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

[Lee]

I'd trust Lambert to sign good players, he's proven he can do that.

But I have no confidence whatsoever in his ability to coach the team tactically. There have been good performances, mainly hidden in amongst the dire ones. But you get the impression that when good things happen, Lambert has very little to do with it.

I agree with that, Sam. We've had a few clueless managers over the years but Lambert must top the list. Imagine his face if you were to tell him that you can play counter attacking football AND pass the ball. For him it's either one extreme or the other. What we're now seeing is an approach where he doesn't have the personnel to play that way, he puts players in positions that don't suit their strengths and we wonder why we're struggling to score goals.

He may say "everybody knows how things are here" but every manager up and down the country, across the world, have to work with the players and budget he has. This is his team, his squad and what we're seeing is the result of his vision. Nothing could now convince me Lambert can turn it around and build something sustainable at Villa Park. He's clearly demonstrated over the last two and a half years he has no faith in his own ability, nevermind the players'. When you can't even get the basics right, it's time to move on and give somebody else a chance.

Listened to his interview on the radio yesterday, and I nearly crashed my car shouting at it after the comments he made about changing the style to negate the chance that we won't get counter-attacked. So now we seem to have completely disregarded that variance in play is what the game is about, and his job is to create a team that effect this at the appropriate times during the game

What f**king planet does this bloke live on?

[Chris Smith]

If we look at it objectively we don't concede many goals so have made ourselves difficult to beat. Unfortunately that appears to be at the expense of any real potency at the other end, resulting in the sort of dull offerings we have been served up recently. I am as frustrated by it all as the rest of you but isn't new, we have struggled for years at home against teams who defend deep and in numbers it just gets magnified due to circumstances.

Even the most one-eyed amongst us must realise that the chances of any change before the end of the season are virtually non-existent. Given that Lambert is going to be here at least until then we just have to hope he can keep our better players fit and bring in a couple of others who can add that extra flair and bring back some enjoyment.

[silhillvilla]

We need another 18 points So 5 x 1-0 wins and 3 0-0's and were safe .

[olaftab]

This situation you describe Chris can be improved by buying better players however the questions are  do we think  our owners are willing to make that investment and should we trust  Lambert to be the man for that task?

[Villa in Denmark]

One thing that does jump out at me from that interview Sky reported, other than the meaningless platitudes from St Paul the Goalless, is that they have actually begun to point out the statistical shiteness of his record at the moment.

Unbelieable

http://www1.skysports.com/football/news/11677/9632392/fa-cup-aston-villa-manager-paul-lambert-surprised-by-boo-boys-during-win-over-blackpool

Villa have scored just twice in six games and have won only three of their last 17 outings, but Lambert said he did not understand the chants minutes before the Belgium international's late strike,

[nick harper]

We need another 18 points So 5 x 1-0 wins and 3 0-0's and were safe .

My mate is a big Stoke fan and he said when Pulis first came he adopted the football equivalent of the binary approach to stabilise a team that was heading through the leagues at the time. They specialised in 1-0, 0-1, 1-1 and 0-0 throughout the season which was eye wateringly boring but steadied them and ultimately set them on the road to the Premier League. Lambert's clearly on the same path - unfortunately 2.5 years in.

[joe_c]

I think he is bordering on fickle moments. It can only get worse from here unless he wins 2-3 of the next 4-5 games.

I like the fact that he is having a moan in the media for the first time. It shows that he's maybe starting to feel the pressure.

That can only be a good thing because, quite clearly, no matter what number of records for shitness he smashes, his employer clearly does not give one tenth of one shit. Someone has to give him a hard time, it might as well be us.

If you look at what has happened since he has been here, he has a record which, anywhere else, would have got him sacked four or five times by now. Not only that, but at the end of his first season, in which we were largely fucking awful, he had almost total support from the fanbase. It was remarkable.

if people are starting to chant about him now, what he should really do is not get the hump about it, but sit and reflect that it is truly remarkable the fans have put up with the shit that he has served us up for two and a half years before getting anywhere near this point.

