dn1982

I saw the game. It was clear that Villa was the best team out there. Nitpicking a bad pass here, a bad tackle there is not the issue. No one can see why Villa lost this game. Okore made the same mistake for Hull's first goal as he did for Chelsea's first goal. Either he picks up the player earlier, or he stands down. He got caught in between again. After that Hull defended for their lives and Villa missed Milner.

Out of interest did you watch it on TV or actually attend it. Only asking because you can get a different perspective. I went and thought we were awful. Yes we controlled the play but we created next to nothing. We lacked tempo and any from of attacking cohesion. There wasn't any passion or desire and as soon as they scored we looked defeated. We need a shake up and for me that's a new manager.

I must be the only one who doesn't want him sacked today. Perhaps Richard too. 

 

It's not because I support him or have faith in him. Lambert should have been sacked on at least 5 occasions during the last 2 years.

 

It's because I truly believe Lerner has no plan for such a scenario. Generally, you don't sack your manager in february after sticking with him for so long unless there's someone lined up that you believe will do better. How many people who want Lambert sacked think Lerner has someone lined up? Lerner is a fool when it comes to running sports clubs, that much is clear to everyone. Even if he has the balls to sack Lambert he won't know what to do - we'll have former bomb squad Given as caretaker FFS. Is there something more laughable than this? Then he'll take his sweet time to conduct job interviews ( always thought it was a farce the previous times he was doing this - this is football at the highest level, you don't openly do interviews, you go and get your man ). Then he'll probably manage to pick someone who's ever worse than Labert. He's done that even when you thought there was no one worse - he's gone from MON to Houllier to McLeish to Labert - the trajectory is clear. Yes he will manage to get someone even worse than Lambert, make no mistake, he will even if you think that's impossible. 

 

So, despite the doom and gloom of today's situation, I think our best chance of survival is if Lambert stays and tries to save us somehow. He should also get an assistant ASAP. He should then be sacked with the final whisle of the Burnley game.

 

put him out of his misery

 

between now and the end of the season, I'll do the managing on a conference call from here

 

my tactics will be simple enough for players to follow:

 

you guys with low numbers on your shirts, try to stop the other team scoring and pass the ball to the players with high numbers on their shirts

you guys with high numbers on your shirts, shoot at the other team's goal when you get the opportunity

 

IF after 4 games my stats are worse than Lamberts, I will step down and buy everyone a pie

Only problem is the shirt numbers are all over the shop these days!! But I'd still rather give you a chance than the current incumbent. Congratulations you're hired!

We just need a motivator ideally someone who loves Villa and will instill passion into the players. Gregory would certainly do that. We just need to stay up. Doubt Sherwood would come for 4 months as I think he'd want long term but I'd take anyone now people want AVB but really it's just ABL Anybody But Lambert!! Get him out of our club now or we are relegated!!! If we can get the new manager bounce for 3/4 games we are safe!! The next 6 games were massive and I thought PL would get to WBA but after last night they don't want to play for him so he has to go now! If Fox hasn't been looking for a new manager just incase he has been negligent in his job. Hope for the best plan for the worst. It is now the worst. Sack him now!

I think we need a new manager ASAP. It would immediately lift the club especially the fans. Whether we get some one for the long term or just some one to get through to the summer it doesn't matter we need a fresh face. So in the short term I'd be happy with a Big Ron/ Ian Taylor combo. Even a Sid and Peter Withe. I'm not sure what the Danish League is like but Kent Nielsen is doing a cracking job at Aalborg so I'd try for him.

We just need a lift and it needs to come sooner rather than later.

I'm baffled to how Lambert is so sure we will get safe. There is nothing to indicate that we have any chance. It's not a blip in form it's a copitualtion nearing on self destruction. I fear if we do go we will end up like Leeds. I've just got back for one of the worst performances I can think of against a team who are in as bad as form as us. It's a joke. It's time for Lambert to do the right thing and admit it isn't working. 11 days to save our club.

I'd bring Benteke back in for Cleverley and play Gil centrally either in a 3 or or off of Benteke in free role depending on how they set up. We can't afford to lose but could do with winning so I hope we don't set up not to lose.

The most important stat is that we stuck with Lambert the last two seasons and he kept us up. Lerner will also have in mind that sticking with Mcleish and Houllier during the season paid off as well, in terms of avoiding relegation.

He didn't keep us up. Its teams below us that saved our season, will be the same this time, not Lambert's genius.

 

That's like saying to the Champions (whoever they may be at any given time) that they're only Champions because the teams below them weren't good enough.

