Vive_La_Villa

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) Martinez kept doing that with Wigan until they eventually came up against better teams! Well maybe in the end Martinez wasn't good enough, although it's hard to blame him give the resources available at a club like Wigan Athletic. And it's a similar thing for a club like Aston VIlla as things stand at the moment, it's going to be struggle to keep us in the division whoever is in charge. The difference was Wigan were punching way way above their weight for years and the ultimate aim each season was to stay up. Now if Lambert has to work under a similar budget as Wigan yet with much higher expectations than he must eventually accept its an impossible task. Maybe no manager is capable of handling this role with the constraints but whoever tries will have to handle the backlash if they are not doing a good job.

It'll have to be till the end of the season now I suppose. But on that last day if we are safe, I and many others should give him hell. I hate to see what you'll give him if we go down

As long as Lerner is here, yes I think we're going to struggle. I think Lambert should go at the end of the season though regardless. You're probably right but to be fair to Lambert I do think he has managed to assemble a better squad than the one he inherited. Plus the average age is a lot younger so there is room for further improvement. But it's definitely time for a change and new approach.

So basically with or without Lambert, expect to struggle from now on?

You're right and he will probably keep us up again. But it doesn't make supporting Aston Villa any bearable right now.

That's very true but why not mention Palace, Sunderland, Swansea and Albion who all changed their manager and stayed up?

He has my respect for believing himself to be good enough to do the job and, whatever his motives, being able to keep going even after realising what a monumental task he has taken on. He also has my respect for generally being pretty dignified about it, and never ever trying to deflect blame from himself, even at times when he'd have a fair case for doing so. I don't get this at all. If he was a top manager and had loads of job offers then yes I would admire him for sticking around. But the truth is he is not wanted and has a owner that will never sack him. I think we're at the stage when a bigger man would put the fans and the club first and walk. He has had three bloody seasons to improve thing, how long does the man feel he needs!! So you carry on respecting him as much as you like. It doesn't change the decline we are in.

Part of me looks forward to seeing what the next manager might be able to do with the squad, but statements like this are just silly. It's possible that he's out of his depth as Villa manager, but we have absolutely no way of knowing for sure. The bad results and performances suggest that he's probably not the greatest managerial genius in football history, but so what? Are we in a position to attract the greatest managerial genius in football history? No. The truth is probably that any manager would be out of his depth trying to drag 2012's 16th placed Aston Villa up the table on the current budget. Lambert has my respect for (if nothing else) taking on the job and sticking at it. Silly in your opinion mate. I reckon at least 90% of villa fans would agree with that statement. Does that make them all silly? I agree his budget has been appalling but he has agreed to work with it, therefore he has accepted those conditions even though he knows full well the fans well not accept relegation battles each season along with negative records broken. So as far as I'm concerned he is way out of his depth as Aston Villa manager, regardless of whether you think that statement is silly or not.

Really??? I don't understand what your questioning about my post. I'm shocked that you are implying we should have faith in Lambert. Sorry if I misunderstood. Lambert is a Manager at one of the top twenty football teams in the country. I'm not saying that people can't question his decisions, just that sometimes it has to be accepted that he makes his choices for a reason and in the majority of cases he' better qualified to make them than most of us. Of course he is better qualified but he still way out of his depth as Aston Villa manager.

cant be as bad as what we currently have up front How can some people be in such denial ? Oh yeah , it's Lerners' fault , I forgot . There's no denial. I want Lambert gone big time. But we can't ignore we've had our first choice centre half pairing out nearly all season. It's not an excuse, it's just an observation.

Really??? I don't understand what your questioning about my post. I'm shocked that you are implying we should have faith in Lambert. Sorry if I misunderstood.

The goals will come. But we will continue to concede Really???

I'm sure most won't agree bit Vlaar or Sendoros ever returns I'll think we'll be fine. It's that one moment of lack of organisation costing us cheap goals every game.

