PAUL Lambert has given an intriguing insight into his training ground management style and the high standards he demands from his Villa players on the practice pitches.

Lambert and his coaches will put the claret and blues through their paces during an opening training session at PPL Park tonight after landing in Philadelphia yesterday.

The training programme in the States has been specially tailored by Lambert and his staff, taking into account the climate and the squad’s travel schedule over the next nine days.

Villa take on Philadelphia Union tomorrow at 7.30pm local time (12.30am, Thursday UK time) before games at fellow Major League Soccer clubs Chicago Fire and Portland Timbers.

In training, Lambert revealed he prefers to have a watching brief by observing from the sidelines and will only step in if he feels the players’ performance levels are dropping.

He leaves much of the coaching to assistant manager Ian Culverhouse, whose pre-season training sessions are rumoured to be much more intense than under previous regimes.

But the manager is a tough task-master and has warned the players there must be no let-up in the coming weeks after being pleased with how they have embraced his ideas.

“Everyone is on their best behaviour at first so it wouldn’t surprise me if that was the case,” said Lambert.