Now, it may just be me and indeed I have been accused of being a dreamer or maybe more realistically, a total idiot, but I’ve noticed a massive amount of online support for Lambert occurring lately.
You won’t see it on here, as we have no-one fighting Lambert’s corner.
If there was someone, we’d go out of our way to put the argument up, as that’s what we’re about.
But there isn’t.
So now go and have a look around at other Villa sites.
Not that we want you to, but we know you do anyway.
And you’ll see that there seems very strong support for Lambert from certain quarters.
Support that seems out of proportion. Support that keeps spinning the same line of “who will we get in?”
I don’t really want to name sites, but look at one and see how Fear gets pretty much blasted in reply to one of his articles.
There’s another one, on an American based site.
The replies are all pretty much the same, in that while they slate Lambert, they pretty much consistently say that we should stick with him.
Any polls they run though, say they are totally wrong, with votes being 2-1 in favour of getting rid of Lambert.
I don’t know. I might be totally wrong and I do love a conspiracy theory, but it seems to me there’s a concerted effort going on to try and save Lambert’s neck.
Have a look around and tell me what you think.
I have a sneaking feeling that this change in style and the timing of it with the window opening implies to me that we have a playmaker lined up this window and have been preparing the team for this. Probably wishful thinking on my part. I think if he doesnt get it right soon those at the top will finally give up on him and look for an alternative in the summer.
This tika taki football is outdated im afrajd. Watched barca the other day and even with world class players they couldnt score and bever looked like it either. The germans hammered barca not so long ago with pace power and direct. Watch Chelsea and man city they have the perfect bslance between power and flair
Just hoping Sinclair’s a smokescreen. But I can possibly see it.
Lamberts time was up a year ago, i have no idea how he is still in charge. Yes, he has restrictions compared to the clubs in the top 7-8, but we are not much different to the other teams and yet we have consistently failed in league and cup.
The bloke has broken basically every unwanted record available and made a complete mockery of the club. I cannot understand Lambert sympathisers at all. I agree chopping and changing the managers all the time is not a good thing, but the bloke has been in charge 2 and a half years and achieved nothing.
Anyone else read the garbage of Spurs wanting to spend 3m for Delph? Idiots…
And no, I haven’t. I’ve only been on this site for the last 5+ years and a few facebook pages that absolutely hate Lambert. That’s about it.
Who was the last current England player to change hands for only 3 million? Villa and England midfield players, Barry and Milner went for a lot more.
Cahill
Cahill went for 5m.
vassell ????
I’m as frustrated as anyone with what’s been happening at Villa over the past three years but if you do a bit of research you’ll see that every club managed by MON has suffered badly ( even Celtic!) following his departure and that’s not because he was a great manager!
Objectively PL has done the job he was appointed to do and that’s keep us the PL with no money (on a comparative basis) to spend whilst also reducing the wage bill. IMHO the only other manager that might have achieved that is Big Sam for whom I have a massive amount of respect.
IF (and it’s a big IF) RL is looking to release the financial shackles and Tom Fox can improve the management of the club and increase revenue streams then I think PL deserves an opportunity to work under improved circumstances. It’s hard to argue against the fact that where he has spent decent sums on players he has pretty much bought well.
At Norwich he played attractive attacking football – I would submit under different circumstances.
Let the abuse commence 🙂
No abuse, I am in your camp here.
The objective of Lamebrt was to stay in the premier league whilst ensureing the wages are slashed and players are exiled but I do believe that we are turning a corner with the appointment of Tom Fox. I think Lerner is renewing his passion for the club and we are about to turn a corner.
We will know by the summer but I do agree, if anybody should get a shot with spending an influx of cash, it should be the guy that took the brunt through the transition period. Norwhich didn’t get back to back promotions for no reason. They also didn’t stay in the premier league because they had a bad manager either…
I would like to see Lambert manage us under better circumstances.
When Lambert came to villa he said (in the aftermath of Mcleish) that we would at least see entertaining / attacking football. I assume he would have known the constraints of his appointment when he took the job.
The stats do not lie.
I’d like to see Lambert drown in a vat of pig shit.
Objective and thoughtful view 🙂
Hitchens I agree with you, but he has made some dam awful tactical planning at times.
