Manager Paul Lambert

[Ulver]

The sooner we get rid of this obsession with a three man midfield the better. IT'S NOT WORKING

 

None of them have the gumption to play it effectively. It means we have absolutely no width, no creativity and no thrust from the midfield area

 

Get back to a midfield 4 (Bacuna on the right, Lowton back in at right back) drop Weimann put Gabby/Benteke up top

[Jimzk5]

Still find it perplexing that we don't use the channels and put crosses in, using the counter attack has worked a treat at times but today, we should have put albrighton on a lot earlier to get down the line and put crosses in, instead again it was just hit and hope to benteke who looked well off the pace again

[Isa]

I'd still like to see Sylla get an actual go as a DM. He isn't particular good on the ball but given that possession plays little part in our game now anyway, we may as well have a player holding midfield who may be able to adequetely press the opposition, break up play and protect the defence.

[Mantis]

I'd still like to see Sylla get an actual go as a DM. He isn't particular good on the ball but given that possession plays little part in our game now anyway, we may as well have a player holding midfield who may be able to adequetely press the opposition, break up play and protect the defence.

 I agree. Sylla will come in next week against Man United I expect with Delph out.

Edited December 8, 2013 by Mantis

[samjp26]

Yeah playing the front three now seems to be a lot narrower than it was last year, Weimann used to run out wide an awful lot last season but now he doesn't seem to do it at all.

 

They all crowd the middle of the pitch out and when you have Baker especially at left back, it hardly gives you a great deal of options out wide. It also means the wide players, who are just the full backs, get a great deal more work on their plate.

[Isa]

I'd still like to see Sylla get an actual go as a DM. He isn't particular good on the ball but given that possession plays little part in our game now anyway, we may as well have a player holding midfield who may be able to adequetely press the opposition, break up play and protect the defence.

 I agree. Sylla will come in next week against Man United I expect with Delph out.

Most likely. I hope we don't go with the 4-3-3 for it though. That formation is hopelessly ineffective at home.

[VillaChris]

Nothing in the rumour then on his thread?

 

Lowton was playing crap when he was dropped but 3 months out of the team does seem a long time to be in exile compared to other players in the team who were taken out around the same period.

[Isa]

Draft01 - sorry let me change "rubbish" to "not very good" or "wasn't defending well enough" Same thing. Wasn't playing well and was taken out of the team as a result. Do I think he is a smashing player - yes I do. Do I think he will return to the starting line-up now and Bacuna will drop out - yes I do. Hope that clears it up for you.

Would you care to offer a description for Weimann's performances this season and why he hasn't met the same fate as Lowton as a consequence?

Edited December 8, 2013 by Isa

[VillaChris]

Ah Weimann....now that is a boy who is coasting after his new deal, he has been dreadful. So disappointed in his form.

[Ulver]

The manager likes Lowton. He's a nice guy. Just had a dip in performance levels and confidence. He will be back.

 

 

If this is true (and i've no reason to know if it is either way) why haven't other players woefully out of form suffered the same fate as Matty ?

 

The fact that he's still out the side despite Bacuna having a dreadful recent run of form is even more puzzling

[VillanousOne]

 

The manager likes Lowton. He's a nice guy. Just had a dip in performance levels and confidence. He will be back.

Does the manager like Helenius?

[PaulC]

For me the manager got it wrong today. Although Herd did ok, Baker and Clark are cbs and have experience playing together and the obvious choice was to play lowton at rb ad Bacuna at lb. I think Baker is a poor lb.

[VillanousOne]

I spent over twenty years of my life believing that football was all about blending youth and experience, having a mix of work horses and creative players.

 

Then Lambert took over and in tandem with a financially overcompensating Lerner has basically thrown any traditional football values and useful tactics onto the fire.

We are now in a real time situation of watching youth gain experience (and we all know how much we enjoyed watching our defence get schooled and humiliated week in week out last season) which sort of worked to a very painful degree for our defence but doesn't really seem to have benefitted our midfield.

We've spent so much time trying to justify Lambert's transfers decisions and bomb squad choices that I think many of us have been in denial about the actual quality of our squad.

 

Significant investment on players that have the ability and experience is the only thing that is going to change anything, players that can inspire and lead the younger players all over the pitch. Or else there will be a backlash and Lambert and Randy will lose the fans.

Edited December 8, 2013 by VillanousOne

[Spoony]

I spent over twenty years of my life believing that football was all about blending youth and experience, having a mix of work horses and creative players.

Then Lambert took over and we are now in a real time situation of watching youth gain experience (and we all know how much we enjoyed watching our defence get schooled and humiliated week in week out last season) which sort of worked to a very painful degree for our defence but doesn't really seem to have benefitted our midfield.

We've spent so much time trying to justify Lambert's transfers decisions and bomb squad choices that I think many of us have been in denial about the actual quality of our squad.

Significant investment on players that have the ability and experience is the only thing that is going to change anything, players that can inspire and lead the younger players all over the pitch.

I don think many people are in denial about the quality of the squad. But it has to be accepted that lambert can't do much about it unless he's given money to invest. And I mean serious money. Like, serious. Like so seriously guy. Seriously.

