Manager Paul Lambert

[Hanky]

There is no doubt Benteke has been a success, but maybe it would have benefited the team more if we'd have bought a decent central midfield player with that money?

 

Who knows, it's a case of what if's with that one. The Bennett, Lowton and El-Ahmadi money could certainly have been spent more effectively. 

[CI]

clearly, given how ineffective bent has been. if we hadnt had benteke we'd have about 4 points

Can't agree. Bent has been poorly handled by Lambert. Bent is a proven striker at this level and it's the managers job to get the best out of him. Picking a 4th division rookie to sit on the bench ahead of Bent ?? What ounce of sense does that make

[Dr_Pangloss]

For me it's more the case of Lambert's 'tactics' and (lack of) motivational power that's the core issues rather than his signings....

Edited January 26, 2013 by Dr_Pangloss

[P3te]

Can't agree. Bent has been poorly handled by Lambert. Bent is a proven striker at this level and it's the managers job to get the best out of him. Picking a 4th division rookie to sit on the bench ahead of Bent ?? What ounce of sense does that make

 

do you think bent wouldve done a better job than benteke in terms of goals and assists this season? particularly given the lack of service that bent usually needs to actually hit the target?

[olivevilla]

I couldn't care less if lambert or Lerner or anyone else at Villa talked to the press. Actually, I'd prefer they spent every waking minute figuring out how to get us out of this mess. I fail to see how the manager telling the world that we had a shit game is going to help.

As for Kendrick, he's always come across as a decent guy, but his job is to sell papers. Right now, that means riding Lambert, which he's doing.

[CI]

do you think bent wouldve done a better job than benteke in terms of goals and assists this season? particularly given the lack of service that bent usually needs to actually hit the target?

Yes I do. Bent is a Natural finisher. For every goal Benteke has scored he's probably missed 2 sitters

Given the same game time and chances bent would be equal to or ahead of him.

Hence my point the £8m should have been used on a DCM

[P3te]

You're not very good at mathematics are you?

 

 

haha no perhaps not. though we'd certainly not be doing as "well" as we are now without him. if you take away his goals and assists it'd look like this:

 

v swansea (1 goal, 0 assists) final score 2-0 // adjust score 1-0 - total points difference +/- 0

v norwich (1 goal, 0 assists) final score 1-1 // adjusted score 0-1 - total points difference -1

v sunderland (0 goals, 1 assist) final score 1-0 // adjusted score 0-0 - total points difference -3

v man utd (0 goals, 1 assist) final score 2-3 // adjusted score 1-3 -  total points difference -3

v reading (1 goal, 0 assists) final score 1-0 // adjusted score 0-0 -  total points difference -5

v liverpool (2 goals, 1 assist) final score 3-1 // adjusted score 0-1 - total points difference -8

v swansea (1 goal, 1 assist) final score 2-2 // adjusted score 0-2 - total points difference -9

v west brom (1 goal, 0 assists) final score 2-2 // adjusted score 1-2 - total points difference -10

 

so take his contribution away and we'd have 10 points this season

[P3te]

Yes I do. Bent is a Natural finisher. For every goal Benteke has scored he's probably missed 2 sitters

Given the same game time and chances bent would be equal to or ahead of him.

Hence my point the £8m should have been used on a DCM

 

bent is a poacher, he needs others to create. benteke by having a huge physical presence makes defenders give him a bit more space as they back off, that allows other players into the game and gives him the chance to create not only for himself but others. bent doesn't have that - he's a far better finisher, absolutely, but in the current team he'd be almost completely nullified by the shit midfield

[olivevilla]

Given Lambert's obvious remit to re-structure the entire squad, I don't think he was given much money at all. We spent around £21m net in the summer to bring in what? 7 players? That's £3m a player so we were hardly in a position to sign quality. I really don't think Lambert was in a position to spend that on 2-3 players given what the board wanted him to do viz. all the perceived expensive 'dead wood' that we had/have.

Agree. i also think imo we focus way too much attention on transfer fees. If we can only offer minimal wages, then having a big transfer budget doesn't matter as we won't get the quality players we really need. It'd be like a new company offering your employer a few million for your services and then offering you 1/3 your current salary. You'd laugh them right out of the building.

[CI]

You can't say we'd only have 10 points though because someone else would have been playing CF and scoring goals

[Mantis]

For me it's more the case of Lambert's 'tactics' and (lack of) motivational power that's the core issues rather than his signs....

I agree. He's not too bad in the transfers department, he just sucks everywhere else.

 

 

You can't say we'd only have 10 points though because someone else would have been playing CF and scoring goals

We'd definitely be worse off though. Benteke has been outstanding.

Edited January 26, 2013 by Mantis

[sutherland]

What next?.. Kendrick banned from villa park 'Shocker'!..

[Morpheus]

No mate i wasn't using it as a stick to beat Lambert with, rather i was just reporting what was said.

No probs at all. We all have lost it on here.

[P3te]

You can't say we'd only have 10 points though because someone else would have been playing CF and scoring goals

 

you can't say that for sure though. someone might have played instead and scored a hattrick in every match, or more likely it wouldve been bent who was completely isolated by the fact that we create very little

[CI]

bent is a poacher, he needs others to create. benteke by having a huge physical presence makes defenders give him a bit more space as they back off, that allows other players into the game and gives him the chance to create not only for himself but others. bent doesn't have that - he's a far better finisher, absolutely, but in the current team he'd be almost completely nullified by the shit midfield

But, if we'd strengthened the midfield instead of signing Benteke ?

I'm not having a dig at Benteke here more at the way lambert used the summer monies

[Bunnski]

So lambert should of spent his money on better players?  better players means bigger wages and the manager has to work under a shitty wage restriction so he not only had to spread the outlay on transfer fees but also had to keep within a wage structure so if you look at his signings they all would be on probably 25k at the most. what top players will accept that?

he wanted to sign stephens for midfield but was priced out, cus the board wouldnt stump up. some ppl seem to think lambert makes all the decisions to do with the club but if hes being told he can only play bent in a certain amount of matches then im sure hes been givin other unfair restrictions from up above.

wake up and see the bigger picture, whoever the manager is he will be hung out to dry by the powers above. Its gonna take longer than a few months to turn our bunch of pussy players into fighters

[Morpheus]

I don't really know what you're getting at here? Of course cup form can have an effect on league form and I think we'll see that on Tuesday night with an even more inept showing.

If you look back in the threads Mantis there was a debate on how our win against Man City in the cup would push us on in the league. It hasn't happened and that is what i was referring to.

 

The possible 'inept showing' against Newcastle in my opinion will have nothing to do with our cup form either as we have been as inept in the league as in the cup competitions.

Edited January 26, 2013 by Morpheus

[P3te]

But, if we'd strengthened the midfield instead of signing Benteke ?

I'm not having a dig at Benteke here more at the way lambert used the summer monies

 

I think whatever way you cut it, we'd be **** without Benteke. He was a great signing. The other 13m, could that have been spent better? Possibly. The 2 fullbacks maybe couldve seen that money spent on a DM instead and persevere with the 2 fuckups we've banished instead for the season

[CI]

Oh oh, Morpheus and mantis have engaged ;-)

[Mantis]

If you look back in the threads Mantis there was a debate on how our win against Man City in the cup would push us on in the league. It hasn't happened and that is what i was referring to.

I don't recall anyone saying that it would push us up the league, just that cup games weren't irrelevant to the league, which they're not.