Can’t argue with that TURV32
I had written a post saying exactly the same as Turvey32 but lost it in broadband prob!em, yes it sounds great to say how he’s shored up defence issue but its cost fans, media money, corporate boxes sales, you name it even sales inside the games, this run in the FA cup will help to pay wages of staff, but entertainment is dire , he’s not convinced me yet he knows where he’s going, he has not given fans hope up till now ,just confusion on does he know what he’s doing.If Lerner showed his face once in a while that might show he cares.
circumstances change
while i still feel we will be fine this season, the lowering of crowd,feeling for lambert will start to work against the team, give them excuses, also work against future signings. what player would risk a stadium atmosphere like at villa and the manager wanted and hounded out.
can we find another manager to replace lambert i doubt we could, of course theirs probably thousands better, but would any come here under these circumstances answer not a chance.
lerner or fox needs to address the villa faithful, they want a new manager and if lerner and fox are staying with lambert, they need to say so. if lerner would only just back lambert or the new manager, i think we are just a few more signings away to being mid table,
I agree with Nath about the stadium atmosphere and it putting off new recruits. That may be a factor in this transfer window. I try to be objective about Lambert, he has faced a job spec that few managers in the top flight have faced, and I was pleased at his appointment based on the style of Norwich which I hoped he would bring to VP.
Accepting that job spec kept Lerner as owner. If all reasonable managers had told Lerner the penny pinching made the job untenable, Lerner would either have had to pay up or sell up.
Ron Atkinson joined Villa in a similar austerity period, he was told by Doug he only had enough money for a cast-off forward not a hot young prospect. Ron bought Dean Saunders. Lambert bought Grant Holt. Other Lambert buys Richardson, Tonev, Cole reveal that the manager hasn’t assessed the player’s skills for the position, or ever seen him play, or considered his proneness to injury.
Charisma and man-management. These are essential qualities in a manager, lack of them explains why some star players fail as managers and why some men who have never played professionally make great managers. You have all seen Lambert’s post match interviews mumbled incoherently (outside of the Gorbals) with a hang-dog expression, so you know he has the charisma of a poodle.
He has a problem that his 3 forwards do not seem to like each other. They won’t pass to each other, we haven’t had combination play leading to a tap in all season. A charismatic manager would persuade them to combine on the pitch or see the exit.
agree with all your reply mr OriginalLondonLion
akinson had his faults also but he had charisma in buckets, also played a style which us villa fans loved, like you said he also faced bad times in money available top points
but your best one was the front three, totally agree the front three don’t seem to gel this year, benteke is mr angry at weimann, or anybody that fails to pass to him, but also he himself moves into bad positions, gabby is a phantom adds nothing in forward areas
dropping weimann and gabby isn’t a option as nobody is good enough NOW to replace them and give um competition, this is were i would try to baulk up lerner needs to buy or loan somebody to beef this area,
We have one more game, v Leicester where Villa’s boring ‘play it around at the back’ tactics may net us some points. Then it is Liverpool, Arsenal, Chelsea where they will man-mark our back four and harry them into errors if he tries it. If any of those 3 scores first it is game over. Villa Res v Bournemouth Res may be the only entertainment in the next month.
I didn’t think we were allowed a pro Lambert opinion on here? Whenever I’v seen a post anything of the sort it’s been instantly shot down by the pitch fork brigade!!
Lambert out!
LOL
Why don’t you try it Helenius? A list of Lambert’s qualities should be short enough to pass the blather bar.
No positive opinions are allowed. No point
I think I know one of the sites your on about, the American one and most of their hate is aimed at Lerner. They made a very good point recently though, Lambert got a new 4 year contract because he did exactly what the board have asked of him, he’s kept the club up under circumstances many other managers would have crumbled. That is why they are so happy with him.
Maybe he does deserve a crack of the whip if circumstances could improve. As I’ve pointed out on here look at what he has brought in when he’s had money.. Benteke, Kozak, Sanchez, Okore, Vlaar.. The failed bid for Tadic? Imagine what he could do on a regular basis.
And it’s hard to argue with the point of sacking him now, who would we get in to work under these circumstances? Look at who we all wanted previously, Martinez, who went running with his tail between his legs and now he’s finding Everton a struggle. Who would want to come in, even? Fans complain about hoofball, we keep it on the ground, they complain about that.. Even while up for sale, that just adds to how unattractive we look right now.
So while I’m not exactly a pro Lambert, I think we need to be more patient with him and just see how we go. Mr. Fox recently said that we’re aiming for Europe in a few years, let’s just see. And the argument of “Lambert has brought every unwanted record in his time here” look at another record of his, has he ever got a team relegated? I don’t think so. And under these circumstances, that’s amazing. Alright, let the abuse commence.
IIRTW you are quite selective in your selection of Lambert buys. Richardson Cole Tonev Helenius can be added to those successes by way of balance. And as for his record of never getting a team relegated, now that Warnock has gone I am guessing no manager in the Premiership has had a team relegated – or did Pardew manage it with Charlton?
