(24-01-2013 15:04 )munch1917 Wrote: (24-01-2013 13:57 )Regenerated Wrote: ...
On Villa: they look deeply in the mire. Never seen them as poor as this ever. I reckon defeat at Millwall tomorrow or a loss to Newcastle could signal the end of Lambert's managerial reign. We'll see.
I've heard a lot of commentators saying the Villa squad lacks leadership on the pitch, but I'm not sure I buy that. They still have some senior players like Agbonlahor who should be showing more authority. Just a few years back, Agbonlahor was being courted by the likes of Arsenal, and was sniffing around the England squad. He chose to stay put at Villa, and in all honesty, it's looking like he took the easy option, stay put, pocket his wages and look pretty good in an average team, rather than move on and seriously challenge himself in a better quality environment. His play this season in particular has looked second rate and lazy. I'd say, for a seasoned pro, only Wright-Phillips at QPR has been as woeful as him this season.
Villa are paying the price for continued lack of investment (until they suddenly find money for over-priced signings like Bent). I still don't understand what possessed Lambert to move there from Norwich, from a team doing well and flying high, to a team going nowhere but down. Unless they sold him on a promise of money to spend, he deserves whatever he gets, whether it's relegation or the sack.
If Villa go down, which they certainly deserve to, it could be a long climb back up.
Well said munch1917.
The likes of Agbonlahor, N'Zogbia, Ireland - these are the kind of senior players who should be showing a lot more than what they are.
There's a lot of radio broadcasters in my area talking about Villa's slide in recent years. The fact is that the club has escaped relegation the past two or three seasons because there's been at least three other teams who have been absolute shite at this level, even more so than Villa. My own lot have gone up, not learnt or picked up anything, except a losing mentality to games, and then promptly fell back again; Blackburn had all the anger from the stands thrown at Steve Kean (literally - when someone released that chicken on to the pitch
) and Bolton have suffered from a chairman wanting to change their style of play, to take away their strengths.
I don't think there's the same level of crap teams below them to keep them up this time. Bent is well over-priced - someone definately knew what they were doing when they charged that much. Mysterious injuries have blighted the likes of Vlaar and Dunne - which many broadcasters question the legitamacy of.
I know all this is smoke and mirrors, conspiracy theories, but Villa are suffering because of it. I too therefore question why Lambert took this job on. Let's face it, they were in absolute crap when McLeish was fired - another bizarre appointment in the first place, that one.
As you say, if they do go down, I believe they'll find the Championship an even harder slog. Blackburn, Bolton and Wolves are in the lower reaches this season - it's that losing mentality - once it sets in to the players, its very hard to break out of again, regardless of the strength of the manager's motivational skills.