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Lambert - 11 games in.....

Discussion in 'Ipswich Town' started by Westlake33, Jan 1, 2019.

  1. Nuggets

    Nuggets Well-Known Member

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    Given the situation we are in, Lambert's hands are tied over the standard of player wanting to come to us. I agree that players like Dawkins do not appear to be much use on the surface, and comes across as a confusing signing. But as you say, Collins and Judge are two strong signings, which is two more than we signed in the summer. As for Will Keane, supposedly one of your 'turkies', he does have a one goal in two games ratio, which is Lineker esque ;)

    I don't blame out-of-work managers applying for the Ipswich job when it becomes available. Should he not have applied? You know that Tim Sherwood and Ian Holloway was also on the shortlist. Would we have done better over either of those? I'm not defending Lambert's on-pitch results, they're not good, but off the pitch you must surely admit he's doing a damn sight more than recent predecessors in trying to understand the club, being embedded in the club's culture and history, and appreciating the supporters. Only the most cynical of observers can criticise him for trying to foster a positive atmosphere around the club. God knows it needs it!
     
    #101
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  2. YorkieLancsHampyLondoner

    YorkieLancsHampyLondoner Well-Known Member

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    I don't rate Quaner or Keane and to be absolutely fair to Lambert he was never going to sign a 20 goal striker. Getting loans in instead of trying to work with our own players I don't agree with at all - but the problem is the goalkeeper, the defence, the midfield and the forward line. If we were at least solid then it would give those boys up front, whoever it was, a fighting chance in games.

    I just do not buy that being relegated was inevitable with the playing staff that Lambert inherited - it's a failure of training, tactics and psychology and the same failure that has been apparent at his other clubs with much stronger squads.
     
    #102
  3. San Diego

    San Diego Sir Mediator
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    Look, it's going to take time for Paul to get the squad right, certainly longer than a January window where quality players are hard to come by and with us currently bottom of the pile. Contracts and wages are having to be negotiated with League One in mind, with clauses in place for a wage reduction if we get relegated. Results haven't improved under Lambert but up until the last two weeks, neither had the squad. Let's face it, it's a tough sell to convince a player to join us.

    Where he can make changes immediately is at the training ground and with the supporters. It seems to me that the money pinching backstage has led to a tired looking work environment and he is getting some walls painted etc so that people get a lift and start to perform better. In this day and age where the buzz word is experience, everything is about 'the experience', this is a good move by PL. He's come in and obviously wants to create a more professional atmosphere for the staff and it doesn't cost much for some paint and some new furniture.

    He's also engaged with the supporters and ex players, again, something that doesn't cost that much to do but has a positive affect. We've been crying out for somebody to see the importance of a connection with the community and to somehow drag this club out from under the dark cloud that has settled, leaving a grubby old stadium and supporters losing their passion for the club and Paul has recognised that.

    Results do matter, of course they do and they have been difficult to get with Hurst's assembled team but getting it right behind the scenes is important too. As I said at the top, the squad itself is the longest project but Paul is making changes in other areas of the club that in my mind are just as important if we want to progress, not just scrape survival year after year.
     
    #103
  4. Westlake33

    Westlake33 Well-Known Member

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    Will Keane's on fire, your defence is terrorfied......
     
    #104
  5. YorkieLancsHampyLondoner

    YorkieLancsHampyLondoner Well-Known Member

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    What positive changes do you think he has made?

    This reads like a list of excuses.
     
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    Last edited: Jan 21, 2019
  6. Scowey

    Scowey Well-Known Member

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    I think you are in a minority of 1 with your "Paul Lambert is the cause of our issues" mantra :emoticon-0145-shake
     
    #106
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  7. YorkieLancsHampyLondoner

    YorkieLancsHampyLondoner Well-Known Member

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    I have never said that for one minute. However he has not shown any signs of improving anything in football terms so far and it was a very low bar to begin with.
     
