Manager Paul Lambert

[Big_John_10]

They were the better team over 2 games and deserved to go through.

They played better than us so we were outplayed by them.

[Big_John_10]

We've turned a corner and have been producing some exciting stuff the last few games. PL's signings (including the much maligned Joe Bennett) are starting to come together and we are looking a really decent side. A couple more results and we can relax and look forward to a much more positive next season

Agreed.

Same old, same old

Haha

Yes your posts on here are so different.

Edited April 8, 2013 by Big_John_10

[Zatman]

They were the better team over 2 games and deserved to go through.

They played better than us so we were outplayed by them.

 

that isnt actually true. they were better than us from setpieces but we had more clear cut chances over the 2 games. Benteke should have had 1st half hat-trick at Valley Parade

[Zatman]

Interesting a few neutral reports from weekend saying we would be a loss to Premier League if went down as great potential and we play some really good football

[Big_John_10]

Interesting a few neutral reports from weekend saying we would be a loss to Premier League if went down as great potential and we play some really good football

Adrian Durham on talksport has been saying good things like this for the last few weeks.

[villan_007]

 

 

It's funny how over TIME things have got better, that giving a manager TIME seems to have improved the team. As the players have worked over a longer period of TIME with the manager his methods have come to fruition.

Giving a manager TIME means that its not always going to be rosey.

There has been an improvement and shock horror it's not come overnight.

Funny how picking the right formation made such a huge difference.

Shame our manager needed so much TIME to figure this out. Maybe if he hadn't wasted TIME playing a diamond formation, then more TIME with 3 CB's we might all be having a better TIME as fans not worrying about relegation for the 3rd TIME in a row.

Injuries. It's not as simple as you always make out. You literally discount so many things and repeat the same small minded nonsense over and over. Go support bluescum where you belong. 

Haha

You going to wow us with your excellent logic again?

 

 

We've turned a corner and have been producing some exciting stuff the last few games. PL's signings (including the much maligned Joe Bennett) are starting to come together and we are looking a really decent side. A couple more results and we can relax and look forward to a much more positive next season

Agreed.

>Same old, same old

Haha

Yes your posts on here are so different.

 

 

 

Never anything constructive back when people challenge your posts - always the same reply.

[Big_John_10]

Never anything constructive back when people challenge your posts - always the same reply.

Wow what a constructive post. Thanks.

I guess you don't read this site much then.

I've posted many things to those two posters. I'm sorry if you not reading that in the past has upset you.

[Super Jonno]

Interesting a few neutral reports from weekend saying we would be a loss to Premier League if went down as great potential and we play some really good football

 

Being from the midlands but having lived in the south and the north iv made friends with fans of alot of different clubs and horrendous banter aside, they want us to stay up.

[Ghost_of_Pongo_Waring]

Injuries. It's not as simple as you always make out. You literally discount so many things and repeat the same small minded nonsense over and over. Go support bluescum where you belong. 

 

The injuries we had this year have been nothing compared to the crisis we had at times in our last season AND in the one before that.

 

Did either Houllier or McLeish get any reprieve from the fans because of that? Nope.

 

As such, I see no reason why it is a valid excuse for Lambert's results. Injuries are an unfortunate part of the game for every manager - and Lambert has had it pretty easy in comparison to his predecessors.

 

Can't agree with this at all.

 

Lambert has had a worse time with injuries, in my opinion.

 

Dunne, & Petrov out all season. Obviously Petrov was known but it was still a problem to be resolved with limited resources.

 

Albrighton, Gardener and Bent have spent most of the season injured.

 

Then we had a period of nine or ten consecutive games where we had a player going off injured during the game. Our inexperienced

defence was having no chance of getting used to playing together as it was never the same for two halves of football let alone same every game.

 

Thats hardly an easy time with injuries.

[ozvillafan]

 

Can't agree with this at all.

 

Lambert has had a worse time with injuries, in my opinion.

 

Dunne, & Petrov out all season. Obviously Petrov was known but it was still a problem to be resolved with limited resources.

 

Albrighton, Gardener and Bent have spent most of the season injured.

 

Then we had a period of nine or ten consecutive games where we had a player going off injured during the game. Our inexperienced

defence was having no chance of getting used to playing together as it was never the same for two halves of football let alone same every game.

 

Thats hardly an easy time with injuries.

 

Apart from Dunne (and arguably Gardener), none of the players you mention featured regularly even when they were fit.

