Paul Lambert

[Stevo985]

While the last 135 minutes of football have been good I don't think it wipes everything else out.

We still average less than a point per game over our last 10. We still were knocked out by a lower league team in the cup, we still are far too high in the tables for long balls and far too low for possession.

I need to see more consistency with performances and results before I'm convinced.

We all need that. That much is obvious.

 

The point is we seem to be heading in that direction. Slowly, but the trend is up.

As long as that is happening I'm satisfied.

[dont_do_it_doug.]

While the last 135 minutes of football have been good I don't think it wipes everything else out.

We still average less than a point per game over our last 10. We still were knocked out by a lower league team in the cup, we still are far too high in the tables for long balls and far too low for possession.

I need to see more consistency with performances and results before I'm convinced.

You say 135 minutes but we won the game before that. We weren't great, but we played well enough at times to deserve the points. Just as we weren't always terrible during the 5 game sequence before no? Just generally, like we've been generally good (at times excellent) during the last 3.

So it stands to reason a good result/performance against the baggies and the corner can be called "turned".

[Ulver]

So we've let the bloke off the hook for something like 180 decent minutes football in over half a season ?

 

He's got a LOT to make up and prove to me before i'll accept he knows what he's doing that's for sure

[Zatman]

So we've let the bloke off the hook for something like 180 decent minutes football in over half a season ?

 

He's got a LOT to make up and prove to me before i'll accept he knows what he's doing that's for sure

 

liverpool, chelsea, man city, arsenal is more than 180 minutes and thats not including some of our victories

[dont_do_it_doug.]

So we've let the bloke off the hook for something like 180 decent minutes football in over half a season ?

He's got a LOT to make up and prove to me before i'll accept he knows what he's doing that's for sure

Nobody is saying they've let him off the hook. Save for an hour post Palace he was never on my hook.

Worry about your own opinion.

[Stevo985]

So we've let the bloke off the hook for something like 180 decent minutes football in over half a season ?

 

Literally nobody has said that.

[Dodgyknees]

I admit, a lot of my support for Lambert comes with a good feeling about him. Much in the way I had a bad feeling about AM and much like I didn't trust DOL, this feeling is one of hope and it makes me believe things can change. I saw a lot in the team at the end of last season and in small glimpses this season, to make me believe there is something good happening there. Lambert deserves backing similar to what managers of other smaller and same size clubs get before we decide whether he should stay or go. Right now though he is working wonders on one of the smallest budgets.

[TRO]

 

No one on here can have a moan at Aston Villa more then me. 

 

but that first half particularly, was a perfect illustration of what I have been wanting to see( it could have been 4 or 5 to us)....because they dispelled the kind of criticism i have been aiming at them.

 

it wasn't the 2 goals that encouraged me ( however they play a big part) it was the general approach play and movement off the ball.

 

no excuse now, they can, do it and against class opposition.

 

something to build on.

Wouldn't you just love to know whether Pl knows how and why we suddenly did that !!  I would.  Is it alchemy, the stars, tactics (obviously they play at least part), confidence, opposition undercooked (all Rodgers talk of them trying for the title ) , all of these, or what.

 

I do think we have seen it before but how and why it went and then returned is baffling.

 

The only thing I would say though, is , well, if we did that all the time, (specificall that first 30 minutes or so) and fineshed the chances, we would be Top 6. That wouldn't make sense either !!

 

I am baffled !

 

 

I think( IIRC) that we did something similar when Ron Atkinson played Fenton in a diamond at Wembley and bamboozled Fergie for our famous win.....mind you Saunders and Dalian Atkinson had something to do with it too.

[Morpheus]

 

 

 

We're closer to the bottom than we are to 9th place. I think its premature to say we're not in a relegation battle.

Last season we averaged 1.07 points a game.

So far we currently average 1.09 points a game.

Have we improved lots or is it more to do with more teams performing worse this year?

