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

[Mister E]

And this thing about his nickname. I was to do with his recovery from injury as opposed to him being hard as nails which we got carried away with. He'll be fine with a good CB next to him and it is so melodramatic to say he's shit, because he isn't at all.

This.

[Mister E]

I think with Vlaar we all expected a much better player than we got due to his reputation. To be honest, maybe we were foolish to expect to get a top Dutch international to Villa Park, for what we paid for him (£3million?) and to expect some kind of McGrath-esque defensive colossus following his Euros performances. He's not a bad player, there's just a short fall between expectations and what we got. He's certainly at least twice as a good as Richard Fucking Dunne or James Sodding Collins. Like Percy I think we'll see a better player next season. 

Dunne and Collins on the whole were a decent partnership at Villa...

And should have been for the money they were on. I agree that defensively they were reasonably rock-solid, if a little immobile against a quick forward line.
But ultimately they were a large part of the post-MON problem of egos and spats and piss-heads and all the other stuff.
Vlaar will get better; those two were in the end just two more ageing parasites.

[pauliewalnuts]

I reckon Newcastle will be shit again next year.

The fans all hate Pardew, too. That is one club where I don't expect the fans to be very optimistic.

They still have good players though. Ben Arfa if he stays fit and Cabaye are both excellent. Cisse can score with the right service.

Last year they reminded me so much of us in the 10/11 season as they did have a lot of injuries particularly in the midfield.

Yeah it's fair to say Pardew won't last the season. Could be the bet for first manager to go.

Cabaye has had an awful season, basically played as if he doesn't care - they turned down a move to Spurs in the summer for him and he has had his arse in his hands all season. Tiote has also had an awful one. Ben Arfa seems to not even get played that much when fit, which I don't really understand.

I think their most influential player is Coloccini, and he is off back to Argentina.

It will be a tough season for them. Their sink into the relegation fight was impressive stuff - for months they were utterly awful. They managed (prior to the last day) one away win all season (guess where!)

Pardew is on relatively stable ground, too. He's an old casino mate of Ashley (and the former manager of their casino is now running the club). Just last week Ashley was talking in the press about the need for stability.

[brontebilly]

I think with Vlaar we all expected a much better player than we got due to his reputation. To be honest, maybe we were foolish to expect to get a top Dutch international to Villa Park, for what we paid for him (£3million?) and to expect some kind of McGrath-esque defensive colossus following his Euros performances. He's not a bad player, there's just a short fall between expectations and what we got. He's certainly at least twice as a good as Richard Fucking Dunne or James Sodding Collins. Like Percy I think we'll see a better player next season. 

Dunne and Collins on the whole were a decent partnership at Villa. How on earth anyone can claim the hapless Vlaar is "at least twice as good as that pair" after the season he's just given us is beyond me.

James Collins had a fine season at West Ham, certainly his form pissed all over Ron Vlaar's. If anything Collins proved that the decision to replace him with Vlaar was the wrong one on the evidence of their respective performances on the pitch. Collins surely wouldnt have been beaten up a stick against mighty Bradford unlike Vlaar for example. Vlaar is shite in the air too, to be fair to Collins thats the one aspect of his game that he is very strong in.

.....and I'm not saying that Collins is a worldbeater and his limitations on the ball and positionally were obvious towards the end of his time at particular. But give him the role of a basic defensive stopper to complete like MON and Allardyce did and he will do it well. Lambert is looking for his central defenders to be better on the ball but Baker is worse than Collins ever was in terms of ball playing ability.

Dunne was our best central defender we had when he played. We went to complete shit at the back after he got injured last season.

But the general consensus on here always was that Cuellar was better than the pair of them 

[Toronto Villa]

Collins is an average CB at best and wanted to go back to West Ham. Revsionism aside he made a balls up of things with us on numerous occasions. Now would he have been better than Clark or Baker in terms of experience and stability, I'd say yes, but he's no better than Vlaar, and certainly not the leader Vlaar is.

[Ads]

I reckon Newcastle will be shit again next year.

The fans all hate Pardew, too. That is one club where I don't expect the fans to be very optimistic.

