ozvillafan

I can see money available for a "meltdown" signing - but it would be deducted from any summer budget. There aren't too many bargains in January, so I suspect that Lambert will stick with the lower cost players available.

Lee Hendrie

Help me get this straight in my head: For Lambert - Results have improved compared last season - Wage bill trimmed - Players have a resell value (or, at least, don't constitute a huge loss) - 18 months into a 5 year rebuild Against Lambert - Performances have been poor - Formation/tactics/substitutions poor - Squad confidence low Is that about right? Or too simplistic?

you're correct... It all seemed to be getting towards a shape and pattern we could all recognise with confidence growing and then bang, he completely changed tack. It's the only reason I still hold any hope for him. But as to what happened? Only PL knows. Persisting with a central 3 defenders is criminal for mine. It simply does not work, as it ends up being 5 across the back, which gives us precious little to aim at when trying to get forward. At the time we got hammered last Christmas, this was the formation we were playing. Now I can excuse him trying it last year, but after ditching it last year and seeing us go on a great run I cannot defend him reverting to it again. Playing a formation that works and that the players obviously understand helps breed confidence. This is vitally important when your team is "young and hungry" and generally lacking experience.

Just a minor point, but I thought it was Houllier that got rid of Carew? Left on 6/08/11 and McLeish joined us on 17/06/11. Actually you & Sikh are right that he did go to Stoke. In a discussion on wages though, I wonder how much Stoke paid and how much we paid until his contract expired in August. I see. So you are technically correct.... ... which is the best kind of correct.

Oh the irony!

Just a minor point, but I thought it was Houllier that got rid of Carew?

The same Gabby that the last 3 managers all put in a wide position? The same Gabby that saw his spot taken by Bent because he wasn't producing? The same Gabby who has scored no more goals than Kozak so far this season?

He protects nothing. A "deep lying playmaker" that doesn't tackle, eh? Thought we offloaded one of those to Crystal Palace last summer..... ... and, tbh, he'd do no worse than Westwood.

I honestly believe Lambert thought KEA was the experience/leader we needed in midfield. Hasn't turned out that way, sadly. Back to Vlaar - so important for us. Provides more to the team than just being a good defender and, as such, is rightly wearing the captain's armband.

Thoroughly agree.

I'm not overly concerned about possession stats - they don't show the full picture. (Not picking on your post - just used it as an example) We could spend the majority of the game passing the ball around the back 4 and keeper. That would definitely make our possession stat higher - but so what? We would have created nothing with that extra possession. What matters is effective possession. That is, possession compared to the number of chances/shots. That, imo, is a better indicator of a teams performance in any given game. By all accounts we could have had more goals against Sunderland, so our effective possession was good - especially compared to recent home performances.

Lot of bitching in this thread, which kinda gets away from the point. - Yes, we are aware there is a 5 year plan. - Yes, we understand that Lambert needs more time to bring the plan to fruition. - Yes, we know that we no longer need to shift people nor fill holes and can focus on a couple of "quality", experienced players. I think the fans have been pretty accommodating to all this. What is getting us riled up is the performances. We expect to see improvements in how we play our football, not necessarily in our results. That would give us some confidence that Lambert can deliver on the 5 year plan. But we are not. As mentioned, our performances are dreadful - I'd call it the worst in the league. At this point, adding the 2 quality players we are planning for wont make any difference. They will have as much impact as our "saviours" of previous seasons (see N'Zogbia, Ireland for reference) since they will slot into a side that simply cannot do the basics of movement, ball retention and shape.

Must start over Westwood. At least KEA actually tackles and can produce a decent pass (albeit not as often as I'd like)

Horrid. He is reminding me more and more of Kinsella. Busy pointing at where he thinks his fullbacks should be while he occupies his position just outside the 'D' watching the opposition midfield pass around him. He needs dropping for a Delph/KEA central midfield - which doesn't overly thrill me, but it's the best we have imo.

I'm not convinced by Lambert. The plan has to include our players learning to play the type of football we want them playing in the future, not gaining experience in "surviving on scraps" waiting for the miracle 1 or 2 new "quality" players that will magically turns things around. Lambert and his "5 year plan" should know this, surely. What do they do at training? Laps?

There is a difference between selling at a price and looking to offload. If the former, then you set a price at which you would be willing to walk away. If the latter, it's market rates. 250m sounds like the former. That means 2 things: - You wont get it for a penny less (see Barry, Benteke for reference) - If you really want the club and can afford 250m, then it's not a barrier to ownership (that is, you obviously have a lot more money). So we are basically up for sale to owners like Chelsea and Man City.

It's easy to manage a football side when it is full of quality and experience. When you have a bunch of young guys, you actually have to know how to manage. They need to be taught just about everything - including formations, tactics, positioning, dead ball situations, movement. None of it comes automatically and it needs to be drilled into them so it becomes second nature. From what I am seeing currently, it looks like Lambert has the entire first team squad doing nothing but laps. We are that bad.

This sums it up for me. As hard as it was to watch this time last year, there was always the hope that they would get better, that Lambert would turn it around and we would come good. And we did. I expected Lambert to build on that - but we are playing exactly the same way. What, exactly, do they do at training each week? What kind of style is Lambert trying to build? Based on that game today, we ARE the worst team in the league..... ... and, even at this stage in our rebuilding, that is simply not good enough.

So Faulkner tells fans that books are balanced and we are now compliant with FFP rules but the manager makes it sound like what we're currently doing is the plan for a few years. What does that say about future ambition then? For me that adds more weight to the idea Lerner is looking to sell after a few years of surviving on the cheap. That's certainly 1 way to look at it. Another is that the few years of hard work is a result of the original decision to "strip back wages" and flesh out the squad - not due to an ongoing policy.

Saviour? No. Better than Clark (who, to be fair, has improved) and Baker? Absolutely. Why buy him otherwise? Does that make him first choice, despite his lack of experience? Yes.

Define "badly run"

And?

Good point. If I was lambert, I'd instruct my forwards to run the ball to the edge of the box and then draw more fouls.

Villa scored 7 goals from corners last year, around 5th in the league. They also had the fifth fewest corners. So villa were one of the most effective sides at converting corners. From memory, we have also scored twice from set plays this season (Bacuna twice from freekicks). If I was Lambert.... ... I'd be instructing my forwards to draw more fouls around the edge of the box.