Manager Paul Lambert

[smetrov]

We needed two goals or we were out for sure, so he threw on all of our strikers. The way we were starting to play before he did that, I really don't blame him at all for his decision, we went for it and got one back but it was just too late. You can argue that without 'proper service' they wouldn't be able to score but in all honesty we had nobody on the bench to provide that service and Bannan and Delph weren't doing anything productive.

The two goals IMO were never going to be a problem. we got one even playing very poor in the 2nd half. I said to mates that if bradford don't score in the 2nd leg we will be ok, but I could always see Bradford scoring.

[VillaCas]

Now, he is hiding away and I seriously cannot hear what he is saying at times,

All credit to him, he stood up and took responsibility for that miserable performance - criticise tactics if you want but don't make stuff up

....and are you seriously going to bring in his Scottish accent? FFS

[andyh]

Based on what - they all gave 100% for me last night but lacked any quality

Not often a medicre grifter wins a CL medal is it

Some criticisms are justified but these are just garbage

Eh ?? they gave 100%?

Ireland certainly didnt

Gabby certainly didnt

Bannan certainly didnt

[GarethRDR]

Not often a medicre grifter wins a CL medal is it

Nobody's asking them to win a CL medal, but asking them to best an out-of-form team from 3 leagues below us over two games is far from an unreasonable request.

Edited January 23, 2013 by GarethRDR

[TwirlyDoors]

I think Paul Lambert should be given at east a full season. In reality, I thought this would be a season of struggle, survival being the aim.

If we had got to a cup final that would have been fantastic, but I wouldn't have expected it at the start of the season.

The problems have been there for at least the last 2 seasons, we have been struggling for a while. It won't be turned round overnight.

We were undone in the first leg, our achilles heel is set pieces, something lower league teams probably have as a significant strength. Yes we should have beat Bradford (no disrespect, good luck to them in the final). The substitutions did seem a gamble, but we were in a situation where I think he probably had to.

We can't compete with the top six clubs in financial terms, without Randy Lerner constantly covering the losses. The decision is the club has to stand on its own, like most other clubs in the league and Europe.

So we have to operate in a financially responsible way. There is no other choice. I hear the cries of Randy out, but realistically, who else is going to fund the club the way he has over the last few years.

Throwng a load of money on highly paid players won't solve the problem, at best it will move it down the road a little, but sooner or later the bill will have to be paid.

I believe there is money to spend in this window, but it may be difficult to get players who are better for the fee and wages we are prepared to offer.

I believe that Paul Lambert wants to do things in the right way, a sustainable way, I hope it works.

Anyway, this has rambled all over the place a little, but I think Paul shoud stay and, hopefully the improvements will come.

[SquaddieVilla]

He shouldn't resign for going out to Bradford, as bad as it is. Roberto Martinez and Arsene Wenger didn't leave after getting knocked out by Bradford either.

It's league form which needs to determine Lambert's future.

Yeh and that is much better................

[Richard]

The irony of our current situation and the reactions to it, compared to the last season under Ellis is not lost on me.

Back then we had a manager that divided the fanbase and an owner that the majority blamed for our demise and wanted rid of. The debate at the time was over who the largest proportion of blame lay with. Some wanted the manager gone , some wanted both and some wanted the owner gone solely, blaming our situation on him and largely excusing the manager in pursuit of the bigger picture. I argued that both had to go, they were both as bad as each other. Now I argue that it is the owner.

They are for me different , yet similar situations. I just feel that then we had had three years of Oleary , he had taken the piss out of the club, the fans and had actually lost the dressing room. His sole raison d'etre seemed to be to fight with everyone at the club, especially the owner. He was a poor manager who had had three years.