 

Yes, but that is correct, the teams below them weren't good enough.

 

The main point is the reason we haven't been relegated under Lambert is because he's managed to make us a better team than three other teams in the division.

 

When Usain Bolt wins a gold medal people don't say the other runners saved his Gold because they weren't good enough to run under 9 seconds (or what ever it is). Both Bolt and Lambert finish ahead of the pack because they're the leaders of the pack. (In Lambert's case I'm referring to the bottom three of course)

I think of it like this if you can't get 40+'points you don't deserve to be in the league. If you stay up with less points than that it's because there is worse teams than you. It's not because you're good. If you want to be positive you're the best of a crap lot but ultimately not getting over 40 points year after year will get you relegated because one year there won't be 3 worse teams. I think this year we will scrape through but only just and probably with our lowest points total ever. Hopefully I'm wrong.

I know Mourinho's comments had an ulterior motive but there is some truth in what he says. We have under performed so far this season. We are now in a run of games that we should pick up points from with a virtually full squad there is now no more excuses for Lambert. If he can't get us performing by the time we play Albion you'd think he'd do the decent thing and resign. Lerner won't sack him through loyalty however misguided that is so I think only a resignation would do. Saying that we could lose the next 6 games and I'd expect Lambert to say we was excellent!!

Does anybody know if they're doing free coach travel for this? And if so why hasn't it been publicised? Surely it should be announced alongside ticket details?

 

Maybe its not then?

At the start of the season they said they were. Since then it's never really been publicised you'd think especially with the importance of this game it'd be highlighted more.

In the first half against Chelsea he was awful. He lost the ball a few times trying to play safe. If he lost it trying to create fair enough but if he is supposed to link play he has to do better. Delph gets a bit more leeway because he has actually played well for us and wants to be here I can't say the same about Cleverley. It might be confidence but would you want to put our survival in the hands of a player who more than likely won't be here next year?

Does anybody know if they're doing free coach travel for this? And if so why hasn't it been publicised? Surely it should be announced alongside ticket details?

I think after Tuesday we will have a better idea but positively 11-15. I think we need a minimum of 8.

Today for me was virtually the same as against Liverpool. We seem to be content to try to get to half time without losing shape then have a go after half time then tail off and lose. Admittedly against 2 top four we have for 15-20 min or so we have looked very lively and should have scored more we now need to play like that for 90 min against all the teams coming up. My worry is we don't look confident when the games there to be won and we seem to end games very flat. Gil looks a brilliant bit of business as much as Cleverley looks awful I just hope there isnt a clause that he has to play. Our last good result in the league was against Man Utd no guesses who never played!!

I think the problem with mastering what lambert is teaching them I sthat no one has a clue what it is he is teaching. It seems to change on regular basis! Chelsea today will play a 4231 system which they play in every game only thing that changes is the player and their role. We change everything all the time. Pick a system and stick to it. For me 433 with a proper DM and change the middle 3 to an attacking one or more defensive one depending on opposition. At least that way you can work on ways to attack in training and people will now their jobs. The 2nd half of Lamberts first season we played some cracking stuff and it was a joy to watch and we stuck to 433 with very few changes.

I can see him scoring the winner against Burnley in our last game to keep us up!!

That is one view. Not one I agree with actually.

 

Looking back across the last 12 months in the league we've managed to score once beyond the 75th minute. Yes, scoring is an issue but we seem even less likely to score  in that final stage of the game.

 

The only goal we did manage to score in the final 15 minutes was strangely enough when we beat Chelsea 1-0.

 

Hopefully that proves to be the case again today.

The last twelve months in the league includes what? Another 10 games. And during a last 15 minute spell in one of those games, we scored? Well looks like our ratio just skyrocketed.

 

Poor fitness, too defensive, bad substitutions? Maybe. But it's more likely it's just a symptom of our overall inability to score goals. Which is what the problem is. These are not extra problems. The big bad stat is that we can't score goals. When those goals aren't scored is not the problem, it's just that they aren't scored.

The last 12 months would include 14 league games last season and 23 this - so 37 league games.

 

For the sake of doing it over 38 league games take it back another week so it's over 38.

 

1 goal in the final 15 minutes across the equivalent of an entire season. Worth a discussion point but obviously I agree the overall problem is the inability of the team to score!

I think it's quite relevant. It means if we are leading we don't push for a further goal and if we are losing we can't break people down. It's either fitness or tactics. It'd be interesting to see how many we've conceded in the last 15 in that time and how many games we've lost by 1 goal. Good teams play right until the last minute and get big goals and results in the last 15.

