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Paul Lambert


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True enough, experience is not an asset in itself if the players are horrible. Saying that, are they worse than Lowton and Bennett? I have seen nothing to argue different during these 7 games. Not that Bennett has played that many... Back to the point, average youngsters or average experienced players? Why not play the older ones and then introduce the youth as they progress in training and get accustomed to training with Premier League-players? Our setup and defensive tactics have looked very League 1 at times. It is hard to debate when our team is weak, our players have very few outstanding assets and the options are non-existent. We need a win!

While i wouldn't advocate the implementation of bringing back either Warnock or Hutton, i do agree with everything else you have said here.

My main worry has always been the intergration of inexperienced players into a team which has already been struggling for the past two seasons and what is happening at the moment is that those aforementioned players are suffering too many defeats which will quite obviously have a knock on affect on their confidence and with the run of fixtures coming up, that drain on confidence levels is only going to get considerably worse.

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Personally I think he's doing a really good job so far. If you look at the table it doesn't look too great because we haven't put too many points on the board, but if you think about the games in terms of performance things start to look a lot rosier.

West Ham - IMO we were much the better side and were unlucky to lose to a sucker of a goal.

Everton - We were awful from start to finish and were rightfully spanked, although things might have been different had Given not had a mare with the second and third goals

Newcastle - A cracking performance against a very good side. In Pardew's own words, we deserved to win.

Swansea - A good win that could have been even better had Benteke buried another one of the four or five great chances he had when he came on

Southampton - A fine first half, great start to the second half followed by 15-20 minutes of madness

West Brom - A decent result against a side that have had a flying start

Tottenham - All in all, a good performance. We restricted them to very few chances and should have been two up before they scored a rather fluky goal. They only really took control when we started to chase the game for the equaliser.

Had we got the point, or maybe even all three, that we deserved against West Ham and the win we definitely deserved against Newcastle we'd currently be in 10th or 11th place and the atmosphere around B6 would be very different.

What it comes down to is this - We absolutely can not afford to sign the kind of players that would have us competing in the top six in the next season or two. To do so would be to bankrupt the club, as a certain former manager tried to do. That method is unsustainable unless you have the money to keep at it. The only other option is the Everton/Arsenal route - slowly building a very good side by buying cheap and selling at a profit, generating funds to pump back into the team and continue the development.

I, for one, am fed up of spending season after season watching Villa be midtable fodder and only briefly threatening to excel beyond that, before the inevitable regression to the mean. I want to see us push towards the top of the mountain, and if we are going to break this cycle we HAVE to do it in the way that Lambert is trying to do it.

Food for thought: We repeatedly mention that Villa are, on average, the fifth best team since the Prem began. This is only because, largely through luck alone, we have managed to avoid being relegated several times, i.e. it is a result of us spending 20 years in the league, not a reflection on our performance in that time. Our actual average Prem finish in that time is 9th.

Want us to ever go beyond that? Work must be done. Patience (real patience, not just over a season or two) is required.

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Yes, the fact that Lambert has got the priase for a pretty awful start results wise is bizarre isnt it. For me the jury is still out on him; the man has potential but this team is mostly a basket case. I feel things are going to get worse before they get better - hopefully through an injection of funds in January so that the rest of the deadwood are removed and can afford to drop these average youngsters who are no better than championship quality.

We are generally a club in decline (have been since 2010) and we are still pretty predictable and easy to beat; I thought we'd lose yesterday and lo and behold, we did. Lambert hasnt changed that yet; the football is certainly better than last year's abomination but we are not getting the results. Results will ultimately decide his fate; not good performances, as we are still losing most games pretty easily.

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What it comes down to is this - We absolutely can not afford to sign the kind of players that would have us competing in the top six in the next season or two. To do so would be to bankrupt the club, as a certain former manager tried to do. That method is unsustainable unless you have the money to keep at it. The only other option is the Everton/Arsenal route - slowly building a very good side by buying cheap and selling at a profit, generating funds to pump back into the team and continue the development.

Good post, but I agree with this in particular. We've been a boring club signing almost exclusively established Premier League players for quite some time now. It didn't really deliver much in terms of results and certainly the financial results it delivered were dreadful. I think Lambert's getting a lot of unfair stick for his policy of mixing experience from abroad and young players with potential. It's something we've needed to do for a long time and some people only seem to have the short term in mind. And look at QPR. Everyone was talking them up this season (as they were last season) because they apparently have a very good squad with lots of quality but they're doing absolutely dreadful this season, even worse than us.

Got to be the first manager who is getting praised for guiding a club to their worst start ever in the Premiership!

