" WHY RICKIE LAMBERT IS NOT SCORING GOALS "

" WHY RICKIE LAMBERT IS NOT SCORING GOALS "

4 goals in 18 appearances and now not even getting a game.


By Nathan Blake

Thursday 26th Jan 2017

It's never easy to go from the Premiership and become an instant hit in the Championship, particularly for a 34-year-old striker.


I bet if you were to ask Lambert, he would privately admit he could have absolutely torn up this division five years ago.

Rickie Lambert arrived at Cardiff City on the final day of the last transfer window as the Bluebirds’ big blue riband capture for the campaign.

This was the seasoned Premier League performer who was tipped to fire the goals for a Cardiff play-off push, who was to provide dressing room leadership and experience the team so obviously needed and who would wow the fans.

Cardiff probably told Lambert they would build a team around him, which was never going to happen because personally I didn’t feel Paul Trollope was capable of building what I would classify as a quality team at Championship level.

Four goals in 18 appearances, not used at Brighton in midweek and getting just 23 minutes as a substitute against Burton indicates it hasn’t really worked out for Lambert as well as many people hoped and anticipated.

I’m a big fan of Lambert, have been for a number of years, but I’m not surprised by what we’ve seen. Or rather what we haven't seen.

I’m sure there are plenty of people out there who just assumed Lambert would sail it in the Championship, given he had starred at Premier League level and for England. There would be a guarantee of goals. Premier League snobbery, I call it.

Lambert was a high-profile capture for Trollope (Photo: Cardiff City FC)
Football just doesn’t work like that. The Championship is a damn tough league, as Lambert himself would know because he has come up through the divisions, and I just kind of feared things would work out exactly as they have done.

I remember being relegated myself from the Premier League with Sheffield United, shortly after joining from Cardiff.

When the Championship fixtures came out for the following season, or the First Division as it was known back then, I recall one of our coaches calling me over to study them. “Hey Blakey,” he started. “Port Vale, we’ll win that. Tranmere, that’s another three points. Notts County, they won’t beat us."

Invariably they did! We were the club with players from the Premier League, thought we would over-run these lesser teams.

It simply didn’t work that way. That league is really tough, a week in, week out grind. And if anything, it’s got tougher since the days I was playing in it with Sheffield.

Throw in Rickie’s age, he’s 35 in a few weeks’ time and the fact that he joined a Cardiff team devoid of confidence and it was always going to be something of a struggle.

Then supplement that further with the fact that Cardiff don’t play a style that is suited to Rickie’s strengths, and you can see compelling reasons why it has not really worked out yet.

That’s not to say it won’t. I still think Lambert can score goals for Cardiff, but asking him to come down to the Championship at 34 as a lone striker is a big ask. It is not conducive to a player without legs, who doesn’t have the pace to run in behind defenders.

Lambert is at his best playing close to the opposition penalty box, acting as a wall where his team-mates can bounce the ball off him and do his running for him. Then, with just limited space to work within, he could get into the area to get on the end of their crosses.

But Cardiff have been kind of in between this season. They passed the ball around at the back under Trollope, but it wasn’t passing with a purpose. They sat too deep, played without tempo, left Lambert isolated.

Under Neil Warnock, Cardiff are a little too reliant on set pieces for goal threat and recently the manager has preferred the greater running, athleticism and pace that Kenneth Zohore provides.

Lambert can be a success for Cardiff, but perhaps some of the personnel around him would need to change. Joe Ralls, Aron Gunnarsson and Anthony Pilkington are not box to box type men who could do the bulk of his running for him and enable Cardiff to make the most of his excellent hold up play, which is as good as that of anyone in the Premier League.

It’s not about pace. Lambert never really had that even in his pomp. He is quicker in thought to most strikers in the Championship, but if team-mates are not close to him, it simply means moves break down and he looks out of sorts.

In terms running, he should actually find it easier. In the Premier League centre-backs are good on the ball and Lambert had to spend much of his time harrying and hustling to close them down as they came out from the back to start moves.

