As most of you know, Lambert was a top man at our club. I reckoned it was a privilege to watch him. To me he was almost the complete player. He can head, shoot with either foot, take set plays, hold the ball up, lay off a simple but effective pass... Yet the nitpickers would say he lacked pace and would not succeed at the highest level. He's obviously doing well for you, and you could well end up in the Premier League next season. Do you see Lambert as a Premier League player ?
yes. there have been worse players than rickie playing in the premier league. he has improved so much since he came to us, i cant believe he wasnt snapped up by somebody else much sooner.
Lambert is a very much improved player since arriving from Bristol. He certainly had good skills which has been honed since arriving. He is fitter and sharper. In truth nobody can accurately predict if he will make it in the premier. All we can make judgements on is based on when he has played premier class quality players.....like Birmingham were or Man united.....or even dare I say dear old Pompey. Did he look out of his league when he played these people? No he did not, so for me he will be a useful asset providing we can get there within the next 2 years.
He may lack pace but he isn't slow. If we were to get promoted this season he would be one of the first names on the team sheet again next year.
Yes. Kevin Davis,James Beattie,shola ameobi,Grant Holt,Cameron Jerome,Emile Heskey,Ebanks Blake, John Carew, Nicholas Bedtnar could keep going. Have or are gracing the Prem and Ricky is as good if not better than any of them.
As stated above, Lambert has improved considerably since coming here. The big thing for me this season though, he is fitter and leaner than he's ever been and I've no doubt he could do a job for us in the Premiership.....wouldn't mind betting though that Pardew comes sniffing round in January, mind you he'll have to get past Cortese first.
His ability to hold the ball up would make him an asset for a Premier League team; hopefully Saints next season.
He could play for us, the role Davies plays for Bolton. He doesn't need speed as he has other assets. However the list of players above, Lambert at his best could not match any of those names, other than holt and blake.
I think he could do it in the Premiership. Not 25+ goals in a season, but probably 15+. But tbh, until it happens then who knows. Hammond has taken the step up from L1 level to Championship much better than I thought, and on the flipside Fonte hasn't taken the step up as well as I thought (he looked head and shoulders the best defender in L1 last season and I thought he'd stand out again this season. But actually, in the few games we've played so far I get the feeling that this is his level).
St Brendy -I agree with you about Fonte. He does not appear to have come up to expectation. He really struggled early on yesterday at Derby but eventually got the measure of their strikers but thought Jos got to grips much quicker
I don't see why not. He's getting better every game and his confidence is growing. People will write him off AGAIN and he'll prove them wrong AGAIN.
Remember Fonte was one of Palace's best players in the Championship, I wouldn't worry about him to much he is still a class act. Lambert is unreal, you always get that buzz about him when gets the ball because you know he can pretty much do anything with it. His goalscoring record says it all and now Adkins has got hold of his dieting and nutrution he has got even better. I would say looking back on his fee of around £1m you could easily say we under payed for him. But I'm not complaining!!
I expect the Bristol City fans will still chant "you fat bastard" at him despite being leaner and fitter than ever. He's a new man under Adkins. An excellent technical player with power and feet like sledgehammers who I can't praise highly enough. My surprise is that it's taken him this long to get to the second tier. It's inevitable that there will be interest and some half-arsed reports in the press, but I fully expect Cortese to bat it off.
Pace, age and lack of experience at the highest level count against him of course, but with a following wind, i reckon he's got the attributes and footballing brain to become the next sheringham/davies. We'll see. He's had trouble with his weight before, that can be problematic in a couple of respects as a player gets older.
On player. Nigel said they're weighed before and after a match! Probably afraid they'll stuff crisps and chocolate during the match.
