Paul Lambert

[abdulaziz1]

Woody1000.

I'm one of the biggest Lambert fans. I also think his signings weren't bad, I think if Helenius and Tonev had the chances Weimann was getting they'd be a garentued starters.

Anyway, I think he have couple of problems. One of them is that whoever gave him good performances at the past he seem to not give anyone else chance even if he was playing s**t. Somehow he haven't done that with Sylla because KEA was good when Sylla was injured. So he hasn't gave Sylla the chance after that. Lambert was more brave in his first year by benching Bent and the co. He also don't try and find a way to play at home (when he used to do good away), he play the same way here and there. Somehow he even started to put bad performances away !

A game like Fulham or Stoke away when he put Herd as a CB with Clark as LB ! I understand that there were no proper LB. But putting Herd as LB is much better than putting him in only 2 CB's !

Anyway I rate Lambert, Yet I doubt him before every game we play, I don't have much confidence with his tactics. He's learning anyway, Well I hope that. 

[wazzap24]

Lambert is our Moyes (Everton's Moyes BTW).

I still haven't given up hope on this.

I still think if he's given more time and decent backing, he could be a cracking manager for us - one of the best we've had. He might get the former whilst the club remains on the market, but it's unlikely he will get the latter during his time here, unless whoever eventually takes over gives him a chance or Lerner has a complete change of heart.

I accept I'm in a minority on the good manger point and the 'stats' from his reign so far say otherwise, but I just think he's got it (whatever 'it' is) and in the right environment he will do brilliantly.

[LockStockVilla]

Can we stop panning his transfers a little bit?

Yes he's signed some duds but Benteke and Vlaar for 10m for me gives him a pass in that department.

Spot on. Hairy Hands said when he was posting last summer and in January 2013 I think that Lambert was having to go for his 4th or 5th transfer target options as he wasn't being given the funds to go for even his 2nd choice options, that's why we never got players like Cresswell and ended up with Bennett and Luna. I would really like to see what lambert could do properly backed.

Probably played a part in Henke leaving his post as Chief Scout, seeing all of his suggested signings being knocked back, he would've questioned what was the point if the work he was doing.

[Bottle Maker]

I like him. Yes there are better managers just like there are better players out there but unless Lerner finds lots more money or we gets old to someone very rich he is the Villa manager.  He sees the players all week and should no who his best team is. My only criticism is that he rarely makes substitutions until it's too late, 

[PussEKatt]

I would say, with our situation the way it is.He now has a chance to show what he can really do ( as a manager ) I mean if he can get a half decent team together and a bettet finishing position, the new owners ( whenever that happens ) might decide to keep him on.So it is in his owne interest to do much better from now on. 

[Shaw_nuff]

Last chance saloon. 

 

Manager is doing an about-turn on his youth policy in a desperate bid to save his career from going into a nose-dive. I look forward to seeing him prove me wrong and changing our style of play from shyte to merely watchable, but I'm not holding my breath.

[bretonvilla]

What a shameful pre season this is turning out to be . We now see a manager who has completely no conviction or belief in his own philosophy on football . How can such a radical change of policy result in anything but the impending doom which we seem to escape from by the skin of our teeth every season . Talk of a so called " long term project " is evidently HOLLOW . FALSE LIES . From sub standard youngsters one year to " has beens" and " never beens " the next .

                                                                  Having just seen a disastrous world cup when everyone agrees to have a successful team you need a sound structure , system , philosophy etc ; the events at the Villa show that we`re a million miles from any of that .  How can a smaller club like Southampton have such an impressive scouting system compared to ours. Noticed that Luna and Sylla could be on their way to second division Turkish and Italian sides which tells you how suitable they were for Villa in the first place. Now I see that Delf , player of the season last year , could be on his way to West Ham for £5m FFS ! Been supporting Villa for 40 years and never felt so miserable about a new season .

[Mantis]

Hang on a second, I thought one of the biggest gripes about Lambert was that his transfer policy was too extreme and that there wasn't enough experience? Now that we're bringing in experienced players for the first time since he's been here it's all a big disgrace? It's clear he doesn't have much to spend anyway (hence the free transfers).

