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

[rob_bridge]

Have to be honest but I am starting to have a love fest over Lambert and I don't know why. I just watched his brief chat on the FFS and I love everything he says ( what I can understand ), his philosophy, his pride in the shirt and a sense that he actually has a true affection for the club.

I believe in you Lambo and everything you do. Good luck next season...babe! )

I'm with you on this.  He's almost like one of us with his ideals.

Wanting players who see playing for us not just as a job but who really want to wear the shirt, emphasis on an attacking style of play that entertains, developing younger hungrier players and make progress year on year.  I think this is what is transmitting to the fans and why we have faith in him.  Compare that with the last two years of MON, then seasons of GH and McLeish. 

I'm getting a vibe of how the club used to be in the late 70's almost. If we kick on next season and there's no reason why we cant then I think we will go on to be a force once again.

Bit too young to remember or certainly appreciate that era. I do think we could be in for a early to mid 90's when we had BFR who gave us a huge profile and some great football (until it fizzed out rather too quickly) and the Little who had to do some surgery and produced another fine team to watch.
Let's hope so.

[VillaAlways]

John Gregory tweeted the other day that he had spoken to PL at the LMA dinner and he had said it was his aim to finish top half at least

[Chico Hamilton III]

John Gregory tweeted the other day that he had spoken to PL at the LMA dinner and he had said it was his aim to finish top half at least

That's realistic.

[Toronto Villa]

you get the impression he has a very steely determination top do things a certain way and have players of a certain type. That he protects his players almost to a fault, but I imagine he can be nasty fucker if need be. I think in time he'll be everything Moyes has become and will produce teams that are always competitive and always in with a shout of things. We've needed that for such a long time. While it's nice to have a star player or two come in, Moyes helps create them. Fellaini, Jagielka or Baines weren't the stars they are today before joining Everton, just as Benteke, Westwood and Lowton are now becoming for us. That in most cases creates loyalty. I'm sure that in 3 or 4 years time when the current structure has properly bedded in, you'll see us so much more solid and stable as a club.

[supertom]

you get the impression he has a very steely determination top do things a certain way and have players of a certain type. That he protects his players almost to a fault, but I imagine he can be nasty fucker if need be. I think in time he'll be everything Moyes has become and will produce teams that are always competitive and always in with a shout of things. We've needed that for such a long time. While it's nice to have a star player or two come in, Moyes helps create them. Fellaini, Jagielka or Baines weren't the stars they are today before joining Everton, just as Benteke, Westwood and Lowton are now becoming for us. That in most cases creates loyalty. I'm sure that in 3 or 4 years time when the current structure has properly bedded in, you'll see us so much more solid and stable as a club.

Sure. And I cannot see Everton capitulating like we did either. They've built a very solid foundation there. They've probably punched above their weight largely under Moyes too. Falling back to mid-table wouldn't be disastrous. I don't see them having 3 years of relegation troubles by any stretch (unless they hire a complete numpty). They've got solid players, a good academy, and even if they sell their better players, will have the funds from that to re-invest.

That's what I'm hoping for us. Any success we might build over the next 3 years, we need to maintain. If we find ourselves selling a couple of decent players, and fall a few places in a season after some success that's acceptable. Going from 6th, 3 years running, to relegation struggles 3 years running is not acceptable and cannot happen again. I do think for all Randy's faults he's put in place an ethos, and potentially the right manager, to ensure something like that won't happen again.

[brontebilly]

The comparison to Moyes is hopefully an apt one. Moyes had a slow start at Everton too although he probably took over a worse squad. The decent finish to the season hints at better times ahead but we cant gloss over the majority of the season. Managers like players develop, Lambert is far from the finished article but has shown enough promise for us to persevere with him certainly.

On the positives, obviously his big signing Benteke was a huge success. Bringing back Guzan and starting him worked out better than any of us could have anticipated. Westwood showed huge promise in the second half of the season. At times we played some fantastic football going forward near the end of the season with attacking full backs, ball playing midfielders and three strikers in form. Gabby's career was rescued from what seemed terminal decline in the second half of the season, Delph went from the form of a non-league player to one of a very decent midfield player. Lambert deserves a lot of credit from these success stories and its clear he cares deeply about the club and is highly ambitious. When characters like David O'Leary and Houllier are some of his more recent predecessors, this shouldnt be taken for granted and the soundbites have kept the support onside also.

However it has to be stated that the Villa side that started the season was an absolute rabble. Im not sure what was happening in pre-season but it was clear from early on that Lambert nor the players had any clue what tactics we were employing. This rabble persisted pretty much until half time in the Newcastle home game in February. Every different type of formation was used with players being consistently brought in and then out of the side. Lambert for me seemed to stumble on our best formation in February which proved to be just in time to stop what seemed inevitable relegation. It should not have taken until that long in the season that find a formation that got the best out of our players. There were some horrible games playing 442/4231 with Kea and Delph getting in each others way and the likes of Brett Holman embarrassing himself out wide. Losing to Bradford over 2 legs probably put to bed the best chance Lambert will ever have of winning a trophy at the club unfortunately.

