Lambert

[Alan]

Alright, let's go through the XI briefly, marking each selection as good (G) or bad (B).

Ikeme: I've always liked him, he's had a pish season again but realistically we have no other options. (G)

Iorfa: Don't think there is any doubt that he's our best fullback when he's on form. (G)

Williamson: Been at the heart of our best defensive performances and cup run. (G)

Hause: See Williamson, add in some spectacular upside. (G)

Saville: If our options here are Saville and Doherty, I know which I prefer. (G)

Saiss: Arguably should be the centerpiece we build around next season, if he's here. (G)

Coady: Yeah, no defending this one. (B)

Edwards: Same as Coady, really. Can't play in a 4-3-3. (B)

Marshall: He scored, seemed fit, and apparently risked life and limb putting in his goal. The initial selection may have raised eyebrows but I'd have to think he acquitted himself well. (G)

Dicko: Scored last time out and unless we want to chuck Donovan or Duckens straight in the deep end then you can't really make a better argument for Bod at this point. (G)

Costa: No need to say anything. (G)

So that's two out of eleven selections that weren't the best choice. Those two wrong ones really hurt, no doubt, but it's better than previous and shows a willingness to discard pieces that don't fit. Shows it's possible he could make further correct changes.

I agree that if we don't take at least 4 points from the next two matches he will be sacked, deservedly so. He may even need 6 out of 6.

 

[Deleted Cyber]

Coady Edwards and Saville should not have started full stop. I would argue Stearman in and Hause as left back still beats saville there or you stick with Mr Gloves,having changed the rest of the back four . Still, no left back does limit your options . Marshall was pretty much on nobody's radar to start left midfield especially with savile in the team. Lets play both in a different/ strange position.Even if I agree with u the team sheet was 3 steps forward and 2 back. So improved defence same attack shit midfield. Watch him now start Coady and Edwards at Ipswich.

 

[Deleted Cyber]

Ikeme is not great at all. He is not commanding has poor distribution and costs you 5 goals a season. The lack of alternative on that position is also ridiculous. I had false hopes for Lonergan based on his ability 5 years ago. He is now nowhere near that. And Dicko is in the hot streak form of one goal since August . May as well play mr Gloves up front

 

[Alan]

Ripping on Saville playing leftback only to immediately suggest Doherty at striker says it all about your argument, really. No matter how tongue-in-cheek the Doherty comment was.

I don't buy the "changed back four" mantra here. They're professionals who train with each other every day, and in this case also the same defense (excepting Saville) that put in good performances against Stoke and Liverpool. It's not as if we've slapped together four players who didn't know each other's first names.

 

[Deleted Cyber]

Ripping on Saville playing leftback only to immediately suggest Doherty at striker says it all about your argument, really. No matter how tongue-in-cheek the Doherty comment was.

I don't buy the "changed back four" mantra here. They're professionals who train with each other every day, and in this case also the same defense (excepting Saville) that put in good performances against Stoke and Liverpool. It's not as if we've slapped together four players who didn't know each other's first names.

Ripping on Saville playing leftback only to immediately suggest Doherty at striker says it all about your argument, really. No matter how tongue-in-cheek the Doherty comment was.

I don't buy the "changed back four" mantra here. They're professionals who train with each other every day, and in this case also the same defense (excepting Saville) that put in good performances against Stoke and Liverpool. It's not as if we've slapped together four players who didn't know each other's first names.

with respect you are completely missing the point which I will once again try to make.

1. Changes were needed
2. Changes were made
3. A number of the changes involved playing players out of position which was a surprise
4. A number of those players who deserved or needed to be dropped werent
5. Players who should have done enough to stay in ( Price didnt)
6. We lost
7.We conceded a shit goal again

I really cant sum it up any more than that! Forgive my tongue in cheek about Doherty. It was a toss up between him or Edwards for centre forward but given that both of them have scored more than either our main centre forwards you can but wonder! I am seriously beginning to think Lambert is putting 25 names in a hat and playing the first 11 that come out keeping his fingers crossed that one is Ikeme given his sometimes head scratching selections. All of which I would acknowledge as great insight if Doherty proved to be a great left back, coady a great right back, savile a great left back, Edwards a great number 10, Marshall the next george best , Mason an undiscovered left winger. The list goes on. All of those mentioned have been picked by Lambert in the positions I have highlighted and not one of those players would say its their natural position or the position which we purchased them to fill. There is making changes and there is tinkering. Lambert is Tinkering. Surely the first rule is pick the player in the position in which he is strongest or for which he was purchased? Fuck me it cant get much simpler than that. No excuses for Lambert as he has had a transfer window. " I have nae got a left back" or "I have nae got a striker" or " I have nae got competition for ma Goalie" just doesnt wash when you had 6 weeks to look at this squad post appointment and then 4 weeks of transfer window at one of the richest clubs in the league. God its like a scratched record but wtf does it take for Wolves managers to be convinced with what we as fans have seen for three seasons? Lambert started ok, improved for a few weeks and since then has plummeted with some real poor decisions, tactics, comments in the media( how many times has he said we played well when we clearly didnt). The last tactical and selectional game he got right was Liverpool. Since then hes been on the crack pipe for me.