He's not getting praised for that though, he's getting praised for performances which have been a marked improvement on last season.
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Food for thought: We repeatedly mention that Villa are, on average, the fifth best team since the Prem began. This is only because, largely through luck alone, we have managed to avoid being relegated several times, i.e. it is a result of us spending 20 years in the league, not a reflection on our performance in that time. Our actual average Prem finish in that time is 9th.

Obviously this debate has been done to death, but just to clarify - finishing on the 9th position on average does not mean you're the 9th best team. Man U's average finish during the premier league is 2nd, but that doesn't mean they're the 2nd best team during that period.

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Personally I think he's doing a really good job so far. If you look at the table it doesn't look too great because we haven't put too many points on the board, but if you think about the games in terms of performance things start to look a lot rosier.

West Ham - IMO we were much the better side and were unlucky to lose to a sucker of a goal.

Everton - We were awful from start to finish and were rightfully spanked, although things might have been different had Given not had a mare with the second and third goals

Newcastle - A cracking performance against a very good side. In Pardew's own words, we deserved to win.

Swansea - A good win that could have been even better had Benteke buried another one of the four or five great chances he had when he came on

Southampton - A fine first half, great start to the second half followed by 15-20 minutes of madness

West Brom - A decent result against a side that have had a flying start

Tottenham - All in all, a good performance. We restricted them to very few chances and should have been two up before they scored a rather fluky goal. They only really took control when we started to chase the game for the equaliser.

Had we got the point, or maybe even all three, that we deserved against West Ham and the win we definitely deserved against Newcastle we'd currently be in 10th or 11th place and the atmosphere around B6 would be very different.

What it comes down to is this - We absolutely can not afford to sign the kind of players that would have us competing in the top six in the next season or two. To do so would be to bankrupt the club, as a certain former manager tried to do. That method is unsustainable unless you have the money to keep at it. The only other option is the Everton/Arsenal route - slowly building a very good side by buying cheap and selling at a profit, generating funds to pump back into the team and continue the development.

I, for one, am fed up of spending season after season watching Villa be midtable fodder and only briefly threatening to excel beyond that, before the inevitable regression to the mean. I want to see us push towards the top of the mountain, and if we are going to break this cycle we HAVE to do it in the way that Lambert is trying to do it.

Food for thought: We repeatedly mention that Villa are, on average, the fifth best team since the Prem began. This is only because, largely through luck alone, we have managed to avoid being relegated several times, i.e. it is a result of us spending 20 years in the league, not a reflection on our performance in that time. Our actual average Prem finish in that time is 9th.

Want us to ever go beyond that? Work must be done. Patience (real patience, not just over a season or two) is required.

5 points from the opening 7 games including losses to two of the new boys one of which was a hammering is crap, utterly crap. None of Lamberts signings have looked convincing either which is a worry. I think the team is weaker than last years team and I dont thinks Lamberts plan of a young and hungry team than runs around a lot is going to achieve anything at all.

Lamberts man management is poor and tactically he is very limited

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Got to be the first manager who is getting praised for guiding a club to their worst start ever in the Premiership!

That's a rather shortsighted view . Lambert is having to revamp a moribund team on limited funds. Whilst the results aren't amazing there is definitely an upturn in performances compared to last season . The result was the same but the performance at Spurs was lightyears away from last season's pathetic display . It is going to take time and I don't mean one season either, let alone 9 games . We have a long hard road ahead and patience will be needed but I feel Lambert is certainly up to the task .

Also I believe Liverpool have had their worst ever start and there are plenty of Liverpool fans who are happy with the way Rodgers is changing the way Liverpool play so I don't think Lambert is the first manager to be praised in that respect either.

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5 points from the opening 7 games including losses to two of the new boys one of which was a hammering is crap, utterly crap. None of Lamberts signings have looked convincing either which is a worry. I think the team is weaker than last years team and I dont thinks Lamberts plan of a young and hungry team than runs around a lot is going to achieve anything at all.

Lamberts man management is poor and tactically he is very limited

Playing newly promoted teams is is notoriously difficult as they are more pumped up than a team who are already in the league. As for the new signings I think they have been decent , Vlaar is an improvement on Collins and Cuellar , Bennett seems more capable than Warnock and Lowton is better than Hutton . KEA hasn't done much wrong , Holman has worked his socks off and Benteke looks like he could go either way at the moment . I am not really sure what you were expecting from them to be honest .

As for Lamberts man management I cannot comment as I have no idea what it is like and as for his tactics , well I am happy that he seems to instruct them to attack and try and keep the ball which is a massive difference from last season .

We have beaten Swansea who destroyed us last season , were unlucky not to beat a good Newcastle team away and knocked Citeh out of a cup .

This season will have it's ups and downs for sure but it really isn't all doom and gloom. There are positives and things to look forward too.

