Manager Paul Lambert

[Villarocker]

It's a fair point Villarocker, I was aware of that as I too looked back at the first few pages to check how views have changed over time. I guess my view has changed as I didn't think it was going to be anywhere near this bad. I never was an advocate of appointing Lambert I don't rate him I didn't rate Norwich last season but I thought he would do a job on a

Par with McLeish. He clearly isn't . The most alarming things for me are the tactics and set up and team selection which is absolutely dire. I'm not sure sacking him will improve us but I don't see things improving if he stays . The players overall are garbage and we have no leadership. This team won't bounce back from the championship, if anything they'll go down again to Div 1.

We are a club in crisis.

Thanks for replying, CI.

Personally, I am not sure that Lambert is, or will be, any good for our club. The players are poor and he knows it as much as we do. But, he has contributed some manure to that ever-growing heap! I am getting increasingly angry with every interview he gives after a bad result. I would rather he just shut up and said nothing, I am sure that us and the journalists could make up our own minds on what Lambert would say anyway!

I didn't want McLeish anywhere near our club and thought that we could never be that bad again. I was wrong! Lambert wasn't my first choice for manager. I liked the idea of Solskjaer and I even thought that Hughton from the Blues would be a good shout for us. But, I wasn't disappointed with us getting Lambert either as I did think he would do well.

I have resigned myself to the fact we are going down. We're so poor that I think it would do us a favour to get out of the limelight for a while and come back a stronger animal. If we do stay up it will simply be a case of looking forward to another season of this dross.

Would I like to see a new manager in? No, is the answer. I think a new guy would just cost us more money that we don't have. I think that we should just accept our fate for the time being and ride out the storm. Hopefully, once the contracts are up on a few of the bigger earners, Lerner will start to support the manager again and we will start to see a change at the club. My biggest hope is that Lerner finds a buyer for us ASAP and we see a bright future again, as promised!

[Keyblade]

Norwich City fan here. I still follow his progress because I do want him to do well after everything he achieved for us. I think some of the reactions on here are very extreme but I can understand them. The situation is precarious particularly when you factor in losing to lower league opposition twice in a week. But you have to look at the situation rationally and logically. Even if you sacked Lambert right now there are only 5 days left in the transfer window. That isn't even remotely enough time for a new manager to come in, assess the squad and then make some new signings. Whatever you think the rights or wrongs are about the experience/balance of the squad that is what you are playing the rest of the season with. They have to get you out this mess and the person most likely to get the best from them is the person who has signed them and invested a lot of faith in them. A new manager at this stage would create all kinds of doubt at a time when they need someone who they know will keep believing in them and give them leadership.  

It is also important to take a long term view. As a Norwich fan I have been here far too often. Between about 2006-2009 we were constantly fire fighting relegation from the Championship by changing managers. It isn't a viable long term strategy and really damages your club after a while. It is very expensive and leads to a high turnover of players who are unable to form an kind of identity or cohesive unit. That is why it is important to look at the actual viable alternatives before calling for Lambert's head. You don't want some journeyman manager who is going to leave you in exactly same position 12 months down the line. All you have effectively done is wasted more time and money.

 

It is also important to remember the circumstances and perameters Lambert is working in. The budget has been slashed and the ridiculous wages of the O'Neill era are long gone. This means the only way around it is to box clever and buy young players who will appreciate in value. He has got a track record for doing this that very managers can match. He has made some good signings too. I have enjoyed watching the likes of Lowton, Westwood and Benteke when I have seen them. They look like players of great promise to me. While admittedly other players like Joe Bennett have really struggled. But very few managers get all their signings right. If Randy Lerner is to remain in charge of the club this strategy is the best chance Villa have of remaining competitive in the Premier League. Lambert is doing the right thing for me even if the results aren't forthcoming at the moment.

