[Archived] Official: Paul Lambert Appointed Blackburn Rovers Manager

[47er]

I think if Lambert told Pasha that can we go India after the Wolves game to present his plans in person they would meet him.

Venkys like face to face talks like Kean always like to do.

I'm not saying this is right way to a BRFC but its their way.

You have no idea whether Venkys would meet him or not. A long way to go for nothing as plenty have found out.

[K-Hod]

I can't believe anyone would advocate flying to India to meet the owners. At the end of the season for a review that might be different, but Christ, a phone call or even Skype/FaceTime would be a hell of a lot cheaper/easier!!!

[JHRover]

The thing is I'm sure if they had told him in the run up to the international break that they were willing to meet him and discuss budgets but that he had to go to India to do it then Lambert would have been willing to do so. I'm sure he went out to the USA numerous times a year whilst at Villa to meet Lerner. It's not ideal but they are the bosses and if it helps to get things done then I don't see an issue in Lambert going out there for a few days during the 2 week break.

Obviously in the week leading up to a game he shouldn't have to do it, but I think a maximum of 2 visits to India per year - one in the run up to each transfer window - maybe late November and March/April - is not that unreasonable and certainly not impossible.

I'm sure if it meant he got the answers he wanted and some light was shed on the situation Lambert could put up with a long haul flight to get it. He clearly hasn't been given the opportunity to meet them, either because they've completely lost interest and don't want to waste their time even meeting the man they appointed this season, or because they genuinely are still mulling things over, or because they don't want to break the bad news to him and admit there won't be much or any money available (which must be embarrassing for 'billionaires' who portray themselves as rich beyond belief and want people to think they put whatever money is asked for into the club - never refuse to sign a cheque etc)

[chaddyrovers]

As for Kean I bet you backed him to the hilt

Actually your assumptions is wrong again but you keep making these assumptions about something or somebody you dont know

[47er]

Actually your assumptions is wrong again but you keep making these assumptions about something or somebody you dont know

Like you did with Venkys above!

[booth]

No, I dont want Lambert potted. To be fair to him, he must atleast get what Bowyer got. I am just saying looking at the past results, i don't see him getting us promoted immediately. And certainly not in our limited budget.

No one would get us promoted on our current budget which is pretty much nothing in football terms. I think if given the same support as Kean had he'd get us promoted though. The league isn't a great one let's face it.

[Athlete]

Like you did with Venkys above!

Beat me to it... Lol

Actually your assumptions is wrong again but you keep making these assumptions about something or somebody you dont know

Ha ha was beaten to my reply by someone else

What about this budget you expect btw

[punerover]

Practically it takes a lot more than money to get promoted. AKA Derby. Nottingham Forest, Cardiff, QPR and whoever else who has spent more this season and isn't going up.

No one would get us promoted on our current budget which is pretty much nothing in football terms. I think if given the same support as Kean had he'd get us promoted though. The league isn't a great one let's face it.

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

Exactly. He should be going out there on Sunday but from his comments he wont be. .

You have to adapt to their way of doing things. Not ideal or my way of doing if I was the owner but its their way.

" Their Way " of doing things has taken us from a well run, mid table Premier League team to a struggling Championship team with a truly massive debt. All this in a relatively short space of time.

How about they try to do it " Our Way " ?

[donnermeat]

If that's what you took from Lambert's comments on Graham then I'm nonplussed. Considering every other time he's been asked about Graham he's never said anything like that, again, in the context of eleven men. To then extrapolate that to the rest of team i.e. Hanley and Duffy think it's ok not to score goals then that's some serious amateur psychology going on there. But you take from it what you will!

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

Lambert's views on Danny Graham are not encouraging to say the least. When he is asked about Danny Graham's work rate and that whether he should track back when we are down to 10 men, he says no, let others do their jobs. If everyone was doing their jobs, we would not need a manager and our goals conceded record would be in the top 3 in this league. What happened to "defending from the front" ? If this is the mentality that he is "teaching" the players, not to go that extra mile and chase lost causes, how will we get those losses to draws? I fail to understand what is wrong in holding on to a lead and why does he have to remain fresh? His logic would have been understandable if we were a goal down and not a goal up.

Tracking back when we have 11 on the pitch and tracking back when we're down to 10 are two different stories.

[Stuart]

The thing is I'm sure if they had told him in the run up to the international break that they were willing to meet him and discuss budgets but that he had to go to India to do it then Lambert would have been willing to do so. I'm sure he went out to the USA numerous times a year whilst at Villa to meet Lerner. It's not ideal but they are the bosses and if it helps to get things done then I don't see an issue in Lambert going out there for a few days during the 2 week break.