 

Compare that to Houllier against ManUre in 2010. In this preview Houllier is hoping that Clarke, Bannan, Albrighton and Delfonouso will rise to the challenge of playing the champions (and they almost did it!). They were only starting because we had no other choice.

 

From memory (looking at the squad that year), we had injuries to

 

Dunne

Petrov

NRC

Downing

Ireland

Agbonlahor

 

all at the same time during this period. All are first team starters.

 

Now that is a tough run of injuries.

[AvfcTheObsession]

Anyone else think Lambert's main problem for the rest of the season is finding who to play as our third CM, the attacking role?

 

I'm quite happy with Delph and Westwood as the two DM's in a 4-2-3-1 system, or even Sylla starting as one of them. The front 3 pick themselves, but who do we play as the third CM, just infront of the more defensive two.

 

CNZ and Ireland don't have the work-rate.

 

Holman and Bannan don't have the ability. 

 

KEA, Sylla and the likes would be too defensive added to Westwood and Delph.

 

We saw a different system against Stoke with Bowery in the team wide right, he held his own but is clearly not a winger and I think there's only the odd game he's right for, e.g the more physical teams.

 

I feel this position could be problematic for us in the run-in.

[Ghost_of_Pongo_Waring]

 

Can't agree with this at all.

 

Lambert has had a worse time with injuries, in my opinion.

 

Dunne, & Petrov out all season. Obviously Petrov was known but it was still a problem to be resolved with limited resources.

 

Albrighton, Gardener and Bent have spent most of the season injured.

 

Then we had a period of nine or ten consecutive games where we had a player going off injured during the game. Our inexperienced

defence was having no chance of getting used to playing together as it was never the same for two halves of football let alone same every game.

 

Thats hardly an easy time with injuries.

 

Apart from Dunne (and arguably Gardener), none of the players you mention featured regularly even when they were fit.

 

Compare that to Houllier against ManUre in 2010. In this preview Houllier is hoping that Clarke, Bannan, Albrighton and Delfonouso will rise to the challenge of playing the champions (and they almost did it!). They were only starting because we had no other choice.

 

From memory (looking at the squad that year), we had injuries to

 

Dunne

Petrov

NRC

Downing

Ireland

Agbonlahor

 

all at the same time during this period. All are first team starters.

 

Now that is a tough run of injuries.

 

Bent has played more games, when available, than he's missed. Albrighton hasn't been able to play regularly as he's not been fit and the nine or ten consecutive games where we had injuries they were all, with the exception of Enda Stevens, players who've played regularly this season.

 

The only defender not to have missed games through injury is Lowton and I think Guzan and Benteke are the only other regular players not to have missed due to injury.

 

I'm not saying the Houllier and McLeish didn't have injury problems but this season is easily as bad. A lot might have been short term niggling injuries but they still disrupt the squad.

[Big_John_10]

It's certainly a position that needs to be addressed when spending money in the summer.

For now I think Nzogbia should be the man to play there but I agree certain games may require a different approach.

Maybe someone like carruthers or Gardner will have a chance to fill it next season.

[Super Jonno]

It's certainly a position that needs to be addressed when spending money in the summer.

For now I think Nzogbia should be the man to play there but I agree certain games may require a different approach.

Maybe someone like carruthers or Gardner will have a chance to fill it next season.

 

It certainly does.

 

I agree for now, depending on the opposition Zog could the man to do that. In the summer I feel if we get a good CAM in we will dee the best of Westwood. With Delp / Sylla alongside him and a player who specialises in creativity, Westwood could be a really important player in keeping possession and building / initiating our attacks from the middle

 

Im hoping Carruthers gets a pop next season, along with a couple of others from the academy. Not chucking them in at the deep end but certainly blooding them..

[Morpheus]

 

 

People claim they understand giving a manager time, but they really dont.

 

Nail on the head. A few months is not giving time. I appreciate if the manager is not good enough, its just not working out or if results are truly appalling then you have to call time. But with Lambert he had to deal with a huge amount of issues, coupled with him trying to play football with a team who lack experience, quality in a number of positions and importantly, the Villa players from the previous season had a season of playing completely different football ( if i can call it that ).

 

If we go down, I wont shift the blame to much on Lambert. Certainly mistakes have been made hear and there which have cost us a few points but alot of the points thrown away he cant legislate for, its just our team panicking, put it down to experience put it down to the situation at the time, but I have always understood how were progressing under him and i can recognise where he wants to take us. For that reason, I am more than happy to give him time. 

'Trying to play football with a team who lack experience' eh? Who purchased that lack of experience in the first place when there was already inexperience trying to break into the first team?

