Paul Lambert

[villalad21]

 

Quick question, would anyone here honestly not be happy with a win on Sunday if Stoke had something like 60% possession?

 

Obviously people would be happy.

 

I think sometimes this possession talk gets overboard but I understand where people are coming from. Sometimes, particularly earlier in the season, we were dire to watch and one factor in that was our lack of keeping the ball and playing football. I think often there has been correlation between us having low possession stats and having poor performances. Then there are games against the likes of Liverpool and Chelsea were we see less of the ball but still put in fantastic performances.

 

But overall possession doesn't matter one bit. It's the perfomance and three points.

 

Didn't we actually have the ball more than Liverpool? Especially in the first half, which arguably is the best half we've played so far, in a half we had the ball alot.

[bradarmstrong_]

Lambert is doing a pretty good job according to his peers. http://www.worldfootballinsider.com/Story.aspx?id=36745

 

 

12. Which manager in the Barclays Premier League have you been most impressed with this season?

Tony Pulis 17%
Roberto Martinez 13%
Mauricio Pochettino 17% 
Arsene Wenger 13%
Manuel Pellegrini 17%
Paul Lambert 6%
Other 17%

 

also other managers think our away support is pretty good!

 

 

7. Apart from your own team, which Barclays Premier League club do you think has the most vocal away support?

Liverpool 23%
Aston Villa 12%
Chelsea 6%
Manchester United 29%
Swansea City 6%
Manchester City 6%
Newcastle United 6%
West Ham United 6%
Other 6%

Edited March 21, 2014 by bradarmstrong_

[Condimentalist]

 

Lambert is doing a pretty good job according to his peers. http://www.worldfootballinsider.com/Story.aspx?id=36745

 

 

12. Which manager in the Barclays Premier League have you been most impressed with this season?

Tony Pulis 17%

Roberto Martinez 13%

Mauricio Pochettino 17% 

Arsene Wenger 13%

Manuel Pellegrini 17%

Paul Lambert 6%

Other 17%

 

also other managers think our away support is pretty good!

 

 

7. Apart from your own team, which Barclays Premier League club do you think has the most vocal away support?

Liverpool 23%

Aston Villa 12%

Chelsea 6%

Manchester United 29%

Swansea City 6%

Manchester City 6%

Newcastle United 6%

West Ham United 6%

Other 6%

 

 

Well considering the sample size is only the 20 league managers, it means one manager is especially impressed with Lambert, and two with our away support. 

[bradarmstrong_]

 

 

Lambert is doing a pretty good job according to his peers. http://www.worldfootballinsider.com/Story.aspx?id=36745

 

 

12. Which manager in the Barclays Premier League have you been most impressed with this season?

Tony Pulis 17%

Roberto Martinez 13%

Mauricio Pochettino 17% 

Arsene Wenger 13%

Manuel Pellegrini 17%

Paul Lambert 6%

Other 17%

 

also other managers think our away support is pretty good!

 

 

7. Apart from your own team, which Barclays Premier League club do you think has the most vocal away support?

Liverpool 23%

Aston Villa 12%

Chelsea 6%

Manchester United 29%

Swansea City 6%

Manchester City 6%

Newcastle United 6%

West Ham United 6%

Other 6%

 

 

Well considering the sample size is only the 20 league managers, it means one manager is especially impressed with Lambert, and two with our away support. 

 

Oh is it only Premier League? I thought it was all football league clubs as well. My bad. 

[Butterfingers]

Can't believe there is so much focus on our supposed "lucky" wins still. For me, it is an indication that we're half way there 7 can compete. One lucky win I'll give you but our performances against the top 4 are more than coincidence. Interestingly, nobody mentions our "unlucky" defeats such as Chelsea.

 

Just think where we'd be if we could find more consistency against the teams around us?

 

I think last weeks win has more or less put us safe. We now have a bit of a platform to play without relegation pressure between now & May. Instead of looking for 2 wins to keep us up, we can now look for 4 wins that will see us finish 10th.

[Mantis]

I think people often mistake a well-executed gameplan that involves ceding lots of possession to the opposition and hitting them on the break with being "lucky".

Edited March 21, 2014 by Mantis

[MikeMcKenna]

I think people often mistake a well-executed gameplan that involves ceding lots of possession to the opposition and hitting them on the break with being "lucky".

I also think some people are like a dog with a bone! Change the record!

[LondonLax]

If you changed the word from 'possession' to 'dominate matches' I think a lot more people on here would agree. 

 

The people saying they want to see more possession are saying they want us to dominate matches more. Even those saying 'possession doesn't matter' would agree that it would be good if we can dominate, dictate and control more matches next season.

 

Southampton are probably the blueprint for it that we will be looking to become for our next step in our progression or even Newcastle. It will take better midfielders though and they cost bigger money than we have spent under Lambert so far. 

[Rovers13]

If you changed the word from 'possession' to 'dominate matches' I think a lot more people on here would agree.

The people saying they want to see more possession are saying they want us to dominate matches more. Even those saying 'possession doesn't matter' would agree that it would be good if we can dominate, dictate and control more matches next season.

Southampton are probably the blueprint for it that we will be looking to become for our next step in our progression or even Newcastle. It will take better midfielders though and they cost bigger money than we have spent under Lambert so far.

