The Paul Lambert thread - poll reset after our capitulation to Hull

[supertom]

This thread encapsulates the nature of our current malaise compared with previous troughs.   We have become too tolerant of mediocrity.

I think you'll find its that some have finally accepted relevance and context = reality. 

No I think Brian had it right. This shouldn't be our reality. We're 12th now but we're pretty much going exactly the same as we were last season. We'll end around 15th again and we look appalling as an attacking unit. That's poor management as much as anything else.
We've got enough quality to be a lot more comfortable than we have and will be.

That said if we go into next season minus Benteke, Vlaar and Delph (maybe more). Then 15th is the top end of what we can expect. So Randy will have to take some action to reverse this decline.
But the manager is a country mile from being good enough. Bad luck, horrible constraints? They've been part of a tough job, but our biggest problem has been his own ineptitude. Making the wrong call nine times out of ten when it comes to tactical decisions. Record upon record broken (and not the good kind).
This isn't the reality of a side that has a spine like Guzan, Vlaar, Delph and Benteke, as well as 3-4 other half decent players.

Randy's the main culprit for all of this but Lambert is highly culpable too and he's overstayed his welcome by well over a year.

People might still say "we're 12th."
Well this time last year they were saying similar. We've seen this all before. A brief glimmer of light followed by a cave in. Been there done it and the cycle continues ad nauseam. Lambert all too rarely learns from his mistakes. He's a joke and well out of his depth.

[pauliewalnuts]

We've seen this all before. A brief glimmer of light followed by a cave in. Been there done it and the cycle continues ad nauseam. Lambert all too rarely learns from his mistakes. .

Couldn't agree more with this.

We've seen this so often under Lambert. A brief flicker of style / results, followed by an extended period of shitness. He never seems to be able to build any momentum after we get things right. It'd be so different if he could manage that, but he fails to, every time.

[supertom]

We've seen this all before. A brief glimmer of light followed by a cave in. Been there done it and the cycle continues ad nauseam. Lambert all too rarely learns from his mistakes. .

Couldn't agree more with this.

We've seen this so often under Lambert. A brief flicker of style / results, followed by an extended period of shitness. He never seems to be able to build any momentum after we get things right. It'd be so different if he could manage that, but he fails to, every time.

On this occasion I have some sympathy in as much as Richardson getting himself sent off turned the tide for them. But even so the inevitability of our retreat back to our own penalty area said it all. We all knew what would happen. We'd hold onto a fortunate 0-0 or their pressure would pay off.

And of course we now follow up with bloody Utd, and then Swansea who are a better side than us now.

[Dave]

And of course we now follow up with bloody Utd, and then Swansea who are a better side than us now.

They have been for at least a couple of years, but we still normally do fine against them.

[supertom]

And of course we now follow up with bloody Utd, and then Swansea who are a better side than us now.

They have been for at least a couple of years, but we still normally do fine against them.

Normally but I wouldn't fancy us to do so again.
With the squad's fitness questionable and our injury problems the next two games against Sunderland and Palace all come thick and fast too. That's going to make them more difficult and those will be games we really need to be looking at four points from at least. I'm worrying another winless implosion is on the horizon.

[aev]

We've seen this all before. A brief glimmer of light followed by a cave in. Been there done it and the cycle continues ad nauseam. Lambert all too rarely learns from his mistakes. .

Couldn't agree more with this.

We've seen this so often under Lambert. A brief flicker of style / results, followed by an extended period of shitness. He never seems to be able to build any momentum after we get things right. It'd be so different if he could manage that, but he fails to, every time.

I think that is it - we don't do momentum .

[Clampy]

And of course we now follow up with bloody Utd, and then Swansea who are a better side than us now.

They have been for at least a couple of years, but we still normally do fine against them.

We do normally, although last season at their place was a bit of a disaster. We were in the middle of another Lambert bad run though.

[chrisw1]

We've seen this all before. A brief glimmer of light followed by a cave in. Been there done it and the cycle continues ad nauseam. Lambert all too rarely learns from his mistakes. .

Couldn't agree more with this.

We've seen this so often under Lambert. A brief flicker of style / results, followed by an extended period of shitness. He never seems to be able to build any momentum after we get things right. It'd be so different if he could manage that, but he fails to, every time.

Whist this is true, but it's hardly his fault Richardson lost his head, or even that Benteke missed a couple of good chances.  He has also been massively unlucky with injuries.  I agree the football has been really poor, but he has been dealt a difficult hand with injuries to major players.  How many teams at our level would have coped with losing so many senior players particularly with the run of matches we had.  People forget just how many players we've had out - Benteke, Kovak, Cole, Delph, Okore, Vlaar, Senderos, Baker, Westwood then Benteke gets suspended....

I'm not saying all is rosy, far from it.  But we have certainly been unfortunate.  I've absolutely no doubt we would have picked up a few more points even if just Benteke hadn't got suspended right after coming back, let alone a few of the other key ones - notably Delph, Vlaar & Senderos.

