Paul Lambert

[ozvillafan]

 

He had to achieve that with

1. An owner going awol and putting the club on the market

2. A CEO being replaced

3. Losing assistant managers

4. Long term injuries to key players that would either be traded or help to develop the team while they were still here

5. A supporter base who, while very patient, were in the main looking for more instant turn around given the history and stature of the club

6. A club that when he joined were heading in one direction, had no consistent approach, no playing philosophy.

1) an owner Lambert consistently praises.

2) why is that something thats made his job difficult?

3) his fault.

4) every team has injuries

5) I doubt many clubs would have been as patient as we have been. He also replaced a truly hated manager.

6) true. Not sure that's a massive thing to deal with when you're given plenty of time from the owner.

That's a really weak list to try and justify what we've seen over his time here.

 

 

It's not just weak - it pales in comparison to the unwanted records, clear lack of focus and needless dramas that have come to typify his time as manager here.

[dn1982]

every team has injuries

Please not this again. There is just no way you can look at who has been injured, for how long, and when, without realising that our luck has been freakishly bad - and made all the worse by the lack of funds for replacements.

Ignoring the obsession with money for a moment, are you telling me that the squad we have is only good enough for a relegation battle?

Forget prices, look at the ability of those players, how good they should be performing.

Sorry, but you're not allowed to ignore the money thing. Calling it an "obsession" doesn't make it one bit less of a factor in our struggles.

We're not in a relegation battle. The season is half way through. Many if not most of us agreed that the only half decent point at which to judge our season in progress was after 19 games. That has come and gone with us in 12th place, and still we're apparently doomed to be in a "relegation battle".

Our attacking players could be performing better and part of that may or may not be the manager's fault, but confidence is a huge part of it.

How many games left do we have to have before it's a battle? Going on the previous years we are in a relegation battle and have been since the start of the season and will be until we have 40 pts a figure that we have struggled to get over in the last few seasons.

Wait, so are you saying every team is in a relegation battle until they hit 40 points? Or does that just apply to us?

Simplisticly yes! But if you want me to explain apart from the top 8 the others are aiming for safety from day 1. After 22 games we are 3 pts above the drop we are in a relegation battle. If we was getting 45+ pts in the past few seasons I'd be confident we would pull clear with ease but we haven't we struggle to get to 40. Like it or not we are in the group of teams that's sole aim in the league is to stay in it. Hopefully that'll change in the near future.

[Brumstopdogs]

Can the 11 premier league teams (9 excluding Spurs/Saints) that have had less transfer funding than Lambert also use it as an excuse? ​ 

 

Take Stoke as an example: had about half the transfer funding Lambert has had yet have 7 points more. Funnily enough they're not using it as an excuse!

Edited January 27, 2015 by Brumstopdogs

[VILLAMARV]

I just calculated the net spend of loaning Januzaj off Twitter with Cleverley in the squad............

[The_Lions_Roar]

Can the 11 premier league teams (9 excluding Spurs/Saints) that have had less transfer funding than Lambert also use it as an excuse? ​

Take Stoke as an example: had about half the transfer funding Lambert has had yet have 7 points more. Funnily enough they're not using it as an excuse!

Zzzzzzzzz

Yes let's ignore the circumstances again and just mention net spend.

[Stevo985]

Can the 11 premier league teams (9 excluding Spurs/Saints) that have had less transfer funding than Lambert also use it as an excuse? ​ 

 

I'd nearly forgotten this stat.

 

I suppose it's almost 6 hours since you last posted it.

 

Do you have reminders set on your phone or is it some sort of macro that posts it for you?

[Richard]

Richard, I can't quote for some reason, but I agree with most of your points apart from the last two.  I think the supporters have been pretty patient.  5 and 6 are linked imo.  I think why fans have been the way they have been in the last few months is because there is still no consistency in our approach and we still seem to be heading downwards.  There is improvement in the playing squad but improvement on the pitch.

Mitigated for me by the fact that we are still in the medium term of putting together a squad (arguable he hasnt finished that bit yet),  that it is always developing (ie we are not there yet) and injuries have hampered that a little

[CrackpotForeigner]

 

Aston Villa chief executive Tom Fox says manager Paul Lambert has the full support of the club and remains important to owner Randy Lerner.

Villa have taken only 12 points from their last 18 Premier League games, but Fox told BBC Sport sacking Lambert mid-season would be like "flipping a coin".

"When things aren't going well, fans bay for that type of blood," Fox said.

"That's not the way that I or the owner are going to make a decision. It's a false narrative."

Villa have scored only 97 goals in 98 games during former Norwich City manager Lambert's time in charge.

But Fox defended the statistics and believes Villa's players are close to delivering on their hard work on the training pitch.

"I think football's a funny business and I think to put it all on the manager, again, that's a bit of a false narrative," he added.

"There's a lot of things happening at this football club, and clearly what happens on the pitch is a focal point.

"Clearly the manager is the one person who can really influence that, so everyone focuses on it.

"Our focus for the last couple of months has been on making sure we support Paul to make us as successful as possible, and I think we're heading in the right direction."

Villa, who made a good start to the season with 10 points from their first four games, are 15th in the Premier League table, just three points above the relegation zone.

Fox, who joined Villa in August after five years as commercial manager of Arsenal, said American owner Lerner was "having fun with the club" despite putting them up for sale last year.

"He's very involved in the football club, he watches every match," he said.

"I've been at his house watching matches together and both of us are standing up pacing around at various points of time - depending on what's happening - so he know's what's happening here.

