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

[Damo70]

I think we should leave it in the draw until the end of the season and see how things stand then.

[brontebilly]

The question must be do you think the better performances last spring, and the high tempo performances this year where we've actually looked like a professional football team rather than a Sunday pub team, are Lambert getting it right, or just good luck.

If it's the first then why the f%&k can't we play like that more often.

Either way he's looking like a busted flush at the moment. Too many false dawns with too many disappointments straight after.

honestly think it was luck. halfway through the newcastle game last feb I think, gabby and weimann came on and we went 433. Gabby was having an awful season up to that. Suddenly it seemed to click. Westwood and Delph particularly were in fine form towards the end of last season. Our full backs started attacking well and Benteke was unplayable. We were still woeful at the back  but there was a lot to work with.

with weimann particularly being awful this season and Gabby in typical fashion verging from the sublime to the ridiculous on a weekly basis, it wasnt working. But his big signing Kozak doesnt fit at all to the style of football we were playing at the end of last season. Neither does Helenius, who he seems to have done a MON/Shorey on.

Two of his summer signings, Tonev and Luna are two of the worst players to have played for the club in my memory. He has no idea what to do in midfield. Its Delph, then Westwood and a lucky dip for the other 1 or 2 players in midfield. Rather than waste money on a player he didnt need, Kozak, with 2 young players in there we were crying out for a Gareth Barry type player in midfield. He would have improved immeasurably the two players next to him. We need a leader in midfield something shocking yet he failed to rectify that. As a former midfielder Im not sure how he wasnt able to address that over the last 2 years.

Lambert permits our defenders and keeper to continuously hoof the ball at will down the pitch. A top coach would ban them from doing that. Clark in particular takes the piss with the hoofing as he has the ability to be better.

Lambert is possibly the worst tactician in the league (remember how even Fulham exploited Bacuna constantly), terrible at making changes during games to positively affect the outcome, clearly a dreadful coach considering the dross we delve out on a weekly basis.

The English game and media debate is commentated primarily on by a cabal of ex pro's. Listened to a podcast recently with Gabriele Marcotti who made this point really well in relation to the "punditocracy" at play.  All keen to promote "young British managers" like Lambert who "deserve a chance at a big club". The same nonsense is keeping David Moyes in a job. Hansen made some comment last year that Lambert should have been manager of the year ffs.  Innovative coach you hear, he did his training in Germany they say, trying to get Villa to become the next Dortmund, club in transition, long term project etc etc. The morons that make up the Villa board lap this crap up, witness the key Fergie recommendation to get McLeish in. The one signing Lerner could make that would positively change the club would be that Nicola Cortese guy who was running Southampton. Guarantee he would fire Lambert within weeks.

[Irish villain]

Great post  brontebilly.

[tomd2103]

The question must be do you think the better performances last spring, and the high tempo performances this year where we've actually looked like a professional football team rather than a Sunday pub team, are Lambert getting it right, or just good luck.

If it's the first then why the f%&k can't we play like that more often.

Either way he's looking like a busted flush at the moment. Too many false dawns with too many disappointments straight after.

For me, Lambert is like Lowton and Westwood - showed signs of promise in the second of half last season, but has regressed badly this season almost to the point where he looks like he doesn't belong at this level. 

I have been supportive of him up until recently, but I'm beginning to lose confidence in him.  It's not just his tactics and the fact that he hasn't worked out a way to play at home yet, it's his general manner in interviews and with the media that I find so uninspiring.  His purchases, with a few exceptions, have been poor and it all adds up to somoeone who it's becoming increasingly hard to have faith in. 

Agree that he should probably be given until the end of the season, but if there is no noticeable improvement then there would be a strong case for him to go.

[JUAN PABLO]

brontebilly

excellent post

[Sexual Ealing]

It's really important to remember that none of this matters. And I write this at 2.19am from a Premier Inn in Exeter.

[mr underhill]

you were joking of course? It matters to every fan of the club regardless of your particular view. An alternative take on the contract story might be that this is a means of protecting an uncritical friend, and let's face it, the board and management of AV all fall into that category. If the rumoured takeover happens, Lambert's got a lot more compo. If no takeover happens, its a logical contract extension for, in Randy's eyes, a loyal employee. My guess is that even if we go down, Lambert will remain for another season as he at least has form in winning lower league promotions. I just don't want him to put that experience to the test with us.

[brian green]

Great post brontebilly.

[ChicagoLion]

Which shit players does he pick ahead of better players already here? Apart from KEA (and who is here that is better?) i'm struggling to come up with any.

I think Allbrighton has proved in the time that he has been given that he is better than Bacuna Tonev Bowery the list goes on.

Can you imagine any one worse than Tonev ? I am pretty sure we have players out on loan that are better than Tonev. FFS I am better than Tonev.

He bought on Holt at Liverpool and started him against Everton- genius

I looked at the squad list, it is amazing how much crap he has assembled in 18 months. Bowery, Bacuna, Holt Tonev, KEA, Lowton, Luna, Westwood and Bennett.

And how many  players from our youth set up has he bought through? None

You are right there are not many alternatives because he has assembled this squad.

[Fin Feds Dad]

One of the best posts on here for a long time , Bronte Billy.

I am amazed more people can't see it .

[richard moore]

Yes, great post BB and like FFD, I'm amazed more people can't see how crap he is or how football more generally is dominated by morons. We are more like my local Sunday league team, Sidlesham than we are Borussia Dortmund with that thick twat in charge and our equally useless board and owner

[Malandro]

Spot on BB.

If people think that Randy is going to suddenly splash the cash when players like Bent finally leave, you are in for a big disappointment.
The hobby is now boring.

[andyh]

BB, a great post.

and when the manager starts bringing in his old lackies (SP) like Holt, you wonder how this is considered progressive ?   

[danlanza]

Excellent post BB.
Thanks to FFD for bringing to my attention.
Says it all in that post.

[Ads]

Before the Liverpool game, after I had parked up and heard the team, I thought to myself that we are well in with a chance here given the line up Rodgers had picked. We of course still had to play well and we did.

That is what I cannot understand, at all. We have some some very good away performances, at perhaps two of the hardest places to go in Stamford Bridge and Anfield. It ended up yielding only one point, when five more was the least we deserved. But the performances were excellent; pressing, decisive forward passing, stretching the opposition and looking pretty decent. Arsenal wasn't too bad either.

Everything about the way we play at home and have set up in other games away from home is deliberate. There is no such thing as luck. We're not hitting the percentage ball out of chance. I don't think anybody expects us to be able to continue with the Liverpool away form game in and game out. Most people think that a mid-table finish this season will do and that as with all mid-table sides, we will be in and out.

But why do we set up so deliberately, to play as poorly as we do, when we know that the manager can set us up to play infinitely better? At home we will have 15 minutes in every game where we look ok. It may be at the start or it may be when we are trying to fight our way back into a game, but by and large, that's all we get.

I really don't understand Lambert's logic here.