pacbuddies Posted May 5, 2014 Share Posted May 5, 2014 For me he needs to stay unless a manager that is head and shoulders above him. He's do e what's asked of him, even Lerner himself has said so. He's done an admirable job in my view, and he's maintained his dignity and for a large part is still popular amongst fans. There are many fans out there undecided, and all it would take to sway them would be a couple more decent results. There is no manager in and around us that I would prefer over Lambert. I don't think he's done an admirable job, but he has done an ok job considering the conditions at the club. If we hadn't have had the post Chelsea collapse we'd have had a reasonable mid table season. As it stands it's looking likely that we were actually safe after that game, unless Norwich get a win against Arsenal, but the results since then have been unacceptable. I feel Lambert has built the foundations of a decent team, under difficult circumstances. I'd really like to see what he can do with funds and would be happy for him to remain but we HAVE to push on from this. I fail to see how Norwich getting a win against Arsenal can possibly affect us! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big_John_10 Posted May 5, 2014 Share Posted May 5, 2014 People still think he deserves a chance? Haha I just don't get the love for Lambert at all. Its not like he's done anything to make you think things would be brilliant under him. It's all based on hope. And once again I love how losing lots of games is no classed as a silly little stat. That's brilliant. Oh well, he came, he failed and he won't be here much longer. Well I guess it comes down to people having different expectations with what can be achieved with £40m, a complete rebuild and injuries to key players. You obviously think he should have done a lot better than he has. I personally think he should have done a bit better. However, if we finish between 11th-14th I'd say he's actually done a pretty good job considering injuries. However if we finish 17th then that's a poor job. But then again I look at the finishing position rather than points accumulated. Whereas others believe that points totalled means more than finishing position. I expected better than two relegation battles, only achieving around 40 pts in both seasons and playing absolutely abysmal football most of the time. He hasn't pushed on from last season and if anything has gone backwards. If you can't progress with more money and more time then I see little point giving him even more money and even more time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shaw_nuff Posted May 5, 2014 Share Posted May 5, 2014 People still think he deserves a chance? Haha I just don't get the love for Lambert at all. Its not like he's done anything to make you think things would be brilliant under him. It's all based on hope. And once again I love how losing lots of games is no classed as a silly little stat. That's brilliant. Oh well, he came, he failed and he won't be here much longer. Well I guess it comes down to people having different expectations with what can be achieved with £40m, a complete rebuild and injuries to key players. You obviously think he should have done a lot better than he has. I personally think he should have done a bit better. However, if we finish between 11th-14th I'd say he's actually done a pretty good job considering injuries. However if we finish 17th then that's a poor job. But then again I look at the finishing position rather than points accumulated. Whereas others believe that points totalled means more than finishing position. I actually look at the mind-numbing boring football and ask 'where is this going' regardless of position. If you see progression then you see something different to me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xela Posted May 5, 2014 Share Posted May 5, 2014 I'm grateful he has kept us up but he has to go. Some of the most insipid football I have ever seen Villa play has been under Lambert's tenure. We need a fresh start. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Enda Posted May 5, 2014 Share Posted May 5, 2014 They say there's lies, damn lies, and statistics. This thread really illustrates that. You need to take a fuller approach than focusing on one single statistic. Someone who focuses on the North Stand as old and cramped and small (which it is) is missing the rest of Villa Park. Here's the broad picture: Under Houllier we finished in 9th with 48 points. Under McLeish we finished in 16th with 38 points. Under Lambert we finished in 15th with 41 points. This season we'll probably end up in about 15th with 38 points. That's the broad picture. In terms of results, he's doing exactly the same as McLeish. Not good enough. What might save him: - Sometimes has an eye for excellent value transfers (Vlaar, Benteke, and arguably Lowton, Bacuna, Westwood, Okore, etc) - Has reduced the wage bill massively - Has always been respectful of the fans. Understands the club. - If we sign Bertrand, and when Okore comes back, the back four will improve massively. - Has shown signs that he wants to play attacking football. (Unfortunately those signs have disappeared for six months.) - Clearly has potential to be a very good manager. Potential. Remember he only had a year's top level experience when he hired him. The question is whether we think a new manager would be worth it. In my opinion Lambert has just about done enough to stay until Christmas. Give him 40m to spend and I think he'll do about as well as anyone. If we're hovering around 15th comes 2015, then he gets the sack. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pacbuddies Posted May 5, 2014 Share Posted May 5, 2014 (edited) If he is hovering around 15th come 2015 then he gets the sack. Meanwhile we will then have only half a season to find a new manager and recruit some decent players in the January transfer window which is notoriously a lottery for a lot of teams especially those struggling. In 2 seasons he has shown that he just doesn't have what it takes and his footballing philosophy is boring and negative. Why waste another half a season and £millions on someone who has proved ineffective when the logical thing to do, based on evidence over 2 years, would be to get rid now and give ourselves a fighting chance of recruiting a decent manager and a summer transfer window to buy some decent players and get them bedded in readiness for the start of the season. Edited May 5, 2014 by pacbuddies Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