Lambert for me is just a different proposition to that. I know many will not agree and that is their right, I'm not going to disagree with their right to have a go. There are some points I actually agree with myself, Lambert has made mistakes absolutely. He is not perfect and all managers make mistakes. For him it seems he cannot afford to given our situation. BUT I think we will be better off with him in the long run, much better off. He has been here 6 months, not three years. This whole mess created by lerner will take longer than 6 months to put right, Lambert is no miracle worker. I totally accept that people will not agree, just as I do not agree with their opinion that Lambert has to go. I'm not going to change anyone's mind on that I accept that. Peopla hold Moyes up as a shining example of what can be done with limited funds. Moyes has been in post ages, and had a much more stable base to build on but still had his woes.

I just think constantly changing the manager actually adds to our woes, it is a reactionary thing that football fans are prone to I realise that, but it will not help. Especially as it actually papers over the cracks of the real problem and that is an owner with insufficient wealth to be able to help us compete consistently and insufficient nous in the business we are in to be able to compensate for that lack of wealth as other owners appear to have done.

Fine have a go at the manager, change him if you want. But how many managers do you want to go through until we actually see the real problem? Who next to be held up to be the pariah? What other plan can we implement to cope with a poor owner?

We have tried the experienced players route. We have tried the short term fix route. We have tried the one or two overpriced route. We are now trying the young hungry will be top notch but we have to stick with them for a while to prove that route. Each time it seems we have changed tack and then jumped to another strategy. None of that helps, it all makes matters far worse. What other route is there left to us under the current regime? What manager better than Lambert will come here and take us forward? I would argue there isnt one. We have the best of what is available to us in the manager and his team after the mistakes of the last three years. Someone who was prepared to come here , put his reputation on the line in the belief he could achieve something with what is still a huge club, someone who thought he would be backed to do that, someone who just might be feeling a little let down at this point. Changing him will not fix our ills. Backing him just might and I would argue is our best last hope right now. Anything else and we will be gone the way of Forrest, Leeds, Sheffield Wednesday, gone for a generation

The owner may want that. i dont.

[MikeMcKenna]

We have no choice but to stick with Lambert. It really is now potentially a case of damned if we do and damned if we don't. Some of the names being suggested as alternatives are frankly ludicrous.

I understand the anger and feel it myself but Lerner must back Lambert and allow him funds to bring in some quality. If he doesn't he is consigning us to the Championship, from which we will not return for years!!!.

[SquaddieVilla]

I think Paul Lambert should be given at east a full season. In reality, I thought this would be a season of struggle, survival being the aim.

If we had got to a cup final that would have been fantastic, but I wouldn't have expected it at the start of the season.

The problems have been there for at least the last 2 seasons, we have been struggling for a while. It won't be turned round overnight.

We were undone in the first leg, our achilles heel is set pieces, something lower league teams probably have as a significant strength. Yes we should have beat Bradford (no disrespect, good luck to them in the final). The substitutions did seem a gamble, but we were in a situation where I think he probably had to.

We can't compete with the top six clubs in financial terms, without Randy Lerner constantly covering the losses. The decision is the club has to stand on its own, like most other clubs in the league and Europe.

So we have to operate in a financially responsible way. There is no other choice. I hear the cries of Randy out, but realistically, who else is going to fund the club the way he has over the last few years.

Throwng a load of money on highly paid players won't solve the problem, at best it will move it down the road a little, but sooner or later the bill will have to be paid.

I believe there is money to spend in this window, but it may be difficult to get players who are better for the fee and wages we are prepared to offer.

I believe that Paul Lambert wants to do things in the right way, a sustainable way, I hope it works.

Anyway, this has rambled all over the place a little, but I think Paul shoud stay and, hopefully the improvements will come.

Please explain the Lambert right way

Does that include ostracising your clubs most expensive assets

Even if they are prima dona's you come up with a plan of how to get the best of them in a bad situation

Sending paid professionals to train with the your/reserve teams

Lamberts negative style is obvious, he seems like a bully, and is backed into a corner

Having the most uninspiring persona in interviews

Not being honest and leaving, when you are blatantly over your head.

