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Lambert: I Thought We Were Brilliant
Saturday, 6th Apr 2019 18:17

Town boss Paul Lambert hailed his team were brilliant as they beat Bolton Wanderers 2-1 at the University of Bolton Stadium in a game which was in jeopardy until the early hours of this morning due to an IT failure, something the Blues manager thought was “a disgrace”.

The win was Lambert’s third since taking charge of the Blues, ending a run of 12 matches without a victory, and it was his first three points on the road with Town.

“I thought we were brilliant, in the first half I thought we were excellent and Bolton had to change their shape to try and cope with it,” he said.

“The movement was great, the football was great, the one-touch and two-touch football was excellent, we controlled the game and the two goals were fitting for the first half.

“I’m disappointed with the goal in the last minute but performance-wise, it was very, very good.

“That’s what it’s been like, that’s the frustrating thing. The performance doesn’t surprise me because we’ve been playing that well for a number of weeks and months, we’ve just not had the reward.

"Today we got the reward and I’m delighted for the team and delighted for the supporters.

“The support is unbelievable. As I say to you every week, it’s not a normal situation and they’re helping the development of the younger ones as well because there’s no criticism and they’re right behind them.

“It’s a big part of it it. Young players will play without fear if they have a crowd that’s behind them and playing in front of that it must be brilliant for the young lads.”

Lambert praised Collin Quaner for his clinical finishing, something he believes has been missing in previous games.

“I think so, you can have all the great play you want, build-up play, dominating games, you just need that finishing touch with it,”

“I was listening to [former Spain manager Vicente] del Bosque the other day and he was talking about David Villa and said ‘We could do all the great play in the world but if we didn’t have a striker to put the ball in the net it doesn’t really matter’, so you need that finishing touch. And Collin today produced two brilliant finishes.”

Lambert poured cold water on the Blues’ chances of keeping the on-loan Huddersfield man at Portman Road next season: “I’ve got to play the lottery, I think! Listen, I think it’s going to be too expensive for us.”

Goalscorer Quaner was the only loanee involved from the start but Lambert denied the team was one with an eye on next season in League One.


“Not really as such because we’re still in it and until we’re mathematically [relegated and] somebody says, ‘That’s you away’ then you pick teams that you think can win a game, and that’s what I did today,” he insisted.

“There’ll be changes on Wednesday and Saturday because there are too many games. I thought Toto Nsiala did really well against Hull last week, he’ll come back in on Wednesday.

“The club’s in a good place with the young players, no two ways about it. Judge signing as well, Chambers signing will certainly help, Cole still being there.

“Josh Emmanuel came in again, Myles Kenlock, two full-backs who came through the club. Dozzell, Bishop, Downes. I say it to you every week, the club is sitting in a really good place.”

Regarding the game being thrown into doubt for the second time in a few days yesterday evening due to an IT failure at the University of Bolton Stadium, he fumed: “I thought that was a disgrace that, telling us that it could be in doubt. We’d travelled for six hours.

“We left just round about a quarter past 12 because of the traffic and then we were just about up here and we got the shout that it could be off.

“Even for the Bolton fans, they must be going mad with it. It’s not the fault of the players or the management but it was unfair on our fans to start the journey.

“Some of them will have come up last night and then they’ve made the journey all this way to be told that it could be in doubt, it’s wrong.”

Lambert agreed that a match in the Championship should never be called into question the day before in that manner.

“No, terrible, I don’t think it’s right, not at this level,” he said. “You feel sorry for the people here, the supporters and the players, they don’t know what’s going on, the staff.

“Even for ourselves to come up, six hours on a Friday, our supporters coming up. At this level, there’s something not quite right.”

Lambert says he found out it was on early this morning: “I got a text at half-six in the morning to say it was on. I’d lined up, if the game was off, to go to Manchester City and train there, which we would have to have done, which was really kind of Man City. They just threw us into chaos really.

“I thank Man City for letting us use their academy pitches to train on, they were really kind to do it, and then at half-six this morning I knew the game was going to go on.

“Back to the supporters, I love watching them as well. Brilliant. As I said before, they’re a huge part of what hopefully moves forward.”

Was the victory for them after such a trying season? “As I’ve said, we’ve played well without getting that win. We’ve played well, we’ve dominated games.

“As I’ve said, we’ve walked away from games we’ve drawn and wonder how the hell we’ve drawn them.

“And you want it for the supporters because they’ve backed you through thick and thin. And the support has been like that since I came in, it’s not a one-off, it’s been like that since we came in.

“They’ve been brilliant, you’d never, ever think the football club is at the bottom of the table, especially the way we play.”

Friday brought the news of Alan Judge penning a new two-year deal, which Lambert says is a big signing for the club.

“I think it’s a huge one for the football club,” he said. “You saw him today again, he hit a pass in the first half and I’m not sure you’ll see a better pass all season when he hit the switch, it was a brilliant pass. Judgey’s going to be a major player for this club, without a doubt.”

Will Keane was on the pitch with the rest of the squad before the game but wasn’t included in the 18 as Lambert says the striker isn’t yet quite ready to return from his hamstring injury.

“Not really, he trained for the last couple of days,” he continued. “It was a bad one he got with the hamstring but he’s not too far away.

“Whether he’s fit for Wednesday, I’ll look at him in the next two days and decide. But the good thing is that he’s on that [road to] recovery.”

Bolton boss Phil Parkinson felt his team's preparations, the squad walked out for 48 hours earlier in the week in protest at the off-field staff not having being paid, had an impact on their display, particularly before the break.

