Manager Paul Lambert has said he expects the team to show full commitment when we face Tottenham Hotspur tomorrow because he really wants to see us end another disappointing campaign on a high.
With the victory over Hull securing our Premiership status for yet another season, and having already explained he was pleased with the effort and commitment on show in the Manchester City loss, Lambert has told the Official Site that he wanted more of the same again this Sunday but a tighter defence and for us to be far more clinical in attack this time out.
‘This weekend, I expect the same commitment we had at Man City. The exact same. For 65 minutes I thought we were great, I really did. We went to Man City and their adrenalin was really pumping, they had everything going for them, they were going for the title. They were bringing on Fernandinho and we had two kids in Jack Grealish and Callum Robinson. That’s the magnitude of it.’
I think that reads far worse than he meant it!
Lambert goes on to say for the 65 minutes he really thought it was a level game, and it just turned when they got the opener, and like I said after the game – shock horror an agreement with Lambert – it wasn’t a four niller.
‘If Andi scored when we were 2-0 – when he hit the bar – it would’ve become edgy, but I couldn’t ask for any more. The lads will go down there on the last day of the season and give it everything that they have got.’
The gaffer goes on to state the obvious that it’s been another tough season for us, but again he believes that the experience the players have gained and the challenges they have had to overcome this campaign will again aid them in the future careers and hopefully give us a real foundations to grow from in the future.
Of course, talk about the future is somewhat premature here as we await Randy Lerner’s statement and a 100% decision on whether Paul Lambert will even be here next season, but he’s holding true to the fact that he wants to stay, he’s now using every financial soundbyte he can to justify our struggles but interestingly when Randy’s previous statement was clear for those ‘clever’ enough to read into it, Lambert is back to assuring everyone he has no idea what’s going on either.
Finishing the pre match interview, Lambert also said that keeping us was one of the biggest accomplishments of his managerial career, which has already had people on forum question it given his successes at Norwich, and whatever budgetary (wages went up) restrictions he had here, would still dwarf their first season budget anyway following promotion.
However he does say he feels the club is stable now, and we’ve already had Robin Russell say we will meet the FFP and the Prem Regs in full next season but it’s all about the statement now, and then actions over the summer and with some convinced Lambert is off is just fluffing his CV at the moment, should he not be off there needs to be a huge dose of humility and change from him, his targets, his punts and his over reliance on players not performing for him to build on those fans who are more forgiving in his direction and prove that whatever excuses he might have are irrelevant.
Tactics, plan B’s, not resorting to five at the back or four upfront. I don’t know what the future will bring, but there was some hope at the end of last season that we had clocked our playing style, and it went out the window far too often this season.
If the long ball training stories are right, that does go some way to explain it, but we need a renewal of hope in every direction following the Spurs game.
Anyway, the gaffer also had praise for Player of the Year Fabian Delph, saying he’s been a very worthy winner given his performances this season for us and he feels the midfielder is now getting better all the time following on from the injuries that kept him back in previous years.
For the game itself, Gabby Agbonlahor has now returned to training, but Marc Albrighton remains a doubt.
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