 

[Tony Towner]

What if there wasn't any money available for a striker, left back or keeper? Still Lambert's fault?

Personally I blame him for some poor team selections, Edwards at 10 is indefensible, particularly when his best form this season was playing deeper.

I blame him for poor in game management, a fat Marshall coming on left wing to try and save / win games against Wigan and Burton rather than Ronan.

I blame him for agricultural football, lumping the ball at a centre forward who doesn't win anything in the air against 6 ft 4 centre halves.

I don't blame him for having a crock of shit to work with.

On the sacking front, there's enough in this post for me to question whether he's the man and I do believe upgrades will be out there. If we don't win on Saturday we will go down, confidence will be completely shot and the fans who I think in the main have been decent this season will turn. Therefore we won't have anything to lose by getting rid, although I take DW's point re who'd take it.

 

[The Bear]

What if there wasn't any money available for a striker, left back or keeper? Still Lambert's fault?

Yeah we're skint...

 

[Freddeno]

Ikeme is not great at all. He is not commanding has poor distribution and costs you 5 goals a season. The lack of alternative on that position is also ridiculous. I had false hopes for Lonergan based on his ability 5 years ago. He is now nowhere near that. And Dicko is in the hot streak form of one goal since August . May as well play mr Gloves up front

Try and triple that and you are closer to the truth.. Joke of a goalie

 

[Tony Towner]

Yeah we're skint...

Of course, he writes the cheques himself doesn't he? Of course we haven't already spent £30m this season have we? Of course FFP doesn't exist - at least in Thelwell's head does it?

 

[Tredman]

Try and triple that and you are closer to the truth.. Joke of a goalie

He's not a 'joke' of a keeper he's an average to lower level championship keeper and we could definitely do a lot worse (e.g. Lonerghan)

 

[Johnny75]

I think the point is that people can see that Lambert would be a decent manager (clearly better than his predecessors regardless of their records) if he had better players to work with.

The problem is the recruitment, the general philosophy of hard work over talent and several players who have long overstayed their welcome, were never good enough in the first place or have been underperforming for a long time.

I'm not sure he is a decent manager as I haven't seen any evidence of this yet (the binning of Saiss and Prince early on, the shambles we are playing at the moment, everything that Tony has said). A decent manager would've come in and stamped his authority on the squad and if he thinks playing Edwards at 10 or Doherty at all in a long ball system that clearly doesn't suit the strikers then he shouldn't be at the club.

I don't think the players are blameless but keep picking the obvious crap week in week out and asking them to hoof the ball isn't a good thing or decent management. No point asking Edwards to be a decent number 10 as he can't be, equally no point in fizzing crosses into the box for Dicko or Bod as (a) they are the ones doing the crossing and (b) they couldn't get on the end of a queue.

I agree with you on recruitment although Lambert did say he wanted to be involved in this, he's also said that we have too many midfielders and a striker is his priority, when our midfield is as weak as it is you have to play long ball and we have no discernible service into a striker it is hard to judge, why not get a central striker in on loan? To then get in 2 wingers seems odd to me.

I'm not sure anybody may have heard me mention my opinion on our recruitment process... once or twice....

 

[Deutsch Wolf]

If he keeps us up - and I think he will - then I'd say you could equate his job so far to what Dave Jones did when he came in during 2000/01. He was tasked with dragging us away from the relegation zone and getting us into a position more befitting of our status, he didn't really do this with much conviction though, we only secured survival on the penultimate weekend and our final 12th placed position was deceptive as the table had a very odd look with us only finishing four points above 19th placed Stockport (we were a whole 13 points behind Forest who finished one place above us!). He bought Butler, who'd already been here and for whom a deal was already more or less in place, he bought Roussel who proved to be a waste of time (albeit partly due to DJ's legendary man management). He played youth at points, he gave us a couple of great wins over Albion and Blues, there were reasonable signs here and there but overall he didn't really impress in that half season. Then he got handed a massive budget in the summer of 2001 and we all know the rest.

