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

[neo_Villan]

He clearly doesn't understand the concept of building from the back. But then looking at his record, his teams have never really been strong defensively. So it shouldn't come as a suprise. Someone once told me that he has a 'out-score your opponents' philosophy. The problem is we aren't scoring either.                                                                              I think it's time to reset the poll again.

[danno]

The more I watch Villa the more I think we're in the middle of a perfect storm with numerous factors contributing to our shortcomings.

1. Lambert. Tried to change to much too soon. Upset the senior pros (see Chelsea of last year). Only one year of premiership experience. Has a record of poor defensive organisation. Too stubborn to admit his errors.

2. Players. Too inexperienced at this level ( note - I did not say too young). Possible mutiny? Are Bent and Ireland being forced out along with Warnock and Hutton and are being disruptive influences? Results have led to confidence problems. Injuries to key players at key times.


3. Randy Lerner. Spending less money and time here than ever.

4. Fans. Week by week it seems the crowd sense impending doom and are more inclined to stay quiet/barrack than encourage the team. We're not stupid after all.


5. Almost forgot... The opposition, for the first time just about every club in relegation trouble seems to have money to burn and are strengthening at the exact time we can't (or won't).


It's a downward spiral alright. It would take something big to change our course now.

Changing too much too soon is probably one of the reasons we're struggling and I also think that he's not used to deal with the big players like Ireland, Bent, N'Zogbia etc and that's probably part of the reason why they haven't performed (except N'Zogbia lately who at least seems to be putting real effort).

All good and well, but most of those weren't performing before he even got here.  I'm sick of hearing people making excuses for players like Ireland (the formation doesn't suit him, the manager doesn't know how to deal with him) when in reality he is a work-shy waster who doesn't give a toss about the club.

I'd add that Hutton, Warnock, Dunne, Collins Cuellar with Given in nets were pretty lousy at defending last season too.
Our poor record from corners (for and against) certainly didn't start this season.

[PeterWithesShin]

It doesn't have to be reset. There is a "remove vote" option which means people can change their vote.

[Pete3206]

Great transfer business, have another standing ovation, Mr Lambert.

Enjoy that? Good, now fuck off.

[adrenachrome]

Kill them all!

[Bigmelonface]

can we drown the witch?

[Bigmelonface]

if not I vote we burn him.

[Jockey Randall]

Some of the posts on this thread are shocking to put it mildly. He wasn't even my first or second choice but some of the treatment he gets on here is disgraceful. It's like some parallel universe exists where Lambert has taken a top 6 squad and turned them into a bunch of turds who don't try because his "motivational skills are useless" or his "tactics are shit". I saw no evidence of non-triers against newcastle. At the end of the day we are where we are because the squad isn't good enough, because the best players have gradually been ripped from it and when we have had substantial cash to spend we haven't spent it well enough. In Lambert's reign we've spent little when you consider the repair job that was needed after the previous season.

Is he not bothered about the defence? I very much doubt it. Could he have signed a better player than Clark or Baker with the transfer budget/wages available? Probably not. I very much doubt a manager who had the success he had a norwich can't see that individual errors at the back are costing us goals week after week. It's like logic has just disappeared in some cases. Some of the posts are more akin to children throwing their toys out of the pram because things haven't gone our way.

People need to have a good look at the events that have happened over the last few years and who has been sold and who replaced who, because the last person at fault here is the current manager. It just seems like anger and blind hatred have taken over some cases and has created a witch hunt mentality without any regard for where the real problem has arisen from.

We're all tactical geniuses with hindsight. There were plenty of different formations and personnel suggested before the game the other night yet afterwards everyone knew the right way didn't they? The fact is in football having quality players is far more important than good tactics. I know a lot of people didn't care for MON's tactics but we got results because we paid for quality players.

With the squad we have currently, I think we're one of the worst 3 squads in the division. If he keeps us up I think he'll have done a good job in his first season. If we go down, I can't say anything other than it was to be expected with the players we lost on top of finishing 16th and the amount of money he had available to replace this quality, not forgetting the extremely thin squad he had to work with.

[adrenachrome]

Some of the posts on this thread are shocking to put it mildly. He wasn't even my first or second choice but some of the treatment he gets on here is disgraceful. It's like some parallel universe exists where Lambert has taken a top 6 squad and turned them into a bunch of turds who don't try because his "motivational skills are useless" or his "tactics are shit". I saw no evidence of non-triers against newcastle. At the end of the day we are where we are because the squad isn't good enough, because the best players have gradually been ripped from it and when we have had substantial cash to spend we haven't spent it well enough. In Lambert's reign we've spent little when you consider the repair job that was needed after the previous season.

Is he not bothered about the defence? I very much doubt it. Could he have signed a better player than Clark or Baker with the transfer budget/wages available? Probably not. I very much doubt a manager who had the success he had a norwich can't see that individual errors at the back are costing us goals week after week. It's like logic has just disappeared in some cases. Some of the posts are more akin to children throwing their toys out of the pram because things haven't gone our way.

People need to have a good look at the events that have happened over the last few years and who has been sold and who replaced who, because the last person at fault here is the current manager. It just seems like anger and blind hatred have taken over some cases and has created a witch hunt mentality without any regard for where the real problem has arisen from.

We're all tactical geniuses with hindsight. There were plenty of different formations and personnel suggested before the game the other night yet afterwards everyone knew the right way didn't they? The fact is in football having quality players is far more important than good tactics. I know a lot of people didn't care for MON's tactics but we got results because we paid for quality players.