    #107
  8. Westlake33

    Westlake33 Well-Known Member

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    Anyone who isn't Keane or Hurst gets absolutely ripped to s*** until the end of time.

    The indefensible with them two gets defended until the end of time added to boot!

    Still, freedom of speech is a great thing and it's good we all have an opinion.
     
    #108
  9. YorkieLancsHampyLondoner

    YorkieLancsHampyLondoner Well-Known Member

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    Give me an Alf Ramsey or a Bobby Robson or a John Lyall or a George Burley and we will be having a completely different conversation.

    Until then we will just have to debate the nuances of who is the least rubbish and who may or may not be able to light a fire with a couple of soggy sticks.
     
    #109
  10. Nuggets

    Nuggets Well-Known Member

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    Undoubtedly great managers, but I don't think any of them could do much with this Ipswich Town side owned by Marcus Evans and I think it's lazy to say they would magically transform this side. Undoubtedly a slightly controversial opinion from me, but Ramsey and Robson achieved their success with Ipswich in a completely different time period when English football was more much equal in terms of financial power and on-pitch quality. They would be hard-pressed to replicate their success with Ipswich in this day and age. Purely hypothetical of course, but I think they'd struggle to do anything noteworthy with this squad at all. The state of the club is really that dire, and unfortunately a decade of under-investment and long-term decline and short-term thinking have finally sunk this club, as well as a summer of terrible transfer business.
     
    #110

  11. Westlake33

    Westlake33 Well-Known Member

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    Well rightly so, give me a time machine and let me go back to the Robson era to see everything that I never got the chance to see. Or the same with Alf.

    Like Nuggets has said, the games change and I also agree it's very lazy to think they could do a lot with us / the budget etc. Any good players they had would be sold year upon year etc.

    Of course, until then we can only debate what we see, various managers, just beyond me why Keane + Hurst will get backed until the end of time and Mick / now Lambert will get smacked over the head to death. C'est La Vie.
     
    #111
  12. YorkieLancsHampyLondoner

    YorkieLancsHampyLondoner Well-Known Member

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    So if great managers like Ramsey and Robson couldn’t do a job at Town now ( I don’t agree at all by the way ), why does anyone expect a rubbish manager like Lambert to be able to do anything?
     
    #112
  13. YorkieLancsHampyLondoner

    YorkieLancsHampyLondoner Well-Known Member

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    I just prefer ambitious managers who set high professional standards and tell it how they see it. More my kind of people than the bluffers and the blaggers.

    Did not like Roy Keane clearing out the backroom staff. Did not like Paul Hurst playing one striker and leaving it far too long to try something else. Keane was a far more accomplished manager than Hurst. Hurst got a lot wrong but knows what he got wrong, which is a great strength. Lambert I think has the ability but no motivation. McCarthy has a great footballing brain I think has insecurities that stifled his ambition.

    Half the battle is mentality. None of these managers have the right mentality, but for me Hurst and Keane showed more potential to grow, build and to be able to accomplish over time.
     
    #113
    Last edited: Jan 22, 2019
  14. Nuggets

    Nuggets Well-Known Member

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    My personal opinion is that footballing success back then was largely determined by the manager in charge, who was effectively in charge of most aspects of the club. The way the sport has gone now means that any successful football club typically has to have a strong support and off-field structure in place as the traditional responsibilities of a manager are becoming more typically delegated. We don't have a good off-field structure and no real Director of Football (Bowman is in name only and considered a Head Scout). It's one of the reasons why I think we've stagnated and now declined for so many years. Of course they had scouts and the like decades ago, but it's more widespread and comprehensive these days.

    I agree, Lambert alone cannot save this club. But if he had a strong support team in place and a clear footballing ideology that ran throughout the club, from academy to first team (like what he had at Norwich ten years ago), we'd be doing a lot better. This approach would also have benefitted Hurst greatly and helped prevent the errors he made in the summer transfer window. Of course the likes of Hurst and McCarthy would not have operated under this structure, because they're too proud. Those types of managers are dying out and becoming redundant in contemporary football. We need to get ahead of the curve. We were genuinely innovative during Ramsey and Robson's time at the club. We are not anymore.
     
