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

[Risso]

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.

Failure isn't a strategy.  You should apply to be Faulkner's right hand man spouting utter nonsense like that.

[eastie]

Lambert did not spend all the budget last summer and he did not last month either- can he say he could not find a defender in  a month?
Hes repeatedly said he believes this squad will stay up - fuck off then mumbles and give us a chance of survival.

Wont buy for the sake of it? What about buying to try and stat up you fool!

[Drummond]

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.

Failure isn't a strategy.  You should apply to be Faulkner's right hand man spouting utter nonsense like that.

No, and I didn't suggest it was. However, you carry on saying exactly the same thing over and over and over again.

You're like a broken record. You've no suggestions, no ideas, just the usual mantra that everyone is shit and should be sacked. You've not suggested an alternative that is credible, you've not come up with any sort of strategy yourself, no players, managers that can only perform with great players costing a fortune.

I've absolutely no doubt you'll evade the point again in reply to this whilst simultaneously having another dig at me and trying to mock what I'm suggesting. Your modus operandi is to mock and belittle others whose ideas you disagree with whilst offering nothing yourself.

[Meanwood Villa]

As sure as night follows day Risso will be the first to suggest sacking the next manager

[Risso]

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.

Failure isn't a strategy.  You should apply to be Faulkner's right hand man spouting utter nonsense like that.

No, and I didn't suggest it was. However, you carry on saying exactly the same thing over and over and over again.

You're like a broken record. You've no suggestions, no ideas, just the usual mantra that everyone is shit and should be sacked. You've not suggested an alternative that is credible, you've not come up with any sort of strategy yourself, no players, managers that can only perform with great players costing a fortune.

I've absolutely no doubt you'll evade the point again in reply to this whilst simultaneously having another dig at me and trying to mock what I'm suggesting. Your modus operandi is to mock and belittle others whose ideas you disagree with whilst offering nothing yourself.

It's hard not to keep repeating the same thing over and over when the club keep making the same mistakes, over and over.   I'll happily debate things properly with people who have got something worthwhile to say other than regurgitating the club's offical line in some feeble attempt to make themselves look like they've taken the moral high ground.  As for strategy, I've suggested that a) the club spend a sensible and realistic  amount of money on the players we needed to help keep us up, the financial bnefits make that worthwhile, and b) appoint a manager who can at last organise the basics of a defence.

[Risso]

As sure as night follows day Risso will be the first to suggest sacking the next manager

Pardon me?  The last three years have been nothing short of dire, and while the club keep saddling us with shit managers, what else do you expect?  Did you want McLeish to stay?  Are you happy with Lambert's performance?

[Clampy]

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.

So what are you saying exactly, that we may well go down, lose our Premier Status and a lot of TV money but hey, that's ok because we've got a long term plan?

[Meanwood Villa]

As sure as night follows day Risso will be the first to suggest sacking the next manager

Pardon me?  The last three years have been nothing short of dire, and while the club keep saddling us with shit managers, what else do you expect?  Did you want McLeish to stay?  Are you happy with Lambert's performance?

I think McLeish deserved the sack for nearly taking us down and the car crash end to the season and Lambert will deserve the sack if/when he takes us down. You always appear very quick to get on managers' backs. Now given the disasters we've endured these last couple of years you may say this has been good predicting but if you keep on saying "they're shit, they're shit" then eventually you'll be proved right as, let's face it, we're not going to be winning the league any time soon. And don't pretend you'd have been happy with a solid 12th place finish this season now because I'm sure you'd have been calling for Lambert's head for us not being top half.

[German James]

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.

So what are you saying exactly, that we may well go down, lose our Premier Status and a lot of TV money but hey, that's ok because we've got a long term plan?

I don't think anyone's saying, "Hey, that's OK", but it's better to go down with a long term plan, than without... Whether the plan has any merit is another matter, of course.

