How would you feel....

[Ian.]

Sometimes sacking a manager works, often it doesn't. How did it work out for QPR and Reading? Sunderland don't seem to be doing too well either. Wolves sacking McCarthy was a masterstroke. It has worked a treat for Southampton, so far.

I guess the real question is could we rely on the Villa board to find a better manager than Lambert?

***runs off***

Deep deep down I think maybe this could be what is discouraging my thoughts on replacing Lambert. I do like Randy, and I understand why we are on this road to recover financially, however decision making and appointing managers might not be his strong point. Any day soon Fat Sam will also be available too :/

Still in the shake him up camp.

[Mazrim]

I'm not depressed, more confused than anything else. I'm fine with struggling and transition, after all it's too often our lot anyway, but I need to see a long term plan and at the moment I don't see one. I want to see us go back to a more aggressive game like we had in the last few months of last season. But we're also a few players short of that. A good January window and a rethink of how we go about games might be all that's needed.

Right now, too many players are struggling, a few too many are missing and if we don't back pedal into our own area in the hope of counter attacking there really isn't any other plan. We should have more than that.

[Clampy]

There's an argument that Lambert has been dealt a bad hand this season so far. He lost potentially a very good centre half for the season, Benteke has not looked the same player since his injury, he lost N'Zogbia before the season even started and the likes of Weimann, Westwood, Lowton etc who served him well last season haven't done it this time for whatever reason.

[dekko]

There's an argument that Lambert has been dealt a bad hand this season so far. He lost potentially a very good centre half for the season, Benteke has not looked the same player since his injury, he lost N'Zogbia before the season even started and the likes of Weimann, Westwood, Lowton etc who served him well last season haven't done it this time for whatever reason.

Get the team that finished last season (in terms of form) add an improved Vlaar and Okore and we wouldn't even be having this conversation.

Not that the manager is blameless (for reasons expressed ad infinitum), but half the side basically haven't shown up this season.

[Ian.]

I agree with that Clampy, luck does not seem to be going his way. The one thing I keep thinking is last season I thought lambert looked a man defeated then suddenly he turned it around, something clicked. I keep waiting for it to happen this season , but as it goes on we seem to be playing worse with every passing week.

I hope the way we are playing, the way we can not pass and retain possession is only a confidence thing and a good performance, not just the result but the way we play turns it around. Like Mazrim says too many players are void of belief or just missing. It's got to stop soon or again we are going to be dragged into a dog fight again.

[cdward]

  There are hundreds of cheap, young talented players out there.   You just have to get to them first.

We should look at whoever won the Next Gen Series, they obviously have lots of young talent coming through, if only we could tap into that pool of talent........oh wait a minute.

[Mazrim]

That's another thing. Very few of our vaunted kids have had much of a look in. From a manager who champions young players I find that odd.
Daniel Johnson at least should be in match squads.

[tomd2103]

There's an argument that Lambert has been dealt a bad hand this season so far. He lost potentially a very good centre half for the season, Benteke has not looked the same player since his injury, he lost N'Zogbia before the season even started and the likes of Weimann, Westwood, Lowton etc who served him well last season haven't done it this time for whatever reason.

Get the team that finished last season (in terms of form) add an improved Vlaar and Okore and we wouldn't even be having this conversation.

Not that the manager is blameless (for reasons expressed ad infinitum), but half the side basically haven't shown up this season.

Good points Dekko, but he has failed to strengthen the overall squad so we're still in a position where we are struggling to cover injuries and loss of form. I'm also starting to think that he he is not the best judge of left backs!!   

[dekko]

Get the team that finished last season (in terms of form) add an improved Vlaar and Okore and we wouldn't even be having this conversation.

Not that the manager is blameless (for reasons expressed ad infinitum), but half the side basically haven't shown up this season.

Good points Dekko, but he has failed to strengthen the overall squad so we're still in a position where we are struggling to cover injuries and loss of form. I'm also starting to think that he he is not the best judge of left backs!!

I have a feeling that the reason he went for depth and numbers rather than quality (except Okore) was because we finished the season so well that he figured we wouldn't need much in the way of upgrades.  He's always had more faith in the squad than any of us (as last January showed) and some of them have let him/us down.

[mike]

It just all feels a long way from the 'bright future' scarves. Randy clearly doesn't care. He's spent a fortune on tat like Harewood and Zat Knight, so I don't entirely blame him, but he has completely lost interest now. Lambert always looks like he doesn't give a toss, so it's hard to believe that he inspires the players, and that's what it looks like on the pitch. The squad itself is full of average players who aren't even performing to the limited abilities they have. There is no reason to believe any of the above will change and the only point of playing the 38 games is to get more points than three other teams, so we can do it all again next year. And that is why it's hard to have the old excitement about the mighty Villa.

