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

[brian green]

I am lucky enough to sit with a knowledgeable and level headed bunch of fans, male and female and the consensus of opinion on Saturday was that the overall quality of out squad cannot be fixed with £20 million.  Add a creative midfield a holding midfield buy a decent full back and keep the one good one we have on loan and you ought to be able to field a half decent starting eleven.  Problem is when injuries, illnesses and suspensions kick in you start to struggle.  The bare truth of our situation is that too many of our squad have not developed under Lambert and really are not premiership squad players, sad to say.

[The Left Side]

The worry is PL shows little signs of doing anything different each week, so how will we improve? After last season I thought we would be done with these poor performances or struggling just above the relegation zone. The PL experiment has not worked, yes we have reduced the big earners and more youth products are playing but this is not good enough for a club the size and stature of Aston Villa FC. 

[Ad@m]

Our situation is not good but anyone saying we're going to be lucky to stay up should get themselves down to the bookies and fill their boots.  Norwich and Sunderland have both got horrific run ins.  I can see Sunderland getting a maximum of 6 points out of their next six games.  That would still leave them 3 points behind us with a far worse goal difference with only two to play.  Norwich likewise would have to be very lucky to get more than 3 from their last 5.  In both cases the only realistic games they can win are against teams also below us in the league.

It's been a crap season again but talk of us going down in overly pessimistic.

[ez]

We have a worse squad than we did under McLeish and we are on course to end up with less points!

I would have thought If he gets less points or the same as McLeish then surely Lerner has no choice but to pull the trigger.

[Monty]

38 points, that's the target. We only got 41 - one win more - last season anyway.

[rob_bridge]

We have a worse squad than we did under McLeish and we are on course to end up with less points!

I would have thought If he gets less points or the same as McLeish then surely Lerner has no choice but to pull the trigger.

You would think that, Lerner couldn't possibly comment.

It would be a very low water mark but I suspect he would be retained

[Monty]

The absolute best, frankly, we could end with is 46, which would be an improvement of sorts. But does anyone think we'll win the four matches between now and the City-Spurs season enders?

[rob_bridge]

The absolute best, frankly, we could end with is 46, which would be an improvement of sorts. But does anyone think we'll win the four matches between now and the City-Spurs season enders?

Which season?

[Rudy Can't Fail]

Unless we go down my hunch is he will get the summer but we will need to show a marked upturn otherwise that will be his last transfer window.

I agree with you, Chris and it would demonstrate a knee jerk reaction from Lerner leaving us with a very limited pool to find a better manager, not that it's impossible but it hardly brings the much needed stability that so many seem to value. For me, the summer is the best time to find a replacement.

Additionally, I'd imagine Lambert (and his staff) will have signed a new contract(s) extension which would mean sacking him in next season a very expensive exercise.

[Steve67]

Any Manager worth anything should get to the 40 point mark. This is Aston Villa we are talking about, not some shit between my toes like Birminum.

[Monty]

The absolute best, frankly, we could end with is 46, which would be an improvement of sorts. But does anyone think we'll win the four matches between now and the City-Spurs season enders?

Which season?

I mean that those two games literally finish off our season.

[Chris Smith]

Unless we go down my hunch is he will get the summer but we will need to show a marked upturn otherwise that will be his last transfer window.

I agree with you, Chris and it would demonstrate a knee jerk reaction from Lerner leaving us with a very limited pool to find a better manager, not that it's impossible but it hardly brings the much needed stability that so many seem to value. For me, the summer is the best time to find a replacement.

Additionally, I'd imagine Lambert (and his staff) will have signed a new contract(s) extension which would mean sacking him in next season a very expensive exercise.

Sacking him will mean them tacitly admitting that they have got three successive appointments wrong. No organisation wants that.

[not3bad]

Anyone know the odds on Lambert getting sacked now?

[Ad@m]

Anyone know the odds on Lambert getting sacked now?

14/1

[mr underhill]

 only unsuccessful organisations duck tough decisions, which often means admitting you did get it wrong and having the  courage to say so and take corrective action. I  hate this line that he's got to stay otherwise someone's got to admit they got it wrong bollocks, or even worse, what's the alternative? The Board and the majority of fans thought that Lambert had the qualities to succeed - sadly we were  wrong.