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

[Chris Smith]

I just remember how you lot were criticising O'Neill's style of football and now you're calling for Allardyce. It becomes increasingly difficult to take it seriously in the face of such obviously contradictory positions.

[danlanza]

I wouldn't have Mcleish back, I think we're forgetting last season. We're no worse off than that.

I wouldnt have him back either as mcleish was not the answer , neither is lambert though.
We are worse than last season as the league table, results, goal difference and points total will testify.

Might have something to do with the fact we lost our best midfielder and several other proven premier league players.

Petrov missed a fair chunk of last season as well- several other proven players like  who?
Collins was sold by lambert, hutton and warnock excluded by lambert - which several proven premiership players did we lose in the summer?

Last season and this we had big injury problems, but the formations, poor tactics and poor team selections are lamberts fault as are the training methods which see us so woeful on basic defending- stop making excuses for him .

He spent more in 2 moths here than he did in 3 years at norwich , he is well paid and its time he did his job properly rather than bleat to the press and hide behind excuse after excuse.

That's just rubbish. What excuses does he make? As far as I can see he's always sticking up for his players and not taking the easy way out of blaming them for results.

He might have made mistakes but he's on the thin end of several years of mistakes at the club and deserves to be cut some slack. I'm amazed that you haven't learned your lesson. You keep calling for managers to be sacked but things don't get any better. Isn't it time to reconsider your approach?

Quite right. The only road out of our situation is long term stability. Not sacking managers everytime the going gets tough. Whether that means a trip to the Championship or not we'll be much better off sticking by a manager who has proven that given time and not massive but sufficient funds that he can build a decen Lambett premier league side and has an eye for players who are capable of stepping up a level. It's all about building for the future for me.

Well said Jockey Randall. Back the team for the rest of the season. Sacking Lambert will definately send us down. Stick with it and we will be fine in the end.

[Rigadon]

The time to change manager was a few weeks ago. That didn't happen unfortunately.   Now it's time to back them as much as possible.   

[SoccerHQ]

Get a grip of yourselves wanting Allardyce. Seriously, the man is a tool. Lambert is not up to the job, but no thanks to Allardyce!!

Much prefer Adkins or even Curbishley.

Is there much different between him and Curbs?

Both usually keep their teams in the league with the minimum of fuss. Plus Curbs has been out of management for years now and seems to be comfortably just doing punditry on SSN.

[KevinGage]

Different era, different targets.

Then, we were looking at cracking the top 4.  And our agricultural approach to the game was a barrier to making the next step.  None of the sides who have enjoyed any degree of success or made top 4 played that way.  Passing and keeping possession were seemingly optional extras for O'Neill's sides.

That said, if we hadn't had four years of the fucker (complete with man tantrum at the end) he'd probably be ideal for where we are now.

[SoccerHQ]

I just remember how you lot were criticising O'Neill's style of football and now you're calling for Allardyce. It becomes increasingly difficult to take it seriously in the face of such obviously contradictory positions.

I agree and was of the same opinion in 2011 when his name was mooted after leaving Blackburn and Houllier was under big pressure.

Didn't want him but if I knew what the next two years had in store with all the general cost cutting going on I would've changed that opinion.

He wouldn't be in any danger of going down under his watch imo (West Ham have been comfortable all season) and he's shown at Bolton and Blackburn he can get good results and finish in the top half with a minimal budget so yeah imo he'd have certainly been a better choice as a "transitional" manager than TSM.

[eastie]

I just remember how you lot were criticising O'Neill's style of football and now you're calling for Allardyce. It becomes increasingly difficult to take it seriously in the face of such obviously contradictory positions.

Who is calling for allardyce? Just because i said he would be better than lambert doesnt mean hes the best option , even mick mcarthy is a better option but we need the right man - maybe gus poyet , or a manager from the  continent?

Lamberts situation reminds me so much of mike walker when he left norwich for everton - they however realised their mistake and pulled clear of relegation after sacking him .

As this poll suggests there is basically a 50-50 split on lambert and i doubt either side will convince the other to change their mind so we will agree to disagree.

On a matchday im sure we will all be fully behind the team.

[adrenachrome]

I wouldn't have Mcleish back, I think we're forgetting last season. We're no worse off than that.

I wouldnt have him back either as mcleish was not the answer , neither is lambert though.
We are worse than last season as the league table, results, goal difference and points total will testify.

Might have something to do with the fact we lost our best midfielder and several other proven premier league players.

Petrov missed a fair chunk of last season as well- several other proven players like  who?
Collins was sold by lambert, hutton and warnock excluded by lambert - which several proven premiership players did we lose in the summer?

Last season and this we had big injury problems, but the formations, poor tactics and poor team selections are lamberts fault as are the training methods which see us so woeful on basic defending- stop making excuses for him .

He spent more in 2 moths here than he did in 3 years at norwich , he is well paid and its time he did his job properly rather than bleat to the press and hide behind excuse after excuse.

That's just rubbish. What excuses does he make? As far as I can see he's always sticking up for his players and not taking the easy way out of blaming them for results.

He might have made mistakes but he's on the thin end of several years of mistakes at the club and deserves to be cut some slack. I'm amazed that you haven't learned your lesson. You keep calling for managers to be sacked but things don't get any better. Isn't it time to reconsider your approach?

