16 Aug 2015 07:50:57
Paul Lambert was interviewed on the Qatar coverage of the Villa vs Man U game and likened managing Villa to being on death row. Now I know he’s not the most popular guy with the members of this site but I did find myself agreeing with a lot of what he had to say - but let's just say he neglected to cover everything.
He correctly asserted that AVFC is far too big of a club to have been in the position it has for the last 5 years. He was also very critical of Lerner’s lack of media presence and supposedly told him on multiple occasions that he needed to be more open with the fans, as he was the one taking the flack week in week out, which I think most of us would agree with at least in part. He also still thinks that Lerner is desperate to sell up, and claims to have ‘protected’ him from the press by saying he was supportive when really their relationship was quite frayed. Make of that what you will, but I am willing to take his word on this. Don’t get me wrong, we absolutely had to sack Lambert (sooner than we did) but I always liked him as a manager away from the field, and I wish him well in the future.
Now, he was asked whether things would have been different if he was given more money - it’s a stupid question really because you would expect that you would build a better team with more cash. He cited Martin O’Neill as proof of this - the man who caused a huge part of the financial issues he was brought into resolve. Bonkers. He also claims that due to a lack of financial backing from Lerner his hands were tied and that you need to spend just to stand still in the Premier league. Money helps but I would argue otherwise giving Swansea and Southampton as examples.
The final major point he made was when he was asked about the style of play when he arrived at the club he said "I'm thinking I'm going to have to build a team here and you’re not going to do that when it's not viable to spend and I thought we are going to have to dig in here. The crowd was never going to put up with that’ - do we really buy this. In his first season, we were one of the best counter attack sides in the league and scored a decent number of goals and Benteke was close to top scorer, even if we did concede a lot. Then it got worse and worse and worse each season until he got fired. Sherwood came in and within a few weeks we looked a totally different team, with a different style of play. He had the exact same talent pool (to use the phrase loosely) to work with and got significantly better results. In a sense, unless we spend even more this window, Sherwood has probably had a lower net spend than any season under lambert and I think we have started well with some difficult fixtures.
Sorry for the long post, but I thought it was interesting and wanted to share.
16 Aug 2015 10:05:16
I kind of agree with you Andy. Although lambert should of lost his job possible months before he did, I like the bloke, like what he says, (when I can understand it) and think he can hold his head high for the way he has not slagged a single part of the club since being ousted. I wish him well.
However, I think he was tactically naive, and the going into a game, to hold out for a point before kick off, is an outrage. With this mentality you will always lose more than you win, all Tim had to do, was show them where the other teams throat was, and tell us to go for the jugular!!
All that he said re Lerner, finance, and MON was spot on, but, his blind faith, and constant backing of his under achieving playing staff gave them a comfort blanket that nearly suffocated us.
I hope for his own career he learnt lessons, or he will always always fail and nearly destroy another club.
16 Aug 2015 17:59:49
Totally agree Flackie on his tactics, its was a point I wanted to make more explicitly in my original post but I must have glossed over it. The way Sherwood came in and within weeks had the squad playing much better shows that Lamberts tactics were at fault.
The thing about his interview I wasn't impressed with was he claimed that with more money from Lerner he would still be the manager today - how can he say that so matter of factly when his replacement came in and got much better results with the exact same resources?
16 Aug 2015 18:34:35
He knows that deep down he wouldn't be.
But, I do think that Lerner has perhaps realised that we eventually had to get relegated buying poor players, so being devils advocate, maybe if he had available to him a better quality player, results might of been better?!.
But, if ifs and ands, where pots and pans!!.
He doesn't know!! He's trying to deflect from the fact he failed, which in all honesty is ok, you can't be a success all the time.
We as fans need to look at the here and now, and realise that, in my opinion, this could be a special year.
If we can get vp rocking again, using an old cleche turn it into a fortress, we will be at least top half.
16 Aug 2015 21:03:46
Well, it could be argued that if he knew the funds weren't there then he would have to generate the funds himself to overhaul the team. If we had of sold Benteke to Spurs after his first season for 25 million, surely he could of brought in some better replacements to strengthen the squad overall. I really don't think Lerner has invested any more this season than in any previous season under Lambert, its just that we have had the Benteke money to bring in a 4 or 5 better quality players to improve the first team.
