terrytini Posted January 17, 2014 Share Posted January 17, 2014 Also, while only opinion, I think both Bennet and Luna have the potential to be decent, particularly Luna. It is well known to be hard to adapt to our League, especially in a constantly changing defence. I don't see a problem with a Manager buying guys like that, then shoring things up when needed rather than stubbornly playing people who aren't quite up to the mark. In any event, every Manager has only a 40-60% success rate with signings, wouldn't you agree Big John ? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tomaszk Posted January 17, 2014 Share Posted January 17, 2014 I don't think Luna is that bad to be honest. Positioning is a bit all over the place, but it can and will improve. Bennett is a total horror show and I'd be surprised if he ever makes a league appearance again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pilchard Posted January 17, 2014 Share Posted January 17, 2014 Oh and the defence has improved this season, we don’t have the worst and haven’t been given a hammering. It has certainly improved - I think as a result of the more defensive, possession light play. It comes to something when a 0-4 loss isn't a 'hammering' anymore.... Must've missed that 4-0 league defeat. Remind me when it happened? Oh right. Perhaps the bit where that post says 'in the league' has been written in invisible ink or my monitor is screwed because I can't see it on mine. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jarpie Posted January 17, 2014 Share Posted January 17, 2014 Bennett looked to have more potential as left midfielder or winger rather than left back. Luna's have had bad time adjusting to PL, especially as he doesn't really get protection from our midfield. I can see Lambert rotating Bertrand and Luna unless he's given up on Luna. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CrackpotForeigner Posted January 17, 2014 Share Posted January 17, 2014 I agree Luna's not that bad. He has something classy about his play a lot of the time. But the number of times he was a million miles from the Arsenal RW at important moments in that game was absolutely ridiculous. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AVFCAM Posted January 17, 2014 Share Posted January 17, 2014 I agree with Big John, Lambo has spent money...it's just not been spent very well...in the short term at least...Bowery, Bennett etc may prove to be our future, but right now it hasn't helped us.I think Bertrand is a prime example d what is wrong with football in the premier league...RB is a very decent, young English player that would play week in, week out for most PL teams...but, because of Chelsea's spending power, they buy them as kids, then loan them out to everyone, making their own future team stronger...it works sometimes, you get players who go on to become excellent players, but you also get players who don't make the progress they would've made with regular playing time...Scott Sinclair is a prime example of this...a year on after signing for Cit£h, he was no further in his development after spending a season on the bench. Yet it's 'foreign players' ruining the England squad apparently...not the big clubs buying up talent so others can't (Wilfried Zaha also included)...Greedy clubs, Greedy agents, bad advice for players.Anyway, I'm off topic. Great signing Bertrand. Still not happy about Lambert, Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CrackpotForeigner Posted January 17, 2014 Share Posted January 17, 2014 If you are forced to buy players for a million pounds, some of them are going to be flops. Otherwise they would cost MORE than a million pounds. Why would anyone think that Lambert wouldn't have preferred to spend more money and have a bigger chance of success? 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big_John_10 Posted January 17, 2014 Share Posted January 17, 2014 There's not many who will openly criticise the owner more than me. I know Lambert is working to financial constraints but I think its also fair to say he hasn't spent what he's had well. When we're bringing in players on loan for positions he's signed more than one player for I think its a fair criticism to make. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mantis Posted January 17, 2014 Share Posted January 17, 2014 (edited) Given how many players he's had to bring in and the budget he's had to do that with I think he's done reasonably well in the transfer market. Let's not forget that wages have clearly been an issue. Edited January 17, 2014 by Mantis 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blandy Posted January 17, 2014 Moderator Share Posted January 17, 2014 There's not many who will openly criticise the owner more than me. I know Lambert is working to financial constraints but I think its also fair to say he hasn't spent what he's had well. When we're bringing in players on loan for positions he's signed more than one player for I think its a fair criticism to make. That seems fair and reasonable as a generalisation, certainly. Thing is though, on left backs we have seen that Bennett clearly isn't ready/never will be. Fair enough, a gamble. So we have no left back cover. It's either Clark or Baker out of position. So in that regard borrowing a left back is a ruddy good idea. In a wider sense, you have a point, certainly in the short term, though only time will tell whether in the long term he's bought better than it seems right now. One of our problems is the need for long term building and restructuring, while maintaining/improving short term performance - i.e. results this season. