Paul Lambert

[markavfc40]

I have to say I found watching us today all a little sad and it reminded me of so many performances under Lambert. We were holding on for dear life against West Ham. A decent West Ham side granted in decent form but a West Ham side that I would be very surprised finished higher than 10th. We certainly had the rub of the green today and had West Ham been more clinical we'd have gone down 2 or 3 nil. On the plus side I felt we defended resolutely and both Baker and Guzan were superb in that regard.

I'm happy with the point today but the bigger picture tells a different story. Two and a half years into Lambert's tenure and I genuinely can't tell you anything his side does well. We struggle to put more than 5 passes together, we struggle to create chances, we struggle to take chances when they are created, we often defend like a pub team and when going a goal down 99% of the time we completely fold and lack the self belief and character to come back.

I know Lambert hasn't been dealt a good hand financially but even so two and a half years, 50 mill spent, a big turn over in players and we can't even do the basic things reasonably well. We have no defined style of play aside from it seems soak up pressure and hope that the opposing side either fails to create chances and take them or our defense has the odd blinder and we secure a point. As a bonus every now and then we will score a breakaway goal.

The one saving grace since Lambert has been here is that we haven't been relegated but surely this can't go on. I believe we now have a squad that is better than having to battle relegation but if Lambert continues to manage us I am under no illusions we will again face another battle to stay up whilst at the same time being served up dire football.

Edited November 8, 2014 by markavfc40

[AshVilla]

"To play as we did and be resolute I thought was first-class"

 

Taken from Lambert's press conference after the game

 

If that was us being "First Class" i'd hate to imagine what a Second or Third Class performance would look like

 

The bloke really is digging his own grave now with these press conferences

 

A first class performance would have been us winning comfortably by 2 - 3 goals playing free flowing attacking football not defending for 90 minutes and hoping not to concede

 

Do us a favour Paul and walk it's getting embarrassing now

 

We really do not want to "Go Again"

Edited November 8, 2014 by AshVilla

[CrackpotForeigner]

Seven  games, no wins and one goal.

 

Five goals all season going into the November international break, is that the lowest ever?

 

It's a **** disgrace, Lambert out.

 

If anything's a disgrace it's a Premier League side spending less than ten million pounds in the transfer window after finishing 15th. But it's RL's club and he can do what he wants with it.

[villarule123]

5 goals all season, it's **** embarrassing. A few years ago we were scoring more than that in single games.

 

It's time to let him go, he was my first choice manager before he was appointed, due to how well he did with Norwich, but he's been a complete and utter disappointment. I can't believe we've sunk this low, but I think it's time to get Pulis in. Survival is everything now for us as we need to sell the club.

 

I get no enjoyment out of watching our games anymore, even when we somehow win. The Hull game was OK in the first half but we play the most dull, cowardly brand of football I've ever seen at the Villa. It's the kind of stuff I'd see from Wigan, Fulham etc of a few years ago and think '**** I wish they'd get out of this league'. We add nothing to the league anymore and are one of those games that everyone sighs at when we pop up on the fixtures.

[dont_do_it_doug.]

A good point today, but he still has to go.

If a proportion of our fans still want to watch Lambert's brand of "football" that's up to them.

Me? I'll give it a miss.

I don't think anybody really *wants* to watch that Rob and people are staying away in their droves. I will also add that you are one of the many who enjoy laughing at the shit down the road for struggling to gather up two men and a dog (which is which?) every other week.

We need some people to turn up, I think the crowds are sufficiently low enough for the message to be heard.

[a m ole]

I'm not one of those calling for his head, but I'm getting frustrated at how blunt we are. I hope he doesn't really think we were that excellent as he intimated after the game because it's so difficult to watch us give the ball away so cheaply and unnecessarily when we should be taking the game to the opposition and pegging them back. always being on the back foot is beginning to grate.

[nik986]

I like Lambert, he seems a nice guy. I really want him to succeed.

 

But, clearly, after two and a half years, nothing has moved forward.

 

He has spent money and on the whole the team/squad has not improved.