With the squad we have currently, I think we're one of the worst 3 squads in the division. If he keeps us up I think he'll have done a good job in his first season. If we go down, I can't say anything other than it was to be expected with the players we lost on top of finishing 16th and the amount of money he had available to replace this quality, not forgetting the extremely thin squad he had to work with.

Yes. That is all true. But Mr. Lambert knew all this when he signed up for the gig, did he not?

In fact he embraced it, and saw it as a great opportunity to conduct his experiment which happened to coincide with Randolph Lerner's vision of the jolly good fellow who would stop the excesses of the Rew Skis, Ay Rabs and In Juns.

In he words of a very old Cure song: "And dust on the lips of a vision from hell, I cried in the mirror for the first time in a year"

[pbavfckuwait]

Exactly Pl signed up for this, now it is plain to see why OGS did not, either way at the moment PL looks like a rabbit caught in the headlights and has no way of escaping the vehicle that is going to run him down. Out of his depth and not being assisted by our clueless top echelon.
In the words of a Status Quo song "Down Down going Down"

[supertom]

It's a shame that things have come to this. We were pretty much all happy with PL coming in. Maybe that was partly down to how bad McLeish is. But even so, McLeish kept us up (just about). PL probably won't. He certainly won't come close to 38 points.

Lambert should have gone weeks ago. I mean QPR were decisive and it might save them. They look in good shape at the close of the window and are tough to beat. As for Soton. Sacking Adkins seems strange but they're looking now worse so far under the new guy, and they're comfortably above us. Newcastle will pull away now. Reading can't be written off given some of their results.

What's could decide things though is the fact that all the teams above us that we're scrapping with have scored more and conceded less than us. The form of the relegated teams is ranging from fairly decent to mediocre. They're on upward or level curves. We however are in a downward spiral looking unable to get clear. We can't have everything on Benteke's shoulders. He's always got a goal in him but it's evidently not enough.

We clearly don't have the money to fire him and/or attract a decent manager. I don't know who in the management game is out of work off the top of my head but if we paid a good wedge for an interim like Hiddink or similar, it could be a gamble that might save us, and thus more money long term. Lambert won't keep us up. Frankly I'd even take the punt on Curbs to do it. We're going down with this man at the reigns. I'd make the change. Something has to be done and done now.

[aj2k77]

Can't wait to hear Rab C's press confrence today, assuming he's not sending Vlaar out to do it.

1 shot if he says ''Happy to go with what we've got''
2 shots if he says ''We go again''
3 shots if he says ''We've got to fight, you cannot lie down''

[ktvillan]

In answer to Jocky Randall I have to disagree on some of your points.  I had reservations about Lambert but thought he wasn't a bad choice overall. But his shortcomings have become obvious to anyone who cares to look recently.

If he is so aware of our defensive issues why hasn't he tried switching from man marking to zonal - it can't be any worse can it?  Why hasn't he sought out a defensive coach?  Why does he persist with 3 at the back when it's failed time after time?  Why doesn't he put someone like Herd or Clark as a defensive midfielder to shield the back four?  Why doesn't he address the blatant ball watching whilst the opponents stroll past them?   Why doesn't he just try something, anything,  different instead of repeating the same mistakes, and surprise, surprise, getting the same results?   As for there not being anyone better available, for one, Upson on loan would have been better than Clark, and possibly Baker, because Clark is quite simply an awful centre back.  I can't imagine we couldn't afford to pay him 25-30k a week until the end of the season.  I doubt Brighton will be paying him more than that. 

One cannot deny he inherited a weak squad, but for all the lauding of his signings he's arguably made it weaker.   Are the full backs he signed better than Hutton and Warnock?  In my view no.   Bennett is dreadful, although he might make a left midfielder one day, Stevens and Lichaj little better.  So why ostracize those two until you get someone better?  Benteke and Guzan were great signings, but the rest have been mediocre at best, and I include Vlaar and Lowton in that.  None of them have any pace, a vital requirement in the PL,  all except Benteke and Vlaar lack strength, and only Guzan had any PL experience.  How was adding that calibre of player to a bunch of unproven kids ever going to improve us?   
   
As for tactics, well Jocky you don't have to be Jose Mourinho or use hindsight to see that a manager whose answer to falling behind to a level 4 team is to switch to a 4-1-5 or 4-0-6 formation is tactically inept.  With no width and four strikers standing so close together you could throw a hula hoop over the lot of them.   It was so farcical that many pundits and commentators were laughing or scratching their heads whilst wondering out loud if Lambert had completely lost his.   I have never seen a Villa team so all over the place, not even Billy McBungle's.

Lambert inherited a difficult task, and is working with one hand tied behind his back for a bunch of fuckwits, but he's far from blameless for our current plight.     

[Risso]

I'm not sure if I've said this before, but I'll go with "out".  The man is a disgrace to our great club and the game of football in general.

[Drummond]

So what if he signed up for it? Perhaps he signed up on the basis that he knew we may go down, that he was building for the future and that the club was rotten from top to bottom.

Of course he thought he could keep us up, he wouldn't be worth his salt if he didn't, however, sometimes these things just don't work.

I'm not happy about the situation we're in, far from it, but the way things look right now, I'm please there at least seems to be a long-term strategy forming.

I agree with Jockey.