 

No.....it would be premature to say we won't be in a relegation battle but it's not premature to say that we are not in one now

 

The "are we better, or are other teams worse?" debate is pointless - league position is all that matters and we are doing much better this season

 

 

This of course is wholly based on our worst start ever to a Premiership campaign last season which would take very little to improve upon it.

 

However with a current record of losing six in nine and no wins at home in the last six our improvement has been marginal or have you now a bee in your bonnet due one good performance against Liverpool where we lost a two goal lead and ended up drawing the game?

 

 

Which in turn was based on Lambert inheriting a shambles of overpaid and underenthusatic wasters - or perhaps you thought that this was a recipe for our best ever start?

 

If we finish 10th-12th then Lambert has done brilliantly well in my opinion and hopefully will be backed by Lerner to take us well into the top half next season

 

By the way my enthusiam for Lambert has been unstinting and not based solely on the Liverpool result

 

Finally as you seem to be a beatles fan I've got an apposite lyrics for you - try Strawberry Fields Forever "Living is easy with eyes closed, Misunderstanding all you see"

 

Absolutely hilarious.

 

So our poor start last season was due to the players already at the club and nothing to do with any of Lambert's new signings especially in defence where we conceded 15 goals in three games without reply. You really do talk a load of bollox VillaCas.

 

I'll give you one thing though. Lambert has actually signed a decent FB after four attempts which is probably in line with his overall success rate in transfers.

 

Just better to Let It Be mate. 

[Pilchard]

So we've let the bloke off the hook for something like 180 decent minutes football in over half a season ?

 

He's got a LOT to make up and prove to me before i'll accept he knows what he's doing that's for sure

 

Letting off the hook is the wrong phrase for me.

 

I think we've been lucky that this year half the teams in the league are as good as each other. The way we've played for most of the season has been terrible, and the results against Palace, Sheffield Utd we awful, awful ones. The result at Fulham, too.

 

But there has been an upturn in performances, both style of play and results in the last few games. We can talk about buying crap players etc - but if the team are holding the head up away from the drop zone and playing something that kind of resembles football - then looking at budgets etc - then it's hard to be critical with that, isn't it? My problem was, and still is, the large periods of time where we haven't played a decent game and not go points in games that we should have, even with a tiny budget.

 

It's odd as we've done well against the top teams this year and struggled against the rest which isn't something I can remember us doing for some time. If the improvement continues, then why would we want to moan/have someone else etc?

[praisedmambo]

We're quite obviously improving.

 

People are just being negative for the sake of being negative.  Sometimes I think it's just to save face.  If they're negative and we turn out to do crap, they "win".  If they're negative about stuff that may/may not happen in the future they "can't be wrong".

I genuinely think you should support someone like Celtic or Barcelona. It's the only way you'll ever be happy.

 

That said, I have no idea why you wouldn't want to look at the positives when supporting a team - it baffles me.

Wrong on both counts but at least you've stopped referring to criticism of Lambert as moaning which is an improvement.

 

If people were being negative for the sake of being negative then they wouldn't be able to substantiate their opinion with prevalent stats or actually just commenting on what they have seen before their eyes.

 

If we had been playing consistently good football and achieving consistently good results and not being on a wretched run of form losing six in nine then you could state the above with confidence.

 

As it is your just talking bollox.

[Houlston]

29 goals against to 44 is also a rapid improvement

 

13 of those 44 goals did come in two matches though.

 

In terms of the rest its all very marginal improvements but generally the football has been poor. If the fast paced, good passing and pressing continues from Liverpool then we may even finish in this lofty position. However if the football from previous continues we will, imo, drop down the league.

[VillaCas]

 

Absolutely hilarious.

 

Thank you, I thought so

 

 

 

So our poor start last season was due to the players already at the club and nothing to do with any of Lambert's new signings especially in defence where we conceded 15 goals in three games without reply. You really do talk a load of bollox VillaCas.

 

I'll give you one thing though. Lambert has actually signed a decent FB after four attempts which is probably in line with his overall success rate in transfers.

 

Just better to Let It Be mate. 