[Richard]

We have no choice but to stick with Lambert. It really is now potentially a case of damned if we do and damned if we don't. Some of the names being suggested as alternatives are frankly ludicrous.

I understand the anger and feel it myself but Lerner must back Lambert and allow him funds to bring in some quality. If he doesn't he is consigning us to the Championship, from which we will not return for years!!!.

My post in four lines. Cheers Mike, you git!

[VILLAMARV]

He came here, he looked a solid character, he seemed to have a lot of talent and some of that arrogance only the great ones have.

Now 6 months later he looks lost and it really just seems that the players don't respect him. When Lambert played he was a mediocre grifter in midfield, he doesn't really know how to relate to today's players and he probably tries to run the show like the managers in the 80's did. In the start, he was vocal and clear with the press. Now, he is hiding away and I seriously cannot hear what he is saying at times, imagine Benteke and El Ahmadi trying to figure out what the hell he is talking about.

When the players lose the respect for the manager, the latter is often out of a job in a short period of time. I don't know what to hope for anymore, because if we fire Lambert I have no special preference for his replacement. Di Matteo would always command that natural respect from everyone since he was a great player and he just won the CL for Chelsea, but he did not do a good job at WBA and everyone can win with Chelsea. A bit of the same with Pep Guardiola really, everyone can win the league with that team so how good is he really?

I hear people blaming Randy Lerner for everything. I think that is very ignorant. Lerner hires managers and give them money for transfers, that's about it. Has he backed every manager? Yes, the money we have spent since he came here is pretty high. Everyone makes mistakes, like McLeish (even though I feel that was a plot to lower expectations ), but when Lambert was hired basically everyone on here were happy. He was given a sum of money and nobody on here knows if that was the limit. Benteke has been very good, the rest have been pretty poor. I would say Ron Vlaar was also a very decent signing. He also made a decision to play rookies instead of Bent and N'Zogbia, and we all know how that has panned out.

IMO a manager needs to earn the trust of the chairman, and in no way has Lambert done that thus far. He was given 20M which he spent on a lot of players, much more money than most teams outside the top 6, and most of his signings have flopped. Lerner sees that Lambert cannot handle the team he inherited, his signings have been poor - why would he be able to handle a better team? A good manager would do better with this team, so maybe Lambert just isn't a very good manager.

Guessing at what happens is fine but dont judge someone on guesswork. I'm personally more inclined to believe we've got a squad full of big time charlies that lack the dicipline on the pitch to implement the gaffers instructions. I know i risk everyone shouting me down after the lack of shape last night but in the footage of the interview he gave after last nights match he looked genuinely exasperated at the lack of width and supply as if the players let him down. and like caz said WTF has his accent got to do with anything? have you ever seen or heard a Dalgleish interview! lol

As for being ignorant in blaming Lerner and the likes of Faulkner et al for where we are - Yes you have a valid point that Lerner has spent money and it could be argued that they backed every manager with cash. I would counter that with the fact that MON was backed by Lerner - and we never got to the top 4 and the CL money. When Barry, Young and Milner were all let go it was obvious we weren't seriously going for the top 4 anymore and since then the investment has come from the sales of other players. The decision by the backroom team to OK some of the contracts offered in their time (Heskey on 60k a week?) is most of the reason we plead poverty. people often complain about a lack of plan B on the field but if you spend 75% of your transfer budget for the season on Nzogbia what is plan B if he turns out to be the arrogant self important prima donna everyone knew he was at newcastle, long before his wigan days. Taking Ireland (pipe smoking, granny death lying prima donna that he is) in exchange for Milners little toe is an insult Man City's owners will be laughing about for years to come.

Lambert is making mistakes along the way there is no doubt about that, but go with me on this:

If you worked in an office and the employees kept making mistakes you'd ask their manager to sort it out. If that doesnt sort it maybe you change the manager. If they then keep making the same mistakes under new leadership you might call the new manager in ask him to sort it out and if the same shit keeps happening at what point do you say, right its the employees in the office.

