Manager Paul Lambert

[davemk39]

theres only 2 decent scottish managers. fergie and moyes. the rest are championship managers with limited skill.

i'd have thought they'd have learned with mcliesh but obviously not.

 

MON available now.

[Con]

Robbie Savage on MOTD said something interesting.

 

Our attack is disjointed.

 

We have Agbonlahor, Benteke and Weimann then a large gap behind because nobody supports the attack in time.

 

If Gardner was fit he would be able to do it. We don't have any other midfielder in the squad who can do that as well as help on the defensive side. Delph maybe. 

[TRO]

Robbie Savage on MOTD said something interesting.

 

Our attack is disjointed.

 

We have Agbonlahor, Benteke and Weimann then a large gap behind because nobody supports the attack in time.

 

If Gardner was fit he would be able to do it. We don't have any other midfielder in the squad who can do that as well as help on the defensive side. Delph maybe.

They (midfield)don't know whether to stick or twist.

They are in fear of losing the ball by coming too far forward.... consequently are caught in the headlights. They basically lack the guile and confidence to do so.

When you see a midfield that is comfortable on the ball has poise and power, play with guile and confidence.....they comfortably join the attacks and support the forwards.

[Con]

We have two deep-lying playmakers when we ideally should only use one.

 

It's because they are deep-lying that they take so much time to get forward and leave the attack unsupported.

 

 

Frank Lampard's recently been converted to a deep-lying playmaker. He says you can't get forward as much from that position, and it takes time to learn the moments when you can push forward.

 

So why do we have two? Provides greater protection for the defence, whilst not being defensive. They are better at passing than DMs so can spread the play quickly for counter attacks.

 

If we had more confidence in our defence, we'd only use one deep-lying playmaker. We don't have the depth of squad at the moment to be a threat with many different formations. 

[briny_ear]

The main problem is the continued hangover from the MON era 

We actually have very few players left from the MON era so you need to explain what you mean by that. 

 

Ireland, Bent, Makoun, Hutton, Given, N'Zogbia - all expensive players players we can't use who have been eating up our wages bill. 

 

Plus we have a tranche of players bought by the current manager who are Championship level at best and are threatening to take us to their natural level.

[danceoftheshamen]

What

 

The main problem is the continued hangover from the MON era 

We actually have very few players left from the MON era so you need to explain what you mean by that. 

 

Ireland, Bent, Makoun, Hutton, Given, N'Zogbia - all expensive players players we can't use who have been eating up our wages bill. 

 

Plus we have a tranche of players bought by the current manager who are Championship level at best and are threatening to take us to their natural level.

 

Didn't want to go into detail really as this MON thing has clearly been well over cooked over the last few years on here..indeed you have been one of the main critiques of that Briny_ear ...What i meant was that the lack of funds for transfers last summer & in the Jan window was still in part due to the entrails of the MON era.. Collins, Cuellar, Warnock etc were being moved on to free up wages all of whom were his signings. So PL's hands were tied in part due to this & indeed the attitude of RL was forged to a large extent by the MON era of overspend on average & ageing players on long contracts

 

I take Big Jons point that this also continued under Houllier & Mcleish & that some of that was self inflicted by Randy with compensation having to be paid due to bad decisions in appointing the wrong men to manage the club etc but it is this combined with the continued MON fallout which was what made the job so precarious for PL re: transfer budget etc.

 

So i guess what i mean Briny_ear is that the current squad is in part a result of the fallout from the MON era although there are clearly other contributing factors such as the poor Managerial appointments & poor signings made by those various managers, such as those you list above.

 

Of the players PL signed some i like, Benteke, Guzan, Westwood & to a point Vlaar, & some the jury is out on..Sylla, Lowton, Bowery & the rest i am not pleased with namely Kea & Bennett..

 

The main problems with the team for me are the likes of.. Bannan & Clark, Ireland, Nzogbia's frustrating form & Dunne's injury. Not forgetting the season long injury to Gardner either as this could've been his breakthrough season & he is exaclty what we are lacking at the moment in midfield.....All players PL inherited, apart from KEA & Bennett not hitting the required standard. But 2 duds out of 8 ain't a bad ratio & those 2 may yet settle in given time anyway.