 

[Dart wolves]

If we don't get 4 pts from the next 2 games,he's got to go,
Get Rowett in, i think we will stay up by the skin of our teeth , and then as soon as the season finishes,start the clear out ! DOF,coaches and players
we are a big club in this division and any decent manager would relish the challenge to rebuild this club with the wealthy owners we have !
if we go down, i fear Fosun might want to get rid.

 

[Deutsch Wolf]

Rowett won't come. Not right now.

 

[Dart wolves]

Rowett won't come. Not right now.

Why do you think he won"t come now ?

 

[Paddingtonwolf]

Because we might go down and that becomes a blot on his CV even though it would actually be the fault of earlier incumbents. If you are in post on the day relegation is confirmed then that is it.

Might as well wait until the summer. Plus he will get offers from Championship clubs early in the next season where he would have more chance to influence their fate.

 

[Deutsch Wolf]

He's forged a reputation as a good manager at this level, based on getting Blues punching well above their weight for a couple of years (it's probably a slightly artificially high reputation in reality given he hasn't so much as managed a playoff spot in this league). At the moment, any decent Championship job he's being linked to, even some low end PL ones.

Lambert isn't going to go unless a) we get absolutely thumped on Tuesday b) we end up with 0-1 points from the next two games. Let's say it's scenario B. We've failed to beat a Rotherham team who up to then had one point away from home all season. We've either lost all of our last seven games or we have a solitary point to show for that spell. We're in the bottom three. There are 11 games left. We cannot sign anyone and there are so many weak areas of the squad that we can't just patch up, whoever you play is rubbish. We still have to face Brighton, Huddersfield, Leeds and Fulham in those 11 games, with not much likelihood of us getting anything in any of them.

If you're Gary Rowett would you take that job now in March or wait 2-3 months and the job might still become available with a clean slate in this division, or something better at another club might come along? Take it now, go down and rightly or wrongly, you could be complicit in taking Wolves down when they spent £30m in the Championship. Which then leaves you walking away from a relegation that you were part of (not a great look), getting sacked if we totally lose our shit, or managing in League One.

I don't see why he'd take it at this stage, it's fanciful talk.

 

[Lord Knows]

Why do you think he won"t come now ?

Mainly because it would be Kevin Thelwell selling his vision rather than Fosun outlining a massively progressive ambitious plan to take Wolves into the Premier league. The club seems controlled by small minded, reserved thinkers at this time.

 

[Dart wolves]

He's forged a reputation as a good manager at this level, based on getting Blues punching well above their weight for a couple of years (it's probably a slightly artificially high reputation in reality given he hasn't so much as managed a playoff spot in this league). At the moment, any decent Championship job he's being linked to, even some low end PL ones.

Lambert isn't going to go unless a) we get absolutely thumped on Tuesday b) we end up with 0-1 points from the next two games. Let's say it's scenario B. We've failed to beat a Rotherham team who up to then had one point away from home all season. We've either lost all of our last seven games or we have a solitary point to show for that spell. We're in the bottom three. There are 11 games left. We cannot sign anyone and there are so many weak areas of the squad that we can't just patch up, whoever you play is rubbish. We still have to face Brighton, Huddersfield, Leeds and Fulham in those 11 games, with not much likelihood of us getting anything in any of them.

If you're Gary Rowett would you take that job now in March or wait 2-3 months and the job might still become available with a clean slate in this division, or something better at another club might come along? Take it now, go down and rightly or wrongly, you could be complicit in taking Wolves down when they spent £30m in the Championship. Which then leaves you walking away from a relegation that you were part of (not a great look), getting sacked if we totally lose our $#@!, or managing in League One.

I don't see why he'd take it at this stage, it's fanciful talk.

so if either a or b happens, and PL gets the sack what do we do ?
understand that no decent manager wants a relegation on his CV ,
we will still have 33 pts up for grabs ,we will need at least 15 to poss stay up ?

 

[Deutsch Wolf]

As stated earlier in the thread I don't see us getting anything other than the absolute dregs willing to take the job on in this position (I do actually think we'll at very least beat Rotherham). So we have no realistic option other than to hope that Lambert sorts it out as he has eked out *some* good performances, albeit not lately.

If people genuinely think that Russell Slade, Steve Cotterill, Stuart Gray, Micky Adams etc would do a better job or we'd be better off going back to Rob Edwards (which I think would actually be most likely) then fine, but I can't agree with that at all.

46-47 will give you a good shot at staying up this year, not that you would want to cut it that fine.