Manager Paul Lambert

[carlitobrigante]

lambert has been very hit and miss , but look at the mess and the squad he inherited..

 

He certainly hasnt impressed me so far, but we are crying out for some consistancy, and so even if we go down i think we should stick with him, and only fire him if we dont come back up at the first attempt

 

I have inwardly accepted we are going to be relegated, but its certainly not over yet. I wasnt expecting any players in this window, so the two signings we have made were a nice surprise, even if they are relative unknowns.

 

As for all the criticism of Lerner, and all this talk that he has 'abandoned us', im sorry but its over the top. Randy has thrown a hell of a lot of money at us, and other than 2 very questionable managerial appointments he has made ,he has backed every manager we serious cash, and he has always prefered to stay quiet and out of the media, so what he is doing now is the same as he always has.

 

The main cause of our troubles, if the absolutely shocking way our various managers have spent Lerners money.

 

The amount wasted in fee's and wages on the likes of:

 

Beye

Warnock

Salifou

Makoun

Hutton

Heskey

Nzogbia

Delph

Ireland

Collins

Dunne

Shorey

Sidwell

Curtis Davies

Harewood

 

Whats more depressing than the above list, if the players we could have gotten instead.

 

Is truly scary once you start adding it up.  And considering the money Lerner has pumped in he must be absolutely fuming at the poor state of the current squad. You can probably now add Darren Bent to the list. I doubted the sense of it at the time and now it looks like thats another 10-15 mill wasted, as we will only get £10 mill for him when he leaves. None of those players were / are anywhere good enough, or provide value for money.

 

A club like ours with limited funds just cannot afford to get so many moves in the transfer market wrong. It started with O'Neil and Mcleish and Houllier were little better. Now people are surprised he is cutting back (and even in cutting back Lambert has been given 20 mill plus to spend).

 

I think we need to keep backing him for now. Anyone who can afford it needs to think about trying to get to at least one game in the season run in, to get behind the team and try to keep the faith. As long as the players are giving 100% on the pitch we need to stick with them and show our support. I used to be a season ticket holder but havent been to a game this season. Im going to get myself to two of our remaining home games to show my support. Protests, booing the players, banners demanding Lerner walks are not going to help, and are only going to add to the feeling of doom surrounding the club.

 

I still feel with a little luck, Lambert can turn this around. We all need to pull together now, and leave the anger and recriminations till our fate is decided one way or the other.

[VILLAMARV]

so we all know Lerner is ultimately to blame along with Faulkner et al for the financial mess we're in.

 

as ever some people say Lambert in some people say Lambert out some say shake it all about

 

Im gonna hit the hay but I'll be back tomorrow when we can all pick ourselves up and go again!!

 

UTV and welcome to Sylla and Dawkins

[DelboyVilla]

lambert has been very hit and miss , but look at the mess and the squad he inherited..

 

He certainly hasnt impressed me so far, but we are crying out for some consistancy, and so even if we go down i think we should stick with him, and only fire him if we dont come back up at the first attempt

 

I have inwardly accepted we are going to be relegated, but its certainly not over yet. I wasnt expecting any players in this window, so the two signings we have made were a nice surprise, even if they are relative unknowns.

 

As for all the criticism of Lerner, and all this talk that he has 'abandoned us', im sorry but its over the top. Randy has thrown a hell of a lot of money at us, and other than 2 very questionable managerial appointments he has made ,he has backed every manager we serious cash, and he has always prefered to stay quiet and out of the media, so what he is doing now is the same as he always has.

 

The main cause of our troubles, if the absolutely shocking way our various managers have spent Lerners money.

 

The amount wasted in fee's and wages on the likes of:

 

Beye

Warnock

Salifou

Makoun

Hutton

Heskey

Nzogbia

Delph

Ireland

Collins

Dunne

Shorey

Sidwell

Curtis Davies

Harewood

 

Whats more depressing than the above list, if the players we could have gotten instead.

 

Is truly scary once you start adding it up.  And considering the money Lerner has pumped in he must be absolutely fuming at the poor state of the current squad. You can probably now add Darren Bent to the list. I doubted the sense of it at the time and now it looks like thats another 10-15 mill wasted, as we will only get £10 mill for him when he leaves. None of those players were / are anywhere good enough, or provide value for money.

 

A club like ours with limited funds just cannot afford to get so many moves in the transfer market wrong. It started with O'Neil and Mcleish and Houllier were little better. Now people are surprised he is cutting back (and even in cutting back Lambert has been given 20 mill plus to spend).