I don’t think managers should be sacked mid season unless the club is in the drop zone, but I think Lambert should have gone last summer and I hope he goes next summer. Our style of play is boring: the quality in the attacking half is atrocious and getting no better.
OLL; the point is where he has spent a decent amount of money he’s bought well but with very little funds, a threadbare squad and no money for wages he also had to buy in the bargain basement. He took a punt and, probably, only Westwood and Bacuna will survive it but what else could he do?
I think a certain Mr Bruce at the blues did that (got relegated that is). Hitchens is right too. I think the argument is that where Lambert has spent decent money it has been on good players. Then again, you are right in regards to our abysmal attacking play!
I’m pretty sure we didn’t spend a good amount of money on the likes of Richardson, Tonev, Helenius, Cole, who was a free. As for managers in the premiership who got their club relegated.. Steve Bruce with small heath, Alan Pardew with Charlton, Roberto Martinez with Wigan and Harry Redknapp has gotten the likes of QPR and Southampton relegated, to name a few.
My point is, while his negatives largely out-way his positives, at least it isn’t all doom and gloom with Paul Lambert, although it certainly feels like it!
Take the first 4 games out of the season (we were lucky in 2 of those) we have 13 points from the last 16 games.
If the season was in 2014 only we would have been relegated.
Scored fewer goals than any other team in the top 4 divisions with a strike force Benteke, Gabby and Weimann (on there day that other teams around us would envy.
I agree Lambert has made some very good signings but tactically I believe he is inept.
Albrighton in the centre of midfield !!!!
I had i hopes of Weimann being a strike partner to Benteke. But Lambert has ruined him by playing him wide. He bought Bacuna for that role.
To sum up I am just bored of everything about our great club at the moment.The fans need a lift not more of the same.
Weimanns inability to finish ruins him being a decent strike partner, therefore, Lamberts utilises his only strength, which is his engine…..Although a wide player should be able to pass/cross, another flawed attribute of Weimanns
The fact that a player is Free or cheap does not mean you have to buy them because their wages certainly are not cheap.
My point Hitchens was that Lerner could have refused to manage under those conditions and quit, putting the bind back on Lerner. As Tony Pulis did with that Palace skinflint. When you have “Lost the Seats” as Lambert has just done you are in big trouble. Numbers stay away, Sponsors are unhappy, the atmosphere is toxic – which affects players you have and those considering coming. Thst is where we are, Steve above writes everything else I need say.
I totally agree Originallondonlion, that’s what I’m getting at, its run the club down with his ideas or Lerner’s. A hard road back for any manager, but won’t be him.
OLL you are right in many points but you should perhaps consider that some of the replies are too. As for Lambert quitting like Pulis I suspect the two situations are different. Lambert has probably fulfilled his original brief from Lerner. I suspect Pulis was misled and believed he would be given greater transfer funds.
I don’t think anyone is really trying to argue that lambert is a proven top manager and that the football has been any good for some time now. There are areas though where he can be given some credit, and one of these is in picking decent players for reasonable sums of money, and those names are obvious. Where he has bought cheap it hasn’t really worked out, but it shouldn’t cripple the club. All managers buy players that don’t work out. Look at some of the players Fergie bought. Nobody seems to feel that makes him a crap manager, likewise Wenger.
I suspect if Lambert could buy players around £6-8M for all positions he would create a team of very good players. Quite how well they would all play together is harder to argue.
I don’t think continual change will help us, but at the same time I’m not convinced sticking with Lambert is the right plan. It does, however, appear to be Lerner’s plan, and I suspect that Lambert will keep his job unless we slip into the relegation spots. If the club were sold I guess that would be a different matter, but it would have to be someone with very deep pockets to purchase the club, pay off the manager and backroom staff, and fund an expensive overhaul of the playing staff (assuming that could even be done given FFP). The only alternative might be for another manager to be appointed who is prepared to work with the players we already have. Who on earth would take the job under those constraints? I suspect someone we probably don’t want.
Supporting Aston Villa is pretty painful, and it’s difficult to see how and when this is going to change. It is reasonable to argue that Lambert should be fired given Steve’s arguments, but it looks to me like that is wishful thinking. We need to see improvement sooner rather than later, and if we do maybe Lambert should be kept in place for a bit longer. If not, it’s really hard to imagine how bad things will get.
I don’t think there is a mass conspiracy, that is my thoughts completely, he isn’t performing that well or his team isn’t, hit and miss with transfers, – and we haven’t moved from relegation fight in 3 seasons. but who would we get in?
