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

[brian green]

That report said Randy's private plan flew in. So there really is a plan then.

[Legion]

Unfortunately, it's private.

[pauliewalnuts]

He want's to stick around apparently.

http://t.co/1HzX6jWLwI

TSM was talking about his plans for the following season straight after the Norwich game, too.

Lambert has got his faults - lots of them - and we have seen almost all of them at some point this season. He's the luckiest man in football to not have got the boot for the dreadful results and even worse football he has served up this season.

When you pile on that this situation where - on his watch - his coaching team were abusing and bullying people, as well as coaching the team to play long ball tactics, then you wonder what the fuck he has done to have managed to avoid carrying the can for this season and last.

However, sadly, I suspect his boss is even more clueless than he is, and unless Lerner finds a decent buyer, this financial regime will continue into next season. If that happens, my money is on us being relegated.

Lambert should go, but the continuation of the current owner and his financial policy is a much bigger issue that needs to be sorted out if things are to improve.

I just hope that this "addressing of the ownership situation" Lerner said he'd tackle in the summer doesn't mean announcing he's looking for a buyer, and actually means he's well on the way to signing a deal, because otherwise we face a summer with a chairman who won't invest, and has publicly admitted he's had enough, and a manager proven over two years to be not up to it, who will be lingering on waiting to see what happens with the ownership.

That is the absolute worst situation you could wish on a struggling football club over the summer.

How many of us doubt Randy's ability to plunge us into precisely that situation? I don't.

[Chris Smith]

My oblique criticism of Brad Guzan was not of his ability or his performance it was an indisputable observation that he kicks long too often. Now, he is either doing that from choice or because he has been told to. If it is the latter I consider him to be such a sound man and player I would have expected him to resist. If  there has been bullying in training Brad is the last one I would expect to be intimidated that is why, to me, the amount of long ball we have played is so puzzling.

If the defenders all push up and make no effort to evade the marking of the forwards, there's not much else Guzan can do.

I think it is also partly down to him. I think he lacks a bit of confidence in his own distribution so he often takes the safe, sensible option.

[Monty]

My oblique criticism of Brad Guzan was not of his ability or his performance it was an indisputable observation that he kicks long too often. Now, he is either doing that from choice or because he has been told to. If it is the latter I consider him to be such a sound man and player I would have expected him to resist. If  there has been bullying in training Brad is the last one I would expect to be intimidated that is why, to me, the amount of long ball we have played is so puzzling.

If the defenders all push up and make no effort to evade the marking of the forwards, there's not much else Guzan can do.

I think it is also partly down to him. I think he lacks a bit of confidence in his own distribution so he often takes the safe, sensible option.

I agree. All the players, including the goalkeeper, clearly lack that confidence in themselves and others to pass the ball too close to their own goal.

[PaulTheVillan]

Guzan kicks the ball long because he doesn't trust the defenders to not make a mistake. I don't blame him.

[PeterWithesShin]

Reading the article, I have a sneaky feeling he didn't passionately roar.

[brian green]

That is an excellent piece Paulie.  It brings to mind in America if you try to drive the wrong way on to the freeway there is a huge sign saying STOP YOU ARE GOING THE WRONG WAY. That is just how I feel about the weeks and months ahead.

[adrenachrome]

I wouldn't change my Aston Villa experience, says Paul Lambert

The claret and blues boss believes the struggles of the last two seasons will make him stronger

Apr 24, 2014 16:24 By Mat Kendrick



Paul Lambert insists he wouldn’t have changed his time so far at Aston Villa - despite admitting the club is still stuck in a “position of mediocrity.”

Lambert has acknowledged in recent weeks that the claret and blues’ annual relegation battle is not befitting a club of Villa’s status and heritage.

But he believes he will be stronger for the experience of trying to keep Villa in the Premier League on a limited budge during his first two seasons.

“The two years I’ve been here has been an incredible experience. Somebody asked me the other day, ‘Would I have changed the experience?’

“No, because it will make you stronger. The lads have always given us everything they’ve got. We’ve had our ups and downs but this football club has been in a position of mediocrity for four years, that’s the bottom line.

“It deserves to go a lot higher than what it is, but it needs investment that’s for sure to go and compete at the top end.

“The size of this football club with the fanbase it’s got. I never came here to sit like this. It’s been like this for the last three or four years.”

[silhillvilla]

He sounds to me like he's gone. The words he uses it sounds like he's off this summer.

[pauliewalnuts]

He sounds to me like he's gone. The words he uses it sounds like he's off this summer.

If you step back and look at the club as it is now, it's all a bit of a shambles, isn't it?

Nobody knows what is going on. These are usually the sort of surroundings which you associate with clubs which then get relegated.

I think nobody at the club can be proud to have led us to this situation. It really is a gigantic mess.

[silhillvilla]

Shambles is definitely the correct adjective here paulie

[pauliewalnuts]

Actually, tell you who it reminds me of, Newcastle.

This is the sort of mess you'd associate them with, a true comedy club.

[Jimbo]

He sounds to me like he's gone. The words he uses it sounds like he's off this summer.

If you step back and look at the club as it is now, it's all a bit of a shambles, isn't it?

Nobody knows what is going on. These are usually the sort of surroundings which you associate with clubs which then get relegated.

I think nobody at the club can be proud to have led us to this situation. It really is a gigantic mess.

Nice restaurant though. You've got to give them that.

[silhillvilla]

And we have a carbon neutral ground