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

[Deano's Mullet]

We are very good at losing to teams that are in a bad spell ie Newcastle, Fulham, Sheff Utd, last season, Tottenham this season, I am sure there are lots more but those are the ones that come to mind. We obviously need a win pretty badly but we seem incapable of beating a side that everybody else is trouncing as well. We are an easy touch for everybody else and yet cant seem to polish off those teams as equally shit as we are. And that's a big worry.

[PaulWinch again]

5 goals in 11 games is fucking pitiful.

[Deano's Mullet]

We only managed 12 in the last 14 last season - four of them in one game vs Norwich and 3 vs Hull. Its not a new scenario.

[supertom]

We only managed 12 in the last 14 last season - four of them in one game vs Norwich and 3 vs Hull. Its not a new scenario.

Nope. Aside for 3 months in his first season we've persistently struggled for goals under Lambert, whilst conceding them pretty freely.

The biggest worry is that 2014 has been as stinky a year of form as we've probably ever had. It's the sort of run where you need to just have a complete and utter turnaround to snap out of it. 4-5 wins on the spin, or a good unbeaten run. Wigan have done that in the past to survive. Palace did it last season when Pulis came in.

It's almost impossible that Lambert could pull that off and I think that's what he needs to do to keep us up, because this form, in every respect from goals, conceded, points, etc, is epidemic.

What we're most in need of is fresh ideas and a change in leadership. It's got to a point after 2 and a bit years of dreck under Lambert and an array of off field issues in addition, that he's no longer able to even suitably motivate his players. He's long passed having to go. BFR had to go when he did. SGT2 had to. O Leary most definitely had to go when he did.
Lambert has more than overstayed his welcome and the worry is he's now leading us down that inevitable path. A path O Leary would have taken us with one more year for example, or McLeish.

We need a change. We can't keep relying on 3 teams being shitter than us. Leicester have hit the skids for example but I really don't fancy playing them. They've been a bogey side for us in recent decades. And we've already lost to QPR.

[silhillvilla]

He has to ditch this narrow bollocks with immediate effect. Get gabby wide and either Weimann or Bent up top down the middle . I would play Charlie on the other wing cutting in or allow him to float in the number 10 role . Sanchez is developing quite nicely however the axis of Cleverley Westwood Sanchez is too negative and defensive, I would send cleverly back in January and allow Grealish to fill that hole.
The defence once they're all fit doesn't look too bad . Guzan is solid.
Sort the goals / creativity out and we will be okay.

[pbavfckuwait]

The problem with the Villa and is prominent since Lerners time, probably before, is the club has no set pattern or identity as to how we want to play.
I look at Swansea last night and see the fruits of a set board policy, no deviation and the club set up coaching and scouting wise to produce and identify the best players within their budget to make that system work regardless of who is in charge. I would also bet a large wedge on the fact that if we look back over the period Lerner has been here, the money we have spent is alot more than Swansea, but we have had no policy led from the top and are continually stumbling from one disaster to the next.

[supertom]

It worries me that our negativity and small ambition is seeping to the players. They all seem more than happy with the way they're playing lately, with QPR the only disappointment during our run.
Ron Vlaar insisted we've playing well enough to be winning games, but the truth is we haven't and we've got 1 point from our last 7 games and 1 goal.

This isn't good enough and it's time the manager and players respected that fact. We're not just a little off where we should be in terms of performance, points, standing. We're miles off. But this is deemed acceptable. The whole club is rotten and most of the squad need a new manager and a kick up the arse. We're breeding a squad that's satisfied with turning up on the pitch even if they lose comfortably.

[edgysatsuma89]

Ahhh Barnford Park. Memories.

[Clampy]

I do have a theory has to why he hasn't been sacked before now. He dosen't seem to have lost the dressing room. The players seem committed enough, you only have to look at the defending on Saturday to see that. I'm sure there's one or two players there who don't believe in what he's doing but overall they seem behind him. We're just not good enough.

