they were a mess last season but i think he'll turn them around and finish higher up. they were by a mile the worst team i saw last year - it'll take time, but can't see it myself.
I can't even bring myself to click on the link, if I want to hear some twat talk bollocks I'll just go to my local at closing time.
I've only just had a look at villas team and, wow, its not good. I thought Lambert would be buying a higher class of "lambert type player" but none of the players hes got have anything of the lambert about them. Surprising
i think people have been slightly fooled by the 'lambert type of player'. indeed, its a bit of a myth. the philosophy of buying young, hungry, british players from lower down the pyramid was not lambert's philosophy - it is norwich city's. that is why hughton is continuing to sign what many would call 'lambert type players', whereas lambert is now going down the 'cheap and foreign route'. yes he's bought lowton - a player who i believe we would have signed this summer had lambert not left - but he is signing players that villa as a club are scouting and the type of player that club wants. what lambert did was work wonders influencing these new signings and making them play for him - he'll do that at villa i would expect.
That foreign midfielder El Ahamadi said the other day in a interview that Lambert wanted to bring him to Norwich! I actually think, the players that he signing for villa would have been in yellow if he had stayed
I agree with RS, Villa have a diabolical squad. The start of this season will be tough with so many of their top "stars" + Bent injured. As he says, Paul Lambert on his own cannot right this train-wreck without some performances from the players.
Do you know I'd never actually thought about it like that? That's a great point, blindingly obvious now you've mentioned it I posted an article earlier in the summer about how I found it a bit odd the way Lambert was suddenly buying foreign players after signing nothing but British talent for us but now I think about it it makes perfect sense!
Delph, Dunne, Given, N' Zogbia, (I hate to admit) Bent, Vlaar, Ireland and Agbonlahor. I really think you are all under-estimating Aston Villa's squad. Under Lambert, I think they will be at least top half next year. I'm surprised by the jeouslousy on this thread. Lambert might not have been solely responsible for where we are now, but he was a big part of it. When Aston Villa come to CR I will be standing and clapping to say thank you
No jealousy but it will certainly be a big task for Lambert to get those players going when you look at their track records. If bent doesn't score, who will?
If Bent and Agbonlahor aren't fit, and based in their track records of late I doubt they will be, they will struggle. I think Lambert and Culverhouse may just about be able to keep them up but it will take a few years and good investment to make that squad good enough. I don't see why people rave about Delph....
although i agree with you about lambert, i think you've over-egged the villa players somewhat. delph is average, dunne is average, given was awful at the euros, n'zogbia plays when he wants, bent is injured as is gabby, vlaar is injured almost as much as james vaughan and ireland is similar to n'zogbia. he's got a very weak squad at villa park - he'll do well to get them anywhere near the top half. having said that, i rate lambert highly enough to suggest he can do that!
That entire list of players is overhyped by the media, with the exception of Bent, who is quality but always injured. They will struggle to score goals and I hardly believe that many teams out there in the PL will be quaking in the boots at facing Villa.
agree with that goldeneye. i don't think they'll go down but i may change that assessment if they lose bent for much of the season. they are over reliant on him and nothing has changed in that respect. one thing i do ponder: had lambert stayed here, do you reckon the pundits would still have us down to be relegated? if yes, how come villa are suddenly more safe than last season because of lambert? we'll never know but i reckon we'd still be 'certs' for the drop...
PL was fantastic for us and I don't want us to get vitriolic now. However Villa rely on Bent and when he is out they are a very beatable side, the one thing that PL will give them is fight which was sadly lacking last year for them. But I thought this was a Norwich site so shall we move on?
Harder to instill that in a group of overpaid primadonnas than our lads, who had never played in the PL before and wanted to prove all the doubters wrong, the hunger just isn`t as strong in the former group.
Makes me laugh when I've read about how Rhodes is nothing more than a goal scorer with nothing else to his game. What else exactly does bent have to his game apart from being a goal machine? I read somewhere that when he was playnig he had the fewest number of touches per game of all the players in the PL, but he's lethal in front of goal (much like Gary Lineker, Michael Owen etc) so you'd still have him in your team. Anyway...... Back to the original theme of this thread, I have no animosity towards Lambert at all, disappointment at the way his exit was handled perhaps but certainly no anger towards him and I too will on my feet applauding him when he returns to Carrow Road. Forever grateful for what he did with us and I will always respect for the guy, but it doesn't mean that I don't want us to stuff the bastards 6-0 and se ethem finish well below us in the table though, and no I wouldn't lose any sleep if they were to be relegated (which i really don't think they will).
