Paul Lambert

[GENTLEMAN]

Don't like Lambert, want him gone but the main problem with the club is Lerner and his cronies. I wouldn't let them run a bath.

 

I find Lambert tactics shocking at times and he doesn't seem to know have to motivate a team consistently every week. Do I think Martinez/Rodgers would have done better yes. Do I think Martinez/Rodgers would have done what they have done at the toffees/plop? No way.

 

To be fair to Lambert he came in after the debacle of McLeish and Houllier where these imbecilic appointments took us from consistently 6th place to relegation fodder in record times. They signed players for large amounts of cash on big wages who have been financial burdens without providing any return.

 

Lambert has done very few things well and quite a lot of things poorly. He still persists with making the same mistakes over and over. Yes he works under massive restrictions but he is at best mediocre at taking advantage of the few positives he has to work with.

 

Things will not change until Lerner does one and I don't think that's anytime soon as he's taken a silk purse and made it into a sows ear and an expensive one at that.   

Exactly. The real focus should be on Lerner, not Lambert. If people want "real" change then the board should be scrutinised firstly.  

[villaglint]

I think Lambert has his limitations for sure but it is without doubt Lerner that is holding us back.

 

Problem is it is his club, his money and he can run it however he wants. We have no divine right to be owner by a wealthy man and unless anyone makes him an offer he cant refuse then we are stuck in this situation.

 

One thing I'll say is that there are plenty worse than him out there.

[DelboyVilla]

I think Lambert has his limitations for sure but it is without doubt Lerner that is holding us back.

 

Problem is it is his club, his money and he can run it however he wants. We have no divine right to be owner by a wealthy man and unless anyone makes him an offer he cant refuse then we are stuck in this situation.

 

One thing I'll say is that there are plenty worse than him out there.

 

Personally I think this wealthy owner/Oligarch/oil sheik is a bit of a myth and smoke screen put out by those who support Lerner. Same as the 'well he could be a Venky or Carson Yeung' this is very much the let's be happy with what we've got. Why should we be.

 

With better management we could certainly improve the clubs financial performance and we do not need someone to spend hundreds of millions on a squad to compete.

 

Southampton's results are interesting reading with a £8m loss and £21m owed in transfer fees and a potential £15m overspend on their new training ground. Of course this loss could be wiped out by the sale of Shaw and I also assume they will sell Oswaldo. Their wages are 62% of their turnover though which is incredible considering the entertaining way they play.

 

We need to change our ethos at the club. Watching the Sky games over the weekend a lot of the sides are playing teenagers which is something we don't seem to do. This needs to change for our long term plans IMO and we need a manager bold enough to risk them in real games.  

[bobzy]

Its interesting to see what Martinez has done this season at Everton with very little money, playing decent football along the way.

 

Yes he started with a stronger squad than Lambert but I do feel Lambert has spent the money without a major plan of how to improve the squad, nearly 2 years in and the spine of the team is not that much better than when he came.

 

Depends what you see as the spine of the team I guess?  I'm perfectly happy with Guzan/Vlaar/Delph/Benteke as "the spine" but there's a lack of quality outside of this that needs to be added in the summer.

[CrackpotForeigner]

Thanks to Lambert we've now got a SQUAD. He'll know as well as any of us that he now needs to bring in at least two quality players, but numbers-wise we've now got a number of players bought cheaply who aren't world-beaters, but are more than capable of doing a good job when called upon to fill in. They are young players on low wages, and while most of them won't perform well enough for a whole season, they'll put in a good shift when given the chance.

 

Assuming Lambert gets 20 million (net) to spend, we're in pretty decent shape overall.

[GENTLEMAN]

Thanks to Lambert we've now got a SQUAD. He'll know as well as any of us that he now needs to bring in at least two quality players, but numbers-wise we've now got a number of players bought cheaply who aren't world-beaters, but are more than capable of doing a good job when called upon to fill in. They are young players on low wages, and while most of them won't perform well enough for a whole season, they'll put in a good shift when given the chance.