Does that mean we should sack Lambert? Well, unless the fiscal policy changes, we won't get a better squad so it's down to whether you think anyone else we could get in under those circumstances could get much more out of the players. If the fiscal policy did change, that's the time to have a long hard look at what kind of manager he is. At best, Randy will fund us once more and if we waste that then I think we'll be in the wilderness for a while unless we find a new owner.

Merry Christmas by the way.

[martin o`who??]

It just all feels a long way from the 'bright future' scarves. Randy clearly doesn't care. He's spent a fortune on tat like Harewood and Zat Knight, so I don't entirely blame him, but he has completely lost interest now. Lambert always looks like he doesn't give a toss, so it's hard to believe that he inspires the players, and that's what it looks like on the pitch. The squad itself is full of average players who aren't even performing to the limited abilities they have. There is no reason to believe any of the above will change and the only point of playing the 38 games is to get more points than three other teams, so we can do it all again next year. And that is why it's hard to have the old excitement about the mighty Villa.

Does that mean we should sack Lambert? Well, unless the fiscal policy changes, we won't get a better squad so it's down to whether you think anyone else we could get in under those circumstances could get much more out of the players. If the fiscal policy did change, that's the time to have a long hard look at what kind of manager he is. At best, Randy will fund us once more and if we waste that then I think we'll be in the wilderness for a while unless we find a new owner.
Merry Christmas by the way.

The depressing thing is, that seems to be the only way forward now.

[Merv]

That's another thing. Very few of our vaunted kids have had much of a look in. From a manager who champions young players I find that odd.
Daniel Johnson at least should be in match squads.

I would have thought Johnson would give that midfield decent balance, particularly when Delph is out - if Lambert persists with a narrow midfield three, DJ on the left of that three could work well. He keeps the ball well, good delivery. Just a nice footballer.

Better than seeing Sylla struggling to scramble across to the left to cover. Not his game at all. Which is my concern about Lambert right now... square pegs, round holes. No wonder it all looks a bit unbalanced.

[supertom]

Lambert may have been unlucky with injuries, but that's been counterbalanced by a lot of fortunate results on the pitch. We should also consider that Lamberts had ample opportunity to player the midfield and attack that worked so well for us between Feb and May.
He opted instead to persist with KEA, who is, as politely as I can put it, Bobbins. That he's failed to spot that Westwood and KEA can't play together is his own fault. I also think that Sylla's own development has been slightly hampered. He's gone from gradually improving having played week in and week out from Feb onwards, to being in and out the side, and he's struggling to have an impact at the moment. I'm not sure why the one gameplan Lambert has had that works in his time here, he's not implemented again.
Again I get sick sometimes of seeing all our attacking players stepping over each others toes in the middle of the pitch, because he doesn't like to play with width. The sad part is we have had some joy when Tonev or Albrighton (more so Alby) have played out wide, though actually at the most effective (Everton home, Utd home) we lost both games, so Lambert might simply assume that there's no point playing a winger after all. Who knows?

[Ads]

Blaming imaginary forces again.


A question. Does the following sound silly?

We beat Southampton and Man City because God willed it.

[Merv]

KEA isn't bobbins, but you're right - I see him and Westwood as very similar, in terms of where they like to be playing, so the two of them together doesn't work.  Then when you bring Sylla in alongside those two, even less suitable - all three like/need to be central. So then our midfield is narrow, and Sylla gets flak for struggling to pull wide left and close players down (v Man U), or struggling to ping crosses in from wide on the right (v West Brom).

I struggle to understand why Lambert is asking Sylla to play like that, when he has Bacuna - who seems best suited to RM, to me - Albrighton (admittedly now just fit) and Tonev, all of whom are naturally wide players. Why is he trying to make central midfielders play wide?

If he wants a midfield three, right to left - Bacuna, Westwood, Delph would provide a lovely balance. If he wants a compact four, perm any four of Albrighton/Bacuna - Westwood-Delph-Tonev/Bacuna.

I too thought Sylla looked promising last season. If he has a role to play, it's surely as a CM, centrally, winning the ball and screening the defence, no? I don't know what Lambert is trying to do with him this season.

I understand the strategy in place regarding the squad, I accept the need for it, and I like, in principal, the policy of recruiting younger players, but I'm a little perplexed by some of the manager's selection decisions, I must admit.

I don't know why he doesn't like using wide players, in the main. It's one of the reasons our full-backs are often overloaded. Luna was poor on Sunday but he pretty much had Valencia and Rafael coming at him. No midfielder in front of him, and asking Gabby to track back and support Benteke is always going to leave us vulnerable.

So, overall, Supertom.... I agree with you.