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

[Dante Lavelli]

There's a bit of revisionism going on here.  You cannot say that what Lambert achieved at Norwich is not that impressive when it was that exact CV which people used as justification for his appointment.  Regardless of what has happened since I think his record at Norwich is very impressive.  I read he is the only manager to have achieved two consecutive promotions to the Premier League and the team not be relegated.

The other manager who got close is Graham Taylor who had the two promotions but watford were relegated after the first season.

[eastie]

There's a bit of revisionism going on here.  You cannot say that what Lambert achieved at Norwich is not that impressive when it was that exact CV which people used as justification for his appointment.  Regardless of what has happened since I think his record at Norwich is very impressive.  I read he is the only manager to have achieved two consecutive promotions to the Premier League and the team not be relegated.

The other manager who got close is Graham Taylor who had the two promotions but watford were relegated after the first season.

Weren't southampton promoted in successive seasons and now in the top half ?

[not3bad]

There's a bit of revisionism going on here.  You cannot say that what Lambert achieved at Norwich is not that impressive when it was that exact CV which people used as justification for his appointment.  Regardless of what has happened since I think his record at Norwich is very impressive.  I read he is the only manager to have achieved two consecutive promotions to the Premier League and the team not be relegated.

The other manager who got close is Graham Taylor who had the two promotions but watford were relegated after the first season.

Weren't southampton promoted in successive seasons and now in the top half ?

Yes but the manager of Southampton was sacked during the first season in the premier.

[pauliewalnuts]

Why do you think comparisons with Coyle et al are fair?

Because the several things he gets justified criticism for aren't enough for some people, they have to find other routes of attack.

I'm pretty sure at some point he'll emerge as a key participant in the Watergate scandal, the architect of the Vietnam War and leader of a German spy ring in WW2.

I'm as critical of Lambert as the next man, I'd rather have teeth pulled than watch the crap long ball nonsense he's served up this season, but fuck me, there isn't half a load of nonsense being talked about him of late.

Like what?

Well, like your Burley thing for a start. Or that nonsense list someone posted last week where all the players we'd paid relative buttons for were now worth not even buttons.

It's palpable bullshit.

[pauliewalnuts]

Why do you think comparisons with Coyle et al are fair?

Because the several things he gets justified criticism for aren't enough for some people, they have to find other routes of attack.

I agree. It's like some of the the posts about Nathan Baker last week. Not rating him and suggesting he shouldn't be in the team is fine but this in turn led to suggestions that his tackling could lead to breaking an opponents leg. It was just another unjustified comment to prove a point when 'I don't think he's good enough' was suffice.

Spot on.

[pauliewalnuts]

There's a bit of revisionism going on here.  You cannot say that what Lambert achieved at Norwich is not that impressive when it was that exact CV which people used as justification for his appointment.  Regardless of what has happened since I think his record at Norwich is very impressive.  I read he is the only manager to have achieved two consecutive promotions to the Premier League and the team not be relegated.

That is exactly, exactly it

Some people, seemingly not happy with the array of sticks with which - deservedly - to beat Lambert, are now reaching into revisionism and starting to use things we were touting as pros when he was first linked with us as reasons why he needs to go.

It really is pathetic.

I know we're all entitled to our opinion, and I agree with some of the people taking that line on a lot of things, but really, I just don't see why they feel the need to scrabble about desperately for every single thing they can twist to make him look even worse.

As if the football itself isn't bad enough. Why go out of your way to rewrite history and spin a turd out of every single thing?

[rob_bridge]

Lerner and Faulkner prior to his joining were like the Grand Old Duke of York when it come to hiring, not hiring and firing previous incumbents. The lack of thought process and  ineptness in selection of managers who were diametric opposites without thought to continuity left us in a dire position in summer 2012.

Lambert's record at Norwich was very impressive and as a result he along with the other bright things - Rogers and Martinez - were ones most of us were happy to be linked with, the OGS circus notwithstanding.

Subsequently middle table mediocrity with no flirtation with relegation with the odd cup run chucked in were probably what was expected over the next 2 seasons. I'm not sure he has met expectations thus far.

[olaftab]

It's palpable bullshit.

Surely palpable bullshit is known by another name?

[Monty]

His record was pretty good. You can't say it was 'very impressive', because that would imply having done a hell of a lot more by now than a few promotions - AVB's CV was 'very impressive' (and, incidentally, look how that turned out). However, there's no denying he had a good record, with successive promotions and that hilarious thing where he beats Norwich 7-0 with Colchester, goes to Norwich and beats Colchester 5-0. That indicated the size of the one-man turnaround. However, the Villa job was a big step up in terms of prestige, expectations and difficulty, and I'm very unsure that he's shown he can do it.

[Damo70]

Unless you count leading Academia to safety and qualifying for the Europa League with Spurs I would say AVB has had one 'very impressive' season in his career. The only season he has ever won anything. A Portuguese league and cup double along with a Europa League win is a hell of a season. But Porto will always stand a good chance of winning the first two. I think two promotions and a respectable Premier League campaign with Norwich over three years is equally if not more impressive in it's own way.

[Monty]

'Had' a very impressive record. Still in his thirties he'd gone a season unbeaten and won a European trophy. Not just won the league, won it without losing. It looks very impressive, and impressive at the top of the game rather than in the lower leagues where all sorts of managers can get away with tactical crudities which will get found out incredibly quickly at the top level.

[Ads]

I think you're looking at it the wrong way. People are suggesting that Lambert doesn't have a clue, which infers what we see at home is by chance. I disagree. I think the way he sets us up is very deliberate, which is why I find it all the more baffling.

[Rudy Can't Fail]

I really hope you're wrong, Ads.

[Monty]

I think you're looking at it the wrong way. People are suggesting that Lambert doesn't have a clue, which infers what we see at home is by chance. I disagree. I think the way he sets us up is very deliberate, which is why I find it all the more baffling.

I think if he really does it deliberately then he can't have a clue. I think it's between the two - he's not an idiot, he just can't adapt his natural tactical short-termism to a way of working which stamps a style on the team. I think he's very good at certain tactical set-ups, but his record at the more proactive stuff is really poor.

[Ads]

Think back to West Ham away at the start of last season and the way we set up, compared to the Newcastle away diamond used two games later, then to the 3-5-2 of Liverpool and the winter of discontent to the eventual 4-3-3 he hit upon towards the end of January.

I think he is almost wishing the season away, doing just enough to get through, likely in the knowledge that there are funds to spend and that he has kept his powder dry, to improve.

Its almost as if he doesn’t trust the midfield and has decided against working with what he has got and looks to bypass them and play to some obvious strengths.

The man has shown he has variety and subtly, particularly away from home, in the set up of the side and I can think of no other explanation as to why he still ploughs the same furrow at Villa Park.