 

Assuming Lambert gets 20 million (net) to spend, we're in pretty decent shape overall.

Yep. We just need to keep building each season.

[shaggy]

Thanks to Lambert we've now got a SQUAD. He'll know as well as any of us that he now needs to bring in at least two quality players, but numbers-wise we've now got a number of players bought cheaply who aren't world-beaters, but are more than capable of doing a good job when called upon to fill in. They are young players on low wages, and while most of them won't perform well enough for a whole season, they'll put in a good shift when given the chance.

 

Assuming Lambert gets 20 million (net) to spend, we're in pretty decent shape overall.

Complete rubbish. Once we get a few injuries to our better players our results take a nose dive and the stats are there to prove it. 

[ozvillafan]

 

Thanks to Lambert we've now got a SQUAD. He'll know as well as any of us that he now needs to bring in at least two quality players, but numbers-wise we've now got a number of players bought cheaply who aren't world-beaters, but are more than capable of doing a good job when called upon to fill in. They are young players on low wages, and while most of them won't perform well enough for a whole season, they'll put in a good shift when given the chance.

 

Assuming Lambert gets 20 million (net) to spend, we're in pretty decent shape overall.

Complete rubbish. Once we get a few injuries to our better players our results take a nose dive and the stats are there to prove it. 

 

 

That would be the situation for any team outside the top 5 or 6, no?

[shaggy]

 

 

Thanks to Lambert we've now got a SQUAD. He'll know as well as any of us that he now needs to bring in at least two quality players, but numbers-wise we've now got a number of players bought cheaply who aren't world-beaters, but are more than capable of doing a good job when called upon to fill in. They are young players on low wages, and while most of them won't perform well enough for a whole season, they'll put in a good shift when given the chance.

 

Assuming Lambert gets 20 million (net) to spend, we're in pretty decent shape overall.

Complete rubbish. Once we get a few injuries to our better players our results take a nose dive and the stats are there to prove it. 

 

 

That would be the situation for any team outside the top 5 or 6, no?

 

The poster said in his post that the players coming in were capable of doing a good job. The stats and results prove they are not.

[VillanousOne]

 

Thanks to Lambert we've now got a SQUAD. He'll know as well as any of us that he now needs to bring in at least two quality players, but numbers-wise we've now got a number of players bought cheaply who aren't world-beaters, but are more than capable of doing a good job when called upon to fill in. They are young players on low wages, and while most of them won't perform well enough for a whole season, they'll put in a good shift when given the chance.

 

Assuming Lambert gets 20 million (net) to spend, we're in pretty decent shape overall.

Complete rubbish. Once we get a few injuries to our better players our results take a nose dive and the stats are there to prove it. 

 

 

If Vlaar or Benteke get injured we go from being mid-bottom table fodder to relegation candidates.

Benteke won't be here next season and much as I like Kozak he is no replacement, nor clearly is Helenius.

 

People have branded Okore as our defensive saviour and the lad is young and played just a few minutes for us, i'm sure he will be great but it will take him time to become the player most have him pinned as.

[jon_c]

We have had our two biggest summer signings and N'zogbia out for the majority of the season. Also Vlaar and Benteke out for extended periods. In past seasons those sort of injuries to key players, would have seen us rooted to the bottom.

[VillanousOne]

 

 

 

Thanks to Lambert we've now got a SQUAD. He'll know as well as any of us that he now needs to bring in at least two quality players, but numbers-wise we've now got a number of players bought cheaply who aren't world-beaters, but are more than capable of doing a good job when called upon to fill in. They are young players on low wages, and while most of them won't perform well enough for a whole season, they'll put in a good shift when given the chance.

 

Assuming Lambert gets 20 million (net) to spend, we're in pretty decent shape overall.

Complete rubbish. Once we get a few injuries to our better players our results take a nose dive and the stats are there to prove it. 

