Culverhouse and Karsa suspended (Now both sacked: Reply #876)

[not3bad]

There was something about the last few games which seemed to be beyond the usual Villa inconsistency.  Something not quite par for the course.

[Louzie0]

Lambert has looked increasingly under pressure and not made subs early enough or the wrong ones...

The players have forgotten how to pass to each other under pressure.  Perhaps the pressure was from within.

If the pressure has been lifted by this change in personnel we should see the results on Saturday in everybody's demeanour.  Let's hope, with some more positive influences in charge of coaching, that the Villa win!

[SW9-VILLA]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/teams/aston-villa/10765882/Paul-Lambert-ready-to-rebuild-Aston-Villa-as-fan-unrest-grows.html

[Steve R]

I reckon Lambert had a nightmare which featured a door with a plaque saying 'Stockport County FC Manager's Office' and panicked. No other explanation fits the facts.

[PaulWinch again]

It will definitely be a disciplinary issue, but it could still help the teams performance.

[walsall villain]

Telegraph version of events talks of a row between these two and Cowans a week back and the suspensions approved by Lambert.

[rob_bridge]

It will definitely be a disciplinary issue, but it could still help the teams performance.

Well I doubt it can make things any worse.

We need 1 win from 9 games and we still have 5 chances left

[Ads]

I also don't see how it can make things any worse. Sid doing the training, surrounded by players who like and above all respect him, may just infect them with a renwed bounce and determination.

[Ads]

Rumours are that it was Lambert who wanted them gone and ordered them off the training ground. Or more likely told them to "get ta' fuck".

[PaulWinch again]

Rumours are that it was Lambert who wanted them gone and ordered them off the training ground. Or more likely told them to "get ta' fuck".

Maybe they weren't implimenting what he wanted and that's why we've been so bad.

[Monty]

Rumours are that it was Lambert who wanted them gone and ordered them off the training ground. Or more likely told them to "get ta' fuck".

There are of course also rumours that Lerner has gone over Lambert's head. I think the supplementary rumours are people of either side passing off wishful thinking as gossip.

[curiousorange]

I get the thing with Culverhouse - from the rumours, he may have previous for being a hothead - but Karsa as well? Just because they're both coaches, they're not joined at the hip. You will most likely find that the relationship between them and Lambert has broken down to the extent that it's irreparable. I would assume the players have not been keen on their coaching methods for some time, hence the chronic drop-off in form, but it has taken the previous four results for Lambert to make his mind up that they're not doing enough. I would say there has been a point at which Lambert and his coaches have disagreed so much that he has forced their hand to either support him or undermine him, and they could no longer pledge their support.

I've always felt that Lambert, a young-ish manager, needed a proper footballing brain on his staff. Who knows, maybe Sid can be that man? But I would be cautious with the optimism based on the fact Lambert should always have been calling the shots tactically anyway, so those hoping for a Donacien/Carruthers/Helenius spine against Southampton will probably be disappointed.

[JUAN PABLO]

the annihilation on talksport by Villa fans

[Chris Smith]

Rumours are that it was Lambert who wanted them gone and ordered them off the training ground. Or more likely told them to "get ta' fuck".

There are of course also rumours that Lerner has gone over Lambert's head. I think the supplementary rumours are people of either side passing off wishful thinking as gossip.

While you are right that it is mostly conjecture and people trying to form theories with little in the way of hard facts to support them, I do think that Lambert publicly welcoming Sid and Given does not sot back up the suggestion that it was done over his head.

[Virgil Caine]

I am not so sure about Sid, I really want him to succeed but on the other hand I would not want his reputation to be tarnished if things do not work out. I would have preferred Gary McAllister to have been contracted until the end of the season, I posted on here months ago that the root of Villa problems was the lack of Premiership level coaching. For me this is a day to rejoice as Culverhouse was, I believe, completely out of his depth. I reckon we will run riot on Saturday and rip Southampton apart.