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

[Villa in Denmark]

All things considered, that's as depressing an article about the Villa as I've read. And we've been depressing over the years.

The most astonishing thing was, as ViD said, he appears to have given up on the Chelsea match and 'spoken to the lads', who 'agree'. You can only hope this is an attempt to take the pressure off for tomorrow, but it's hardly the words of a man who'll inspire confidence in a flailing, drowning team. Perhaps his attitude, which does appear quite flippant and sulky, has something to do with the complete lack of pressure from above.

Or he's just completely given up.

More and more he resembles someone I used to work with who had decided he was going to take early retirement about 18 months before he actually left.

He then spent 18 months fobbing off every job he could to everyone else, and those he did carry out were done to the most basic of standards, whilst all the while wheeling out a never ending stream of ever thinner excuses to our boss doing just enough to get to his exit date without getting the bullet.

[silhillvilla]

This is frankly astonishing:

"Villa’s league record since that contract was signed reads: Played 19, won 2, drawn 6, lost 11, scored 7, conceded 29"

2 wins in half a season is a bit scary really.

7 goals in half a season I find scarier.

[andyh]

It's so bad that it's very nearly unbelievable.

[frankmosswasmyuncle]

It's so bad that it's very nearly unbelievable.

This.

I think if you presented that to the supporters of almost any club, they wouldn't believe it.
Such is life at Villa these days.
He needs to go.
Desperately!

[Jimbo]

That's one of the best articles I've read about the current clusterfuck at Villa. Stunning ineptitude at every level, with shit trickling down from above like a latrine at the summit of Everest. If Lambert has already written off the Chelsea game, why should any Villa fan bother going?

[KevinGage]

Think it was Brian who said a while back that the players were probably just as perplexed as we were when he was given that contract extension.

It's not as if we were fighting off interest from a whole host of admirers for his services now, was it.

A mind-boggling decision to give him that long, which looks like it will top the McLeish appointment for sheer fuckwittedry.

Now that takes some doing.

[frankmosswasmyuncle]

It strikes me now and then about how we seem to have all the good things in place, but...

The owner is back on track and "having fun", the newly appointed CEO is deliriously happy and spouting his and the owner's 5 year plan for world domination, the manager is integral to these plans and has just been given a 4 year contract, and the best player in the club has just signed a contract for the next 4 & a half years! On paper it's fu**ing brilliant!

In reality, what we see and experience is shit!
Or is it?

Answers, on a post card please, to:

Pissed off/Shitscared/Depresssed Villa Fan,
B6.   

[john e]

For all the piss taking of Tim Sherwood on this thread he picked up 42 pts from 22 games. A far better record than anything Lambert will ever achieve, another manager like Fat Sam and Pardew who despite the piss taking, results show they are much better than what we have.

Sherwood took over a team which had £110 million spent on them earlier that season and had bedded in. He also knew the players. Parachuting in a new manager with no money to spend and no ability to bring in new players is completely different.

I'm not saying employ him here, just that he's much better than Lambert.

you cant really say that though can you, he might be but you dont actually know that after 5 minutes in football management

It's not a bad record though is it. For years some of the managers have been slated on here and we'd kill to go on a run that their teams have.

it was pretty good while it lasted, but I think you will find Lambert had an impressive record before he came to Villa, with actual promotions and stuff

and look how that turned out

[Steve67]

He's a fucking crap Manager and should be sacked, removed from our history, or, perhaps offered up as an example of anti-management, how NOT to do it. Completely crap and Fox, Mr I read every fucking email and soppy bollocks Lerner should have some fucking pride in their work.

[ciggiesnbeer]

Stuart James on the manager:

http://www.theguardian.com/football/2015/feb/05/aston-villa-paul-lambert

I really dislike Stuart James but you can't argue with facts. The Martinez/Mick McCarthy comparisons (both of whom inevitably got their clubs relegated but also had significantly less cash to spend than Lambert) are shocking.

We ended up with the new Owen Coyle, the latest "up and coming" British manager who got found out. Sadly in our case its Villa that will suffer.

[pauliewalnuts]

The last few seasons we have had people on here at about this time, saying we were as good as relegated, and it struck me as massively over the top.

Not this season, though. Look at our abysmal record and where the momentum is pointing.

If this dud stays in charge till the end of the season, we are done for.

You just can not maintain the record we have since that new contract for very long and hope to stay up.

We are going down, and the morons running us will absolutely deserve it. The suggestion in that article that Lambert is under no pressure is truly horrifying. Mostly because it is absolutely believable. These people are absolutely beyond redemption.

[Damo70]

We need five wins to be certain of being safe I reckon.  The three that drop look likely to have very low points totals, maybe 35 or less and even that means the bottom three doubling their current points. If we can't get five wins from Hull, Stoke, Newcastle, Albion, Sunderland, Swansea, Qpr, Everton and Burnley and get nothing at all from Chelsea, United, Spurs, West Ham and Southampton we deserve to go down. This annual battle is wearing me down so, despite the money they earn, it must have taken a lot out of the players (most of whom have been involved in all or most) and manager. In fact the manger probably needs putting out of his misery as much, if not more, than us.

[villadelph]

Stuart James ripped lambert apart in the guardian.

[mark west]

The last few seasons we have had people on here at about this time, saying we were as good as relegated, and it struck me as massively over the top.

Not this season, though. Look at our abysmal record and where the momentum is pointing.

If this dud stays in charge till the end of the season, we are done for.

You just can not maintain the record we have since that new contract for very long and hope to stay up.

We are going down, and the morons running us will absolutely deserve it. The suggestion in that article that Lambert is under no pressure is truly horrifying. Mostly because it is absolutely believable. These people are absolutely beyond redemption.

You finally got the message cuz it didn't look like it was sinking in.

[nodge]

Stuart James on the manager:

http://www.theguardian.com/football/2015/feb/05/aston-villa-paul-lambert

Is it just me or does this sound like he's already written the game off?

“But our season won’t be defined by Arsenal [the 0-5 loss last Sunday] and Chelsea. It will be after that we have to get wins. I know we can do it. I’ve spoke to the lads, they believe they can do it.”

You could look at that quote and say nobody really expects much from those two games.  Apart from the fact that those two corresponding fixtures last season did define our season. We took 6 points without which we'd have ended up on 32 points and relegated I believe.  It's a good job the players didn't give up last year but watching the Arsenal game it looks like they have this year, just like the manager.