Last Friday, Rickie Lambert put an end to his disappointing stint at Liverpool by signing a two-year deal with West Bromwich Albion. Discussing the English striker’s arrival at The Hawthorns, Tony Pulis talked up his capacity to augment the Baggies’ squad both on and off the pitch:
“He did exceptionally well at Southampton and probably feels he deserved more games at Liverpool. But it’s not just on the pitch that he will be important, but off the pitch too. He’s a great lad and in Saido we have a wonderful talent, along with other youngsters we have. We hope the way Rickie conducts himself and how he acts will be good for him [Berahino] and our other young players. You cannot have enough role models. He’s been brought up through the lower leagues. When you get the chance to work down there you want to get the chance to claim everything you can – that ambition and drive remains and I hope we see the full benefits of that and I hope the other players do too.”
The History
Born in Merseyside, Lambert joined Liverpool’s youth academy at ten years of age but was released five years later. The striker then made the switch to Blackpool at the age of 16, eventually making his senior debut against Wrexham in the third tier of English football. Having notched just three appearances in the 1999/2000 season, Lambert was again released that November.
After four months in the wilderness as a free agent, Lambert teamed up with fourth-tier outfit Macclesfield Town in March 2001. He racked up nine appearances across the rest of the 2000/2001 campaign, before tallying ten goals in 40 outings the following term.
Stockport County came calling in the summer of 2002, landing the physical frontman in a £300,000 deal. Lambert’s debut season harvested just two goals in 28 league appearances, but the next year proved more profitable, with 12 strikes in 40 outings. He then made the switch to Rochdale halfway through the 2004/05 campaign, chalking up 28 goals and 15 assists in 64 appearances during his stint at Spotland.
Lambert continued to ply his trade in the Football League with Bristol Rovers, notching 21 goals and three assists in his first two seasons. With 29 strikes in 45 outings, he ended the 2008/09 campaign as the joint-top scorer in League One, courting interest from Southampton.
Lambert hit the ground running at St Mary’s Stadium, amassing a whopping 31 goals and 13 assists during the 2009/10 season. He continued to post eye-catching attacking hauls throughout his next four years with the south coast club, accruing 106 goals and 62 assists in just 207 league outings. This paved the way for a move to boyhood club Liverpool, where he was afforded just seven starts by Brendan Rodgers, producing two goals and a couple of assists in just 943 league minutes.
Handed his first international call-up at the age of 31 in 2013, Lambert has scored three times in 11 appearances for the Three Lions, with his last outing as a sub in September last year.
The Prospects
After falling out of favour for both club and country under Rodgers, Lambert is desperate to make up for lost time at the Hawthorns. A somewhat emotional Lambert admitted he’s determined to resurrect his career and refuses to write off a return to the England fold ahead of next year’s Euro 2016 tournament:
“I’ve got a lot of feeling, to be honest. I’m not going to get into it right now. I feel as if I’ve got a point to prove to myself. That’s always the biggest drive – yourself – and it will carry on being that way. It is only two years ago that I scored against Scotland. I scored 15 goals and then 13 goals for Southampton and obviously it is over a year since I did that but I have just got to get back to that now.”
Lambert certainly looks the ideal target man to lead the line for Pulis. As we saw last season, the Baggies boss was unconvinced by both Brown Ideye and Victor Anichebe after taking up the helm in Gameweek 21 – the duo were afforded eight and six starts respectively, whereas Saido Berahino was named in the first XI in 16 of Pulis’ 18 league matches in charge. Although there’s plenty of speculation still surrounding Berahino’s future – with the likes of Spurs, Newcastle and Manchester City all linked with a bid, Lambert looks favourite to start regardless.
Pulis is likely to roll out his default 4-4-2 for the season ahead, though the Baggies boss also utilised a 4-5-1 on occasion last term, with Berahino shifted to the flank to accommodate a more robust presence as the lone striker. Lambert can certainly fill that role perfectly and has the top-flight history to barge past Anichebe and Ideye in the pecking order.
The new boy needed no time to make an impact last week. Just hours after signing, Lambert was fielded alongside Berahino up front and showed little signs of rustiness by netting twice on his debut.
Disregarding the previous campaign by virtue of his paucity of starts, Lambert’s attacking returns (13 goals and ten assists) during the 2013/14 season for Southampton highlighted his dual threat. Only Luis Suarez, Olivier Giroud and Wilfried Bony fired more shots than Lambert, while only the Uruguayan managed more assists (12) among all forwards. Moreover, Lambert ranked third in term of key passes (53), which bodes well for the Baggies considering they placed 18th for key passes (311) – ahead of just Aston Villa (306) and Sunderland (304) – in the previous campaign.
The fact that West Brom ranked second-bottom for attempts last term underlines the relative impotence of their attack and might discourage investment in Lambert as a result. Nonetheless, the former Saint’s ability from dead-ball situations – both free-kicks and penalties – should boost his points potential, with the veteran near-impeccable spot-kick record likely to see him step up ahead of Berahino.
Ultimately, though, a schedule which pits the Baggies against City, Chelsea and Southampton in the first five rounds of fixtures may initially deter many from investing. With the likes of Bournemouth, Villa, West Ham and Leicester offering similarly-priced alternatives with kinder opening matches, Lambert may stay on the Fantasy periphery for now, though if he can replicate his Southampton form when the fixtures smile kinder around Gameweek 6, a price of 6.0 in the Fantasy Premier League (FPL) game may well represent good value.
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