Quite simply, I thought I might take a look at the month of January.
And although I could hardly believe it myself, it’s actually not that bad, when it comes to games played.
Yes, we drew at home to Palace, lost away to Leicester and lost at home to Liverpool in the Prem. Not good.
But we also beat Blackpool and Bournemouth in the FA cup.
Ok, ok, I’m clutching at straws, but moving on in the cup many years ago would have been seen as a very good thing.
The fact is though that the Premier league is miles more important and we had poor results either side of January, which makes things look much worse.
Don’t shoot me though; I’m talking about January and nothing else, in other words.
As for the transfer window, well that has to go down as the biggest damp squib winter window ever, in my opinion.
We seemingly did well, in signing Carles Gil and Scott Sinclair, as both are the sort we require and at a quick glance, have looked decent.
But I’m sure many will agree that it just wasn’t enough, was it?
Lambert practically killed any hope we might have had of the club spending some serious money, when he said he couldn’t see anyone else coming in.
Similar to Lambert’s footy, my only thought there was “what a killjoy”, especially as I know that many love the speculation that the windows brings.
And then, it seems he did a 100% U-turn and tried to sign Rickie Lambert at daft money and probably a similarly daft long contract.
I’m actually glad we didn’t get him, but that’s by the by.
The annoying part for me was that we apparently had nothing to spend and then all of a sudden, did.
Which just sums up what’s going on at the club, in my opinion.
Anyway, now, I’m interested to see where you think we’re going to finish at the end of the season.
Should I make the choices go as high, as say, 8th?
No, probably not.
Hmm, just scraping survival takes an early lead.
Probably not far off, tbh.
We’re honest we’re doooooommmmmmed
Not honest GONERS fucking spell checker
I voted we’ll scrape survival. My guess is about 16th. It’s another one of those thankfully the EPL is in a sour state in terms of talent up and down the league, although that’s always been vastly overrated by fans of the Premier League, it clearly shows how bad it is this season. It’s a sad state when 11 goals and conceding 30 gets you 5 wins and 7 draws still. 18 points in 15 games is feasible with this team with any intelligent manager. Unfortunately we don’t have one of those, and 40 points doesn’t seem to be the survival point seeing under Lambert we stayed up on 38 points twice.
Andrew, I think that’s a really good assessment.
And a shocking indictment of the EPL, albeit totally correct.
I’m reading that the next telly bids will be decidely higher and you just have to wonder when the bubble will burst.
Outside of the usual favourites, the footy on display in the Prem is shockingly poor, imo.
The only reason why the bubble hasn’t burst yet is the advent of BT as a serious player; the thing will only happen when audience figures for televised football start to drop – which is quite possible given the number of games [all competitions] now on TV.
Totally agree Ardent.
Seems we don’t have much to debate on this point, but nice to see you back mate.
I rarely watch sky at the locall. I have BT simply as its free as I have their broadband. But can’t stand listening to Owen so rarely watch that either. Sky have lost Champions league for next season so have made up this sky sports 5 channel which they are marketing as free even though it’s the same stuff we had on sky 1 and 2. This is so they can still charge a high price for sports next year. Football fans need to boycott sky in their millions this will swing the game in favour of fans. Can’t see it happening though people are happy to pay rip off money for sky so they can keep on salivating over their favourite 4 teams.
If we can get rid of Lamberk there is no reason we couldnt finish mid-table with the players we have, if we dont, we will be lucky to be 17th.
Benno, I think Lerner and Fox have made their bed and are going to lie in it.
Lambert’s going nowhere.
Badger – have to agree with you. I don’t believe that there’s a “Plan B”.
If we had not have got Sunderland draw, Man utd draw and Leicester win we defiantly be sitting bottom, we have all witness Lambert’s idiotic game plans so me a drop is on the cards, I cannot see us getting out of this with him at the wheels.
At this moment we are going down unless we start scoring goals. We won two F A cup games against lower leauge teams.
We’ll go down this year. Luck’s run out. Not scoring goals when all other teams are.
The optimist in me sees a slim chance of survival. A couple of goals and our fortunes could start to turn, but I just can’t see where they are going to come from at the moment!
You have the same as me Oohah , get a smart TV you can watch the lot for £6.99.
Smart tv! How can u watch for 6.99. Is that with sky or someone else
Through NOW streams £6.99 for Sky Sports, 1.2.3.4.or5 per 24 hrs.
So it’s 6.99 just for 24hrs. That’s expensive it’s only £24 for the whole month with sky
I only want the match that matters, not the sky 4 , plus if Sunday you get two, anyway what’s money I’ve wasted over a grand in seats this year alone , im fucked if I set foot in the ground till he’s gone. Think If they had listen to you me and Terry 4 years ago we would have been top 6.
I’ll be gutted if we go down, as we have a few players I actually like now who I think could be really good given the right guidance i.e. Gil, Sanchez, Delph, Westwood, Benteke, Grealish, Robinson, Okore, Vlaar, Cissokho, Kozak, Bacuna, Sinclair – this is the basis of a very good squad. Even the likes of Baker, Clark, Lowton and Weimann could do well under top coaching staff.