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MessiWillSignForVilla Posted January 17, 2014 Share Posted January 17, 2014 Surely it is better that a manager is willing to replace his own signings if they don't work out? Yes, it may indicate his gambles with his budget have not worked and he's spent inefficiently, but I'd rather he tries to sign someone, short time or otherwise, to rectify that mistake rather than persist with his signings as he wouldn't want to admit he's spent inefficiently. Though if he did that I'd imagine there'd be complaints that he's too stubborn and unwilling to replace his signings. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AVFCAM Posted January 17, 2014 Share Posted January 17, 2014 Big John makes a good point.If funds are so limited, why spend wages on Dawson, he played twice or something. Helenius hasn't really featured...small amounts yes, but it's like he's spending for spendings sake.I seem to be one of the few people who understands why a businessman will not throw hundreds of millions of pounds into a business that was losing £50m a year when we were selling out every week and finishing 6th in the league and had a kit supplier thay people actually wanted to wear. Yes the wages were high, but we couldn't afford it even then, so why would you throw £100m in to lose half of it anyway? His scaling back of costs is in our best interest, it keeps the books balanced and the tickets low...sadly, it's not come with enjoyable football...yet. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KHV Posted January 17, 2014 Share Posted January 17, 2014 Given how many players he's had to bring in and the budget he's had to do that with I think he's done reasonably well in the transfer market. Let's not forget that wages have clearly been an issue. the number of players he has bought in is ridiculous. He could have bought in 7 or 8 less and got better quality IMO Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mantis Posted January 17, 2014 Share Posted January 17, 2014 Given how many players he's had to bring in and the budget he's had to do that with I think he's done reasonably well in the transfer market. Let's not forget that wages have clearly been an issue. the number of players he has bought in is ridiculous. He could have bought in 7 or 8 less and got better quality IMO Of course, but we would've had a thread-bare squad. We needed the numbers. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LondonLax Posted January 17, 2014 Share Posted January 17, 2014 It's pretty crazy to expect every signing to be a hit in the Premier League when you are looking at £1-2m for transfer fees and £10-20k pw for wages. At least the ones that fail can be sold back to the lower leagues without much of a loss. You look at the number of failures MON had paying big fees and big wages, then struggled to get rid of them, and you realise how much more sustainable the Lambert approach is. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bose Posted January 17, 2014 Share Posted January 17, 2014 Didn't know where else to put this. This league table gives an interesting view on how many teams are in a relegation battle. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
keefa3011 Posted January 17, 2014 Share Posted January 17, 2014 When Lambert was appointed I was prepared for some short term pain to see the benefit in the long term, and I still back him to get us going in the right direction next season, when hopefully the budgets are increased to allow him to compete. I've wanted a young manager who wants to build a legacy come in and start afresh, and he's doing just that. While others were surely put off by the restrictions and constraints of the cost cutting, he saw the opportunity that was being presented to make a big club big again, and took it on. I'll judge Lambert and the job he's done when it's fair to, and that will be the end of next season, imo. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jarpie Posted January 17, 2014 Share Posted January 17, 2014 When Lambert was appointed I was prepared for some short term pain to see the benefit in the long term, and I still back him to get us going in the right direction next season, when hopefully the budgets are increased to allow him to compete. I've wanted a young manager who wants to build a legacy come in and start afresh, and he's doing just that. While others were surely put off by the restrictions and constraints of the cost cutting, he saw the opportunity that was being presented to make a big club big again, and took it on. I'll judge Lambert and the job he's done when it's fair to, and that will be the end of next season, imo. I think Lambert also underestimated the work he's got ahead and was got surprised for it. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Risso Posted January 17, 2014 Share Posted January 17, 2014 Given how many players he's had to bring in and the budget he's had to do that with I think he's done reasonably well in the transfer market. Let's not forget that wages have clearly been an issue. the number of players he has bought in is ridiculous. He could have bought in 7 or 8 less and got better quality IMO Of course, but we would've had a thread-bare squad. We needed the numbers. We also needed quality. None of the four full backs that he's bought are Premier League quality. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TRO Posted January 17, 2014 Share Posted January 17, 2014 My concern with Lambert is that he doesn't seem to be in any rush to sort out the glaring deficiencies in our squad, all of which have been plain to see for months. I'd have hoped that by Jan 1st, Lambert would have approached PF and RL with his scouted players and was poised ready to make some bids.... haven’t been given a hammering. I was keeping my fingers crossed before Saturday, that someone was not going to say that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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