 

Yes he's had successes with Benteke and Vlaar, but far too many misses, most of whom are out on loan this season.

 

We are in as bad a position as when he took over, the football is as bad, and the most worrying thing for me is with have no ethos or philosophy in our football except for sit back and hope for the best. At least when we were signing young, lower league players, it seemed as those he had a plan, now it seems as though the years here have aged him and made him weary and he had no idea.

[AVFCAM]

I'm not one of those calling for his head, but I'm getting frustrated at how blunt we are. I hope he doesn't really think we were that excellent as he intimated after the game because it's so difficult to watch us give the ball away so cheaply and unnecessarily when we should be taking the game to the opposition and pegging them back. always being on the back foot is beginning to grate.

I'm not sure how you can still not feel the need for his head...we've made no progress in 3 years. We are awful to watch, we can score and we have no midfield and we haven't had a midfield for 3 years...

[Brumstopdogs]

Another game without a goal, another performance where we deserved to lose. 1 point and 1 goal from 7 premier league games.

 

Lerner/Fox should be ashamed of themselves for their lack of action to get rid of the clueless Lambert.

Edited November 8, 2014 by Brumstopdogs

[CrackpotForeigner]

The spending has been disappointing.

 

The injuries have been disappointing.

 

The performances from the uninjured bargain basement players we have have been disappointing (although surprisingly good for the money paid).

 

And surprise, surprise, the results have been disappointing.

 

Why is it the only thing most people can think of to fix this is to sack the man whose shoestring budget transfer dealings have been the one bit of good news over three years?

 

I assume it's because they put far, far too much value on a manager's ability to polish a turd using things called tactics and coaching - things 90% of people know absolutely nothing about.

[a m ole]

I think we've had many difficult circumstances, and when one problem seems to be solved another rears its head. I think it's an unbelievably hard job and I doubt many other (realistic) managers could do much better. But, there just seems to be a lack of confidence to attack teams in the players that really needs to be sorted out.

[Brumstopdogs]

The spending has been disappointing.

 

The injuries have been disappointing.

 

The performances from the uninjured bargain basement players we have have been disappointing (although surprisingly good for the money paid).

 

And surprise, surprise, the results have been disappointing.

 

Why is it the only thing most people can think of to fix this is to sack the man whose shoestring budget transfer dealings have been the one bit of good news over three years?

 

I assume it's because they put far, far too much value on a manager's ability to polish a turd using things called tactics and coaching - things 90% of people know absolutely nothing about.

The problem is we have a turd doing the polishing.

[HeyAnty]

Just back from today. We actually played pretty well for the first 25mins of second half...

Okay Westham pummelled us for the remainder, but we did create chances. If we had a decent goal scorer on we would have won. Obvs that still assuming WestHam still missed all their chances. But we had chances, thats all im saying!

[CrackpotForeigner]

 

The spending has been disappointing.

 

The injuries have been disappointing.

 

The performances from the uninjured bargain basement players we have have been disappointing (although surprisingly good for the money paid).

 

And surprise, surprise, the results have been disappointing.

 

Why is it the only thing most people can think of to fix this is to sack the man whose shoestring budget transfer dealings have been the one bit of good news over three years?

 

I assume it's because they put far, far too much value on a manager's ability to polish a turd using things called tactics and coaching - things 90% of people know absolutely nothing about.

The problem is we have a turd doing the polishing.

 

 

You're basing this on what? His bad tactics and coaching? Or on the results? If it's the results, please tell me what you disagree with about what I wrote, without saying "yes, but tactics and coaching".

[foreveryoung]

The spending has been disappointing.

 

The injuries have been disappointing.

 

The performances from the uninjured bargain basement players we have have been disappointing (although surprisingly good for the money paid).

 

And surprise, surprise, the results have been disappointing.

 

Why is it the only thing most people can think of to fix this is to sack the man whose shoestring budget transfer dealings have been the one bit of good news over three years?