“You look at the first 45 minutes and we were so far off the pace, with the ball, without the ball and you’ve got to look for reasons for that because that was a team last week at QPR which played with a real intensity," he said.

“The preparation has not been good enough for a Championship level performance in a game of this magnitude.

“If you go into a week and as a staff we have two or three players who haven’t trained, we’re always thinking, ‘Do we play them or not?’

"But when you have a whole squad who haven’t been able to prepare properly, it shows. And I think everyone watching the game would have seen that today.

“I thought in the second half we did better, but they [Ipswich] looked like a team, one, who were playing as if they were down and were playing with a bit of freedom but, two, played as if they’d had a very good week’s preparation, and we were the opposite.”


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martin587 added 18:21 - Apr 6
Well done Paul.👍
8

itfchorry added 18:22 - Apr 6
Support today was outstanding
16

oldtimer added 18:24 - Apr 6
In PL we trust
8

Dolphinblue added 18:45 - Apr 6
Next season will be awesome! Get yr season tickets, lets fill the stadium and smash league one. COYB
8

muccletonjoe added 18:52 - Apr 6
Brilliant it wasn't, but a win is a win. Still need to build a team. Kenlock and Emmanuel, are the start of that. Bishop and Dozzell can play in the same team. Need to find strikers.
7

CavendishBlue added 19:09 - Apr 6
With so many players to come back from long term injuries, it's going to be difficult to know who to sign this close season.

If we could get Keane then could we rely on all of our Injured/returning loanees XI to fare well enough at L1 level, when Pilkington/Quaner/Bree/Elder/Trev go back to their parent clubs?

And hats off once again to our travelling support.I refused to vote for any player of the year and wrote 'Away Support' at the bottom of the sheet and ticked.
5

itfcbam added 19:22 - Apr 6
Great result today. reality can't see us signing many, we will have to cut our cloth so come on be realistic. we will be going back to our roots, good youth set up, players coming through the ranks with the odd one being sold to balance the books. the squad is too big for league one so expect it to be trimmed
3

Horseboy added 19:49 - Apr 6
Lambert you are deluded
-22

pazzy added 20:10 - Apr 6
well done paul and the boys keep it going right to the end
6

itsonlyme added 20:48 - Apr 6
Horseboy - are you a budgie by any chance?
7

ITFCsince73 added 20:56 - Apr 6
Itsonlyme. Sounds like Horseboy, has heard it all before, and a win against a poor, morale shot Bolton by the odd goal, has done nothing to show the future is any brighter.
And I feel the same.
-8

ArnieM added 20:56 - Apr 6
Horseboy you're a tw@
5

blueboy1981 added 21:01 - Apr 6
We were first half - second half far less, and you could see a Bolton goal coming.
A win is nice tho'. Happy travel home everyone - except for a few who just have to be a disgrace to a great, and fun day out.
No excuses - behave or stay away.
3

Phil1969 added 21:20 - Apr 6
Keep this in context decent result in view of season results but we need a goal scorer. Quaner may be out if our price range but anyway he is a donkey. Need to sort for Div 1 Keane not the answer even if he drops the bucks!
2

roystevensonsrocket added 22:38 - Apr 6
Brilliant result . PL has managed to formulate a team full of youth but full of skill and class . Downes Bishop Dozzell Judge are true players of class way above the level of league 1 .granted we need a proven striker but in that department I wouldn't ignore Jackson or Ellis whatshisname. I also think Keane would be great in league 1 although he might think it's below him. I just hope our young fullbacks can cope really well next year but we will need backups in every position . For me the greatest person we need to b here next year is undoubtedly Paul lambert . With him at the helm in combination with Marcus Evans who seems to hang on every word that Paul says we will not only bounce back to championship but will make the playoffs. We will do a cardif Huddersfield or a Burnley
2

Dolphinblue added 23:55 - Apr 6
Itfcsince1973. You sir are a Party Farty 😂😂😂
1

ChrisFelix added 09:18 - Apr 7
CavendishBlue, when did we take Pilkington on loan ?
0

ChrisFelix added 09:18 - Apr 7
CavendishBlue, when did we take Pilkington on loan ?
0

BobbyBell added 10:41 - Apr 7
Ok so Bolton were poor but we beat them but we've played well against better sides and not got what we deserved so let's just enjoy this one. We need goals and PL and his staff and his scouts are well aware of that. We can't afford proven scorers so we have to find those with promise and potential who we can afford. Harrison and Jackson may come good but we have to look everywhere. Ex players and their contacts may come up trumps who knows. I am sure that dozens of people are looking, making calls and going to watch games just hunting for those that could do the job.
1

Bildestoned added 14:21 - Apr 7
Quanar. Who's to say relegated Huddersfield might want him off the books and sharpish? Who's to say Collin won't say 'I love it here. I'll take a pay drop to stay.?
0

senduntd added 14:27 - Apr 7
Horse boy == horse s@@t
-1

Barty added 11:09 - Apr 8
Excellent result and performance. A couple more wins would be great to help build confidence for next season.
0

tractorintheloft added 12:42 - Apr 8
PL is very good at PR (as in public relations not Portman Road). I wouldn't want to knock the team as it was a difficult game to prepare for. However, we are Brilliant every week in his eyes. We still top the Championship table in Long Aimless balls, aka MM and have the least shots at goal. There's only one stat in football that matters and it's goals, which we don't score or even look like scoring sometimes. We bemoan strikers but they don't get any service. Applaud the positive posts but we are a long way off bouncing back in my opinion. Just look at our Cup games against similar styled lower division.
1


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