Manager Paul Lambert

[Mantis]

Do the events of the last month not concern people with regards to Lambert? I used to think that he would be the man to bring us back up even if we went down but recent weeks have convinced me that perhaps he isn't all that.

Edited January 27, 2013 by Mantis

[CI]

Talking to a Millwall friend, he confirmed villa are by far the worst team he's seen at the den in two years.

Anyone not worried about Lambert and this team is demented.

[Ginko]

I don't think any of us need fans of other teams telling us how shit our football team is. We're under no illusion about how piss-poor we truly are.

Edited January 27, 2013 by Ginko

[Morley_crosses_to_Withe]

Exactly Lambert doesn't look any better than likes of Phil Brown ,Owen Coyle etc now

He looks worse if anything!

[Majkee]

PL started a dangerous game to be hated here. It is obvious that he does not have enough experience of fighting the relegation and loosing composure under pressure.

There are two options now:

1. he apologies for his mistakes and will learn from them or

2. he will be petulant and arrogant prick complicating his managerial career.

Everybody is doing mistakes and it is up to morale of the individual to accept them and learn from them.

I am expecting the first option but I can be wrong completely.

[Con]

Does anyone know why Lambert changed from a defensive back 4 which got clean sheets against Swansea, Sunderland, Reading, Stoke and Arsenal to a back 3 which is getting thumped by everyone?

 

He doesn't seem to be changing from his 3 CB system. I thought the rule was you don't change a winning system not that you don't change a losing one.

[ChrisVillan]

Talking to a Millwall friend, he confirmed villa are by far the worst team he's seen at the den in two years.

Anyone not worried about Lambert and this team is demented.

 

I'll take that as a compliment, poster who 90% of the site has on ignore.

 

Nobody isn't worried. We all know it's shit, many of us think we're going down, very few would be happy about that. Disagreeing about the weighting of elements of the cause, or the next course of action, isn't demented.

[foreveryoung]

Get rid of the high earners, get rid of the high earners? Then we can build, build WHAT! A Championship team, a League one team. If are gonna buy players and pay them less than 20k a week we will never have a premiership side. You will not win games without proven experienced quality players who demand premiership salaries. The way we are going we will have the cheapest team in the Championship.

[Majkee]

This season should be saved but he needs to start now. He needs to pick a team which is based on playing players with best current form - there are only few now, but this should be a core of the team. And 3-5-2 is clearly not working with us.

My advice to PL - start to play 4-4-2 or 4-4-1-1 which is England well known and for them easiest formation. Plus Weimann Benteke combo is working well as one of the few positives of current season.

[Majkee]

Get rid of the high earners, get rid of the high earners? Then we can build, build WHAT! A Championship team, a League one team. If are gonna buy players and pay them less than 20k a week we will never have a premiership side. You will not win games without proven experienced quality players who demand premiership salaries. The way we are going we will have the cheapest team in the Championship.

May be you would be surprised how much better players than our current crop are playing across Europe demanding under 20k p/w wages.

[UpTheVilla26]

And still people defend him...

 

The problems at the club do run deep, our owner knows ****-all about Football & has employed a bunch of 'yes' men, but ultimately results are decided on the field of play.

 

Lambert was living in a dream world from day one. If he actually thinks any manager can implement a 2-3 year plan this day in age, he's deluded. It doesn't happen like that. If he thought buying cheap kids from the NPower League's was going to work, again, he's deluded.

 

He's basically wasted the money he got given. He has no style, no tactics and no idea how to put this right.

 

Millwall were 'ordinary' on Friday night. Yet, they beat us comfortably. If we go down, every team in that League will raise their game when Villa are in town. With this manager in charge, that will result in what the last month has produced - shit all.

 

Anyone who believes Lambert would magically take us straight back up, needs to have a reality check. The Championship is a hard League and there are a lot of sides that are battle hardened and know what they have to do to grind results out. This team under Lambert would struggle, big time.