 

 

That would be the situation for any team outside the top 5 or 6, no?

 

The poster said in his post that the players coming in were capable of doing a good job. The stats and results prove they are not.

 

agreed, so many players are only capable of a few good performances every 10 games. No-one is consistent, consistently awful yes.

Look at KEA anonymous, off the pace and ineffective one match and then suddenly he's covering every square inch of the pitch and making good passes.

 

Bacuna, defends well, scores goals one week and then weeks and weeks of being garbage

 

Gabby, unstoppable one game, pointless the next.

 

Weimann, one week he's garbage and then the next he's erm.......... oh

 

and so on

 

[PieFacE]

 

 

 

Thanks to Lambert we've now got a SQUAD. He'll know as well as any of us that he now needs to bring in at least two quality players, but numbers-wise we've now got a number of players bought cheaply who aren't world-beaters, but are more than capable of doing a good job when called upon to fill in. They are young players on low wages, and while most of them won't perform well enough for a whole season, they'll put in a good shift when given the chance.

 

Assuming Lambert gets 20 million (net) to spend, we're in pretty decent shape overall.

Complete rubbish. Once we get a few injuries to our better players our results take a nose dive and the stats are there to prove it. 

 

 

That would be the situation for any team outside the top 5 or 6, no?

 

The poster said in his post that the players coming in were capable of doing a good job. The stats and results prove they are not.

 

I think that's a bit unfair.

 

When Benteke got injured Kozak came in and did a good job. Unfortunately Kozak was then injured for the rest of the season.

When Okore got injured Clark/Baker come in to do a good job, unfortunately we had both Okore AND Vlaar injured at the same time.

When Lowton was out of form Bacuna came in and has done a good job in the grand scheme of things.

When Bertrand couldn't play Bennett actually stepped in and did a good job.

 

If most teams outside the top 5 or 6 had both of their main centre backs injured they would struggle. 

If they had a partly injured striker and the backup striker with a broken leg they would struggle.

 

Weirdly we've had very little injuries to our weakest part of the team which is midfield. 

Edited March 31, 2014 by PieFacE

[DelboyVilla]

With 8 goals conceded in the past 2 weeks has the Vlaar effect worn off? It's difficult for 1 player to hold the defence together every week and he seems a little of the boil at the moment?

 

I still think it was a massive mistake not getting defensive cover in during the January transfer window. It's a shame Lambert doesn't seem to consider a solid CB in the same light as his lone striker?

[Isa]

The problem with Vlaar is that he has to be at his absolute best to both do his job and babysit Baker or Clark through the match. It's not possible for him to do this every single game.

[DelboyVilla]

The problem with Vlaar is that he has to be at his absolute best to both do his job and babysit Baker or Clark through the match. It's not possible for him to do this every single game.

I quite agree hence knowing that Okore was out for pretty much the rest of the season why not sign a CB instead of Holt? I would rather not see Clark or Baker anywhere near the first team as we know they are not up to the job.

[spoonman]

Let me just update myself with Lambert's signings.... 

 

Ryan Bertrand * Left-Back 23     Chelsea FC   Premier League 31.05.2014 Grant Holt * Centre Forward 32     Wigan Athletic   Championship 31.05.2014 Libor Kozak Centre Forward 24     SS Lazio   Serie A 6.160.000 £ Jores Okore Centre Back 20     FC Nordsjaelland   Superligaen 4.136.000 £ Aleksandar Tonev Left Wing 23     Lech Poznan   Ekstraklasa 2.816.000 £ Antonio Luna Left-Back 22     Sevilla FC   Primera División 1.760.000 £ Nicklas Helenius Centre Forward 22     Aalborg BK   Superligaen 1.320.000 £ Leandro Bacuna Right-Back 21     FC Groningen   Eredivisie 880.000 £ Jed Steer Keeper 20     Norwich City   Premier League 475.200 £

 

Sooo with the exception of Okore who was unfortunate to be injured - is this not a total gong show of signings? Why sign the best striker in Denmark if he's not good enough for the premiership? (Why do we KEEP doing this??) How much of an insult is to to be a centre forward knowing the manager trusts Grant Holt over you? 