 

 

In my opinion that is absolutely the main contributory factor, yes.  If Lambert had come in and only had to fine tune a squad you might just have a point, however that was clearly not the case

 

With regard to transfers it may have passed you by but normally teams have two players for each position, which is why you need four fullbacks - given one of our FBs is long term injured it makes sense to recruit further and higher quality players in that position

 

With regard to Lambert overall transfer record - Lambert has spent £40m on 16 players and at the same time we have shipped out 18 players that cost us £80m - in effect a net spend of minus £40m.  Given the financial restrictions, I think that we have done some good business. 

 

Goalkeepers - We have replaced Given and Marshall with Guzan and Steer at zero cost and on probably half the wages

 

Defence - Lowton, Vlaar, Okore, Luna for 11m or Hutton, Collins, Dunne, Warnock for 20m - no contest for me and at less than half the wages

 

Midfield - Makoun, Ireland, Bannon, Holman at 14m or Westwood, Bacuna, KEA, Sylla at half that and half the wages - no contest

 

Forwards - Benteke 7m or Bent 24m? Heskey or Kozak?

 

Even though not setting the world on fire, Bennett for Stevens and Helenius for Fonz are still improvements. Bowery might not make it but cost peanuts. Only Tonev has been a failure so far.

 

Your constant harking back to last season, and to our poor run of results last christmas is ancient history now - I really fail to see the relavance and really can't understand why you cling to this so passionatly. Even if Lambert delivers a mid-table finish this season (which EVEN YOU must admit would be a good finish) I don't that you will get any joy from this and will continue to live in the past

 

Last year Lambert finished higher and with more points than McL whilst using far less resources, this year we are on average 5 league places higher and in the top ten - year on year improvement in anyone's book.

 

A couple more decent signings and we can look forward to a top 8 finish next season - this would be brilliant progress considering the shambles we were in

[Zatman]

 

29 goals against to 44 is also a rapid improvement

 

13 of those 44 goals did come in two matches though.

 

In terms of the rest its all very marginal improvements but generally the football has been poor. If the fast paced, good passing and pressing continues from Liverpool then we may even finish in this lofty position. However if the football from previous continues we will, imo, drop down the league.

 

 

still progress. compared to last season their has only been one game we havent been in it and thats United match

[bobzy]

Even the United match we were in it early on - but then conceeded and collapsed.

 

There's been an interesting transition in Villa from generally conceeding late on and losing points to, now, generally conceeding first and having to fight back.  Anyone else noticed this or am I completely wrong?

[Mantis]

Even the United match we were in it early on - but then conceeded and collapsed.

 

There's been an interesting transition in Villa from generally conceeding late on and losing points to, now, generally conceeding first and having to fight back.  Anyone else noticed this or am I completely wrong?

No, I agree with you. We've rarely scored first this season. I think our biggest problem is that we don't just concede one we usually concede another straight after for some odd reason.

 

I do like though how we didn't collapse completely on Saturday night against Liverpool. Even after they equalised we stood firm and looked threatening ourselves at times. Let's not forget as well that their equaliser came from a disgusting dive from a horrible scummy player.

Edited January 22, 2014 by Mantis

[TRO]

commenting on one game and commenting on the season as a whole is entirely different and shouldn't be connected

 

If we can't be pleased with the Liverpool Performance/Result then there is something wrong with us....we all know we have had some bad ones.

 

The season is a different "kettle of fish" we are clearly inconsistent and the away form is stronger than the home form.....There are pockets of good and pockets of bad.

 

Everyone who writes on here positive or negative has a valid point....There is no right and wrong. its not sitting on the fence, everyone is right in their own way.

 

I have had my moments of despair this season ( away at Fulham for one) at Home to Palace on the other hand great day at the emirates and a great result and fight back against City.

 

Consistency right now is our enemy.....I'm sure the manager knows and is trying to improve it.

 

ps  I think Bertrand may be a good start.

[Morpheus]

 

 

Absolutely hilarious.

