Aston Villa v Stoke City Post-Match Thread

[not3bad]

Hutton and Ireland were shit! Baker, Collins, Weimann excellent.

Gabby cannot play with his back to goal, I actually wanted Heskey on earlier, as Stoke is probably the only game made especially for the big cart horse. As soon as it became clear Ireland had decided to take a day off, he should have been taken off.

Overall, I hope we are last on MOTD, tell your friends to tune out before this game comes on!

I'n glad someone else thinks Ireland is shit. He may run around but he does sweet f.a. doesn't track his marker and if he can't dominate in the midfield against Stoke one is entitled to ask 'what is the point of him?'

You obviously missed the two excellent balls that created great chances for Gabby and Weimann.

Does that include the 1-2 he played with Weimann for the goal?

[Mazrim]

Ireland is the player we need to get the ball to and play through as much as possible.
Weimann seems to read him as vice versa which is promising. If only Gabby could as well and anticipate sooner, he'd be lethal.

[pedro25]

I'd like to see Ireland ping a few more shots off, 1 goal in 2 years is poor given his quality.  What is it with us signing goalscoring midfielders and turning them into non scoring midfielders, Petrov, Sidwell, Delph, Ireland, N'Zogbia etc.

[brontebilly]

Fairly dire game. To be fair the only way a half arsed Stoke were going to get something from the game was with a set piece. Gardner helped them on the way. Bit like Anfield though all we deserved was a point.

Ireland was very good I thought. Far better without the ball these days but he was the best midfielder on view and used the ball very well. Pity we had nothing on the wings and little enough up front to benefit from his clever play. Like others I'd like to see him show more self belief and get some shots in, break into the opposition box like he used do at City.

Baker was very composed at centre half. Justified his inclusion ahead of Cuellar. Wiemann scored a cracking goal and provided a touch of quality on a day we were desperately lacking it. Lichaj also proved he is more than capable of being a backup full back in our side. Bit to learn yet but strong and fast anyway.

Aside from that Collins and Gabby were maybe struggling after strong performances at Liverpool. Collins was beaten to a few set pieces including the goal . Gabby was awful. Zero goal threat yet again.

Others like Herd, Bannan and Warnock tried hard but offered very little on the ball. Don't think Bannan is up to it at this level. Reminds me a bit of Peter Whittingham at that age. Plenty of ability but very lightweight. Given had little to do but his tendency to not move off his line doesn't help our midget side at set pieces.

Hutton was ok defensively but utterly abysmal on the ball. Playing 442 at home you need your full backs comfortable on the ball. Hutton in past years always seemed to be at his best going forward yet he has been utterly shite at it this season. Thinking surely Herd and Lichaj are better options right back than him.

Gary Gardner seems to be struggling with the step up to adult level. Playing him on the left is beyond idiotic but he seems a passenger without the ball and isn't anything above tidy with the ball at present. Nzogbia looked totally off the pace.

Goes without saying that the board, coaching staff and playing staff need a complete overhaul in the summer. Not out of the relegation battle yet but only a Devon loch collapse now will see us go down.

[damon loves JT]

I would be glad if Ireland were even half as good as he is. A season and a half ago I wrote him off as a dead loss. He has proved me wrong.

[Vanilla]

You could argue that we got two hard eared points from the last two games. However in both games we took the lead and sat right back trying to absorb the pressure.

Is this the team being tactically naive, a sign of the desperate predicament we are in or just the shape of Villa's football to come?

[damon loves JT]

Is this the team being tactically naive, a sign of the desperate predicament we are in or just the shape of Villa's football to come?

A little bit of (1) and (3), I'd say. We're not good enough to take a lead and defend it, Mourinho-stylee. It's a strategy we saw a lot when AM was at the other lot, and they got their share of 1-0 wins and 1-1 draws.

But we're not in a desperate predicament, so I'm baffled why we should adopt the tactic. We should be aiming to win games 2-0 or 3-1.

[Vanilla]

Is this the team being tactically naive, a sign of the desperate predicament we are in or just the shape of Villa's football to come?

A little bit of (1) and (3), I'd say. We're not good enough to take a lead and defend it, Mourinho-stylee. It's a strategy we saw a lot when AM was at the other lot, and they got their share of 1-0 wins and 1-1 draws.

But we're not in a desperate predicament, so I'm baffled why we should adopt the tactic. We should be aiming to win games 2-0 or 3-1.

Any team you would think would want to build on their ascendency and take advantage of your opponents. But with Villa you do get the feeling that as soon as we go ahead, regardless of at what point of the game it is, a signal comes form the bench to (as Tom Ross is fond of saying) 'tuck in the wingers and try and take the points'

[VillaAlways]

Identical result to last season, apart from last year we had a fully fit squad Reasonable results over Easter given the amount  of kids on the pitch I'm sure most other teams would be getting hammered with that amount of kids in the side They are a credit to the club

[stubbsyandy]

Identical result to last season, apart from last year we had a fully fit squad last yearReasonable results over Easter given the amount  of kids on the pitch I'm sure most other teams would be getting hammered with that amount of kids in the side They are a credit to the club

I second that, they are a credit to the club, and regardless of what we may think about the manager, lets get right behind the boys on the pitch.

[JUAN PABLO]

Ireland is the player we need to get the ball to and play through as much as possible.
Weimann seems to read him as vice versa which is promising. If only Gabby could as well and anticipate sooner, he'd be lethal.

i think Weimann and Ireland look good working together , they bring each other into the play . Its got to be better than Ireland and Heskey .

[barrysleftfoot]

  Weimann would play well with Bent as well.Both him and Ireland look for those runs inside the FBs, Gabby does'nt make them, Bent does.

[Nastylee]

At least all those people that said we were a better team without Bent have been proved correct. Gabby is pointless, one effort on goal in about 3 games and it went for a throw in. Given the lack of options we might as well play one up front (either Weimann or Heskey) and put some midfield runners around them and look for knock downs. Not going to be pretty but we've had about 4 efforts on goal in the last  3 matches so we can't go on hoping to win games when we're lucky if we score one.

[Percy McCarthy]

Personally speaking I said we'd get more points with Gabby. Not sure if that's been proved incorrect yet.

[cheltenhamlion]

It would be fucking difficult to get less points, Perce.