 

I think it is also harsh to criticise some of his press conferences. I know the stock phrases become horribly predictable after a while but that is actually a good thing. He hasn't turned on his players in public which is why I don't think he will ever lose a dressing room. Strong words will be said in the dressing room and behind closed doors to the players but that is exactly how it should be. If you weren't covering yourself in glory at work the last thing you would want is a very public humiliation in front of everyone. That would make you feel incredibly small and you would really resent it. That is the art of man management. I still believe given his achievements so far, his grounding in the game and his pedigree as a player that he has the ability to be one of the best managers in Europe.

 

This season is going to be painful and its going to be very tough for you. However if you survive it you will reap the rewards for years to come. Just remember how close David Moyes came to taking Everton down in his second season and look where they are now. Lambert can do the same for you in my opinion.

 

OTBC

 

Absolutely outstanding post, and where I'm at atm.

[DamsonwoodVillan]

I was one of the happiest Villa fans around the day Lambert was appointed.

 

In spite of the financial constraints the club now want to work by, I thought he would bring a certain solidity and energy to our game that was missing in the McLeish season. I accept he hasn't done that.

 

All I'll say in his defence is you could have spent £50-100 million on that squad last summer and it wouldn't have automatically transformed us back into a winning side challenging with Spurs and Everton again. That's how the poor the situation was when he took over.

 

Lambert's biggest mistakes have been the faith that he has put in his young and hungry approach. I honestly believe he thought that players like Benteke, Delph, Bannan, Clark, Westwood, Bennett and others would make the step up if they gelled and played with energy together. I also think he really rated Bent, N'Zogbia, Ireland, Agbonlahor, Vlaar and Given as very decent players, who could ensure our safety and guide these younger guys into the fold without too much need to break the bank too hard.

 

The whole thing has become a nightmare for him. A lot due to our softness from set plays, lack of gusto when we go a goal down, and lack of bottle when we go a goal up!

 

I said this last season, but the players have been awful for Lambert, possibly more so than they were for McLeish.

 

I'm not sure what to suggest as a solution now for survival. I would personally bring Given and Bent back into Premier League games purely from a PL appearances point of view, and hope that Dunne can very quickly form a good partnership with Vlaar.  

 

We probably need 22 points from 15 games when you consider how decent Newcastle, Wigan and QPR look.

 

If we do survive, which I don't think we will, then Randy will then have to start all over again with his vision and investment for the club. Will he still be up for it? If we go down, then regardless of who we lose/hang on to, Randy should keep faith in Lambert and just bite the bullet and back him to the hilt to get us back up.

[CI]

Truly shocking we are resigned to relegation with a third of the season still to play.

[R.I.C.O.]

I can't see how Lambert can recover from this now, and if he has any shred of decency he'd resign after we get hammered by the geordies.

 

I've seen the highlights and the players just look so clueless, once again we are committing schoolboy errors, and the "manager" looks shellshocked and someone who has been dropped into something he can't handle. Relegation is not a foregone conclusion BUT with him in charge it most definitely is. I can't believe everything is all rosy in the garden behind the scenes either. In the summer a lot of PR crap was rammed down the fan's throats about how united the squad was, and how it still is, but you get the sense by our second half performances that the manager is instilling nothing in the players to go out there and finish a performance. I mean, I can barely understand what the bloody hell the guy is saying most of the time, away from the usual retarded and embarassing soundbites that fall out of his mouth like diarroea. If he were at any other club he'd have been sacked a long, long time ago. But with the two **** muppets we have at the top, anything is possible. In my opinion he is Lerner's perfect manager, more of an arse-licker than McLeish. I have to say I admire the gall they have shown to bring a manager in who matches their cheapo methods and won't complain when the rug is pulled, he must be being paid a huge sum to bend over and take it like a bitch. They have **** over the fans for their own ends. Lerner must be laughing his arse off wherever he is hiding.

 

And to think we'd be better off just sticking with Lambert, even if we finish bottom is just deluded. It makes me wonder whether people actually support Paul Lambert rather than Aston Villa FC. When we go down with McFuckwit in charge we will not come back. I'm actually convinced we wouldnt come back for a generation, but languish in the lower leagues like Forest or Sheffield Weds.

