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Manager Sack Watch 2013/14

Paul Lambert admitted Aston Villa are 'a million miles away' from where he wants the club to be.

Lambert's side head into Saturday's clash with Swansea looking to halt a run of four successive defeats that has seen them slide to within three points of the Premier League relegation zone.

Home form has been the biggest problem, with Villa picking up only seven points and scoring just six goals, the worst record in the top four divisions.

They have found the net in only one of their last six home matches and the fans made their feelings clear as Villa slumped to a 1-0 defeat by Crystal Palace on Boxing Day.

Lambert conceded expectations are not making life easier, saying: 'The lads are edgy on certain things but we have to work on that.

'You can't turn round and be critical of the crowd, that's for sure. It's too big a club.

'It's probably not helping in terms of us trying to play our game at certain times but they pay their money and they're entitled to voice their opinion.

'Football is about giving people something to cheer. We're doing everything we can to keep building what we want to try and do. I'm a million miles short of what I want to do with the club.

'Personally I know what it's like because I've played with big clubs as a footballer. I was never exempt from criticism.

'I remember my first few games at Celtic, I lost them. People were saying go back to Dortmund, 60,000 or whatever it was. Until I bedded myself in and got a grip of it, then it went reasonably okay.

'I know criticism. For the team, when they're young, they need that support through thick and thin.

'Some people talk about bravery of going in for a tackle that's 10 feet high and blood, guts and thunder. Bravery's taking the ball in front of 40,000 or 50,000 in an area where people will just shy away from it.

'As long as they never do that - that's the one thing I can't accept, trying to hide. As long as they keep trying to do the right things, then I'll never criticise them.

'I don't want to be sitting like this every time. It's a challenge I'm not going to wilt under. I've never wilted. You fight it, you don't run away from it.'

Michael Laudrup's Swansea sit a point above Villa and are also not in good form having gone five matches without a victory.

'Even if you don't win in one, there's pressure,' said Lambert. 'Football now, you get one or two games. If you've not won two games, there's a crisis, it's getting shorter and shorter.

'Swansea are on that same kind of run, I'm pretty sure if you asked Michael he'd say the exact same thing. It's a big game for both teams.'

Midfielder Ashley Westwood returns from suspension but Lambert is limited in his options, with top scorer Christian Benteke and defender Ron Vlaar still injured.

Goalkeeper Brad Guzan was one of the few players to emerge from the Palace game with credit, and he promised Villa fans the team will give everything to try to stop the rot on Saturday.

The American said: 'We understand that the supporters are frustrated, we're frustrated.

'We know that we're going through a bit of a rough patch. There are teams all up and down the country that will, if they haven't already, go through a rough patch and that's what makes the Premier League the Premier League.

'We beat Emirates Marketing Project here, we beat Arsenal at the Emirates, so we've picked up some positive results and that's what we're going to lean on.

'We have to stay confident, we're together, we're in this with the supporters as well. We need to make this right.

'Four games doesn't make you a bad team. We know we have to be better. We have to find a way on Saturday to go out and get a result.'


http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-2530001/Aston-Villa-million-miles-I-want-says-Paul-Lambert.html
 
Don't get it either. He's turned down other offers in the past because he wants to make sure it's the right choice.
 
Don't get it either. He's turned down other offers in the past because he wants to make sure it's the right choice.

Maybe he only plans to be there until the end of the season and then pick up a better job after raising his profile. If they go down, everyone will blame Tan.
 
Ole Gunnar Solskjær was born on the 26th.

As 2+6=8, it's absolutely certain that Tan will hire him
 
1 win in 13 for Fat Sam. Are they really going to let him bring in even more average high-earners?
 
I wonder if he's regretting not taking the Villa job when he (most likely) could have gotten that. He said then that he would only take the right job for him or words to that effect, but this is a bit of a gamble.

Suppose managing a club with a bit of a madman as chairman is a bit of a safety net for your reputation though. Can always just blame it on Tan if it doesn't work out.
 
I wonder if he's regretting not taking the Villa job when he (most likely) could have gotten that. He said then that he would only take the right job for him or words to that effect, but this is a bit of a gamble.

Suppose managing a club with a bit of a madman as chairman is a bit of a safety net for your reputation though. Can always just blame it on Tan if it doesn't work out.


Maybe he thought Villa a bit too big for him.

I suspect OGS has decided to go down the Poccetinho/Martinez/Rodgers route of starting modest, rather than the AVB/Mourinho/Ferguson route of jumping right in at the top (or, at least, too high).

And oddly, given so many teams are stuggling, there aren't actually that many jobs likely to come up soon. Only really West Ham, Norwich and West Brom (outside chances at Stoke or Southampton). For various reasons Cardiff might well be a better option than any of them.
 
I don't want to see Tan prosper, but it'll be interesting to see how Solskjær does there. Could be a talented coach in the making, in which case, I might have to revise my predictions for the drop. On the other hand, there's not an 8 in sight in his birthdate, so he could be a complete disaster.


Edit: 2+6=8, 9-1=8 and 7+3-2=8. They're going to win the league.
 
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To be fair to Tan and Solskjær a lot of people were very critical of the Southampton chairman and questioning how long Pochettino would last in that job. A year later and replacing Adkins with Pochettino looks like a very good decision and for Pochettino joining Southampton with the trigger happy chairman looks like a very good career move.
 
Here's an interesting way of doing it: The Atlanta Silverbacks of the second-tier NASL have innovated in a way many thought not possible. They have opted not to hire a Head Coach to replace the terminated Brian Haynes who had been named 2012 NASL Coach of the Year. Instead they are allowing Technical Director Eric Wynalda to continue his work at FOX Sports in Los Angeles while more or less managing the team remotely.

http://worldsoccertalk.com/2014/01/07/atlanta-eliminates-head-coach-position-eric-wynalda-to-manage-as-technical-director
 
WBA have appointed former Real Betis manager Pepe Mel as their new head coach on an 18-month deal.


Excellent. Fresh meat to be intrigued by at first, then to be impressed by as his new approach gives the team a lift, then to become slowly bored by, then to come to think of as clueless, then to sour on as the pressure mounts, then to pity, then to admire for his pluck as he sticks with it, then to predict his imminent sacking, then to say the Prem is a madhouse and he should have been given more time, as he is sacked.

And, that's entertainment.
 
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