Now you seem to be trying to convince me that Lambert should be sacked. You don't need to. We're in agreement there. Which I think more good can come from fans protesting than not. Lerner will have to act. I still think fans should protest with their feet though. Although I appreciate that's not fair for season ticket holders.

Apparently anti Lambert chants might affect the teams ability to score and win a game. Wait a minute........ But they could. It could squash any hopes we may have of any sort of improvement. You're waving a white flag. It could also result in Lerner changing the manager or Lambert resigning. This could then save our season. Nobody knows what could happen if the their anti Lambert chants. What we do know is things can't really get much worse right now. Well it could. Or it could result in the manager staying and the team performing just as badly as it has been up until now, with no hope of improvement. We don't know what will happen. We don't know if the protests would work, we don't know if they'd be detrimental, we don't know if the team won't improve without them. So the logic of "well we won't improve anyway so we may as well protest" is as much nonsense as me saying "well we'll DEFINITELY improve so we shouldn't protest" However I think it's more likely that lambert is here for this season whether we like it or not, so the more productive thing for me would be to leave any protesting, if that's what you want to do, until after the game or after we're safe as no good will come of getting on the team's back during a game. Ultimately it doesn't matter what we think. A few people on VillaTalk don't dictate the actions of the crowd at Villa Park. We can say what we want, but what will happen will happen. I think the crowd WILL get on the team's back, and it WILL be detrimental to the team. But that's football. All true but I do think considering the resources he has had to work with its not the worse squad in the world. I also think it's better than when he took over. I just don't think he knows what needs to be done anymore. I kind of admire his desire to turn things around, but he really has pushed his luck. The first few seasons pundits and some fans would talk about how they admire Lerner for giving a young British manager a chance. But even most pundits and probably all fans are now think wtf is going on.

The media are beginning to take notice at last. Oh man that article really does sum up how bad Lambert's record is. We are now the same level as Wigan and Wolves. What worry's me more is look what happened to Wolves after they sacked Mick McCarthy. We are doomed. DOOMED I tells Ya! Edit: would like to believe Fox wasn't involved with Lamberts new contract and wants him gone.

Apparently anti Lambert chants might affect the teams ability to score and win a game. Wait a minute........ But they could. It could squash any hopes we may have of any sort of improvement. You're waving a white flag. It could also result in Lerner changing the manager or Lambert resigning. This could then save our season. Nobody knows what could happen if the their anti Lambert chants. What we do know is things can't really get much worse right now.

I think as soon as we go 2-0 the Holte End should chant Lambert out non-stop until the final whistle.

Ok if a protest is a bed idea and will effect the players performance then I'd love to know what's affected the players performance for the past 3 years!!

Seems like nobody likes the boycott idea but if we go down we will most likely have attendances below 15k on a weekly basis. Isn't it better to do it now in the hope Lerner acts? Looking at our home record over the past 3 seasons I don't think fans support really makes that much difference.

No chance. Attendance will never be that low or he won't sack him? Or both?!

I've said it before and I'll say it again. You want Lerner to act? Then stop going to games. Next 2,3 games with less than 20k attendance and Lambert is sacked.

True but since Vlaar and Senderos got injured we have had the worst form in the league I think. At least before we were some how etching out draws but that seems to have come to an end as well now. Unless we can get some experience and leadership back on the pitch we are going down. I can see a pretty nasty defeat tomorrow as well. It feels like the xmas period of Lamberys first season.Reading that it sounds to me like you're just guessing at the problem. Like Robbie Savage might. Our defence has not been the issue at all. I personally think that is one of the issues although maybe not the main one. Vlaar and Sendoras are leaders. We have non on the pitch at he moment.. Ha, nice little sneaky dig there in the edit. I'd sooner listen to savage than you mate.

True but since Vlaar and Senderos got injured we have had the worst form in the league I think. At least before we were some how etching out draws but that seems to have come to an end as well now. Unless we can get some experience and leadership back on the pitch we are going down. I can see a pretty nasty defeat tomorrow as well. It feels like the xmas period of Lamberys first season.

Which is exactly why we have to hit him financially until he has no choice but to change the manger: