blandy Posted January 11, 2014 Moderator Share Posted January 11, 2014 If your talking about Benteke we did'nt even have him in the last remaining games of the season but was still winning and entertaining the fans????. he missed the last game (away at Wigan). We drew it. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CrackpotForeigner Posted January 11, 2014 Share Posted January 11, 2014 If your talking about Benteke we did'nt even have him in the last remaining games of the season but was still winning and entertaining the fans???? I'm open to correction, but iirc Benteke missed only the last game of the season after being sent off in the second-last. He missed no more than two games, I'm pretty sure. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
foreveryoung Posted January 11, 2014 Share Posted January 11, 2014 ...you are not going to win against Arsenal without playing possession football... I lucky enough to have seen us beat Arsenal a few times, including twice at the Emirates. We didn't play what I would call possession football in any of those wins. Of course you're entitled to have a different view, but I suspect you're in a small minority Totally agree. But the football they play you have to admit has improved considerably since we played them last. They will work out our amateur old fashioned tactics of counter play and outplay us with their up to date possession football. Never worth betting against Arsenal on Monday. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ClaretFondu Posted January 11, 2014 Share Posted January 11, 2014 It's not the league position, it's the football, he's been managing for 2 years nearly.... And apart from hoof ball there is not a soul on this planet who could identify a single tactic that Lambert uses. If we stay up this season then it will be due to lucky points, and next season we will get annihilated. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mantis Posted January 11, 2014 Share Posted January 11, 2014 (edited) The league table doesn't lie. Wherever we finish will be where we deserve to finish. The football may not be great right now but I hate how many of the points we have won legitimately are just waved away as "luck". Edited January 11, 2014 by Mantis Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chindie Posted January 11, 2014 VT Supporter Share Posted January 11, 2014 The league table doesn't lie. Wherever we finish will be where we deserve to finish. The football may not be great right now but I hate how many of the points we have won legitimately are just waved away as "luck". It's testament to how many performances have been unutterably shit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
foreveryoung Posted January 11, 2014 Share Posted January 11, 2014 If your talking about Benteke we did'nt even have him in the last remaining games of the season but was still winning and entertaining the fans????. he missed the last game (away at Wigan). We drew it. I stand Corrected, but as Morpheus said, it cant all be down to one player. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blandy Posted January 11, 2014 Moderator Share Posted January 11, 2014 So you think that after signing 16 players our poor form is due to one player? he didn't say that at all. FWIW I think it's the case that a number of players are in poor form. I think missing Okore and Vlaar is a major factor. Benteke, too is playing like a drain. But as for PL he seems to be struggling under the burdens of expectation, poor form, injuries, spreading his budget in such a way that his signings are higher risk of being duds. He's struggled with the wage limitations hampering getting players he wants. He's got a hard job to do. Recently, in particular, it's looked like it might be beyond him. I hope it's not, as more upheaval would be unhelpful as well, and many of his problems would still be there for whoever followed. Assuming the next choice were to be a good one. Which is far from certain, I think. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CrackpotForeigner Posted January 11, 2014 Share Posted January 11, 2014 So you think that after signing 16 players our poor form is due to one player? We've signed only one player for more than 5 million, and that player had an excellent season and has been poor this season. We struggled more last season than we have done so far this season. You have to be impervious to logic not to see that it's possible to draw the conclusion that, Benteke aside, the team has improved. I do think we would be far, far better if Benteke was the same player as before his injury. Do you really not think so?? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blandy Posted January 11, 2014 Moderator Share Posted January 11, 2014 ...you are not going to win against Arsenal without playing possession football... I lucky enough to have seen us beat Arsenal a few times, including twice at the Emirates. We didn't play what I would call possession football in any of those wins. Of course you're entitled to have a different view, but I suspect you're in a small minority Totally agree. But the football they play you have to admit has improved considerably since we played them last. They will work out our amateur old fashioned tactics of counter play and outplay us with their up to date possession football. Never worth betting against Arsenal on Monday. I think they'll thrash us. I also think their football style is unchanged from the start of the season. I dunno if you went to the first game, but one noticeable thing was that the Arsenal fans were, from early on, unhappy , angry, wanting money spent, the manager out and so on. They seemed to have changed their tune a bit since, mind. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blandy Posted January 11, 2014 Moderator Share Posted January 11, 2014 And apart from hoof ball there is not a soul on this planet who could identify a single tactic that Lambert uses.. how about using the last game we played as an example? I know we've all pretty much erased it from our minds, but from my seat in the Holte, the tactic/ reality on the day seemed to be give the ball to Marc albrighton, and hope he scores or crosses and makes a chance. It wasn't hoof all, as inept as the performance was. I think it's right to criticise the football played as mostly too ponderous, lacking in movement and understanding, nervous, shot of confidence, and many other things, but it's not the only tactic to "hoof it". That seems like picking the wrong thing to criticise the manager for, IMO. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AshVilla Posted January 11, 2014 Share Posted January 11, 2014 We play more long balls than any other side in the premier league though Either Lambert has them playing this way or they are completely disobeying his instructions i don't know which is worse Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Risso Posted January 11, 2014 Share Posted January 11, 2014 Fact: Writing "Fact" before a statement of opinion does not turn that opinion into an undeniable truth. this is very true. You have to use CAPITAL LETTERS as well, otherwise it doesn't count. END OF Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
markavfc40 Posted January 11, 2014 Share Posted January 11, 2014 (edited) I wouldn't describe us as a team that plays hoof ball. I certainly think we have in the main served up poor football this season but I don't think we ever go out with the intention of hoofing it. What I think ultimately seems to happen is that due to a lack of movement we all too frequently struggle to pass it accurately forwards. We will then at times end up passing it sideways/backwards until eventually it finds its way back to Guzan and he lumps it forwards. Ultimately though the quality of our play comes down to the calibre of players we have. Put simply many of ours players aren't good enough to be plying their trade at the highest level. You can't fault the effort of any of the lads but its those little touches of class that most lack - that eye for a pass, that gift of finding space, that touch of skill. Things that can help you breakdown teams that in the main contain very good players. To play better football and also be competitive at the same time will require us bringing in better quality players. For now the compromise seems to have been that we accept the limitations we have in terms of quality and play a brand of football that despite that allows us to pick up enough results to keep us out the mire. How long it will keep us out the mire for though is debatable. Edited January 11, 2014 by markavfc40 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Morpheus Posted January 11, 2014 Share Posted January 11, 2014 (edited) So you think that after signing 16 players our poor form is due to one player? he didn't say that at all. FWIW I think it's the case that a number of players are in poor form. I think missing Okore and Vlaar is a major factor. Benteke , too is playing like a drain. But as for PL he seems to be struggling under the burdens of expectation, poor form, injuries, spreading his budget I such a way that his signings are higher risk of being duds. He's struggle switch the wage limitations hampering getting players he wants. He's got a hard job to do. Recently, in particular, it's looked like it might be beyond him. I hope it's not, as more upheaval would be unhelpful as well, and many of his problems would still be there for whoever followed. Assuming the next choice were to be a good one. Which is far from certain, I think. To be blunt Blandy i feel that Lambert has made an absolute pigs ear of the job and has only lasted this long due to following Mcleish. Right from the off he played a system which required better players to implement and he didn't have the budget to get those players. We had a striker at the club who generally scored one in two but required service from wide positions to get the best out of him yet rather than Lambert purchasing wide players to get the best out of Bent or subsequently Benteke he devised a system that completely alienated Bent. Benteke did however flourish last season but he was new to the Premiership and consequently Premiership teams took a while to find out how to nulify the threat from Benteke. As we've seen this season Benteke is a shadow of the player he was last season and yes that may be due to injury but Premiership defenders are now getting much closer to him and actually roughing him up a little which he doesn't seem to like. We need to get another wide player in with service also coming from Albrighton to try and get around that and be less predictable in attack. Lambert has also been very poor in the transfer market and this can be gaged by the standard of football and if those players purchased are any better than those who have left. The football has been horrid to watch and with the exception of Benteke (last season) and Vlaar i do not see much else that is better than before. Guzan could be deemed another but i really don't classify him as a Lambert signing. So at best three out of sixteen players is a very poor return quality wise in the transfer market. Tactics have also left a lot of head scratching. We are too static and resort to hoof because our players are too easily marked. That has to come down to Lambert and his coaching staff and really when you look at it in the cold light of day there is not much to commend Lambert's tenure with us. Edit. At the moment i'm hanging by my finger nails in the hope that with 2-3 additions in the current window that things will improve but i'm fearful that with our fixtures coming up that we will drop back into a relegation dogfight again. Edited January 11, 2014 by Morpheus 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Morpheus Posted January 11, 2014 Share Posted January 11, 2014 So you think that after signing 16 players our poor form is due to one player? We've signed only one player for more than 5 million, and that player had an excellent season and has been poor this season. We struggled more last season than we have done so far this season. You have to be impervious to logic not to see that it's possible to draw the conclusion that, Benteke aside, the team has improved. I do think we would be far, far better if Benteke was the same player as before his injury. Do you really not think so?? No mate i don't because both Weimann and Gabby have been generally poor this season as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mantis Posted January 11, 2014 Share Posted January 11, 2014 The league table doesn't lie. Wherever we finish will be where we deserve to finish. The football may not be great right now but I hate how many of the points we have won legitimately are just waved away as "luck". It's testament to how many performances have been unutterably shit. Not denying that, but regardless of performances, wherever we finish will be where we deserve to be. "Luck" doesn't really come into it over 38 games. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CrackpotForeigner Posted January 11, 2014 Share Posted January 11, 2014 So you think that after signing 16 players our poor form is due to one player? We've signed only one player for more than 5 million, and that player had an excellent season and has been poor this season. We struggled more last season than we have done so far this season. You have to be impervious to logic not to see that it's possible to draw the conclusion that, Benteke aside, the team has improved. I do think we would be far, far better if Benteke was the same player as before his injury. Do you really not think so?? No mate i don't because both Weimann and Gabby have been generally poor this season as well. So: you don't think we'd be far, far better if Benteke was the same player as before his injury, beeeCAUSE: "both Weimann and Gabby have been generally poor this season as well." Oookeydokey. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shaw_nuff Posted January 11, 2014 Share Posted January 11, 2014 (edited) We play more long balls than any other side in the premier league though Either Lambert has them playing this way or they are completely disobeying his instructions i don't know which is worse Or they could be incapable of carrying them out...... which could be even worse still. Edited January 11, 2014 by Shaw_nuff Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blandy Posted January 11, 2014 Moderator Share Posted January 11, 2014 We play more long balls than any other side in the premier league though Either Lambert has them playing this way or they are completely disobeying his instructions i don't know which is worse Or they could are incapable of carrying them out...... which could be even worse still. This is actually what I think in part at least is happening. Whether right or wrong, the outcome's still the same Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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