We all know the the resources available and its won’t attract a top manager.
so whats the point?
But you seem to be surprised by the fact that the majority of people online disagreeing with you wanting Lambert ousted immediately with no viable suggestion of a definitely more qualified and better Manager to take over?
If anything I am just as surprised – it shows a certain logic in the Villa masses! rare from a football fan collective to be honest!
Hire and fire and hire and fire, it doesn’t work or at the very best is just as likely to succeed as giving a relatively young manager that is struggling more than 2 and half seasons to get villa to slightly higher level of mediocrity that in all likelihood would still mean people would want him fired for.
The manager has a big impact, true, but show me a team with Aston villas budget, chairman and squad in the premier league doing much better.
( i know southampton and west ham will be on most peoples lips, Southampton is run very differently from the chairman down after near oblivion. they have also been very lucky with youth talent coming through, They are to be admired but not an apple and apple comparison.
West ham of course are more like us in status ( not in history just in terms of relative league position the last couple of seasons and squad depth.
I will say they have a bigger wage budget, but their manager was being slated for playing the most rubbish football last season .. rightly so rightly so for our villa fans too. we have every right to complain if its shite football.
but they stuck with the manager and he had turned it around to the wham we see this season
If West hams differences are to be ignored, and their similarities are to be compared..
then there example also disagrees with your idea of fire Lambert and take a complete shot in the dark with the same resources.
eek apologies for the incoherence, at work and had to post a bit quickly! hopefully you still get my gist
Good points colonius, except for a couple of things.
I’m surprised by the actual online comments supporting Lambert, yes, especially when it fies in the face of the fact that a poll showed people wanting Lambert out outnumbered those who want to keep him by two to one. That’s the point I was trying to make, obviously poorly. You would surely expect that poll to be reflected by the actual comments, no?
I don’t believe Southampton have been lucky with the kids they have coming through at all.
Their academy consistently does better than ours, a point I’ve often made, even though ours is apparently the best in the game bar none if you take the KPIs as the benchmark. That shows what use KPIs are and it’s players coming through and getting sold for top money that can be re-invested that counts. I believe we’re poor in this area.
As for West Ham, yes they stuck with the manager, but you forgot to mention the word was Allardyce was very nearly sacked and was warned that he had to produce entertaining footy, as the fans weren’t having it.
Will Lerner do the same? I doubt he even cares.
Otherwise, good points.
I don’t agree with hire and fire as such either, but how long does a manager need?
I’m not seeing enough progression for the time it’s taken and the fact that Lambert is now more intransigent in changing the team up or changing tactics just tells me that he isn’t the man for us. The seeming fact that he has now “lost the seats” tells me mine is probably a majority view, fwiw.
Interesting points Badger. About the academy….Southampton seem to be able to help their kids step up to play regularly for the first team. There is a lack of trust in the management at Villa in this area. Grealish is 19. At Southampton he may have been given a debut at 17 and have played regularly for half a season by this stage. Either the players are simply not good enough or maybe we are ruining their progression by not blooding them soon enough. If they get to 20/21 and haven’t broken into the first team they may lose some confidence and go off track a bit.
Just a thought. No evidence to back this up really. Under MON it never really happened, and since then, apart from a spell under Houllier when we had loads of injuries, we have been under relegation threat so maybe managers have been unwilling to take risks.
Badger – your point about the Villa Academy is quite interesting.
It’s seemed obvious to me for several years that the Academy just doesn’t produce Premier League players of any quality.
Year after year we have had the ‘next great hope’ being trumpeted by those who say they still go watch the young Villa games: remember the Moore brothers, The Fonz, and more recently Albrighton and Weimann. Today it seems to be Grealish, or Robinson…
Yet where have any of these ever ended-up: playing for a top-4 EPL side? playing for a European side? Sadly most seem to have landed in the lower divisions pretty rapidly after leaving VP, and not because of their age, either.
Might it be that the Academy has been a useless drain on resources and at the very least needs a complete overhaul, or even scrapping altogether??
One of my colleagues is a Southampton fan, and I questioned the academy and its success! Basically Southampton play the players out of age. 17 yr olds In The under 21 etc. this is also evidenced then by their 1st team
I think the problem with the academy is that bar Houllier we haven’t had a manager willing to give any of them the chance to come through. While I agree Badger that maybe most them aren’t good enough, like at most academies, the ones that looked to have had potential have never been given a chance to show their worth. Going on loan to League One sides isn’t going to give them that experience they need, and can often make really good players look poor. It doesn’t exactly help them out.