penguin Posted May 5, 2014 Share Posted May 5, 2014 Hasn't the wage bill gone up? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Enda Posted May 5, 2014 Share Posted May 5, 2014 If he is hovering around 15th come 2015 then he gets the sack. Meanwhile we will then have only half a season to find a new manager and recruit some decent players in the January transfer window which is notoriously a lottery for a lot of teams especially those struggling. In 2 seasons he has shown that he just doesn't have what it takes and his footballing philosophy is boring and negative. Why waste another half a season and £millions on someone who has proved ineffective when the logical thing to do, based on evidence over 2 years, would be to get rid now and give ourselves a fighting chance of recruiting a decent manager and a summer transfer window to buy some decent players and get them bedded in readiness for the start of the season. That's fair enough. Much happier with that argument that the focus on the number of home defeats. I don't think his football philosophy is boring and negative. We've never played Alan Hutton in midfield like we did under McLeish... I think it's just our players lack creativity for whatever reason. We're going to have to agree to disagree though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Enda Posted May 5, 2014 Share Posted May 5, 2014 Hasn't the wage bill gone up? Didn't think so. Good question. If he's not managed to lower the wage bill despite letting the likes of Richard Dunne and Stephen Ireland go, then I take it all back. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kurtsimonw Posted May 5, 2014 Share Posted May 5, 2014 Hasn't the wage bill gone up? I believe one of them finance threads showed that it had, yes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Voinjama Posted May 5, 2014 Share Posted May 5, 2014 He's visibly aged since taking the job. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pacbuddies Posted May 5, 2014 Share Posted May 5, 2014 He's visibly aged since taking the job. So have I so he has to go now. I don't want to be looking like Bruce Forsyth by the end of next season! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Czechlad Posted May 5, 2014 Share Posted May 5, 2014 I'd hate to say it, but let's keep him unless a clearly better choice appears. He knows the team, he has already molded a lot of club to his liking, and there is no way any new manager would get us top 10 unless he was given considerable backing by the owner. Lambert will sign a few more players and hopefully be given more money to spend. Barring major injuries, I could see next season Lambert being his year to shine. One argument you can make for this season is, the signings that Lambert made to boost the squad got injured or underperformed at times. We essentially went through this season with the same squad as last, but this time some major names got injured or just did not play as well as they did last season. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PauloBarnesi Posted May 5, 2014 Share Posted May 5, 2014 Hasn't the wage bill gone up? Probably signing Benteke on a longer contract would do that alone... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Enda Posted May 5, 2014 Share Posted May 5, 2014 Hasn't the wage bill gone up? Probably signing Benteke on a longer contract would do that alone... Doubt Benteke is on more than Dunne, Ireland, Bent (on loan, granted), Makoun, Collins, Warnock... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ghost_of_Pongo_Waring Posted May 5, 2014 Share Posted May 5, 2014 Hasn't the wage bill gone up? Probably signing Benteke on a longer contract would do that alone... Doubt Benteke is on more than Dunne, Ireland, Bent (on loan, granted), Makoun, Collins, Warnock... The wage bill had gone up by the end of March last year, which is where the published accounts go up to. There was always going to be a period when we had the wages of the high earners we were trying to get rid of and the replacement players on the books. So the bill initially increasing isn't much of a surprise if you think about it. I'd be very surprised if there isn't a big difference to the wage bill now, to then. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lexicon Posted May 5, 2014 Share Posted May 5, 2014 There's no way in hell the wage bill is as high as it was a year back. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
suttonpaul Posted May 5, 2014 Share Posted May 5, 2014 Hasn't the wage bill gone up? No that was the year before this one and anyone can argue we have over 200k a week once a sucker club comes in for anyone from the bomb squad or the contract runs out they aren't part of PL's squad anyway Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big_John_10 Posted May 5, 2014 Share Posted May 5, 2014 Yeah our wage bill must be lower than the last set of accounts. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shaggy Posted May 5, 2014 Share Posted May 5, 2014 I'd hate to say it, but let's keep him unless a clearly better choice appears. He knows the team, he has already molded a lot of club to his liking, and there is no way any new manager would get us top 10 unless he was given considerable backing by the owner. Lambert will sign a few more players and hopefully be given more money to spend. Barring major injuries, I could see next season Lambert being his year to shine. One argument you can make for this season is, the signings that Lambert made to boost the squad got injured or underperformed at times. We essentially went through this season with the same squad as last, but this time some major names got injured or just did not play as well as they did last season. How did we do last season? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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