Good article re Paul Lambert

From Richard Balls' blog:

Lambert’s management a model for all

The unmistakable Glaswegian drawl meant the directions being bellowed from the touchline could only have emanated from one man. ‘Don’t get beat, don’t get beat,’ he implored as City defended a precious point against Chelsea.

Paul Lambert’s rallying cry, which cut like a blade through the cold afternoon air, was heeded well. Not only has this Norwich side, which continues to grow in stature, proved it can attack for the entirety of a game, but defend as well. A more impressive central defensive display than that given by Zak Whitbread and Daniel Ayala has not been seen at Carrow Road in many a year. The manager has taught his charges that on occasions when you can’t win a game of football, then you’d better not make it back into the dressing room having lost it.

To say the taciturn Scot doesn’t like losing is like saying Celtic don’t much care for Rangers. Defeats hurt him and he buys in players who he know will feel the same way. His ’don’t get beat’ mantra features often in team talks, one imagines, applying both to the final result and the players’ own personal battles. They know precisely who they are marking or who is marking them. And the manager expects them to take personal pride in getting the better of that opponent and take ownership of situations.

Games and personal contests will be lost. That is football. But one of the many things at which Lambert excels is getting his players to put things right at the first possible opportunity. When City were promoted to the top flight, they had never lost successive games under him (it would be churlish to count the 2-0 defeat to Carlisle on the last day of the League One season with the 3-2 loss inflicted by Watford in the opening fixture of the Championship one).

That incredible record was always going to end in the Premier League. However, it is testament to his team’s resilience that only twice has it suffered back-to-back defeats, one involving Chelsea and the other Arsenal. We might not have batted an eyelid at the 5-1 thumping by Manchester City, but Lambert was reportedly incandescent at manner of our capitulation. Yes it was at the hands of a top two side which cost £200 million or whatever to assemble and yes there is no shame in losing there. But the hairdryer was still blasting and the dressing room door locked long after the Etihad had emptied. A week later we beat Newcastle 4-2.

While we have learned to quickly consigns defeats to the past, they’re never erased completely. No club has ’doubled’ us under this manager, a monument to his own deep-seated competitiveness and pride. Even though he was behind the most humiliating afternoon in the club’s long history, he made sure it was avenged in merciless fashion when he returned to Colchester. Driving rain and diabolical conditions, rather than being offered up as an excuse, only hardened our resolve to settle that most painful of scores.

It was Bryan Gunn’s apparently laissez-faire reaction to that opening day massacre that both bewildered and angered the then new chief executive, David McNally. In the opposing dressing room, he presumably saw someone whose response, he believed, would have been very different. Or indeed someone who would never have allowed it to happen in the first place. It would not be hyperbole to suggest that in the immediate aftermath of that game, the course of the club was irrevocably changed.

Sky pundit and former City player Andy Townsend listed the Norwich players who began their careers in the non-league and said chief executives and chairmen up and down the country would do well to emulate our business model. Managers in football and any other walk of life could do a lot worse than observe and listen to Lambert, who embarked on his own career at Linwood Rangers Boys’ Club. At the final whistle on Saturday, he strode proudly onto the pitch, shaking hands and thanking every one of his players, and applauding the fans.

“One thing we’ve got is unbelievable enthusiasm for the game and a real hunger,” said in his post-match interview. “If they keep that throughout their careers, they’ll be all right, both as individuals and as a team.”

Less publicly, although no less importantly, he telephoned on loan player Tom Adeyemi after he allegedly suffered racial taunts during Oldham’s FA Cup third round tie at Anfield. Whatever he said to the youngster, you can be sure it will have given him a lift, and it shows that while Lambert is focused on winning Premier League games, he has an interest in the welfare of everyone under his charge, wherever they are.

As for his team selections, what can you say? Leaving Wes Hoolahan on the bench for the visit of Chelsea might look like madness under another manager. Yet he knew that with the best will in the world, this was going to be a day for defending and keeping our shape and that with Grant Holt and Steve Morison on the field, there would always be chances.

Whatever our instincts, he knows better. If substitutions are needed, he makes them and they will rarely be defensive. If we suffer a bad result, he will freshen things up for the next game. He is never complacent and won’t rest until safety in this division is assured. ‘We’ve won nothing yet’ is another favourite phrase.

Has Norwich City had a better manager? We’ve certainly never have a more extraordinary one and for as long as he is here, you can only see us going from strength to strength. Here’s to even better times.

 

The credit he gives his players even in defeat speaks well for his style. I don't know about losing him to another club, somebody with his astuteness, drive, compassion and tactical nous could probably coach the English rugby team.
Contrast that with King Kennys controlled outburst about his players, Warnocks revelations and Jewell's throwing his hands up in the air in surrender.
There does seem to be a different breed of manager coming through. Lambert, Adkins, Coyle, Kean and Rodgers all have an admirable attitude toward them team they are coaching and only speak of them in the positive.

 

Well written and well said, couldn't agree more CS

 

nail very much hit on the head

 

i'd like to see a manager like mourinho or AVB get norwich from league 1 to mid table security in the PL in 3 years...

i think lambert is the manager of the season so far, on paper, no PL experience, yet you're above teams who have far more, incredible job

 

got to mention the close to administration business, limited funds (bar Holt for 0.4m), just been relegated and at the time rock bottom of league 1 and it makes it sound MUCH MORE impressive.

Rodgers at Swansea inherited Martinez' legacy, not as much work done

 

Lambert is GOD...