Aston Villa v Stoke City post match thread

[PaulWinch again]

Lambert's response of 'I expect I'll get blamed for that' would explain why we have such a petulant side. We were pathetic and had no character today.

Yet expecting him to take the blame for 5 and a half years when he wasn't here is fine? It was shit today - but that record isn't all, or even mostly, his. In fact, half of it is with a manager who gave us more 'success' than we'd see n in a long time.

Well of course not, but who's blaming Lambert for our record before he arrived? I don't think anyone is.

The question itself does. The fact that some consiider him refusing to accept the blame for stuff that happened years before he got here is 'petuleant' does. The fact that part of this record occurred whilst we were heading for 3 6th place finishes & a league cup final & an FA cup semi final shows that this stuff means f all anyway.

Again who is blaming him for our home form over the last 5 years or so? I don't think anyone is. If you want to raise questions about our home record since he arrived then that's a different matter, because it's been atrocious.

[Tom_Mc9?]

Bad day at the office. Never mind, we'll play better soon enough.

[amfy]

Lambert's response of 'I expect I'll get blamed for that' would explain why we have such a petulant side. We were pathetic and had no character today.

Yet expecting him to take the blame for 5 and a half years when he wasn't here is fine? It was shit today - but that record isn't all, or even mostly, his. In fact, half of it is with a manager who gave us more 'success' than we'd see n in a long time.

Well of course not, but who's blaming Lambert for our record before he arrived? I don't think anyone is.

The question itself does. The fact that some consiider him refusing to accept the blame for stuff that happened years before he got here is 'petuleant' does. The fact that part of this record occurred whilst we were heading for 3 6th place finishes & a league cup final & an FA cup semi final shows that this stuff means f all anyway.

Again who is blaming him for our home form over the last 5 years or so? I don't think anyone is. If you want to raise questions about our home record since he arrived then that's a different matter, because it's been atrocious.

That's what I am saying - why ask him about 7 years of home form? The relative 'success' during that time show that such stats are meaningless. Why not ask him about the home form under his management? Then judge whether his responses are 'petulant'.

Our home form has been awful, even some of the wins have been hard to watch. Why not ask him about that rather than a set of result s that happened when more when Martin O'Neil was here than him? - which clearly show what a pointless argument this is.

I said this morning that I'd stick by him following what I fully expected to be another Stoke debacle, and I do, but that doesn't mean I just accept today.

[David_Nab]

The biggest thing that annoys me about games like today is these guys will pick up anywhere between £10 and £50k for this 'performance'.  Did anyone see how pathetic Bacunas 'challenge' was for their last goal.  I mean come one, £10-20k for that shit?

That was Bacuna's worst game today, he was woeful.

Yep terrible and he just gave up as well.

That challenge was unacceptable in all honesty and really he should be benched for it , but seeing as Lowton has been awful at RB too I imagine he will keep his place.

We can complete against footballing sides but teams like Stoke we just are not physically strong enough its been a problem for 18 months.Also we have a poor squad take out the first 11 and whats left is not near good enough.Holt was a waste of time coming on and in al honesty his signing has turned out as many suspected , an utter waste of time.Albrighton tried his best but with Bacuna so awful he has no back up when he went down the wing.

Luna ,Tonev and Helanuis can't get on bench at all and shows for the most part the summer signings have not really produced hence why we really haven't picked up from last season.

The real shame today is Delph and Benteke both tried their best but were surrounded by utter shite , even Vlaar was all over the place.

This team simply under performs when placed in a position as favourites in a match and it needs to be addressed.

[PeterWithesShin]

Again who is blaming him for our home form over the last 5 years or so? I don't think anyone is. If you want to raise questions about our home record since he arrived then that's a different matter, because it's been atrocious.

No one is blaming him, he gave a petulant answer to something Murphy said that covered 7 years of home form. Tbh, anyone who gives that twat Murphy a shit answer gets bonus points from me.

[SteveD]

The worst performance this season after the best at VP in 2yrs. We are the Premier League's most consistent inconsistent side. It was two bald men fighting over a comb but to credit Stoke they have progressed post-Pulis with a mix of power and passing and we, er, haven't. Defensively we are held together with string and unravel as soon as the opposition get their first sniff of the Holte End. Coupled with a lame midfield today and the odd decision to play Allbrighton in a central role. Shambles,

[PeterWithesShin]

The decision to play Albrighton in the middle was very bizarre. I don't know whether to give Lambert credit for trying something different or to just think he is a loon.

[Damo70]

It was dire stuff but it seems like the Lambert Out brigade were almost hoping for something like this after the last two home games. And some of the biggest vitriol is coming from people who don't actually go to games. I can't defend today but let's at least see how the rest of the season plays out before we get all the knives out of the drawer for him.

Would you have given Alex McLeish any more time? Lambert is totally useless and must go, taking all of his ex-Norwich staff with him.

My opinion of TSM was he should stay until the end of the season as he would grind out just enough points to keep us up. Then for a number of reasons he should go. My opinion of Lambert is he should be given the rest of this season and then a calm and balanced decision needs to be made one way or the other. Which given his contract situation I am sure is what will happen.

[pauliewalnuts]

Lambert can't be blamed for things that happened before he arrived, of course he can't.