Players need to take most of the blame for last night. as a team. not individuals. and its the same individuals that have underperformed for the last 2-3years that are the problem.

[AvfcRigo82]

The irony of our current situation and the reactions to it, compared to the last season under Ellis is not lost on me.

Back then we had a manager that divided the fanbase and an owner that the majority blamed for our demise and wanted rid of. The debate at the time was over who the largest proportion of blame lay with. Some wanted the manager gone , some wanted both and some wanted the owner gone solely, blaming our situation on him and largely excusing the manager in pursuit of the bigger picture. I argued that both had to go, they were both as bad as each other. Now I argue that it is the owner.

They are for me different , yet similar situations. I just feel that then we had had three years of Oleary , he had taken the piss out of the club, the fans and had actually lost the dressing room. His sole raison d'etre seemed to be to fight with everyone at the club, especially the owner. He was a poor manager who had had three years.

Lambert for me is just a different proposition to that. I know many will not agree and that is their right, I'm not going to disagree with their right to have a go. There are some points I actually agree with myself, Lambert has made mistakes absolutely. He is not perfect and all managers make mistakes. For him it seems he cannot afford to given our situation. BUT I think we will be better off with him in the long run, much better off. He has been here 6 months, not three years. This whole mess created by lerner will take longer than 6 months to put right, Lambert is no miracle worker. I totally accept that people will not agree, just as I do not agree with their opinion that Lambert has to go. I'm not going to change anyone's mind on that I accept that. Peopla hold Moyes up as a shining example of what can be done with limited funds. Moyes has been in post ages, and had a much more stable base to build on but still had his woes.

I just think constantly changing the manager actually adds to our woes, it is a reactionary thing that football fans are prone to I realise that, but it will not help. Especially as it actually papers over the cracks of the real problem and that is an owner with insufficient wealth to be able to help us compete consistently and insufficient nous in the business we are in to be able to compensate for that lack of wealth as other owners appear to have done.

Fine have a go at the manager, change him if you want. But how many managers do you want to go through until we actually see the real problem? Who next to be held up to be the pariah? What other plan can we implement to cope with a poor owner?

We have tried the experienced players route. We have tried the short term fix route. We have tried the one or two overpriced route. We are now trying the young hungry will be top notch but we have to stick with them for a while to prove that route. Each time it seems we have changed tack and then jumped to another strategy. None of that helps, it all makes matters far worse. What other route is there left to us under the current regime? What manager better than Lambert will come here and take us forward? I would argue there isnt one. We have the best of what is available to us in the manager and his team after the mistakes of the last three years. Someone who was prepared to come here , put his reputation on the line in the belief he could achieve something with what is still a huge club, someone who thought he would be backed to do that, someone who just might be feeling a little let down at this point. Changing him will not fix our ills. Backing him just might and I would argue is our best last hope right now. Anything else and we will be gone the way of Forrest, Leeds, Sheffield Wednesday, gone for a generation

The owner may want that. i dont.

Superb post Richard and you have saved me time writing the same opinion.

.

[jacketspuds]

Guessing at what happens is fine but dont judge someone on guesswork. I'm personally more inclined to believe we've got a squad full of big time charlies that lack the dicipline on the pitch to implement the gaffers instructions.

Are you not just guessing that the players are all big time charlies that lack any discipline?

[Jarpie]

The irony of our current situation and the reactions to it, compared to the last season under Ellis is not lost on me.

Back then we had a manager that divided the fanbase and an owner that the majority blamed for our demise and wanted rid of. The debate at the time was over who the largest proportion of blame lay with. Some wanted the manager gone , some wanted both and some wanted the owner gone solely, blaming our situation on him and largely excusing the manager in pursuit of the bigger picture. I argued that both had to go, they were both as bad as each other. Now I argue that it is the owner.