That fickle thing is just bollocks. There are not many clubs where a manager woudl get anything like the support Lambert has had. It was the same with McLeish, things were awful for ages before the fans turned on him. In fact, McLeish actually got more time than Houllier did.

Still, the media won't bother even thinking about that.

I think this is very accurate. Having a pop at the fans rarely ends well and I think one of the reasons he still has the support of a substantial section of the fanbase is the manner in which he has conducted himself, he has always spoken of the club and the fans and the players well regardless of the results and performances.

Let's not forget the chanting didn't appear until the last ten minutes too, it's not as if it was constantly raining down on the players he's keen to protect. He'd perhaps have been better off saying that the fans can boo him all they like if it results in a goal because, hell, that's exactly what happened. He'd look more like a manager taking things in his stride and less like David O'Tattsyrup looking for a scapegoat for their own inadequacies.

[Chris Smith]

This situation you describe Chris can be improved by buying better players however the questions are  do we think  our owners are willing to make that investment and should we trust  Lambert to be the man for that task?

I think the one thing most will agree on is that Lambert has an eye for a player so if given money I think there is a better than even chance it will be spent well. Whether Lerner is willing to spend is much less certain.

[kippaxvilla2]

I think he is bordering on fickle moments. It can only get worse from here unless he wins 2-3 of the next 4-5 games.

I like the fact that he is having a moan in the media for the first time. It shows that he's maybe starting to feel the pressure.

That can only be a good thing because, quite clearly, no matter what number of records for shitness he smashes, his employer clearly does not give one tenth of one shit. Someone has to give him a hard time, it might as well be us.

If you look at what has happened since he has been here, he has a record which, anywhere else, would have got him sacked four or five times by now. Not only that, but at the end of his first season, in which we were largely fucking awful, he had almost total support from the fanbase. It was remarkable.

if people are starting to chant about him now, what he should really do is not get the hump about it, but sit and reflect that it is truly remarkable the fans have put up with the shit that he has served us up for two and a half years before getting anywhere near this point.

That fickle thing is just bollocks. There are not many clubs where a manager woudl get anything like the support Lambert has had. It was the same with McLeish, things were awful for ages before the fans turned on him. In fact, McLeish actually got more time than Houllier did.

Still, the media won't bother even thinking about that.

I started to see the first signs that the media maybe looking our way yesterday.  Chapman said last night that the fans are bored.  Soccer Saturday were saying similar, sky sports news were pressing him on how he felt about the booing.  Hopefully it will gather momentum in the next couple of weeks.  I know that sounds as if I want him to fail but honestly I just cannot see him being capable of turning us around.

[Ads]

He'll get a really good result next week and the pressure will be off. We then won't repeat the good work for a while.

[LeeB]

He'll get a really good result next week and the pressure will be off. We then won't repeat the good work for a while.

Ad infinitum.

[frankmosswasmyuncle]

None of want him to fail kippax. As we didn't with McLeish - as manager of our club we would dearly love him to be successful, but the reality is that his various plans and approaches - tactics? - have not really shown any signs if progress.
The media have been slow in cottoning on to the stuff we are experiencing every week and that the buck lies with the manager of the last two and a half seasons and not "impatient" fans.
Like you, I just can't see that simply giving him more time will change anything. He is the bit that needs changing.

[ozzjim]

The article in the mail from Evans has annoyed me. Basically the football is rubbish but the players are doing as they are told, the manager is not going anywhere so don't bother going down and showing your displeasure as it is not helping. Don't like his style of writing at all to be honest.

Benteke is bailing Lambert out at the moment.

[olaftab]

Lambert bought Benteke, looked after him through his inhjuries and gave him a pay rise so the least Benteke can do is do his job and that is scoring goals.

[supertom]

Lambert bought Benteke, looked after him through his inhjuries and gave him a pay rise so the least Benteke can do is do his job and that is scoring goals.

If he wants a move then it benefits him to play as well as possible and indeed will benefit us if it keeps us slipping back too close to the drop zone. We'll worry about his replacement if/when we need to.