Why Lambert will be a Success

[Richard]

Both managers were shit.

Thank god we stayed up, thank god we now have a much better manager and thank god he is being backed so that we have a future to look forward to. And, as much as I dislike both of our past full time managers that you are on about and love to debate their relative shitness, it is that future I think we would all be better served talking about

[SolihullVilla]

I mean have a pint with Mcleish!!!

[bickster]

Both managers were shit.

This! Its like comparing Dairylea to Laughing Cow in an international cheese tasting competition

[Mantis]

Mantis, I guess it's a bit like you making excuses for Houllier, Mcleish did have a worse record. As I've said my point is Houllier showed disrespect for our great club and Mcleish really wanted to role, but was just too shit to pull it off.

I could sit and have a pint with Houllier and point out the error of his ways but I wudnt give Houllier the time of day.

This is another thing I don't understand. Fair enough I can see why many dislike Houllier as a person but McLeish was just as bad. He disrespected our club too and certainly didn't come across as a nice genuine person while Villa manager. Why anybody would want to have a pint with the lying prick is beyond me.

Really don't understand why many on here see Houllier, MON and DOL as pricks (well, I understand that bit) yet see McLeish as a "nice genuine bloke".

[macandally]

How do you know? The noises coming from Villa were that he would get a second season. Even after his heart problems returned it was uncertain whether or not he was going to carry on.

It was only uncertain because that lying bastard wanted his compensation.

Ah the final piss take. Disrespect this great club, play down our standing with in the game, disrespect our great fans, serve up gutless tripe and surrender games before they had even kicked off and at the finish hold out for a nice big pay off. Regardless of his illness he had shown time and time again he was now completely out of touch with the game and didn't have a **** clue what he was doing. It said it all about the man that he made out he could still do a job just so he could drain the club of a few more quid.

Your opinion, but no matter how much you whinge about it, it doesnt make it right.

The whole core of the club was (and to some degree still is) rotten. Houllier was tasked to oversea that transition, for the most part after the season had started. Lambert is still trying to do the same job but he has the luxury of a preseason.

Your hatred blinds you to the facts.

[macandally]

Cannot believe people are still bleating on about Anfield, its become a myth and apparently everyone who hates Houllier was there, must have been some crowd that night. Would you have still "lost it" if he had taken us to the top four?

Put simply, club was a mess. Didnt take long for Houllier to recognise that and although his execution was not great, the idea of clearing out the freeloaders was right. He who shall not be named didnt even try to remove them, in fact, he brought more.

As said, the are both gone and Lambert is now overseeing a similar task as Houllier. I just hope he doesnt wave to someone in the crowd when we play Norwich away............................................................

[SolihullVilla]

For the record I travel to about 15 away a season and went to Liverpool that night. However taking that away you didn't have to go to see what happened. Never turn your away fans as they are he most loyal.

Mcleish was a talentless manager, my point I he actually wanted to do well and wanted the job. He wasn't capable.

[Mantis]

For the record I travel to about 15 away a season and went to Liverpool that night. However taking that away you didn't have to go to see what happened. Never turn your away fans as they are he most loyal.

Mcleish was a talentless manager, my point I he actually wanted to do well and wanted the job. He wasn't capable.

All managers want to do well. McLeish is just as much of a money grabber as Houllier.

[markavfc40]

Both managers were shit.

This! Its like comparing Dairylea to Laughing Cow in an international cheese tasting competition

Sums it up nicely.

[briny_ear]

. McLeish had Bent for most of the season yet still managed to have us score the second least amount of goals in the league.

Not wishing to defend McLeish AT ALL but this is a slight distortion of the facts.

Bent was out injured from 25 February to the end of the season.

I'm firmly on the "Houllier and McLeish were just different varieties of rubbish" side of the argument. Why waste energy trying to resurrect the reputation of the one of the managers who helped create our two-year nightmare?

[markavfc40]

. McLeish had Bent for most of the season yet still managed to have us score the second least amount of goals in the league.

Not wishing to defend McLeish AT ALL but this is a slight distortion of the facts.

Bent was out injured from 25 February to the end of the season.

I'm firmly on the "Houllier and McLeish were just different varieties of rubbish" side of the argument. Why waste energy trying to resurrect the reputation of the one of the managers who helped create our two-year nightmare?

Very true on both points. Bent only played 5 more league games last season than he did in 2010/11 - 21 games last season compared to 16 the previous one.

[Mantis]

. McLeish had Bent for most of the season yet still managed to have us score the second least amount of goals in the league.

Not wishing to defend McLeish AT ALL but this is a slight distortion of the facts.

Bent was out injured from 25 February to the end of the season.

I'm firmly on the "Houllier and McLeish were just different varieties of rubbish" side of the argument. Why waste energy trying to resurrect the reputation of the one of the managers who helped create our two-year nightmare?

The majority then.

To be honest I'm surprised Bent scored as many as he did with the way McDefend tried to utilise him.

[markavfc40]

. McLeish had Bent for most of the season yet still managed to have us score the second least amount of goals in the league.

Not wishing to defend McLeish AT ALL but this is a slight distortion of the facts.

Bent was out injured from 25 February to the end of the season.

I'm firmly on the "Houllier and McLeish were just different varieties of rubbish" side of the argument. Why waste energy trying to resurrect the reputation of the one of the managers who helped create our two-year nightmare?

The majority then.

To be honest I'm surprised Bent scored as many as he did with the way McDefend tried to utilise him.

Well its the majority but only just as he started 21 league games which is only 55%.

Anyway this is way off topic.

[Mantis]

. McLeish had Bent for most of the season yet still managed to have us score the second least amount of goals in the league.