Completely agree Bencey, we have the spine of a mid table team…But this God awful manager cannot get the best out of them….. The club has its head in the clouds thinking we can avoid relegation, then we get smashed by Arsenal and try to panic buy an ageing centre forward for silly money….. absolutely no grasp of reality whatsoever !
Bencey83, I’ve just seen your submitted post and it’s a very good question.
However, it’s way too short to put up.
I’d much prefer you expand on it with your own opinion and re-submit it.
Otherwise, I can add my own slant on things, but then it won’t be your submission, although I would credit the question to you.
I’ll re-submit it with a bit more of my own input. Thanks, Badger.
Please do.
I’ll put it up as soon as I see it.
Lambert – A broken man…
I’ve just submitted myself to 25 minutes of unnecessary pain by watching MOTD2 again. Watching the hopelessness and helplessness facing Lambert speaks volumes. Reading Jonathan Fear’s open letter to Randy Lerner this week, it suggested how Lambert may be too proud to quit, even though it’s as plain as night follows day that he has failed big time, and things are getting worse. He’s even unrecognisable to Norwich fans. Perhaps the time had passed that it was safe for him to walk away with his head held high, blaming the constraints and conditions imposed by Lerner, and on to another job. Now, everyone is pointing the finger at Paul Lambert rather than Lerner, after all, many would agree we have the makings of a half decent squad, but are being criminally misused. When finally the axe does fall, Lambert is going to find it much more difficult to get another job than McLeish as his stock has fallen so low. By Lerner obviously insisting that Lambert stays at the helm, Lambert takes the flak as he’s visibly there whilst Lerner hides. Lambert’s interviews make no sense, and whilst we laugh and shake our heads, Lambert is falling apart. He has the same haunted look that so many other managers have worn in similar situations. If you still can, watch his post match interview and watch Lambert’s eyes. He’s shot. He’s a gonner. Kapput.
Randy, do the guy a favour and put him out of his misery. Like McLeish before him, he needs a few months away from all this to recuperate. We need fresh blood in the dugout. A new structure and new perspective. Fox’s appointment could work, but not if forced to spout the same Orwellian tripe you require.
It is simply selfish and weak to put another human being through this for your own gains no matter how much you pay him. Despite the noises coming out of the PR department, it’s obvious he’s lost the dressing room. Look at the way the players were throwing their arms up in the air on Sunday. The players need a Leader and Lambert is not that man.
You put fans of the Cleveland Browns through the same shit you are putting us through. You are a user. You use people and our clubs, our heritage, for your own ends. If you are a religious man, I’d be worried about the bad karma you’re creating…God’s meant to have a rotten temper you know. I wouldn’t want to mess with him.
p.s. If we’ve got this wrong, then you only have yourself to blame from staying silent and refusing to communicate with the fans. Nature abhors a vacuum, and so do us fans.
Bum Bum;
Please quote the origin of that or I’m going to delete it.
We’ve no problem with views, but we need to know where they’re coming from, if they’re to have any validity.
And don’t tell me it’s yours, as you’ve never struck me as religious.
The origin of what? If u think it sounds threatening, or libelous by all means delete it. It’s not a threat!!! I’m a buddhist! The latter quote is from Nichze (misspelt), it just means if you don’t explain stuff, people misread thing. Pretty much like the guess work on this site.
Nothing bad intended. It’s just an opinion on how Lambert looks. I felt sorry for him.
In fact just delete the bloody thing. I was bored watching the Bolton game. That’s all…
…or Badger, did you think I’d nicked the piece from somewhere else?
“or Badger, did you think I’d nicked the piece from somewhere else?”
Yep, hence deleted.
No need mate.
Just stick with saying what you think.
That’s the best compliment I’ve been paid in a long time Badger. Thanks you! I did re-read it and correct it as I hate it when I do typos. It was all mine. 100%. There are one or two clever kids on this site. I’m actually one of them, although I do my best to hide it. Fnarr, fnarr!!!
If that’s all you were worried about, put the bloody thing back! Lol!
You can go top of the class now Bum Bum.
great read Bum Bum, enjoyed reading it….. and couldn’t agree more !
A couple of weeks ago on here I said that Lambert had that same shell-shocked look about him that we saw in the last days of McLeish’s season. At the time, the only reaction on here was that ‘Lambert hadn’t taken enough stick yet’ to look like a gonner.
I think you’re quite right – the guy does look ‘broken’: rambling and incoherent in his media interviews, he seems completely out of touch with reality and what’s going on in his job. Any normal emplyer would put him on stress-related-sickness leave before he suffers a public breakdown [but this is football, so it won’t happen; casualties are part of the ‘game’].
As I said, the guy is human. It’s not good to put the chap through this. The guy has a family and friends. I bet he hardly leaves his pad for fear of a potential earful.
I saw a comment recently that said the look of the manager reflects the club.
In that sense, Lambert’s finished and it’s only a matter of time.
The bigger problem is how long are those that matter going to stick with him?
