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

[aj2k77]

The floaty-corners were requested by the Beast.

Pity they are rarely accurate then

Didn't he score one against Norwich?

Not really, it was one of the few that Westwood has whipped into the six yard box. Making it even more strange that we persist with them - a change and we score.

I remember the floaty corners working against Sunderland and Reading last season, but not too many others.

They strike me as utterly useless.

I understand the idea that if midget ears wants them, he gets them, but I don't know why he wants them.

They just don't seem to work. Like you said, the Norwich one was whipped in, and Benteke meeting something like that with pace is lethal. Those floaty ones just look wasted.

Shouldn't the manager in situation like this when it's obviously not working pull rank and make a change.

[rob_bridge]

Don't understand the Lerner bashing when it comes to spending money. Even Lambert has had what £45m or so in transfers.

The cumulative wages splurged by MON, Houllier and TSM was (is) the real problem

[Dante Lavelli]

deleted - quote omnishambles.

[Dante Lavelli]

What I find most annoying about Lambert is the constant resort to the long ball anytime things aren't going well. It was totally frustrating to see us hoof the ball up the pitch when every Stoke player seemed to be at least 6ft 5. It was food and drink for them, and quite pathetic from us.

I don't think that is by instruction though, at Least not by Lambert.  I feel the hoofball is more a symptom of having a young and mentally fragile team i.e. it's is the easier option than trying to pass the ball (to often hiding players). 

I think it is 100% instruction from Lambert. It happens far too frequently for it to be anything else. He may well tell the young and fragile to hoof it if there aren't any options, far better than being caught and dispossessed a la Clark on the half way line but the frequency of Guzan hoofing it is probably the most distinctive feature of Lambert's tactics this season.

The question I hope Lambert is asking himself is how he can reverse that.  The simplest solution is to buy experience however with limited funds the experience may not come with adequate footballing quality to improve the team.  Anotherr option, if you believe what Team SKY (and others) have said, is that this confidence and mental toughness can be acquired through the use of good sports psychologists.  I'd like to think that this can be explored as the team and individually the players have shown flashes of brilliance.

I heard at the weekend the players have been training on the Villa Park pitch before home games which I thought was a great idea, despite what the groundsman may think. The more comfortable they are at home the better. Every avenue should be explored to see if it helps the players but in the end only one man is responsible and can decide how we play. A bit of coaching might help too.

I would hope that the training pitches is the exact same size as VP (and another changed to mimic any away matches) or is that a bit too revolutionary?  I don't know.

Regardless using Villa Park is a good idea as I remember Terry Henry saying after the move from Highbury that the new stadium was harder to play at.  He said that sub-consciously he recognised parts of Highbury and therefore knew where he was on the pitch and what pace he's need to put on the ball etc whereas in the new ground everything was more foreign. 

It's a small alteration to the normal but I'm pleased that Lambert is trying different things.

[Dante Lavelli]

If we were comfortably mid table I'd agree, but if Sunderland win one of their games in hand, we're only 6 points off the bottom three. Also, we're only one point ahead of Hull who have not had the money, resources etc of our so called project.

Picking hairs I know but Hull have spent a fair chunk recently: 
Long £7.5m, Jelavic 7m, The Hud £5m, Elmohady £2m, Davies £2.5 have all been signed in the last two windows.

Whilst they're building off a championship squad (so needed to sign good players) they're crucially not hamstrung from high wages from previous managers.  Wages have been our problem for a number of years and hopefully finally this 'excuse' is being washed out of the club.

[gsbrn68]

if Hull are buying players on affordable wages then surely we can compete with them
I would have Long, Huddlestone and Davies in our team at the minute so why weren't we competing for these players, the only answer can be that the manager doesn't rate them but he does rate Holt, Elahmadi/Sylla and Baker as better players

[Dave]

Not really.

It's not a question of whether Baker is better than Davies or whether Holt is better than Long. It's a case of are they sufficiently better to warrant spending £3m on one and £7m on the other one. I'd say in Davies' case yes, in Long's case no.

