Aston Villa sack Paul Lambert

http://www.itv.com/news/update/2015-02-11/aston-villa-sack-paul-lambert/?

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Didn't see that coming

Always knew that open free-flowing approach would be his downfall.

They have given him every chance except money to improve the team especially in the goal scoring department.

Maybe predictable but you have to have some sympathy. He's hardly been given a Prem budget to work with while the owners have been trying to offload the club.

They had a goalscorer at the club in Darren Bent, who they had spent £20m (+) on signing, but for whatever reason Lambert wouldn't play him.

Porky

Quoted from blundellpork

They had a goalscorer at the club in Darren Bent, who they had spent £20m (+) on signing, but for whatever reason Lambert wouldn't play him.



Porky

He is scoring plenty of goals on his loan spell right now. Guess we will never know why lambert didn't play bent but when a team is struggling for goals it seems mad he was not given a chance. I think his sacking was long over due to be honest , but he wasn't given much money to invest in the team.

With Bent, I think it's the modern idea that the forwards have to work as hard as the midfielders, running the channels and tracking back etc. Bent is an out and out goal scorer.

They've overdone the football from what I can see, they've looked predictable and toothless for some time. If I get the job, I'll recall Bent, play 4-4-2 and go direct towards Benteke.

The biggest non surprise of the season

Quoted from blundellpork

They had a goalscorer at the club in Darren Bent, who they had spent £20m (+) on signing, but for whatever reason Lambert wouldn't play him.

Porky

Bent was signed by Macleish and has been on loan to different clubs for the past 2 seasons with a bit of time back at Villa in between. There must have been issues pre-Lambert that caused him to be left out. I'd be reluctant to blame Lambert over this. The biggest problem at Villa is the owners who want to sell the club and therefore don't want to spend any more than minimum cash. Lambert has been sacked because of the danger the club might go down and be worth less money. The owners don't want success they just want survival which is why they stuck with Lambert so long. He's only a pawn in the game.

*Houllier (but it's easy to forget he was even there ;))

I think the snubbing of Bent is geared towards getting him off the wage bill more than anything.  Same approach was taken towards Alan Hutton and Stephen Ireland, although Hutton has since come back into the team.

Bent's on a good whack and the Villa policy is around reducing the wage bill and reliance on a benefactor (Lerner is quite adamant he wants out).   But at what price someone who can score the goals and keep you in the Prem......was it something like £99mill a season with the new TV Deal?

Lambert hasn't got a lot of money to play with so his hands are tied but I'm very surprised he didn't look to offload Benteke in the transfer window, albeit at a much reduced price than the £30mill that was banded about 12/18 months ago, using the funds to bring in a gamble of a striker from the Championship.  Either of the lads at Blackburn for example, maybe not even that great.  A journeyman even.  

Lambert's biggest mistake, to me, has been to do nothing to address the problem that they can't score goals.  All the players he brought in have not been goalscorers, they've been the players to create chances.

Are Hull becoming the new Grimsby ?

Lose there and you get the sack. ;D ;D

If i remember Bent fell out of favour when he didn't travel with the team he was left out of the side and he was caught going christmas shopping. There was a big thing about it on Sky Sports News at the time. I didn't see the problem he wasn't playing and did a bit of shopping, it was not like he was out drinking. Benteke has lost is goal scoring form aswell.

Aston Villa have been a struggiling club since the recession the owner wants out of the club its a shame Martin O'neill signed good players and the club sold them on at a double price Young 23 mil, Milner 30 mil, Downing 20 mil and sold Barry for 12 mil a year before they turned down 20 mil from Liverpoool which was a bit strange sold him on a cheaper price.

Every manager has has a tough time since Martin O'neill left and its going to keep getting tougher.

Quoted from fiveallive

If i remember Bent fell out of favour when he didn't travel with the team he was left out of the side and he was caught going christmas shopping. There was a big thing about it on Sky Sports News at the time. I didn't see the problem he wasn't playing and did a bit of shopping, it was not like he was out drinking. Benteke has lost is goal scoring form aswell.

Aston Villa have been a struggiling club since the recession the owner wants out of the club its a shame Martin O'neill signed good players and the club sold them on at a double price Young 23 mil, Milner 30 mil, Downing 20 mil and sold Barry for 12 mil a year before they turned down 20 mil from Liverpoool which was a bit strange sold him on a cheaper price.

Every manager has has a tough time since Martin O'neill left and its going to keep getting tougher.

Exactly. If Lambert made a mistake it was in not going earlier, but then he would have had to forego his 12 months severance so he stuck it out until the owners lost their nerve and fired him.