I don't think villa will ever play like Southampton, nor should they try to.

[TRO]

as much as our fortunes have took a turn for the better recently, if we are to progress rather than languish at the lower end of the league, flirting with relegation most of the season, we must change our style slightly.

 

counter attacking will always be central to our game, because we don't possess the funds to buy the players to play "total football"....however we can improve, but retain our counter attacking instincts and i think thats, the way forward for us.

 

The strange thing is both camps have valid points ....Direct football has its place and so does possession football.... the trick is to create a hybrid.

[TRO]

It will be interesting this week end how we fair against the more direct style of Stoke.

 

If we are to be deemed as progressing then on the back of the Chelsea win and all the confidence gleaned from that, we would hope for decent things.

 

I think we fair well against teams that WANT to play and struggle against the " park the bus" merchants.... so it will be interesting for me, to see if our lads can find a way through. I hope the confidence levels will help us do that.

 

fingers firmly crossed.

[TRO]

If you changed the word from 'possession' to 'dominate matches' I think a lot more people on here would agree. 

 

The people saying they want to see more possession are saying they want us to dominate matches more. Even those saying 'possession doesn't matter' would agree that it would be good if we can dominate, dictate and control more matches next season.

 

Southampton are probably the blueprint for it that we will be looking to become for our next step in our progression or even Newcastle. It will take better midfielders though and they cost bigger money than we have spent under Lambert so far. 

 

I think by the mere fact that the opposition want the ball and you have it ...it infers domination, by definition.

It also follows that if they havn't got the ball....they can't do anything to hurt you.

 

I know i am simplyfying it a tad, but thats it....If you have the ball and do nothing with it, i.e " tippy tappy" as some call it, its frustrating to watch, but the opposition get frustrated too and it forms a sort of defensive game.

.....which is what the top teams do when they are in a winning position towards the end of a match....If you rely wholly and soley on counter attack to win a game, you can't do that and run the risk of conceding late, which is what we have done in the past.

 

I have never quite got my head round dismissing possession as a token gesture of sorts....its a major factor in my book.

 

no ball....no do

Edited March 22, 2014 by TRO

[P3te]

Points after 29 games historically:

 

2013/14 - 34pts

2012/13 - 27pts

2011/12 - 33pts

2010/11 - 33pts

2009/10 - 50pts

 

Games to Reach 34 points:

 

2013/14 - 29

2012/13 - 33

2011/12 - 31

2010/11 - 31

2009/10 - 21 (36pts with win in 21st game)

 

Definitely a bit of progress being made anyway. We're a couple of games ahead of schedule for par over the last 4 years, and a win tomorrow would most likely push that even further ahead

[Oaks]

I think people often mistake a well-executed gameplan that involves ceding lots of possession to the opposition and hitting them on the break with being "lucky".

I agree that's why I think the Southampton game went to plan, and we were lucky against Man City.

We were just excellent against Chelsea.

[samjp26]

Should we win tomorrow, regardless of the Man United game, do we think Lambert might win the manager of the month award?

[Oaks]

Should we win tomorrow, regardless of the Man United game, do we think Lambert might win the manager of the month award?

It will go to Rodgers I guess.

[AVTuco]

Being an intellectual giant, I can understand both sides of the possession argument.

 

It isn't really all that important, but on the other hand it's more fun to watch a game when your team has the ball. It can be painful to watch when your team has around 30% of the ball, and most people don't watch football in order to experience pain.

 

I don't insist on 70% possession, but more than 40% is at the very least a nice-to-have.

We're very lucky to have a giant like you around CF.

I agree with your point, but in the end, when a game is won, I've already forgotten about the ball and who had it and when. It really doesn't matter any more.

And sometimes pain is good too. It's very relieving when it ends.

[Amo69]

I think if our lucky wins this year were our only wins then it would be worrying. But as we've also got well deserved points id say we have earned a bit of luck.

[VillaChris]

Games this season we should've had more out of:

 

Chelsea away- Don't think anyone disputes this. At least a point if not a win but decisions totally messed us over.

 

Liverpool home- Arguably for a point given we dominated Liverpool second half and Mingolet pulled out a great save at the end.

 

Everton home- A draw given we missed a penalty and two other one on ones when at 0-0 in the first half. Once Everton scored the first they had the measure of us.

 

West Ham away- Could've snuck a win given Benteke hit the bar at the end but overall draw probably fair.

 

Stoke away- A point given Stoke handballed for the winner (Crouch) and imo they should've been down to 10 in the first half when Wilson lunged at Weimann and was last man. A more obvious red than the Ramires one anyway.

 

Liverpool- A win given we were outstanding first half. Think we would've achieved it if we hadn't conceded right on half time.

 

Cardiff- A win due to some poor finishing and a couple of great saves from Marshall.

 

Newcastle- Fair to say when we conceded in the 93rd minute a point isn't that far out of the question. I'm tempted to say though we deserved nothing for refusing to leave our half for some reason in the second.

 

So 8 games there. I'm not sure on deserving more in all of them than the final result but equally all 9 of our wins haven't been flukey either.

[Rovers13]

I tend to think everton should've been a win, and Newcastle should've been a loss, but for the most part that looks pretty good