Manager Paul Lambert

[danceoftheshamen]

Well i think we've done well this last week. A draw against Arsenal is never a bad result especially on the back of a linesman assisted 0-5 thumping.

Then the win against Reading was vital.. They came hear having marked us as a must win & they lost.. so regardless that was always going to be a scrappy game & we are one of the few teams to have prevented them scoring too & the point at QPR was also huge with Arrymania at it's absolute maximum volume...We rode our luck maybe but that was some point down there.

[Morpheus]

At the moment it is obviously difficult watching the team you love struggling but I'm prepared to give Lambert time because I like the way he is going about things. There is clearly a need to get down the massive wage bill and he is doing a good job bringing in players whilst complying with that. A young squad with two more senior players in Vlaar and El Ahmadi who were used to playing with a young team at Feyenoord was clever business for me and it hints at the direction we are taking. If these lads can grow together and gel well, with a couple of additions and a bit of luck this season I think we'll have a much more fruitful time the following season.

Just have to get through this year and support the team, as hard as it might be at times.

KEA hasn't really been 'clever business' though has he?

[sexbelowsound]

KEA hasn't really been 'clever business' though has he?

I don't KEA has been too bad. He hasn't been great lately but I think he is still adapting his game to the pace of the Premier League. In the Eredivisie it was obviously much easier for him to control games than it is here but you don't control games in any league without talent and I think he'll become much more important for us as he grows with the squad and we improve.

[Morpheus]

OK, so no. I don't think there was a better manager available to us who would do what Lambert is having to do such as bring down the wage bill and bring together a younger, hungrier squad. Rafa and Jol clearly wouldn't be able to do that.

And I'm well aware we spent 7 million on Benteke but your whole reason for signing Adam was for his delivery at set pieces. What use is that without Benteke? Also, we are talking wages again, He was signed from Liverpool and I can imagine 4 million plus whatever wages he was on is fairly equal to 7 million and what Benteke is on.

Say we used the funds for Benteke to purchase Adam, would you really be happier now with Charlie Adam in our team than Benteke?

Guess work of course but most of what we do as fans when talking about transfers is.

EDIT: Pretty sure the Dempsey thing was a no-goer and merely a way of getting Genk to pull their finger out.

So in your opinion then both Rafa and Jol wouldn't have been able to build a team with all their experience and European connections. Very nice and I see you've excluded Clark. Why would that be then?

Where did I say my whole reason for signing Adam would be his delivery. I mentioned that those are some of his attributes that we are so clearly lacking. My point remains that both Adam and Diame were getable but Lambert chose not to pursue them and our debate has nothing to do with Benteke. Even if it was Lambert still didn't spend all of his available budget.

I've seen your point about Dempsey being mentioned before but there's one very large hole in it. What if Dempsey had said yes? Would Lambert then have said no. It would have undermined Lambert's tenure here right from the start. Lambert would have also signed Benteke irrespective of what happened to the Dempsey transfer.

[Keyblade]

Was just watching the second half (do Eurosport have some sort of deal with avtv or something? why do they always show our games?) again, and we really got our asses handed to us. We did well to get a point in all honesty. No **** around against Stoke though, we need all 3 points before we head into our second trio of death in 2 months.

[Morpheus]

I don't KEA has been too bad. He hasn't been great lately but I think he is still adapting his game to the pace of the Premier League. In the Eredivisie it was obviously much easier for him to control games than it is here but you don't control games in any league without talent and I think he'll become much more important for us as he grows with the squad and we improve.

There's only one reason why he is no longer a first team pick.

[sexbelowsound]

So in your opinion then both Rafa and Jol wouldn't have been able to build a team with all their experience and European connections. Very nice and I see you've excluded Clark. Why would that be then?

Where did I say my whole reason for signing Adam would be his delivery. I mentioned that those are some of his attributes that we are so clearly lacking. My point remains that both Adam and Diame were getable but Lambert chose not to pursue them and our debate has nothing to do with Benteke. Even if it was Lambert still didn't spend all of his available budget.

I've seen your point about Dempsey being mentioned before but there's one very large hole in it. What if Dempsey had said yes? Would Lambert then have said no. It would have undermined Lambert's tenure here right from the start. Lambert would have also signed Benteke irrespective of what happened to the Dempsey transfer.

I didn't leave Clark out deliberately, I just didn't notice that you mentioned him, but come on, seriously, Who could have seen that he would do as well as he has done.

How do you know Lambert chose not to pursue them?

[Big_John_10]

What are you talking about? Over the moon? I don't think anyone is over the moon. There are however clearly groups of people who can see the bigger picture and are prepared to give a manager time and those who still can't get over the fact that the days of finishing 6th in the league are gone for the time being and want it back right now at any cost.

And no, you are right, obviously I can't determine which posters turned up once Lerner came in but what I can do is apply what I have seen in the real world to an online forum. The same people I know who only showed an interest in Villa at that time are the same ones who can't grasp the current situation.

Ahh the bigger picture argument.

I'm prepared to give the manager time and I have no expectations of top 6 finishes so soon but I still think our last two performances have been very poor.