[Morpheus]

Sack the manager, far too simplistic I'm afraid. What then? Who will we attract then? What will he have to work with? Even less money from a shit owner because he has just forked out a huge wedge to replace yet another managerial team.

Players that he can't get rid of or afford to change. Change the manager, no investment and I tell you now right here, we will go down again next year. Ad then you can all bang on about changing the next manager, about hanging out your next pariah.

 

 

Sack the manager, far too simplistic I'm afraid. What then? Who will we attract then? What will he have to work with? Even less money from a shit owner because he has just forked out a huge wedge to replace yet another managerial team.

Players that he can't get rid of or afford to change. Change the manager, no investment and I tell you now right here, we will go down again next year. Ad then you can all bang on about changing the next manager, about hanging out your next pariah.

So what your advocating is this Richard.

 

No matter how bad the results are and no matter how poor the performances are and even if he relegates us, we should keep Lambert as our manager because it will take too much money to pay him and the rest of his management team off?

 

I am in the minority who still thinks we can stay up with Lambert if he re-organises the team into something which is much harder to beat but he has shown no inclination to do that and if his philosophy stays the same then we will be relegated.

 

Would Hughes or RDM employ different tactics to try and get us conceding less?

 

Certainly in RDM's case absolutely but if we are going to change manager then it has to be done now and not after the game against Newcastle.

[PandaMac]

I'd keep Lambert this season and next, whatever happen's. I honestly think that with 3 addition's to the squad we would comfortably avoid relegation so if we stay up I'd trust Lambert to get these player's as most of his signing's have been good IMO. Whether the money will be there or not is a different question.

[VILLAMARV]

If I thought we could base the decision on results alone, I'm ready to admit Lambert should go. If I thought that the fact that he obviously can't get the best out of the players he inherited or bought at this moment in time, then I'm ready to admit Lambert should go. If I thought we should base this decision on the totally inept tactics on show every game (Lichaj marking Shittu? WTF) then again, Lambert should go.

 

Unfortunately for us - and it's a hard pill to swallow - I honestly dont think we have the luxury of being able to make footballing decisions based on footballing matters alone anymore......and that is because of how the club has been run since Randy came. Can we afford to pay off and hire another manager? If we cant afford new players what's the point in guaranteeing we cant sign anyone next year by spending more money and disrupting the club even further? We SO BADLY NEEDED A LIFT after McMuppet - and haven't got one.....yet. I also can't get away from the fact that the players simply aren't good enough, arent consistant enough and haven't been for some time....and its the same names it's always been that are letting us down. If they cant or wont play for Houliier or McMuppet why is it Lambert's fault that they can't or wont play for him? 

 

It seems to me the only ones with any pride out there are Guzan, Vlaar, Benteke, Weimann, Gabby, Lichaj, Holman, Lowton who visibly try. Nzogbia and Delph seem to have puffed out their chests and seem a bit more determined to prove themseves. The rest......huge huge huge problems whether it be illness, injury, confidence, application or just plain lack of ability. 

 

The austerity imposed on the club by the owner has been publicly acknowledged and we've heard nothing yet to suggest we're gonna see anyone shipped out or any investment made so there's no hope of signings.

 

So we're basically up shit creek without a paddle. Lerner's chilling out at the back of the boat doing sweet FA, Faulkners sat in the middle trying to get people to paddle with their hands in the shit in a vain attempt to get us going but actually making us spin wildly out of control and we got Lambert to swim through the shit to join us - seems he bought a couple of paddles with him that have pointed us in the right direction but now we want to **** him off coz he didnt bring 11 paddles and we're not going fast enough.

 

My heart has been broken this week, my heart does now want Lambert out, My head says we'd be nuts absolutely nuts to do it, especially now. 

 

As for start of seasons expectations - same players, same shit so i thought we'd be struggling to get to 40 points - guess what - we are.

 

And finally in my morning rant! Anyone on here saying "I wanted us to lose last night" and "I think we should go down". Go see a doctor. Depression is a real illness.

 

I remember asking my Uncle who was a season ticket holder at Man City if he liked the banner their fans unfurled at Villa park when we were challenging Utd for the title which was something like go on villa hope you win today from all us Utd haters. 