They still have good players though. Ben Arfa if he stays fit and Cabaye are both excellent. Cisse can score with the right service.

Last year they reminded me so much of us in the 10/11 season as they did have a lot of injuries particularly in the midfield.

Yeah it's fair to say Pardew won't last the season. Could be the bet for first manager to go.

Cabaye has had an awful season, basically played as if he doesn't care - they turned down a move to Spurs in the summer for him and he has had his arse in his hands all season. Tiote has also had an awful one. Ben Arfa seems to not even get played that much when fit, which I don't really understand.

I think their most influential player is Coloccini, and he is off back to Argentina.

It will be a tough season for them. Their sink into the relegation fight was impressive stuff - for months they were utterly awful. They managed (prior to the last day) one away win all season (guess where!)

Pardew is on relatively stable ground, too. He's an old casino mate of Ashley (and the former manager of their casino is now running the club). Just last week Ashley was talking in the press about the need for stability.

I think Norwich, Sunderland and Newcastle are all very lucky that what is coming up at the moment, looks absolutely abysmal.

[PeterWithesShin]

The Collins I saw on MOTD this year was typical Collins. Some decent defending, plenty of throw yourself in the way and pray moments and a fair few rickets. He might be better right now than Baker and Clark, but it's not by much and at least they may improve.

[Toronto Villa]

The Collins I saw on MOTD this year was typical Collins. Some decent defending, plenty of throw yourself in the way and pray moments and a fair few rickets. He might be better right now than Baker and Clark, but it's not by much and at least they may improve.

correct. It's all good and well watching clips of any player. You could make a Harewood or Heskey look good in 5 minutes on YouTube. But Collins epitomised Desperate Dan last minute defending which can help but more often than not means he's been pulled out of position. Something you only really notice when he plays for you and you get to watch his entire body of work, warts and all.

[manic-road]

Collins made some awful mistakes at times during his second stint at West Ham, I would rather see if Breeze Block Ron will improve next season after a full season in England.

Breeze Blocks will crumble under pressure.

[Jim Shoes]

Collins! FFS he was dross and still is dross luckily Lambert saw that very early on and got shot.

Vlaar is no world beater, no Macca and has proved at times to be a liability but those who are old enough  to remember Ken McNaughts 1st season at VP will know it can take time to settle.

I'm optimistic that he will prove next season that he is the leader that we all hoped for when he signed.

[nick harper]

The Collins I saw on MOTD this year was typical Collins. Some decent defending, plenty of throw yourself in the way and pray moments and a fair few rickets. He might be better right now than Baker and Clark, but it's not by much and at least they may improve.

Baker is the epitome of that type of defending and I think always will be. That's his game. Clark has also hit his ceiling - he is simply not good enough in that position. Centre half should be the number one priority for building on this season. 69 goals conceded was just woeful.

[Toronto Villa]

The Collins I saw on MOTD this year was typical Collins. Some decent defending, plenty of throw yourself in the way and pray moments and a fair few rickets. He might be better right now than Baker and Clark, but it's not by much and at least they may improve.

Baker is the epitome of that type of defending and I think always will be. That's his game. Clark has also hit his ceiling - he is simply not good enough in that position. Centre half should be the number one priority for building on this season. 69 goals conceded was just woeful.

Clark's hit his ceiling at 23?

[pauliewalnuts]

Clark is not a central defender.

That's one thing I'll never agree with Lambert on.

[Brend'Watkins]

I'm with you on that.  Persevering with him there has put Clark back in his development.  He hasn't the make up or ability to be a commanding central defender.  Try him in midfield, or better still, impress enough to get a starting position there.

[hartman_1982]

Collins is an average CB at best and wanted to go back to West Ham. Revsionism aside he made a balls up of things with us on numerous occasions. Now would he have been better than Clark or Baker in terms of experience and stability, I'd say yes, but he's no better than Vlaar, and certainly not the leader Vlaar is.

He also thinks he is Paul Scholes when it comes to long balls. Our Possession game starts from the back and he wouldn't have been able to play it.