They are for me different , yet similar situations. I just feel that then we had had three years of Oleary , he had taken the piss out of the club, the fans and had actually lost the dressing room. His sole raison d'etre seemed to be to fight with everyone at the club, especially the owner. He was a poor manager who had had three years.

Lambert for me is just a different proposition to that. I know many will not agree and that is their right, I'm not going to disagree with their right to have a go. There are some points I actually agree with myself, Lambert has made mistakes absolutely. He is not perfect and all managers make mistakes. For him it seems he cannot afford to given our situation. BUT I think we will be better off with him in the long run, much better off. He has been here 6 months, not three years. This whole mess created by lerner will take longer than 6 months to put right, Lambert is no miracle worker. I totally accept that people will not agree, just as I do not agree with their opinion that Lambert has to go. I'm not going to change anyone's mind on that I accept that. Peopla hold Moyes up as a shining example of what can be done with limited funds. Moyes has been in post ages, and had a much more stable base to build on but still had his woes.

I just think constantly changing the manager actually adds to our woes, it is a reactionary thing that football fans are prone to I realise that, but it will not help. Especially as it actually papers over the cracks of the real problem and that is an owner with insufficient wealth to be able to help us compete consistently and insufficient nous in the business we are in to be able to compensate for that lack of wealth as other owners appear to have done.

Fine have a go at the manager, change him if you want. But how many managers do you want to go through until we actually see the real problem? Who next to be held up to be the pariah? What other plan can we implement to cope with a poor owner?

We have tried the experienced players route. We have tried the short term fix route. We have tried the one or two overpriced route. We are now trying the young hungry will be top notch but we have to stick with them for a while to prove that route. Each time it seems we have changed tack and then jumped to another strategy. None of that helps, it all makes matters far worse. What other route is there left to us under the current regime? What manager better than Lambert will come here and take us forward? I would argue there isnt one. We have the best of what is available to us in the manager and his team after the mistakes of the last three years. Someone who was prepared to come here , put his reputation on the line in the belief he could achieve something with what is still a huge club, someone who thought he would be backed to do that, someone who just might be feeling a little let down at this point. Changing him will not fix our ills. Backing him just might and I would argue is our best last hope right now. Anything else and we will be gone the way of Forrest, Leeds, Sheffield Wednesday, gone for a generation

The owner may want that. i dont.

For me Lambet looks like he hopelessly lost and void of any ideas how to fix the problems in the pitch and I cant understand what manager says in the dressing room to make players to lose the plot so completely after very good first half (WBA and now Bradford). I don't think couple new signings could fix the problems on the pitch.

[Spoony]

Was hitting refresh on NewsNow to check for transfer news. Now I'm hitting refresh on NewsNow for the news that Paul Lambert has been sacked.

[PompeyVillan]

I'm less than convinced by what he is doing here, but I still don't believe that a change will be of any benefit.

At the start of the season, I think most fans accepted that we would be in or near a relegation fight, and accepted that this was one of the likely outcomes of the mess we were in, and necessary because of the wholesale changes that we needed to make. The changes needed to happen, we can't keep haemorrhaging £50 mil each season in wages.

I think any manager would struggle in our situation. I think from the board's point of view, they tried a fancy continental manager, they've tried a pragmatic manager and now they want a progressive one, who's own philosophies fit those of the club.

We're not doing well, but he's still the right fit. I don't see how sacking him and bringing in another pragmatic manager is going to help in the long term. We need to cut costs, otherwise we'll end up going out of business.

For what it is worth, I still don't think we'll be relegated, and in the short term it is difficult to take such appalling results (well, we actually won the game). The Chelsea debacle hit us for six, but since then we've started getting players back fit again and we are progressively looking better going forward at least. If we can get Dunne fit and playing again, then perhaps we'll tighten up defensively too. A quick look at the table shows you that although a lot of fuss has been made about us, there are clubs struggling just as much. I'm hoping that we've had our poor patch and will now improve. Norwich and Newcastle are both quietly having poor seasons and have hit bad form at a bad time. Then we have the obvious relegation candidates, all of which are pretty poor sides, us included. We're not dead and buried.

