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

[pbavfckuwait]

Brian spot on, this is the biggest failure of Randy and Faulkner, the words of the ex-manager will be taken as gospel by those in the media, as the club will say nothing to dispel, problem with that it will effect the caliber of replacement.

[Chris Smith]

I think we have entered a phase when Lambert starts to play the victim in the saga.   He knows like MON and TSM before him that the owner and the board don't fight back and the line most likely to enable Lambert to stay in management somewhere near the top flight is "they would not back me."   The obsession with secrecy at the top at the club will allow that line to be spun unchallenged and the fans will be left hating their own club.

I am not so sure that it is a 'line' as a number of those players were previously linked and details reported. Why do people think it is far fetched that a manager would be trying to sign better players than the ones he already has?

[ozzjim]

I don't think it  is far fetched.  At the same time I think there are two sides to a coin and we don't know what discussions went on. We do know he has had 40 plus million to spend since coming so has not been given peanuts relatively speaking.

[eric woolban woolban]

I'm not going to agree totally we'll amble around the lower reaches of the league season after season.

It doesn't take much to reach tenth (next logical step up), all you need is a competent management team who can manage, coach and tactically be able to cope with what other teams have to offer.

[Chris Smith]

I don't think it  is far fetched.  At the same time I think there are two sides to a coin and we don't know what discussions went on. We do know he has had 40 plus million to spend since coming so has not been given peanuts relatively speaking.

£40m spread over how many players though? If it was just for a few upgrades that would be a lot of money, to spread thinly to rebuild an entire squad it is not a lot of money these days.

Of course no manager is able to get every single player he wants but if only half of them had been signed we would be much better placed to compete.

[Dave Clark Five]

One thing, I am not going next week but if you are, please don't boo during the game it is detrimental to the team. Surely you want them to stay up? Save it until after.

This.  All we need is three points - even if we go a goal behind keep behind the lads and get them over the line.  We have the players to get us the points.

Saving ourselves from relegation will be no credit to Lambert and his coaching staff. It is now just on the toss of a coin. Prepare for another volley at the fans if we do manage to win. He knows he is going and will have to get another dig in. If we are losing at half time, he will be a brave man to emerge from the tunnel for the second half.

[ozzjim]

I don't think it  is far fetched.  At the same time I think there are two sides to a coin and we don't know what discussions went on. We do know he has had 40 plus million to spend since coming so has not been given peanuts relatively speaking.

£40m spread over how many players though? If it was just for a few upgrades that would be a lot of money, to spread thinly to rebuild an entire squad it is not a lot of money these days.

Of course no manager is able to get every single player he wants but if only half of them had been signed we would be much better placed to compete.

Agreed but Lambert and press reports last summer indicated these are his players and his choice.  Was the budget he has had used well? First summer i would argue it was.  Last summer not at all. I think his bigger defence can be key players getting injured at really unlucky times.

[VillaAlways]

From the Birmingham Mail

Paul Lambert has appealed for the Villa Park faithful’s support after the away fans turned against him with angry chants of “We want Lambert out”.

Villa host Southampton on Saturday with pressure mounting on Lambert following Saturday’s 1-0 defeat at Crystal Palace – a fourth successive loss.

Many of the 2,500-strong travelling army took their anger out on the manager with loud chants of “You don’t know what you’re doing” and “We want Lambert out”.

But the under-fire boss has pleaded with fans to roar the claret and blues on as they target the three points needed to all but secure safety.

“They are vital, absolutely vital to this football club,” said Lambert.

“They need to roar us from now on in to get over that line. All I can do is my best and hope they like it.

“I understand in football you can be good one minute and not so good the next. That’s football and that’s the way it is.

“It is something that’s always there, it won’t go away that feeling for football fans. Since I have been here the Villa fans have been excellent with me.

“They have seen some results that never went for us and they still stuck with us.

“You have got to win that game next week. There are so many things that can happen between now and the end of the season.

"You can go up and teams can come down, but you just have to make sure that you get over that line yourselves. You have to worry about yourselves”.

