Aston Villa v Stoke City Post-Match Thread

[tomd2103]

Just got back in and thought it was a pretty decent effort today.  Westwood was superb (the one bit of skill when he pulled the ball down on the touchline in the 2nd half was sublime) and I thought the three CBs (Herd, Clark and Baker) stood up well and dealt fairly comfortably with Stoke's physical approach.  I thought our wing-backs didn't really offer much going forward, but were solid enough defensively.  I thought Bannan and Holman gave the ball away quite a bit today, but both put the effort in.  Really disappointed with Ireland when he came on, as he didn't seem interested.  Bent hardly touched the ball when he came on, but he did put the work in.   

[oldham_villa]

I thought Gabby and Holman linked up okay. We just aren't getting people in the box enough when a striker runs the channel. Man United are a perfect example of how to flood the box. Obviously, we are a bit off that yet, but we need those central midfielders to gamble a bit more.

Really pleased Stoke didn't get a goal, as it would have been so demoralising to see us knocking on the door for so long. It was bad enough just for a point.

Also, did anyone notice we seem to play it longer the more the game goes on? It has been the same in the other games also.

[nigel]

The Back 3/5 were exceptional today.
Stoke thought they could bully these young guns but came unstuck.
Clark  had Jones in his pocket and even grew in stature when handed the arm band.
Walters was reduced to mouthing off at Lowton, who was superb.
Baker, again, was fantastic, as was Herd and Lichaj.
Westwood was stunning, and thoroughly deserved his MoM.

[5ft811st2 Durham]

We were starting to lose momentum prior to the substitutions, but Bent, Ireland, and Delph made no impact whatsoever and  once they came on I felt any chance of a win evaporated.

Holman seems to be getting some stick, but I thought he played well and in my view  offers way more than Ireland and Delph ever could. 

[Ads]

We did play some nice stuff. We lacked cutting edge though.

Taking Gabby off seemed to lose us a bit of momentum, but then he did take a few knocks.

[tomd2103]

I thought Gabby and Holman linked up okay. We just aren't getting people in the box enough when a striker runs the channel. Man United are a perfect example of how to flood the box. Obviously, we are a bit off that yet, but we need those central midfielders to gamble a bit more.

Really pleased Stoke didn't get a goal, as it would have been so demoralising to see us knocking on the door for so long. It was bad enough just for a point.

Also, did anyone notice we seem to play it longer the more the game goes on? It has been the same in the other games also.

Agree with that and Holman should really be one who gets into the box.  We got in some decent wide areas in the first half, but Holman was a good ten to fifteen yards away from the box when the ball came in.

[olaftab]

OK we didn't win but I am very satisfied with the progress of this team so far. Today we out-bullied Stoke. Clark and Baker were immense. If I remember right they had no chances other than a half chance to Walters, no shots on target and 1 off target. Westwood and Bannan were great and are growing in stature. The only things I can point the finger at were may be Herd and Holman in the same team is a bit negative (and not because they are Aussies!) and I wish our midfielders would attack more through the middle when we are in good wide positions. A more ruthless Benteke could have won it for us today.
And yes Stoke are a horrible team.

[PeterWithesShin]

Just back and I quite enjoyed it. Probably in part as it was nice to be back at VP after missing the last few games. Good atmosphere in L2 and as I was on the back row stood up all game.

Other positives: Meeting Percy before the game, was a pleasure fella. We did some decent stuff at times, just never seemed to fall our way in one of the many goalmouth scrambles. Considering what Stoke are like, the age of most of our team and the form Stoke have been in it was very pleasing not to see us getting bullied. Defence rarely looked troubled and Guzan more than held his own agaisnt the cloggers.

Negatives: Stoke. Bunch of shithouses. I'd rather never watch a game of football again than have to watch that shite served up every week. Defend deep and hope. Win a throw in and hope. Cheat, niggle, whinge, time waste, take   forever over every throw in.
Walters, what a wanker, lies on the floor, looks up to see us breaking and lies back down again. Play is stopped and surprise surprise a minute later he's up and running. And promptly shows what a cheating shit he is by playing it back for a goal kick rather than passing back to Guzan. I fucking hate Stoke, the sooner they end up back down at their usual level with the rags the better for football. And what shit support for a match that's so close.
Have I mentioned I fucking hate Stoke? First shot after 65 minutes that probably hit the same box as Richardson's penalty. Only other shot I can remember went for a throw-in. They really are an abomination.

[Dan England]

I only saw the first half. My thoughts at half time on the match thread were why on earth would you bring Bent on when Gabby and Benteke are the reasons we are getting chances, how would he fit into the way we are playing? It seems we struggled after he came on according to the radio on the way home. Interestingly I think the bigger problem we have is the 3rd midfield player. Gabby I thought took the game to them really well first half, head up and ran at them well. Benteke linked the play brilliantly, and I thought we should have had a penalty, and that NZonzi was very lucky not to be sent off in the first half.

