Lambert - "I'd Rather Play Ugly And Stay In The League"

[norfolkbroadslim 223]

It sounds like Lambert wasn''t too happy with the way we played after going 2-1 up -

 

"The goals we''re conceding are not great but we''re doing everything we can to stay in the league.

"We were still trying to go gung-ho at the end. But I don''t want to get admired and get relegated. I''d rather play ugly and stay in the league."

 

Lambert obviously thinks we should have protected the lead a lot better after going 2-1 up.  It''s Lambert who is the main person who can try and change this in training, but also perhaps with some new players in January.  Is this an indication that a combative midfielder is on the agenda come January?

 

Personally, I have to agree with what Lambert is saying here.  The lads are doing great and it''s good to watch us attacking with flair, but we have to learn to be a bit more savvy at times and know when to and when not to do certain things.  It was a bit ridiculous towards the end, almost comparible to watching a game of ping pong, taking end to end football to the extreme, which left unnecessary gaps for Wolves to exploit.

 

Full article here -

 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/eng_prem/16154266.stm

[smooth 114]

If we had come from behind in both these games to draw at Everton and Wolves it would be a much different feel, but at the moment we are wavering when we have a lead and that is a worry. Lambert is right to draw attention to it.

 

I don''t think we are a great attacking team, we are good up to the final third, just wish we had a more jaermaine defoe influence which is just go for goal attitude. Shots were peppering the Wolves goal but all comfortable at a stretch for Hennessy from areas where we have needed to shoot for a number of games, Surman and Hoolahan trying their luck from 18-25 yards out. It has been needed.

 

If you watched the stream Lambert is shown walking back to the dugout where he punches the chair. He knows our defending as a team is questionable once we have scored, we take our foot off the pedal and we aren''t good enough to do that. I think we will see a new centre half and central midfielder come in both who will come in with some leadership qualities, they will command this time and organise us. As I ahve said in a few other posts. Janaury has come at the right time as we find that this is the main area to look at in regard to psychological improvement. Still think the spine of the team is key for NCFC and this January window. This psychological improvement and leadership in two strong players will be ideal to bring out more assured performances from others.

 

I honeslty can''t wait for the window to open and for us to look at the direction the club is going in. We have two games where I would like to think the words of Lambert are cohered too, and that we may have the chance of 3 points. If not that Jan 2nd game with QPR becomes bigger and bigger.

[PurpleCanary 5,554]

[quote user="norfolkbroadslim"]

It sounds like Lambert wasn''t too happy with the way we played after going 2-1 up -

 

"The goals we''re conceding are not great but we''re doing everything we can to stay in the league.

"We were still trying to go gung-ho at the end. But I don''t want to get admired and get relegated. I''d rather play ugly and stay in the league."

 

Lambert obviously thinks we should have protected the lead a lot better after going 2-1 up.  It''s Lambert who is the main person who can try and change this in training, but also perhaps with some new players in January.  Is this an indication that a combative midfielder is on the agenda come January?

 

Personally, I have to agree with what Lambert is saying here.  The lads are doing great and it''s good to watch us attacking with flair, but we have to learn to be a bit more savvy at times and know when to and when not to do certain things.  It was a bit ridiculous towards the end, almost comparible to watching a game of ping pong, taking end to end football to the extreme, which left unnecessary gaps for Wolves to exploit.

 

Full article here -

 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/eng_prem/16154266.stm

[/quote]

 

Not really in  position to comment on last night. I only watched the last 30 minutes of the first half, which was exciting but frankly pretty awful football. It was indeed just like ping-pong, and I''m of the "possession is everything" school of thought. Not least because that is how you protect your defence.

 

But the person responsible for that is Lambert. If he continues to pick Holt (sub Jackson) and Morison AND Hoolahan then you have an attacking threat, but the danger is you will get overrun in midfield, and you won''t hold on to the ball. It is a bit disengenuous of Lambert to talk about the team being gung-ho when he has picked a gung-ho formation/team and not changed it to protect a lead.

 

 

 

[Aggy 752]

Sort of agreed Purple. There were big gaps in the midfield, which means we can only play one way. But I''d prefer we played that way, and I think so would Lambert for the most part.

I think he was more talking about after our second/their second when we continued to push on. You would expect premiership players to be able to clock on to the fact that even if they''ve been picked into an attacking formation, that when you''re 2-1 up, or have just conceded an equaliser with not long left away from home, you should probably drop in and tighten up.

The Jackson sub clearly worked, but I was a bit surprised that we didn''t maybe sacrifice Morison later on (even if it was after their equaliser rather than our second) for someone who might give us a bit more solidity in the middle.

[PurpleCanary 5,554]

[quote user="Aggy"]Sort of agreed Purple. There were big gaps in the midfield, which means we can only play one way. But I''d prefer we played that way, and I think so would Lambert for the most part. I think he was more talking about after our second/their second when we continued to push on. You would expect premiership players to be able to clock on to the fact that even if they''ve been picked into an attacking formation, that when you''re 2-1 up, or have just conceded an equaliser with not long left away from home, you should probably drop in and tighten up. The Jackson sub clearly worked, but I was a bit surprised that we didn''t maybe sacrifice Morison later on (even if it was after their equaliser rather than our second) for someone who might give us a bit more solidity in the middle.[/quote]

 

Aggy, I didn''t see any of the second half, so hard for me to comment on that. But speaking more generally there are, as you say, ways of holding on to a lead, either by just tightening up with what you''ve got, or going to a more solid formation/team.

 

Whether Lambert has tried - and failed - to get a "tighten up now!" message across to the players on the field I don''t know. But the formation/team we are starting with (and played pretty much all the way through last night) is always likely to produce a loose, end to end game.

 

What this comes back to is the conundrum of whether you can fit in Holt and Morison (both having shown they''re Premier League quality) and our most creative player in Hoolahan, or whether that produced too lightweight a midfield, especially if you add Surman to the mix.