I think that this highlights the issue with hands-off foreign owners who think they can run a club from thousands of miles away. At the moment Rovers and Villa wouldn't spoil a pair. Both clubs gone or going through turmoil as a result.

Football managers should not be expected to travel halfway across the world to meet the owners. The owners either need to be interested and present, or need to have a football club chairman or CEO permanently stationed at the club. It is then their job to meet with the owners, not the team manager.

It's an unhealthy position that has caused inferior 'managers' to get close to the owners and make it personal. Managers need to be kept at a healthy distance from the owners to enable objective decisions to be made when the time comes.

Ironically, now that Venkys finally appear to have realised this, they no longer have a CEO (or equivalent) in place!

If he is the man who pulls the strings and who brought in Lambert and co then maybe the obvious option is to make an offer to Pasha. That could work. Whether he would have enough gravitas for Lambert I don't know but it's better than the current situation. Are we likely to get anybody more credible?

The decision to sign Lambert is becoming more of an enigma every day. It seems they finally got round to putting a roof on just before knocking down one of the walls - and then other one fell down in sympathy.

[oldjamfan1]

I totally agree with him. The standard approach when you go down to 10 men is to adopt a 4-4-1 formation. So, compared to a 4-4-2, everyone else is doing the same amount of work and the lone striker is attempting to do double the amount. The striker will be much more isolated and therefore have a much harder job retaining possession in the opposition half. So he's got enough on his plate doing that, heck no don't load tracking back onto him as well. The best performance I've ever seen in that role was Bellamy against Middlesbrough at home where we won 3-2 with 10 men and he scored the winner. He absolutely terrorised the opposition back 4 single handedly, because he had the energy to do so because he had zero responsibility when Boro had the ball.

I seem to recall Alan Shearer doing something similar as well.

[tomphil]

I think you may have took that particular snippet out of context. You knew that already though I suspect.

[punerover]

Tracking back with 10 on the pitch is even more important since you have 1 less man behind the ball. You get the team tighter and harder to break down and the make the opposition work harder. SPECIALLY if you are a goal up. Good oppositions will find ways to open you up and win but average opponents might get an odd goal and atleast you will be able to convert those losses into draws.

[Stuart]

Tracking back with 10 on the pitch is even more important since you have 1 less man behind the ball. You get the team tighter and harder to break down and the make the opposition work harder. SPECIALLY if you are a goal up. Good oppositions will find ways to open you up and win but average opponents might get an odd goal and atleast you will be able to convert those losses into draws.

If a defender gets sent off when playing 4-4-2 then the manager sacrifices a forward and goes 4-4-1. So in terms of defending you still have two banks of four. Did you not read SKH's excellent post which explained this?

Yes, Graham is a little on the lazy side - he can't even be bothered getting back inside before getting a breather - but the last thing you want is him tracking back into midfield and beyond!

[islander200]

Tracking back with 10 on the pitch is even more important since you have 1 less man behind the ball. You get the team tighter and harder to break down and the make the opposition work harder. SPECIALLY if you are a goal up. Good oppositions will find ways to open you up and win but average opponents might get an odd goal and atleast you will be able to convert those losses into draws.

If Danny Graham kept chasing back then he would be too tired to do what he is good at,holding the ball up with his back to goal,providing the defence with a bit of a break

[punerover]

Yes but Shearer and Bellamy were arguably the best strikers we have ever had. Or so I seem to recollect from one of the treads about top strikers at Blackburn. What I dont seem to recollect is Danny Graham's name there. If either of those two were playing against Sheffield Wednesday I would have completely understood and agreed with you and Lambert without a shadow of doubt. As with 10 men, you need either classy strikers who are capable of creating something from nothing or fast paced counter attacking players or midfielders who are capable of keeping possession on the ball and creating a moment of magic. We dont seem to have any of those types of players.

Correct me if I am wrong here.

[tomphil]

If a defender gets sent off when playing 4-4-2 then the manager sacrifices a forward and goes 4-4-1. So in terms of defending you still have two banks of four. Did you not read SKH's excellent post which explained this?

Yes, Graham is a little on the lazy side - he can't even be bothered getting back inside before getting a breather - but the last thing you want is him tracking back into midfield and beyond!

Can't agree on Graham being on the lazy side at all. Since he's been here he's been one of the hardest chasing players I've seen in a blue & white shirt for a long time. If they all put that kind of shift in we'd be doing better.

When a striker steams around like that he obviously has to take a breather now and again an he conserves his energy by ambling back. It's rarely as if we are pouring forwards all the time anyway. Plus the way he goes about it it's physically impossible to do that for 95 mins every single game, he is nearly 31.