[jonzy85]

It is interesting, how in the space of roughly a month the support as gone from circa 90% to 45%. Granted it has to be one of the worst months in the club's history and then you throw in this embarrassment of a Transfer Window.

Warning: There may be some optimism in the following lines, those of you who have adverse reactions to such folly, avert your eyes.

But just over a month ago, most were in support of what he was trying to do. Even within in this month, there have been times when we have looked very good. The first half against West Brom stands out for me.

People are having a go at him because he took on the job under Randy's regime of cutbacks. I say good for him for taking the challenge on. That is the type of man we want at this point in time.

Now the above is not to say that he has got a lot of things wrong and as it looks we will go down. But, I think we have more of a chance sticking with Lambert, than getting rid. A lot of these younger players have had a lot of faith placed in them by Lambert and I think that loyalty will see them dig deeper and deeper. I also think their confidence will be shot even worse if the manager was gone. It would be akin to the club telling them they have failed.

It's a horrible, horrible situation that mostly has been Randy's making. Lambert has played his part so far this season ( I don't understand why he didn't get someone like Matt Upson on loan), but he still has another significant part to play. Our only hope is that he is supported and it was great to hear the players got an ovation for their efforts against Newcastle.

One other thing, I find the people commenting about his accent tedious. Or the fact he uses the phrase "we go again" quite often. Posters that do that display a certain ignorance, in that they can't level any intelligent arguments to the debate other than snide remarks. He speaks no different than Fergie and every manager has there little things they say repeatedly in interviews.

[saunders_heroes]

Worst defence in living memory and he doesn't even bother to address it?
He should be sacked for that alone.

[Merv]

In.

There's little point making a change now IMO. A new manager won't have anything else to utilise, the window is closed, there is not the option of pulling in the likes of Hutton and Warnock and pushing them into the first team.

Lambert used the £3m available. As I said, £2m on Sylla - who at least sounds like the type of midfielder we need - left a small amount to play with. The Dawkins move was very odd though, that's confused me no end. That should have been used to loan a CB for six months. Surely £1m could have been put to better use as a loan fee.

But it's Lambert's squad, he's now got to try and get something out of them for the next three months.

[JUAN PABLO]

His signings have not worked in the summer , yes some have potential but they are not keeping us in this league . some of them need taking out the firing line but he has not got the players which is fault . Benteke is one light who will be gone in the summer.

Then this January transfer window was a joke for us , we know what we need , even two experienced players might have saved us , and they were about .

Any one who can take a club like Aston Villa with the players he had and the money he spent deserves the sack .       

[KevinGage]

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.

Disagree with just about all of that.

Nobody was expecting top 6 this year -or for the next few years for that matter.  Two dire managerial appointments prior to his arrival and a general downgarding of expectations had seen to that. 

But McPish underacheived with the squad of players he inherited.

Lambert inherited that lot - and had £26 million to spend this season (possibly more) - and looks like he'll take us down.   Takes a special kind of ineptitude to make McLeish look good.

That current squad of players should be roughly mid table/lower mid standard.  Admittedly there are some of those players who don't look comfortable in the top flight (players Lambert signed, weidly enough)  but taken as a whole, we have enough to be doing far, far better than he's managing to date. 

We had a pretty obvious Archilles heel defensively -which he would have known about from last year had he or his scouts watched us.  Yet he's done absolutely nothing to address that.

Even if he is at the start of a building process or any other bobbins excuses he wishes to put forward, Aston Villa should never lose out to a Fourth Division side over two games.  If we had any remaining standards, he'd have been potted after that.  It's not as if the results prior to the SF made it a dilemma. 

[paul_e]

I stick by my out vote because...

He needs luck and momentum to turn on our side to get out of it.

When he's done well as a manager it has been on the back of having a confident team full of players wanting to be involved.  If we can 2-3 wins in a row and get some confidence building we'll be fine, I firmly believe that.  Unfortunately I don't believe he has any idea how to get the 2-3 wins we need in that scenario.