Paul Lambert

[Rob182]

Personally, I don't really know whether it's better for Lambert to stay or go.

Long term, yes it makes sense for us to have stability at the club (my god, we need some). However. His transfer dealings aren't great (to put it lightly). We know some of this comes from Randy's remit due to the cost cutting, but it's Lamberts job to unearth little gems. He tried, and bar Benteke, possibly Okore, and Westwood, it's failed miserably. Vlaar is great, but is so injury prone it's unreal. This should've been picked up at the stage of under going a medical.

We can say 'yes he hasn't spent much so that's why the players aren't great', but WBA paid £300k for Mulumbu. West Ham got Diame on a free. We got Sylla and KEA. Someone scouted those players. Those clubs took a gamble, and it worked. Our gambles haven't paid off.

We've bought a stack of fullbacks who are all terrible, resulting in us having to loan one this winter. We've bought strikers who will never step foot on the pitch as a first team option which has resulted in us not being able to afford a midfield. We spent the entirety of January chasing Wes Hoolihan rather than moving onto other targets or letting Dale Stephens out of JulieBs basement. Do I need to continue?

Just on Lambert's transfers, I don't think you're being entirely fair.

WBA might have got Mulumbu for peanuts, but how many of their other players have been dreadful for similar or more money?

West Ham didn't find Diame or take a gamble, everyone knew he was decent, but his wages are huge. Saying that they got him for free is not telling the whole story.

For the prices paid, I'd say Lambert has done better than he has worse.

Benteke, Vlaar and Okore (from the little we have seen of him) seem like quality signings, despite injury concerns.

Lowton, Westwood, Bacuna & Kozak look decent for the money paid for them (Lowton's form of last year, Kozak pre-injury, Bacuna is showing potential). I'd even put Helenius in that category. Even though Lambert hasn't shown much faith in him to date, he's looked decent when he's played, and will definitely be a player we can use in the coming years. Perhaps Lambert thought he would be ready for the Prem sooner than he's actually showing in training.

Sylla and Bowery are somewhere in between 'decent for the money' and 'poor purchase'. Both were dirt cheap and both have had varying degrees of success when played. Sylla was quality last year and looked like a real gem. This year he has fallen away. Bowery has shown good movement and workrate when played, but as of yet, he hasn't shown much more.

El Ahmadi, Bennett, Luna & Tonev have been poor buys, in my opinion, and look to be below-average players. However, El Ahmadi has shown (on rare occasions) that he can do a job. Unfortunately, I think the main job he's done, was to be a cheap midfield addition on low wages, with a view to filling up the squad. (I actually don't mind Luna, but his positioning let's him down too often).

You may completely disagree with the above assessment, but I think Lambert has done well, considering the money paid for the players.

I also think it's clear that this summer will see different spending. We might see a few 'cheap gambles' like Helenius and Sylla, but I think the majority of the funds will go on 2 or 3 'Okore' or 'Benteke' level signings, as Lambert now has a squad.

[thetrees]

Give the man credit where its due, what ever he did/said at half time swung the game completely around!

 

I like this about Lambert!

The same could be said about half time last Saturday, although the talk had the opposite effect.

[Dodgyknees]

One thing I don't understand, apparently we were unlucky last night, yet when people suggest were were lucky against Southampton/Man City they are told it is nothing to do with luck.

How does that work?

[slowandlow]

wouldnt say we were unlucky personally - draw a fair result as they hit the woodwork twice, should have had a pen and a couple of other chances which is comparable to the couple of chances we had

[Stevo985]

One thing I don't understand, apparently we were unlucky last night, yet when people suggest were were lucky against Southampton/Man City they are told it is nothing to do with luck.

How does that work?

And you could say the exact opposite about the opposite opinion.

[Dodgyknees]

One thing I don't understand, apparently we were unlucky last night, yet when people suggest were were lucky against Southampton/Man City they are told it is nothing to do with luck.

How does that work?

And you could say the exact opposite about the opposite opinion.

It's like looking in a mirror!

[Stevo985]

 

 

One thing I don't understand, apparently we were unlucky last night, yet when people suggest were were lucky against Southampton/Man City they are told it is nothing to do with luck.

How does that work?

And you could say the exact opposite about the opposite opinion.

It's like looking in a mirror!