 

He needs to go. Stuff next season, stuff 2-3 years, what we need is someone who can concentrate on what is actually important - the next 15 games to keep this club up. When that is achieved, then you can start looking forward.

[AstonMartin82]

Talking to a Millwall friend, he confirmed villa are by far the worst team he's seen at the den in two years.

Anyone not worried about Lambert and this team is demented.

 

I disagree with probably about 90% of posts from people on this site.

 

As such there is at least a 90% chance if not more that I disagree with your friend.

 

Why is it that just because people have "friends" who support other clubs their opinion should therefore be weighted heavier than the intelligent people who make valid points on this site.

[foreveryoung]

May be you would be surprised how much better players than our current crop are playing across Europe demanding under 20k p/w wages.

Then Lamberts worst than I thought and has no excuses!!!

Why buy league 1-2 players when there's quality in Europe, we had a top scout apparently.

If Lerner is not spending its either cause Lambert should have sold players I.e Warnock. Or he just dont trust him with his money. If we stay up I say he be gone in the summer 100%.

[UpTheVilla26]

I disagree with probably about 90% of posts from people on this site.

 

As such there is at least a 90% chance if not more that I disagree with your friend.

 

Why is it that just because people have "friends" who support other clubs their opinion should therefore be weighted heavier than the intelligent people who make valid points on this site.

 

How can you say it's likely that you'd '90% disagree with his friend'??

 

His friend supports Millwall. Therefore a high chance he goes to watch them play, much like we do The Villa. Therefore, he'd have a high percentage chance of being able to judge just how poor the sides that Millwall have faced are.

 

For what it is worth, no, we don't need to be told how bad we are by other supporters but the fact remains it's the truth. Would you have a 90% chance of disagreeing with Chelsea fans who would say that was possibly the easiest game in their Premiership history a few weeks back??

[Big_John_10]

steve coppell built up the reading team, got the promoted to the prem and kept them up (finished 8th their first season). then he was found out and they got relegated the next year

 

phil brown did the same with hull, paul jewell with wigan, owen coyle with burnley/bolton. 

 

all looked good managing at lower leagues, got their clubs to the prem and had initial success. praised as new exciting, up and coming managers.  but ultimately they were not good enough

 

why is lambert different? he looks to be exactly the same- found out in his 2nd premier league season.  and as for more attacking than mcleish, dont we have a worse goals scored record in the league this year than last?

Agreed.

What he did at Norwich does not guarantee he will continue to be good.

Lots of players and managers have short periods of excellence and go on to be pretty average. At his time here there is nothing to suggest he is going to be good for us.

[VILLAMARV]

That is despite the newly-published Deloitte Football Money League 2013 placing Villa among the world’s top 30 clubs in reported revenue terms in the 2011/12 season.

Quote above from the Birmingham Mail article,

Very surprised at this, how is our revenue so high when our attendances have been on the decline for years? Are we really making that much from merchandise, sponsorship etc.

 

only thing i can find on us so far was in the daily mail 24th jan - 

 

 

"Everton, Aston Villa, Fulham and Sunderland are currently ranked 26th to 29th with revenues of between £80.5m to £78m respectively." so official revenue seems to have dropped by £12 - 14m in that time (from £92m)

 

 

In 2009/10 we were in the top 20 so as with our position in the Premier League we have gone backwards.

 

yes. but as snowychap and others have pointed out its based on turnover. suggests we have the 9th highest turnover in the premier league last year

 

Nonsense.

The original point was that you appeared to know little about what you were going on about (transfer balance sheet and so on) and the follow up posts would seem to confirm that.

 

Ok, everyone's always entitled to their opinion obviously. Sorry if the fact that I copied and pasted a term you're not familiar with upset you in some way. Ive not suggested I have the accounts - but we can piece together a good picture from the freely available information at our disposal. Operating cashflow figures for 2010/11 was +£4m. yes deals for players may involve staggered payments. but also our signings may also have been paid in this fashion. All I suggested in the first place was since those last accounts where we made a £53m loss, between McCleish and Lambert they've spent on transfer fees alone the same amount as we've received since A Young and Downing left. 