 

And that stuff about Delph is just paper talk. It means nothing. I honestly don't know why people take so much stock in what they say.

[ArteSuave]

FALSE LIES .

False lies might seem like a bad thing on first viewing, especially when they're written in CAPITALS and whatnot, but aren't false lies just truths?

Less real lies I say, FALSE LIES only from now on please Lambo.

[479Villan]

There's nothing like inarticulate drivel advocating a position you support to make you rethink said position.

[Isa]

Hang on a second, I thought one of the biggest gripes about Lambert was that his transfer policy was too extreme and that there wasn't enough experience? Now that we're bringing in experienced players for the first time since he's been here it's all a big disgrace? It's clear he doesn't have much to spend anyway (hence the free transfers).

I don't agree with this line of reasoning being lazily used against anyone who has a problem with Lambert's complete u-turn in policy. Firstly, at least ascertain whether the poster in question himself criticised the 'young and hungry' policy on that basis before trying to put words in his mouth via some flimsy generalisation.

Secondly, I'm sure that some of those who did call for experience weren't therefore endorsing the current policy which basically centres around the idea that being older than what we have automatically makes it a good signing regardless of how untalented or past it the signings in question are.

Edited July 15, 2014 by Isa

[LondonLax]

 

Hang on a second, I thought one of the biggest gripes about Lambert was that his transfer policy was too extreme and that there wasn't enough experience? Now that we're bringing in experienced players for the first time since he's been here it's all a big disgrace? It's clear he doesn't have much to spend anyway (hence the free transfers).

I don't agree with this line of reasoning being lazily used against anyone who has a problem with Lambert's complete u-turn in policy. Firstly, at least ascertain whether the poster in question himself criticised the 'young and hungry' policy on that basis before trying to put words in his mouth via some flimsy generalisation.

Secondly, I'm sure that some of those who did call for experience weren't therefore endorsing the current policy which basically centres around the idea that being older than what we have automatically makes it a good signing regardless of how untalented or past it the signings in question are.

 

 

Experienced, talented players in the prime of their careers are out of our budget. 

 

The options are either: Young prospect with no guarantee they will make the step up or 'passed it' experienced pro looking for another chance in the top league. 

 

We needed a couple of the second lot to provide some steady heads on the pitch as last two seasons we have only had the first lot. 

[Isa]

Experienced, talented players in the prime of their careers are out of our budget.

The options are either: Young prospect with no guarantee they will make the step up or 'passed it' experienced pro looking for another chance in the top league.

We needed a couple of the second lot to provide some steady heads on the pitch as last two seasons we have only had the first lot.

So basically then you are just endorsing signing experience for experience's sake which I find utterly bemusing to be honest. Just to clarify, the idea that we needed experience and this was the root of our problems was never something I agreed with. We needed an increase in quality which in itself is unrelated to age.

The reason the 'young and hungry' project failed isn't because of the ages of the players (none of whom were even that young anyway), rather it was because most of them were crap. They are crap now and they'll still be crap in five years' time.

Regarding your choices, well if it is a choice between a youngster who might prove to be good enough at this level or someone like Senderos who never has been and at his age, has no scope for improvement then the logical option will always be the former.

This ridiculous argument that poor players can still benefit the team so long as they have some fabled experience was the same thing often used as a defence of the Grant Holt signing. "He'll be an experienced head in the dressing room" they said. "His leadership will benefit the younger players" they said. I thought people would've learned from that fateful experience but evidently not.

Edited July 15, 2014 by Isa

[NSmith22]

Experienced, talented players in the prime of their careers are out of our budget.

The options are either: Young prospect with no guarantee they will make the step up or 'passed it' experienced pro looking for another chance in the top league.

We needed a couple of the second lot to provide some steady heads on the pitch as last two seasons we have only had the first lot.

So basically then you are just endorsing signing experience for experience's sake which I find utterly bemusing to be honest. Just to clarify, the idea that we needed experience and this was the root of our problems was never something I agreed with. We needed an increase in quality which in itself is unrelated to age.