The thing is, though, last season, he was very fortunate to get an extended - very extended - holiday period, and one of the reasons for this was precisely because what came before him was so utterly awful. So, if anything, he has benefitted considerably from that which came before, totally different from a suggestion he's getting blamed for it.

There is actually no need to be blaming him for stuff that happened before he came here, though. What has happened since he has been there is bad enough. Nine home league defeats already this season, with three home games still to play, and this isn't even his first season, so he can't point at someone else's squad.

When he came here, I really, really thought it'd work out. When we were utterly abysmal for most of last season, we could look at other stuff, the improvement in football, which, combined with the fact it was his first year and that we'd been so poor the year before, meant we gave him a lot more slack.

This season, though, he can't blame anyone else.

last season - under him - at home, we did this:

W5 D5 L9

That, already, is truly atrocious. That's 20 points from 57. Abysmal. Only three teams won fewer home games than us last year, and they all got relegated.

This season so far at home we are on:

W5 D2 L9

Again, atrocious.

There are a lot of things - previous wage bills, wasted money, poor squad management - which went on before he came, for which he can not be in any way held responsible, but if he is suggesting he's copping the blame for things that aren't his fault, then he might want to ask himself how many PL managers would deliver home form like the above and still be under absolutely no pressure for their job, and get as easy a ride as he does?

I still want it to work for him, but this has all got to be two-way. It can't be blind faith and an unending period of time where we just make allowances.

Mid table teams are inconsistent, that's true, but we seem to be stuck on some loop where we deliver one convincing performance - in this current case, it is actually two, which is novel - followed by a batch of 5 or 6 games where we deliver some truly atrocious results. That can't go on forever without people wondering what the manager is going to do to fix it. Watching that today, I started to wonder whether he actually knows what he's doing tactically, if he's the progressive manager we thought he was, or whether, actually, he's just the latest in a long line of home-bred managers who are all bluff and bluster and nothing of any real substance.

I hope he's not, and i hope he convinces us of his credentials, but Jesus, it needs to start to look a lot more convincing, really quickly.

[Rudy65]

The decision to play Albrighton in the middle was very bizarre. I don't know whether to give Lambert credit for trying something different or to just think he is a loon.

F in loon

[Clampy]

The decision to play Albrighton in the middle was very bizarre. I don't know whether to give Lambert credit for trying something different or to just think he is a loon.

In this case, the latter. Bearing in mind he's arguably the best crosser of the ball at the club, it was utterly barmy.

[Damo70]

Again who is blaming him for our home form over the last 5 years or so? I don't think anyone is. If you want to raise questions about our home record since he arrived then that's a different matter, because it's been atrocious.

No one is blaming him, he gave a petulant answer to something Murphy said that covered 7 years of home form. Tbh, anyone who gives that twat Murphy a shit answer gets bonus points from me.

I am surprised he hasn't twatted that twat Murphy. Murphy clearly has an agenda against Lambert to the point it is almost an in joke with the 5L anchormen. Unfortunately days like today totally suit that agenda.

[Rudy65]

For what it's worth I can see what Damo was trying to say. There is a bit of inconsistency with some posters on here and that will always be the way I suppose. Whilst no-one was saying Lambert was the best manager in the world last week, no-one was calling for his head either. A week later they are. I presume that's what Damo was suggesting and if so, I agree with him.

I was full of praise for him last week as he deserved credit as much as the team but I certainly wasn't calling for him to be given a new deal - there have been many false dawns under him.

Anyone last week calling for his head would look foolish after the Chelsea game and I prefer to praise when deserved and criticise when deserved .
Last week was a tome to celebrate but sadly they have been all too rare under lamberts reign.

I was amazed to see the vote swung from 70 % either wanting him out or unsure to only 20% against him on the back of two wins .

I have great respect for you damo and accept your point of view now clarified .

I think you are under estimating the footy knowledge of most on here. Very few, including me, change our minds about the manager based on a couple of victories. Todays performance epitomises everything about Lambert's managerial acumen.

[ROBBO]

I feel sorry for Benteke in all this he is quality playing alongside mediocrity, the onle real chance he had he put away with aplomb, the problem is the only player who can delever to him is Delph who played well again today. As for last weeks win you can always get players play above themselves for one week but as we saw today most of our players really are not of premiership standard end of.

[pauliewalnuts]

Lambert's response of 'I expect I'll get blamed for that' would explain why we have such a petulant side. We were pathetic and had no character today.

Yet expecting him to take the blame for 5 and a half years when he wasn't here is fine? It was shit today - but that record isn't all, or even mostly, his. In fact, half of it is with a manager who gave us more 'success' than we'd see n in a long time.

Well of course not, but who's blaming Lambert for our record before he arrived? I don't think anyone is.

The question itself does. The fact that some consiider him refusing to accept the blame for stuff that happened years before he got here is 'petuleant' does. The fact that part of this record occurred whilst we were heading for 3 6th place finishes & a league cup final & an FA cup semi final shows that this stuff means f all anyway.

I didn't hear it, so I might be getting it wrong, I am just going on what I've read here, but if he was asked that, but if he said "I don't know, but I expect I'll get the blame for that" - isn't the pertinent point the fact that that answer suggests he thinks he's getting blamed for stuff he shouldn't be blamed for?

Pointless question, I agree, but the answer to it is telling. If that's what he said, anyway.