A few notes on what Lambert had to say at the Fans' Parliament:
- Re: the fitness thing, loads of managers say this when they come in, it buys them a bit of time and tacitly slags off their predecessor, giving them a bit of a getout if there's no immediate improvement. TWF favourite Brucie Bruce did it after we played Villa. Of course it could be that both RDM and Zenga are wasters who don't bother with fitness work but that seems a bit odd given their backgrounds and the fact that when you hear the likes of Souness, Francis, Wilkins, Platt etc speak about their time in Serie A in the 80s/90s it was a world away from England's "steak and chips after a bit of five-a-side" regimes. We also used to finish games fairly strongly under Zenga, it wasn't like we were blowing out of our arses after 60 minutes like we were in the Solbakken days. We just started like utter tards most of the time.
- I like the way Lambert speaks some of the time but that doesn't give him immunity when he does things like picking Saville on the left of midfield in a home game and if he doesn't see that LB is a ridiculously weak area for us at the moment then that isn't going to reflect on him very well either. Actions speak louder than words. Maybe he's slowly coming to grips with who's crap and who's worth persevering with.
- Not keen on us handing Ikeme a new deal, he isn't good enough for where we want to be. He's been a lot better than last season (not a high bar, for a keeper playing close to a full season that was the worst campaign I've ever seen any Wolves keeper have) but that still leaves you with someone who is at best ordinary for this level, plus he still picks up at least one injury a season. I don't want us handing out contracts to average Championship players with no improvement in them, what is the point? You just end up lumbered with them for years and end up persevering with them because they're still here rather than actively looking to improve. Go out and sign a proper keeper and get rid of Ikeme and Lonergan.
- Sounds as if he really likes Jack Price, which I'm ok with when the competition is Coady, Saville and to an extent Edwards, but I don't think he's ever going to be part of a really dominant midfield in this division. I wouldn't have him on a par with say, Grant Leadbitter who is no world beater himself and who Boro have quietly shuffled aside once they got promoted.
- I'm still not sure his point about the squad being too big really holds up, we're imbalanced in central midfield for sure - although you have to factor in that Evans hasn't played for four months and Oniangue has been missing for a while too, so that brings the numbers down - to me that's a line that's designed to tell the board that their signing policy wasn't very good in the summer so let him do it his own way. Managers will never complain about having too many good players, it's that we're overloaded with shite that's the issue.
- I hope he sticks to his word about the kids, I want a run in the team for Bright now, Ronan should be an option off the bench rather than Saville etc, ditto Herc, Ennis should make the squad when he comes back, even when everyone's fit either Burgoyne or Flatt should be the sub keeper rather than Lonergan, I think Breslin might have a shot at some point too.