The reason the 'young and hungry' project failed isn't because of the ages of the players (none of whom were even that young anyway), rather it was because most of them were crap. They are crap now and they'll still be crap in five years' time.

Regarding your choices, well if it is a choice between a youngster who might prove to be good enough at this level or someone like Senderos who never has been and at his age, has no scope for improvement then the logical option will always be the former.

This ridiculous argument that poor players can still benefit the team so long as they have some fabled experience was the same thing often used as a defence of the Grant Holt signing. "He'll be an experienced head in the dressing room" they said. "His leadership will benefit the younger players" they said. I thought people would've learned from that fateful experience but evidently not.

When there is no money available in January and your top 2 strikers are out injured what would you do? Go out and get one of your former players who's done a job for you in the past, that has experience, and has a good head on his shoulders. Your example of Holt is pretty poor.

[Isa]

When there is no money available in January and your top 2 strikers are out injured what would you do? Go out and get one of your former players who's done a job for you in the past, that has experience, and has a good head on his shoulders. Your example of Holt is pretty poor.

Not really. The debate over the circumstantial justifactions for loaning Holt were done a hundred times over so I'm not bothered to go back into that. I'm specifically challenging the oft repeated view that he'd prove beneficial just due to his experience. Which clearly wasn't the case.

[bretonvilla]

 

FALSE LIES .

False lies might seem like a bad thing on first viewing, especially when they're written in CAPITALS and whatnot, but aren't false lies just truths?

Less real lies I say, FALSE LIES only from now on please Lambo.

 

Well spotted . Stick a coma between FALSE and LIES.

[Villarocker]

I don't blame Lambert for buying so many younger players. Think about it logically, older players with quality are known about and will cost plenty. Lambert has obviously tried to buy younger cheap players in the hope they have a bit of quality already and can develop even further.

People are saying that Cole is past it, and that may hold plenty of truth but, would we have afforded him if he was 5 years younger? Probably not.

[LondonLax]

 

Experienced, talented players in the prime of their careers are out of our budget.

The options are either: Young prospect with no guarantee they will make the step up or 'passed it' experienced pro looking for another chance in the top league.

We needed a couple of the second lot to provide some steady heads on the pitch as last two seasons we have only had the first lot.

So basically then you are just endorsing signing experience for experience's sake which I find utterly bemusing to be honest. Just to clarify, the idea that we needed experience and this was the root of our problems was never something I agreed with. We needed an increase in quality which in itself is unrelated to age.

The reason the 'young and hungry' project failed isn't because of the ages of the players (none of whom were even that young anyway), rather it was because most of them were crap. They are crap now and they'll still be crap in five years' time.

Regarding your choices, well if it is a choice between a youngster who might prove to be good enough at this level or someone like Senderos who never has been and at his age, has no scope for improvement then the logical option will always be the former.

This ridiculous argument that poor players can still benefit the team so long as they have some fabled experience was the same thing often used as a defence of the Grant Holt signing. "He'll be an experienced head in the dressing room" they said. "His leadership will benefit the younger players" they said. I thought people would've learned from that fateful experience but evidently not.

 

 

The bit in bold is the conclusion you have come to after analysing the squad? That we need better players? 

 

As useful as that insight is, the real test for the manager is trying to improve the squad when he is not allowed the funds to buy those better players. 

[villan501]

For me the major factor is lambert thought yiung and hungry would be better than experience we all knew he was wrong but he did it anyway. Lambert has signed experience now id take this anyday of the week playing kids and inexperienced players in league 2 you can getaway with but the Premier League is a different monster. I expect we will sign a few more older players but for me if lambert wastesmoney again on untried, inexperienced players i.e tonev helenius bowery then we are doomed.

[Isa]

The bit in bold is the conclusion you have come to after analysing the squad? That we need better players? 

 

As useful as that insight is, the real test for the manager is trying to improve the squad when he is not allowed the funds to buy those better players.

Way to take a line out of context. I was quite clearly disagreeing with the idea that a lack of experience was a problem for our squad rather than simply a lack of ability.

But you carry on...