Edit: Strange, your edit seemed to have messed everything up . Even so, not really much condemnation/outrage at all. Lambert is a completely different kettle of fish to McLeish/O'Leary who actively went against the fans, in one way or another.

Yeah, outrage was too strong a word. When did McLeish 'actively go against the fans' out of interest?

 

r.e: McLeish - from Day One.  Not his fault, of course, but he was never wanted.  We can try and play the moral highground of "honest guv, it's not because he was a Blue and took them down" but it is exactly that.  He had no chance being a success at Villa.

No one wanted him but he was given every chance to be a success and failed don't blame the fans for his crap results and football.

The fans only turned on McLeish at the Bolton game because the football and our form was awful. Lambert has been given far more leeway than any manager I can remember. His record is worse than any mentioned. He breaks all sorts of wrong records yet the fans by and large have stayed with him. He was given more of a chance because the fans realised the circumstances he was working under. If he was keeping us afloat with a threadbare under par sqaud I'd say most fans would still be with him but IMO the squad is better than the performances and results we are getting and that's the managers fault. If it isn't why bother having a manager? In the presser for Chelsea he actually says if we'd got Lambert we could play 2 up to ease pressure on Benteke! Forgive me but we have on our books Gabby Bent Weimann and Robinson all strikers. You can argue their quality all day long but regardless we have players available to try different things. We got the 10 pts that are keeping us afloat without Benteke. Why not drop him to give him a kick up the arse? Lambert seems shot to me and without a no2 to challenge him or bounce ideas off it seems he's clueless. There's a reason managers bring their staff with them and that's because they work as teams at the minute we have a bloke who looks out of his depth with no one to help him.

I think we should be 12th 10th because the likes of Benteke, Vlaar, Delph, Sanchez, Okore and Guzan are good players and that spine is no worse than a number of clubs and capable of far, far more.

Lambert has been restricted in what he can spend, as have Swansea, an significantly smaller club, yet we can't compete on the pitch with them.

It also doesn't explain away Lambert tactical inefficiencies. How do we play? What is our means of breaking a side down? Why has there been no improvement in two and half years in style of play or quality of football? We have gone from ineffective lumping to ineffective square passing. It's nowhere near good enough and that is down to the manager that is clearly out they're depth.

 

What are they good players based on?  Benteke has scored goals (for the same manager) in one season - next to sod all else.  Delph has played for Villa and produced next to nothing.  Sanchez wasn't even heard of until the World Cup; same as Vlaar really (a Dutch guy I know ridicules him from his time in Holland; I've always said he's wrong).  Okore has this season come back from a bad injury - having previously played in Denmark.  Guzan now looks a good keeper... one that was released by Aston Villa.

 

In short, there's absolutely no basis for this "we should be at least 10th/12th" message that people are saying.  None at all.  None of these players have achieved this in the Premier League.  None.  I just don't understand where people are getting this "should be at least 10th" stuff from.

 

I think the time has come for Lambert to go, but some of the chat on here is as if we're bottom of the Premier League by a significant margin with no hope of getting out.  We haven't been in the relegation zone all season - and unless Hull beat Man City away, we won't be in there having played Chelsea, Arsenal and Liverpool twice.  If we don't see an upturn at all by the end of March then I'll join in with this panic.  Until then, though....?

 

Hilarious that people think there is "no harm" in protesting and creating an even more toxic atmosphere by the way.  How can that even be the case?

You seem to be sticking up for Lambert by saying his signings aren't good so he's either tactically inefficient or he's not very good at tactics. Personally I think our squad is good. It's definitely as good if not better than half of the league yet we don't' see that reflected in results. Apart The first month of the season we have been the worst team in the league only our 10pts in the first 4 league games are keeping us afloat. I don't agree with protesting during the game but there hasn't been any so far and look at our record so I don't think it can do any harm seeing as it can't get much worse! If we had our team playing to its best we would easily be mid table the problem is we aren't somwe are struggling. For me if Lambert has bought crap and we are were we should be he can't do any better so he should go if he has bought well he isn't getting the best out of them and should go!! I don't think Chelsea at home will make a difference but leaving it until the end of March is too late! We have 4 games left in Feburary after tomorrow which we have to get results in if we can get 4/6 pts and go through to the next round I'll give him to the end of the season if not he has to go before it's too late.