 

I think we need to keep backing him for now. Anyone who can afford it needs to think about trying to get to at least one game in the season run in, to get behind the team and try to keep the faith. As long as the players are giving 100% on the pitch we need to stick with them and show our support. I used to be a season ticket holder but havent been to a game this season. Im going to get myself to two of our remaining home games to show my support. Protests, booing the players, banners demanding Lerner walks are not going to help, and are only going to add to the feeling of doom surrounding the club.

 

I still feel with a little luck, Lambert can turn this around. We all need to pull together now, and leave the anger and recriminations till our fate is decided one way or the other.

 

 

Yes we have had some awful signings on big fees and big wages only for them not to live up to their potential and then rather expensively sit on the bench just picking up their wages every week. Those players were indeed chosen by our long list of managerial failures. However Lerner has been there sanctioning these deals and signing the contracts. If he didn't know whether the players were good, bad or indifferent then he should of had a football man looking over this stategy not some gimp from a credit card company customer services department who probably doesn't even understand the offside rule.

 

Lerner has to take the blame for what has happened as he was in charge of the club when it happened and was ultimately the only one who could have stopped the mess we are in now!

[Jimmytheirishvillain]

Here's a theory. Paul lamberts bizarre team selections like Newcastle before he brought weimann and agbonlahor on at half time is all too common this season. He seems to be doing exactly what Mcleish was doing last year playing the shittest team he could despite having other players on the bench. Also his shit tactics that continue not to work and his lower league signings. Maybe lambert wants to be sacked? Maybe when Lerner came knocking lambert thought 'well heres my chance to go get a big pay off in less than a year like Mcleish as long as I do the same stupid things as him I'm bound to get the sack and it's not like anther team won't come in for me after that'. I think lamberts a dick. I realise this is not likely as he wouldn't have left Norwich for villa just to get a big pay off or would he? Anyways no matter what I think the fans have lost faith in him and now players like andi weimann are beginning to come out and say his tactics are shit. I don't think he's got long left at all.

[VillaForever1970]

As I said before he was appointed should be given time even if relegated.

Villa needs continuity for a little bit howerver hard it may be.

So many people said give him time, but only if he's doing okay? That's not giving someone time, it's having the balls to have some patience, as their will be extremes of good and bad. Giving someone time is longer than 6 months!

Sack him and get in who, what if they don't get us going, sack them too and then the next one?

[vandaq]

Its gonna be fun being stuck in the championship, I just cannot wait

[markavfc40]

It would appear from the outside that Lambert has been shafted. It is very hard to believe that Sylla and Dawkins would be anywhere near to being his first choice signings for this window. I also find it difficult to believe that he didn't desperately want to sign a centre back. As was the case in the summer, once again it seems, from the outside, that wages have been the stumbling block in attracting the level of player we need and resulted in us going for what you'd imagine are very cheap alternatives.

If the above is true then I am very disappointed that Lambert hasn't had the balls to come out and say it has it is. It seems he has been to the same Lerner lap dog school as Faulkner. The club from the players to the owner needed someone to come in and in no uncertain terms tell a few home truths. It needed someone to do what Graham Taylor did when he arrived in 1987 when he dictated terms to Ellis both privately and publically and made sure on his terms he quickly straightened this club out and got it back on its feet. I thought Lambert would have a similar impact and wouldn't be one to toe the line. It seems so far I was wrong.

Edited February 1, 2013 by markavfc40

[Richard]

It would appear from the outside that Lambert has been shafted. It is very hard to believe that Sylla and Dawkins would be anywhere near to being his first choice signings for this window. I also find it difficult to believe that he didn't desperately want to sign a centre back. As was the case in the summer, once again it seems, from the outside, that wages have been the stumbling block in attracting the level of player we need and resulted in us going for what you'd imagine are very cheap alternatives.If the above is true then I am very disappointed that Lambert hasn't had the balls to come out and say it has it is. It seems he has been to the same Lerner lap dog school as Faulkner. The club from the players to the owner needed someone to come in and in no uncertain terms tell a few home truths. It needed someone to do what Graham Taylor did when he arrived in 1987 when he dictated terms to Ellis both privately and publically and made sure on his terms he quickly straightened this club out and got it back on its feet. I thought Lambert would have a similar impact and wouldn't be one to toe the line. It seems so far I was wrong.

mark, agree with the first paragraph , not the second. You see if lambert would openly criticise the owner and publicly state he had been shafted how would that help him or the club? Lambert would be removed from the job, so not being able to make the changes needed, and we would have to change all over again and spend a load more money in the process

[TrentVilla]

It would appear from the outside that Lambert has been shafted. It is very hard to believe that Sylla and Dawkins would be anywhere near to being his first choice signings for this window. I also find it difficult to believe that he didn't desperately want to sign a centre back. As was the case in the summer, once again it seems, from the outside, that wages have been the stumbling block in attracting the level of player we need and resulted in us going for what you'd imagine are very cheap alternatives.

If the above is true then I am very disappointed that Lambert hasn't had the balls to come out and say it has it is. It seems he has been to the same Lerner lap dog school as Faulkner. The club from the players to the owner needed someone to come in and in no uncertain terms tell a few home truths. It needed someone to do what Graham Taylor did when he arrived in 1987 when he dictated terms to Ellis both privately and publically and made sure on his terms he quickly straightened this club out and got it back on its feet. I thought Lambert would have a similar impact and wouldn't be one to toe the line. It seems so far I was wrong.

 

Like Richard I agree on the 1st paragraph, not the 2nd.

 

The reason being is that I'm led to believe Lambert has pushed Lerner, we wouldn't have got what we did had he not done so. He has done it the right way in private, as Taylor himself did and then he has made comments in the press that have given fans an insight into the situation, if they are willing and/or able to read between the lines of what he is saying. Yes he has stopped short of being openly critical of Lerner in public but personally I think that is the right thing for him to do.

 

I'm happy to admit Lambert has made mistakes but given the buttons he has been given to work with I just can't really blame him for the position we are in. We've just seen a window end in which we urgently needed investment and we've spent £1.3m (not the reported £1.7m) and we've reduced our wage bill by circa £60k.

 

I don't know what more Lambert can do, he will have told Lerner what he needed and I very much doubt that is what he got. If we stay up and I don't for one minute think we will I fully expect Lambert to walk. In fact I admire him for not having done so already because he has been screwed over by Villa's very own Mr Burns and Smithers.

[Jimmytheirishvillain]

Still people defending lambert. Is randy Lerner telling him to play this stupid 3-5-2 tactic ? No

Did Lerner tell him to leave weimann and gabbi on the bench Tuesday night when after 10 minutes you could see we were ****? No. Did Lerner tell him to sign the absolute tripe he has signed most notably the awful awful joe Bennett ? Maybe but I would think he's more than 50 percent at fault for those shit signings. Lambert is a shit manager who over achieved at Norwich and reality has set into his career now at villa. I'm just wondering when will people stop standing up for him? After the everton defeat? West ham? Arsenal? United? What if we don't win another game all season ? Lambert is the manger lamberts made sit choices stop defending him he's shit. Also Lerner is a bigger prick and Faulkner is the biggest prick of all

[peterms]

Still people defending lambert. Is randy Lerner telling him to play this stupid 3-5-2 tactic ? No

 

What I see is people defending Lambert against criticism of things outside his control, like the transfer and wages budget, while being able to criticise aspects of what he does, like tactics.

 

I realise there are people who think that someone must be either entirely brilliant and faultless, or else the worst person since Pol Pot, but it's really not worth listening to a word they say.

[markavfc40]

mark, agree with the first paragraph , not the second. You see if lambert would openly criticise the owner and publicly state he had been shafted how would that help him or the club? Lambert would be removed from the job, so not being able to make the changes needed, and we would have to change all over again and spend a load more money in the process

 

You think he would be removed? If Lambert knows that then more fool him for taking the job. I know you like him Richard and I too have a lot a lot of time for him but this is not about Paul Lambert it is about Aston Villa and where it is heading. If it takes the manager sticking his neck on the line for the good of the club that is what I want. As I said Taylor had the balls to take on Ellis in 1987 and the club was quickly a hell of a lot stronger very quickly for it. It needed Lambert to do the same and challenge privately and publically the impossible constraints he has to work under.

Of course the above assumes that it is ridiculous short term thinking financial constraints that have led to us making the signings we have

[smetrov]

So next season in the championship - who should be our manager.

 

The way its looking we are going to crash out of the prem, with barely a whimper - given the cup exits to lower league sides, and our woeful defence - I really can't see Lambert staying.

 

So who next?  - RDM, Nigel Atkins ? -

[Richard]

Like Richard I agree on the 1st paragraph, not the 2nd.

 

The reason being is that I'm led to believe Lambert has pushed Lerner, we wouldn't have got what we did had he not done so. He has done it the right way in private, as Taylor himself did and then he has made comments in the press that have given fans an insight into the situation, if they are willing and/or able to read between the lines of what he is saying. Yes he has stopped short of being openly critical of Lerner in public but personally I think that is the right thing for him to do.

 

I'm happy to admit Lambert has made mistakes but given the buttons he has been given to work with I just can't really blame him for the position we are in. We've just seen a window end in which we urgently needed investment and we've spent £1.3m (not the reported £1.7m) and we've reduced our wage bill by circa £60k.

 

I don't know what more Lambert can do, he will have told Lerner what he needed and I very much doubt that is what he got. If we stay up and I don't for one minute think we will I fully expect Lambert to walk. In fact I admire him for not having done so already because he has been screwed over by Villa's very own Mr Burns and Smithers.

agree with every word of this, can it be a sticky please.

I also expect him to walk at the end of the season funnily enough and if he does we are royally fooked

[Demitri_C]

"I'm happy to admit Lambert has made mistakes but given the buttons he has been given to work with I just can't really blame him for the position we are in. We've just seen a window end in which we urgently needed investment and we've spent £1.3m (not the reported £1.7m) and we've reduced our wage bill by circa £60k." I agree with this the real protest has to go against lerner and faulkner the people destroying this club

[kammy]

As I said before he was appointed should be given time even if relegated.

Villa needs continuity for a little bit howerver hard it may be.

So many people said give him time, but only if he's doing okay? That's not giving someone time, it's having the balls to have some patience, as their will be extremes of good and bad. Giving someone time is longer than 6 months!

Sack him and get in who, what if they don't get us going, sack them too and then the next one?

 

This is exactly my feelings. Lambert has been blasted for getting things wrong tactically and I can't argue with that, but the longer we keep him the more he'll learn what his players are/aren't capable of doing. He will find the best formation in time. He will find the best players to play in each position in time. But he needs to make mistakes along the way.

 

Bringing in a new manager would be going back to square 1.

[VillakevBromsgrove]

I am of the opinion that hopefully PL knows what he is doing better than we do, when he says it is not about systems but players maybe we are missing the point of what he is trying to say, not a lot of what is happening at villa makes a lot of sense but I am just a fan and not a studlier of football and certainly not aware of what happens behind the scenes and at the training ground.

We have been told that this year is about reducing the overheads and getting rid of the average players on big wages, I can not believe PL signed for us knowing what this year was about without having an end result, People I have spoken to and supposedly ITK people believe that after we have been through this crap season we will rebuild but in the right way.

Looking back over the last 7 years of RL we can not say he has not backed us, he has tried to compete but fallen short leaving us financially in the mire. People say he has given up on the club, and is preparing to sell us, who is to say he is not right in what he is doing, yes we may get relegated and loose the tv money but maybe that has been factored into the plan with the belief it would be a bonus if we stayed up.

All i know is that in the last few years we have had nothing but bad press and negative comments coming out op VP and maybe RL has decided enough is enough and wants the causes removed as from what I hear VP is not a happy ship how can all the managers we have had suddenly become crap when they join us, could it actually be the players at fault. The way certain players have been treated by the manager suggests this may be the case.

All I will do is hope against hope that instead of this transfer window being terrible it may actually be the turning point for this club, right or wrong I will stand by the club for the remainder of the season and see what happens, if we go down then so be it, been there seen it got the t shirt, in fact as it was then a third division shirt,

It will not be the end of the club but maybe the start of a new era, it could be the turning point to our fortunes.

[Jarpie]

Lambert's utter inability to organize defense and him apparently not being able to motivate senior players (Gabby, N'Zog, Bent, Ireland etc) was (and is) recipe for disaster with our current squad. I'm dreading to think how horrible next season will be him in charge unless he walks.

 

Some of us saw that he's not a good manager, especially defensively given the amount of goals his teams have conceded, if the board would actually have someone who understands football I don't think we'd hired him, especially given our poor defensive players.

[jim]

As I said before he was appointed should be given time even if relegated.

Villa needs continuity for a little bit howerver hard it may be.

So many people said give him time, but only if he's doing okay? That's not giving someone time, it's having the balls to have some patience, as their will be extremes of good and bad. Giving someone time is longer than 6 months!

Sack him and get in who, what if they don't get us going, sack them too and then the next one?

How much time do we give him?

Say we get relegated bad by next christmas we are mid table, then what? Give him more time to make us worse?

Sorry but I believe he is out of his depth and has no idea how to cope under pressure.

[VillakevBromsgrove]

GH was a proven manager,AMC was a proven manager, PL is respected as a manager in the football world, all failed or failing, Just look at the so called top earning players, answer honestly - how many of these would you say is prepared to battle, prepared to die for the team, worth the money we pay them. my thoughts are not 1, not any of these players and that includes Gabby gives a shit about our club, maybe the managers have had 1 hand tied behind their backs, what brought it home to me was when GH went in to hospital, the effort then went up two fold and we got results and looked a different team, Maybe it was G Mac, i dont think it was but believe the players showed what they could actually do if they could be arsed.

This is where I wonder if what PL said about systems and players is what he was referring to.