By and large that doesn’t happen in the Championship. Just look at Sol Bamba as a case in point. Warnock doesn’t want him playing like Beckenbauer or Baresi, pointing out that simply puts the team into trouble. He just wants Bamba to defend and clear his lines... and when he does that, he’s as good as any defender in the division.



I bet if you were to ask Lambert, he would privately admit he could have absolutely torn up this division five years ago. He would have done, too.

But as you get older injuries take their toll. Not just fresh injuries, but ones you’ve carried through your career too and carried on playing with.

I’m 45 soon, and I’m still bearing the scars from my own career. My right foot, neck, hip. The war wounds haven’t gone away more than a decade on.

In modern day football you can counter some of that with aerobics, pilates, yoga, that sort of thing, make your muscles more dynamic when you actually play.

But when you are injured it frustrates you. The older you are, the more the recovery time seems to be. Then you get another niggle and you're almost back to square one. It can be terribly irritating.

A striker needs a run of games to be match-sharp and at Rickie’s age he needs the other outfield players to revolve around him, too.

No-one should criticise him for the fact the goals have not yet flown in. As I’ve tried to outline, there are sound reasons as to why it has not happened.

The Championship is an unforgiving place for a 34-year-old striker, Liverpool and England background or not.

But don’t rule out Rickie Lambert yet. With the right system in place, those goals could still come.

One thing you don't lose is the knack of putting the ball in the old onion bag. It's about having a formation of play that enables you to get into the positions to do that.

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" WHY RICKIE LAMBERT IS NOT SCORING GOALS "

4 goals in 18 appearances and now not even getting a game.


By Nathan Blake

Thursday 26th Jan 2017

It's never easy to go from the Premiership and become an instant hit in the Championship, particularly for a 34-year-old striker.


I bet if you were to ask Lambert, he would privately admit he could have absolutely torn up this division five years ago.

Rickie Lambert arrived at Cardiff City on the final day of the last transfer window as the Bluebirds’ big blue riband capture for the campaign.

This was the seasoned Premier League performer who was tipped to fire the goals for a Cardiff play-off push, who was to provide dressing room leadership and experience the team so obviously needed and who would wow the fans.

Cardiff probably told Lambert they would build a team around him, which was never going to happen because personally I didn’t feel Paul Trollope was capable of building what I would classify as a quality team at Championship level.

Four goals in 18 appearances, not used at Brighton in midweek and getting just 23 minutes as a substitute against Burton indicates it hasn’t really worked out for Lambert as well as many people hoped and anticipated.

I’m a big fan of Lambert, have been for a number of years, but I’m not surprised by what we’ve seen. Or rather what we haven't seen.

I’m sure there are plenty of people out there who just assumed Lambert would sail it in the Championship, given he had starred at Premier League level and for England. There would be a guarantee of goals. Premier League snobbery, I call it.

Lambert was a high-profile capture for Trollope (Photo: Cardiff City FC)
Football just doesn’t work like that. The Championship is a damn tough league, as Lambert himself would know because he has come up through the divisions, and I just kind of feared things would work out exactly as they have done.

I remember being relegated myself from the Premier League with Sheffield United, shortly after joining from Cardiff.

When the Championship fixtures came out for the following season, or the First Division as it was known back then, I recall one of our coaches calling me over to study them. “Hey Blakey,” he started. “Port Vale, we’ll win that. Tranmere, that’s another three points. Notts County, they won’t beat us."

Invariably they did! We were the club with players from the Premier League, thought we would over-run these lesser teams.

It simply didn’t work that way. That league is really tough, a week in, week out grind. And if anything, it’s got tougher since the days I was playing in it with Sheffield.

Throw in Rickie’s age, he’s 35 in a few weeks’ time and the fact that he joined a Cardiff team devoid of confidence and it was always going to be something of a struggle.

Then supplement that further with the fact that Cardiff don’t play a style that is suited to Rickie’s strengths, and you can see compelling reasons why it has not really worked out yet.

That’s not to say it won’t. I still think Lambert can score goals for Cardiff, but asking him to come down to the Championship at 34 as a lone striker is a big ask. It is not conducive to a player without legs, who doesn’t have the pace to run in behind defenders.

