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Have no sympathy for Lambert. He has caused a lot of the problems by leaving experienced players out for younger players.

 

Read few things on another messageboards about the abuse bannan has been taking this season.

 

 

Any time I have seen Villa play he has played ok. Plays a simple game so not sure where the abuse really comes from.

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Have no sympathy for Lambert. He has caused a lot of the problems by leaving experienced players out for younger players.

 

Read few things on another messageboards about the abuse bannan has been taking this season.

 

 

Any time I have seen Villa play he has played ok. Plays a simple game so not sure where the abuse really comes from.

 

If Lambert can be criticised for anything it's over estimating the quality of the squad he was getting, if he really knew what he was walking into there's no way he'd have gone for the signing policy of throwing in young guys from the lower leagues.

 

Villas problems go back to MON being out of control with the budget. He signed some real dross on huge wages that have been a drain on the club ever since. A string of poor appointments since MON have unsurprisingly failed to address the weaknesses of the squad.

 

The core of senior players at Lamberts disposal are a mixture of those who failed to reach their potential (Agbonlahor, Delph), those who aren't good enough (Hutton, Warnock), those who have a bit of talent but aren't interested (Ireland, N'Zogbia), Given who's done, and an absolute charlatan in Darren Bent.

 

There isn't an ounce of leadership ability between them.

 

The younger players try hard enough but are mostly average. Out of Lamberts signings Vlaar and Benteke have shown promise, most of the others look way out their depth. Some of them might go on to be ok, at Villa they have no-one to look up to.

 

So I have a little bit of sympathy for Lambert, someone needs to gut that whole squad and start again.

Along the track the train came puffin, Morton 1 Celtic nuffin.
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Villas problems go back to MON being out of control with the budget. He signed some real dross on huge wages that have been a drain on the club ever since. A string of poor appointments since MON have unsurprisingly failed to address the weaknesses of the squad.

 

I think that's too easy an excuse for MON's successors. For example, Friedel, Cuellar, Dunne, Collins and Warnock formed one of the best defences in the Premier League in his final season. For me, the failure of his successors has been (a) not to get the best out of those players he inherited, and (b.) to have tried to replace too many too soon with players of lesser quality.

 

I realise MON spent a lot, but I'd argue that to take a pretty poor squad from 16th to 6th and challenging for the Champions League required a fair whack to be spent - and that's without losing Laursen, Bouma and Mellberg for no money and having to replace them. On top of that, he turned Barry into a £10m+ player, and Young, Milner and Downing all moved on for handsome profits. He might too have handed out huge wages to players like Beye etc (what manager hasn't signed dross!?), but - again - his side had the sixth/seventh highest wage budget in the league, and that was reflected in where they finished. I think Villa finished with more points season on season, and closer to the top four season on season under MON, so it's not as though he left behind a squad of haddies. There was some quality there for his successors to work with (even if that meant managing decline).

 

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I think that's too easy an excuse for MON's successors. For example, Friedel, Cuellar, Dunne, Collins and Warnock formed one of the best defences in the Premier League in his final season. For me, the failure of his successors has been (a) not to get the best out of those players he inherited, and (b.) to have tried to replace too many too soon with players of lesser quality.

 

I realise MON spent a lot, but I'd argue that to take a pretty poor squad from 16th to 6th and challenging for the Champions League required a fair whack to be spent - and that's without losing Laursen, Bouma and Mellberg for no money and having to replace them. On top of that, he turned Barry into a £10m+ player, and Young, Milner and Downing all moved on for handsome profits. He might too have handed out huge wages to players like Beye etc (what manager hasn't signed dross!?), but - again - his side had the sixth/seventh highest wage budget in the league, and that was reflected in where they finished. I think Villa finished with more points season on season, and closer to the top four season on season under MON, so it's not as though he left behind a squad of haddies. There was some quality there for his successors to work with (even if that meant managing decline).

 

I'm not running down MON's achievements in any way. The league finishes, the cup final and FA cup semi were a decent run. At times the football was superb, players like Ashley Young were inspired signings.

 

At the same time though you can't deny the spending got out of control at the end. Yes a number of players turned a profit but have a look at the names Villa took a bath on. Cueller, Knight, Davies, L Young, Warnock, Sidwell, Heskey, Baye, Delph, Harewood etc.

 

I disagree with you about MON's influence on Barry. Barry was head and shoulders above every other player at VP, a great player who came of age. You can almost plot Villas decline to the day he left.

 

Signing an occasionally fit and rarely interested Ireland on a reported 80K a week was the parting shot.

 

Add the failures of Houllier, McLeish and Lerner and Lambert was left with a piss poor squad.

Along the track the train came puffin, Morton 1 Celtic nuffin.
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I'm not running down MON's achievements in any way. The league finishes, the cup final and FA cup semi were a decent run. At times the football was superb, players like Ashley Young were inspired signings.

 

At the same time though you can't deny the spending got out of control at the end. Yes a number of players turned a profit but have a look at the names Villa took a bath on. Cueller, Knight, Davies, L Young, Warnock, Sidwell, Heskey, Baye, Delph, Harewood etc.

 

I disagree with you about MON's influence on Barry. Barry was head and shoulders above every other player at VP, a great player who came of age. You can almost plot Villas decline to the day he left.

 

Signing an occasionally fit and rarely interested Ireland on a reported 80K a week was the parting shot.

 

Add the failures of Houllier, McLeish and Lerner and Lambert was left with a piss poor squad.

 

Agree with much of that, though I think Cuellar and Warnock did him a turn.

 

On Ireland - I doubt very much that O'Neill was keen on him. It's interesting that O'Neill was successful in his constructive dismissal claim against the club. I suspect Ireland's name might have featured heavily in the arbitration process. Reading between the lines it looks as though O'Neill left when he was told he couldn't sign Parker and would have Ireland instead as part of the Milner deal.

 

On Barry - yeah, he was a class act, but he was almost on his way to Pompey when MON took over, and I think his game improved considerably under him. Also, given that Villa had more points and two Wembley appearances the season after Barry left, I don't see that as a big turning point - it is something they should have been able to deal with (and signing Parker would have helped). I think the failure adequately to replace Milner was more significant.

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