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

[eastie]

It's clearly absolute bollocks.

I would agree sadly.

[PaulMcGrathsNo5Shirt]

Only Villa would manufacture getting rid of a manager the day after the transfer window closes.

If Lerner doesn't want him he should sack him instead of this 'asking him to resign' bullshit

[eastie]

Lerner maybe thinks if he got a new man in he doesnt meed to give him any money now the deadline has passed - farcical- nothing surprises me anymore - highly unlikely to be true but if it was i would crack open the bubbly.

[PaulMcGrathsNo5Shirt]

...and since when has Lerner ever got his arse into gear in getting a manager quickly?

[The Situation]

I don't even know how I feel about Lambert anymore tbh. If by some miracle we stay up I'd like to give him another chance because I believe in what he's capable of and also have the opportunity to make some more signings of players where they wont need to cost too much because he has an eye for talent on a budget.

I'd like to think it can't get any worse but the last 2/3 weeks have proven it can. Not sure how I'd feel if Lambert was gone now because it'd be strange and its a risky time to do it in our precarious position, it would all depend on the replacement, then again who else in this position is going to make us better and get us out of this relegation mire?

I don't think we're as bad as some of us like to make out. What we are is a very poor defensive team and we struggle to win out games. If Lambert and the other coaches could start to make us defend much better especially from set pieces and we don't give games up from winning positions then we could be quite a good team. Those two things are what really hampering us and I don't understand why we haven't even addressed those issues to fixing them because they're happening all the time getting worse.

[sonlyme]

I think we've been extraordinarily patient up to now, but I see a breaking point fast approaching where the crowd will turn, a la McLeish/Bolton and there will be no excuses Mr Lambert, you will have brought it all on yourself.

I don't see fans in the stadium going for Lambert in the way we went for McAwful.  Firstly, even though we can look like naive children when defending - we can also play a bit - could never say that under McCrap.  McShite was rightly condemned for playing anti-football - negative tactics dominated - two banks of five was not uncommon.

Second - they may be naive numpties - but they are trying.  They may be running around like headless chickens at times - but at least they are running.  Not even the most depressive Villa fan can say they don't try - because they do.

That second half against Newcastle I felt proud because they didn't listen to the moaners but came out and had a right go - this wasn't a bunch of millionaires like Mr Peter Odemwingie looking for the next paycheck - a lot of these lads grew up here.

The difference between last season and this is that we can actually play - doing it for 90 minutes on a consistent basis seems to be the issue.

So this poll can be re-posted every time we lose a game - but at least we are trying now - whereas under McDire - I got the feeling that football had been beaten out of them.

I'm a Villa fan - so I'm always optimistic.

[Risso]

You could have saved yourself a couple of minutes and just typed "at least he isn't McLeish".

[sonlyme]

I tend to leave the single line posts that are thin on content but thick on opinion to others.

[SamTheMouse]

It's not necessarily about width, it's about not letting teams decide how they're going to defend.  Our problem for a long time has been that we let a side line up a back 4 and a defensive midfielder and we don't make things uncomfortable for them.

Even under MON when we were doing well we couldn't break down teams that were determined to defend.  You need to move defenders out of their comfort zone.  Mess, Ronaldo, Zlatan, Rooney and most of the other top attacking players in the world are good because they make themselves hard to mark.

We're not doing that, we channel our play where teams want to defend against us.  Then we make things worse by letting them play where they want to.

Width will help but more importantly we need to move off the ball better, too often our movement involves running away from the player on the ball, in a straight line.

This is true, and has been for years.

[Risso]

I tend to leave the single line posts that are thin on content but high on opinion to others.

Except there's nothing but opinion in your posts.  At least you've given the "hilarious" pictures a miss.

[Dave Cooper please]

Drummond you're getting into an odd debate here. If our long term strategy doesn't include money and earning potential then Villa will cease to exist, it's as simple as that. It's not great but money and improvement based on that has be the centre piece of any plan.

We would have had a hell of a lot more chance of ceasing to exist if we had carried on spending money we didn't have. If Randy has stopped bankrolling us then the current cost-cutting is the only way.
 Personally I'd rather have a viable mid-table Championship club than the disaster QPR are going to be if their owners pull the plug.

[paul_e]

Same guy on twitter has now posted that we're looking to bring in commoli as DoF.  I'd be happy with that, was given the shitty end of the stick at liverpool after KKKenny made a mess of things.  If we want an Ajax model he's pretty much the perfect guy to oversee it, he's a big believer in statistical evidence being used to back up opinion.

For example it was his idea for them to sign suarez.  The best thing I think he made his mistakes at Liverpool where he let the numbers have too much to do with things (Downing, for example, was statistically the best winger feasibly available before they signed him, but the reality and the stats didn't match up).  He'd be very much a moneyball choice, with every player signed on their potential value, but I can live with that, the reality is that's the role we need to look to fill for a few years if we're not going to do a citeh and throw half a billion (and the rest) at it.

[Greg N'Ash]

Well if you still wana see him go here is some twitter gossip for you

https://twitter.com/indykaila

Paul Lambert has been asked by the board to hand his resignation letter in. The board have a replacement already. Games being played #AVFC

I can't believe how the #AstonVilla board are not ready to pay out on Lambert sacking and are asking him to leave on his request. Shocking

Please let this be true. Please let this be true.Please let this be true. Please let this be true. Please let this be true. Please let this be true.Please let this be true. Please let this be true.
Please let this be true. Please let this be true. Please let this be true. Please let this be true.
Please let this be true. Please let this be true.Please let this be true. Please let this be true.

[atticus snood]

There must be a clause in Lambert's contract that allows for him being so shit that he can be sacked without compo. If there isn't then there should have been, given our previous experiences.

[garyellis]

There must be a clause in Lambert's contract that allows for him being so shit that he can be sacked without compo. If there isn't, then there should have been, given our previous experiences.

I would have thought there would be given the arrangement with TSM but you probably have to wait until the end of the season to activate it