On the point of PL sticking up for the players, last week he effectively put the ongoing Cornergeddon situation down to the cowardice of the defenders who would not put their heads in the way of danger and risk a cut eye.

I am still in favour of sticking with him given all the circumstances.


 

[Jockey Randall]

Jockey, Is that the one where we bought Darren Bent and he scored the goals that took us up to 9th? Those sorts of consequences?

There was short term gain in that instance yes, but long term, it's deals like that and the high wages that have come with it that has resulted in where we are now.

[Eigentor]

I don't see why Allardyce would come here. He has a better chance of keeping West Ham up and has the type of players to play his type of football.

After giving Lambert two transfer windows we have made our bed. It's (largely) a team that he has assembled and there are probably not many managers better equipped to get the best out of them (allthough there are certainly better managers around).

Anyway, I wouldn't say relegation is a certainty. We have a lot of winnable games left: West Ham at home, Reading away, QPR at home, Fulham at home, Sunderland at home, Norwich away, Wigan away. If we can win four of those seven matches it may be enough. The problem is of course that even that will be difficult if we insist on conceding two goals every game.

[rob_bridge]

I just remember how you lot were criticising O'Neill's style of football and now you're calling for Allardyce. It becomes increasingly difficult to take it seriously in the face of such obviously contradictory positions.

Who is calling for allardyce? Just because i said he would be better than lambert doesnt mean hes the best option , even mick mcarthy is a better option but we need the right man - maybe gus poyet , or a manager from the  continent?

Lamberts situation reminds me so much of mike walker when he left norwich for everton - they however realised their mistake and pulled clear of relegation after sacking him .

As this poll suggests there is basically a 50-50 split on lambert and i doubt either side will convince the other to change their mind so we will agree to disagree.

On a matchday im sure we will all be fully behind the team.

I thought Walker kept them up on the last day of the season in 1993-4. They were in the crap when he took over but he didn't improve them much.

Certainly he was replaced by Joe Royle after a couple of months the following season, who did a much better job.

Walker ended up hiring out skips IIRC. Lambert will inevitabley end up at Celtic and/or Scotland.

Managers who leave Villa normally only head in one direction. DOWN!

[mr woo]

I said the same a couple of weeks back.

With the squad and style of play O'Neill left behind, the one man I can think of who would hit the ground running would've been Allardyce.

Part of the problem has been Houllier trying to play possession football with a squad put together to play over the top. Then when Houllier had started to build a side we had McLeish not knowing what to do with Bent and so on.


We'd have cried blue murder if Fat Sam got the job at the time but I promise you, we wouldn't be in the mess we are now.

(note to Lerner - if you sack Lambert,  this doesn't mean anybody is saying replace him with Dudleys finest)

[eastie]

Rob- yes they survived on the last day against wimbledon and had their worst ever start to the next  season , he lasted 10 months-

Walker quit Norwich in January 1994, following a long running feud with Chairman Robert Chase (mainly centring around Chase's habit of selling off the club's key players without consulting his manager first - for example Robert Fleck to Chelsea just after Walker's appointment), to become manager of Everton, with Everton having to pay substantial compensation to Norwich to secure his services.

] Everton made a disastrous start to the 1994/95 season, failing to win a single league game until November. With Everton bottom of the table and having made their worst ever start to a league season, Walker was sacked having spent just ten months in charge and recording only six league wins, leaving him with the worst record of any post-war Everton manager. Walker was nicknamed the 'Silver Fox' during his time at Goodison, and one of the more positive aspects of his reign was his decision to bring the controversial Rangers striker Duncan Ferguson to Everton on loan, a gamble which ultimately paid off after Walker's departure with Joe Royle signing the Scot on a permanent basis.
After Walker's dismissal, Everton went on that season to not only successfully avoid relegation but also win the FA Cup under Royle.

[rob_bridge]

I said the same a couple of weeks back.

With the squad and style of play O'Neill left behind, the one man I can think of who would hit the ground running would've been Allardyce.

Part of the problem has been Houllier trying to play possession football with a squad put together to play over the top. Then when Houllier had started to build a side we had McLeish not knowing what to do with Bent and so on.


We'd have cried blue murder if Fat Sam got the job at the time but I promise you, we wouldn't be in the mess we are now.

(note to Lerner - if you sack Lambert,  this doesn't mean anybody is saying replace him with Dudleys finest)

Yep Allardyce from a purely practical point of view and continuity would have been a good selection at the time and no way would we have had a relegation scrap with that squad under him.

It is a travesty we had said scrap as Houllier seemed to want to divide and rule and he (and McAllister) antagonised half the squad, unfortunately the half that mattered.

What the fuck they (Faulkner I suppose) were doing hiring them pair I still can't fathom. Houllier was ill and McAllister hadn't exactly pulled up any trees - previous role was assistant to Strachan at Boro which was a car crash.

This was then surpassed by an even bigger fuck up when they hired McLeish which was doomed even before it got started.

At least I could understand what they were doing when they hired Lambert - unfortunately it transpires we have a Graham Turner / Billy McNeill rolled into one and not Graham Taylor (mark I)

[Des Little]

Lambert is clearly not going anywhere, and we haven't strengthened the defence which most thought was essential. So all he can do now is draft in an expert defensive coach because the bloke doing it now is clearly a load of shit. It's our only hope.