 

Thank you, I thought so

 

 

 

So our poor start last season was due to the players already at the club and nothing to do with any of Lambert's new signings especially in defence where we conceded 15 goals in three games without reply. You really do talk a load of bollox VillaCas.

 

I'll give you one thing though. Lambert has actually signed a decent FB after four attempts which is probably in line with his overall success rate in transfers.

 

Just better to Let It Be mate. 

 

 

In my opinion that is absolutely the main contributory factor, yes.  If Lambert had come in and only had to fine tune a squad you might just have a point, however that was clearly not the case

 

With regard to transfers it may have passed you by but normally teams have two players for each position, which is why you need four fullbacks - given one of our FBs is long term injured it makes sense to recruit further and higher quality players in that position

 

With regard to Lambert overall transfer record - Lambert has spent £40m on 16 players and at the same time we have shipped out 18 players that cost us £80m - in effect a net spend of minus £40m.  Given the financial restrictions, I think that we have done some good business. 

 

Goalkeepers - We have replaced Given and Marshall with Guzan and Steer at zero cost and on probably half the wages

 

Defence - Lowton, Vlaar, Okore, Luna for 11m or Hutton, Collins, Dunne, Warnock for 20m - no contest for me and at less than half the wages

 

Midfield - Makoun, Ireland, Bannon, Holman at 14m or Westwood, Bacuna, KEA, Sylla at half that and half the wages - no contest

 

Forwards - Benteke 7m or Bent 24m? Heskey or Kozak?

 

Even though not setting the world on fire, Bennett for Stevens and Helenius for Fonz are still improvements. Bowery might not make it but cost peanuts. Only Tonev has been a failure so far.

 

Your constant harking back to last season, and to our poor run of results last christmas is ancient history now - I really fail to see the relavance and really can't understand why you cling to this so passionatly. Even if Lambert delivers a mid-table finish this season (which EVEN YOU must admit would be a good finish) I don't that you will get any joy from this and will continue to live in the past

 

Last year Lambert finished higher and with more points than McL whilst using far less resources, this year we are on average 5 league places higher and in the top ten - year on year improvement in anyone's book.

 

A couple more decent signings and we can look forward to a top 8 finish next season - this would be brilliant progress considering the shambles we were in

 

Lets get the FB issue out of the way first.

 

In an ideal world you need cover in every position and thats a point which any football fan would agree on. However the point which you so readily ignore is that Lambert has purchased FBs that clearly aren't good enough particularly down our left hand side which opposing teams have continually targeted and that's why Lambert has now brought in another with Premiership experience.

 

You remember that point I have continually made on site VillaCas concerning a balance between Premiership experience and youth? It's interesting that Lambert is now pursuing that exact policy after nearly two years. A policy I might add which you were quick to ridicule.

 

The major contributing factor to last season was Lambert being unable to find a system that suited the players he had purchased and this season he has now realised that no matter what system he tries to incorporate those players into, the majority of those players simply aren't good enough.

 

How many of Lambert's purchases do you think another manager would keep?

 

Our poor run of results last season certainly isn't ancient history now as it has been repeated this season again. Losing six in nine and no wins in the last six home games is a set of results with parity to last season as is the wretched football we have been playing up until the game against Liverpool. Those set of results alone should give cause for concern rather than quick fix triumphalism depicted by graphs.

 

Still no graph showing Lambert's overall record with us I see. What are you afraid of VillaCas?

 

Player comparisons are down to opinion yet results are not and those players you place so much faith in now need a helping hand due to results with more experienced players the type of which Lambert got rid of. Holt v Bent . Fonz v Bowery or Helenius. Albrighton v Tonev but at least Lambert has realised his mistake with Tonev and ended Albrighton's loan.

 

Any progress made now due to signings could have been made at least a year ago if Lambert had allocated his budget better.  We should have been where you expected us to be and that's not fighting a relegation battle last season and not trying to play catch up now.

[StanBalaban]

The Villa hat girl has been replaced by this fella!!!  

 

 

Not even he looks happy! Lambert out!!

[vandaq]

Simply not good enough. Sort it out Lambert