 

I cant tell you what he said coz it will upset the children. But he was less than impressed lets put it that way. Get a grip people. Whether it's Lambert, No-one, O'leary, McNeil, McMuppet, Venglos I dont care. I want Villa to win plain and simple. If you've lost sight of that you need to have a good hard look at yourself in the mirror and wonder where it all went wrong. Like Stephen Ireland should. 

[LondonLax]

I thought no one was bothered about last night's game? I certainly didn't. In fact I wanted to go out. So why the overreaction?

Some of you should be embarrassed at the stuff you're posting. You certainly will be at the end of the season when Lambert keeps us up against all odds.

I thought you were convinced we were going to finish top 8 and above West Brom?

 

It seems you are starting to come to realise our actual situation but there is little to suggest Lambert will keep us up. We have only picked up 2 points in over an intense month of fixtures and have lost convincingly to lower league teams in the cup. The confidence in the squad is gone and as has Lambert's credibility with the players and fans.

 

We will drop out of this league without a whimper if this continues.  

[VillakevBromsgrove]

I listened to the talk shite commentary last night, the major issue they had was one we see week in week out, we pass the ball well in midfield but end up back at the keeper or eventually going round in circles, their take on it is that the players have the quality but are lacking in confidence, not being able to stop with the ball look up and make a chosen pass, we panic and hoof the ball way too often ending in us losing posession, They believed the Zog was our motm but had to keep coming too deep to get the ball and because of this being non productive although he tried his best,

My problem with PL is that we have had 6 months of him and I expected to struggle but see a slow improvement, this is not happening but its declining, We should now be in a position where we can defend set pieces being as this has always been our achilies heel, we should be better at taking set pieces and have a bit of organisation, this is not happening as each set piece we have seems to be the same.

We have no movement from the midfield and front line, this is the worst for me as this is not coaching but common sense and a staple of any professional footballer.

I have to look at the team and think why is it we are struggling, we have youngish players so we should be able to run for more than 45 mins, we are totally bereft of ideas,

Most the problems have been highlighted last week when lower opposition seemed more organised, more fired up, more skillful, and actually appeared to give a shit.

I thought PL was the man for this club and could buy into the plan but I now believe he has to go, for the team to show this much lack of effort, organisation, and ability there must be a problem off the pitch where the players are clearly giving an up yours to PL and the coaching staff,

Maybe I am wrong and the bad apples are still evident at the club and causing the problems still, If this is the case then get rid of them now, release them from the contract and pay them off, it may not come to the 60 mil tv money or the loss in gate money we will loose and may save us or allow us to start again quicker.

[VillakevBromsgrove]

If I thought we could base the decision on results alone, I'm ready to admit Lambert should go. If I thought that the fact that he obviously can't get the best out of the players he inherited or bought at this moment in time, then I'm ready to admit Lambert should go. If I thought we should base this decision on the totally inept tactics on show every game (Lichaj marking Shittu? WTF) then again, Lambert should go.

 

Unfortunately for us - and it's a hard pill to swallow - I honestly dont think we have the luxury of being able to make footballing decisions based on footballing matters alone anymore......and that is because of how the club has been run since Randy came. Can we afford to pay off and hire another manager? If we cant afford new players what's the point in guaranteeing we cant sign anyone next year by spending more money and disrupting the club even further? We SO BADLY NEEDED A LIFT after McMuppet - and haven't got one.....yet. I also can't get away from the fact that the players simply aren't good enough, arent consistant enough and haven't been for some time....and its the same names it's always been that are letting us down. If they cant or wont play for Houliier or McMuppet why is it Lambert's fault that they can't or wont play for him? 

 

It seems to me the only ones with any pride out there are Guzan, Vlaar, Benteke, Weimann, Gabby, Lichaj, Holman, Lowton who visibly try. Nzogbia and Delph seem to have puffed out their chests and seem a bit more determined to prove themseves. The rest......huge huge huge problems whether it be illness, injury, confidence, application or just plain lack of ability. 