[Ad@m]

I do have a theory has to why he hasn't been sacked before now. He dosen't seem to have lost the dressing room. The players seem committed enough, you only have to look at the defending on Saturday to see that. I'm sure there's one or two players there who don't believe in what he's doing but overall they seem behind him. We're just not good enough.

I'm convinced he planned that.

He ostracised all the seasoned professionals and replaced them, largely, with players from the lower leagues of the UK and abroad or out of the youth team. He gave them their chance in the big time so it's no wonder they feel a debt of gratitude to him.

He'd never have this loyalty if he'd stuck with the old hands.

[SamTheMouse]

I'm afraid Lambert's whole ethos is outdated. It's strange, because he came in as the young gun with continental experience and most people figured he was one for the future. Maybe the fact that his football is tired and ineffective is testament to the speed at which things change in football.

He's clearly looked at the team and decided that while attacking is all well and good, it results in you conceding a shedloads of goals. Whether this is because he doesn't have the right personnel or because he can't coach a team to attack and defend in the same 90 minutes, who knows. But now we have a mentality built around containment and nicking a goal here or there on the break.

Which might actually have been a sound policy in years gone by. But the fact is that barely a team in the top flight currently has any idea of how to defend properly. So if you don't press high up the pitch and put maximum pressure on your opponent's backline, you're immediately conceding the advantage to them. Imagine if we played Man Yoo right now. Presumably, we'd sit back rather than going at their unbelievably inept defence. And increase the chances of losing to the useless twats, as a result.

[cdward]

Toon army were calling for his head 6 games ago. And that was at games, not even the laptop warriors.

Are you ever going to drop this tedious nonsense? Ever?

Why don't you just argue your point instead of posting non-stop digs at other people? If you detest "laptop warriors" so much, what are you even doing here?

Don't (giga) bite, he comes on here all hard (drive), trying to RAM his opinions down our throats. 

We'll keep the lithium-ion flag flying high, coz quad core processors will never die...

[TheTimVilla]

Any chance of a response to the fact they were actually demanding his job at toon 6 games ago?

I don't know if it really deserves a response, but maybe you should just make the point you're trying to make rather than finishing almost every post with a dig at other people?

Maybe then people would engage with you more, but if this boring "laptop warriors" stuff goes on, you're going to get banned.

So why not just elaborate on your point and leave the digs to one side?

I agree with Fatty. ;o)

I seriously think he's run out of ideas now. The players aren't actually that bad, but he has them playing out of position (except Cleverley - not sure where he should play). I have never seen such a defensive 4-3-3 and I simply can't fathom why players such as Bacuna, Grealish, etc don't get a sniff. A half decent manager would turn this around, just with the fit players he has available.

[David_Nab]

I thought Lambert would come in with idea's he learned from Germany football , and yet his management and tactics seem to come more from working under MON at Celtic.We are now just the same as we were under MON expect with much less goals and more goals conceded.

We completely rolled over to the big teams in the last few games meanwhile the likes of QPR and Swansea have gone toe to toe with them and gotten points.

2cb's on the Bench one of which is coming back from an injury but no Grealish shows his mindset.Even Cole he brought in himself seems to be a pointless signing as we simply won't deviate from this messy 4-3-3- 4-5-1 formation he continues with.

[ozzjim]

At least plan A with MON included width. Indeed, with Kozak and Benteke up top, we would probably have scored more goals under MON that we actually did.

Houllier at least tried to play football. His departure was the blow for me, we had a chance then to really change and move forward. Alas here we are, with a clueless manager. A couple of brave coaching appointments like Meulensteen and or Steve Clark might have moved us forward too, but the truth is Lambert has systematically proved himself out of his league.

The worst thing for me is his inflexibility with selection or formation. It kills us playing the narrow 4-3-3 at home, yet it gets trotted out every time.