Baker’s proven he’s good enough and he came in at 13. Does anyone actually think his loans to Lincoln and Millwall did much for him? I certainly don’t. He got a chance in the Premeir League and he’s made it.
Clark’s been at Villa since he was 11 and he’s proving himself as Premier League quality, no? He’s not gone on loan and that has helped him.
Gabby joined at the age of 8, his 10 games at Wednesday and Watford did nothing for his career and he’s proven especially under O’Neill he was a handy player. Never good enough for the passing style but when it comes to counter attacking there isn’t much better.
All 3 spent very little time on loan and they’ve made it or are currently making it into the first team on a regular basis and putting in good enough performances for a Premier League side.
So do we really need to send players on loan? No, as the lower leagues are at so much of a lesser level that it’s not going to help any of them.
They need senior playing time and Grealish looks a handy player that with the right creative guidance will go far. However currently doesn’t have that so when he tries something, it looks likely to fail because he doesn’t work in the current team, neither does Robinson.Abdo soon will be in that group who looks the most talented but won’t get a shot at Villa under Lambert. Much like Siegrist hasn’t bar being better than Steer. Clearly the academy isn’t at the rate of Southampton’s as they’re producing first team stars and at best we’re producing first team squad players, but it’s still better than 90% of the teams in the league and we could be producing more if they would get the chance. I don’t think Lambert would give any of them that chance.
the youth going out on loan will bring them on more, than playing youth and reserves at villa. i think the quality of the villa youth set up has been stagnant for years, it needs a make over, also saints youth set up used to on a tv channel 4 show years ago, it maybe not on the same scale as at villa and man city, but they have been doing it right for many years, now are reaping the goods, it comes and goes man utd have struggled to bring through their youths, since the can’t win anything with kids era.
other than that we have produce some, gary cahill,steve davis and craig gardiner all are very good premiership players, trouble they aren’t playing for us
I realize it gets them time but it gets them time in 3 really poor leagues, no better than the reserves. Cahill went out on loan twice… Guess what good that did Villa, he left. Neither in the Premier League and he went to Bolton instead of staying.
Craig Gardner and Davis are both strong premier league players as you said, not with us. But going on loan to poor sides aren’t going to get them better. They need top flight chances to prove this.
going out on loan, helps the kids from the youth teams at big clubs like ours,cos they are pampered with top notch facilities, everything is done for them. they get a rude awakening when they actually play the game in front of a real crowd and in a men game the physical aspect,
gary cahill isn’t unlike most, he went to burnley for his first taste of 1st team action, he did really well some players his age fail for one reason or another, sometimes its the better potential youth stars just don’t progress in the 1st team. but cahill improved massively and at sheffutd and was wrongly dis guarded by mon,
finally if you think he hadn’t improved by the loans, then bolton were prepared to risk a massive 5 million for them, on a player with limited villa games ( remove the loans ) and it would av been a bigger gamble.
gary megson at the time said he couldn’t believe villa let him go ,seems everyone knew apart from mon that he would one day be a top player
loans help as a finishing ground, at no risk from the parent club as the youth gets a taste of 1st team action, its not just villa all clubs send the youth away if they need more work
Here’s a silly thought for you all to demolish. PL is an inexperienced PL manager in a perfect position to learn his trade with no come back if he fails – no money, reduced wage bill etc. etc.
It just occurred to me that he is experimenting with various strategies, playing styles, tactical decisions and learning as he goes (or some will argue not learning as he goes). If they fail so what? As I’ve said before he’s not ‘bomb proof’ ( can be fired) but he’s certainly fireproof and I suspect would come out of this with his reputation intact.
As to a new manager – we could follow the Baggies and appoint a new one every six months – that should do it 🙂
He may be learning on the job Hitchens, but he is not learning fast enough. A Manager should have a problem sorted no more than one week after the ‘managers in the seats’ have spotted it. N’zogbia is still drawing a wage, and dirtying a kit. Explain.
OLL – if PL can’t explain it as a manager then neither can I! My post was meant to be tongue in cheek!
Villa had the 7th highest wage bill last season though. Yes it dropped 10k a week from under McLeish due to Stewart Downing, Brad Friedel, Luke Young, Nigel Reo-Coker and Jean Makoun all leaving, all were going to leave anyways and were all on large wages. But it’s not like Villa have been paying garbage wages.
http://www.tsmplug.com/football/aston-villa-players-salaries/
Source.
Ah, that incredibly reliable itk site…..psshhhhhhh!!!!!!