 

The fact remains though that had he had a proper budget in the summer & then funds to strengthen properly in Jan, things would most likely be different. The fact he didn't get that budget was down to a few things...one of which was the lack of maneuverability with wages due in part to the entrails of the MON era which was still evident in the summer. Secondly the change of mindset from Randy was surely primarily grounded in the MON era. It was during this time that Randy "pulled the plug" so to speak & we have suffered ever since as a result. It was this that started the decline & we are still trying to balance the books 3 years later & counting.

 

Having said that i do think that now finally, we are virtually clear of that era with only really Warnock & Dunne's situations left to resolve. If we can somehow survive this season which is very much in the balance then brighter times surely lie ahead. The green shoots of recovery are breaking the surface lets just hope they can survive the severe frost over the next few weeks.

[Woodytom]

Still believe (as I have all season) that the midfield is by far the weakest part of the team and one of the worst I have seen in the premiership.

[MagicMushroom]

Robbie Savage on MOTD said something interesting.

 

Our attack is disjointed.

 

We have Agbonlahor, Benteke and Weimann then a large gap behind because nobody supports the attack in time.

 

If Gardner was fit he would be able to do it. We don't have any other midfielder in the squad who can do that as well as help on the defensive side. Delph maybe. 

 

 

 

 

 

Funny how our two major weakneses are in Central Defence and Midfield, and are the same two positions that Lambert wanted to strengthen with experience during January, but was not backed on that request.

 

If he had been allowed to do that, together with the improvement in performances, would we of been ok now?

 

If we are relegated, then only two people can be blamed, namely Randolph and his ball licking gimp.

[sne]

Robbie Savage on MOTD said something interesting.

 

Our attack is disjointed.

 

We have Agbonlahor, Benteke and Weimann then a large gap behind because nobody supports the attack in time.

 

If Gardner was fit he would be able to do it. We don't have any other midfielder in the squad who can do that as well as help on the defensive side. Delph maybe. 

 

 

 

 

 

Funny how our two major weakneses are in Central Defence and Midfield, and are the same two positions that Lambert wanted to strengthen with experience during January, but was not backed on that request.

 

If he had been allowed to do that, together with the improvement in performances, would we of been ok now?

 

If we are relegated, then only two people can be blamed, namely Randolph and his ball licking gimp.

 

Really?

I'd put a fair share of the blame on Lambert and the players

[Woodytom]

 

Robbie Savage on MOTD said something interesting.

 

Our attack is disjointed.

 

We have Agbonlahor, Benteke and Weimann then a large gap behind because nobody supports the attack in time.

 

If Gardner was fit he would be able to do it. We don't have any other midfielder in the squad who can do that as well as help on the defensive side. Delph maybe. 

 

 

 

 

 

Funny how our two major weakneses are in Central Defence and Midfield, and are the same two positions that Lambert wanted to strengthen with experience during January, but was not backed on that request.

 

If he had been allowed to do that, together with the improvement in performances, would we of been ok now?

 

If we are relegated, then only two people can be blamed, namely Randolph and his ball licking gimp.

 

Really?

I'd put a fair share of the blame on Lambert and the players

 

 

Nah their just solely responsible for results on the pitch. Not their fault at all!.

[drat01]

Savage (obnoxious but unfortunately has a point here) wrote a lot of things on BBC website. Some of the most damning is

 

Total Passes  14th Best in Premiership

Passing accuracy 15th

Possession 14th

Shots for 17th

Goals scored 17th

Shots against 19th

Goals conceded 19th

Goal Difference 20th

Points dropped from winning positions 18th

 

Pretty damning indication that so much of the way we play is wrong

 

More fuel to fire for me that Lambert is not the man for the job

[romavillan]

whilst i can understand the frustration at letting another lead slip and our position in the table, did anyone really expect us to win 3 on the bounce and do the double on liverpool for the first time since i don't know when?