 

It's true though.

 

You'll have people saying we weren't lucky against Southampton/Citeh but were unlucky last night.

 

Equally you'll have people saying we were lucky against Southampton/Citeh but last night luck had nothing to do with it.

 

 

Both opinions are as shit as each other.

[Dodgyknees]

One thing I don't understand, apparently we were unlucky last night, yet when people suggest were were lucky against Southampton/Man City they are told it is nothing to do with luck.

How does that work?

And you could say the exact opposite about the opposite opinion.

It's like looking in a mirror!

It's true though.

You'll have people saying we weren't lucky against Southampton/Citeh but were unlucky last night.

Equally you'll have people saying we were lucky against Southampton/Citeh but last night luck had nothing to do with it.

Both opinions are as shit as each other.

True, I hate suggesting we were lucky. Last night was due to a lack of skill, maybe a lack of effort. Marshall and Turner were good, but our players were hesitent and gave chances away. Guzan has saved our neck plenty of times, Marshall did the same last night for Cardiff. We weren't unlucky, we just weren't good enough.

[briny_ear]

The job of a football manager is just to try to win each match he plays, motivating and utilising the abilities of his squad to maximum effect.

All this guff about "job not finished" is just an excuse for the fact that Lambert isn't doing his job very well in the here and now.

Very short sighted view there - it's a lot more complicated than that and teams that plan for the long haul tend to do a lot better than teams that don't.

It's not "short-sighted"; it's just reality. Very little can be achieved by clubs in the long term if they don't regularly win matches and sustain their success in the present, although obviously squad building us important as well. While it sounds very profound to say that teams that "plan for the long haul" tend to do well, this is all very vague. I would challenge you to define what "planning for the long haul" actually means in footballing terms, which clubs you think have achieved success by doing this, and the sense in which PaulLambert is currently "planning for the long haul".

[flashingqwerty]

Villa are working now as they will need to work when the fair play rules come in which they think will put them in a better place when it happens.

The problem is other clubs are pumping vast sums of money into the squad now before these rules take effect so that their squads will be better when the rules come in.

 

Whilst villa's approach gives us more practice at finding decent cheap players, it does mean that as we aren't bringing in expensive better quality players now that when the rules do come in we're going to be quite far behind the majority of other clubs in our position because we haven't gambled more.  This is more a failing on Lerner's part than Lambert's, but we still have signed a huge number of really crap players who have no place in the Premier League, the only exceptions being Vlaar, Benteke and maybe Okore.  I honestly dont think any of the other signings Lambert has made are even close to being good enough to play regular football at this level and the majority never will.

[Stevo985]

 

 

 

 

One thing I don't understand, apparently we were unlucky last night, yet when people suggest were were lucky against Southampton/Man City they are told it is nothing to do with luck.

How does that work?

And you could say the exact opposite about the opposite opinion.

It's like looking in a mirror!

It's true though.

You'll have people saying we weren't lucky against Southampton/Citeh but were unlucky last night.

Equally you'll have people saying we were lucky against Southampton/Citeh but last night luck had nothing to do with it.

Both opinions are as shit as each other.

True, I hate suggesting we were lucky. Last night was due to a lack of skill, maybe a lack of effort. Marshall and Turner were good, but our players were hesitent and gave chances away. Guzan has saved our neck plenty of times, Marshall did the same last night for Cardiff. We weren't unlucky, we just weren't good enough.

 

Doesn't matter.

Luck is bullshit. If you believe in luck then we WERE unlucky last night and we WERE lucky against Man City and Southampton.

 

If you don't believe in luck then we weren't good enough last night and we were good enough against Southampton and man city. 

 

You can't call luck in one scenario and not in the other, imo, regardless of if your glass is half empty or half full.

Edited February 12, 2014 by Stevo985

[flashingqwerty]

 

 

 

 

 

One thing I don't understand, apparently we were unlucky last night, yet when people suggest were were lucky against Southampton/Man City they are told it is nothing to do with luck.

How does that work?

And you could say the exact opposite about the opposite opinion.

It's like looking in a mirror!

It's true though.

You'll have people saying we weren't lucky against Southampton/Citeh but were unlucky last night.

Equally you'll have people saying we were lucky against Southampton/Citeh but last night luck had nothing to do with it.