Lambert is at his best playing close to the opposition penalty box, acting as a wall where his team-mates can bounce the ball off him and do his running for him. Then, with just limited space to work within, he could get into the area to get on the end of their crosses.

But Cardiff have been kind of in between this season. They passed the ball around at the back under Trollope, but it wasn’t passing with a purpose. They sat too deep, played without tempo, left Lambert isolated.

Under Neil Warnock, Cardiff are a little too reliant on set pieces for goal threat and recently the manager has preferred the greater running, athleticism and pace that Kenneth Zohore provides.

Lambert can be a success for Cardiff, but perhaps some of the personnel around him would need to change. Joe Ralls, Aron Gunnarsson and Anthony Pilkington are not box to box type men who could do the bulk of his running for him and enable Cardiff to make the most of his excellent hold up play, which is as good as that of anyone in the Premier League.

It’s not about pace. Lambert never really had that even in his pomp. He is quicker in thought to most strikers in the Championship, but if team-mates are not close to him, it simply means moves break down and he looks out of sorts.

In terms running, he should actually find it easier. In the Premier League centre-backs are good on the ball and Lambert had to spend much of his time harrying and hustling to close them down as they came out from the back to start moves.

By and large that doesn’t happen in the Championship. Just look at Sol Bamba as a case in point. Warnock doesn’t want him playing like Beckenbauer or Baresi, pointing out that simply puts the team into trouble. He just wants Bamba to defend and clear his lines... and when he does that, he’s as good as any defender in the division.



I bet if you were to ask Lambert, he would privately admit he could have absolutely torn up this division five years ago. He would have done, too.

But as you get older injuries take their toll. Not just fresh injuries, but ones you’ve carried through your career too and carried on playing with.

I’m 45 soon, and I’m still bearing the scars from my own career. My right foot, neck, hip. The war wounds haven’t gone away more than a decade on.

In modern day football you can counter some of that with aerobics, pilates, yoga, that sort of thing, make your muscles more dynamic when you actually play.

But when you are injured it frustrates you. The older you are, the more the recovery time seems to be. Then you get another niggle and you're almost back to square one. It can be terribly irritating.

A striker needs a run of games to be match-sharp and at Rickie’s age he needs the other outfield players to revolve around him, too.

No-one should criticise him for the fact the goals have not yet flown in. As I’ve tried to outline, there are sound reasons as to why it has not happened.

The Championship is an unforgiving place for a 34-year-old striker, Liverpool and England background or not.

But don’t rule out Rickie Lambert yet. With the right system in place, those goals could still come.

One thing you don't lose is the knack of putting the ball in the old onion bag. It's about having a formation of play that enables you to get into the positions to do that.

Rickie Lambert not featuring and Zahore not really firing. You have to suspect that the 3rd year contract extension speculation was correct.

Bloody hell, I thought I was at my strongest in my early thirties and took up marathon running. Unless he has long term deep seated medical problems in which case the club doctor should be fired, he should be capable of "tearing up" this division if brought on for the second half at least.

Moving on to the type of player who should be bought to get the goals we need I hark back to the pacey goal poachers who were our top scorers during my Ninian years namely Tony Evans, Carl Dale, Earnie and Chopra when sober.

" WHY RICKIE LAMBERT IS NOT SCORING GOALS "

4 goals in 18 appearances and now not even getting a game.


By Nathan Blake

Thursday 26th Jan 2017

It's never easy to go from the Premiership and become an instant hit in the Championship, particularly for a 34-year-old striker.


I bet if you were to ask Lambert, he would privately admit he could have absolutely torn up this division five years ago.

Rickie Lambert arrived at Cardiff City on the final day of the last transfer window as the Bluebirds’ big blue riband capture for the campaign.

This was the seasoned Premier League performer who was tipped to fire the goals for a Cardiff play-off push, who was to provide dressing room leadership and experience the team so obviously needed and who would wow the fans.

Cardiff probably told Lambert they would build a team around him, which was never going to happen because personally I didn’t feel Paul Trollope was capable of building what I would classify as a quality team at Championship level.

