Stoke City v Aston Villa Post-Match Thread

[KevinGage]

Heskey is now sidelined for a while. Bent may be back for Chelsea.

How many injuries has Heskey had since he's been at the club?

He struggles to last the game at the best of times, when he then somehow puts a few games together you can almost guarantee he'll be out for a long stretch.

Just write him off as an insurance job. Best all round, I think.

[berneboy]

Our forward line is incredibly weak, IMO Fonz is not prem class and would be better suited to the Championship,

I'm really sorry that Fonz doesn't look like he can make it. He lacks strength and aggression but most of all he lacks belief in himself. I am sure he is a thoroughly decent, shy chap but that isn't much good when you are trying to boss the penalty area.

He needs a good long run in the team to be sure but we can't afford that. Sorry, Fonzie but good luck elsewhere. Bon chance.

[TimTheVillain]

N'Zog really is working hard now.

He's still crap though.  Half a season and no goals, that really is dreadful from a winger.

He's better playing on the right and cutting inside to use his left foot.

Playing Albrighton and N'Zog may not be the best formation.

He is getting into the game far more, and he's playing in a poor passing team, so let's see what 2012 brings.

[TonyD]

AM went there for a point.  Winning or scoring was not high on his list.  Sad but true or else he wouldnt have started with Heskey and would have used BB or Ireland as we were devoid of killer passes.  If we played the same way as the Arse game we would have prob won. At least we keep much more of the ball and looked more composed.  I like the look of Clark the more I see of him.  Want to see a midfield with him, Gardner and BB in.  When Heskey is fit he will bounce back into the team even if we have progressing without him.

[Clampy]

I understood why he played Heskey last night against them, but i hope he's nowhere near the side against Chelsea.

[cdbearsfan]

I understood why he played Heskey last night against them, but i hope he's nowhere near the side against Chelsea.

He won't be. He's out injured.

[Greg N'Ash]

Can't say i was happy with the team selection, but AM probably got it right for once against stoke. Its all very well saying you should try and play football against them but much better teams than us have been bought down to their level.

[TonyD]

But playing Heskey is never acceptable under any circumstances against any team.  He is utterly rubbish and stops the progression and building of the team. 

[KevinGage]

The thing about N'Zog is he's not a typical winger, so if we were to drop him for Bannan or Ireland (the Ireland who performed well against Arsenal rather than the Ireland we've seen for most of his time with us)  it's not as if we'd be losing any width.

And we'd be getting a player cute enough to unlock defences and slide Gabby (or the Fonz) through.

Clark and Petrov has worked recently and made us look more solid, so I'd be reluctant to jettison that.  But we do need a bit more invention and guile in the middle and final third of the park.

[Risso]

Our forward line is incredibly weak, IMO Fonz is not prem class and would be better suited to the Championship,

I'm really sorry that Fonz doesn't look like he can make it. He lacks strength and aggression but most of all he lacks belief in himself. I am sure he is a thoroughly decent, shy chap but that isn't much good when you are trying to boss the penalty area.

He needs a good long run in the team to be sure but we can't afford that. Sorry, Fonzie but good luck elsewhere. Bon chance.

I have to agree I'm afraid, he looked woefully out of place when he came on last night.

[Greg N'Ash]

But playing Heskey is never acceptable under any circumstances against any team.  He is utterly rubbish and stops the progression and building of the team. 

thought he caused them problems. Reminded me of my sister's dog who came round over christmas and generally caused chaos by bumping into things and nicking stuff off the tables. Totally harmless but hard to ignore

[Whiney MacWhineface]

The good out-weighed the bad for me yesterday, with the much improved defensive performance and the work put in by everyone against a side that you really do have to work hard against. Wonderful, wonderful old-fashioned tackle from Clark, and particularly pleased to see Guzan being assertive too.

It's always interesting to watch a half of football and then read the corresponding Match Thread, because you can guess what wil be said by whom. Last night there were the bankers of the anti-fans who squael "Mum, Mum he hoofed it again. He hoofed it Mum!" whenever a ball of longer than 10 yards is played by Collins. Both against Bolton and Stoke, Collins hardly hit a long ball all night, and most long balls were hit out of necessity.

And anyone suggesting that Bannan or Ireland be brought on towards the end must be mad - they don't possess a single tackle between them at a time when we were most vulnerable and Stoke pressing for all they were worth.

And it wasn't an awful match, neither were we awful. As said before, awful was Spurs, Man U  and Liverpool.

[villan1975]

Our forward line is incredibly weak, IMO Fonz is not prem class and would be better suited to the Championship,

I'm really sorry that Fonz doesn't look like he can make it. He lacks strength and aggression but most of all he lacks belief in himself. I am sure he is a thoroughly decent, shy chap but that isn't much good when you are trying to boss the penalty area.

He needs a good long run in the team to be sure but we can't afford that. Sorry, Fonzie but good luck elsewhere. Bon chance.

I have to agree I'm afraid, he looked woefully out of place when he came on last night.

Bit harsh as I didn't  think he did too bad.He got in the right place for Gabbys excellent cross and
should have finished.Bent has looked just as ineffective for much of the season after an extended
run in the side.Think the Fonz needs an extended run in the team to prove himself which I fear
he won't get with us.

[TonyD]

But playing Heskey is never acceptable under any circumstances against any team.  He is utterly rubbish and stops the progression and building of the team. 

thought he caused them problems. Reminded me of my sister's dog who came round over christmas and generally caused chaos by bumping into things and nicking stuff off the tables. Totally harmless but hard to ignore

Very good

[Matt C]

Perhaps the sherry & egg nog distorted my view but I was pretty encouraged by the performance last night. Fair play to Guzan, considering he'd never started a PL game up until a couple of weeks ago he looked pretty assured and as a defensive unit it goes without saying we were vastly improved. N'Zogbia is improving but still don't think we've figured out how to best use him yet - that's the next challenge for McLeish along with getting the team creating more chances.