Still, given that Lambert probably earns in a fortnight, what I earn in a year, as a skilled bloke, that’s the choice, isn’t it?
And when he’s proven to have failed, he’ll probably walk away with about 50 years of my wages.
Joke,imo.
I don’t think the money is always the issue. The point I was making in my piece was the human cost. I still think McLeish is affected by what he went through at Villa. Somehow Lambert is hanging on in there. We’re warned about depression and mental illness in football and in my opinion, the bloke looks as though the stress is breaking him. He’d be mental to ever read our collective posts, but if he did he’d have a heart attack. You can find me at the email address used in this post…
Bum Bum,
Post reinstated.
I didn’t know you cared mate.
Or more accurately, you never posted so articulately before.
Hmm 🙂
Oh and next time, add some spaces. 🙂
I typed the whole damned thing on a Samsung S3. I now suffer from RSI!!!
You shouldn’t have taken his post down in the first place Badger, who the hell are you to judge peoples articulation or ability to write a sensible piece, total joke.
I’m the bloke who pays to keep the site going (and no, the site doesn’t get any income), fwiw, hence I think it’s only fair that I, along with Oohah, decide policy.
The policy is that we want to know who’s views are who’s, just for clarity and consistency.
I thought the post was a quote by someone else (which is fine as long as that’s stated), so wanted clarification.
Yep, I deleted it, but re-instated it as soon as Bum Bum assured me it was his own thoughts.
Which I thought was fair enough.
Btw, I’ve banned a user recently for posting under various names too, because I believe it’s misleading and misrepresents things.
I hope that meets with your approval?
Quite frankly, if it doesn’t, that’s tough.
Didn’t realise we were in Hitler’s third reich.
bum bum the trick is to deliberately misspell stuff so its look like you wrote it 😛
The popular consensus on here appears to be we’ll survive by the skin of our teeth but I aint so sure about that.
Looking at the historical league tables it seems to be a fairly good rule of thumb that the teams with the worse goal difference go through the trap door.
So using that as a yard stick I’d say unless we start finding the back of the net we’re pretty much f**ked.
BWS I think it’s written on the wall mate,I don’t think we’ll escape this battle.
People who think there are worse teams than us should remember Leicester and QPR have both beaten us this season. We have Hull away next Tuesday. If we lose that i believe we are gonners.
Being really optimistic I can see us getting around 38 points (will that be enough?).
April is a nightmare- Man U away, Spuds away and Man C away so if we don’t pick 8-10 points in our next six games I think we’ll be right in the shite.
Burnley at home last game could be interesting.
BWS its far too early to be drinking that cooking sherry again !!! …. 8-10 points in our next 6 games would mean we would have to score at least once..I am sending the men in the white coats to yours immediately.
Jokes aside I agree, Lambert is due a fluke result soon, then I think it will be scrappy draws a few losses and a couple of ok wins.. Then season tickets will go on sale – Lerner will rejuvenated and want to spend, then he won’t spend bugger all and it will start over again next season !
You’ll never take me alive!
8-10 points form Hull, Stoke, Newcastle,Baggies, Sunderland & Swansea isn’t being over ambitious surely? (Just how low have they sunk our expectations?)
For what it’s worth and going by previous seasons goal difference (taking it from the current standings) here’s my prediction for the dreaded drop – OPR, Burnley & Villa.
Don’t see where we are going to get a win from. Bad as the teams around us are, we are worse.
I agree with the sentiment Bum Bum expressed. For all the money earned, the spotlight on a failing football manager is cruel. Lambert will be under such pressure, and has nobody he can rely on to help him think straight. He needs to get out asap. OK he will get a whole load of cash but good luck to him. It’s Lerner’s money and he’s not spending it on the team.
Welcome to the Psychiatric Hotline.
If you are obsessive-compulsive, please press 1 repeatedly.
If you are co-dependent, please ask someone to press 2.
If you have multiple personalities, please press 3, 4, 5, and 6.
If you are paranoid-delusional, we know who you are and what you want. Just stay on the line so we can trace the call.
If you are schizophrenic, listen carefully and a little voice will tell you which number to press.
If you are depressed, it doesn’t matter which number you press. No one will answer.
If you are delusional and occasionally hallucinate, please be aware that the thing you are holding on the side of your head is alive and about to bite off your ear.
Did you make that joke up yourself BWS or is Badger going to have to delete it?
All my own work mate, I cut and pasted without any assistance 🙂
Welcome to the Nut House….. If you are Villa fan please press 4-4-2
Fucking brilliant BWS.
BWS made my day lmbo mate
If you’re a Villa fan, please hang up. You are beyond help!
I totally agree with Bum Bum and have made the point less well myself in the past. Lambert looks and sounds like a primary school kid caught red handed and trying to lie his way out to the Head.
His continuation as manager is doing nobody any good – including Lambert and his family. It isn’t the case that his players are too injury prone and not good enough, and but for that we would be fine. Lambert’s tactics show no ability to learn. I will post again about the 2 Arsenal games on this idea.