 

"Progressing under him?" That progression has seen us battling relegation for the best part of the season and breaking records no manager would want on his CV.

 

Did he have much choice considering the positions that needed filling ? Was it viable with the financial restrictions and wage reduction were going through at the moment to go and find a older player with more experience ? probably not, because they would want more money and if they didnt then Id question their quality. He brought in Westwood, Lowton, Bennet and Benteke who are young. Benteke is our player of the season and Lowton and Westwood have been good enough but both showing promise. Only Bennet can really questioned out of Lamberts "inexperienced" signings.

 

The likes of Delph, Weimann, Bannan, Baker and Clarke were all at the club already and are hardly seasoned pro's. I dont like it when people make out he went crazy on youth when he didnt, but given the circumstances we found ourselves in, and the amount of players we needed to bring in players who perhaps lacked a little experience were likely to come in.

 

Do you see everything so black and white ? It is undoubtedly clear that he is installing a philosophy of football in this club, of progressive football. Football that can push clubs on and ultimately be succesfull. We have gone from god awful football, that never wins you games to developing a style of play, which in time and with better players will put us in fantastic stead to push on. Thats progression. Anyone who thought we wouldnt be involved in a relegation scrap ( admiteddly not this much of one ) was naive. It takes more than a season to sort this pish out. 

 

He has made mistakes, I dont deny that but keeping a manager who installs belief and confidence in players like he does, coupled with the way he tries to play football is important.

No i don't see everything black and white. In previous posts i have commended Lambert for actually changing the system and have been one of the very few posters lately who have continually stated that we would stay up if Lambert persisted with correct system.

 

I also recognise that both manager and team may be finally showing signs of growing together in the right direction but that does not exclude Lambert from criticism, criticism which is warranted for his decisions on team selection and tactics for almost three quarters of the season which has resulted in a relegation dogfight that we're still not free from yet.

 

You also cannot ignore the present state of our defence which has been rebuilt by Lambert. I have seen time and time again the excuse that he had limited funding which to replace outgoing players of experience. Did he have to get rid of both Collins and Cuellar immediately? Could there not have been a 'progression' of changing our defence over two to three seasons instead of introducing players without any Premiership experience to form a new defence. That alone invited problems and weaknesses which are still there. Someone posted that it was Lambert's decision to go with youth and thats why he got the job and i would tend to believe that as Lambert has previously stated that the chairman did make funding available for more established Premiership footballers before the season started. You remember the bid for Dempsey.

 

He also had the opportunity to address our weakness at DM with the possible purchase of Diame on a free who went to West Ham. He purchased KEA and the less said about that the better.

 

Just because we now have had a few decent results against some very poor teams shouldn't convince any fan of our club that  Lambert has become a very good manager literally over night. He hasn't, but hopefully he will have learnt a lot this season from his mistakes and won't make the same again next season when hopefully we are still in the Premiership.

[villan_007]

Never anything constructive back when people challenge your posts - always the same reply.

Wow what a constructive post. Thanks.

[Morpheus]

 

 

People claim they understand giving a manager time, but they really dont.

 

Nail on the head. A few months is not giving time. I appreciate if the manager is not good enough, its just not working out or if results are truly appalling then you have to call time. But with Lambert he had to deal with a huge amount of issues, coupled with him trying to play football with a team who lack experience, quality in a number of positions and importantly, the Villa players from the previous season had a season of playing completely different football ( if i can call it that ).

 

If we go down, I wont shift the blame to much on Lambert. Certainly mistakes have been made hear and there which have cost us a few points but alot of the points thrown away he cant legislate for, its just our team panicking, put it down to experience put it down to the situation at the time, but I have always understood how were progressing under him and i can recognise where he wants to take us. For that reason, I am more than happy to give him time. 

'Trying to play football with a team who lack experience' eh? Who purchased that lack of experience in the first place when there was already inexperience trying to break into the first team?

 

"Progressing under him?" That progression has seen us battling relegation for the best part of the season and breaking records no manager would want on his CV.

 

>has to stay. for me he gets the team up and running against the must win relegation teams around us

 

in lambo we trust

lockquote> "He gets the team up and running against the must win relegation teams around us.

 

Excellent stuff and "in lambo we trust" even though our record this season against other teams in the Premiership has left us fighting against the drop. Its actually nice to know now that relegation battles and the abject failure of our present manager has become acceptable. 