Four goals in 18 appearances, not used at Brighton in midweek and getting just 23 minutes as a substitute against Burton indicates it hasn’t really worked out for Lambert as well as many people hoped and anticipated.

I’m a big fan of Lambert, have been for a number of years, but I’m not surprised by what we’ve seen. Or rather what we haven't seen.

I’m sure there are plenty of people out there who just assumed Lambert would sail it in the Championship, given he had starred at Premier League level and for England. There would be a guarantee of goals. Premier League snobbery, I call it.

Lambert was a high-profile capture for Trollope (Photo: Cardiff City FC)
Football just doesn’t work like that. The Championship is a damn tough league, as Lambert himself would know because he has come up through the divisions, and I just kind of feared things would work out exactly as they have done.

I remember being relegated myself from the Premier League with Sheffield United, shortly after joining from Cardiff.

When the Championship fixtures came out for the following season, or the First Division as it was known back then, I recall one of our coaches calling me over to study them. “Hey Blakey,” he started. “Port Vale, we’ll win that. Tranmere, that’s another three points. Notts County, they won’t beat us."

Invariably they did! We were the club with players from the Premier League, thought we would over-run these lesser teams.

It simply didn’t work that way. That league is really tough, a week in, week out grind. And if anything, it’s got tougher since the days I was playing in it with Sheffield.

Throw in Rickie’s age, he’s 35 in a few weeks’ time and the fact that he joined a Cardiff team devoid of confidence and it was always going to be something of a struggle.

Then supplement that further with the fact that Cardiff don’t play a style that is suited to Rickie’s strengths, and you can see compelling reasons why it has not really worked out yet.

That’s not to say it won’t. I still think Lambert can score goals for Cardiff, but asking him to come down to the Championship at 34 as a lone striker is a big ask. It is not conducive to a player without legs, who doesn’t have the pace to run in behind defenders.

Lambert is at his best playing close to the opposition penalty box, acting as a wall where his team-mates can bounce the ball off him and do his running for him. Then, with just limited space to work within, he could get into the area to get on the end of their crosses.

But Cardiff have been kind of in between this season. They passed the ball around at the back under Trollope, but it wasn’t passing with a purpose. They sat too deep, played without tempo, left Lambert isolated.

Under Neil Warnock, Cardiff are a little too reliant on set pieces for goal threat and recently the manager has preferred the greater running, athleticism and pace that Kenneth Zohore provides.

Lambert can be a success for Cardiff, but perhaps some of the personnel around him would need to change. Joe Ralls, Aron Gunnarsson and Anthony Pilkington are not box to box type men who could do the bulk of his running for him and enable Cardiff to make the most of his excellent hold up play, which is as good as that of anyone in the Premier League.

It’s not about pace. Lambert never really had that even in his pomp. He is quicker in thought to most strikers in the Championship, but if team-mates are not close to him, it simply means moves break down and he looks out of sorts.

In terms running, he should actually find it easier. In the Premier League centre-backs are good on the ball and Lambert had to spend much of his time harrying and hustling to close them down as they came out from the back to start moves.

By and large that doesn’t happen in the Championship. Just look at Sol Bamba as a case in point. Warnock doesn’t want him playing like Beckenbauer or Baresi, pointing out that simply puts the team into trouble. He just wants Bamba to defend and clear his lines... and when he does that, he’s as good as any defender in the division.



I bet if you were to ask Lambert, he would privately admit he could have absolutely torn up this division five years ago. He would have done, too.

But as you get older injuries take their toll. Not just fresh injuries, but ones you’ve carried through your career too and carried on playing with.

I’m 45 soon, and I’m still bearing the scars from my own career. My right foot, neck, hip. The war wounds haven’t gone away more than a decade on.

In modern day football you can counter some of that with aerobics, pilates, yoga, that sort of thing, make your muscles more dynamic when you actually play.

But when you are injured it frustrates you. The older you are, the more the recovery time seems to be. Then you get another niggle and you're almost back to square one. It can be terribly irritating.

A striker needs a run of games to be match-sharp and at Rickie’s age he needs the other outfield players to revolve around him, too.