Both opinions are as shit as each other.

True, I hate suggesting we were lucky. Last night was due to a lack of skill, maybe a lack of effort. Marshall and Turner were good, but our players were hesitent and gave chances away. Guzan has saved our neck plenty of times, Marshall did the same last night for Cardiff. We weren't unlucky, we just weren't good enough.

 

Doesn't matter.

Luck is bullshit. If you believe in luck then we WERE unlucky last night and we WERE lucky against Man City and Southampton.

 

If you don't believe in luck then we weren't good enough last night and we were good enough against Southampton and man city. 

 

You can't call luck in one scenario and not in the other, imo, regardless of if your glass is half empty or half full.

 

i dont believe in luck and because of that i would say last night we were wasteful of the chances we had

 

against city, arse, saints we were simply more clinical that they were - we were not the better team in those games by a long shot.  We made the most of the chances that came our way whilst our opponents did not.  That doesnt make us the better team nor does it make us lucky.

[Morpheus]

You are not convinced Lambert is doing a good job because the job is not finished yet. It will be better to judge him (properly) at the end of next season.

I have actually got to the point now where I sincerely hope we'll be judging a new manager by that time and if Lambert is given a new contract then Lerner should be tied against a pole in the centre circle of Villa Park and shot.

[Tomaszk]

 

 

 

 

 

One thing I don't understand, apparently we were unlucky last night, yet when people suggest were were lucky against Southampton/Man City they are told it is nothing to do with luck.

How does that work?

And you could say the exact opposite about the opposite opinion.

It's like looking in a mirror!

It's true though.

You'll have people saying we weren't lucky against Southampton/Citeh but were unlucky last night.

Equally you'll have people saying we were lucky against Southampton/Citeh but last night luck had nothing to do with it.

Both opinions are as shit as each other.

True, I hate suggesting we were lucky. Last night was due to a lack of skill, maybe a lack of effort. Marshall and Turner were good, but our players were hesitent and gave chances away. Guzan has saved our neck plenty of times, Marshall did the same last night for Cardiff. We weren't unlucky, we just weren't good enough.

 

Doesn't matter.

Luck is bullshit. If you believe in luck then we WERE unlucky last night and we WERE lucky against Man City and Southampton.

 

If you don't believe in luck then we weren't good enough last night and we were good enough against Southampton and man city. 

 

You can't call luck in one scenario and not in the other, imo, regardless of if your glass is half empty or half full.

 

Perfectly fair to suggest it's stupid.

 

But from my point of view, the point about the City game is the total domination they had for 90 mins.

 

We were unlucky (and shit) to not beat Cardiff yesterday, but we were second best in the first half and could have been behind after 45 minutes.

 

Against Man City, we were second best throughout the whole game, had 33% of the ball, and scored an offside goal, a great FK, and a massive hump up the pitch.

 

We robbed them, which is great stuff, loved it. But there's no people pointing to it as a marker of how well we've played this season, we played terribly.

[Morpheus]

The job of a football manager is just to try to win each match he plays, motivating and utilising the abilities of his squad to maximum effect.

I agree, it also applies to every manager in this league. Unfortunately Aston Villa do not have the divine right to win every match in a highly competitively league. 

All this guff about "job not finished" is just an excuse for the fact that Lambert isn't doing his job very well in the here and now.

It is not at excuse at all, it is a harsh reality. Where do you expect us to be in the league? I can understand people being upset about our decline over the last four years but there needs to be some more patience shown by the fans and backing by the board.

 

Lambert has improved us since taking over and can take us even further.

Three points.

You are correct in stating that we do not have a divine right to win games but two wins in thirteen and a God awful home record would suggest relegation form which is totally unacceptable for a second season in a row under Lambert.

Secondly yet another attack on the fans who have not only shown patience with Lambert under extreme circumstances but since the last time we won a trophy.

Thirdly Lambert's results have parity with the worst manager this club has seen and currently there is no sign whatsoever that Lambert can take us further than constant relegation battles after spending 40m plus.

[Zatman]

 

You are not convinced Lambert is doing a good job because the job is not finished yet. It will be better to judge him (properly) at the end of next season.

I have actually got to the point now where I sincerely hope we'll be judging a new manager by that time and if Lambert is given a new contract then Lerner should be tied against a pole in the centre circle of Villa Park and shot.