 

> 

In the summer Lambert must do something about Vlaar, Clark and Baker. They are all accidents waiting to happen, I wouldnt mind Robert Huth from Stoke after they get relegated

 

A MON signing. In lambo we trust - he'll find the missing piece's for that defence, and wont be a player looking for a final pay day.

He's already built a defence that most agree is one of the worst we have had at our club yet you expect one more Lambert defensive signing to improve that?

 

I will state again that if Lambert had been managing any other club with his record this season he would have been sacked and rightly so. He has had the fortune to follow one of the worst managers this club has had and has remained in his job because of it.

Oh dear, you sound like someone who is clinging to his dogmatic beliefs and is not prepared to admit you might be wrong about Lambert.

 

Nothing would give me greater satisfaction than admitting i have been wrong about Lambert. Presently his record at our club would suggest that i haven't been wrong about him but that may certainly change and i hope it does. 

[Morpheus]

Did i just read "abject failure of the manager".

 

Lol.

 

Id love to know where you think we should be.

So presently our season has been a success under Lambert?

 

As i've stated many times playing the system we are playing now from the start of the season we would be comfortably in mid table.

 

Abject Failure[ˈæbdʒɛkt]

adj

1. utterly wretched or hopeless

2. miserable; forlorn; dejected

3. indicating humiliation; submissive an abject apology

4. contemptible; despicable; servile an abject liar

[C14 (in the sense: rejected, cast out): from Latin abjectus thrown or cast away, from abjicere, from ab- away + jacere to throw]

abjection n

abjectly adv

abjectness n

 

Spot On Morpheus !

Our season has indeed been wretched and miserable so thanks for that.

 

Morpheus by the way i suggest you look up the meaning of "abject failure"

Thankfully the above poster did that for me and confirmed i was right.

 

Morpheus by the way i suggest you look up the meaning of "abject failure"

 

Don't know why you're feeding the trolls Mike. 

My post count says differently and please continue to have a dig for the sake of it as i find it amusing.

[P3te]

 

As such, I see no reason why it is a valid excuse for Lambert's results. Injuries are an unfortunate part of the game for every manager - and Lambert has had it pretty easy in comparison to his predecessors.

There's no excuse beyond the fact that  he was coming in as the 5th man in charge in a few years, dealing with a frankenstein of a squad built up by other managers, with a massive wage bill he needed to get under control. That's all behind the scenes stuff, on the pitch we started off very poorly, but we're improving. Why hold the first 5 months  over his   head now when it very much appears that the  corner has been turned. As I said earlier in this thread, if, come December, we're back the way we were previously and the improvement looks to have been temporary, then I believe it's time to start considering that he's not the right man. 

If that doesn't happen and things continue to improve, then why the **** does it matter that he started slowly at the  end of the  day - assuming we don't pay for that with our premiership status?

 

I don't remember saying any of that.

 

I do remember stating that injuries are NOT an excuse for Lambert's performance.

 

As for the rest of your excuses, they are just that: Excuses. Every other manager has to handle the squad they inherited and they are judged on their ability to get the most out of the team. I don't see why Lambert should be treated differently.

 

I like Lambert and want to see him stay on - I just wont make excuses for his performance and will be critical of the mistakes he has made.

Once he learns from the mistakes and it doesn't hurt us long term, what's the big problem?

[Super Jonno]

 

 

 

People claim they understand giving a manager time, but they really dont.

 

Nail on the head. A few months is not giving time. I appreciate if the manager is not good enough, its just not working out or if results are truly appalling then you have to call time. But with Lambert he had to deal with a huge amount of issues, coupled with him trying to play football with a team who lack experience, quality in a number of positions and importantly, the Villa players from the previous season had a season of playing completely different football ( if i can call it that ).

 

If we go down, I wont shift the blame to much on Lambert. Certainly mistakes have been made hear and there which have cost us a few points but alot of the points thrown away he cant legislate for, its just our team panicking, put it down to experience put it down to the situation at the time, but I have always understood how were progressing under him and i can recognise where he wants to take us. For that reason, I am more than happy to give him time. 

'Trying to play football with a team who lack experience' eh? Who purchased that lack of experience in the first place when there was already inexperience trying to break into the first team?

 

"Progressing under him?" That progression has seen us battling relegation for the best part of the season and breaking records no manager would want on his CV.

 

Did he have much choice considering the positions that needed filling ? Was it viable with the financial restrictions and wage reduction were going through at the moment to go and find a older player with more experience ? probably not, because they would want more money and if they didnt then Id question their quality. He brought in Westwood, Lowton, Bennet and Benteke who are young. Benteke is our player of the season and Lowton and Westwood have been good enough but both showing promise. Only Bennet can really questioned out of Lamberts "inexperienced" signings.