[Villa in Denmark]

Amazing how good teams make their own luck and poor teams use bad luck as an excuse.

And sometimes I wonder how many people recognise the difference between an excuse and a reason.

[supertom]

And of course we now follow up with bloody Utd, and then Swansea who are a better side than us now.

They have been for at least a couple of years, but we still normally do fine against them.

We do normally, although last season at their place was a bit of a disaster. We were in the middle of another Lambert bad run though.

What could undo us as much as anything is the fact we're going to have 5 games in the space of 2 weeks. We're not the fittest bunch in the league and we'll undoubtedly pick up more injuries because that's just what we do. This Crimbo period has bad run written all over it. There are quite a few also ran's that Lamberk clearly doesn't fancy and will be reluctant to play unless he absolutely has to.
How much of Bacuna will we see I wonder? How much of Grealish?
I know the answer with Cole sadly, which is the square root of chuff all.
Richardson is shite so him coming back will make no difference.

Gardner has hardly set the World alight but I'd be bringing him back early to be honest, as well as Johnson perhaps. We should also possibly think about recalling one of our left backs to cover Cissokho who's form has been iffy, but more so, the guy will be knackered in 2-3 games time. He'll probably be dead on his feet, and he's one of our fittest players.

[chrisw1]

Look, I'm no lover of Lambert, I see all the faults too.  But two simple questions,

1. Was it Lambert's fault that Richardson got sent off?

2. If he hadn't gone off, do you not think we had the beating off West Brom?

I know it's all a fine line, but still these are surely reasons and not excuses.

[Ads]

Amazing how good teams make their own luck and poor teams use bad luck as an excuse.

And sometimes I wonder how many people recognise the difference between an excuse and a reason.

The difference between good teams and bad teams is money. The teams at the top have a lot of it, we do not and it shows.

[Ads]

Look, I'm no lover of Lambert, I see all the faults too.  But two simple questions,

1. Was it Lambert's fault that Richardson got sent off?

2. If he hadn't gone off, do you not think we had the beating off West Brom?

I know it's all a fine line, but still these are surely reasons and not excuses.

1) No. Although his fault for picking him ahead of Grealish {winking face]

2) We were the better side, but we're speculating. With 11 men I don't think we would have been beaten at least, as West Brom were very poor thereafter and fashioned very little.

[supertom]

We've seen this all before. A brief glimmer of light followed by a cave in. Been there done it and the cycle continues ad nauseam. Lambert all too rarely learns from his mistakes. .

Couldn't agree more with this.

We've seen this so often under Lambert. A brief flicker of style / results, followed by an extended period of shitness. He never seems to be able to build any momentum after we get things right. It'd be so different if he could manage that, but he fails to, every time.

Whist this is true, but it's hardly his fault Richardson lost his head, or even that Benteke missed a couple of good chances.  He has also been massively unlucky with injuries.  I agree the football has been really poor, but he has been dealt a difficult hand with injuries to major players.  How many teams at our level would have coped with losing so many senior players particularly with the run of matches we had.  People forget just how many players we've had out - Benteke, Kovak, Cole, Delph, Okore, Vlaar, Senderos, Baker, Westwood then Benteke gets suspended....

I'm not saying all is rosy, far from it.  But we have certainly been unfortunate.  I've absolutely no doubt we would have picked up a few more points even if just Benteke hadn't got suspended right after coming back, let alone a few of the other key ones - notably Delph, Vlaar & Senderos.

Rico did do us in. However Lambert's tactical decisions from then on did the side little favours. But we've come to expect him to make the wrong calls.

He also chose to sign Richardson who was on a one way ticket to the championship and the slow winding down of his career. He's another Leonhardsen. Perhaps Lambert should have made more of an example of Bentekes foolishness. It did essentially cost us that game too. Hutton could easily have been sent off for raising his hands in the Leicester game (thankfully the ref had a little common sense). Richardson had no hesitation in what was a fucking moronic challenge. Where's our discipline? That comes from the manager. Richardson should be in a basement in Bodymoor somewhere getting 20 lashings. Failing that, at least a fine of his wages.

We've not really missed Vlaar or Senderos either. Yes it was unfortunate to lose them but their stand ins, if anything, have surpassed them.

What your players do falls on you as a manager. Even when they do something moronic. Ultimately it's the job you are paid to do. But why do we lack discipline? Why are we not fit enough? Why do we picked up so many training injuries? Why do we retreat out of a game after a set back 9 times out of 10?

[Walmley_Villa]

I would love us to have a go at Utd but i think we all know it will be the same old sh*t, damage limitation and an 'acceptable to Lambert' 0-3 reverse (although I have gone for 1-3 in the pre-match thread). Lowton will be in for Hutton I would guess and for some god be known reason CNZ will no doubt get another outing.