Charles N'zogbia update

[brontebilly]

They did the same with Richard Dunne. They pretended he was injured when in fact he was fit. They just wanted him out of the club - probably because of wages.
Proves what sort of untrustworthy wankers that run our club. Quite disgraceful.

....and that is unadulterated bollocks

The club might well have wanted him out but he only had a year left on his deal when Lambert took over so it wasnt a pressing issue. My take on it was that Lambert was bringing in Vlaar to play with Dunne and let Cuellar and Collins go instead. Later when our defence of jokers were shipping record defeats, to ignore a fit experienced centre half just doesnt add up. Dunne appeared with Lambert in early press conference so I dont think there was a personality issue there. He played when injured at Euro 2012, got worse. Series of operations, broke down before Bradford game and remained unfit to the end of the season. The whole nonsense conspiracy peddled on here, i.e. "he was fit to play for Ireland at the end of the season", doesnt add up. He played half a friendly I think in total. At walking pace. He was in his 30s, out of contract and trying to prove to potential employers that he was over his injury worries. All he ended up with was a one year deal with QPR.

The situation re Hutton probably warrants looking at but I just think Lambert doesnt rate him at all. The bomb squad antics last summer were idiotic in the extreme and should have not been tolerated by a functioning board. However Given was his original number one, made a horrible error, Guzan came in and kept the shirt deservedly. Bent started the season in the team but the partnership with Benteke left us very light in midfield. Bent's injuries seem to have killed his mobility and he has hardly pulled up many trees at Fulham. He reminds me of JPA at the end these days. Ireland got chances but blew them. Who else, Nzogbia? Probably has more cause for complaint that most given that he had some good moments at the back end of last season. Freezing him out doesnt make sense but he has been a disastrous signing on the whole for 10m. Has hardly burst a gut when on the pitch to ensure he remained in the first team. The odd good moment here and there is nowhere near enough.

Our club has a lot to answer for in many areas but I think re Dunne a lot of you here are looking for some conspiracy that just isnt there.

[cdbearsfan]

I think people are jumping to conclusions.

He's basically said that he's not sure if he'll be allowed to play. I take that to mean cos he's been injured and it's up to the physio/management staff to advise when they think he's ready. It needn't mean he's had a massive fall-out with Lambert at training especially as... they don't train on Sundays.

Of course it could be that they've fallen out, or he's banned from playing for some non-fitness reason, but surely as he has been injured all season it's at least feasible that the Tweet could be related to his medical condition rather than his personal relationship with the manager?

[ROBBO]

I find it totally depressing how far we have slipped and what a shambolic club we are especially after watching Everton give Arsenal a footballing lesson. I watched Bill Kenwright in the stands and no matter wht you may think of him he is passionate about Everton and over the years he has guided them through difficult times. I choked when i saw how well Barry played for them he is only on loan but he ran the show for them, Nzog has never convinced me that his heart was at Villa, we know what he is capable of yet rarely showed it. We have passionate players at Villa the problem is it doen't replace talent.

[Steve R]

It just goes to show how much Lambert's stock has fallen. We take a particularly bad defeat, meanwhile a player posts pics of himself on holiday in Marrakech - and it's the manager who gets the stick.

[Isa]

If it is that N'Zogbia has been 'bombed out' and not allowed to train with the team, then why shouldn't he go off to Morocco and enjoy himself? I fail to see how he can be painted as the bad guy in all of this.

[Hoppo]

I would say he has failed a drug test and that's the reason for lack of involvement.

[Isa]

I would say he has failed a drug test and that's the reason for lack of involvement.

According to Kendrick and others,  he and Lambert had a falling out during the last end-of-season awards dinner. Let's not forget that he was stripped of his shirt-number even before the injury.

[Goldie.7]

I would say he has failed a drug test and that's the reason for lack of involvement.

Isn't that slander or a liable comment.

[Malandro]

I would say he has failed a drug test and that's the reason for lack of involvement.

Isn't that slander or a liable comment.

I'm not at work today, hope my colleagues don't think I'm snorting

[Walmley_Villa]

I would say he has failed a drug test and that's the reason for lack of involvement.

According to Kendrick and others,  he and Lambert had a falling out during the last end-of-season awards dinner. Let's not forget that he was stripped of his shirt-number even before the injury.

If true it does seem that Lambert falls out with quite a few players? Stubborn, another trait he would seem to get from pubehead. 1970's management style.

[LeeB]

They did the same with Richard Dunne. They pretended he was injured when in fact he was fit. They just wanted him out of the club - probably because of wages.
Proves what sort of untrustworthy wankers that run our club. Quite disgraceful.

That's just fucking wrong.

[Des Little]

If N'Zogbia is fit, get him in the squad and use him. We are crying out for options.

[Steve R]

If Lambert's starting premise was that he needed to change the culture of the club then it makes sense to isolate those players that would make the process more difficult. It is a very difficult thing to achieve amongst a group just by grafting in a few new players every now and then and hoping things will change for the better. The new guys are just sucked into the existing mentality and nothing really changes. In part this is what happened to McLeish.

If that was the thinking it was the right thing to do. Lambert can take a fair bit of stick for a few things, but he got that bit very right. By the end of his first season he'd got a group of players playing with an esprit de corps that I haven't seen at Villa in a long time. Things seem to have gone nipples up this time around, but it was still the right thing t do.

It is only natural that with things going badly those excluded should suddenly possess qualities they have not previously demonstrated, but in two years at the club how many games has NZogbia delivered true influence? So few they can probably still be recalled. He's had less impact than Bacuna has managed in less than half the time.

[Malandro]

can you imagine adopting the 'bomb squad' approach in any other business?

Madness.  I'm afraid there are twats in any workplace, you just have to deal with them. Maybe its time Lambert looked at himself, he's the guy that should be isolated from the rest of the club.

[Jon Crofts]

If you were Charles N'zogbia, fit and ready to play, would you want to play football for Paul Lambert right now?