Lambert: Performance-Wise I'm Really Pleased
Saturday, 6th Jul 2019 17:10

Town boss Paul Lambert was delighted with his side’s display despite falling to a 3-2 defeat to Bundesliga new boys Paderborn in their opening friendly.

Jordan Roberts and Kayden Jackson, from the penalty spot, netted the Blues’ goals after the home side had gone into a three-goal lead.

“I’m really pleased with the way we played,” he said. “We’re up against a Bundesliga team, not somebody in the third tier of German football. They’re up there on merit.

“Performance-wise, football-wise, I’m really pleased. I really am.”

Paderborn’s third goal looked to have been offside, while he felt his team were a little naïve with the first, which followed a bright start for his team, and then made a mistake for the second.

“That’s what I thought [about the third goal], but they tell me it wasn’t. I’ll have to see it again,” he said.

“The first goal is a great strike, but we were making a good attack and were a bit naïve. It starts from their goalkeeper.

“That goes with having young players. The naivety will set in at certain times. That only comes from experience.

“Second goal, Woolf tries to go inside. I thought he had a really good game, but there was a little error there.

“The third goal might have been offside. But performance-wise, honestly, I’m really, really pleased. Some of the football was excellent.

The Blues started in a 4-2-3-1 system before Lambert changed it at half-time but he says nothing ought to be read into the formations he employed.

“I changed it at half-time to 4-3-3,” he added. “I might play another system come next weekend. It’s not about systems, it’s about getting guys fit and up to speed. We still have a couple coming back.

Overall, he says pre-season is going well: “It’s hard, it always is. We travelled a long way for the game. Nearly three hours is a long way to come fo a friendly game.

“It was a good game for us though because Paderborn are a really good team.

He added: “Do you know what, there wasn’t one player I was disappointed with. We’re a really good football side.

Lambert was pleased to see Emyr Huws play his first senior 45 minutes since December 2017.

“It’s his first game in a long, long time. I’m really happy if he comes through that.

“He’s not missed a day of training since we’ve come back. That’s another plus for us.”

James Norwood, Alan Judge, Jon Nolan and Gwion Edwards all missed out but none are too far away from involvement.

“We can’t take a chance on Judgey’s wrist. Nolo is calf and he’s not too far away. Gwion is getting better with his groin area.

“James we gave extra time off because of his involvement in the play-offs with Tranmere, though he’s raring to go. It’s just about easing him in. To play a game of this magnitude today was probably just a bit too much.”

Joining those four in the stands was Freddie Sears, still a few months off a return from his ACL injury, with the former Colchester and West Ham man having made the trip to Germany despite his lack of fitness.

“We have to have everybody. We’re not good enough to have more than one player and we have to have everyone,” Lambert continued.

“Freddie’s in that category and it’s important to bring the lads who injured themselves last season and be a part of everything.”

Photo: Ingrid Klaus

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Pencilpete added 17:16 - Jul 6 Get Emyr Huws fit and we have the best player in League 1
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MrTown added 17:18 - Jul 6 Sounds awfully familiar to last seasons pressers. Still need to sort this defending out, long way to go, v good offensively but poor defensively, but you can see that from the players, our better players are top end and our poorer players are at the back. Long way to go, positives and negatives from the first outing.
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christiand added 17:27 - Jul 6 Mr Town, get a bit of perspective. It's the first pre-season match, nothing is won or lost during this phase of the season. It's about building the player's confidence, get minutes in their legs and coming through injury free. To pass comment that this sounds similar to last season after 90 minutes of a friendly encounter is just plain daft!
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TimmyH added 17:30 - Jul 6 Wouldn't expect anything different coming out of Lambert's mouth in pre-season...he's going to be as optimistic and be as praising as possible. Litmus test starts in August.
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arc added 17:40 - Jul 6 [Shudder] The headline gave me flashbacks to last year! I've heard versions of this too often. Yes, I know this was a pre-season match, and it doesn't mean a thing, but I really would love to start winning a game or two some time! :-)
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RobITFC added 18:03 - Jul 6 Pencilpete - totally agree ref. Huw's, midfield wise we are looking very strong, still need a partner for Norwood and another defender or two.
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muccletonjoe added 18:05 - Jul 6 It is about systems and finding one that works for us. That is what ultimately will shape our team and season.
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Dissboyitfc added 18:34 - Jul 6 Well said Timmy, pre season results count for nothing, would happily lose them all if it means starting the season with some wins! The real test starts on the 3rd of August!
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bluesnightorg added 18:43 - Jul 6

Hey Muccleton Joe, I couldn't agree more. I don't think we will get out of L1 quickly if we think we can play lots of different systems. Keep It Simple, Stupid - one system that works, where everybody knows their jobs, is all we need. If that means square pegs in round holes once in a while, I'm fine with that. We used to think that Chambers at RB was as low as we were going to sink, but we were wrong.

tractorboybig added 19:05 - Jul 6 blah blah blah
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ITFCsince73 added 20:43 - Jul 6 Every game since PL arrived ends with, performance wise I'm really pleased. But we win 1 in 10...and that's when we're on form... Still he has his saying....mine is not good enough
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ITFCsince73 added 20:48 - Jul 6 You play a football match to win. Otherwise what's the point. It matters not pre season or season. Where it is. Who against. Or what time ko is. We need to get in the habit....and fast.
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BlueInBerks added 08:27 - Jul 7 The individual players and the team structure need to be tested against opposition (at least) as good as themselves. PL will learn little with a 3 nil yomp over a 3rd or 4th tier Bundersliga team
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BlueInBerks added 08:29 - Jul 7 *Bundesliga
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cat added 10:30 - Jul 7

I like Lambert and wish him well, BUT, I'm struggling to buy into any of what Positive Paul says these days. All this pony on performances and the continued ‘Fan Back Slapping' is becoming somewhat tiresome. Whilst it's commendable what's he's achieved off the pitch, it's about time he delivers on it. He need to hit the ground running, cause good will will only carry him so far.

BobbyBell added 12:24 - Jul 7

Christiand I think having read Mr Town's comments he was referring to Paul Lambert's views and not the team performance. I too thought PL's appraisal was very similar to many that he gave last year. He very often said we'd played good football and he was pleased with the performance yet we were relegated by a country mile.
I hope things are on the up now but the comments from PL do you leave a feeling of da jar vous.