VillaChris Posted February 28, 2014 Share Posted February 28, 2014 Liverpool have history and tradition don't they..... Sunday just looks a nailed on draw tbh, we are just so creative at home it's untrue as you say unless one of the front trio pops up with something which dosen't seem likely on current form. It just disappoints me the excitement from Feb-may 2013 when we were genuinely exciting to watch and were involved in plenty of thrilling games has just evaporated. I'd have happily taken a mid table season of that as I am realistic as to our current standing in the premier league pecking order. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AvfcRigo82 Posted February 28, 2014 Share Posted February 28, 2014 (edited) When the manager is only allowed to spend 1-2m on avg. per player what the hell do people expect to happen?? Top 6 finishes? Play like Brazil?. Lambert's hands are tied behind his back. As I say, the man is doing a brilliant job with what he has to work with and to see the unclouded villa talk progress that the team has been made considering has been miraculous! Those of you calling for Lamberts head are only going to be moaning again next season if a new manager was installed - cause I have news for you, with our current situation we are getting no better than Lambert in charge as a replacement, and secondly don't go deluding yourselves thinking the next manager after Lambert would be given on average 7m to spend on each player and we would finnish in the top 6 and everything will be okay, cause it ain't gonna to happen! I find the whole thing outrageous. Edited February 28, 2014 by AvfcRigo82 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Papillon Posted February 28, 2014 Share Posted February 28, 2014 We also have to add in the fear and adrenaline from relegation, I think that was a huge factor for our improved form at the end of last season. Reminds me of exams I had when I went to business school, for some reason I always excelled at the end of the term when shit got real.... Last season we were behind, now we are ahead. It's only a matter of a few points and games, but as long as we are ahead and 13th in the table, it doesn't look that bad and I guess the players don't feel it yet. As always, it's better to be in front no matter how small the margin, but things can get ugly in a matter of a few games. This is the ultimate game to put us in front with a good margin though, because a victory would mean we are three points ahead of Norwich, Fulham will most likely lose to Chelsea (10 points up if that happens), Stoke will most likely lose to Arsenal, Sunderland don't have a game in the league this weekend, Cardiff will lose to Spurs (9 points potentially), WBA don't play either and Crystal Palace are away to Swansea (although that can be a good game for them given Swansea's game against Napoli last night). A victory would in many ways mean we are on cruise control to stay in the league, but a lackluster loss would throw us right into the mix again. Our next games are "easy" mixed with a few sure losses so to speak, from Norwich to Chelsea, then Stoke to Man Utd, then Fulham and Crystal Palace, then Soton and Swansea, Hull and eventually Spurs. Lots of games to grab points, but also cup finals against direct rivals and we don't want to cling onto the last weekend for a result. Looking at that chain though, I think we will be absolutely fine and I'm generally pessimistic towards Villa. Out of Norwich, Stoke, Fulham, Palace, Swansea and Hull we are at least bound to get something like 2-1-3 and that alone brings us to 35 points. A better run than that, a lucky draw against Chelsea or a win home to Soton and we are safe. Many options! (True that about Liverpool, but they haven't been successful in my day and age, and their fans in general always talk about themselves as royals. Who can appreciate that In my office there are a lot of bitter 40+ LFC fans and I guess that has destroyed my objective nature) 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AvfcRigo82 Posted February 28, 2014 Share Posted February 28, 2014 Spot on Papillion and sums up my mood perfectly. I don't know what all the fuss and worry is about. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Risso Posted February 28, 2014 Share Posted February 28, 2014 When the manager is only allowed to spend 1-2m on avg. per player what the hell do people expect to happen?? Top 6 finishes? Play like Brazil?. Lambert's hands are tied behind his back. As I say, the man is doing a brilliant job with what he has to work with and to see the unclouded villa talk progress that the team has been made considering has been miraculous! Those of you calling for Lamberts head are only going to be moaning again next season if a new manager was installed - cause I have news for you, with our current situation we are getting no better than Lambert in charge as a replacement, and secondly don't go deluding yourselves thinking the next manager after Lambert would be given on average 7m to spend on each player and we would finnish in the top 6 and everything will be okay, cause it ain't gonna to happen! I find the whole thing outrageous. The manager has had over £40m to spend, and accroding to paul Faulkner, how he has chosen to spen this has been compleyely and utterly up to him Lambert himself. The fact that hardly any of those players have been good enough is down to Lambert. What's the point in spending over £5m on Bennett and Luna, only to then never play either of them? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VillanousOne Posted February 28, 2014 Share Posted February 28, 2014 When the manager is only allowed to spend 1-2m on avg. per player what the hell do people expect to happen?? Top 6 finishes? Play like Brazil?. Lambert's hands are tied behind his back. As I say, the man is doing a brilliant job with what he has to work with and to see the unclouded villa talk progress that the team has been made considering has been miraculous! Those of you calling for Lamberts head are only going to be moaning again next season if a new manager was installed - cause I have news for you, with our current situation we are getting no better than Lambert in charge as a replacement, and secondly don't go deluding yourselves thinking the next manager after Lambert would be given on average 7m to spend on each player and we would finnish in the top 6 and everything will be okay, cause it ain't gonna to happen! I find the whole thing outrageous. In part I agree, we have sold or released so many players that Lambert has been forced to look at volume rather than quality when recruiting. Availability and cost has meant he has literally being forced to take low risk gambles on a large number of players. He clearly tried to address our defensive issues with Okore and finally Betrand. Bacuna has been a decent signing, Kozak was scoring before his injury. Tonev and Luna were gambles that didn't pay off. Helenius is untested and the rest of the team seems to have gone backwards cept for Vlaar. And it's hard to blame him solely for that. For some reason he's largely ignored the midfield in favour of signing/loaning strikers and this is one thing I really don't understand. He had all season to Jan to line up a midfielder and failed - instead just generating more bad feeling with Norwich. It would be interesting to see the net spend of some of the clubs around and directly above us to see how that compares. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
villabromsgrove Posted February 28, 2014 Share Posted February 28, 2014 The midfield seems to be a bit irrelevant in a Paul Lambert team. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AvfcRigo82 Posted February 28, 2014 Share Posted February 28, 2014 Risso - 40m in 2 seasons, fair enough that may be so but c'mon... 40m! that's piss poor considering Lamberts first priority was to cut away the deadwood and trim the wage bill massively whilst working under a tight budget. Now (I don't wanna start going down the whole 'where did all the milner, young, downing money alley) but the club have been on a heavy cost cutting mission for over 3 years now! The club have been clawing back in and outlaying less, quite a juggling act Lambert is doing if you ask me! So the 40m in 2 seasons between the new players amasses to roughly 1-2m spent on each player on average or 20m a season whatever way you wanna look at it. Very well saying the manager spends it how he wishes but play the game son, you know aswell as I do what was lambert supposed to do? Keep the bunch of over payed disinterested crop of players and just steady the ship with 2 10m signings?. I'm afraid not. Villanous One I pretty much agree with you there. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AvfcRigo82 Posted February 28, 2014 Share Posted February 28, 2014 If we finnish between 10-16th then Lambert should be handed the 3 year extension to finnish what he has successfully start building the foundations of. He needs time and definitely more than 20m a season and I think that will change and be increased once the contract is signed. Somewhere between 20-40m a season would be a fair assumption and the board would have seen how well Lambert has done so far in transforming the club and clearing the high earning deadwood. He will have proved himself enough to warrant more than 20m a season avg. budget in my opinion. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Risso Posted February 28, 2014 Share Posted February 28, 2014 Risso - 40m in 2 seasons, fair enough that may be so but c'mon... 40m! that's piss poor considering Lamberts first priority was to cut away the deadwood and trim the wage bill massively whilst working under a tight budget. Now (I don't wanna start going down the whole 'where did all the milner, young, downing money alley) but the club have been on a heavy cost cutting mission for over 3 years now! The club have been clawing back in and outlaying less, quite a juggling act Lambert is doing if you ask me! So the 40m in 2 seasons between the new players amasses to roughly 1-2m spent on each player on average or 20m a season whatever way you wanna look at it. Very well saying the manager spends it how he wishes but play the game son, you know aswell as I do what was lambert supposed to do? Keep the bunch of over payed disinterested crop of players and just steady the ship with 2 10m signings?. I'm afraid not. Villanous One I pretty much agree with you there. How about two good full backs instead of four very poor ones? How about one decent playmaking midfielder instead of Kozak? Or one decent midfielder instead of Tonev, Bowery and Helenius? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
suttonpaul Posted February 28, 2014 Share Posted February 28, 2014 disagree mate 20m is fine moving forward as he can now spend it on lower volumes of players and therefore in theory bring in a few players of 6m price tag a season and looking a few seasons down the line having a good squad if we buy decently and don't buy older players (sub 25) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ghost_of_Pongo_Waring Posted February 28, 2014 Share Posted February 28, 2014 Risso - 40m in 2 seasons, fair enough that may be so but c'mon... 40m! that's piss poor considering Lamberts first priority was to cut away the deadwood and trim the wage bill massively whilst working under a tight budget. Now (I don't wanna start going down the whole 'where did all the milner, young, downing money alley) but the club have been on a heavy cost cutting mission for over 3 years now! The club have been clawing back in and outlaying less, quite a juggling act Lambert is doing if you ask me! So the 40m in 2 seasons between the new players amasses to roughly 1-2m spent on each player on average or 20m a season whatever way you wanna look at it. Very well saying the manager spends it how he wishes but play the game son, you know aswell as I do what was lambert supposed to do? Keep the bunch of over payed disinterested crop of players and just steady the ship with 2 10m signings?. I'm afraid