It seems the man Norwich fans love to hate, Paul Lambert is destined to get a contract extension at Aston Villa. However, many heads around the country are being scratched wondering what has the current occupier of the Villa hot seat done to merit such an honour.
There is no doubt that, at present, the Villa job is one of the hardest in modern English football, mainly due to the suffocating austerity measures that club owner Randy Lerner has insisted the club operates under, a plan that doesn’t seem to be changing any time soon.
Villa are currently dwarfed in the transfer market, not only by the obvious superpowers of the Premiership like Manchester City, but by direct relegation rivals each season like Stoke City. One would have to turn to Google or another internet search engine to ascertain when Villa actually last bought a Premier League player from a Premiership club – it certainly hasn’t been the case under the club’s current manager.
However, whilst the Villa job is a poisoned chalice in many ways, it is a club that is often regarded as a sleeping giant and rightly so, though one could argue that the club is in hibernation rather than sleep at present.
Getting back to the manager, it has been widely theorised that one of the main remits of Lambert’s job has been to move on the high earners at the club, whilst at the same time keeping the club’s seat in the Premier League and, on paper, one would have to agree he has indeed achieved this thus far.
High earners were gradually frozen out of first team affairs and gently nudged in the direction of the exit door. These “senior pros” have been replaced by unproven relatively cheap players – Lambert often utilises “young & hungry” to describe his player recruitment drive, but it can also be described as “hit & miss”. His signings are listed below:
Antonio Luna Rodriguez,
Karim El Ahmadi,
Brad Guzan (Re-signed),
Nicklas Helenius Jensen,
Matthew Lowton,
Christian Benteke,
Aleksandar Tonev,
Ron Vlaar,
Simon Dawkins(Loan),
Leandro Bacuna,
Joseph Bennett,
Grant Holt(Loan)
Jores Okore,
Jordan Bowery,
Ryan Bertrand(Loan),
Libor Kozák,
Ashley Westwood,
Jed Steer,
Yacouba Sylla.
Looking at that list, I wonder how many of Lambert’s signings could be confidently deemed as Premiership quality, not only in terms of when they signed, but in terms of “Will they ever be that level?”.
In Lambert’s defence, one has to remember that the current wages Aston Villa are offering greatly reduce his choice of player in the market. Could another manager have recruited better? Has Lambert proved his competency in the transfer market? After all, no manager gets it right all the time.
Lambert’s Football Philosophy
When the masses of Claret and Blue Villa fans chanted Lambert’s name at Carrow Road, in desperate hope of him being recruited after the expected exit of Alex McLeish, the then Norwich manager was viewed by many as an attack minded, up and coming manager.
Exciting football was something that was expected to wash away the drab and dour style that was the Villa signature under Alex McLeish. However, unfortunately this attacking ambition Lambert promised in his early days when he often stated “He rather try win a game than get a draw” sacrificed nearly all of Aston Villa’s defensive structure – a situation that could have easily been as damaging, if not more damaging, that McLeish’s attitude.
Last season in the 38 league games Villa played, the team conceded 69 goals including a record breaking 8 in one game against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge. No team that survived relegation conceded as many goals as Lambert’s Villa, and the strategy the team has utilised during Lambert’s reign is the same one that has been in place for quite a number of years at Villa – counter attacking.
This has yielded some fantastic points hauls when the side takes to the road, but unfortunately the side’s form at home has been nothing sort of lacklustre – I don’t envy those who have to turn up every week to see us play at Villa Park.
In addition, long balls are the most used weapon in the Villa armoury under Lambert which, in turn, means that opponents are regularly lavished with plenty of time on the ball and possession. Of course, the main statistic that concerns most football fans is the one on the scoreboard, yet it is simply impossible to impose any influence on a football match without the ball.
This season it cannot be ignored that Villa’s league position is improved on last (thus far) and the defence has performed at a far more consistent level than last year also – all in all, these are good signs, but they aren’t the full picture either given we are in February, not May.
Tactically, Lambert has flirted with a variety of formations, but one permanent black mark on his tactical nous will always been when he resorted to a 4-2-4 panic team set up against Bradford City last year, expecting the solution to all of Villa’s problems being “play more strikers”.
I should contrast that with the fact that he has also pulled the odd piece of tactical genius out of the bag like his decision a few weeks ago to play the far more energetic Andreas Weimann against the good-but-aging Steven Gerrard.Not only was Gerard’s influence almost totally nullified but, when Villa attacked, Weimann exposed Gerrard’s lack of pace and helped himself to a goal.
All in all it could be said that Lambert’s overall performance as Aston Villa manager has raised more questions than answers with regard to how good of a fit he is for the club. The timing of Lambert being offered a contract extension is rather odd when one considers the fact that Premiership survival has not yet been secured for this season.
Maybe there is more going on behind the scenes at Villa Park than meets the eye. Charlie Wyett of The Sun broke a story at the weekend indicating that Lerner is proactively trying to sell the club which, in turn, prompted Paul Faulkner to state categorically that Aston Villa is not for sale.
The very fact Faulkner released a statement at all in response to a rumour is somewhat surprising, but even more surprising is the breaking news that Lambert is getting a contract extension. Perhaps the wisdom behind the contract offer is more smokescreen than strategy, though implying the choice to extend a manager’s contract indicates Lerner is going nowhere soon – only time will tell.
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