Everyone loves Lambert. Its brilliant.... He champions the cause of the underdog. I can't wait to watch him nail it tonight....
It's just nice to see anew England goal scorer from a club other than the 'usual suspects'. For all the 'banter' he may get when he's playing for Saints, he is, at the end of the day, wearing an England shirt tonight, so ought to get the support he deserves - even from the blue part of Hampshire!
Soooo many Lambert threads. For the record I don't expect him to score tonight. It's possible, but there will probably be very few goals, if any, and I think it'll be one of those games where he's not allowed the time and space by the centre-backs and plays a lot of the game in deep or wide positions (probably offering support to Milner, who is incapable of beating a man). Hopefully he impresses Roy with his link-up play and finds Walcott in good areas, because that's probably England's main threat tonight.
This will be an extremely difficult game...my only hope is that the love-in doesn't come to a screeching halt if England is unable to generate a result.
I have a feeling he won't start on Sunday though. If Osvaldo starts banging them in, Lambert could be seeing more game time for England than Saints. And this people's champion stuff is nonsense. Because of injuries and suspension, and England manager was finally forced to pick a player that plays for a club that isn't Man United, Liverpool, Chelsea, Arsenal or City. Why we love him is obvious, but I suspect a lot of football fans only love him because he's scoring goals.
A tough ask for the big man tonight. I think we are going to struggle.....badly if I'm honest. Welbeck is a big miss....never said that before!
If England get a penalty Rickie should take it as he has the best record. He won't take it (unless he's on a hattrick which is very unlikely).
What about that Rickie Lambert, eh? Marvellous, it has been confirmed. The Southampton striker, wonderful, bagged his second goal in consecutive England appearances as part of a nutritious 4-0 win over Macedonia All-Stars. This latest triumph capped an amazing tale of rags to riches, one which has seen him go from being an alcoholic children’s birthday clown to everybody’s favourite Saints forward via a series of disastrous forklift truck shifts. Speaking exclusively to Football Burp, a Lambert fan from Fort Lambert, Lambertsville USA, claimed that he’d once seen him eat a live alligator while staging a fist fight with a grizzly bear. He said: “Rickie Lambert once impregnated a mare just by going up to it and whispering ‘foal’ into its ear. “Rickie Lambert doesn’t go shopping – shops go Rickie Lambert-ing. “Someone once called Rickie Lambert a sissy because he spells his name in a girly way, so Rickie Lambert turned himself into a lion and pooed on the guy’s car. “Rickie Lambert.” He continued: “Rickie Lambert once used Francis Benali to rescue Jason Dodd from a tree. “Rickie Lambert has fifty-eight children and they’re all called Rickie Lambert and they’re all awesome. “RICKIE LAMBERT!” Lambert was unavailable for comment as he was too busy plotting the downfall of the Ukraine and going “muhahaha”. http://footballburp.com/news/exclusive-rickie-lambert-eh/
England will lose/get a bore draw where Lambert won't score. Suddenly he 'won't be able to cut it at international level' according to the media.
Not quite true...he got a good reception when he came on against Scotland. The England fans had already bought into his story and probably liked what they saw in interviews...they were willing him to score. The Moldova game just increased the good will. Rickie's enthusiasm for playing for his country has a resonance when you hear from Stuart Pearce about the problems of getting players to turn out for the U21s and the Olympic squad. A problem he says that countries like Spain don't have.
Your last paragraph is exactly why he is becoming a people's champion. You have to remember that a high % of England following fans don't support one of the big teams.
I agree with that Fran. England were crying out for a player that they could believe would be more than just another name, & RL stepped up in a way that has captivated a few more hearts. If he was from Norwich, it would have spiked my interest, the fact he's been on our journey just kick started my like for the national team a little more.
Yep, I chortled, CBK. You forgot the captioned picture though of Rickie in a previous life: please log in to view this image Rickie Lambert takes a free-kick against the world. Unfortunately the writer forgot to mention that he scored.
Should also have gone looking a bit further CBK: Rickie Lambert will this morning wake up as Sir Rickie Lambert after doing that Rickie Lambert thing against Scotland last night, it has been Rickie Lambert-ed. Lambert, Rickie, made history by becoming the first England player to score a winning goal with his first touch of the ball on his debut against a fellow home nation, an action that shall henceforth be known as “doing a Rickie Lambert”. Speaking exclusively to Football Burp, Sir Rickie Lambert described how his post-match celebrations were cut short when he was bundled into a limo by burly, sunglasses-clad men and rushed off to Buckingham Palace for an emergency knighthood. He said: “It was boss, lad – the Queen was still in her jim jams with her hair in rollers and tha’. “I was a bit worried about her coming at me with a sword having only just been woken up, like, but it turns out that’s not actually how it happens. “She just kind of chants in Latin and splashes you with an exotic broth. “You get your own butler too, which is sound. Lambert and butler, y’knowharrameanlike? That’s mint that, lad.” He continued: “I think someone mentioned something about commemorating me on bank notes and stamps. Proper buzzing me, lad. “They said they were thinking of having my side profile facing in the other direction from Her Majesty’s, so it looks like we’re standing back-to-back like Mel Gibson and Danny Glover in Lethal Weapon.” He added: “That’s me and the Queen that, lad.” Rickie Lambert fact file: Only four years ago, Rickie Lambert was playing for Accrington Stanley Ladies Under 9s Rickie Lambert was signed by then League One side Southampton “for a laugh” Rickie Lambert won a bronze medal in the pole vault at the 1936 Berlin Olympics Rickie Lambert is no relation to Aston Villa manager Paul Lambert Here's the another image of Rickie in that same previous life: please log in to view this image Arise Sir Rickie.