As long as it's not at our expense, of course. But if we can both survive, I'd like that to happen because I think Lambert deserves it. A) He has been brave. He has stayed loyal to a young squad, he hasn't gone out in search of 'proven premiership quality', he has stuck to an attacking policy taking big defeats in his stride, he has ignored 'big' players, he has stayed true to his principles. Compare that with our current pusillanimous manager whose only concern is not conceding goals and whose determination to play ultra-defensively has landed us in the mess we are now in. B) He has shown imagination. He'll experiment with different formations both from match to match and within matches. He isn't frightened to drop players who are out of form. He'll improvise. Hell, he even makes substitutions at a point in the game when they might still matter! Compare that with our current manager who has all the imagination of a lump of cement. C) He inspires his players. His bunch of kids have taken bad knocks this season. 8-0 to Chelsea. Losing a two-legged semi-final to Bradford. Looking almost down and out on several occasions. And yet now, when we come to the business end of the season, they are full of verve and spirit and on the way up. Compare that with our current manager who has sucked every bit of confidence and joy out of our players to such an extent that even Snodgrass is starting to look downbeat. Let's take off our green and yellow glasses for a moment and admit it. The gulf in ability between the two managers is immense. Lambert deserves to survive. Hughton deserves to be relegated. I just pray we can somehow survive and then get rid of him.
Unfortunately VC, I have to agree with everything you've said in your post about the differences between PL and CH. CH certainly since December has developed a 'must not lose' policy and it has led to this dire brand of football we're having to endure at present and I know of several long term fans, who've decided to relinquish their season tickets. I'm holding on to mine, but I may not be so keen to go to all of the home games mext season, unless the style of play changes. What has happened to the team that beat Arsenal and ManUre - it's mostly the same 11 players, with the exception of Ruddy. Come on CH - give the fans something to cheer about for the last 2 home games and see our boys at least attack the opposition. PLEASE!!!!
Is it remotely possible that this more defensive strategy has come about because Ruddy is injured? Has CH perhaps become more withdrawn, perhaps due to a little less confidence in MB and placing more of an emphasis on protecting the pint sized keeper?
Yes I think Lambert deserves it.He has held his nerve after some almighty thrashings.We are where we are largely due to him after all.I also feel that he has enough integrity that if we need to rely on Villa to get something at the DW he will go for it.
The disapointing thing is that when I was flicking to the Villa game last night I just thought how nice it must be to stick 3,4,5,6 past another premiership team irrelevant of how poor they might be. We have played poor teams at home this year and struggled to create any meaningful chances. I am looking forward to next season. If we go down we WILL score more goals which will give us something to get excited about. If we stay up, I am hoping there will be a change in mentality.....
Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear! We are above Villa in the table for a reason, because we have been more effective at getting points then they have, which IMO means it is stupid to infer something like that.
A very good point, though to be fair, he has pulled MB has pulled off some very good saves, but I hope JR is back in goal on Sat - I would say that, wouldn't I!!!!
the stupid thing is, when you guys went for it away at Arsenal, you nearly got the 3 points! Yet Who-tun still insists on being defensive against the weaker teams!
As long as it is not at our expense I hope that Villa will survive - Lambo deserves it and I bear him to malice (much the opposite in fact). Oddly enough I'd like Wigan to stay up too (small club syndrome etc and my mate is a season ticket holder there) so I'd rather it be the Nukes or Sunderland.
Errr, we didn't go for it against Arsenal. We had two chances on the counter-attack and nicked a goal from a set-piece by which point despite our resilient defending Arsenal would have been out of sight had they had their shooting boots on.
VC, if Hughton gets relegated, he deserves to get relegated. If we survive then Hughton has implemented his tactics perfectly to achieve the result that was asked of him at the start of the season. Simply put, if we stay up, it will be because of Hughton and his managerial ability. But will you congratulate him? No, you'll be calling for his bloody head!
Yes, I will be calling for his head. It is not a miracle that he kept us up. PL did that last season on much less.
I'm not so sure. We probably have the second weakest squad overall this season, so he has managed to get them to overachieve in that sense. When PL was managing us, I won't deny he did a magnificent job, but then I think PL is a much better manager, so I don't think it really merits comparison. Just because Hughton isn't as good as Lambert does not mean, de facto, he hasn't done a good job. Besides, there were several teams in self-destruct mode last season, which made it that bit easier.
a) PL did it with what we all admit was a weaker squad B) PL did it with a squad where no one (I think, except Lappin) had ever played in the Prem before. CH inherited a team who had successfully negotiated a Prem season c) We had 25 points from 17 games. We have got 13 from the next 18 games. Presumably, as the season has gone on, the influence of PL got less and the influence of CH got stronger. Doesn't exactly suggest CH is a magician, does it?
I'm not sure what you're arguing here VC - clearly PL is a better manager, I think we all agree that! The question is whether Hughton has overachieved with the squad, and I think he probably, on balance, has. As for PL, let's not forget that, as I said, there were several teams imploding to make the league that bit easier last year.
Point C is such a load of rubbish. In case you've forgotten, we didn't win any of our first seven games before beating Srsenal with a trademark CH performance. Your expectations are completely unrealistic and unjustified.
PL had the advantage of momentum from getting promoted the previous season, having a squad full of players he wanted and knew how to use to fit into his system and we had a bit of a surprise factor. Hughton has had none of that plus no Ruddy from most of the season and Holt losing his mojo. Last season he was superb but since his transfer request and improved contract he has not looked the same player - maybe he peaked last season and has just gone slightly over the hill and is on a downward trend not helped by CH's tactics but some of his play in recent weeks has been awful and he could easily have had two red cards. Lambert overachieved and got 100% from his players. Hughton is not the man manger that Lambert is but given time I think he will improve the squad and it may be the case that in terms of entertainment we have had to take one step back before taking two forward. Lambert was a great manager for us but look at Villa. They have had some good wins but also some awful defeats. I accept that he has been brave to drop Bent and others but he has also managed to buy Benteke and a couple of others. His spending was focused on attack, Hughton's on defence. We have a reasonable defence and a poor attack, Villa have the inverse. We have one point more than Villa so I don't really understand the effusive priase for Lambert and criticism of Hughton. At least wait and see how we go on Saturday before deifying Lambert and asking for Hughtons's head on a pole. Should we win on Saturday that will be us pretty much home and hosed and them back in the brown stuff.
Only one more point and God knows how the feck we've managed that. After the persistent **** we've been served up by Hughton this year it really beggars belief that some of you lot still have faith in him. Oh and let's not forget the biggest ever embarrassment that we've witnessed this year, losing at HOME in the FA Cup to non league Luton ! If we go down we won't even be able to say we went down fighting, NO SHOTS ON TARGET in matches against our relegation rivals Wigan and Stoke as well FFS. My mind was finally made up when the gibbering idiot was trying to make excuses when interviewed by Chris Goreham after the match Saturday. He sounded a broken man to me and if we get even one more point this season it will be a bloody miracle ................RANT OVER
