Paul Lambert

[Rob182]

We need to go back to 4-2-3-1, we get overrun too much in the middle with the 4-3-3

[romavillan]

 

Well, I'm still in support of Lambert

I still think we'll finish mid table, yesterday was a horrendous result but we were also pretty unlucky to be fair. Still no points when 3 would have seen us stay 10th and close 2 points on 9th. 1 point would have done and had Albrighton's screamer and Benteke's header gone in we'd have got that. 

We need to improve and seemingly I'm one of the few who still think we will.

romavillan do you watch home games. We wasn't unlucky, we are always outplayed at home cause Lambert has no idea how to play at there. Yesterday we only started to play in the second half after Allardyce closed up shop??? We have not improved since season one under Lambert, We can play, we have seen good performances from this team. Problem being we are so inconsistant and this can only be down to Lambert and his coaching staff. There are not many teams who show Liverplop a game then fail to show this form again lesser teams. After 2 seasons we should be playing much better football even if we haven'nt got the quality.

 

 

Yes I watch the games, obviously Villa Park is a bit of a trek for me, but yes I watch pretty much all of our games live. Have done since I've been over here, I probably see far more minutes of us live now than when I lived in London. Good old interwebs.

First half I don't think West Ham were exactly playing us off the park were they? Chances were few and far between, neither keeper was tested. It looked to be a case of us needing to be a bit more smart in trying to play in one of the 3 very central and somewhat static frontmen we had and we'd probably win a dull game that lacked quality.

Then we committed suicide in a manner which I find hard to specifically blame Lambert for. Long ball from the kick off, we were a bit dozy, great work by Downing and Nolan, then really jammy deflection to lift it over Guzan. Then Delph, who has been immense for us, does what he did and we are 0-2 down with it all to do.

We hit the post and the bar, and created enough chance to draw from there. Fair?

We can play, we have all seen it, as you say. I would think Lambert has seen it too and been working on making it happen more often. The facts of the matter though are that he has overseen a turnover in playing staff the like of which is rarely seen. I certainly can't remember this much change so fast at Villa. It's been risky, it's sometimes seemed to bear fruit and sometimes seen us look like a bunch of strangers on the pitch. 

 

Now, this is cause of the inconsistency for me, this dramatic change tied to the fact that we've gone for players on a budget, most young and inherently inconsistent themselves. So instead of bedding in a coupel of youngsters and following their ups and downs we're bedding in a *squad* of yougsters for the most part and so that gets magnified somewhat. 

 

We are just over halfway through the second season, not 2 years in to this project. No point sacking him now at all, let's get to the summer and take a decision then. I understand all the frustrations, I wanted to turn off the match after the second goal went in yesterday myself, had I been in the ground I'd have been fuming too. Plus one of my best mates is a Hammer and he was taking the piss royally as the match was going on via SMS from the UK. Let's not let those emotions get in the way of trying to see what an ambitious project Lambert has taken on here and the amount of balls it has taken to try and change things so radically, so quickly and with budget constraints.

I personally think we'll get there, we need 3 or 4 in the summer if we keep Benteke. That plus replace him if he goes. The younger players will have another year of top flight experience and we've got a few promising players coming through from the u21s. 

[jacketspuds]

Lambert has come out and slated our defending as "conceding against a long ball is really disappointing". So if that's the case why does it seem to be our preferred method of attacking?

[ozvillafan]

I get the feeling Lambert is trying too much to make us like Dortmund.

 

The speed of their counter-attack is breathtaking. They play quick, direct, one-touch football when they sense the other team is open to the counter.

 

Thing is, they don't rely on this *only*. They also know how to retain possession, be patient and break down teams with simple overlapping, passing and movement. We have shown none of that at all under Lambert.

[andyh]

I get the feeling Lambert is trying too much to make us like Dortmund.

 

The speed of their counter-attack is breathtaking. They play quick, direct, one-touch football when they sense the other team is open to the counter.

