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

[LeeB]

Don't worry, we'll be fine.

And we'll have more fun along the way than we've had for years.

Absolutely.

We've conditioned for too long too sterile football and thinking. Break off the shackles and enjoy.

As far as I'm concerned, this attitude is the only hope we've got getting ourselves back where we should be.

[Steve R]

I don't see any harm at all in coaching the likes of Bennett and Lowton in the art of defending.

We can concede fewer goals without sacrificing the enterprising side of our play.

A couple of Cosa Nostra class centre halves wouldn't do us any harm at all either.

[OCD]

"His whole philosophy is based on scoring more goals than the opposition." - Tends to give you a chance of winning that.

"How many clean sheets did we have last season? It was the same at Norwich." - It's not just us that struggled for clean sheets, it's the way the Premier League is now. Stoke were probably one of the main one's for clean sheets and look how awful they were to watch and ultimately weren't much better off. Also you're judging Lambert by his first year with us and his first year with a newly promoted team, where he guided them to mid-table survival by-the-way.

Just as it can be argued that his ballsy tactics cost us points, they also got us points - Stoke away and Norwich away being 2 examples. Certainly Norwich as we had 3-on-3 in the final minutes.

Obviously we can't take such risks against the top sides and as the young players mature and we add more depth to the squad, hopefully we can adjust and learn when to take such risks and when not to.

[pauliewalnuts]

If only we could mix that ballsy, go-getting attitude to scoring goals with some proper defending which stopped people scoring goals against us.

I reckon that's the way forward, right there.

[LeeB]

If only we could mix that ballsy, go-getting attitude to scoring goals with some proper defending which stopped people scoring goals against us.

I reckon that's the way forward, right there.

I think that's probably the plan.

[PeterWithesShin]

If only we could mix that ballsy, go-getting attitude to scoring goals with some proper defending which stopped people scoring goals against us.

I reckon that's the way forward, right there.

Pffft, that's no fun.

[not3bad]

76/77 season again.  That's what I want.  Sort it out Lambert!

[Rudy Can't Fail]

If only we could mix that ballsy, go-getting attitude to scoring goals with some proper defending which stopped people scoring goals against us.

I reckon that's the way forward, right there.

Pffft, that's no fun.

Spurs have been fun for as long as I can remember. That's why they're still an "all fart no shit" of a club.

Now the Villa.. that's a different story. It's a long time since I've been so in love with my club but let's not pretend there's no room for improvement.

[supertom]

I don't think we'll ever be solid at the back with Lambert. But we can improve a lot. The most important think is the personnel. A quality center half would improve us a lot. Vlaar is okay but needs a decent partner to help him.
We can get the defensive coach to work on positioning, particularly the fullbacks.

The biggest thing we need to eradicate, and it's plagued us for 2 seasons now, is giving away stupid free kicks. I think he needs to start fining players for every needless freekick they give away. Never mind a swear box, we need a pillock free kick/pen box. Give the proceeds to charity. Had we done that last season, even at like 100 quid a pop, we'd have set Acorns for life probably.

[Rudy Can't Fail]

We can get the defensive coach to work on positioning, particularly the fullbacks.

The problem there is Lambert like to play very narrow across the back which invites teams to go wide and exploit the space which puts the full back on the back foot to begin with.

[Concrete John]

We can get the defensive coach to work on positioning, particularly the fullbacks.

The problem there is Lambert like to play very narrow across the back which invites teams to go wide and exploit the space which puts the full back on the back foot to begin with.

Yes it does.  But we seemed to do better in that regard once we started playing Gabby and Weiman wide of Benteke.  The midfield with Sylla also helped, as he and Delph played slightly wide of Westwood, which meant there was a bit more protection for the FBs.

As to the whole attack v defence debate, I'd settle for us stopping conceding stupid goals.  We were the casue of our own downfall so often last season, that if we make teams have to actually do something to score against us that'll improve our defensive record quite a lot!

[Rudy Can't Fail]

We could have an Own Goal of the Season competition such were the number of errors.

[pauliewalnuts]

.

"How many clean sheets did we have last season? It was the same at Norwich." - It's not just us that struggled for clean sheets, it's the way the Premier League is now.

Hmm, not too sure about that.

How many other teams put together a 24 match run without a single clean sheet?

[Toronto Villa]

Lambert caame to the club promising a brand of football that would get the fans back and us excited again. I think he's certainly done that in how he approaches every game. Under TSM you knew that it would be shit before, during and after. I'm sure it's not lost on him that stage 2 of the project, as well as keeping intact the attacking side of the club is to defend better. We have the best GK in the division and amongst the best right backs. Now, he needs to get the middle and left right and also give them additional protection in the midfield. This project will still encounter several bumps along the way but it is so much more entertaining and promising than at any time in the past number of years.

[pauliewalnuts]

It is certainly more fun than the McLeish season.

Mind you, etc etc etc