Leicester City v Aston Villa Post-Match Thread

[villan from luton]

Chris, are you saying we should just plod along as we are and hopefully scrape by in the hope that there are 3 worse clubs than us at the end of the season?

[old man villa fan]

Fox just needs to make sure he maximises any potential sponsorship income, make the club run on a profit and allow the Manager to spend some of the profits, just like Ellis used to. Ellis was famous for not putting his own money in, Randy just needs to do the same, make the club run properly, nothing more, nothing less. That way, he can show as little interest as he wants and we know what we are gonna get. Unfortunately, the current Manager can't do his bit because Randy can't be bothered to do his. That said, I would like to start again with a new Manager and give the club a lift.

Years ago a club of Villa's size was an advantage due to the majority of money coming in through the turnstiles.  Ellis could just sit back and use the economic advantage we had.  TV has changed all of that making it almost a level playing field for 10 or 12 clubs.  That is where you need some investment to make the difference and stay comfortably mid-table.  That is if the club and team are managed well.

[dave.woodhall]

Fox just needs to make sure he maximises any potential sponsorship income, make the club run on a profit and allow the Manager to spend some of the profits, just like Ellis used to. Ellis was famous for not putting his own money in, Randy just needs to do the same, make the club run properly, nothing more, nothing less. That way, he can show as little interest as he wants and we know what we are gonna get. Unfortunately, the current Manager can't do his bit because Randy can't be bothered to do his. That said, I would like to start again with a new Manager and give the club a lift.

Years ago a club of Villa's size was an advantage due to the majority of money coming in through the turnstiles.  Ellis could just sit back and use the economic advantage we had.  TV has changed all of that making it almost a level playing field for 10 or 12 clubs.  That is where you need some investment to make the difference and stay comfortably mid-table.  That is if the club and team are managed well.

Doug Ellis was around at the best time ever to be chairman of a club our size. You didn't really have to do anything; just keep ticking over, make sure nothing catastrophic happened and the money that was starting to flood into the game ensured that whatever you did on the pitch you could always point to some vast improvements off it, whether they be financial or stadium reconstruction. The extent to which he failed to build on our position is neither here nor there on this thread but I do remember talking to Mark Ansell at the time the Champions League in its current form was being established. He said that it was a wrong move because it would be bad to have the money distributed between four clubs, but the Premier League was fine because distributing it between twenty was a good thing. It was a very selfish attitude then, it still is now, but it was absolutely correct.

[Malandro]

Fox just needs to make sure he maximises any potential sponsorship income, make the club run on a profit and allow the Manager to spend some of the profits, just like Ellis used to. Ellis was famous for not putting his own money in, Randy just needs to do the same, make the club run properly, nothing more, nothing less. That way, he can show as little interest as he wants and we know what we are gonna get. Unfortunately, the current Manager can't do his bit because Randy can't be bothered to do his. That said, I would like to start again with a new Manager and give the club a lift.

Years ago a club of Villa's size was an advantage due to the majority of money coming in through the turnstiles.  Ellis could just sit back and use the economic advantage we had.  TV has changed all of that making it almost a level playing field for 10 or 12 clubs.  That is where you need some investment to make the difference and stay comfortably mid-table.  That is if the club and team are managed well.

Doug Ellis was around at the best time ever to be chairman of a club our size. You didn't really have to do anything; just keep ticking over, make sure nothing catastrophic happened and the money that was starting to flood into the game ensured that whatever you did on the pitch you could always point to some vast improvements off it, whether they be financial or stadium reconstruction. The extent to which he failed to build on our position is neither here nor there on this thread but I do remember talking to Mark Ansell at the time the Champions League in its current form was being established. He said that it was a wrong move because it would be bad to have the money distributed between four clubs, but the Premier League was fine because distributing it between twenty was a good thing. It was a very selfish attitude then, it still is now, but it was absolutely correct.

And then chuck in the financial fair play for fun

[Risso]

It's not the fans' job to find a new manager, I don't really get the idea that you can't complain and want a manager sacked unless you can suggest an alternative. It's just a way of shutting people up, IMO.

Agree totally, that has always puzzled me. It's not our job to come up with an alternative, there are any number of very well paid people at the club whose responsibility that is. That's like suggesting that those same people should sort out any of the poor management where we work. If you want the manager of your local NHS hospital sacked, you're allowed to say so without having to come up with a suggestion to replace him/her. So when is the twat leaving?

No, it isn't our job to find a new manager but neither is it our job to fire the current one. Yet everyone has an opininon on that.

If I see a house on fire, it isn't my job to put it out, so I'll let the professionals who can deal with the situation know about it via a 999 call.

Everybody can see that the current manager has failed, but it's unreasonable to expect football fans to have detailed knowledge about who from the entire world of football may be available to replace him.