No-one should criticise him for the fact the goals have not yet flown in. As I’ve tried to outline, there are sound reasons as to why it has not happened.

The Championship is an unforgiving place for a 34-year-old striker, Liverpool and England background or not.

But don’t rule out Rickie Lambert yet. With the right system in place, those goals could still come.

One thing you don't lose is the knack of putting the ball in the old onion bag. It's about having a formation of play that enables you to get into the positions to do that.

Rickie Lambert not featuring and Zahore not really firing. You have to suspect that the 3rd year contract extension speculation was correct.

2nd year not 3rd I think

" WHY RICKIE LAMBERT IS NOT SCORING GOALS "

4 goals in 18 appearances and now not even getting a game.


By Nathan Blake

Thursday 26th Jan 2017

It's never easy to go from the Premiership and become an instant hit in the Championship, particularly for a 34-year-old striker.


I bet if you were to ask Lambert, he would privately admit he could have absolutely torn up this division five years ago.

Rickie Lambert arrived at Cardiff City on the final day of the last transfer window as the Bluebirds’ big blue riband capture for the campaign.

This was the seasoned Premier League performer who was tipped to fire the goals for a Cardiff play-off push, who was to provide dressing room leadership and experience the team so obviously needed and who would wow the fans.

Cardiff probably told Lambert they would build a team around him, which was never going to happen because personally I didn’t feel Paul Trollope was capable of building what I would classify as a quality team at Championship level.

Four goals in 18 appearances, not used at Brighton in midweek and getting just 23 minutes as a substitute against Burton indicates it hasn’t really worked out for Lambert as well as many people hoped and anticipated.

I’m a big fan of Lambert, have been for a number of years, but I’m not surprised by what we’ve seen. Or rather what we haven't seen.

I’m sure there are plenty of people out there who just assumed Lambert would sail it in the Championship, given he had starred at Premier League level and for England. There would be a guarantee of goals. Premier League snobbery, I call it.

Lambert was a high-profile capture for Trollope (Photo: Cardiff City FC)
Football just doesn’t work like that. The Championship is a damn tough league, as Lambert himself would know because he has come up through the divisions, and I just kind of feared things would work out exactly as they have done.

I remember being relegated myself from the Premier League with Sheffield United, shortly after joining from Cardiff.

When the Championship fixtures came out for the following season, or the First Division as it was known back then, I recall one of our coaches calling me over to study them. “Hey Blakey,” he started. “Port Vale, we’ll win that. Tranmere, that’s another three points. Notts County, they won’t beat us."

Invariably they did! We were the club with players from the Premier League, thought we would over-run these lesser teams.

It simply didn’t work that way. That league is really tough, a week in, week out grind. And if anything, it’s got tougher since the days I was playing in it with Sheffield.

Throw in Rickie’s age, he’s 35 in a few weeks’ time and the fact that he joined a Cardiff team devoid of confidence and it was always going to be something of a struggle.

Then supplement that further with the fact that Cardiff don’t play a style that is suited to Rickie’s strengths, and you can see compelling reasons why it has not really worked out yet.

That’s not to say it won’t. I still think Lambert can score goals for Cardiff, but asking him to come down to the Championship at 34 as a lone striker is a big ask. It is not conducive to a player without legs, who doesn’t have the pace to run in behind defenders.

Lambert is at his best playing close to the opposition penalty box, acting as a wall where his team-mates can bounce the ball off him and do his running for him. Then, with just limited space to work within, he could get into the area to get on the end of their crosses.

But Cardiff have been kind of in between this season. They passed the ball around at the back under Trollope, but it wasn’t passing with a purpose. They sat too deep, played without tempo, left Lambert isolated.

Under Neil Warnock, Cardiff are a little too reliant on set pieces for goal threat and recently the manager has preferred the greater running, athleticism and pace that Kenneth Zohore provides.

Lambert can be a success for Cardiff, but perhaps some of the personnel around him would need to change. Joe Ralls, Aron Gunnarsson and Anthony Pilkington are not box to box type men who could do the bulk of his running for him and enable Cardiff to make the most of his excellent hold up play, which is as good as that of anyone in the Premier League.

