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

[eastie]

"It's unfair to just criticise the defence, we are in it together.

"We've got to stop it collectively, not just the defenders.

"The injury situation is not helping us, we've got a lot at the minute, but you have to go with what you've got.

"The three lads at the back are the same three lads that played against Liverpool."

These comments suggest to me that lambert was maybe putting all his eggs in one basket and relying on dunne being fit as he was close to returning - now the window has gone and dunne has had a relapse we are woefully short at the back.

As the window closed dunne was just returning to training but it now seems he is a long way off again .Did lambert decide with dunne coming back the defence didnt need strenghtening - if so a huge gamble that backfired.

[PaulWinch again]

I think Vlaar's performances should be quantified by the fact that he's been put alongside the weakest back four I've ever seen physically. You can argue the merits of the players, but the likes of Clark, Baker, Lowton and Bennett just seem physically less able than those they come up against.

[Ron Manager]

Ron Vlaar has proved to be not particularly good at any aspect of the game. Certainly not a great header of the ball but does have a modicum of skill. As ive said before for the 2.5/3mil we paid for him hes ok and thats about it really.

Never was a nickname so far from the truth.

[eastie]

Ron Vlaar has proved to be not particularly good at any aspect of the game. Certainly not a great header of the ball but does have a modicum of skill. As ive said before for the 2.5/3mil we paid for him hes ok and thats about it really.

Never was a nickname so far from the truth.

With world cup year approaching if he decides to jump ship if we are relegated i doubt he would attract interest from any premier clubs.

[tomd2103]

Ron Vlaar has proved to be not particularly good at any aspect of the game. Certainly not a great header of the ball but does have a modicum of skill. As ive said before for the 2.5/3mil we paid for him hes ok and thats about it really.

Never was a nickname so far from the truth.

With world cup year approaching if he decides to jump ship if we are relegated i doubt he would attract interest from any premier clubs.

A one-way ticket back to Holland with El Ahmadi and Holman on the same flight?

[Greg N'Ash]

End of the day, if you spend 25m on a team that finished 16th under most supporter's idea of the worse possible manager then finishing higher or indeed 16th shouldn't be out of the question. Its not like Lerner asset stripped the squad in the summer and made it noticably worse - he let Ivanhoe, collins and cuellar go, presumably with lambchop's full consent.

That squad also had Petrov and Dunne for the majority of the previous season, plus Hutton and Warnock.  I know it was Lambert's decision to not play the latter two, but when you judge the spend as you have it needs to be factored in. 

So in reality, the squad that finished 16th and had £25m spent on it had lost 7 international players.

Injuries are part and parcel of the game. Other teams down the bottom get them as well. I don't remember Houllier getting much leeway when he was knackered by injuries and lets face it, Dunne wasn't viewed as much of a loss before the chelsea game. Petrov ok, but its clear he had the money to replace him - he just didn't or bought the wrong player

[old man villa fan]

People are correct in saying the club spent £24m on new players.

It is not correct to assume that all of it was to bolster the squad that finished 16th.  They were not all additions to the squad, some players brought in were to replace outgoing players e.g. Vlaar to replace Collins, Benteke to replace Heskey, KEA to replace Petrov, Lowton to replace Hutton and Bennett to replace Warnock.

Where it went wrong to some extent was not being able to move Hutton and Warnock on last summer and freeing up some more money to spend.  So, last summer the net increase in the squad was Westwood, Bowery and Holmann which is hardly a £24m strengthening of the squad and also bearing in mind Cuellar was not replaced.  Add to this, Dunne's injury, Ireland playing no better and getting little out of Gabby and CNZ in the first half of the season.

[Drummond]

Thanks old man, well put.

[eastie]

People are correct in saying the club spent £24m on new players.

It is not correct to assume that all of it was to bolster the squad that finished 16th.  They were not all additions to the squad, some players brought in were to replace outgoing players e.g. Vlaar to replace Collins, Benteke to replace Heskey, KEA to replace Petrov, Lowton to replace Hutton and Bennett to replace Warnock.

Where it went wrong to some extent was not being able to move Hutton and Warnock on last summer and freeing up some more money to spend.  So, last summer the net increase in the squad was Westwood, Bowery and Holmann which is hardly a £24m strengthening of the squad and also bearing in mind Cuellar was not replaced.  Add to this, Dunne's injury, Ireland playing no better and getting little out of Gabby and CNZ in the first half of the season.

The manager chose not to use warnock and hutton , he chose to sell collins and could have kept cuellar if he wished as he did with guzan - he is the one who chose to jettison an experienced back 4 and he is the one who striggled to get the best out of ireland , gabby , etc in the first 20 odd games - it was his decision to bring in 9 players none of whom had ever kicked a ball in the premiership - and he is the one who has struggled to find his best team and best formation .

[LeeB]

People are correct in saying the club spent £24m on new players.