So if negative chant don't affect the players do positive chants?? If not what's the point? A negative atmosphere will effect the team as we know positive atmospheres do aswell. Chelsea is not the game to turn on him unless it's a performance like Arsenal as we are expected to lose. We then have winnable games so if we see the same against Leicester or Stoke feel free to rip him apart but doing so if we lose to one of the best sides in Europe wont mean a jot!

Let's get Saturday out the way without too much damage then we need to support the team massively. I think we all realise we are in trouble so regardless of what we think of the manager we need to try not to be negative during the games. I know this is hard as what we are watching is awful but we need to pack out every remaining away game especially those against teams in and around us. Hull away is huge for both teams and hopefully being the away team it'll be less pressure on us and we can relax and try to play.

Fans are running out of energy for this manager chap. I can no longer do it, so apart from the cup game, im staying away.

Totally understandable but I think away from home we can have big effect on the team then if we have poor attendances at home it does send a message. I'm a ST holder so my seat gets counted regardless if I'm there or not so may aswell go. It'd be good to nearly sell out against Leicester though as that'll also show we aren't happy with what's goong on compared to league games.

Let's get Saturday out the way without too much damage then we need to support the team massively. I think we all realise we are in trouble so regardless of what we think of the manager we need to try not to be negative during the games. I know this is hard as what we are watching is awful but we need to pack out every remaining away game especially those against teams in and around us. Hull away is huge for both teams and hopefully being the away team it'll be less pressure on us and we can relax and try to play.

We need to score and looking further than just match we need a system of play to stick with until the end of the season. So for me Sinclair has to start and let him play until he drops this also means getting Gil on the ball as much as possible so I'd play him centrally either in a 3 or off of the striker. To stay up we also need Benteke scoring and as many leaders on the pitch as possible so my team would be

Guzan

Hutton Okore Vlaar Cissokho

Delph Sanchez

Weimann Gil Sinclair

Benteke

It's harsh on Clark but Okore has better pace and Vlaar if fit will instill more confidence. I've no idea why Cissokho was dropped as he's ben solid defensively so he deserves to come back in. That's my team I doubt Lambert will go with it though and expect changes every game as he hasn't a clue what his best team or formation is but for me he needs to pick one and stick with it for a bit!

He is no better or worse but he is the one who gets the most abuse, Delph has been as poor in his games from an attacking sense and nothing gets said

Delph has shown he can do it for us. Cleverley has shown nothing at all

 

but Delph has 1 assist all season which is equally appalling and nothing gets said to go with his 3 last season and ZERO the season before

Delph has been great for 2 seasons if you're judging him on stats alone it doesn't look brilliant but he has been so it just shows what stats prove at times. Admittedly he's been below par this year but so has the rest of the team. Cleverley started brightly but has been awful for a couple of months now. He came here with all sorts of medals yet doesn't look like he'd get into a pub team at times. Now is that because he doesn't want to be here so his hearts not in it? Who knows but one thing is he keeps getting picked and a lot of the time in positions that maybe don't suit him. Why is that? It's not good for him or us so it must be something else surely? A clause perhaps? It'd be nice for our media to ask the question as it'd say a lot about what's going on. If we are picking him because of a clause and we do get relegated that would be a travesty!

 

Delph has not been great though he has been OK nothing special. doesnt get enough goals, enough forward runs into the box enough assists. The only thing he gets enough of is yellow cards

Well when all pundits say it's like signing a £15-20m player when he resigned I'd say he's been better than ok! Can he do better ? Yes but he's still been our best midfielder for the last 2 years and got himself into the England sqaud if that's ok I can't wait till he improves. For me he is twice the player of Cleverley.

He is no better or worse but he is the one who gets the most abuse, Delph has been as poor in his games from an attacking sense and nothing gets said

Delph has shown he can do it for us. Cleverley has shown nothing at all

 

but Delph has 1 assist all season which is equally appalling and nothing gets said to go with his 3 last season and ZERO the season before

Delph has been great for 2 seasons if you're judging him on stats alone it doesn't look brilliant but he has been so it just shows what stats prove at times. Admittedly he's been below par this year but so has the rest of the team. Cleverley started brightly but has been awful for a couple of months now. He came here with all sorts of medals yet doesn't look like he'd get into a pub team at times. Now is that because he doesn't want to be here so his hearts not in it? Who knows but one thing is he keeps getting picked and a lot of the time in positions that maybe don't suit him. Why is that? It's not good for him or us so it must be something else surely? A clause perhaps? It'd be nice for our media to ask the question as it'd say a lot about what's going on. If we are picking him because of a clause and we do get relegated that would be a travesty!