Didn't see it the other night though but if he wasn't on it like usual perhaps he's beginning to lose a bit of interest ? Can't really blame him seeing as he wants his future sorting.

[punerover]

I dont have a problem with the strategy Stu and I ready that excellent post by SKH. What I am saying is should that strategy been used when you are 1-0 DOWN or when you are 1-0 UP? Or it doesnt matter if you are leading of behind you have to use the same strategy?

Anyway I put my hands up, hey Paul Lambert did it so it must be right. No argument there.

[Stuart]

Can't agree on Graham being on the lazy side at all. Since he's been here he's been one of the hardest chasing players I've seen in a blue & white shirt for a long time. If they all put that kind of shift in we'd be doing better.

When a striker steams around like that he obviously has to take a breather now and again an he conserves his energy by ambling back. It's rarely as if we are pouring forwards all the time anyway. Plus the way he goes about it it's physically impossible to do that for 95 mins every single game, he is nearly 31.

Didn't see it the other night though but if he wasn't on it like usual perhaps he's beginning to lose a bit of interest ? Can't really blame him seeing as he wants his future sorting.

The number of times that he becomes unavailable and an attack breaks down because he is offside (and walking back to avoid the flag going up) is infuriating.

If he had Rhodes next to him, they could have really complemented each other. Graham might be able to close down but he frequently isn't ready when the ball is played forward.

It's not that hard to get back onside before walking. It's like he's predisposed to a lack of hard work but Lambert is making sure that he does. I guess that means his attitude is good and/or Lambert is great at motivating players.

[Tom]

Graham is far from lazy on the whole he works his socks off - that said I noticed a difference with him at the PNE game to the point where I said he looked unmotivated like a man that knew he wasn't here to stay.

[oldjamfan1]

Yes but Shearer and Bellamy were arguably the best strikers we have ever had. Or so I seem to recollect from one of the treads about top strikers at Blackburn. What I dont seem to recollect is Danny Graham's name there. If either of those two were playing against Sheffield Wednesday I would have completely understood and agreed with you and Lambert without a shadow of doubt. As with 10 men, you need either classy strikers who are capable of creating something from nothing or fast paced counter attacking players or midfielders who are capable of keeping possession on the ball and creating a moment of magic. We dont seem to have any of those types of players.

Correct me if I am wrong here.

I think you're crossing your wires a bit here between what is the correct tactic to deploy with ten men, and how good or bad our current squad is. The class of Shearer and Bellamy shouldn't detract from the tactical principle of whether a lone striker should track back into midfield regularly once his team goes down to ten men. If he does that, where then is the out ball? I would expect as a matter of course that anyone playing on their own up front should be able to control and hold the ball up, which is their main aim in a situation like that. I would certainly also expect the striker to close down across the line though - which is what Bellamy and Shearer did so well, and Graham is more than capable of doing that - but that wasn't what Lambert was asked.

The number of times that he becomes unavailable and an attack breaks down because he is offside (and walking back to avoid the flag going up) is infuriating.

If he had Rhodes next to him, they could have really complemented each other. Graham might be able to close down but he frequently isn't ready when the ball is played forward.

It's not that hard to get back onside before walking. It's like he's predisposed to a lack of hard work but Lambert is making sure that he does. I guess that means his attitude is good and/or Lambert is great at motivating players.

Stuart, come on mate, please!

[tomphil]

The number of times that he becomes unavailable and an attack breaks down because he is offside (and walking back to avoid the flag going up) is infuriating.

If he had Rhodes next to him, they could have really complemented each other. Graham might be able to close down but he frequently isn't ready when the ball is played forward.

It's not that hard to get back onside before walking. It's like he's predisposed to a lack of hard work but Lambert is making sure that he does. I guess that means his attitude is good and/or Lambert is great at motivating players.

I will agree on the Rhodes/Graham point. JR isn't the easiest to partner but out of everyone we've had I'd say he would have suited Rhodes best. Such a shame we couldn't have had Graham from the beginning of the season.

[VinjayV4]

Exactly. He should be going out there on Sunday but from his comments he wont be. .

You have to adapt to their way of doing things. Not ideal or my way of doing if I was the owner but its their way.

Conform...

Defiance...

Conform...

You must conform...

Defiance will not be tolerated...

Conform...

Comply...

You must respect authority...

You will comply...

Compliance...

Compliance is good...

Authority...

Defiance...

Conform

You must respect authority...

Comply...

Defiance will not be tolerated...

You must conform...

You WILL comply...

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