Manager Paul Lambert

[AshVilla]

Lambert is doing the best he can with the limited squad we have

Further additions are needed in January and the Summer thats for sure

[KHV]

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

Holman has played well but is not a lambert signing. I dont think Lowton and Bennett are any better than Hutton and Warnock. Vlaar looks no better than Collins although some people go on about him like he some immense defender when he has been crap on more than one occasion. KEA passes the ball without any real purpose and Benteke has has had a nightmare start. Westwood and Bowry were pointless signings, most people are going on about Lambert like he has done a good job thus far but the reality is he is serving up crap thats justs as bad as houllier and mcleish. In the case of the Everton home game and the second half at st marys some the crap is even worse!

[joey55]

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.

To be honest they probably aren't the best examples.

Lennon was great from his debut on wards and went to the world cup at the end of the season.

Bale was MOTM on his debut and was our best player that season until he got injured. He scored 3 and made 2 assists in his first 5 games. But in December he got injured and missed the rest of the season. He then spent the next 2 years struggling with a recurring ankle problem.

Neither were the players they are now, but when we signed them they were still among the best players we had at the time. They needed to be developed to become top class players, but when we signed them they were plenty good enough for our team. I think it's very hard to buy players from the lower leagues that need to be developed to reach the standard of the club they are signing for. Ideally they should be at that level already and then look to develop them into something special. If you buy players from the lower leagues that aren't Prem standard (unless they are teenagers) then really you are doing well if they develop into average Prem players. Both Bale and Lennon were 17 when we signed them and were our best wingers from the start of their careers (yes Bale started on left wing for us and not at fullback as most think).

I think the idea of recruiting young talent from the lower leagues is a good one. But the players Lambert has bought for you aren't even particularly young and don't seem to have stood out at the lower levels. I think the youngest is 21. The other 2 are 22 and the 4th is 23. They just seem like really odd signings. Lowton is older than Bale.

[AVFCforever1991]

Lowton is older than Bale.

Yeah by like 1 month.. You make it sound like Lowton is coming to the end of his carrer.

[KHV]

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).

I dont think Vlaar,Holman or KEA are quality. Holman has been good but KEA and Vlaar have been quite poor

[Morpheus]

Like the man who has jumped from a twenty storey building. Ok so far?

So we're not getting the points but the performances have improved. If by Christmas we're still in the bottom five will it still be the latter?

All i can see at the moment is problems all over the pitch. Back four conceding goals. No out and out DM to protect a defense who some have excused by stating their apparent inexperience. No width to supply Benteke or Bent because Lambert wants a narrow midfield and therefore relying on our strikers being supplied by a creative midfielder or number ten who we haven't got.

I'm now hearing the team needs time to gel. Ok fair enough but will that then summon the DM and creative midfielder we are missing or if Lambert changes tact will it supply a wide man to take defenders on and beat them to supply decent crosses into the box?

Three areas of our team that needed addressing before the start of the season and if they are not in January then we will go down.

[Richard]

Lambert is a top bloke, very engaging personality

[sonic_bouma]

All i can see at the moment is problems all over the pitch. Back four conceding goals. No out and out DM to protect a defense who some have excused by stating their apparent inexperience. No width to supply Benteke or Bent because Lambert wants a narrow midfield and therefore relying on our strikers being supplied by a creative midfielder or number ten who we haven't got.

I'm a fan of Lambert

but this is a big big problem at the moment, we are very easy to play against because of the way he sets our midfield up

our lack of width is a major downfall of ours and quite frankly pisses me off!

[terrytini]

I must be deluded, as I think we are doing pretty well.

I thought we were the better side against Spurs until the goal - despite the London medias qwierd version of the game.

I thought we were the better side against Newcastle, Swansea, and Man City

I thought we were ok for a half against Southampton, and a second half against Everton.

So lucky me I'm not at all concened.

I think the difference in our style, set up, hunger, and ambition, was huge between Spurs away last year and this, if Benteke had scored we could easily have gone on to win.

I don't think the squad is anywhere near as poor as some think, and I thank God we didnt try the same old rehashed names , as QPR have for example.

I love PL's approach, and I have no doubt it will pay off.

We are at a very very early stage for all this panic.

