Manager Paul Lambert

[Nigel]

Who says Vlaar being out made all the difference? All some people are saying is that we missed him today and we did. He's by far our best defender and probably one of our best players overall

 

Vlaar is our best defender and that in itself is a joke. He wouldn't get into the starting 11 at two thirds of Prem clubs.

The biggest joke of all though is that we go into a Premiership season with one experienced centre back and three young and inexperienced centre backs two of which had in the main shown themselves to be a liability at this level last season and not ready. Oh and your one experienced centre back has been known in the past to be prone to injury. Don't then be surprised and cry over the fact that at some point you are left with two inexperienced centre backs.

Injuries are a part of football. It's why having a decent squad of players is so crucial. We don't have a decent squad though. We have a decent best 11 and beyond that we are poor. I don't blame Lambert for that though. I'd put the vast majority of the blame for that squarely with Lerner.

 

How is it a joke? He's been very good this season and I'd say he'd get into the starting 11 of most clubs outside the top 7.

 

Experience is overrated. I don't think there is anything wrong with going into the season with 4 CBs, it's just very unfortunate that Okore got that injury.

 

Yep, injuries are a part of football, but there are very few squads where the quality is evenly spread out. It's ludicrous to act like Vlaar's absence shouldn't have had an impact. Most teams will struggle defensively most of the time if their best defender isn't playing.

exactly, there are not many teams which would cope well without both 1st choice centre backs!

[AndyM3000]

Wouldn't mind Steve Clarke to be honest if Lambert did go, which he won't.

Steve Clarke had West Brom below us in the table??

despite a much bigger spending budget.

West Brom spent less than us over the last 2 seasons.

[Nigel]

Enda Stevens marked Valencia out of the game last season.

 

Why doesn't PL rate him now....

Is this a joke?

[SquaddieVilla]

 

Hindsight is a great thing, but i am looking at Everton with Martinez and thinking, why oh why isn't he our manager. Instead of this mardy,boring , tactically inept Lambert bloke

Martinez has taken over a club that have had a decade of stability, with a team that's been challenging consistently in the top 6.  He's also been given money from the Fellaini sale to add to a squad that is far better than ours.

 

Not a just comparison at all.

 

 

 

 

Hindsight is a great thing, but i am looking at Everton with Martinez and thinking, why oh why isn't he our manager. Instead of this mardy,boring , tactically inept Lambert bloke

Martinez has taken over a club that have had a decade of stability, with a team that's been challenging consistently in the top 6.  He's also been given money from the Fellaini sale to add to a squad that is far better than ours.

 

Not a just comparison at all.

 

So u think that Martinez would have bought some of the inept rubbish that Lambert has brought to the club, hardly. IMO we should have pushed harder for Martinez instead of Lambert, who i have never been a fan off. 

[Big_John_10]

Wouldn't mind Steve Clarke to be honest if Lambert did go, which he won't.

Steve Clarke had West Brom below us in the table??

despite a much bigger spending budget.

West Brom spent less than us over the last 2 seasons.

Wages?

West brom got lukaku when we couldn't afford him.

[Butterfingers]

I think the WBA-Villa situation epitomises where we are at present & how thin the line is between going forwards or backwards.

[Risso]

 

Hindsight is a great thing, but i am looking at Everton with Martinez and thinking, why oh why isn't he our manager. Instead of this mardy,boring , tactically inept Lambert bloke

Martinez has taken over a club that have had a decade of stability, with a team that's been challenging consistently in the top 6.  He's also been given money from the Fellaini sale to add to a squad that is far better than ours.

 

Not a just comparison at all.

 

 

Martinez also tries to play football in the right way, instead of the absolute grot that Lambert serves up.

[SquaddieVilla]

 

 

Hindsight is a great thing, but i am looking at Everton with Martinez and thinking, why oh why isn't he our manager. Instead of this mardy,boring , tactically inept Lambert bloke

Martinez has taken over a club that have had a decade of stability, with a team that's been challenging consistently in the top 6.  He's also been given money from the Fellaini sale to add to a squad that is far better than ours.