It’s not about pace. Lambert never really had that even in his pomp. He is quicker in thought to most strikers in the Championship, but if team-mates are not close to him, it simply means moves break down and he looks out of sorts.

In terms running, he should actually find it easier. In the Premier League centre-backs are good on the ball and Lambert had to spend much of his time harrying and hustling to close them down as they came out from the back to start moves.

By and large that doesn’t happen in the Championship. Just look at Sol Bamba as a case in point. Warnock doesn’t want him playing like Beckenbauer or Baresi, pointing out that simply puts the team into trouble. He just wants Bamba to defend and clear his lines... and when he does that, he’s as good as any defender in the division.



I bet if you were to ask Lambert, he would privately admit he could have absolutely torn up this division five years ago. He would have done, too.

But as you get older injuries take their toll. Not just fresh injuries, but ones you’ve carried through your career too and carried on playing with.

I’m 45 soon, and I’m still bearing the scars from my own career. My right foot, neck, hip. The war wounds haven’t gone away more than a decade on.

In modern day football you can counter some of that with aerobics, pilates, yoga, that sort of thing, make your muscles more dynamic when you actually play.

But when you are injured it frustrates you. The older you are, the more the recovery time seems to be. Then you get another niggle and you're almost back to square one. It can be terribly irritating.

A striker needs a run of games to be match-sharp and at Rickie’s age he needs the other outfield players to revolve around him, too.

No-one should criticise him for the fact the goals have not yet flown in. As I’ve tried to outline, there are sound reasons as to why it has not happened.

The Championship is an unforgiving place for a 34-year-old striker, Liverpool and England background or not.

But don’t rule out Rickie Lambert yet. With the right system in place, those goals could still come.

One thing you don't lose is the knack of putting the ball in the old onion bag. It's about having a formation of play that enables you to get into the positions to do that.

Rickie Lambert not featuring and Zahore not really firing. You have to suspect that the 3rd year contract extension speculation was correct.

2nd year not 3rd I think

Lets hope so

As an athlete turning 40 tomorrow it always gives me a rye smile when I hear about footballers being past it in their 30's and mid 30's. I feel that things will just be getting started for me!

I think football is different to running though as described in the article. I think the injuries take their toll as you age far more than running as you dont get the knocks in running. I am the 2nd fastest in my postcode for my age curently and may go top when I hit 40 tomorrow out of 36,000 people in the CF64 area (8th fastest overall) and in the top 0.3% of UK runners for 5km. Not far off where I was at 29!

I think I am approaching the fittest I have ever been and hope to get there in the next couple of months.When you hit 40 you know your body better than someone in their mid 30's and you know how to look after it better and how to compensate to train better and more consistently.

As Lambert tries to compensate for his lack of pace by being a fox in the box you can also compensate with experience in racing and tactics and pacing yourself better. Perhaps sadly in Lambert's case he has had one too many knocks and he cant sprint like he used to.

It is a very competitive league which does not help and he has some very fit guys to beat! I have the luxury of just aiming to beat people my own age and if I beat thousands of people in their 20's thats just a bonus for me.

You are certainly not on the sporting scrapheap in your 30's but sadly in a demanding league like the Championship natural ability will only give you so much and in most cases you probably are.

He is no Bob Hatton to be sure

It ain't nothing about his ability it's about supply he may be pushing age but in my opinion it's about wingers. all the teams that dominate this championship have class wingers. At Southampton he had players like Lallana. We dont have any wingers that can get down the line and deliver a class delivery. For example if you were to put him in the Brighton team he would be banging them in this season. That's all I've got to say ,it's not him it's the supply

It ain't nothing about his ability it's about supply he may be pushing age but in my opinion it's about wingers. all the teams that dominate this championship have class wingers. At Southampton he had players like Lallana. We dont have any wingers that can get down the line and deliver a class delivery. For example if you were to put him in the Brighton team he would be banging them in this season. That's all I've got to say ,it's not him it's the supply

wingers not mingers should be our club motto

Being serious a club won't go far wrong when playing 2 class wide men. Chris Burke was our last true winger and was so good one season Jay Bothroyd got an England call up