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

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How can finishing solidly mid-table be worse than stopping up with a game or two to spare?

Are these real opinions people are having or is all just a bit of a wind up?

[supertom]

How can finishing solidly mid-table be worse than stopping up with a game or two to spare?

Are these real opinions people are having or is all just a bit of a wind up?

It definitely isn't worse.
However we haven't finished yet. We're not entirely out of the woods yet.
This is why I think it's incredibly foolish for there to even be any suggestion coming from the club, that Lambert is getting a contract extension. He could conceivably be rewarded with a longer deal in the next month, and then still relegate us this season. Unlikely, yes, but I think the club sends out entirely the wrong message by rewarding Lambert for his work so far. Being 10th in Feb means chuff all if we end up finishing 15th again, or god forbid worse.

It's the same as if we decided to offer KEA a new contract now. He'd be getting rewarded for mediocrity. A club like Villa, well, any top flight club, shouldn't be rewarding mediocrity. If we do then it basically does little more than prove to his ever growing list of naysayers, that Randy is indeed happy with that.

[Billy Walker]

How can finishing solidly mid-table be worse than stopping up with a game or two to spare?

Are these real opinions people are having or is all just a bit of a wind up?

It definitely isn't worse.
However we haven't finished yet. We're not entirely out of the woods yet.
This is why I think it's incredibly foolish for there to even be any suggestion coming from the club, that Lambert is getting a contract extension. He could conceivably be rewarded with a longer deal in the next month, and then still relegate us this season. Unlikely, yes, but I think the club sends out entirely the wrong message by rewarding Lambert for his work so far. Being 10th in Feb means chuff all if we end up finishing 15th again, or god forbid worse.

It's the same as if we decided to offer KEA a new contract now. He'd be getting rewarded for mediocrity. A club like Villa, well, any top flight club, shouldn't be rewarding mediocrity. If we do then it basically does little more than prove to his ever growing list of naysayers, that Randy is indeed happy with that.

If Lambert had spent £50 million a season on transfers and we were sitting midtable he would be getting away with mediocrity.  Over the past eighteen months he has totally stripped down and rebuilt the squad spending, on average, two/three million per player.  In the process he has reversed the club's three year slide down the table and now has us sitting in midtable.  That's not mediocre management in my book.

[supertom]

How can finishing solidly mid-table be worse than stopping up with a game or two to spare?

Are these real opinions people are having or is all just a bit of a wind up?

It definitely isn't worse.
However we haven't finished yet. We're not entirely out of the woods yet.
This is why I think it's incredibly foolish for there to even be any suggestion coming from the club, that Lambert is getting a contract extension. He could conceivably be rewarded with a longer deal in the next month, and then still relegate us this season. Unlikely, yes, but I think the club sends out entirely the wrong message by rewarding Lambert for his work so far. Being 10th in Feb means chuff all if we end up finishing 15th again, or god forbid worse.

It's the same as if we decided to offer KEA a new contract now. He'd be getting rewarded for mediocrity. A club like Villa, well, any top flight club, shouldn't be rewarding mediocrity. If we do then it basically does little more than prove to his ever growing list of naysayers, that Randy is indeed happy with that.

If Lambert had spent £50 million a season on transfers and we were sitting midtable he would be getting away with mediocrity.  Over the past eighteen months he has totally stripped down and rebuilt the squad spending, on average, two/three million per player.  In the process he has reversed the club's three year slide down the table and now has us sitting in midtable.  That's not mediocre management in my book.

The results are mediocre. We've won 7 out of 24 matches (2 in our last 10 games). We're 10th largely due to how poor the others around us are. In terms of managerial performance too, he should really be judged at the end of the season. We're 10th now, but there's very little between the bottom half sides.
If we're sitting in 10th spot on 50 points come May, then it might be time to contemplate looking at his contract. But in February in a precarious position? Definitely not.

[Ads]

I love that "we're only 10th because everybody else is shit" comment. We probably only won the European Cup because the cream of West Germany "weren't up for it".

[not3bad]

I love that "we're only 10th because everybody else is shit" comment. We probably only won the European Cup because the cream of West Germany "weren't up for it".

It was because of a poorly constructed post that deflected the ball into the net.  A post on a different year would have pushed such a mediocre hit back out.

[Toronto Villa]

What's confusing me is that there almost seems to the belief by some that the manager doesn't see what we see. That our overall play and home form needs to improve. Now, I realise it hasn't and that does in large part lie at his door, but at the same time he's admitted and has gone as far as to suggest the types of players he would need to fix it.

Last year it was abundantly clear to everyone that defence needing improving and we've gone a long way to doing that. This summer it will be other things that have emerged as priorities. It is completely unreasonable to expect all of this to happen at once without a bottomless pit of money. We had to take each problem in stages while addressing the financial mess we had put ourselves in. It's coming together slowly but surely, and hopefully this summer will see us take more steps forward.

[Fergal]

I think it's a good thing that Lambert has had his contract sorted out, it will bring some much needed stability and allow for some long term planning to be put in place.  I believe given time he will prove to be the right man for the job.
Sadly I think the owner has lost interest and that will make life difficult for Lambert.

[Ads]

I have often thought that, regardless of ability, it should be possible to coach and condition a side to press the opposition in the first two thirds of the pitch when you have given the ball away and maintain a strong disciplined defence from the midfield back thereafter.

I really liked watching Chelsea on Monday and could not help but think that you need to have at least one physically capable player in there, who of course needs to be a good footballer too, with the mobility to put the squeeze on. Mourinho was helped with injuries, but the two holding players in there bullied Toure out of it.

We lack that player to hold Westwoods hand in front of the back four. I think, as much as we need a new number 10, we need this position filling.

I would much prefer Lamberts contract be sorted now, so there are no distractions for him when he goes and spends £5-8 million on that big horrible oik to play in our midfield.

[mr underhill]

I just don't get the tolerance with Lambert. Results are mainly poor, tactics are poor and the football is  often poor, yet he appears bomb proof. ( I appreciate we are currently tenth but our form is also poor ) Laudrup got Swansea playing some delightful stuff, won a cup , achieved a perfectly acceptable league position last season and whilst struggling somewhat this, they are still a fluent side probably too good to go down, yet he gets the heave-ho . What is it about Lambert that so many find so right for Villa?

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Swansea play tedious and toothless nothing football.

[Concrete John]

I just don't get the tolerance with Lambert. Results are mainly poor, tactics are poor and the football is  often poor, yet he appears bomb proof. ( I appreciate we are currently tenth but our form is also poor ) Laudrup got Swansea playing some delightful stuff, won a cup , achieved a perfectly acceptable league position last season and whilst struggling somewhat this, they are still a fluent side probably too good to go down, yet he gets the heave-ho . What is it about Lambert that so many find so right for Villa?

I think the comparison isn't a direct one as Laudrup came into a well run club, with an established footballing ethos and things going well on the pitch.  Lambert inherited a shambles.

[not3bad]

With Laudrup I think it was how he got on with the chairman as much as anything that happened on the pitch.  Something to do with a dodgy agent as well?

[PaulWinch again]

Swansea play tedious and toothless nothing football.

Not last year, they lost their main goal scorer for most of this season.

[Ads]

Swansea play tedious and toothless nothing football.

Not last year, they lost their main goal scorer for most of this season.

So that's why they keep passing the ball in pointless triangles between the full backs, centre half and midfield for 90% of the game, because Michu is out.