    #114
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  15. Westlake33

    Westlake33 Well-Known Member

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    ' Hurst and Keane showed more potential to grow, build and to be able to accomplish over time. '

    Oh you're right there, they both achieved complete destruction. Won't argue with that.
     
    #115
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  16. YorkieLancsHampyLondoner

    YorkieLancsHampyLondoner Well-Known Member

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    There are enough good players at the club for the right character to come in, drill them so they're tight at the back and score enough goals to compete in nearly all the games we play.

    I am not talking about getting us into Europe or even winning the Championship.

    We are well below where we should be with this group of players.
     
    #116
  17. YorkieLancsHampyLondoner

    YorkieLancsHampyLondoner Well-Known Member

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    Complete and utter nonsense.
     
    #117
  18. Alhare

    Alhare Member

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    really don't see that this group of players has any chance of competing at this level.

    from the start of the season my jaw dropped at the sale of Waghorn. one of the most stand out 'bum decisions' in a long story of bum decisions made since ME Took over and offered hope, a hope so cruelly left unfulfilled for so long now.

    I don believe we can stay up. im looking at it objectively as I can, setting aside the blind hope and faith that comes with being a football fan. were really bad.

    But im completely behind PL. I cannot entertain the idea of him being sacked. its ludicrous. what/who next? its not going to be better. its the same outcome if you dig Ferge out of retirement and put him in charge right now, or resurrect Sir Alf etc

    the points made about the games PL's been In charge of being completely different, in context, to the early games under PH are spot on. taking over a team rock bottom with time running out is very different to starting off afresh with 'your players' and time on your side. the damage was done before and during PH's tenure.

    And as for good ol Georgie B. I don't know what he achieved in his first season results wise (its long time ago, I recall watching us beat Leicester 4-1 and it was a singular highlight in a bad period...about the only win I saw in that era). we also lost 9-0 ffs! but he started preparing he club for relegation and the fight back signing the right players while he could, Mathie being an obvious example. Is PL doing the same? I don't know. Maybe the strikers yes. its no really fair to compare, different era, different circumstances. but the concept must still be applicable; we need to gear ourselves up for relegation and position ourselves to bounce back asap because I don't buy into a theory that relegation to L1 is some 'galvanising' experience where you just romp to the title playing champagne football and carry the momentum on into the PL a la Norwich and city.

    However, of the teams that have managed that incredible feat, we are in possession of one of the men that managed to make it happen. and that's the one silver lining I can see right now....
     
    #118
  19. YorkieLancsHampyLondoner

    YorkieLancsHampyLondoner Well-Known Member

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    I guess everyone is happy with Paul Lambert then they are really getting what they deserve. Marcus Evans will continue to get away with running the club into the ground and Paul Lambert will continue to pick up a whopping pay cheque for absolutely F.A.
     
    #119
  20. San Diego

    San Diego Sir Mediator
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    Bridging the gap with supporters - check
    Improvement of working conditions - check
    Getting a couple of decent players I wasn't expecting - check
    Involving past greats - check
    Already committing to next season - check
    Having more plans for the club than just the next result - check
    Having a clear, positive way that we wants to play - check

    You know, I'm with Alhare above.
    I'm really not that bothered about results this season now. We're done and will be relegated.
    What I am interested in is somebody getting us on the right track again. From behind the scenes to the match day squad. We were very short term under Mick, most squads were built to get through the season and not much more. I want somebody to have a vision, have a goal, have an end product that has been worked towards.
    Paul has done the right things in that respect so far and I'm looking at a longer project, one I thought would be Hurst's, but he just failed spectacularly.
     
    #120

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