 

Not a just comparison at all.

 

 

Martinez also tries to play football in the right way, instead of the absolute grot that Lambert serves up.

 

Exactly, we have 2nd tier players with a 2nd tier manager, who has no passion or drive.

[Nigel]

I'm still backing Lambert but  some of his decisions baffle me. Last week at Fulham Bacuna was getting run ragged but he didn't change things round, likewise today with Luna.

 

Who could he replace him with that would have improved us?

[PieFacE]

 

 

Hindsight is a great thing, but i am looking at Everton with Martinez and thinking, why oh why isn't he our manager. Instead of this mardy,boring , tactically inept Lambert bloke

Martinez has taken over a club that have had a decade of stability, with a team that's been challenging consistently in the top 6.  He's also been given money from the Fellaini sale to add to a squad that is far better than ours.

 

Not a just comparison at all.

 

 

Martinez also tries to play football in the right way, instead of the absolute grot that Lambert serves up.

 

Yeah but as Martinez proved at Wigan, playing "nice" football with Championship players gets you relegated.

[VillanousOne]

Ok so we can say that Lambert hasn't had the funds and backing yet - and had a hard remit to cut down the wage bill.

So lets take a look at that - has the bomb squad approach really worked? Or has it just meant we have ruined numerous reputations and careers whilst still paying the majority of those wages?

We still have Hutton on full wages doing nothing - with no route back into the team.

Should we not have waited for Given to go before buying Steer? We've until very recently had to pay Given's wages in full - and even now I bet Boro and even Swansea if he goes there pay about 5% of what he is on.

We are still paying for Ireland to rediscover his form at Stoke - and lets be honest he has been one of their best players in the last 4 games. My feeling about him is that he had ability, rarely showed it but was no worse than any other midfielder we had.

Bent's career has nose dived completely and his wages remain high but I imagine still mainly paid by us, whilst his value is now simply f*ck all. But Jordan Bowery was a much better option obviously.
 

Also Lambert would have bombed Zog out also and we would be paying his wages now - while he was on loan and Doncaster or some such bollocks. Instead of just being injured.

Kozak was a random signing, again one we should have maybe made after Tekkers had gone. Not a bad player - but again what is the point in having Bowery? Plus out of all our summer signings he was the most expensive, ok so 4m isn't much - but when we were crying out for creative midfielder it is a bit unnecessary.

Bacuna for less than a million is a bargain, even if he has been incredibly erratic of late.

Luna is no better defensively than Bennett, but to be fair Bennett always had more supporting cover.

Helenius and Tonev are two gambles we just could do with out.

We can't keep on punting money up the wall on cheap players and cheap wages, because the quality of those signings shows and their costs soon adds up.

 

But ultimately it is the way Lambert sets up the team that I am not a fan off, every match it is slightly different yet no better tactically than the last. Yes he is being let down by players being out of form and by injuries, but the team we have now and the way we play is all down to him, he has had enough time and enough money to spend to make us into something less awful than this. 

 

 

Edited December 15, 2013 by VillanousOne

[Butterfingers]

Just watched the Norwich-Swansea goals. 2 great goals but both came from long balls.

 

People need to understand that we won't be able to pay £2million for midfielders & outpass teams who spend more on 1 player than we have on our entire team.

 

You need to cut your cloth accordingly & this is what is happening.

 

If it moves us on to the next level (whatever that may be) then I believe we should take it on the chin for now.

 

1 win & 3 defeats in the past 4 games have not been enjoyable but this is where we are at present & there will be more of the same in the future.

 

As long as we dust ourselves down & go again, I believe it will work out well in the long term.

[vandaq]

I bet a lot of spurs fans want avb to leave as well

[StanBalaban]

 

 

Hindsight is a great thing, but i am looking at Everton with Martinez and thinking, why oh why isn't he our manager. Instead of this mardy,boring , tactically inept Lambert bloke

Martinez has taken over a club that have had a decade of stability, with a team that's been challenging consistently in the top 6.  He's also been given money from the Fellaini sale to add to a squad that is far better than ours.

