Lambert wants football focus

Last updated : 01 September 2012 By team talk

Lambert, whose side visit Newcastle on Sunday, is changing the culture at the club and more than half of the first-team squad are aged under 25 after his host of summer signings. But the former Norwich boss does not want his charges to "think they have arrived" and wants them to remain focused on football rather than the material rewards available. Lambert said: "Some young players, not all, think if they play two or three Premier League games, they've arrived. "If somebody plays 600 or 500 games, yes, then I might think you have. "That's why I've got great admiration for people like Paul Scholes and Ryan Giggs because every year they produce and produce and produce, whether they are getting ?8 a week or ?80,000 a week. "I don't like young players coming in and thinking they've arrived and it's up to me not to stand for that. "If you're driving a Skoda one day and the next day you're driving a Mercedes, that indicates to me there's something really wrong there. "If we can get that hunger in them and they keep it, fine." Lambert, who will be seeking Villa's first league win of the campaign at the Sports Direct Arena, added: "People can be motivated by different things, whether it's money or success. "But then you can get the other side of the coin where people have got too much money and they don't want to do it. "I think that's the balance of trying to get a good team. I don't think you should be money-motivated as a footballer. "The more success you have then the money will come naturally. But if you're going to have money as your most important thing, then it becomes a problem." Lambert is full of admiration for the job undertaken by Alan Pardew in reviving Newcastle's fortunes during the past two years. But he knows it will take time for Villa to rebuild in the manner he desires. He said: "It is a fantastic stadium (at Newcastle) with a great atmosphere and we have to be right on our game to get anything. Going there is going to be really tough, Alan has done great there. "Is that where Villa want to be in two or three years? It is a building thing here. We have to try and build here and it will take time to get it the way we want it. "The club needs to get that feeling back of winning games and that's what we have to try and do." New striker Jason Bowery is included in the squad after moving from Chesterfield on Friday. Central defender Ciaran Clark is available after being ruled out of the midweek Capital Cup win over Tranmere through suspension after his dismissal against Everton. Striker Gabriel Agbonlahor, winger Marc Albrighton and central defender Richard Dunne are still ruled out through injury.

Source: team talk

Source: team talk