[suttonpaul]

I want to put some things into context after reading the last 10 pages on here.

 

First thing is first 3 years ago at the end of the MON reign we had a squad with some players with big values namely Milner, Downing and Young, the rest of them were average players on MASSIVE wages. We also played a 4-4-2 system.

 

During this MON era we also tried to get into the champions league this didn't happen for three reasons.....

 

1. The Man City take over changed the rules so to speak

2. There were many takeovers at other clubs and those clubs started to spend a lot of money too

3. We didn't spend all of our money wisely on transfers and gave big contracts to those players.

 

I think we can say all of the above is true nice and simple.

 

Who is at fault for those things then? Well the first two no one really, you could argue Ellis could have sold to Randy a year earlier when he came in to buy the club and that may have made the difference but that is conjecture.

 

Point three is definitely the Faulkner and Randy's fault.

 

Faulkner decides on the fees and contracts and Randy is at fault for employing Faulkner to do so and also not employing other people at board level with more experience in football.

 

We had the 6th highest wages and finished 6th each year so it wasn't a complete failure in that sense but everyone knows a club being run responsibly that has that kind of wage bill cant operate outside the top 4 unless they have very large merchandising revenue ala Liverpool for example.

 

So that ended we employed monsieur Houllier kept the 4-4-2 system spent another 30 million badly he had heart problems got paid off wasting more money....

 

Now Makoun and Hutton are obvious wastes of money but the reason Bent is wasted money and the reason I have mentioned 4-4-2 twice is because the league as a whole has changed to a system where there is 3 central midfielders and teams play 3-5-2 or 3-4-3 or 4-3-3 unless you play 3-5-2 those systems do not support Darren Bent.

 

In comes Alex McLeish now why Randy chose him I will never know.... I understand the reasoning for Houllier but McLeish is just weird.

 

Never the less AM comes in switches more to a formation that we use now and is instructed to sell off players with high wages to get the club back to sustainability knowing we aren't aiming for the Champions League now. Anyone could have done a better job than McLeish it was just awful and he was sent packing with a payoff after one season.

 

So now we get to Lambert the logic of getting a manager who can work with smaller budgets, who has built a team from scratch, who is grateful for the job is obvious.

 

Lambert is given the objective of continuing McLeish's work of getting rid of players on high wages but buying players on the cheap who are young, have the potential to improve, have much lower wage demands and to keep us in the Premier League until this work is completed which it is largely is now with only Given, Hutton, Bent, N'Zogbia and Ireland left and the latter is out of contract in the summer but your still looking at the best part of 300k a week in wages there it isn't small change.

 

Now where is the conjecture......

 

On the basis of Lamberts remit he is certainly carrying it out and doing it well however...  

 

1. What happens once those 5 players have gone with regard to spending from the board? (are we still over spending on wages or will that best part of 300k a week/15m a year go to new players)

2. Now the squad is fairly filled out (we all know why he had to buy 16 players) will Lambert stop spreading his budget around and spend it on only 2 or three players to increase the quality of the squad? (The Spurs Model)

3. What is AVFC's long term aims (next 3 to 5 years) if Randy is to stick around? (A statement of intent would be nice)

4. Is Randy looking to sell the club and simply making us a more attractive opportunity for a fellow billionaire to buy? (Simply no one knows)

 

 

I believe the above is the REAL questions that fans should be looking at not petty small results, three relate to Lerner and one to Paul Lambert.

 

Lets just put it in context guys.

[Big_John_10]

I really wish people would bear the contexts in mind before blurting out with the tired "YOU WANTED HIM OUT AS WELL" remark.

Hahaha

You don't get to decide when it's OK to call for the manager to be sacked. So it's laughable that you continue to post about it.

Today's game is the reason why even after winning people have been concerned with the performance. Today fully justified that concern.

Shocking performance all round.

[Mantis]

 

I really wish people would bear the contexts in mind before blurting out with the tired "YOU WANTED HIM OUT AS WELL" remark.

Hahaha

You don't get to decide when it's OK to call for the manager to be sacked. So it's laughable that you continue to post about it.

Today's game is the reason why even after winning people have been concerned with the performance. Today fully justified that concern.

Shocking performance all round.

 

I never said I did get to decide, just that the two situations are completely different.

 

I'm only posting about it because certain people constantly try and shoehorn it into conversations and create hypocrisy that isn't there.

[Big_John_10]

Its pretty simple. Don't tell fans to give him time and think long term when you weren't prepared to do it. And don't complain if people want him sacked as so did you last year.

Oh and I wonder if anyone will use berbatov to mock morpheous tonight?

[GENTLEMAN]

Today's result and performance reminded me a lot of the beginning of last season. Disappointing.

Edited December 8, 2013 by GENTLEMAN

[pacbuddies]

Today's result and performance reminded me a lot of the beginning of last season. Disappointing.

Wow, I was thinking almost the same just that I was thinking it reminded me of the majority of last season and the majority of the season before and the majority of the season before that. Nothing like consistency though and we are in transition and we need stability.