Manager Paul Lambert

[AvfcRigo82]

I would be hopeful. He isn't the type of person who would accept getting messed about. He won't be enjoying these results or his own reputation being damaged and you can be sure he has made it crystal clear what is needed.

His signing targets are interesting and would deffo improve the team. (I need to say it isn't possible for him to sign Premier League players because of transfer fee and wages) So the market he has looked at closely is abroad.

Try convincing Morpheous of this. Me and others have been trying for months to get this into him and he has been having none of it.

If they come in, I've no doubts Villa will survive. What people need to understand is the young players who are struggling will play better with a few better and slightly more experienced players next to them.

As for giving the owner an ultimatum, that won't be needed. Good discussions have taken place and as things stand Lambert fully expects to get new faces on board. But you can be sure if the transfer window comes and goes and he isn't happy he will know about it! It can be difficult for a new manager to know who to trust and how to pass such information on to the fan in the street.

But what I will say he is if confident the board will back him this month within reason.

All very good and refreshing considering such a delicate time we are in. I hope what you say turns out to be true and Lambert gets the players in that he needs.

I appreciate people on here believe you have to provide confirmed information before you can be taken seriously or trustworthy which is why I provided one of the admin guys, TrentVilla, with specific information which proves I know what I am talking about!

Que aload of IM's to Trents inbox.

[AvfcRigo82]

DOL signed Laursen and Bouma not muppets like Bennett and KEA

Let's not forget DOL also signed muppets like Mathieu Berson and Carlton Cole.

[Mantis]

Mantis - I think someone may have hacked your profile

What, for my opinion starting to change having seen us battered and totally outplayed (this time against a League Two side) for the 5th game out of 6? Edited January 9, 2013 by Mantis

[VillaCas]

What, for my opinion starting to change having seen us battered and totally outplayed (this time against a League Two side) for the 5th game out of 6?

Last night was crap but we were not battered and outplayed (we were against Spurs and Chelsea) - our finishing was terrible and we couldn't defend corners

Delph and Bannan are not up to the CM task but we have no squad

Up to the Liverpool game we were getting better - we've hit a very bad patch.

I'm still behind PL to turn this around

[ryanvilla_1994]

I can fully understand people calling for him to go but if he does get the boot I fear that the circle will continue. We'll appoint yet another manager that will fail to get the best out of our overrated youth players and he will struggle. Lerner simply has to invest and Lambert has to spend it wisely otherwise we will be relegated.

[Mantis]

Last night was crap but we were not battered and outplayed (we were against Spurs and Chelsea) - our finishing was terrible and we couldn't defend corners

Delph and Bannan are not up to the CM task but we have no squad

Up to the Liverpool game we were getting better - we've hit a very bad patch.

I'm still behind PL to turn this around

Lambert must've known they'd be a thread from corners yet by the looks of it he did nothing to work on it in training?

Also, it's his job to get the players up out of this bad run of form and he isn't doing that at the moment.

[bradarmstrong_]

Lambert isn't really the main problem here Mourinho or SAF couldn't turn this squad into winners. The majority of players that have come through the academy aren't good enough for premier league football.

[pacbuddies]

" If you were told budgets would be slashed in a bid to prepare for more spending in the future and that Lambert was having to do a lot of dirty work this season to make it possible to improve next season would you accept it? If the team surives?"

i'd accept it all day long Hairyhands!! someone needs to be taking a long term view and there needs to be some patience. all the people crowing for lambert's head are dead wrong in my opinion.

also the people talking about feeling humiliated and then spouting off on an angry rant should grow up

UTV

Bit of 'Groundhog Day' here maybe?

Doesn't your opening salvo sound very similar to the bollocks we were fed about McLeish's appointment?

[VillaCas]

Lambert must've known they'd be a thread from corners yet by the looks of it he did nothing to work on it in training?

Do you honestly think that? That he chooses not to work on defending corners?

The poor defending was clearly down to individual errors

At the moment there is so much wrong that I imagine he barely knows where to begin

- he inheirited a terrible squad

- he has had to slash the wage bill

- he has relatively little to spend

Don't give up on him - he will turn this around

[ryanvilla_1994]

Not buying that he had little to spend mate. I'm not being funny but he could quite easily have just bought 2 or 3 proven good players with the amount he spent and kept the likes of Collins and Cuellar.

[Mantis]

To me it didn't look like they did anything on the training ground. I've given up on him. I'm not actively saying I want him gone because there is no alternative but he doesn't look like he knows what he's doing to me.

[Willy_Evergo]

Let's not forget DOL also signed muppets like Mathieu Berson and Carlton Cole.

And Djemba Djemba

[VillaCas]

Not buying that he had little to spend mate. I'm not being funny but he could quite easily have just bought 2 or 3 proven good players with the amount he spent and kept the likes of Collins and Cuellar.

So you think the squad he took over was only a couple of players short of what was required - you're fooling yourself even if he'd bought Ronaldo and Messi we'd still be in massive trouble

I'm not going over the Collins and Cuellar thing again. Do you think Warnock, Hutton, Zog, Ireland and Dunne are our future

The squad he inherited was dreadful - they took us to 16th in the division. PL has a massive rebuilding job on his hands. In 18-24 months time I would guess Weimann, Gardner, Baker and Clark will be the only surviviors from the squad PL took over

[ryanvilla_1994]

IMO Collins is a much better option than Clark, who still fails to convince me. No I don't think Warnock, Zog, Dunne etc are our future but nor do I think that the likes of Bennett, Clark or Bannan are better options.