 

Not a just comparison at all.

 

 

 

 

Hindsight is a great thing, but i am looking at Everton with Martinez and thinking, why oh why isn't he our manager. Instead of this mardy,boring , tactically inept Lambert bloke

Martinez has taken over a club that have had a decade of stability, with a team that's been challenging consistently in the top 6.  He's also been given money from the Fellaini sale to add to a squad that is far better than ours.

 

Not a just comparison at all.

 

So u think that Martinez would have bought some of the inept rubbish that Lambert has brought to the club, hardly. IMO we should have pushed harder for Martinez instead of Lambert, who i have never been a fan off. 

 

Martinez is operating with a different budget and has had to overhaul an entire team. How can you not see that?

 

When he had a squad of comparable quality they flirted with relegation for a few years before actually going down.  

[smetrov]

For some reason we seem to have less available revenue than nearly all the other clubs in the division. Thats despite attendances that dwarf some clubs and 20 years of premiership revenue. 

 

That said we almost got relegated last season - when we were forced to play a load of rookies in defence. Lambert should have taken steps to ensure that didn't happen again. He didn't he choose to buy Tonev and Helenuis - Now we have the Vlaar injury - and apart from Luna todays defence was the one that laboured so badly during Vlaars injury. The glut of goals against since we lost Vlaar should really come as little surprise.

 

To start one season with only 1 experienced CB - was foolhardy - to then be caught out by the same injury to the same player the following season in somewhat unforgivable IMO.  

[mikeyp102]

I like a lot, liked the formation at the start, and for the first ten minutes we looked like we were going to go for it. But once we conceded it was game over. The players were not good enough and again lambert failed to react to what was happening on the pitch, this may be down to the lack of options, but as some have alluded the majority are his signings.

[StefanAVFC]

It could be worse. We could be Tottenham.

[theboyangel]

It could be worse. We could be Tottenham.

Was about the post the same!!!!!

[StanBalaban]

For some reason we seem to have less available revenue than nearly all the other clubs in the division. Thats despite attendances that dwarf some clubs and 20 years of premiership revenue. 

 

That said we almost got relegated last season - when we were forced to play a load of rookies in defence. Lambert should have taken steps to ensure that didn't happen again. He didn't he choose to buy Tonev and Helenuis - Now we have the Vlaar injury - and apart from Luna todays defence was the one that laboured so badly during Vlaars injury. The glut of goals against since we lost Vlaar should really come as little surprise.

 

To start one season with only 1 experienced CB - was foolhardy - to then be caught out by the same injury to the same player the following season in somewhat unforgivable IMO.  

But he didn't start the season with 1 experienced CB did he?

 

He had Vlaar and Okore - and before you say that we haven't seen enough of Okore to make a judgement, he's a champions league player so plenty experienced.

 

Then Ciaran Clark is in his 4th premier league season.

 

Herd, Baker and Lowton as back up if needed too.

[markavfc40]

Another tripe performance at home. I am struggling to recall the last time I left a game thinking we had played well. We now have the worst record in all 4 divisions for goals scored at home with just 6.

I am sure some will blame the absence of Vlaar for todays result but lets not kid ourselves we have been dire for a while. It is also plainly obvious that Clark and Baker, depsite never giving less than 100%, are not good enough at this level. With that in mind then for me it was a major f up not signing two new centre backs over the summer especially as Vlaar is known for being injury prone.

I am not sure where we are heading to be honest. Points wise we are better off than we were last season which I'm grateful for but performances compared to the last third of last season have gone backwards. For the most part we are awful to watch.

Massive four games coming up for us and Lambert in particular. Stoke, Palace, Swansea and Sunderland. We need to take at least 7 points from those. If we were to fail to beat Palace and Swansea at home then I can see sections of the crowd turning on Lambert.