It is not correct to assume that all of it was to bolster the squad that finished 16th.  They were not all additions to the squad, some players brought in were to replace outgoing players e.g. Vlaar to replace Collins, Benteke to replace Heskey, KEA to replace Petrov, Lowton to replace Hutton and Bennett to replace Warnock.

Where it went wrong to some extent was not being able to move Hutton and Warnock on last summer and freeing up some more money to spend.  So, last summer the net increase in the squad was Westwood, Bowery and Holmann which is hardly a £24m strengthening of the squad and also bearing in mind Cuellar was not replaced.  Add to this, Dunne's injury, Ireland playing no better and getting little out of Gabby and CNZ in the first half of the season.

The manager chose not to use warnock and hutton , he chose to sell collins and could have kept cuellar if he wished as he did with guzan - he is the one who chose to jettison an experienced back 4 and he is the one who striggled to get the best out of ireland , gabby , etc in the first 20 odd games - it was his decision to bring in 9 players none of whom had ever kicked a ball in the premiership - and he is the one who has struggled to find his best team and best formation .

Whatever his mistakes, getting rid of that lot was the best thing he could have done.

The only one worth another chance was Collins, and that's why he was the only one anyone offered money for.

[Dave]

and could have kept cuellar if he wished as he did with guzan

That's not quite true is it?

He could have offered him a new contract, but there's nothing that means he would have agreed to sign it. Not when there is a nice, chunky, Martin O'Neill-stamped contract waiting for him in the north-east.

[itbrvilla]

People are correct in saying the club spent £24m on new players.

It is not correct to assume that all of it was to bolster the squad that finished 16th.  They were not all additions to the squad, some players brought in were to replace outgoing players e.g. Vlaar to replace Collins, Benteke to replace Heskey, KEA to replace Petrov, Lowton to replace Hutton and Bennett to replace Warnock.

Where it went wrong to some extent was not being able to move Hutton and Warnock on last summer and freeing up some more money to spend.  So, last summer the net increase in the squad was Westwood, Bowery and Holmann which is hardly a £24m strengthening of the squad and also bearing in mind Cuellar was not replaced.  Add to this, Dunne's injury, Ireland playing no better and getting little out of Gabby and CNZ in the first half of the season.

The manager chose not to use warnock and hutton , he chose to sell collins and could have kept cuellar if he wished as he did with guzan - he is the one who chose to jettison an experienced back 4 and he is the one who striggled to get the best out of ireland , gabby , etc in the first 20 odd games - it was his decision to bring in 9 players none of whom had ever kicked a ball in the premiership - and he is the one who has struggled to find his best team and best formation .

Whatever his mistakes, getting rid of that lot was the best thing he could have done.

The only one worth another chance was Collins, and that's why he was the only one anyone offered money for.

I don't think that is proving to be the case.

[eastie]

I think he tried to do too much too soon , to lose so many experienced players and replace them with 9 players none who had ever played in the premiership has left us woefully short of   experience - in theory it may seem a good idea but it needed a more gradual transition .

[Rip Van We Go Again]

According to the transfer league site its £25.7 m including sylla.
Not sure thats totally accurate but certainly closer to 25m than the 20m tops that you suggest.

And it wasn't anywhere near enough.

It might have been had it been spent more intelligently. 

Think Risso and Ads are both right.
£25m wasn't enough when you look at the state of the squad when Lambert joined, but at the same time it hasn't been spent well.

As Pauliewalnuts pointed out, had KEA have been a success, we probably wouldn't be in the shit we're in now. We needed a strong midfielder to replace Petrov and he isn't it.

[LeeB]

People are correct in saying the club spent £24m on new players.

It is not correct to assume that all of it was to bolster the squad that finished 16th.  They were not all additions to the squad, some players brought in were to replace outgoing players e.g. Vlaar to replace Collins, Benteke to replace Heskey, KEA to replace Petrov, Lowton to replace Hutton and Bennett to replace Warnock.

Where it went wrong to some extent was not being able to move Hutton and Warnock on last summer and freeing up some more money to spend.  So, last summer the net increase in the squad was Westwood, Bowery and Holmann which is hardly a £24m strengthening of the squad and also bearing in mind Cuellar was not replaced.  Add to this, Dunne's injury, Ireland playing no better and getting little out of Gabby and CNZ in the first half of the season.

The manager chose not to use warnock and hutton , he chose to sell collins and could have kept cuellar if he wished as he did with guzan - he is the one who chose to jettison an experienced back 4 and he is the one who striggled to get the best out of ireland , gabby , etc in the first 20 odd games - it was his decision to bring in 9 players none of whom had ever kicked a ball in the premiership - and he is the one who has struggled to find his best team and best formation .

Whatever his mistakes, getting rid of that lot was the best thing he could have done.

The only one worth another chance was Collins, and that's why he was the only one anyone offered money for.

I don't think that is proving to be the case.

I do.