 

add to that the £12 - 14m drop in income in one year i mentioned above, the money being paid in interest repayments to the loan from Randy, the payments to McCleish, Grant and Norwich, agents fees, wages and all the day to day costs incurred running the club. do you think it was nonsense to think that the players wages we lost in that time aren't going to cover these losses? I said the cupboards are bare. Is that the bit you call nonsense?

 

I'm interested though, because if you're going to point out I'm wrong and that we're in great financial shape, with a huge transfer kitty at our disposal and no need for help from Lerner RIGHT NOW believe me I'm all ears coz we're all looking for something good to cling onto at the moment. 

Edited January 27, 2013 by VILLAMARV

[Con]

This season should be saved but he needs to start now. He needs to pick a team which is based on playing players with best current form - there are only few now, but this should be a core of the team. And 3-5-2 is clearly not working with us.

My advice to PL - start to play 4-4-2 or 4-4-1-1 which is England well known and for them easiest formation. Plus Weimann Benteke combo is working well as one of the few positives of current season.

 

So why did PL change from a winning/clean sheet getting 442 to a getting annihilated 343/352 ?

 

We won the Liverpool game with 3 CBs - Herd, Baker, Clark - but we could have been 5 down in that one after 20 minutes, and, given what's happened since with that formation, if it wasn't for the brilliance of Benteke would probably have lost.

[AshVilla]

Talking to a Millwall friend, he confirmed villa are by far the worst team he's seen at the den in two years.

Anyone not worried about Lambert and this team is demented.

 

Tell us something we don't know

 

We are woeful

 

If we go down we will have to play 40 odd games against teams like Millwall

 

We will get destroyed in that division

[diablo]

I think we'd be in deep shit in the championship too.

We could be the next Sheffield Wednesday

Edited January 27, 2013 by diablo

[pacbuddies]

steve coppell built up the reading team, got the promoted to the prem and kept them up (finished 8th their first season). then he was found out and they got relegated the next year

 

phil brown did the same with hull, paul jewell with wigan, owen coyle with burnley/bolton. 

 

all looked good managing at lower leagues, got their clubs to the prem and had initial success. praised as new exciting, up and coming managers.  but ultimately they were not good enough

 

why is lambert different? he looks to be exactly the same- found out in his 2nd premier league season.  and as for more attacking than mcleish, dont we have a worse goals scored record in the league this year than last?

Pretty much this.

 

Lambert, like so many others before him and undoubtedly so many others to come, took a nobody country bumpkin club all the way to the promised land of the Premiership and managed to keep them there beyond one season (apparently the default mark of success).

 

Based on this the media and football pundits have a w**k fest over him and then some gullible Chairman/Owner thinks to himself "Hey, we could get ourselves the next Alex Ferguson here if we're quick" and before you can blink the next best thing since sliced bread is installed as the new manager to a fanfare of euphoria by success starved fans and media and his name is chanted at every game as if he were Jesus Christ.

 

Then, several months down the line, the reality kicks in and all of a sudden everybody that was blinded by the appointment suddenly rubs their eyes and realises that once again they have been hoodwinked and led down the garden path and they are in the same, if not a worse, mess than they were in before. Fans start calling for the managers head and want someone else installed to avert the perceived disaster about to befall their team.

 

The Chairman/Owner also realises the complete **** up he has made (again) but can't possibly come out in public and admit it as he considers himself to be superior to all the fans and therefore admitting failure would mean him losing face and he isn't going to do that. He carries on until it reaches the point where the fans turn their anger and blame towards the Chairman/Owner and then, in order to deflect the shit storm directed at him, he appeases the fans by sacking the manager.

 

Then, except for the astute few clubs, the whole cycle starts again and so we go on living our football supporting equivalent of 'Groundhog Day.

Edited January 27, 2013 by pacbuddies