[pauliewalnuts]

Just as Lambert seems incapable of getting this team to play ay anything like a consistent enough level, so the owner appears incapable of making the right appointment. Sack him or keep him, I honestly don't see it making much difference other than by a complete fluke. It's all so completely underwhelming.

I know what you mean, but really, with Lambert, things have got some utterly desperately bad now - that goals scored stat is just absolutely shockingly bad - that we might at least get someone who can get something like the best out of the players we have, or get us scoring more than a goal every other game.

I needn't reel off the statistics, you see them in the sports press all the time, and we all know what they are, but things under Lambert are now so bad, that the gap between what he is delivering and what the squad (limited though it is) is capable of is pretty big, so big that even a blundering dimwit like Lerner could make an appointment decent enough to fill that gap.

Filling that gaping chasm alone would bring about a considerable upturn in spirits and, well, the fun to be had watching us.

I had my season ticket still in the McLeish year, but missed a lot of games for a number of reasons, one of which was that it had just got so depressing to watch week after week. I never thought it could get worse after that, but Lambert has genuinely managed that, and he's done so over a longer period of time.

I've just had enough of it.

[brian green]

I would go further, possibly to the annoyance of some, but I think a manager as poor as Lambert has become, is worse than no manager at all.   I think the players are so demoralized and confused and Lambert is so covertly panic stricken, Lambert has a negative effect on the players and the results.
When I was working for the Army at Aldershot there was a situation which became much quoted in management and military circles.   The Army schools of physical training and of music were both in a shambles of ill discipline and under achievement.   In a blind stroke of genius somebody decided to make the head of the PT school and the head of the music school switch jobs.   The improvements were immediate and very impressive.   Each organization wanted anybody to run it, just not the incumbent.
I believe our players are so demoralized by Lambert the results would improve dramatically with anybody else in charge.   And as the old saying goes what is sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander the same probably applies to a change of ownership.
Aston Villa desperately needs the oxygen of change.

[citizenDJ]

I suppose you have to be careful for what you wish for, but there is a sense that almost anyone at this stage would be better than Lambert - that's pretty much my view, anyway.

[ChicagoLion]

I heard the interview after the game, he sounded completely confused and desperate. It is obvious that he has no idea of how to fix this.
Almost any appointment would give the club a lift and give us a chance of safety.

[olaftab]

Any idea what he said?

[PaulWinch again]

He banged on about 'the long ball game' not being his way. That was particularly strange as he's been trying to play it for the last two years.

[paul_e]

I think for every short term bounce there are instances where bugger all changes. That approach means we could end up paying off Lambert and the short term replacement and the inevitable churn of players who no longer fit. There has been no consistency in our appointments which is symptomatic of no plan, if we don't approach things in a more structured way next time we are just doomed to more of the same.

Whist that's often true the cases where there's no bump are generally when a squad is out of it's depth and the manager has genuinely been doing well until the last couple of months.  We've been on a downward track for a long time now and you can see in the fans and players that it's just gone too far.  That's why it's getting very close to the point of being no risk, it's already much more of a risk to keep him and hope for better than it is to replace him and that's just becoming clearer every week.

[PeterWithesShin]

Any idea what he said?

[PeterWithesShin]

And from the OS

Paul Lambert watched his team go down 1-0 away at Leicester and bemoaned a lack of clinical edge in the final third of the pitch.

Lambert was relatively happy with the possession and build-up play but accepted that his team need more creativity and invention going forward.

He said: "I thought the final third for us let us down.

"We never had enough in the final third. We had a lot of the ball but in the final third where it mattered we just didn't produce it.

"We have to put that right. We have to do better in the final third of the pitch.

"It's the last third of the pitch that is hurting us at the minute. We have to keep working hard and hopefully it will turn.

"You have just have to keep working hard, keep working hard at the training ground, keep everyone upbeat and keep the lads believing that it will come.

"As I said to them in the dressing room, the effort and commitment was there but you just need to be better in the final third.

"We need to find a way to get our good play goals."

Villa are currently 13th in the Barclays Premier League but Lambert is keen to stay away from the lower reaches of the table.

He continued: "You don't want to be down there. This is a massive football club.

"As I said to them in the dressing room, there are so many games to go and there will be so many twists and turns throughout the second half of the season.

"You just have to make sure you're away from all that."

Ciaran Clark was dismissed in the closing stages of the game at the King Power Stadium for a second booking while Foxes midfielder Matty James received a straight red for a late tackle on Jores Okore.

He added: "I saw the red card and I thought it was a red card.

"I don't know what Ciaran has been sent off for. Maybe the referee viewed it as a second yellow because Ciaran got involved. I don't know.

"I thought the tackle was pretty high."

[garyshawsknee]

He's only lying to himself now.