll be down.

It's not his fault that several players were out of contract, others have been injured and Petrov go ill. We've had to create almost an entire new team while playing competitive games.

But then Lambert went out and spent £20m on (mostly) a pile of crap.

"Mostly a pile of crap"?

Stop and think for a moment. It's not actually true.

Excellent - Benteke (and if we sold him, we'd probably get the entire 20m outlay back).
Very promising - Westwood
Decent - Vlaar, Lowton
Questionable - KEA
Shit - Bennett
Too early to say - Bowery.

The players who have let us down have not been his signings, by and large, they have been the same familiar faces from seasons gone by.

The likes of N'Zogbia, who has put in a handful of decent performances of late, but until then, done nothing.
Stephen Ireland, disappointing.
Barry Bannan - getting to the point where he's no longer a kid, disappointing.
Holman - what does he actually do?

[VillaAlways]

Lamberts bizarre tactics and substitutions have cost us points and a cup final Taking  N'Zogbia off against West Brom springs to mind and removing the midfield against Bradford,where all we needed to do was keep calm and carry on as we had been. He panics when things go wrong and this transmits to the players.He doesn't appear to be able to motivate either and I have never been keen on managers that barely spend any time actually coaching. He's been a complete and utter disaster.Of all the new managers ,we've ended up with the absolute duffer when I thought we had the best one.It's very depressing and I just can't see him turning it round here or in the Championship
Its probably too late to sack him now but future events may change that.
I'd go back and try and get OGS if we get relegated as PL will just get sacked when we're midtable in the Championship Relegated managers rarely bring a club back up again and OGS style of play wouldn't be a million miles from what PL is trying but failing to do

[saunders_heroes]

One thing you see a lot on here is "Manager X would do better than Lambert", but that is not the point. Manager X, Y or Z would have to do significantly better than Lambert if we are to stay up under these circumstances. A bit better won't be enough.

well not really that much better, just as bad/better as TSM.  we've had 20m spent on the squad since he limped to the finish line last May. If we have a weaker squad of players now then that's down to Lambchop. If we haven't then their performances are also down to lampchop.

 Anyway, we're going over old ground here. Sooner or later those saying In or out will be overtaken by events and will be forced to concede they are wrong. I hope its the outs because if you're wrong we'll be down.

It's not his fault that several players were out of contract, others have been injured and Petrov go ill. We've had to create almost an entire new team while playing competitive games.

But then Lambert went out and spent £20m on (mostly) a pile of crap.

"Mostly a pile of crap"?

Stop and think for a moment. It's not actually true.

Excellent - Benteke (and if we sold him, we'd probably get the entire 20m outlay back).
Very promising - Westwood
Decent - Vlaar, Lowton
Questionable - KEA
Shit - Bennett
Too early to say - Bowery.

It's all about opinions. Benteke aside, not one of one players you mention are PL standard. That's why we're spiralling toward the drop.

[PaulWinch again]

It's not his signings, it's his tactics and approach to defending that concerns me.

[pauliewalnuts]

It's all about opinions. Benteke aside, not one of one players you mention are PL standard. That's why we're spiralling toward the drop.

I thought you said "pile of shite" rather than "not PL standard"

I'd suggest Vlaar is, what with him being a Dutch international, and Westwood has looked very comfortable, wouldn't you agree? And Lowton, whilst unspectacular, has done ok.

It's your "everything is shit" line again. There are good points to be made about how shit we are, but they get drowned out in the hyperbolic nonsense you come out with.

Our problem is that this season, we have found ourselves playing too many up and coming young players *at the same time*. Just as 11 promising players thrown together does not mean you have a promising "team", the team struggling does not mean that all the players in it are shite.

[Greg N'Ash]

Just a question Paulie but where do you see this ending? Say we go down and Lambert isn't sacked you want him to give it a go in the championship? So next season we go with Lambert with the likes of Benteke, Wiemann and Westwood sold and you want him to try to get us up with  Hutton and Co? We'll be going the other way.

Yes, I would stick with him.

It's one of those emotive questions, based on the suggestion we should be looking for revenge on the bloke who put us down, but let me ask you this, if we did go down, what sort of names do you think we'd be looking at as manager to replace him?

And, let's not forget, go down and the players you mentioned who'd be offski, would still be offski no matter who the new manager was.

hmmm. So you want a guy in charge who's got no record of motivating or even getting organised the sorry collection of players still remaining and with no money to buy new ones. Isn't that where we are now?

[pauliewalnuts]

It's not his signings, it's his tactics and approach to defending that concerns me.

i think everyone is concerned with the way we defend. The thing is, it has been like that for three entire years. Surely at some point you have to stop changing the manager in the hope it improves something, and give one man the time to sort it. Five months of the season is not enough.

There is no way I am going to make out like Lambert is at fault for nothing - he certainly is at fault, for a lot of things - but, surely, at some point, we have to draw a line in the sand and say we can't burn even more money sacking and replacing managers. it hasn't worked for the last three years, and it won't work now.

[LeeB]

It's all about opinions. Benteke aside, not one of one players you mention are PL standard. That's why we're spiralling toward the drop.

I thought you said "pile of shite" rather than "not PL standard"

I'd suggest Vlaar is, what with him being a Dutch international, and Westwood has looked very comfortable, wouldn't you agree? And Lowton, whilst unspectacular, has done ok.

It's your "everything is shit" line again. There are good points to be made about how shit we are, but they get drowned out in the hyperbolic nonsense you come out with.

Our problem is that this season, we have found ourselves playing too many up and coming young players *at the same time*. Just as 11 promising players thrown together does not mean you have a promising "team", the team struggling does not mean that all the players in it are shite.

Brother, once again you tell it like it is.

[pauliewalnuts]

Just a question Paulie but where do you see this ending? Say we go down and Lambert isn't sacked you want him to give it a go in the championship? So next season we go with Lambert with the likes of Benteke, Wiemann and Westwood sold and you want him to try to get us up with  Hutton and Co? We'll be going the other way.

Yes, I would stick with him.

It's one of those emotive questions, based on the suggestion we should be looking for revenge on the bloke who put us down, but let me ask you this, if we did go down, what sort of names do you think we'd be looking at as manager to replace him?

And, let's not forget, go down and the players you mentioned who'd be offski, would still be offski no matter who the new manager was.

hmmm. So you want a guy in charge who's got no record of motivating or even getting organised the sorry collection of players still remaining and with no money to buy new ones. Isn't that where we are now?

I would stick with a guy who has proven pedigree of getting teams promoted.

I will ask you again - who would you look to replace him with, if we got relegated?