Stoke City v Aston Villa Pre-Match Thread

[Legion]

0-3 away win

Bent 12
Agbonlahor 50
N'Zogbia 58

Guzan
Warnock
Dunne
Collins
Cuellar
Albrighton
Petrov
Bannan
N'Zogbia
Agbonlahor
Bent

[Greg N'Ash]

2-0 stoke as we revert to type. He seems to be picking teams to match the oppostion when we haven't got the squad to do it.  He should pick his best team and stick to it.

[Concrete John]

If we play like last night, we'll beat them.  1-2 to Villa with CNZ finally on the scoresheet.

[PaulWinch again]

Play like we did last night Villa, please.

[TimTheVillain]

1-3 Villa

I think we'll play well and Benty will be back with a goal.

[PaulTheVillan]

2-1 win.

Guzan
Cuellar Clark Dunne Warnock
Albrighton Petrov Bannan NZogbia
Gabby Bent

[Newquay_AVFC]

4-1 Villa Bent, Gabby, Petrov and Albrighton. Crouch for them.

[garyshawsknee]

Even though we played well last night,I worry about the amount of high balls they'll keep putting in our box,Guzan needs to be on top form. 2-1 them.

[PaulTheVillan]

Even though we played well last night,I worry about the amount of high balls they'll keep putting in our box,Guzan needs to be on top form. 2-1 them.

Cuellar in a RB might be useful for corners etc.

[luke25]

If we play like last nite, keep the ball on the deck and attack them then 1-2 N'zogbia and Bent, gotta feeling we'll play right into there hands though and start hoofing it and come away with a 3-0 defeat.

[TheSandman]

Shift Cuellar to right back and bring Bent in for Ireland and play the same way as we did yesterday and we should win as long as we don't revert back to type with our set piece marking (or lack thereof).

[Pete3206]

0-0

[levico]

This is going to sound very pessimistic but blame years of supporting Villa for that. Either of two things will happen - either we will revert to type (as per Liverpool, Spurs etc) and therefore deservedly lose - or we'll play well again but still lose by a mixture of bad luck and very poor defending from a set piece. I don't see a happy end to the current spiral.

[Matt Collins]

Difficult team selection for this one, partially dependent on whether Collins is fit. If he is, then presumably he comes in for Hutton with Cuellar moving across?

What do people think we should  do if Bent is fit? The easiest choice would be to bring him in for Ireland. That would mean reverting to the 442 that worked well up at Bolton, and would match up with Stoke. I imagine this is what he'd do.

But I'm pretty reluctant to make significant changes from the side that worked so well against Arsenal. The shape was spot on, and I've long felt that a proper 433 with the wingers pushed on has to be our best bet, provided we don't get sucked into playing 4-5-1.

If Collins is out, then presumably Clark moves back and we're looking at Delph coming into the midfield to hold? Or possibly Gardner? Can't see we'd play a midfield of Albrighton, Petrov, Bannan and CNZ. That's lightweight city!

[Hoppo]

We need to think radical. After Jones went off for Man U last night they had Valencia at full back. Clark has to stay in midfield. Cuellar has to stay at centre half. Collins and Heskey have to stay out the team! Gary Gardner superb athlete who will run all day long plus over 6ft so he can help out with the aerial bombardment. We need a feel good factor and Clark, Herd, Bannan, Albrighton and Gardner can give us that.