[Laivasse]

There are no excuses for Lambert. Lerner's got everything to answer for, of course, but Lambert came into a struggling team and tried to impose a new order without properly assessing his resources - maybe he thought the power of his own hype would be enough to sort him out. Fact is, our already poor defence shipped out 2 CBs and he decides to replace them with only 1 injury prone guy. It's irrelevant how good Cuellar and Collins were - fact is they needed to be replaced, but they weren't. He supplements his one CB purchase with a couple of inexperienced children at fullback who are no better than the bloody awful dross we already have, whom Lambert also did his best to alienate the moment he got in the door. He didn't buy the midfield enforcer we so sorely need and he's taking an absolute bloody aeon to notice that Bannan and Delph are not good enough to start. I said in the summer that his transfer policy was madness and our current circumstances merely reflect the truth of that.

'Injuries' my arse - players like Ireland, N'zog and Bent have been left out even when fit, despite the fact we absolutely have to get the best out of them, given our situation. There is no other choice. Tactically Lambert has been a complete shit show, too. Each of his silly unorthodox formations are unsuited to our players and have the nasty tendency to leave our opposition with acres of space all over the pitch. Our players look disorganised and terrified on top of being untalented, which is little surprise since Lambert gives every impression he's way out of his depth. The emperor's got no clothes on... tired of watching this travesty.

[villianusa]

I would be hopeful. He isn't the type of person who would accept getting messed about. He won't be enjoying these results or his own reputation being damaged and you can be sure he has made it crystal clear what is needed.

His signing targets are interesting and would deffo improve the team. (I need to say it isn't possible for him to sign Premier League players because of transfer fee and wages) So the market he has looked at closely is abroad.

If they come in, I've no doubts Villa will survive. What people need to understand is the young players who are struggling will play better with a few better and slightly more experienced players next to them.

As for giving the owner an ultimatum, that won't be needed. Good discussions have taken place and as things stand Lambert fully expects to get new faces on board. But you can be sure if the transfer window comes and goes and he isn't happy he will know about it! It can be difficult for a new manager to know who to trust and how to pass such information on to the fan in the street.

But what I will say he is if confident the board will back him this month within reason.

I appreciate people on here believe you have to provide confirmed information before you can be taken seriously or trustworthy which is why I provided one of the admin guys, TrentVilla, with specific information which proves I know what I am talking about!

So if the players are to come in when would you think the quickest they would arrive?

[VillaCas]

There are no excuses for Lambert. Lerner's got everything to answer for, of course, but Lambert came into a struggling team and tried to impose a new order without properly assessing his resources - maybe he thought the power of his own hype would be enough to sort him out. Fact is, our already poor defence shipped out 2 CBs and he decides to replace them with only 1 injury prone guy. It's irrelevant how good Cuellar and Collins were - fact is they needed to be replaced, but they weren't. He supplements his one CB purchase with a couple of inexperienced children at fullback who are no better than the bloody awful dross we already have, whom Lambert also did his best to alienate the moment he got in the door. He didn't buy the midfield enforcer we so sorely need and he's taking an absolute bloody aeon to notice that Bannan and Delph are not good enough to start. I said in the summer that his transfer policy was madness and our current circumstances merely reflect the truth of that.

'Injuries' my arse - players like Ireland, N'zog and Bent have been left out even when fit, despite the fact we absolutely have to get the best out of them, given our situation. There is no other choice. Tactically Lambert has been a complete shit show, too. Each of his silly unorthodox formations are unsuited to our players and have the nasty tendency to leave our opposition with acres of space all over the pitch. Our players look disorganised and terrified on top of being untalented, which is little surprise since Lambert gives every impression he's way out of his depth. The emperor's got no clothes on... tired of watching this travesty.

Funny how he took teams to back to back to back promotions and 12th in the league with tiny resources given he is so crap

You know far more about football than him - you should write to RL

[PandaMac]

We got rid of Collins and Cuellar. We got Vlaar in and have Clark and Baker, remember Dunne was originally only supposed to be out for 4-8 weeks. That's 4 Cb's with Lowton and Herd ( who admittedly isn't the best ) to cover.

Cuellar hasn't played well and I wouldn't want to watch Collins hoof it up to benteke every week, so no way I would take them back.

[gilbertoAVFC]

I think people often overlook how much of a negative effect the "we're Aston Villa and we won the European Cup therefore we deserve better" mentality of many of our fans has on the club.

We have arguably the worst squad in the Premier League bar Reading's and yet our players are expected to comfortably avoid relegation. Combine this with how draining it must be for their confidence when so many of our young players are denounced during games by the fans and afterwards in the media and it's no surprise to see how badly we're struggling. The results we've had recently are not acceptable, but they are worsened partially because the fans expect so much of the team when the reality is most are still new to top-level professional football and building their confidence yet in a very high-pressure situation - not a good combination.

Of course the manager is partially to blame too, but just how convincing can you be as a motivator when you have everybody else telling your players how appalling they are. Twitter, forums and the internet in general ensures that players are hardly going to be able to avoid what people are saying about them. We've gone through three managers now who have all been at least partially successful at their previous clubs and yet all have failed at Villa.

It's the expectation which isn't matched by a corresponding level of investment (and general competence) from the board which is more to blame for our plight than the players and even manager.

Our fans sarcastically applauding Bradford's attendance whilst 3-1 down sums up that we're clinging onto the this idea that we're still a big club, when in reality we're only as big as our current league position and ability to lure players, who quite frankly don't give a shit whether we won the European Cup thirty years ago or not.

[CI]

Of course there are alternatives to Lambert. It's a distinct possibility now we will get beaten by Southampton and then take a thumping at The Hawthorns. For me , Lamberts position is then untenable and has to go.

Looking at his demeanour and body language I'd say he's close to asking for a settlement .