[Spoony]

I'm no longer so confident that we'll stay up, but at the same time I don't know what more Lambert can do. We stayed up with McLeish by playing anti-football and to be honest we'd have a better chance of staying up if we did that again this season. We may go down this season but (and I know this is pretty stupid given the consequences of relegation) I genuinely would rather go down trying than staying up playing the shite we did last season. I stopped watching Villa last season cos I just couldn't bear the shame and it would bore me to tears. I just didn't see the point of staying up by drawing if you can't even watch the team you're supposed to be supporting.

But yeah, Lambert. I hope people give him time because there is only so much he can do. For some reason many Villa fans expect miracles and for us to just suddenly be good again. Sadly that isn't going to happen. You could put Mourinho in charge of our new kids right now and we'd still be pretty poor. Lambert has done well in my opinion with what he's got, but I'm not sure that'll be good enough.

Let's just please please PLEASE not start with any 'Lambert out' rubbish. Where would we turn next exactly??

[CI]

Fully behind the guy. Even if we go down (which I don't think we will) we must give him 4 years or more.

We need our own David Moyes.

[Brumerican]

Holman has played well but is not a lambert signing. I dont think Lowton and Bennett are any better than Hutton and Warnock. Vlaar looks no better than Collins although some people go on about him like he some immense defender when he has been crap on more than one occasion. KEA passes the ball without any real purpose and Benteke has has had a nightmare start. Westwood and Bowry were pointless signings, most people are going on about Lambert like he has done a good job thus far but the reality is he is serving up crap thats justs as bad as houllier and mcleish. In the case of the Everton home game and the second half at st marys some the crap is even worse!

Have a bit of patience . It's not as bad as you are making out.

[Papillon]

I must be deluded, as I think we are doing pretty well.

I thought we were the better side against Spurs until the goal - despite the London medias qwierd version of the game.

I thought we were the better side against Newcastle, Swansea, and Man City

I thought we were ok for a half against Southampton, and a second half against Everton.

So lucky me I'm not at all concened.

I think the difference in our style, set up, hunger, and ambition, was huge between Spurs away last year and this, if Benteke had scored we could easily have gone on to win.

I don't think the squad is anywhere near as poor as some think, and I thank God we didnt try the same old rehashed names , as QPR have for example.

I love PL's approach, and I have no doubt it will pay off.

We are at a very very early stage for all this panic.

Dude, we have won 1 game out of 7 in the league! The game is about winning against your opponents, not being good against them for one half. The second half against Southampton kind of murders the first, and the second half against Everton did not matter as they had already won the game quite easily at our home turf. I admire your blind optimism, as every objective fan or outsider viewer would gladly admit our start has been disasterous. Sure we cannot judge much from the first 7 games, but we are now going from meeting a good mix of good and mediocre teams to play the absolute best on the trot. Once the team is in the relegation zone, mentalities change and we are in trouble with all the youth we have in our squad.

[SquaddieVilla]

Looking back at last season the honeymoon period for Lambert is over. Results speak volumes, style & performances don't put points on the board.

2012/13 Lambert PL Games 7 W 1 D 2 L 4 Pts 5

2011/12 McLeish PL Games 7 W 2 D 5 L 0 Pts 11

Admittedly the season wasn't successful and we struggled, however we haven't improved and the squad is wafer thin, with too much inexperience. Bent needs to start repaying the fee paid for him & Gabby is not a prospect anymore. If Lambert doesn't get at least 3 points from the next couple of games he should be looking over his shoulder at the vote of confidence.

[cheltenham_villa]

Fully behind the guy. Even if we go down (which I don't think we will) we must give him 4 years or more.

We need our own David Moyes.

Unfortunately I'm not sure he'll stick around as long as moyes has.

[terrytini]

Dude, we have won 1 game out of 7 in the league! The game is about winning against your opponents, not being good against them for one half. The second half against Southampton kind of murders the first, and the second half against Everton did not matter as they had already won the game quite easily at our home turf. I admire your blind optimism, as every objective fan or outsider viewer would gladly admit our start has been disasterous. Sure we cannot judge much from the first 7 games, but we are now going from meeting a good mix of good and mediocre teams to play the absolute best on the trot. Once the team is in the relegation zone, mentalities change and we are in trouble with all the youth we have in our squad.