 

Thing is, they don't rely on this *only*. They also know how to retain possession, be patient and break down teams with simple overlapping, passing and movement. We have shown none of that at all under Lambert.

Are they also full of unproven, second rate players?

[Risso]

 

I get the feeling Lambert is trying too much to make us like Dortmund.

 

The speed of their counter-attack is breathtaking. They play quick, direct, one-touch football when they sense the other team is open to the counter.

 

Thing is, they don't rely on this *only*. They also know how to retain possession, be patient and break down teams with simple overlapping, passing and movement. We have shown none of that at all under Lambert.

Are they also full of unproven, second rate players?

 

 

Is their manager utterly hopeless as well?

[Cliffy Biro]

I get the feeling Lambert is trying too much to make us like Dortmund.

 

The speed of their counter-attack is breathtaking. They play quick, direct, one-touch football when they sense the other team is open to the counter.

 

Thing is, they don't rely on this *only*. They also know how to retain possession, be patient and break down teams with simple overlapping, passing and movement. We have shown none of that at all under Lambert.

 

Yea as you say dortmund counter but they can also defend, pass and create as well as their gen gen pressing game, we don't have that kind of squad and don't have anyone in the squad imo that has great technical attributes so ours translates into a more sloppy kick and rush game and when that doesn't work then we wont be getting anything from the game.

 

Again though these squads have multimillion pound superstars and wonderkids in them and so maybe lambert deserves a little bit of leeway there although the results still have to be far far better than he's been serving up this past 18-20 months.

[avfc1982]

Can't believe there's been so many fans who actually fell for the Dortmund lie. As if we were ever going to be like them. Did Dortmund sell all their best players then have a recruitment drive from the German lower leagues snapping up no marks on cheap wages?

What a load of rubbish.

[MikeMcKenna]

Lambert has come out and slated our defending as "conceding against a long ball is really disappointing". So if that's the case why does it seem to be our preferred method of attacking?

While our defending was poor, the reality is that our inability to break down teams going forward was the main cause of the defeat. We simply hadn't got a clue when we had the ball.

I really cannot understand why we didn't start with Albrighton. Every time he plays he has a significant effect. Whereas Wiemann drifts in and out of games yet seemes to have a guaranteed place in the starting line up.

Edited February 9, 2014 by MikeMcKenna

[smetrov]

Lambert has lost respect for me - with his 'Randy comes to games but sits in a different seat'  - what complete utter rubbish 

 

On the playing side on the £16m spent in the summer - only Bacuna made the starting 11 yesterday - so its not really cost effective buy loads of cheapo's is it.

 

I will give him a while longer - but if his young and hungry policy has failed - are we not starting over again anyway ? - ergo theres going to be a big upheaval whether  we change the manager or not - most of the players he signed last summer need to be shipped out - Benteke + Lowton may move on anyway - so we are pretty much back to square one in any case...

[Xela]

The only defence to not binning Lambert is the fear we won't get anyone in who can do a better job. What a defeatist attitude.

[Mantis]

The only defence to not binning Lambert is the fear we won't get anyone in who can do a better job. What a defeatist attitude.

It's not defeatist, it's just being realistic. With the current financial backing it's unlikely we'd be able to get someone in who could do a better job.

[Dodgyknees]

 

The only defence to not binning Lambert is the fear we won't get anyone in who can do a better job. What a defeatist attitude.

It's not defeatist, it's just being realistic. With the current financial backing it's unlikely we'd be able to get someone in who could do a better job.

 

 

I'm agreeing with Mantis here.

 

Which never happens.

 

[Big_John_10]

The only defence to not binning Lambert is the fear we won't get anyone in who can do a better job. What a defeatist attitude.

It's not defeatist, it's just being realistic. With the current financial backing it's unlikely we'd be able to get someone in who could do a better job.

Didn't you defend our business in the January transfer window?