[supertom]

I don't think it  is far fetched.  At the same time I think there are two sides to a coin and we don't know what discussions went on. We do know he has had 40 plus million to spend since coming so has not been given peanuts relatively speaking.

£40m spread over how many players though? If it was just for a few upgrades that would be a lot of money, to spread thinly to rebuild an entire squad it is not a lot of money these days.

Of course no manager is able to get every single player he wants but if only half of them had been signed we would be much better placed to compete.

Agreed but Lambert and press reports last summer indicated these are his players and his choice.  Was the budget he has had used well? First summer i would argue it was.  Last summer not at all. I think his bigger defence can be key players getting injured at really unlucky times.

The injury defence didn't help McLeish.

Agreed last summer's spending was poor. Why bring in a load of players like Luna, Tonev, and Helenius, and barely use them? Obviously as it transpired, Luna was proven to be well short of what's required at this level and the other two struggled to settle. However, we've got our own academy producing decent youngsters who could have saved us a few bob, and possibly settled faster than the above (add Sylla).

I don't think age is that much of an issue. Sterling has settled well at Liverpool and is only 18. Barkley at Everton is about the same age. Now they might debatably be better than what we're producing, but Liverpool are challenging for the title, Everton for top 4. For our level, which you'd hope was mid-table obscurity in terms of expecation from the board this year, I think we can produce players for that. We have a track record. I'd trade Sylla, Tonev, Helenius and Luna for one half decent player, and use our own youngsters to make up the numbers for the other 3.

[bob]

Injuries are a valid reason for lack of progress this season.

Three players Lambert has spent the most money on: Benteke, Kozak, Okore. That's about half of his total spend. Two of them were out for a season and the other struggled for form when he returned from injury.

I'm surprised people think it's a load of bollocks that he might have tried to sign other players and the deals couldn't be done. Seems very likely to me. Looks like he might have been trying to loan players like Barry and Lukaku, but we couldn't even muster an agreeable half-wage with their clubs.

There's not much difference in the quality of the bottom 12 teams in this league. We are spending an amount which puts us somewhere in this group of crap teams who are unlikely to win anything or make any progress. We have young players, many who are not good enough to play for a team in the top half of the Premier League. They are going to be inconsistent which is why after beating Chelsea we've lost four on the trot.

I'd like the manager to be able to galvanise his players to prevent such a run. It looks like they thought we were safe after beating Chelsea and going 1-0 up against Stoke and switched off for the summer. I think a lot of fans thought we were safe, too.

The home form has been pathetic too, something the manager should be doing something to improve, but even though it has been record-breakingly bad this season, it wasn't much better under McLeish, Houillier, or O'Neill relative to the money he had to spend.

We will get a few more points this season. We won't be relegated, and Lambert will still be our manager next season.

[rob_bridge]

I think we have entered a phase when Lambert starts to play the victim in the saga.   He knows like MON and TSM before him that the owner and the board don't fight back and the line most likely to enable Lambert to stay in management somewhere near the top flight is "they would not back me."   The obsession with secrecy at the top at the club will allow that line to be spun unchallenged and the fans will be left hating their own club.

Exactly - the article in Mail on Saturday was the #'...don't blame me..'

what really annoys me about him and McLeish is that they have done a very poor job of managing Villa, yet they both want to paint it in a positive light.

At least Graham Turner had the self respect to know he was outof his deplth and frankly crap at the top level and then had susequent employment at his 'natural' level

[villasjf]

Oh dear!!!!!

[curiousorange]

Does anybody else get annoyed when Lambert discusses footballing matters in the second person? "You've got to win the game next week", "you've got to look at who you can bring in"...

[bob]

I notice Liverpool's huddle has gone down pretty well, on the telly and the radio. I thought they were for small time teams.

So we should be doing them after the game?

/facepalm

[bob]

Does anybody else get annoyed when Lambert discusses footballing matters in the second person? "You've got to win the game next week", "you've got to look at who you can bring in"...

I can't say that I do, CO.

Sounds like you need a holiday. Not long to go until the season is over!