 

The likes of Delph, Weimann, Bannan, Baker and Clarke were all at the club already and are hardly seasoned pro's. I dont like it when people make out he went crazy on youth when he didnt, but given the circumstances we found ourselves in, and the amount of players we needed to bring in players who perhaps lacked a little experience were likely to come in.

 

Do you see everything so black and white ? It is undoubtedly clear that he is installing a philosophy of football in this club, of progressive football. Football that can push clubs on and ultimately be succesfull. We have gone from god awful football, that never wins you games to developing a style of play, which in time and with better players will put us in fantastic stead to push on. Thats progression. Anyone who thought we wouldnt be involved in a relegation scrap ( admiteddly not this much of one ) was naive. It takes more than a season to sort this pish out. 

 

He has made mistakes, I dont deny that but keeping a manager who installs belief and confidence in players like he does, coupled with the way he tries to play football is important.

No i don't see everything black and white. In previous posts i have commended Lambert for actually changing the system and have been one of the very few posters lately who have continually stated that we would stay up if Lambert persisted with correct system.

 

I also recognise that both manager and team may be finally showing signs of growing together in the right direction but that does not exclude Lambert from criticism, criticism which is warranted for his decisions on team selection and tactics for almost three quarters of the season which has resulted in a relegation dogfight that we're still not free from yet.

 

You also cannot ignore the present state of our defence which has been rebuilt by Lambert. I have seen time and time again the excuse that he had limited funding which to replace outgoing players of experience. Did he have to get rid of both Collins and Cuellar immediately? Could there not have been a 'progression' of changing our defence over two to three seasons instead of introducing players without any Premiership experience to form a new defence. That alone invited problems and weaknesses which are still there. Someone posted that it was Lambert's decision to go with youth and thats why he got the job and i would tend to believe that as Lambert has previously stated that the chairman did make funding available for more established Premiership footballers before the season started. You remember the bid for Dempsey.

 

He also had the opportunity to address our weakness at DM with the possible purchase of Diame on a free who went to West Ham. He purchased KEA and the less said about that the better.

 

Just because we now have had a few decent results against some very poor teams shouldn't convince any fan of our club that  Lambert has become a very good manager literally over night. He hasn't, but hopefully he will have learnt a lot this season from his mistakes and won't make the same again next season when hopefully we are still in the Premiership.

 

You missed my point in regards to the black and white comment I think. With him, there is a clear philosophy of the kind of football we play, its one which doesnt have a low ceiling. That kind of football, will give you success. The better players we get in, the better that football becomes and so on. I was making a comment about the attacking / football philosophy of the coach rather than a specific formation he implements.

 

I wouldnt dream of saying Lambert doesnt deserve criticism. That would be daft, and would make me look like a mug. I completely appreciate he has made mistakes, that being said I feel your being overly critical of him. He was trying to find a system, I cant knock him for trying 4-4-2 diamond and 3-5-2. Progressive thinkers should not be dashed aside, but i appreciate a few games were lost on those decisions. He who dares wins and all that, things change in football and I get the impression Lambert is one who likes to be infront of the pack rather than chasing and playing catch up.

 

Alot of our losses / points thrown away have come down to silly individual errors, ones they shouldnt make and although Lambert has to take criticism for some games I dont think its fair to blame him for 3/4 poor performance. We have been playing well enough since January, could be so different if we didnt concede last minute against Swansea ( although we didnt deserve the win ) and held onto 2 goal leads against WBA and Everton. I know thats all IFS and BUTS, but the point remains I feel people have been overly critical of him.

 

Collins yes, he did. He and the club want players who want to play for Villa, who have the right attitude and hunger to suceed. Things had gone sour with Collins and you have to recognise that. He was a disruptive influence on the team and that cannot be tolerated in high performance sport. Did Cuellars contract not expire ? Diame would of been lovely, its all very well in hindsight isnt it ( although I believe you mentioned it preseason ? ), but why didnt all the other clubs go for him ? How do you know we didnt. You make it sound simple.

KEA hasnt been the player we all thought and hoped. He recognised the problem though and tried to address it, ultimately it didnt work out but you cant knock him to much as he tried to address it, and all managers have flops in their history.

 

I have been saying this for longer than the last 5 games, I watched him closely at Norwich. He is a progressive manager who I want here long term.