not. Villanous One I pretty much agree with you there. Fully agree Rigo. Also saying Lambert hasn't played Luna or Bennett is strange to say the least. Bennett played regularly last season and Luna has played a great deal this season but is admittedly struggling. Bennett has been injured almost all of this season so Lambert hasn't been able to play him instead of Luna. Now Bertrand has been signed, who Lambert was reported to have tried to sign last season, and is keeping his place on merit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Risso Posted February 28, 2014 Share Posted February 28, 2014 Bennett was absolute rubbish last season, probably the worst of the defenders which takes some doing. Luna was keeping him out of the team when Bennett was fit, and he's abysmal as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AvfcRigo82 Posted February 28, 2014 Share Posted February 28, 2014 All I can guess why that was not to be Risso was the right player for the right money at that time was not available. Remember wages will be playing a factor too! I agree, these positions will need strengthened over time and the manager looks to be doing it bit by bit season by season to the best of his ability with the resources available to him. It was never going to be a quick fix we all knew this, so I cannot understand why people are shitting themselves and pressing the panic button 3/4 through our 2nd season with Lambert and currently 13th in the table? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Papillon Posted February 28, 2014 Share Posted February 28, 2014 With regards to Lambert I think it's entirely wrong to say he has done a brilliant job. Surely there has to be another adjective better suited for him between crap and fantastic. I understand the restraints he has, but then again, he took on this job and he has in fact spent a certain amount of cash. Not top dollar, but not change either. 40M+ give or take a few sales and loans, and I do not think the incomings have been a successful ride. Benteke, Vlaar, Okore, Bertrand and a few others fit the bill, but when you factor in atrocious performances from Tonev, Luna, Bennett, El Ahmadi and Sylla you kind of even everything out and end up below par. The thing is, Lambert is doing what every other manager would have to do, namely bring in cheaper players at a bargain price. But he hasn't succeeded in any way better than another manager would have done in my opinion, because the failures have been so many. If we had gotten a few Jose Fonte's instead of Bennett/Luna/Sylla it would all look better, but we haven't and that's the big difference. Add tactical shortcomings, bad offensive displays and defensive mishaps galore and you are stuck with a poor club with a pretty poor manager. Not crap (as he would have taken us down last season), but certainly not brilliant (as he wasn't far from doing so either). Like so many of you, I don't want to sack him now but I am openminded when it comes to the summer. Has he taken us as far as he can? I mean, he hasn't taken us anywhere to be honest. If we are doomed for mid-table mediocracy or worse under him, are there possibly other candidates who can bring in better players at the same price and also entertain us a bit more? I am not the one to fork our silly suggestions before better alternatives are viable and available, that's not my profession, but I certainly hope we have people suited for that at the club. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AvfcRigo82 Posted February 28, 2014 Share Posted February 28, 2014 I wouldn't bank on it Papillion. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
villabromsgrove Posted February 28, 2014 Share Posted February 28, 2014 If we finnish between 10-16th then Lambert should be handed the 3 year extension to finnish what he has successfully start building the foundations of. He needs time and definitely more than 20m a season and I think that will change and be increased once the contract is signed. Somewhere between 20-40m a season would be a fair assumption and the board would have seen how well Lambert has done so far in transforming the club and clearing the high earning deadwood. He will have proved himself enough to warrant more than 20m a season avg. budget in my opinion. Isn't about time we stopped considering how well Lerner and the mythical "Board" think Lambert has done, and make up our own minds on Lambert's performance as Villa manager. If PL is handed a 3 year extension to his contract on the basis of the dross that I've had to watch this season, then I may well have to find something else to do on match days. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VillaForever1970 Posted February 28, 2014 Share Posted February 28, 2014 How about two good full backs instead of four very poor ones? How about one decent playmaking midfielder instead of Kozak? Or one decent midfielder instead of Tonev, Bowery and Helenius?Yes because when he signed them he thought yes i’ll buy these they are shit. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
briny_ear Posted February 28, 2014 Share Posted February 28, 2014 I cannot understand why people are shitting themselves and pressing the panic button 3/4 through our 2nd season with Lambert and currently 13th in the table? Probably because we are 4 points off relegation and have had a disastrous slump in form which has seen us take 9 points from our last 12 games? That may make it just a little bit more intelligible. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
foreveryoung Posted February 28, 2014 Share Posted February 28, 2014 If Lambert has done so great with what he has got. Where has the performance and progression gone from the end of last season and the entertaining football we played against Arsenal, Liverplop gone. We have seen good football from this team its just Lambert has reverted back to concentrating on the defence thus sacrificing any attack we had!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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