"He's very, very well informed as to the business side of what's happening on the pitch," he added.

"I don't think he's a motivated seller right now. I think he'll want to make sure that he's put Aston Villa on the best possible path for the future."

 

BBC: http://www.bbc.com/sport/0/football/31015504

 

For those that need it translated: "false narrative" = "bullshit".

[DCJonah]

So Lerner is not a motivated seller now? Great news.

[Risso]

 

Richard, I can't quote for some reason, but I agree with most of your points apart from the last two.  I think the supporters have been pretty patient.  5 and 6 are linked imo.  I think why fans have been the way they have been in the last few months is because there is still no consistency in our approach and we still seem to be heading downwards.  There is improvement in the playing squad but improvement on the pitch.

Mitigated for me by the fact that we are still in the medium term of putting together a squad (arguable he hasnt finished that bit yet),  that it is always developing (ie we are not there yet) and injuries have hampered that a little

 

 

All squads are alaways developing, it's never a finished process, players come and go all the time.  After the failure of the young and cheap experiment, we do appear to be putting things right though.  Now we just need to sort out Lambert's coaching ability and we'll be set.

[CrackpotForeigner]

 

we just need to sort out Lambert's coaching ability and we'll be set.

 

 

For all you know Lambert is the best coach in the universe, unless you're a regular at BMH and have sat in on other clubs training as well, you have no way of knowing and pretending you do is just silly.

[AntrimBlack]

 

 

we just need to sort out Lambert's coaching ability and we'll be set.

 

 

For all you know Lambert is the best coach in the universe, unless you're a regular at BMH and have sat in on other clubs training as well, you have no way of knowing and pretending you do is just silly.

 

 

Results on the pitch are probably a bit of a guide.

[Brumstopdogs]

 

 

 

we just need to sort out Lambert's coaching ability and we'll be set.

 

 

For all you know Lambert is the best coach in the universe, unless you're a regular at BMH and have sat in on other clubs training as well, you have no way of knowing and pretending you do is just silly.

 

 

Results on the pitch are probably a bit of a guide.

 

After we (probably) fail to beat Arsenal or Chelsea the run in the league will be 2 wins in 20.

 

If that is the stats of the best coach in the universe, I'd hate to see them for the worst coach in the universe!

[CrackpotForeigner]

 

 

 

we just need to sort out Lambert's coaching ability and we'll be set.

 

 

For all you know Lambert is the best coach in the universe, unless you're a regular at BMH and have sat in on other clubs training as well, you have no way of knowing and pretending you do is just silly.

 

 

Results on the pitch are probably a bit of a guide.

 

 

Not much more than "a bit" if anything. Putting everything that happens on the pitch down to coaching is (how shall I put this?) a false narrative.

[Risso]

 

 

 

 

we just need to sort out Lambert's coaching ability and we'll be set.

 

 

For all you know Lambert is the best coach in the universe, unless you're a regular at BMH and have sat in on other clubs training as well, you have no way of knowing and pretending you do is just silly.

 

 

Results on the pitch are probably a bit of a guide.

 

 

Not much more than "a bit" if anything. Putting everything that happens on the pitch down to coaching is (how shall I put this?) a false narrative.

 

 

And saying "putting everything" when nobody has said that is a strawman argument.  It clearly does have an effect though, or why even employ managers in the first place.  His lack of tactical nous has been evident for too long now.

[DCJonah]

we just need to sort out Lambert's coaching ability and we'll be set.

For all you know Lambert is the best coach in the universe, unless you're a regular at BMH and have sat in on other clubs training as well, you have no way of knowing and pretending you do is just silly.

Results on the pitch are probably a bit of a guide.

Not much more than "a bit" if anything. Putting everything that happens on the pitch down to coaching is (how shall I put this?) a false narrative.

You don't like real evidence do you? According to you nothing that actually happens can be used. Results, performances, league position, there's always something to dismiss it from any responsibility from the manager. I guess I shouldn't be surprised, we're 3 points off 18th and you've claimed we're not in a relegation battle.

[omariqy]

How is putting everything that happens on the pitch down to coaching a false narrative?  Yes sure things like money spent on the squad come into it.  But our performances and results are heavily influenced by management and coaching. 

[bose]

Those of you who want Lambert out what would it take for you to change your minds in the near future?

 

For me I've been swayed so often by those little spells of positivities that last for maybe month or so. The two times I've been in the "Lambert out" camp (hate those labels though) was at the end of last season and now after this horrendous run.

 

I think he needs a bit more than a few games of positivity to show that he's on the right track. Hopefully last weekends second half is the start but we need see some consistency for maybe 1-2 months. By consistency I don't mean winning every match, just showing with performances and results that we are on to something.

 

Lambert has gotten many chances and I hope he'll somehow change this team but I doubt it very much if you look at his whole tenure here.

[Sam3773]

OK, so here's where I am:

 

The club has made a statement backing Paul Lambert. That's fine and at the end of the day, that's their choice. I've said for a while I don't think he's the right man for the club, but this now means that the club aren't planning to remove him.

 

So in my eyes the only thing left to do is get behind him and the team. I still don't think he's the right man for the club, but they've made their choice and I'll respect it. That's done for now. Lambert's not going anywhere, so the in-fighting has to stop.

 

For now, I'll set my frustrations aside, hop on board the Lambert train for a bit and see where it takes me. Might even enjoy some football along the way.

[VILLAMARV]

aaaahhh the soothing effect of 2 goals in front of the Holte

 

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