How would you feel....

[supertom]

Recently the fullbacks have also barely gone beyond the half way line, which again, doesn't help matters. It leaves them having to mostly defend in matches which is the weakness, as opposed to trying to attack more, which is their (kind of) strength.
Then again, they can barely get beyond the half way line before we've gifted the ball back, so it's not always entirely their fault.
[/quote]

Supertom, one of our problems at Fulham was that Bacuna was away on a stag night in the Fulham half when we were not in possession.  No discipline at all in that game.
[/quote]
Christ knows what he was doing. He certainly wasn't getting the ball in the opposition half and doing anything with it, that's for sure.
Likewise Luna. One thing Tony does well is what he did at Arsenal. He'll make the odd barnstorming run but he's not doing that at the moment, meaning all we see is his defensive prowess...which is shite.

[pauliewalnuts]

remember when we had posters queing up to sack Lambert and get Allardyce, Hughes, Pullis in, anyone that could keep us up

No. I genuinely don't remember anyone queueing up to get Allardyce in. Only Risso, and that doesn't mean a queue.

I also don't remember ever reading a single person wanting Pulis in.

[dave.woodhall]

We did have something like 80% wanting him sacked though.

[ozzjim]

We may be, as Everton were for seasons, a second half of the season side. I certainly hope so at the moment.

[Monty]

We may be, as Everton were for seasons, a second half of the season side. I certainly hope so at the moment.

Well me too, because, compared to recent seasons, this first half of the season hasn't been all that bad, so the second half would be really good. It reminds me a bit of MON's first season.

[pauliewalnuts]

We did have something like 80% wanting him sacked though.

Did we?

I genuinely don't remember that, I recall it was hardly ever above 50 percent.

[eastie]

We did have something like 80% wanting him sacked though.

I think it peaked after the millwall game - and  to be honest can totally understand why at that point.

[ozzjim]

We did have something like 80% wanting him sacked though.

I think it peaked after the millwall game - and  to be honest can totally understand why at that point.

You are right, although I think the aftermath of the second leg with Bradford was pretty rough too.

[Chico Hamilton III]

We did have something like 80% wanting him sacked though.

I think it peaked after the millwall game - and  to be honest can totally understand why at that point.

You are right, although I think the aftermath of the second leg with Bradford was pretty rough too.

Yep, that was the lowpoint. Although I'm certain that nobody on here was in a queue to parachute Pullis or Sam into the hotseat.

[saunders_heroes]

We did have something like 80% wanting him sacked though.

Not surprising though. Villa managers have been sacked for a lot less than what Lambert has served up so far.

[bobdylan]

I'm baffled that the front 3 got 47 goals last season yet only have 8 combined this season at almost the half way mark.  I'm also bemused that Clark and Vlaar were woeful last year yet excellent this season.  Rather than 3 goalless draws with West Ham, Hull and Sunderland in my mind I have decided these 3 matches were all drawn 3 - 3 with the front 3 getting all the goals and Vlaar/Clark making elementary mistakes at the back.  That way I find the start to the season much more easy to understand and slightly encouraging, the defence is still crap and the forwards dangerous and good.  Is it as simplistic as this, he fact that position/points wise we have improved is tempered by the fact that we have been involved in fewer high scoring and therefore less exciting matches?  I think it also depends on what you are comparing us too, as last season we finished 15th and therefore 11th is an improvement but from Feb to May our forn was equivalent to around 8th in the table and therefore we are falling behind that benchmark this season.

[pauliewalnuts]

We did have something like 80% wanting him sacked though.

Not surprising though. Villa managers have been sacked for a lot less than what Lambert has served up so far.

I said this at the time, but if you look at Lambert's record on paper at many points during last season, it would be really hard to conclude that those were not records which would get most managers sacked.

I thought that the wider picture, ie how we were playing, what we were trying to do, told a bigger story than sheer points on the board, though.

This year, it is the opposite. If you look at the table, and the points, it would be really hard to see a manager who deserves to get the sack.

However, if you look at the wider picture in terms of how we are being set up to play, and how we are actually playing, it is significantly less impressive.

[eastie]

We did have something like 80% wanting him sacked though.

Not surprising though. Villa managers have been sacked for a lot less than what Lambert has served up so far.

I said this at the time, but if you look at Lambert's record on paper at many points during last season, it would be really hard to conclude that those were not records which would get most managers sacked.

I thought that the wider picture, ie how we were playing, what we were trying to do, told a bigger story than sheer points on the board, though.

This year, it is the opposite. If you look at the table, and the points, it would be really hard to see a manager who deserves to get the sack.

However, if you look at the wider picture in terms of how we are being set up to play, and how we are actually playing, it is significantly less impressive.

The table is very tight in the bottom half though paulie and a couple of defeats could easily see us in the bottom 6 - I think the next 4 games will tell is a lot about how the season will go.

Equally 3 wins from the next 4 games and we will be comfortably away from any trouble and able to look ahead with confidence.

[pauliewalnuts]

The table is very tight in the bottom half though paulie and a couple of defeats could easily see us in the bottom 6 - I think the next 4 games will tell is a lot about how the season will go.

Equally 3 wins from the next 4 games and we will be comfortably away from any trouble and able to look ahead with confidence.

That's a fair point.

I don't hold with the "yeah, but we're bound to get sucked into it" posse, but I equally don't hold with the "yeah, we're tenth" argument, either, because it strikes me as a bit risky to read too much into our position at any one point.

I am, in other words, quite firmly on the fence.

[eastie]

I think the length of vlaar's absence will have a big part to play in how we do in the next few games - hopefully we will have him available soon because we look a much poorer defence without him.