How would you feel....

[supertom]

One thing is certain when you hear that just over the last couple of days alone,the Albion ,Spurs and Watford have parted company with their managers for bad results ,Lambert is very lucky to still have his

West Brom have a worse record than us not only this season but over the calendar year.
AVB spent an absolute fortune and his team have been thumped by two of their rivals.
Watford are spiralling into oblivion now they can't have half of Serie A on loan.

We are 11th.

Ahhh 11th - the new 4th for our ambitious manager and owner - dont think I could stand the euphoria of reaching a giddy 8th

There's a definite gap opening up in the Prem. You have a top 7, who look a way ahead of the rest (I include Utd in that because they will rise and the Toon will drop). Then there's a little group below with Newcastle, Southampton, possibly Swansea who could drift ahead of the rest. Then from 11th to 16/17th there's pretty much nothing between the sides, and in all honesty they're all a bit dross. The bottom 3 I think will remain as they are to be honest. All that may happen is Fulham might rise and Hull and Cardiff will get sucked down into a scrap as the season goes on.

If Lambert can sign 2-3 players and sort out some kind of actual game plan beyond running hard for 90 minutes, then we can be pushing for 9th-10th perhaps. If our performances don't improve I'd expect a similar finish to last season of around 15th.

[PaulWinch again]

He's not lucky to still have his job, but what he needs to do is start showing firstly that he understands we haven't been playing well for a while and secondly that he's actually going to do something to address it.

He's very reticent with the media, as he should be. If he has a 'right good go' at the players for playing badly, we shouldn't know. He'd be doing his job badly if we did know. I think, therefore, that we can extrapolate how unhappy he really is if he makes even the slightest criticism in the post match interview, and after the Fulham game he was really quite down on the performance.

So that's knowing there was a problem. Doing something about it? Well, we passed much better against United, and played a more direct and dribbly winger in an attempt to create more. It's a shame we were playing Man Utd, but we'll see if he does the same against Stoke - if he does, then maybe he's decided to work on doing something about our problems.

I don't expect him to slate the players in public, as you indicate the evidence that he realises will be improved performances. At the moment, with the exception of 10 minutes against Manure after which we were atrocious, I haven't seen much. Hopefully in the coming weeks we'll see something.

[Monty]

He's not lucky to still have his job, but what he needs to do is start showing firstly that he understands we haven't been playing well for a while and secondly that he's actually going to do something to address it.

He's very reticent with the media, as he should be. If he has a 'right good go' at the players for playing badly, we shouldn't know. He'd be doing his job badly if we did know. I think, therefore, that we can extrapolate how unhappy he really is if he makes even the slightest criticism in the post match interview, and after the Fulham game he was really quite down on the performance.

So that's knowing there was a problem. Doing something about it? Well, we passed much better against United, and played a more direct and dribbly winger in an attempt to create more. It's a shame we were playing Man Utd, but we'll see if he does the same against Stoke - if he does, then maybe he's decided to work on doing something about our problems.

I don't expect him to slate the players in public, as you indicate the evidence that he realises will be improved performances. At the moment, with the exception of 10 minutes against Manure after which we were atrocious, I haven't seen much. Hopefully in the coming weeks we'll see something.

I don't think we were as bad against United as has been made out. I thought we were supine defensively and just bent over whenever Valencia got the ball, but we were perfectly fine when in possession, just panicked in the wrong moments against a pretty strong defence.

[paul_e]

He's not lucky to still have his job, but what he needs to do is start showing firstly that he understands we haven't been playing well for a while and secondly that he's actually going to do something to address it.

He's very reticent with the media, as he should be. If he has a 'right good go' at the players for playing badly, we shouldn't know. He'd be doing his job badly if we did know. I think, therefore, that we can extrapolate how unhappy he really is if he makes even the slightest criticism in the post match interview, and after the Fulham game he was really quite down on the performance.

So that's knowing there was a problem. Doing something about it? Well, we passed much better against United, and played a more direct and dribbly winger in an attempt to create more. It's a shame we were playing Man Utd, but we'll see if he does the same against Stoke - if he does, then maybe he's decided to work on doing something about our problems.

I don't expect him to slate the players in public, as you indicate the evidence that he realises will be improved performances. At the moment, with the exception of 10 minutes against Manure after which we were atrocious, I haven't seen much. Hopefully in the coming weeks we'll see something.

I don't think we were as bad against United as has been made out. I thought we were supine defensively and just bent over whenever Valencia got the ball, but we were perfectly fine when in possession, just panicked in the wrong moments against a pretty strong defence.

