I posted something on Twitter yesterday that got a little misunderstood and with only 140 characters, that's bound to happen every now and then. I'm going to use this post today to clarify my point and also tell you who won the scarf.
My post on Twitter was; if either Everton or Spurs win today, they go second. And I'm supposed to be happy with a point at West Ham.
I've got a feeling that you'll understand what I mean just from reading that, but if you don't let me emphasise one point; had Spurs or Everton won yesterday, they'd have gone second in the Premier League table after more than a quarter of the season. We are pretty much where we were last season.
The football we played against West Ham was horrible. We played like we had Alex McLeish as manager and if he were the manager, there would have been protests. Fortunately, he isn't and that nightmare is long over, but that doesn't take away from the fact we played not to lose.
How much time is needed?
And let me get this next point out of the way; Lambert has had three transfer windows and we're still hitting it long. We're still looking fairly clueless with the ball. The likes of Swansea and Southampton are playing better football than us and will probably both finish higher than us this season, both with managers in the job no longer than Paul Lambert at Aston Villa.
Sorry to go on about this, but long ball football isn't good enough and after three transfer windows, I don't expect it. But it got better last season and I expect it to get better this season, but I'll be honest, I'm surprised it's still happening.
And yes, you can look at results this season against results last season, but just because we progress or don't doesn't mean that other teams don't progress or go backwards. Manchester City dropped Joe Hart and they had a fantastic result on Saturday, does that mean he should stay dropped?
We also beat Manchester City and Arsenal this season but would we do it again next week? When you play a side should also be factored in and I don't go in for it. I shouldn't be happy with a draw at West Ham when the likes of Everton are playing for second spot.
Let me ask you this; how long should it take to get a group of highly paid footballers to start passing the ball and not giving it away cheaply? This is a serious question because all we seem to do is hit it long and then defend the seven out of ten times we don't get it to one of our men.
Competition winner
I think you all understand my point. I think you all know that I also believe Lambert will change it around fairly soon and we'll start passing again.
You probably all know that I think next season the time to get them playing football again will be shorter and we're working to something where there is never this down time and we're always playing a certain way.
And to keep warm while that is happening all Jonnah has to do is email his home address and we're going to send him a scarf. He guessed185, 096 and was only 226 people away from getting it right and he was the closest.