I am fully aware of our record.

I think those who are worrying are premature. If all our performances were crap that would be different. A bad run at the start of the season always looks worse - but is in fact no worse - than a bad run at any other time.

It isn't blind optimisim, it is a view that we are not in trouble - in October ! and that our performances have given me more than enough reason to think we will be pushing top half.

Too many people these days look at numbers only, until a couple of weeks ago Spurs fans were worried, and Uniteds, Swansea fans thought they were going to challenge for Europe !

It is all very silly.

We will be mor ethan fine- quote me after another 10 games !

[CrackpotForeigner]

Have a bit of patience . It's not as bad as you are making out.

KHV's post was pure nonsense from the start of the second sentence. To say it's not as bad as he's making out is like saying Lionel Messi is a competent footballer.

[PB]

P26 W3 D11 L12 Pts 20

This is Aston Villa's record in this calendar year since the 3-1 win at Chelsea on New Years Eve. This isnt down to Lambert (who has only managed 7 of these), but is clearly relegation form. If that was a league season you;d be saying we'd need 20 points from the next 12 and realistically well, you know, good bye Premier League.

I know thats a theoretical situation, but I post it merely to highlight the scale of the problem that Lambert inherited. Yes, I accept that he has as yet failed to improve results, but he needs to be given time. We need him to succeed, if he doesnt, we are gone,

[chappy]

Looking back at last season the honeymoon period for Lambert is over. Results speak volumes, style & performances don't put points on the board.

2012/13 Lambert PL Games 7 W 1 D 2 L 4 Pts 5

2011/12 McLeish PL Games 7 W 2 D 5 L 0 Pts 11

Lambert West Ham away 1-0 loss

Mcleish Swansea (play off winners) away 0-0 draw

Lambert Everton home 1-3 loss

Mcleish Everton home 1-1 draw

Lambert Newcastle away 1-1 draw

Mcleish Newcastle away 2-1 loss

Lambert Swansea home 2-0 win

Mcleish Swansea home 0-2 loss

Lambert Southampton away 4-1 loss

Mcleish Norwich away (promoted in 2nd place) 2-0 loss

Lambert WBA home 1-1 draw

Mcleish WBA home 1-2 loss

Lambert Spurs away 2-0 loss

Mcleish Spurs away 2-0 loss

2012/13 Lambert PL Games 7 W 1 D 2 L 4 Pts 5

2011/12 McLeish PL Games 7 W 0 D 2 L 5 Pts 2

You can draw comparisons to prove whatever you like...

And if you think about how much better Everton were this season when we played them than last, and the abomination of a performance put in at Spurs last season I would say for the same (as close as you can get) set of games we are looking much better. Not sure why I have wasted my time typing all this out because surely it is obvious that we are in a much better position than we were under Mcleish?

[Raymond]

Lambert West Ham away 1-0 loss

Mcleish Swansea (play off winners) away 0-0 draw

Lambert Everton home 1-3 loss

Mcleish Everton home 1-1 draw

Lambert Newcastle away 1-1 draw

Mcleish Newcastle away 2-1 loss

Lambert Swansea home 2-0 win

Mcleish Swansea home 0-2 loss

Lambert Southampton away 4-1 loss

Mcleish Norwich away (promoted in 2nd place) 2-0 loss

Lambert WBA home 1-1 draw

Mcleish WBA home 1-2 loss

Lambert Spurs away 2-0 loss

Mcleish Spurs away 2-0 loss

2012/13 Lambert PL Games 7 W 1 D 2 L 4 Pts 5

2011/12 McLeish PL Games 7 W 0 D 2 L 5 Pts 2

You can draw comparisons to prove whatever you like...

And if you think about how much better Everton were this season when we played them than last, and the abomination of a performance put in at Spurs last season I would say for the same (as close as you can get) set of games we are looking much better. Not sure why I have wasted my time typing all this out because surely it is obvious that we are in a much better position than we were under Mcleish?

If you actually watch the matches instead of simply looking at the table when the weekend is over it is very clear we are a better side, but what is the point in arguing. Let them moan.