Not wishing to defend McLeish AT ALL but this is a slight distortion of the facts.

Bent was out injured from 25 February to the end of the season.

I'm firmly on the "Houllier and McLeish were just different varieties of rubbish" side of the argument. Why waste energy trying to resurrect the reputation of the one of the managers who helped create our two-year nightmare?

The majority then.

To be honest I'm surprised Bent scored as many as he did with the way McDefend tried to utilise him.

Well its the majority but only just as he started 21 league games which is only 55%.

Anyway this is way off topic.

Even 21 is the majority. I don't really see what you're getting at here.

[Big_John_10]

They were both shit

They were both massive words removed

They were both failures

They both deserve to be forgotten

[daggy_333]

They were both shit

They were both massive words removed

They were both failures

They both deserve to be forgotten

I don't often agree with you but you're quite right on this!

[TrentVilla]

Anyway, surely there is absolutely nothing new to be said about our last two tosspot managers?

Lets stick to talking about the man this thread is supposed to be about shall we?

[8pints]

If Lambert doesn't buy duffers and refuse to move them on, offend almost the whole squad then unfortunately have to vacate the post because of illness or play seven defenders at once he will at least be more successful than our three previous managers' biggest downfalls.

He will also have to maintain a good league position for more than one season, buy a crucial player and...erm...have an unbeaten run of more than seven games to match their biggest positives.

[dudevillaisnice]

Decent article this :

New season. New faces. And fresh impetus at Villa Park.

As a public relations' exercise, Paul Lambert's arrival has been everything that Alex McLeish's wasn't.

Just like the summer of 2006 when Martin O'Neill was unveiled, it is almost as if the regime of the previous manager has been airbrushed from history.

Certainly, there was little - if any - mention of O'Neill's predecessor (that would be David O'Leary) in the first home match programme of the Irishman's reign against Reading.

There has been a similar U-turn in attitude, exemplified by the shift in dug-outs so that the new man can be sited nearer to the Holte End (a pat on the back to whoever thought that one up. It didn't cost much more than a few moments for the groundsman to swap the signage over. Brilliant).

The appeasement of a mightily-disgruntled support were uppermost in the minds of the decision-makers when they sacked McLeish.

And the unemotional parting statement issued by the club revealed just how badly the experiment had backfired. It was ice-cold. Pity they didn't listen in the first place. But that's history now.

Of course, in the first instance Lambert will benefit purely because he isn't McLeish. He will be given a honeymoon period. McLeish's presence was hardly acknowledged this time last year at the annual pre-season friendly against Walsall.

And all Lambert has to do is produce a more exciting brand of football which, in all fairness, shouldn't be too difficult. My word, it was hard going at times last season.

Villa supporters seem to have latched onto the trips to the Emirates Stadium last season made by the claret and blues and Lambert's previous club, Norwich City.

McLeish's Villa didn't enjoy a shot worthy of the name as they slumped to a three-goal defeat. By contrast, the Canaries shared six goals and were somewhat unfortunate not to take all three points.

Those incidents, taken in isolation, prove nothing. What can be used as evidence however, is the manner in which Norwich set about their return to the big-time.

They rolled up their sleeves and had a go - and damn the consequences. After all, it wasn't beyond the realms of possibility that their stay in the top-flight would be a short one.

Indeed, for those present at Villa Park on November 5, they saw possibly the best entertainment that season when the hosts enjoyed one of lamentably few home triumphs with a 3-2 win.

It's difficult to assess Lambert's signings until about November. Karim El Ahmadi, Ron Vlaar and Brett Holman have come from Dutch football. Villa are weak in central midfield and, of the three, it is most important that El Ahmadi pays off.

Matthew Lowton has arrived from League One, albeit that he enjoyed an impressive season with Sheffield United, it's still asking a lot to meet the expectation of a club that should be, on money spent, among the top ten in the Premier League.

Of the departed, I was really only unhappy to see Carlos Cuellar leave. He can't pass water but he was a solid defender who should have partnered Richard Dunne far more often than he did. I can't help think that he was the fall guy far too often.

But it is at the other end of the pitch where, at this present moment, nagging doubts remain. Perhaps mindful of Darren Bent's two goals against Norwich last term, Lambert has wasted little time bringing him onside.

Praising him in public is one thing. Handing him the captaincy is another. It's a sure sign that Lambert is setting great store in Bent. And his ability to find the net on a regular basis.

What remains a worry at this stage is where the rest of the goals are coming from. If Bent is taken out of the equation - and Gabby Agbonlahor appears to be troubled by injury - last term's statistics demonstrate little by way of goal threat.

Stephen Ireland, Charles N'Zogbia, Marc Albrighton, Barry Bannan, and Chris Herd managed a paltry eight goals in 141 appearances between them. (That includes run-outs from the bench).

It may be that with a licence to cause havoc, set against a renewed air of optimism, that these players suddenly re-discover their confidence in front of goal.

At present, if you discount Bent and Agbonlahor, where else do you turn?

And while the club's £24m record signing is a great goalscorer, he needs a supply line. He is not noted as a creator. He converts chances but rarely sets them up himself.

Lambert is trying to create a hungry, vibrant Villa. The early signs are that his Aston Villa team will have a go.

But unless the next four weeks brings some startling signings, they are short of the star quality and attacking threat that Ashley Young and Stewart Downing provided during Gerard Houllier's season.

However, it least it looks like 'Lambert's Lions' will be on the front foot, instead of the back. And, after the woes of last season, for that Villa fans will be grateful.

http://tinyurl.com/cvjml35

[Qwpzxjor1]

Good read, that.