I think we've got too many attackers that need a goal, we saw lots of snatched chances and extra touches around the box which made us look worse than we were.  That said I think the midfield 3 were oo deep and didn't offer enough as a unit.

[Monty]

I think we've got too many attackers that need a goal, we saw lots of snatched chances and extra touches around the box which made us look worse than we were.  That said I think the midfield 3 were oo deep and didn't offer enough as a unit.

This is all true, but also reasonably nuanced criticism. Unlike the Fulham game where it was just shite.

[paul_e]

I think we've got too many attackers that need a goal, we saw lots of snatched chances and extra touches around the box which made us look worse than we were.  That said I think the midfield 3 were oo deep and didn't offer enough as a unit.

This is all true, but also reasonably nuanced criticism. Unlike the Fulham game where it was just shite.

I agree but you'd spoken specifically about the united game.  Like you I think we started trying to play a different way but I think the heads went down after 2 quick goals and we never really got going again, that both of the goals were self inflicted is the most frustrating part.

[exiled on the wirral!]

Before the start of the season i think the vast majority of us thought we would end up in mid table clear of the relegation places.As we are 11th with 4 winnable games ahead of us i think we are exactly where we expect this team to be. We have had some good and bad performances from this team but surely that is what you expect from a young team.

The problem we have got as a club is the way modern football is now structured, and the way this club is currently financed, 6-8 place really is the very highest we can hope for. Gone are the days where we can finish 4th of the bottom as in 88-89 and then finish runners up as in 89-90. So if all we can hope for is mid table we are going to lose quite a few games in the process.

Personally in the current situation if we did get rid of Lambert we wouldnt be able to replace him with anyone better..and a new manager with such a young squad at his disposal would struggle to keep us up.

Performances have been poor of late but i think thats more down to a lack of confidence than anything else. Hopefully the next 4 winnable games we can restore some belief

[pooligan]

 In answer to you Mr Woodhall I was on about his overall record since he became Villa manager. Biggest ever defeat in the clubs history 8-0 in case you have forgot,knocked out of the League cup by a fourth division side over two legs,knocked out by Millwall a poor championship side.Has the worst ever home record of a villa manager ,what is it 6 wins out of 27 .His style of football is awful. Have you been listening to the villa fans who have just  been on WM . All agree with what i say . Give me some reasons why he is a good manger.Maybe you and dave Cooper are happy being in the lower half of the league and playing awful football I certainly am not

[Rudy Can't Fail]

Personally in the current situation if we did get rid of Lambert we wouldnt be able to replace him with anyone better..and a new manager with such a young squad at his disposal would struggle to keep us up.

I think you're half right. We all thought Southampton were mad last season when they sacked Adkins in January but they managed to find a better manager. Hopefully we could do the same. The real issue as you've stated is how a new manager and our young squad get on. Even though there's half a season to go, it's risky business.

[PeterWithesShin]

That's told the two Daves!

[ez]

Winnable games makes me smile. I'm not sure what a winnable game is anymore.

[eric woolban woolban]

Winnable games makes me smile. I'm not sure what a winnable game is anymore.

Yes just think of the nil nil against Sunderland.

[dave.woodhall]

In answer to you Mr Woodhall I was on about his overall record since he became Villa manager. Biggest ever defeat in the clubs history 8-0 in case you have forgot,knocked out of the League cup by a fourth division side over two legs,knocked out by Millwall a poor championship side.Has the worst ever home record of a villa manager ,what is it 6 wins out of 27 .His style of football is awful. Have you been listening to the villa fans who have just  been on WM . All agree with what i say . Give me some reasons why he is a good manger.Maybe you and dave Cooper are happy being in the lower half of the league and playing awful football I certainly am not

Did I say I was happy at the moment, or with some of the results last season? Did anyone? I want him to stay because I believe he can improve the current situation and provide a platform for success. I say that based on some of the signings he has made and some of the games I have witnessed. 

[walsall villain]

Personally in the current situation if we did get rid of Lambert we wouldnt be able to replace him with anyone better..and a new manager with such a young squad at his disposal would struggle to keep us up.

I think you're half right. We all thought Southampton were mad last season when they sacked Adkins in January but they managed to find a better manager. Hopefully we could do the same. The real issue as you've stated is how a new manager and our young squad get on. Even though there's half a season to go, it's risky business.

Yes but Southampton have got more than the talented youngsters they have brought through. Osvaldo cost £13 million, so did wanjama and the loose change of £9 million went on Lovren. Another club fans think we are similar to but we aren't are we?

[PeterWithesShin]

I'm sure Arsenal, Saints and Man City classed us as winnable games. It happens, and yet at times it seems we are the only club to ever fail to win a "winnable" game in the history of football.