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

[Ads]

All we had to do was repeat the first half. We would have won the tie, I am certain of that. You cannot get mullered like Bradford were for 90 minutes and not get smashed 4 or 5. There is no way they would have had the energy to keep defending so deep. Why he panicked, I will never know.

[olaftab]

There is no defence for Lambert for  poor poor displays v Bradford, Millwall and Sheffield United.

[ez]

I'm not great at predicting results but I had a bad feeling about that second leg. People were predicting us thrashing them but i wasn't confident at all. Sadly i was right, for once.

[ChicagoLion]

He messed up that night alright, but these things happen. Bradford deserved it, we didn't. I've said I support Lambert a few times, and little has changed. I hope he improves this aspect of his management though, as he did it again the other day (possibly against Stoke? I can't remember). Good managers learn from their errors. He's at the early stages of his managerial career and I don't expect everything to be perfect straight away. I think he will improve it.

Yes there is only a few things he needs to improve on.
Player Selection
Team section
Motivation
Tactics
Playing Strategy
Coherence
Consistency
Because he is perfect at everything else

[bertlambshank]

He messed up that night alright, but these things happen. Bradford deserved it, we didn't. I've said I support Lambert a few times, and little has changed. I hope he improves this aspect of his management though, as he did it again the other day (possibly against Stoke? I can't remember). Good managers learn from their errors. He's at the early stages of his managerial career and I don't expect everything to be perfect straight away. I think he will improve it.

He is not a good manager,average at best.

[Tom_Mc9?]

Yes there is only a few things he needs to improve on.
Player Selection
Team section
Motivation
Tactics
Playing Strategy
Coherence
Consistency
Because he is perfect at everything else

How does the way he speaks matter? I'm sure all us Villa fans have wonderful accents and it affects all of our jobs. I never said he was perfect, either. Not perfect doesn't mean sack him.

[Toronto Villa]

The coherence argument really is bollocks. I'm guessing when we did Chelsea a couple of weeks back with a near perfect gameplan they understood him perfectly and then against Stoke the players didn't have a clue what he was saying. It really is a stupid stick to beat him with.

[pauliewalnuts]

All we had to do was repeat the first half. We would have won the tie, I am certain of that. You cannot get mullered like Bradford were for 90 minutes and not get smashed 4 or 5. There is no way they would have had the energy to keep defending so deep. Why he panicked, I will never know.

That's exactly what I meant.

It's easy to forget, but that first half was truly like men against boys, there was such a clear, huge quality gap.

[dave.woodhall]

All we had to do was repeat the first half. We would have won the tie, I am certain of that. You cannot get mullered like Bradford were for 90 minutes and not get smashed 4 or 5. There is no way they would have had the energy to keep defending so deep. Why he panicked, I will never know.

That's exactly what I meant.

It's easy to forget, but that first half was truly like men against boys, there was such a clear, huge quality gap.

We should have been three up before they touched the ball in the first leg as well.

[pauliewalnuts]

Yes there is only a few things he needs to improve on.
Player Selection
Team section
Motivation
Tactics
Playing Strategy
Coherence
Consistency
Because he is perfect at everything else

How does the way he speaks matter? I'm sure all us Villa fans have wonderful accents and it affects all of our jobs. I never said he was perfect, either. Not perfect doesn't mean sack him.

I'd imagine he means how he communicates his ideas to the team rather than what he tells the media.

It does make you wonder if he's struggling - and I am not suggesting for a nanosecond it's because he's got a Scottish accent, that really is bollocks - to get his ideas across to the team properly, to get them to understand what he wants them to do.

As mentioned above, against Chelsea, they executed it perfectly. Then against Stoke, we get bummed 4-1 at home, followed by a similar loss at Old Trafford. There have been loads of times this season when we've looked unsure as to what we're actually meant to be doing.

It's an important part of management, vital. When we fail to look convincing so frequently, you wonder to which level it is the fault of the players or of the manager. Or both.

[SoccerHQ]

All we had to do was repeat the first half. We would have won the tie, I am certain of that. You cannot get mullered like Bradford were for 90 minutes and not get smashed 4 or 5. There is no way they would have had the energy to keep defending so deep. Why he panicked, I will never know.

Didn't Bradford hit the bar soon after their equaliser. Given we were conceding everytime we conceded a corner around that period aswell I imagine he just wanted the ball as far away from our box as possible. United in their late comebacks under Fergie always used to have 4 forwards on at the end so it's not something I'd pin on Lambert.

But yes Bradford was an embarrassment and a sackable offence to me. 1 off cup match is bad enough but two legs ffs.

[SoccerHQ]

Yes there is only a few things he needs to improve on.
Player Selection
Team section
Motivation
Tactics
Playing Strategy
Coherence
Consistency
Because he is perfect at everything else

How does the way he speaks matter? I'm sure all us Villa fans have wonderful accents and it affects all of our jobs. I never said he was perfect, either. Not perfect doesn't mean sack him.

I'd imagine he means how he communicates his ideas to the team rather than what he tells the media.

It does make you wonder if he's struggling - and I am not suggesting for a nanosecond it's because he's got a Scottish accent, that really is bollocks - to get his ideas across to the team properly, to get them to understand what he wants them to do.

As mentioned above, against Chelsea, they executed it perfectly. Then against Stoke, we get bummed 4-1 at home, followed by a similar loss at Old Trafford. There have been loads of times this season when we've looked unsure as to what we're actually meant to be doing.

It's an important part of management, vital. When we fail to look convincing so frequently, you wonder to which level it is the fault of the players or of the manager. Or both.

Clearly the plan is laid out in training during the week (not that I'm convinced we do much tactical work during  training!) but I'm not really sure how hands on Lambert is during a normal week of training or if the likes of Karsa or Culverhouse take the sessions and are the ones communicating with the players.

[Jon Crofts]

Doncaster was a horrible night, as others have said we were lucky to only lose 3-0 and we were garbage all over the park, to make matters worse we had to endure O'Dreary on TV at the end being interviewed with a cup of tea in his hand looking like he'd been interrupted doing the gardening at home such was his indifference at what had just happened.

The away leg at Bradford was another horrible night but anyone would fancy Villa over 2 legs even with a 2 goal deficit right?  Wrong.  First half at home how we weren't 5 up I don't know, second half Lambert panicked pure and simple, if we'd have struck at it we'd have won by 3 or 4.  Thing is I'm not sure lessons like that have really been learnt.

[b23]

Has he gone yet ?

[pauliewalnuts]

Doncaster was a horrible night, as others have said we were lucky to only lose 3-0 and we were garbage all over the park, to make matters worse we had to endure O'Dreary on TV at the end being interviewed with a cup of tea in his hand looking like he'd been interrupted doing the gardening at home such was his indifference at what had just happened.

The away leg at Bradford was another horrible night but anyone would fancy Villa over 2 legs even with a 2 goal deficit right?  Wrong.  First half at home how we weren't 5 up I don't know, second half Lambert panicked pure and simple, if we'd have struck at it we'd have won by 3 or 4.  Thing is I'm not sure lessons like that have really been learnt.

Bradford was bad because it was in a similar time frame as Milwall and Sheffield United.

When we equalised against Sheffield United with 15 minutes left, I immediately stuck some money on us to lose, it was so obvious what was then going to happen.

What makes these awful cup results more unfathomable is that we went to both Norwich and Man City in the LC and won, scoring 4 times in each.

That's not just the usual inconsistency of an average team. That's nuts.