If Lambert had spend a combined £10m on those two there would have been absolute uproar on here.

[eastie]

Not really.

It's not a question of whether Baker is better than Davies or whether Holt is better than Long. It's a case of are they sufficiently better to warrant spending £3m on one and £7m on the other one. I'd say in Davies' case yes, in Long's case no.

If Lambert had spend a combined £10m on those two there would have been absolute uproar on here.

I think huddlestone would have been a great signing for us .

[gsbrn68]

I don't think there would be uproar if we spent £10 million on Long or Davies as they are proven premier league players

where as we spent approx. £10 million on Kozak, Helenius & Tonev of which 2 of those cannot even get on the bench in front of Holt

In over 40 years of season tickets at Villa I never thought I would be casting envious glances at the spending power of Hull City

[Brend'Watkins]

Assuming Moyes gets the boot after the inevitable hammering that Bayern will give Utd would we like him to replace Lambert should Lerner act swiftly in the summer?

I'd prefer Moyes.

 

[not3bad]

Didn't we have the Moyes discussion a couple of pages back?  The overriding opinion was that Moyes was damaged goods.  Of course that was following the Chelsea match. We've lost a game since then.

But for the record I don't think Moyes would do any better working under the same conditions, and the football certainly wouldn't be any more adventurous.

[Dave]

I think huddlestone would have been a great signing for us .

Certainly more-so than Long would. I'd just be concerned about how immobile a midfield of Huddlestone and Westwood would be.

I don't think there would be uproar if we spent £10 million on Long or Davies as they are proven premier league players

Shane Long has never scored more than eight goals in a Premier League season. We already have Gabby and Weimann to score that many and they didn't cost £7m. Shane Long is about as proven as Grant Holt is

I'm quite happy for Lambert to go and spend £7m on somebody much better than Shane Long (as he did with Benteke and in my opinion, Kozak).

[eastie]

Assuming Moyes gets the boot after the inevitable hammering that Bayern will give Utd would we like him to replace Lambert should Lerner act swiftly in the summer?

I'd prefer Moyes.

 

I'd prefer Moyes too - not sure he'd be damaged goods , just put it down to experience and move on , but there's a lot to happen before such a situation may or may develop.

Certainly if we did find ourselves looking for a manager and moyes was out of work I'd expect he would be front runner, although maybe randy would be better casting his eyes to the continent rather than going for Moyes.

[Monty]

Moyes is Lambert without the attacking bias. Look at them both: their best points are finding good players for low-to-middling fees, creating a hardworking bubble mentality around a young team and counterattacking tactics which can help galvanise the side against the bigger teams; worse points include a lack of modernity in their tactical approach, over-reliance on the physical stuff and a certain prickliness which doesn't serve them well in tough situations. They're also both tough-minded, which can also manifest itself in stubbornness.

However, Lambert is by instinct an attacking manager, and Moyes by instinct is negative. Lambert's inclination is perhaps towards the self-aggrandising and hubristic, whereas Moyes looks increasingly cowed, small-time, parochial and defensive (both in football terms and in his don't-blame-me approach which has been the norm until last night). Moyes is much more competent at delivering his stuff than Lambert, but Lambert fails by not knowing how to deliver his own glorious ideal, with presumably unsophisticated training and so forth. When Lambert fails, you kind of feel sorry for him - when Moyes fails, you feel he deserves it.

[eastie]

I think huddlestone would have been a great signing for us .

Certainly more-so than Long would. I'd just be concerned about how immobile a midfield of Huddlestone and Westwood would be.

I don't think there would be uproar if we spent £10 million on Long or Davies as they are proven premier league players

Shane Long has never scored more than eight goals in a Premier League season. We already have Gabby and Weimann to score that many and they didn't cost £7m. Shane Long is about as proven as Grant Holt is

I'm quite happy for Lambert to go and spend £7m on somebody much better than Shane Long (as he did with Benteke and in my opinion, Kozak).

The only worry for me with huddlestone is his injury record , I think along with Delph and Westwood he would have been fine.