In January we need 2 forward options, one that can play off, and 1 that is a proper tricky bastard that can beat a man.

Paul Merson would be nice.

Spot on Ozzjim. I said the same in the second half. The only thing we missed today was that little bit of magic/unpredictability/risk-taking/gamble from the midfield. That extra move from deep that offers an extra option or drags a player out of position, delete as appropriate Merse/Carbone/Platt/Young/Draper/Taylor.

[peter w]

They really were poor- although to be fair they defended well when they needed to.

[SamTheMouse]

It's the perennial problem - lack of runners. We don't score enough from midfield. What we need is for someone to gamble and drive into the box when Gabby and Benteke get it in the final third. Holman is industrious but he doesn't seem to make intelligent runs. Annoyingly, it was Stan who had started to do that for us last year before his illness.

[PeterWithesShin]

Stat time

Brett Holman was the standout star for Villa when it came down stats from the Stoke contest.

Villa's all-action midfielder was on top in several categories as he terrorised the Potters defence.

Holman was No.1 for attacking third passes, with eighteen successful from twenty-one made. Barry Bannan was No.3 with fifteen successful out of twenty-two while Ashley Westwood was No.5 with fourteen successful out of twenty-two made.

Holman was No.1 for chances created with three, while Christian Benteke was No.2 with two.

Holman was also No.1 for take-ons with two successful out of three attempted. Benteke was No.2 with two successful out of two attempted. Matt Lowton was No.3 with one successful out of two attempted.

Villa had the top five players for shots. Benteke was No.1, Lowton was No.2, Holman was No.3, Eric Lichaj was No.4 and Bannan was No.5.

Westwood was No.1 for passes - unsurprisingly - with sixty-seven successful out of seventy-seven made. That adds up to 87%. Bannan was No.3 with fifty-one out of sixty-three while Chris Herd was No.5 with thirty-nine out of forty-eight.

Lichaj was No.1 for tackles with six successful made out of seven attempted. Holman was No.2 with three successful out of three attempted.

Westwood was No.1 for interceptions with six while Holman was No.4 with three and Baker was No.5 with three.

Baker was No.1 for clearances with eleven successful out of twenty attempted. Herd was No.2 with eight successful out of fourteen attempted. Ciaran Clark was No.3 with five successful out of ten attempted.

Baker was No.2 for aerial duels with six successful out of fourteen attempted.

Benteke was joint No.1 for fouls suffered with three.

Westwood to Lowton was No.1 pass combination with seventeen while Lowton to Herd was No.2 with fifteen. Herd to Lowton and Lowton to Westwood was joint No.3 with fourteen while Baker to Bannan was No.5 with thirteen.

[claret and blue blood]

Stoke really are an apalling advert for the "Premier League" Give me a difficult impacted wisdom tooth extraction any day over watching their deliberate premeditated spoiling tactics, They should pay a premium to the opposition club's fans to endure that !
I know I'm dreaming but substitute Milner and Young for Holman and Gabby in today's starting line up and we would be comfortable top six. Thought Clark came of age today, he really seems to stand up to the physical side of the game way better than earlier this season. Westwood -sublime, wish he'd take a shot though.No criticisms, we were better before the substitutions but credit Lambert for trying to win the game (maybe he should have looked at last seasons videos and he would have sent Weimann on to nick a goal !) We have to keep behind this young team , 2 signings in Jan and a bit of luck and we should be OK.

[dave.woodhall]

Stoke really are an apalling advert for the "Premier League" Give me a difficult impacted wisdom tooth extraction any day over watching their deliberate premeditated spoiling tactics, They should pay a premium to the opposition club's fans to endure that !

I've just started a match report with:
Playing Stoke is like visiting the dentist. At worst it can be painful, at best it’s something to be endured rather than enjoyed and even when you get away with a reasonable result you still know you have to go through it all twice a year for the foreseeable future.

[paul_e]

I think everyone else has summed it up for me.

We're very close to being a good side but I really want 2 'inside forward' style players who can start out wide and drift in to offer a goal threat.  Looking at a lot of the players we've been linked with those seem to be the roles PL is focusing on as well.

I think we've found a good pairing in the middle in Westwood and Bannan, they both work really hard off the ball (whether we have possession or not) and in a 3 holman does a good job in front of them, and kea can still offer something.  On top of that GK and defense, even with a bunch of injuries, seem pretty strong so those 2 wide forwards and maybe a cover for westwood/bannan and we'll be in a really good place.