 

The austerity imposed on the club by the owner has been publicly acknowledged and we've heard nothing yet to suggest we're gonna see anyone shipped out or any investment made so there's no hope of signings.

 

So we're basically up shit creek without a paddle. Lerner's chilling out at the back of the boat doing sweet FA, Faulkners sat in the middle trying to get people to paddle with their hands in the shit in a vain attempt to get us going but actually making us spin wildly out of control and we got Lambert to swim through the shit to join us - seems he bought a couple of paddles with him that have pointed us in the right direction but now we want to **** him off coz he didnt bring 11 paddles and we're not going fast enough.

 

My heart has been broken this week, my heart does now want Lambert out, My head says we'd be nuts absolutely nuts to do it, especially now. 

 

As for start of seasons expectations - same players, same shit so i thought we'd be struggling to get to 40 points - guess what - we are.

 

And finally in my morning rant! Anyone on here saying "I wanted us to lose last night" and "I think we should go down". Go see a doctor. Depression is a real illness.

 

I remember asking my Uncle who was a season ticket holder at Man City if he liked the banner their fans unfurled at Villa park when we were challenging Utd for the title which was something like go on villa hope you win today from all us Utd haters. 

 

I cant tell you what he said coz it will upset the children. But he was less than impressed lets put it that way. Get a grip people. Whether it's Lambert, No-one, O'leary, McNeil, McMuppet, Venglos I dont care. I want Villa to win plain and simple. If you've lost sight of that you need to have a good hard look at yourself in the mirror and wonder where it all went wrong. Like Stephen Ireland should. 

I hear you and feel the pain.

[Denis_B]

Where is that apologist Hairy **** Hands this morning then?

 

I could do with a good laugh after the last 4 days

[Hanky]

If Lambert employed better tactics in the games, we'd be doing better (maybe not a whole lot better, but certainly would have had enough to beat Bradford over two legs). His tactics are shocking, as were his buys in the summer.

 

Now I know Lerner probably had an impact on selling Cuellar and Collins, but a back four of Hutton-Cuellar-Collins-Warnock is streets ahead of Lowton-Clark-Vlaar-Bennett and I think Hutton was absolutely awful.

[Villarocker]

Folks are mentioning N'Zogbia and Delph improving recently. Is that down to Lambert, their will to win or, the fact that they might just be trying to get themselves a new deal? I wonder.

[VillakevBromsgrove]

I am not so sure the tactics are the issue, watching the games it is evident from both the players and reactions of PL that the players are not playing to orders and do not believe in or understand them.

This is either a problem with the coaching or the players snubbing PL.

[VillakevBromsgrove]

I have sympathies with Nzogbia, he has been either injured or played out of his recognized position, I have seen nothing in him to suggest a lack of effort but low confidence and fitness level after the injury.

[Hanky]

Surely a couple of players out on the wing against Bradford would have done something of a job (it could have been Guzan out there) to stretch them. I think he is awful tactically. That last 30 minutes on Tuesday was the most obscure I have ever seen from a manager.

[Morpheus]

Watched the BBC Sports Bulletin at 8.35am and they were commenting on the game last night. They aired an interview with Lambert from the radio where he was asked something like, do you think you will have the same confidence from your chairman after tonight's result? Lambert answered by stating 'you'll have to ask him that?'

[VillakevBromsgrove]

Watched the BBC Sports Bulletin at 8.35am and they were commenting on the game last night. They aired an interview with Lambert from the radio where he was asked something like, do you think you will have the same confidence from your chairman after tonight's result? Lambert answered by stating 'you'll have to ask him that?'

What else was he to say? Oh no doubt the chairman thinks i am a word removed and should sack me.

[Villarocker]

Surely a couple of players out on the wing against Bradford would have done something of a job (it could have been Guzan out there) to stretch them. I think he is awful tactically. That last 30 minutes on Tuesday was the most obscure I have ever seen from a manager.

Agree with you mate. That last half hour of kick and rush confirmed to me that he was both powerless and clueless as to how to beat them and get us through to the final.