 

 

but you got to that point from game 1 last season and calling for Redknapp

[Morpheus]

Be fair Zatman it was a few more than that.

[andyjsg]

The job of a football manager is just to try to win each match he plays, motivating and utilising the abilities of his squad to maximum effect.

I agree, it also applies to every manager in this league. Unfortunately Aston Villa do not have the divine right to win every match in a highly competitively league.

All this guff about "job not finished" is just an excuse for the fact that Lambert isn't doing his job very well in the here and now.

It is not at excuse at all, it is a harsh reality. Where do you expect us to be in the league? I can understand people being upset about our decline over the last four years but there needs to be some more patience shown by the fans and backing by the board.

Lambert has improved us since taking over and can take us even further.

Three points.

You are correct in stating that we do not have a divine right to win games but two wins in thirteen and a God awful home record would suggest relegation form which is totally unacceptable for a second season in a row under Lambert.

Secondly yet another attack on the fans who have not only shown patience with Lambert under extreme circumstances but since the last time we won a trophy.

Thirdly Lambert's results have parity with the worst manager this club has seen and currently there is no sign whatsoever that Lambert can take us further than constant relegation battles after spending 40m plus.

Why can't people understand that he had to buy a whole new team for 40m and Vlarr, Okore, Benteke And Kozak cost the majority of that money.

[sharkyvilla]

He won't get sacked unless we are relegated. When Okore comes back to partner Vlaar and we sign 3 first team players in the summer, we will have a better season next year. Once that happens and we haven't given Lambert a new contract we will be shitting ourselves that he's just going to walk out or get poached. I think he's had to work so hard and done everything Lerner has asked him to that he deserves to be here long term, it would make little sense to have done so much hard work just to give it away and start again with someone else.

[flashingqwerty]

 

 

 

The job of a football manager is just to try to win each match he plays, motivating and utilising the abilities of his squad to maximum effect.

I agree, it also applies to every manager in this league. Unfortunately Aston Villa do not have the divine right to win every match in a highly competitively league.

All this guff about "job not finished" is just an excuse for the fact that Lambert isn't doing his job very well in the here and now.

It is not at excuse at all, it is a harsh reality. Where do you expect us to be in the league? I can understand people being upset about our decline over the last four years but there needs to be some more patience shown by the fans and backing by the board.

Lambert has improved us since taking over and can take us even further.

Three points.

You are correct in stating that we do not have a divine right to win games but two wins in thirteen and a God awful home record would suggest relegation form which is totally unacceptable for a second season in a row under Lambert.

Secondly yet another attack on the fans who have not only shown patience with Lambert under extreme circumstances but since the last time we won a trophy.

Thirdly Lambert's results have parity with the worst manager this club has seen and currently there is no sign whatsoever that Lambert can take us further than constant relegation battles after spending 40m plus.

Why can't people understand that he had to buy a whole new team for 40m and Vlarr, Okore, Benteke And Kozak cost the majority of that money.

 

But he didn't have to buy a whole new team did he?

 

Steer in Goal is worse than given though on less money

Bennet, Luna at LB are no better there than Baker who was already at the club

Lowton at RB is no better IMO than Hutton though has potential to be

Vlaar yeah hes a big step up from what we had but there was no need to isolate and push out other experienced players that have since moved on

Westwood, El Ahmadi, Tonev, Sylla in CM are all terrible terrible footballers and should never have been brought here.  I'd rather he'd have tried to use one of our very successful youth team above any of them.  Complete waste.

Bowery, Helenius, Kozak, Benteke up front.  Other than Benteke none have made an impact whether that's due to their quality or not i cant say because we dont see enough of them to make a decision but thats the managers fault as well.  Again we have youth players equally adept as the guys he brought in that could have been blooded rather than spending more money if he wasnt going to play them anyway.

 

The point being that the spine of ourteam was here before Lambert.  Benteke and Vlaar aside Lambert has added nothing but cheaper deadwood to an already crap squad whilst pushing out experienced professionals who in my opinion could have still done a job for us until we could bring in other experienced professionals rather than throwing a bunch of kids into the pan and hoping for it to work.

 

NEWSFLASH it didn't work and we're likely to get relegated as a result.