 

I assume it's because they put far, far too much value on a manager's ability to polish a turd using things called tactics and coaching - things 90% of people know absolutely nothing about.

But we still couldn't beat Bradford in 2 legs and got knocked out by a not in form Orient side. Ohh, but they have multi million pound players??????????

[suttonpaul]

Players always have up and down games but quality tells.

When you are paying half the wages of the average premier league players wage packet (3m a year) it is difficult to even expect average quality.

When you are picking up 6 players for 6m when a Tom Cleverly costs you 8m it is also difficult to expect average quality.

You then look to the books and break open the FFP rule book to see how it fits and you see that with our three year losses we cant go out and spend many tens of millions on players because of the 3 year loss.

In short we are going to have to stick this out a bit longer and generate some more money as a club.

Can a new manager to better? Yes of course one could but I would be hard pressed to tell you who would come to the club to work with the same constraints and be guaranteed to do better. Could a new owner do better? Yes again of course but fans need to realise that FFP aint going away and whoever is the owner they need to adhere to it.

[CrackpotForeigner]

But we still couldn't beat Bradford in 2 legs and got knocked out by a not in form Orient side. Ohh, but they have multi million pound players??????????

 

 

Fair criticism. In Lambert's defence, all I can say is that "the magic of the cup" is at its strongest when a lower league side gets a scent of blood. A well-motivated side can very often win against a better team, as Aston Villa under Lambert have themselves shown against Liverpool (twice), Man City, Arsenal, Chelsea, etc. The tricky bit is to do it consistently, because it's very hard for every player to be super-motivated for a whole season. Better-funded clubs can afford genuine competition for every starting place, which helps a lot.

[nik986]

 

 

The spending has been disappointing.

 

The injuries have been disappointing.

 

The performances from the uninjured bargain basement players we have have been disappointing (although surprisingly good for the money paid).

 

And surprise, surprise, the results have been disappointing.

 

Why is it the only thing most people can think of to fix this is to sack the man whose shoestring budget transfer dealings have been the one bit of good news over three years?

 

I assume it's because they put far, far too much value on a manager's ability to polish a turd using things called tactics and coaching - things 90% of people know absolutely nothing about.

The problem is we have a turd doing the polishing.

 

 

 

You're basing this on what? His bad tactics and coaching? Or on the results? If it's the results, please tell me what you disagree with about what I wrote, without saying "yes, but tactics and coaching".

 

 

You are saying that no other available manager could get a rhythm from this group of players? As for tactics - which ones are those? sit back and try to nick a game? As for coaching - what coaching? the coaching that led to his two trusted lieutenants sacked for bullying? He should have a blueprint/a plan, and clearly does not, besides the aforementioned 'cross fingers and hope for the best'.

 

Yes, he's been at a club when spending has been restricted, but doesn't mean he gets a free pass.

[nik986]

Players always have up and down games but quality tells.

When you are paying half the wages of the average premier league players wage packet (3m a year) it is difficult to even expect average quality.

When you are picking up 6 players for 6m when a Tom Cleverly costs you 8m it is also difficult to expect average quality.

You then look to the books and break open the FFP rule book to see how it fits and you see that with our three year losses we cant go out and spend many tens of millions on players because of the 3 year loss.

In short we are going to have to stick this out a bit longer and generate some more money as a club.

Can a new manager to better? Yes of course one could but I would be hard pressed to tell you who would come to the club to work with the same constraints and be guaranteed to do better. Could a new owner do better? Yes again of course but fans need to realise that FFP aint going away and whoever is the owner they need to adhere to it.

 

I think someone else could get more from these players. He has a squad of players, that he has put together, that he doesn't use. If all players are fit he plays the same XI week in, week out regardless of opposition or form. This for me, alongside his lack of a tactical plan, is a major failing.

[Brumstopdogs]

If the coaching isn't right then Lambert is to blame - they're his people.

 

The tactics, or lack of them, again simply aren't good enough. There's no variation in our play which makes us predictable hence why we're the lowest scorers in the league.

Edited November 8, 2014 by Brumstopdogs