Now it could be said that Sherwood is reaping the rewards of the ground work Lambert put in, but realistically would Liverpool have bought Benteke for 32.5 million if Sherwood hadn't got him firing again. I think Sherwood new the score coming in, in that to have a significant war chest to overhaul the team he had to get top money for Benteke and it already looks promising for the season ahead. By setting up the team to give Benteke the ball as much as possible, was really just an exercise in increasing his saleability. My point is Lambert had the same opportunity 2 years ago and didn't take it, and I think that really that was the turning point for him, as it prevented him from taking the team as a whole forward.
I think Sherwood has got the right idea, and it wouldn't surprise me if some of the players he has brought in are 'investments'; they have one good season with us, double in value and he flips them for a big profit so he has funds to play with next year. Which from a financial standpoint is the way we need to operate until Lerner finally sells up.
As fans of course we need to look at the here and now on the pitch, but in order to understand the present and predict the future, you have to have a detailed understanding of what was wrong before. I think Sherwood has seen that Lambert had this opportunity to sell Benteke big and failed to take it, which doomed him in the long run. His statement at the start of the window revealing Benteke's release clause was to generate interest and get him sold early so he would have the cash to work with. And from the look of things so far, I think Sherwood is bang on in his approach, which gives me great hope for not only this season, but for the future of the club.
16 Aug 2015 21:51:31
Andy I couldn't agree more!
Totally spot on.
16 Aug 2015 23:31:58
I was never a fan of Lambert and was glad to see him gone
However, there has clearly been a shift in attitude this season by Lerner, largely prompted by the fear of missing out on next years TV money
Although we have probably broken even this season in terms of transfer fees, we are clearly paying a lot more in wages in order to attract a much better quality of player. This was equally clearly, not happening on Lambert's watch
I like Sherwood, I think he will do better than Lambert would have, But let's not kid ourselves that we are now comparing apples with apples. Lambert would never have been able to bring in Richards on 65 k a week or pay 9 million for a full back like Amavi, whether Benteke had been sold or not
17 Aug 2015 00:27:58
Maybe you were never a fan of Lambert Mendax, but many people were when he first joined and would have been a good percentage of people's first choice. He certainly had a much more positive reception initially than Sherwood did.
I agree with you to a point regarding the wages but he was allowed to bring in players like Benteke, Kozak and Vlaar who I can't see being on less money than most of Sherwoods signings. Another thing to consider is that ticket sales have gone up massively since Sherwood arrived which may have contributed in part to the willingness to pay higher wages. I'm not entirely convinced either that Lambert was forced to only get in players on low wages, I think it was dependant on him getting rid of the bomb squad who were on ridiculous contracts. You mention Richards 65k per week under Sherwood, well Lambert had 65k per week on Bent, which I'm sure he could have repurposed as he wished if he could get him out of the club, which he failed to do.
So whilst I agree with you in part that there has been a bit of a change in the wage structure, I can't see it being quite as bad as Lambert makes out. I think if we had Sherwood for the 2 and 1/2 seasons we had Lambert for, we would be in a stronger position now than we are and the last few seasons wouldn't have been quite so dreary and miserable.
Anyway I wish Lambert the best for the future, even if I think he could have made a better fist of his time with us, and onwards and upwards under Sherwood - UTV
17 Aug 2015 19:00:21
I was abroad for the ManU game (thank god re M6!!) I watched the match in a bar and Lambert was pundit with Andy Gray an Kevin Keegan. I was amazed how young lambert looked !! Since leaving he looks 10 yrs younger so could tell what a hellish time it was for not just us but him too. He also sounded more coherent and even laughed a joked!!! Most of us wanted him and his two great experiments of build a team from the lower leagues and play the Barca way both failed miserably! Glad he's gone but wish him all the best and on a human level am pleased he has his life back!!
17 Aug 2015 21:49:25
That's good to hear Nick, I hadn't seen the interview, I had only read about what was said - the constant pressures of being a manager always at the bottom of the table must get to you after such a long time of struggling. Like a few of us have said, we like Lambert as a guy and I for one would like to see him get another crack at managing in the Premier League - if he wants it of course!