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I'm really happy with the direction in which Lambert is taking the club. As long as we don't get relegated I'm happy to just keep enjoying seeing a gradual improvement as the young players gain experience and it all starts to work. I'm enjoying watching the team again.

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That's a rather shortsighted view . Lambert is having to revamp a moribund team on limited funds. Whilst the results aren't amazing there is definitely an upturn in performances compared to last season . The result was the same but the performance at Spurs was lightyears away from last season's pathetic display . It is going to take time and I don't mean one season either, let alone 9 games . We have a long hard road ahead and patience will be needed but I feel Lambert is certainly up to the task .

Also I believe Liverpool have had their worst ever start and there are plenty of Liverpool fans who are happy with the way Rodgers is changing the way Liverpool play so I don't think Lambert is the first manager to be praised in that respect either.

Yes i agree. Maybe it is a tad harsh under the present circumstances, but ultimately Lambert, like any manager has be judged on results and thus far they haven't been good enough! If by Christmas we are still in the bottom four or five then Lambert's gamble on youth will have to be deemed as a failure and in January he will have to sign some experienced quality to get us out of trouble.

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Not this "gamble" thing again. Holman, Vlaar and KEA are all experienced quality (or do they not count because they don't come from the Premier League?) and Lowton and Bennett actually played quite a lot for their respective clubs.

Although yes if we are doing poorly by Christmas then Randy might have to get his chequebook out once more but that doesn't necessarily have to mean going for mediocre Premier League players who would demand relatively big wages (e.g. Adam).

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I think the first thing to say is that he took over a side who really, truly should have been relegated last season. I still cant quite figure out how we stayed up. So lets not underestimate the size of the task. We arent very good. He has made the bold decision to go with young players who he feels have the hunger and desire to learn and will be the backbone of the team for years to come. The other (maybe safer in the short term) option would have been to bring in a few old stagers. Results might have been better in the short term, but wages higher, and frankly no long term vision to that. Thats a sticking plaster solution. Lambert has gone straight for bypass surgery, recognizing how ill the patient is

So its brave, and its risky, and it might go horribly wrong. I dont think it will though. I have no doubt that this season we will finish closer to the bottom three than the top six, but Im sure we will survive, and we will then have a young hungry team with a bit of experience and a bit more cleverness. Just now its all a bit raw and naive. They will learn, and when they do, they have a chance of being a proper team

Going to be a long hard season mind you, might as well prepare yourself for that

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It never was a 5 minute job.Whilst I was disappointed with the result, I was heartened by the performance.

It will turn and Lambert needs to stick to his principles....There was plenty of positives in that game we just needed a cutting edge.

some of the new lads are learning life in the Prem, its much too early to condemn as much as it is hard to take, it will come good.

I remember folk writing McNaught off in his early games, it takes time

Bale and Lennon didn't arrive in 5 minutes it took time and they came from lesser clubs.

If we look at results in isolation Lambert will be measured unfavourably.... but we must stick with this man. He will get it right, if he sticks to his beliefs the players will get mentally stronger and results will come.

I've never been one to say " keep the faith" as i think its a bit condescending to passionate supporters..... but we must...H eis the man.

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I think the first thing to say is that he took over a side who really, truly should have been relegated last season. I still cant quite figure out how we stayed up. So lets not underestimate the size of the task. We arent very good. He has made the bold decision to go with young players who he feels have the hunger and desire to learn and will be the backbone of the team for years to come. The other (maybe safer in the short term) option would have been to bring in a few old stagers. Results might have been better in the short term, but wages higher, and frankly no long term vision to that. Thats a sticking plaster solution. Lambert has gone straight for bypass surgery, recognizing how ill the patient is

So its brave, and its risky, and it might go horribly wrong. I dont think it will though. I have no doubt that this season we will finish closer to the bottom three than the top six, but Im sure we will survive, and we will then have a young hungry team with a bit of experience and a bit more cleverness. Just now its all a bit raw and naive. They will learn, and when they do, they have a chance of being a proper team

Going to be a long hard season mind you, might as well prepare yourself for that

Very well.

"What doesn't kill you makes you stronger" will probably be the best way of summing up this season. As long as we stay up (and I have no doubt that we will stay up) we'll be much better off next season.

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We'll be bottom 4-5 at Christmas, but we'll finish 11-14th. Still my prediction.

I think dropping Bent cost us the West Brom game, though and who knows what could have happened if Bent played Sunday. He'd certainly have scored that header.

Happy with the manager but he's doing totally the wrong thing with Bent.

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we haven't put too many points on the board, but if you think about the games in terms of performance things start to look a lot rosier.

Sadly, performance counts for nothing if you don't get the points. Winning is everything. The idea by the way that we are at the start of a path similar to that trodden by Arsenal is ludicrous beyond words.
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