When we play well I'll say so, when we play badly I'll say so.

[Morpheus]

I didn't leave Clark out deliberately, I just didn't notice that you mentioned him, but come on, seriously, Who could have seen that he would do as well as he has done.

How do you know Lambert chose not to pursue them?

As far as Clarke goes he was always a very highly rated number two and it was only a matter of time before he wanted his own team.

I don't know for sure but at the start of the season surely our club would have been more appealing to those players than West Ham and Stoke? No, he probably just didn't go for them and that's a real pity as both players would have strengthened a major weakness in our team and without spending too much in transfer fees.

[pacbuddies]

A draw against Arsenal is never a bad result.

Is this the same Arsenal that can't buy a win at the moment and are sitting in 10th place after losing at home to the mighty Swansea?

[Mantis]

Is this the same Arsenal that can't buy a win at the moment and are sitting in 10th place after losing at home to the mighty Swansea?

I don't get it, you think we're really really shit yet at the same time we should be beating Arsenal?

[pacbuddies]

I don't get it, you think we're really really shit yet at the same time we should be beating Arsenal?

There seems to be a lot that you 'don't get' having read your spats with Morpheus. I suggest you read my post correctly as I never said that we should be beating Arsenal although perhaps I should have said it because they are not as good as some people seem to make out.

[Mantis]

There seems to be a lot that you 'don't get' having read your spats with Morpheus. I suggest you read my post correctly as I never said that we should be beating Arsenal although perhaps I should have said it because they are not as good as some people seem to make out.

I never said you did say that, but it was certainly implied. A draw against Arsenal isn't a bad result.

[Richard]

The circumstances before Bent was benched yesterday would substantiate 'TrentVilla's' point Richard.

only if you want to read it that way, none of us know the exact reaons

[AVFCforever1991]

At least Bent was on the Bench.

[Richard]

So all villa fans have to accept everything because there are teams like Sheffield Wednesday are doing worse

No I didn't say that and I think you are aware of that.

The poster I quoted was saying we had waited too long for success and I was merely saying we have no divine right to success, that there were lots of teams waiting for success who had previously been successful

[Raymond]

This is getting tiresome.

Of course it is a big picture situation, and of course we have been, overall, playing better as of late.

YESTERDAY, however, was absolute shit and unacceptable. We played for a draw against the bottom team in the table. That smacks of desperation and fear.

And me, someone who has been a defender and proponent of Lambert and his approach, saying this destroys your go to "all you guys are negative all the time" bullshit arguements. Sometimes things are negative, and being positive in the face of it shows an equal lack of objectivity as someone who is constantly negative.

[KHV]

only if you want to read it that way, none of us know the exact reaons

personality clash is probably the most likely. Lambert strikes me as a stubborn man so I would imagine there is no come back for bent.

I imagine bent sees himself as a star, Lambert does not strike me as a man that likes dealing with stars.

[romavillan]

This is getting tiresome.

Of course it is a big picture situation, and of course we have been, overall, playing better as of late.

YESTERDAY, however, was absolute shit and unacceptable. We played for a draw against the bottom team in the table. That smacks of desperation and fear.

And me, someone who has been a defender and proponent of Lambert and his approach, saying this destroys your go to "all you guys are negative all the time" bullshit arguements. Sometimes things are negative, and being positive in the face of it shows an equal lack of objectivity as someone who is constantly negative.

we decided after an onslaught in the second half to shore up and take a point home. nothing wrong with that in my book, you can say "worst team in the league" all you like but it doesn't change the fact that they turned in a good performance against us and have some good individual talent which combined to make a defeat just as likely as a win had we gone balls out for one. we were good in patches, and even in the second half where we were less effective going forward we had a couple of spells where we completely took the wind out of their sails by keeping the ball for ages.

it's not exactly a massive disaster is it? a point away from home? doesn't smack of desperation or fear to me after watching it. the game was full of mistakes from both sides and in the circumstances the point was a good return. i don't think anyone is saying that we were amazing and it was a huge performance, neither against reading. we played a lot better in losing to man u and drawing with arsenal than we did winning against reading and drawing with qpr.

the positive people are seeing an improvement since swindon and takign the positives from that run.

[PB]

A point away from home when youre at this end of the table is almost always a good result. Under the circumstances, first home game for their new manager and the crowd really being up for it, the second half battering we took, I think a draw is a really good result under those circumstances. Many people on here were predicting we'd get mullahed so presumably those people are very happy with the draw? I also dont think the performance was *that* bad, first half it was pretty decent - its the first half of football we've had more than 50^ possession away form home all season I'd imagine.Second half, yeah we were outplayed, but, and its a MASSIVE but, we didnt concede, and even as recently as a couple of weeks ago we'd have crumbled under that kind of pressure. We have needed all season to start getting better at holding onto things, and the last 3 games we have shown real progress in that department. So there are positives to be found. We are getting there. The kids are adjusting to the League, we are getting harder to beat, our second halfs are improving. Yes, we need to get better, of course we do, but we are showing signs that we are doing exactly that