[Mantis]

 

 

The only defence to not binning Lambert is the fear we won't get anyone in who can do a better job. What a defeatist attitude.

It's not defeatist, it's just being realistic. With the current financial backing it's unlikely we'd be able to get someone in who could do a better job.

Didn't you defend our business in the January transfer window?

 

I thought it was ok. Could've been a lot better but could've also been worse.

 

 

 

The only defence to not binning Lambert is the fear we won't get anyone in who can do a better job. What a defeatist attitude.

It's not defeatist, it's just being realistic. With the current financial backing it's unlikely we'd be able to get someone in who could do a better job.

 

 

I'm agreeing with Mantis here.

 

Which never happens.

 

 

I've lost count of how many times people have said this to me.

Edited February 9, 2014 by Mantis

[StefanAVFC]

Did Dortmund sell all their best players then have a recruitment drive from the German lower leagues snapping up no marks on cheap wages?

What a load of rubbish.

 

They didn't sell their best players but they did pick up tonnes of players from lower leagues around the world.

 

I suggest you read this, educate yourself a bit before making ridiculous, condescending comments that you can't back up.

Edited February 9, 2014 by StefanAVFC

[Xela]

 

The only defence to not binning Lambert is the fear we won't get anyone in who can do a better job. What a defeatist attitude.

It's not defeatist, it's just being realistic. With the current financial backing it's unlikely we'd be able to get someone in who could do a better job.

 

I'd like someone who knew what his best formation and team was and could motivate them to play at home, That'd be a start! 

[avfc1982]

Did Dortmund sell all their best players then have a recruitment drive from the German lower leagues snapping up no marks on cheap wages?

What a load of rubbish.

 

They didn't sell their best players but they did pick up tonnes of players from lower leagues around the world.

 

I suggest you read this, educate yourself a bit before making ridiculous, condescending comments that you can't back up.

Do you reckon they're all on YTS wages like our hopeless mob at the Villa?

[Big_John_10]

I thought it was ok. Could've been a lot better but could've also been worse.

So you think the financial constraints are OK but use them to defend the manager performing poorly

[R.I.C.O.]

Not read much of this thread but my view on Lambert getting a new 3 year deal is that I wouldn't give him 3 minutes.

Yesterday was the perfect example of the fact we aren't progressing, for the last 30 mins we were exactly the same tactically (!) as against Bradford, 4 in a straight line up top and hoof from the back, Albrighton aside our entire midfield were gutless in the way they just went sideways to give responsibility for trying to create...

His defenders will say he hasn't had cash BUT he and he alone decided £7m on a striker we didn't need was preferable than finding an ounce of creativity for the midfield, an experienced defender to shore up the back when Crocked Ron is out injured again, or an enforcer who can add a bit of leadership and strength to a painfully weak midfield.

 

He plainly doesn't give a monkeys about entertaining the fans, his 100mph mistake laden football proves that - so his job should live or die by results and what we have had served up at VP in his tenure has 90% been utter tripe.

I sincerely hope Lambert gets us clear of the drop this season but also hope Lerner does what is right and bombs him and his one dimensional bore fest out come the summer. Watching at Villa Park is getting more and more boring and tedious, the board can't bury their heads and think 36k will turn up week in week out to watch it.

To finish my rant, as I needed cheering up, I sat and read the post match comments on this site from just after we smashed Sunderland 6-1. It was full of optimism with one fella saying that we can push for a top 6 place next season, Lowton was getting better and better, if we buy a defensive mid etc etc etc.  It made me realise just how much we have stood still. We still can't even do the basics right, and these players have been playing together for 18 months. Lambert has also wasted a lot of money - he knows it because for some reason every time the figures get raised he tries to revise them downwards!  I honestly think this is as good as we are going to get with him in charge and this will be the biggest job he'll get. For me, I think he sees out his contract and goes. No way would I be thinking of giving him a new contract at this point.