Confidence In The Manager

[Dr Butler]

I think most of us know that it will be a a few seasons of ups and downs....am I behind the manager ?  absolutely.

you can see what Lambert is trying to do and although we get such poor return at Villa Park for our money I still believe we will turn a corner, I don't think many Premiership teams will of had the sort of consistently tough fixtures that we are experiencing at the moment.

Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool, Newcastle, Man City,Everton etc in the first few months.....

UTV
The Doc

[Chico Hamilton III]

Wanting Lambert as our manager does not have to equate to never criticising him or wondering about the way he goes about things from time to time.

Exactly!

I remember writing a 12 page pissed-up rant to Graham Taylor after ( another) defeat to Wimbledon. I loved the man but he drove me effing mental at times.

I love my kids as well, but it don't stop me from dishing out absolute bollockings when it's deserved. 

[rob_bridge]

One of the things I find worrying is that there's nobody in the squad for the youngsters to really learn their trade from and look up to. You can't say any of them is an elder statesman who's been there and got the t-shirt, so to speak. I suppose Gabby's the senior guy these days, but he doesn't strike me as an especially inspirational figure for the kids.

The important thin is that the bad apples have been rooted out.
And I'd disagree Gabby is exaclty the Villa player who should inspire. He gets Aston Villa F.C.
So does Lambert IMO.
Those recruited over last 18 months have a better chance of doing the same, compared to most of the mercenaries brought by the 3 previous incumbent managers, not to mention 1 such manager.

[London Villan]

There are times when the youthfulness of the team is actually a benefit, but there have been so many games where a bit more experience would have seen us see out the games and get results etc...  Barry, Parker, Kevin Nolan... anyone with a bit of experience to sit in front of the back four and control a game.

[itbrvilla]

Fuck the league.  Nobody remembers who finished mid-table (if we even reach those height). I dont expect us to win cups (unlike Arsenal fans), but I expect us to play our strongest team in every round and to give it a go whoever the opposition.  Otherwise, WTF is the point of it all?

[Clampy]

Fuck the league.  Nobody remembers who finished mid-table (if we even reach those height). I dont expect us to win cups (unlike Arsenal fans), but I expect us to play our strongest team in every round and to give it a go whoever the opposition.  Otherwise, WTF is the point of it all?

What team would you have put out bearing in mind Okore and Benteke were out and Gabby, Luna, Westwood and Delph were all carrying knocks from Saturday?

[LeeB]

I just wish the process was a bit more incremental, ie a few experienced players to support/ lead the youth. I also don't think he bought enough defenders and spent a lot of what money he had on a striker when we already had Benteke, Gabby and Weimann.

I certainly don't think we should be giving up on him but I also don't think he's got everything right.

I'd have have the logic and reason of the decision to buy that striker was perfectly illustrated in our last league game.

[eamonn]

I don't think Delaney joined until summer '99.

[dekko]

Regarding transfers:

We don't know if the choice was either buy a striker or buy a creative midfielder.  Given what we know about Lambert's transfer dealings so far, I'd say it was more likely that he had budgeted for both, but only one was available at the price he'd be willing to pay.

I still think it was an error - I think our need for a creative midfielder is so great that he should've just bought one whatever the cost.  We'll see if one pops up in January.

[Clampy]

Well he enquired about the Japanese lad and was either told he's not for sale or was quoted a fee which wasn't acceptable. Maybe he'll go back him for him at a later date.

[john e]

I like lambert and i'm buying into his ethos,
 but I also liked Venglos, Little, MON and Houllier and for a time believed in all of them, and thought they were taking us onwards and upwards

so it doesn't always work out well,
we must see improvement, another season struggling against relegation is not good enough, but I don't think we will be

if we are to finish mid table we will see more results like Newcastle and Norwich this season where we won one and lost one
WBA finished in 8th place last season,
 most of us would say that would be regarded as improvement, yet they lost 6 times at home and 11 times away, so its not going to be a big bowl of cherries right the way through the season even if we replicate that

our home form is shit and has been for a number of years, its just not good enough, can Lambert do anything about it ?
 we wait and see, but so far sadly the answer is no,  yet he still remains the right man at the helm for me, gradually I think get will get better, but then i'm a believer

as for weakened sides, I hate them as well, I can see the reasons, but we have been playing them for a while now as DW says under a few different managers
and remind we when we last won anything ? that's the problem, we need to change that

[aj2k77]

What is the point at the moment?

We exist as a club to make a very small minority of people involved in it incredibly rich. For the vast majority there is very little benefit. If it wasn't for a pre match drink and laugh the actual games are as dour a waste of time you could imagine.

[Damo70]

My comment to my dad when he rang me the morning after the Spurs game was that I liked Lambert and wasn't suggesting for a minute that he should go but that we had suffered a lot of embarrassing scorelines under him in his relatively short time in charge. The fans have been great with him but he needs a decent league position as the season progresses and the hammerings will need to be very few and far between from now on or I think there will be a point where the fans will turn against him.

[Dr Butler]

I like lambert and i'm buying into his ethos,
 but I also liked Venglos, Little, MON and Houllier and for a time believed in all of them, and thought they were taking us onwards and upwards

so it doesn't always work out well,
we must see improvement, another season struggling against relegation is not good enough, but I don't think we will be

if we are to finish mid table we will see more results like Newcastle and Norwich this season where we won one and lost one
WBA finished in 8th place last season,
 most of us would say that would be regarded as improvement, yet they lost 6 times at home and 11 times away, so its not going to be a big bowl of cherries right the way through the season even if we replicate that

our home form is shit and has been for a number of years, its just not good enough, can Lambert do anything about it ?
 we wait and see, but so far sadly the answer is no,  yet he still remains the right man at the helm for me, gradually I think get will get better, but then i'm a believer

as for weakened sides, I hate them as well, I can see the reasons, but we have been playing them for a while now as DW says under a few different managers
and remind we when we last won anything ? that's the problem, we need to change that

sorry John e, but the stripey filth finishing above us only happens once in a blue moon and they will be without their 17 goal striker from last season...they beat a very poor unmotivated Sunderland side to register their only win this season.

our home form is shit but it will turn around as I believe this young squad are learning all the time albeit slowly sometimes and we will take a few beatings along the way...but we will prevail...

UTV
The Doc

[Chico Hamilton III]

sorry John e, but the stripey filth finishing above us only happens once in a blue moon

Or twice in the lat 2 seasons.

I'm not having a go at Lambert here, it's just that I'm losing a fortune in bets with some of my Albion mates.