I'm not optimistic about us signing anyone because I think in all likelyhood clubs will be looking to rip us off because of our league position and assume that we're desperate. If that is the case, then I agree, short termism is what got us in the mess in the first place.

It's a bitter pill to swallow, last night I wasn't sure whether I could put up with feeling let down all the time, but upon reflection I'm struggling to see how another change will make a positive impact. I think we can and will come out of this stronger.

And by the way, I've never known the Villa fans to so bloody fantastic, I'm proud of strongly we are supporting our team at games. There seems to be real sense of perspective, when it really counts we back our team.

[HeyAnty]

Way i look at it, Lambert needs money. You get what you pay for in most case. So we have no money so we have to settle for these players below. Dont blame Lambert when they put in poor performances each week and we are near the bottom.

Benett - 4mill, Lowton- 3.5, Al Hamidi - 2.5, Bowery - 0.5k = 10million

Feck sakes Southampton are going to spend 10 million on cuthinio. 1 player!

[VillaRoy]

Hate to say it but Paul Lambert is doing a terrible job, but what can we do now. It takes us ages to appoint a new manager and if we did sack him we'd need a replacement in on the day like what Southampton did, with transfer funds available for the new manager. Not going to happen so it looks like we're stuck with Lambert. No sugar coating what Lamberts done now, he selects the player, he failed to indentify our weaknesses in the summer transfer window and his tactics have been bizarre to say the least. Yesterday was a fkin disgrace.

[smetrov]

The list of replacements makes for grim reading:-

Adkins (only really what we have)

RDM (Dismissed from WBA - couldn't organise the defence)

Curbishley (out the game a long time now)

Mcallister (his short stint in charge - was probably our best run of results in recent years)

Gregory (a gamble, can he replicate what he did all those years ago ? - but has never done since)

The one person i would like to see involved in our club in some capacity is Graham Taylor - he has the organastional skills to carry this club in a certain direction - would love to see him on the board.

[jacketspuds]

I understand your point Richard but I just can't back Lambert. He just seems so tactically naive, comes out with the same awful post match comments after every game and it's not as if his squad is that bad.

We are awful going forward and even worse at defending. We have a young squad that certainly needs improving but that is no excuse for some of the performances this season. The 8-0 Chelsea defeat was the start for me, followed swiftly by being turned over 3 times in the league at VP, in the process scoring 0 and conceding 8 (4 against Southampton and Wigan).

As I have said it's not as if the squad at Lambert's disposal is that bad. What happened to giving everyone a clean slate? Why come in and alienate some of the senior players (yes some are crap) when from a morale point of view the team is instantly divided. We can't even find buyers for those players that Lambert doesn't fancy. Players that could possible do a job in positions we are struggling to fill. I would have liked to see how Hutton and Warnock would get on in a Lambert team, but we will never get the chance. Why make Bent captain, then take it off him and drop him for most of the season even though we are struggling to score goals, something Bent has a proven track record of doing?

Then there's the transfer decisions. People moan about Lerner not backing Lambert and I agree that I expect(ed) Lerner to give the manager funds to bolster the squad this month, which is looking more unlikely. But who's decision was it to spend £7m (1/3 of the money spend in the summer) on 2 new FB's when we still had 2 in each position in the squad? If money was so tight it makes no sense to do that until you shift some players on, which we struggled to do. I'm a great fan of Benteke but again if money was so tight why not go into the loan market for someone like Lukaku?

Lambert has made his choices and the results/performances we are seeing are the worst in Villa's PL history. I can't see us staying up with Lambert in charge and we need the TV money to stand any chance to getting anywhere close to where this great club needs to be.