The last four years have been one indignity after the next. Seemingly this team contrives to invent new ways to fail and to fail in ways it never has before. Under McLeish it was the fewest wins in a league season. This year it’s most home league losses.
The loss to Fulham wasn’t necessarily due to a lack of effort. The guys on the field were trying, they just didn’t have a clue. They passed the ball sideways and backwards without creating anything. Both goals were terrible to concede, but in possession is where this game was lost. Against a team whose defensive record is beyond pathetic we couldn’t score from open play or generate many chances. If we had the ability to score early and play with a lead the complexion of the game could’ve been different. Then again it could’ve gone like the Stoke game.
The team that was on the pitch wasn’t good enough. The combined cost of the 18 man squad was £12.6m. That’s what the club paid Newcastle for James Milner. The Daily Mail ran a scathing assessment of where the club is at and they mentioned that the club hasn’t paid more than £8m for a player since 2011. It’s all well and good to buy kids on the cheap to fill out the squad and looking for diamonds in the rough, but building a team that way is like planning for retirement by buying lottery tickets.
That’s not to say that this manager would be able to get the most out of players who experienced and command higher wages. All of the high earners he inherited have been alienated and marginalized. The last player way paid over £8m is collecting £40k a week to jet set between Miami, New York and Dubai while he is allegedly injured. Contrast that with how he performed under Roberto Martinez. I was a skeptic when Martinez was linked to us. That along with the job he is doing with Everton shows what I know.
That the manager is saying he wants the player back, while the player refutes it to defend himself from abuse on social media is embarrassing It’s always the lie or the coverup that is more embarrassing than the event. Just like the notion Randy Lerner attends games in secret with his Groucho Marx mustache and glasses. The sad thing is that a player with N’Zogbia’s skill set is exactly what this team needs. He could play on the opposite wing from Marc in a 4-4-2 (as opposed to a left back playing there), as a number 10 behind the strikers, or as a wide forward in Lambert’s 4-3-3 instead of throwing Andi Wiemann out there week after week.
The manager’s comments about Andi were illustrative:
This year the only difference is his goalscoring hasn’t been what it was last year because he scored a lot last year. That’s the only thing missing from his game, but Andi is another young lad who is really still starting out….I think it’s well documented that his workrate is incredible. If Andi doesn’t score you know he’s going to put a right good shift in for you and that’s a big attribute to have
Well other than that Mrs. Lincoln, how was the play? I get that he’s not a nonentity like Darren Bent when he’s not scoring goals; the manager is trying to boost a young player’s confidence. I think deep down he believes what he is saying to some degree. One of the things I was looking for from Day 1 with this manager was that as he stepped up in class from Norwich to Villa was how he would value craft versus graft, and how he would handle a different class of player. Seeing how he’s bombed out so many players and the players he’s brought in its clear he values effort over real quality.
Building a team like that will get you out of the Championship. The momentum may even carry over to the Premier League. It’s not going to get you into Europe. It’s not going to attract players of real quality who can make a difference at the top level unless you get lucky like they did with Benteke. Even if more money is available this summer I’m skeptical it will make much of a difference.
This summer is more critical than Lambert’s first. He needs to find a new N’Zogbia, and find an experienced all-around midfielder to partner with Delph. Westwood and El Ahmedi haven’t been terrible, but there have been too many games where they haven’t been good enough. If he can find those guys this team is good enough to kick on and he will earn a new contract.
There’s no reason for him to get one now. He doesn’t exactly have leverage. On the last two years Premier League clubs won’t be knocking over themselves to sign him. Most importantly the jury is still out if he is the man to take the club forward. I’m not ready to run him out of town on a rail, but there is a healthy skepticism.
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