 

If you look at our transfers IN and OUT, Villa are BAD business. We never recoup, we don't make players worth selling so we are just losing money. It's no wonder Randy doesn't want to fork in anymore. MON blew us up on wages and every manager since has signed worthless crap that we take a loss on EVERY TIME. We've never replaced Petrov, Barry, Milner, Young, Carew, Laursen, Mellberg...  Our academy is just not producing (Deflouneso? - how much of his combined wages have we spent on a worthless player). Lambert is the man in charge of overseeing all of this and his signings are just woeful, his tactics are bizarre and reek of something trying to appear as a tactician. Remember MON's 5 year plan? What the hell is Lambert's plan? Keep wasting money until we hit the championship? I don't trust him, but I don't trust ANY of Randy's appointments (Remember - DOUG appointed MON).

[CrackpotForeigner]

 

Thanks to Lambert we've now got a SQUAD. He'll know as well as any of us that he now needs to bring in at least two quality players, but numbers-wise we've now got a number of players bought cheaply who aren't world-beaters, but are more than capable of doing a good job when called upon to fill in. They are young players on low wages, and while most of them won't perform well enough for a whole season, they'll put in a good shift when given the chance.

 

Assuming Lambert gets 20 million (net) to spend, we're in pretty decent shape overall.

Complete rubbish. Once we get a few injuries to our better players our results take a nose dive and the stats are there to prove it. 

 

 

Just to let you know: Most people on this site usually keep their replies to things they disagree with reasonably respectful, so as not to create a negative impression of themselves.

 

The idea of having a squad is that you have players who are backup in case your preferred players get injured. For several seasons now we have not really had this luxury. Once we have added quality to the squad we have, we will be in a good position. The point that you seem to have missed is that Lambert's first two seasons have addressed the squad issues, and that we can now use the available money to attract fewer, higher quality players.

 

It's pretty obvious that a team that doesn't pick its best players isn't going to do well. The trouble is that very few players ever play every game in a season.

[ermie123]

For God's sake just bring back Warren Aspinall and Ricardo Scimica!!!!

[shaggy]

Thanks to Lambert we've now got a SQUAD. He'll know as well as any of us that he now needs to bring in at least two quality players, but numbers-wise we've now got a number of players bought cheaply who aren't world-beaters, but are more than capable of doing a good job when called upon to fill in. They are young players on low wages, and while most of them won't perform well enough for a whole season, they'll put in a good shift when given the chance.

 

Assuming Lambert gets 20 million (net) to spend, we're in pretty decent shape overall.

Complete rubbish. Once we get a few injuries to our better players our results take a nose dive and the stats are there to prove it.

 

Just to let you know: Most people on this site usually keep their replies to things they disagree with reasonably respectful, so as not to create a negative impression of themselves.

 

The idea of having a squad is that you have players who are backup in case your preferred players get injured. For several seasons now we have not really had this luxury. Once we have added quality to the squad we have, we will be in a good position. The point that you seem to have missed is that Lambert's first two seasons have addressed the squad issues, and that we can now use the available money to attract fewer, higher quality players.

 

It's pretty obvious that a team that doesn't pick its best players isn't going to do well. The trouble is that very few players ever play every game in a season.

The point I'm putting forward is that the squad lambert has built isn't good enough to cover our better players and again I will put forward the stats and results when even one of our better players are missing such as Vlaar and there is no escaping that. It's probably why lambert has chopped and changed so much concerning systems to try and get the best out of who he has purchased and realised that his purchases at fullback for instance weren't cutting it so he had to then bring in a loan signing.

I'm not sure how many signings lambert has made but he has had very limited success in the transfer market probably just two of his signings would be kept by another manager coming in. It is no coincidence that under him our football has been generally poor and the results have matched that.