 

we were very close to getting a point in reality and had a cracking first half. in the second half if benteke managed to keep level or had gerrard not been so sharp we'd have got a deserved point. had gabby not hit it straight at reina we'd have gone in at 2-0 up and could well have won it.

if we get nothing from stoke and fulham then lets panic, as it is we are playing the best football over the last month or so than we have all season, this is the best time to be coming in to form. personally i think PL is improving us under difficult circumstances and should be left to get on with it. losing to liverpool won't change my mind about that.

[VillaForever1970]

Savage (obnoxious but unfortunately has a point here) wrote a lot of things on BBC website. Some of the most damning is

 

Total Passes  14th Best in Premiership

Passing accuracy 15th

Possession 14th

Shots for 17th

Goals scored 17th

Shots against 19th

Goals conceded 19th

Goal Difference 20th

Points dropped from winning positions 18th

 

Pretty damning indication that so much of the way we play is wrong

 

More fuel to fire for me that Lambert is not the man for the job

You seemed quite quiet when we were winning 2 on the bounce and certainly didn't see any stats then, or are stats only noteworthy when they are negative?

[sne]

So we should disregard the stats because we beat Reading and QPR?

 

Those stats are after the 2 won games so before that they were probably even worse

[Pelle]

Well, if I get it right it doesn't show our currently increased form which is also something to consider. We were always going to struggle this season, especially at the start. Our christmas form was below everything I've experienced, I think. The thing is, we are where we are because of the whole season and that can't be denied. But we might end up a bit better as we've recently showed abit of form and fighting spirit. Sunday liverpool were the better team in the end, but there are small margins. Had Gabby put away that early chance or Weimann that chance he had before he went off or if Gerrard hadn't act like Superman on the goal line we might've had a different scenario today. But, again, in the end liverpool were better than us and that's not strange at all, as they've a better team and have put down a lot more money in it than we have.

[drat01]

Savage (obnoxious but unfortunately has a point here) wrote a lot of things on BBC website. Some of the most damning is Total Passes 14th Best in PremiershipPassing accuracy 15thPossession 14thShots for 17thGoals scored 17thShots against 19thGoals conceded 19thGoal Difference 20thPoints dropped from winning positions 18th Pretty damning indication that so much of the way we play is wrong More fuel to fire for me that Lambert is not the man for the job

You seemed quite quiet when we were winning 2 on the bounce and certainly didn't see any stats then, or are stats only noteworthy when they are negative?

you obviously missed me maintaining my stance re lambert then. And the stats if you actually read the post were from the bbc Edited April 2, 2013 by drat01

[Big_John_10]

Savage (obnoxious but unfortunately has a point here) wrote a lot of things on BBC website. Some of the most damning is

 

Total Passes  14th Best in Premiership

Passing accuracy 15th

Possession 14th

Shots for 17th

Goals scored 17th

Shots against 19th

Goals conceded 19th

Goal Difference 20th

Points dropped from winning positions 18th

 

Pretty damning indication that so much of the way we play is wrong

 

More fuel to fire for me that Lambert is not the man for the job

Incredible stats really.

Absolutely no defence for that.

He's done a shocking job this year.

Can't believe so many are happy to lower expectations in order to defend him.

[VillaForever1970]

obviously missed me maintaining my stance re lambert then. And the stats if you actually read the post were from the bbc

Yet you only pipe up after a loss.

[brommy]

Can't believe so many are happy to lower expectations in order to defend him.

How does defending Paul Lambert equate to lowering expectations, happy or otherwise?

[Woodytom]

This 'What does he say to them at ht'? argument is nonsense really.

 

What do you think he says? I would imagine that he said - 'Keep it tight and keep doing the same things'. Most of all dont concede an early goal. 

 

Just because they didnt do it, it doesnt mean he didnt say it.

 

Also, even if he said nothing, it doesn't take 11 rocket scientists to work out what the plan should have been for the 2nd half!!

 

Come here Gabby, Ron, Barry etc while I wipe your arse a little bit more. Or Il tell you what, take a little bit more responsibility and we might just get ourselves out of this mess.