Aston Villa v Stoke City Post-Match Thread

[andyh]

Well, after a decent first half, they managed to bring us down to their level. The last 30 minutes were utterly painful.
I thought as well as we played first half, we are still very slow to support the front runners from midfield. I wish Bannan and Westwood would bomb on more when we break quickly.
Other than that, decent first half, totally forgettable second.

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One side played football and tried to win a game. The other spent more time taking a throw in than passing the ball. Stoke had their one and only shot, smashing the North upper, on 65:30.

We faded second half qatacking wise, but we dominated them. We need some dynamic beast next to the ever impressive Westy.

I want to congratulate the 1500 Stoke fans. That is dedication. Sphyilis is more appealing than watching the anthesis of football everyweek.

[Lambert and Payne]

Sky Sports headline : "Ten Man Stoke Hold Off Villa" - 10 men for literally 30 seconds

They held us off, they had absolutely no intention of beating us today, the difference was 2 or 3 very good 1st half blocks from Shawcross, felt Benteke really should have scored at the start of 2nd half

[Can Gana Be Bettered!?!?]

Thought we played well today. Some good football considering Stokes tactic is to not let you do that. Thought Bannan and Westwood played very well, as did the back three. And Lowton. And Benteke. And Gabby. And Guzan. And Holman.

Really deserved the win. It's slowly coming together I think.

In this formation, I think Bent may fit in.

I fucking hate Stoke. Imagine watching them every week. They take so long over any dead ball situation.

[Can Gana Be Bettered!?!?]

Also, Pat Murphy is a cock.

[CJ]

Only just over 30000 - not surprising I guess given time of year and who we played. Stoke were awful - haven't seen the match stats but I can't recall them having a single attempt on goal all game. Thought we played well - Baker was exceptional in a pretty solid defence, Bannan and westwood moved the ball well, Holman never stopped closing down, and Benteke was a real handful for them. People have a go about Gabby but he never stops working and I think we appreciated that more after he went off today. Thought we completely lost momentum when Holman, Gabby and Bannan went off. We lacked quality in the final third otherwise we'd have got the 3 points we deserved.

I'm going out on a limb here - I thought the ref had a decent game. He pretty much let the game flow as best he could, and didn't wave a card at every foul - for us as well as them.  i would have liked to see the cynical stuff booked though - like the deliberate fouls as soon as we started to break. Tin hat donned

[ozzjim]

I also think 8 games of Robbie Keane would be pretty useful again this season too.

[eastie]

  Replace Gabby and Holman with 2 good attacking wide players and we have a good team there.

  First half Benteke, Westwood, Bannan were very good.Really like the combination of Bannan and Westwood who i think are always looking for a positive pass,Baker excellant again, as was Herd.

  Draw next week

Totally agree, gabby and Holman are the weak links and there is nobody in the squad with the ability to fill these positions, we need a creative attacking midfielder and a good striker who can play wide when needed.

[pauliewalnuts]

Didn't see the match, sounds like I missed nothing.

On the bright side, we've stopped losing. On the downside, we never really seem to look like we are going to win matches.

Fair enough if PL doesn't think Bent is the answer, but he must find something or someone who is, because for all the decent play so far, we have only scored 12 goals in 16 matches, the lowest in the league.

He has to find an answer to that problem pretty sharpish

[Can Gana Be Bettered!?!?]

I'm going out on a limb here - I thought the ref had a decent game. He pretty much let the game flow as best he could, and didn't wave a card at every foul - for us as well as them.  i would have liked to see the cynical stuff booked though - like the deliberate fouls as soon as we started to break. Tin hat donned

I agree in the main. Thought he got some stick from the crowd a little unfairly.

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Paulie, if you've seen Stoke at Villa Park before, then they were like that. Only with less ambition, if you can imagine such a thing.

[Can Gana Be Bettered!?!?]

Didn't see the match, sounds like I missed nothing.

I think you missed plenty. I thought we played some really good football and had some good chances.

[gervilla]

Didn't see the match, sounds like I missed nothing.

I think you missed plenty. I thought we played some really good football and had some good chances.

It was far better than our usual games v Stoke.
We played some really good football in the first half. They did nothing in the whole game.

[nigel]

defence were terrific, thought bannan and westwood looked good. Not Gabby and Bentekes best games.

We are starting to look more organised and a decent team. Add a couple in Jan and we will be fine.

You say it wasn't bentekes best game, maybe, but, Huth and Shawcross still couldn't handle him.
I think he showed a different side to his game today. Yes, a couple of passes went astray, but, on another day these will come off.
We, as supporters, have to keep behind these lads, even when the passes are going astray. The last thing thing we want is for them to stop trying these tricky passing moves because they're scared.
At some point this season these moves will all be coming off

[PaulTheVillan]

Thought Gabby and Holman were awful.

Thought Bannan went back to basics and was better.