Certainly an area where he badly needs to improve is his use of substitutions. This hurt us consistently during the season, the away game in Stoke being the case in point. I cant think of any occasions where his proactive changes helped us win football games. While the attacking play of Lowton and Bennett improved at the end of the season, some of their defending was so bad there was nearly universal demand for Hutton and Warnock to be brought back into the side at one stage around Xmas. The decision to go into the season with only 3 centre halves proved disastrous as Dunne never regained fitness and all three of Clark, Baker and Vlaar struggled. Some of our football isnt all that pleasant, hitting all freekicks won around the half way line direct to Benteke still particularly annoys me.

How can Lambert as a manager improve next season? Naturally holding onto our better players and some quality signings will help but I think some additions off the pitch would help him hugely too. I think Lambert would thrive as a manager in having someone like Brian Little either as assistant manager or at least on the board. Sometimes he really struggles on seeing where things are going wrong in a game and his faith in some of the players was badly misplaced on occasion. Its important to remember that Little's first season at Villa was far from a success as we barely avoided relegation.  However Little was not afraid to have the likes of Allan Evans and John Gregory on his staff. Both very strong characters but it was a nice blend with a former defender, midfielder and forward in the coaching staff. Think I recall an interview with Dwight Yorke at the time that suggested Villa's relative success at the time was down to the coaching staff and how the Evans, Gregory and Little worked really well together. With Culverhouse spending much of his time at Villa Park rowing with fans behind the dug out, this is an area where I think we need to strengthen too.

Incidentally Little was never as successful as a manager again without Evans and Gregory by his side.

[LeeB]

Also, on the point of Benteke, how many managers would played him in front of Bent, even had they signed him?

Not many I'd guess, they'd have drip fed him in. It took balls to make that call given he was just into the job, and after much wailing initially within six months every one agreed.

It's things like that that make me think we've got someone who with luck and support could take us further than we probably believe we're capable of.

[Percy McCarthy]

The discussion on squad strength sort of mirrors the question mark over how much we needed 'experience'. My thoughts at the time were we had plenty of experience, but they were all so fucking flakey.

[peter w]

That's just it though. I don't think we should discount experience on the back of some shockingly poor signings - which includes the financial package- over the past 3 or 4 years. I'd prefer a manager who can identify the right player regardless of age. I like the Lambert philosophy and if he gets it right then we are going to be in for quite a few exciting seasons. Get it wrong and we'll be full of unproven youngsters who ultimately were inconsistent, brilliant at their best but shocking at their worst - and we'll just be delaying the inevitable.

[OCD]

Also, on the point of Benteke, how many managers would played him in front of Bent, even had they signed him?

Not many I'd guess, they'd have drip fed him in. It took balls to make that call given he was just into the job, and after much wailing initially within six months every one agreed.

It's things like that that make me think we've got someone who with luck and support could take us further than we probably believe we're capable of.

He had made Bent his captain too. So he's humble enough to reverse a decision if he feels the need. We've seen managers be frustratingly stubborn just to soothe their own ego before now.

[Clampy]

Also, on the point of Benteke, how many managers would played him in front of Bent, even had they signed him?

There's not many managers who would have dropped Given either.

[brontebilly]

Also, on the point of Benteke, how many managers would played him in front of Bent, even had they signed him?

Not many I'd guess, they'd have drip fed him in. It took balls to make that call given he was just into the job, and after much wailing initially within six months every one agreed.

It's things like that that make me think we've got someone who with luck and support could take us further than we probably believe we're capable of.

He had made Bent his captain too. So he's humble enough to reverse a decision if he feels the need. We've seen managers be frustratingly stubborn just to soothe their own ego before now.

dont think Bent was a good choice initially for captain, even at his best he is rarely involved in games. I know Lambert is saying now that be brought in Benteke to play alongside Bent but I dont think he handled the decision to drop him all that well. Told him in the dressing room before a game wasnt it that the captaincy was gone? Bent seem to go crying to the papers after it. We went through a multitude of captain this year with little or no success and its something that needs to be rectified in the summer.

Not bringing in someone to replace Petrov as a leader in the squad was a big error from Lambert last summer, especially as a former midfielder himself. perhaps he expected El Ahmadi to be that player in midfield but that faith was badly misplaced. Vlaar too is nothing like a captain for me, calamity central.

[midnite]

It's a bit harsh calling him calamity central. He has a point to prove for sure. I expect big things from him next season. Some players can adapt to a new league straight away some take a good season to find their feet. Vlaar is an international and I think will come good.

[saunders_heroes]

It's a bit harsh calling him calamity central. He has a point to prove for sure. I expect big things from him next season. Some players can adapt to a new league straight away some take a good season to find their feet. Vlaar is an international and I think will come good.

Vlaar was pound for pound our poorest player last season. Big things were expected from him when he signed. I thought he'd be a strong leader and an absolute rock at the back but he was neither.

[Risso]

Completely agree SH, he was abysmal.  If you're going to turn up with a ludicrous nickname, you at least have to be competent.