Aston Villa v Stoke City Post-Match Thread

[eastie]

One thing I've noticed is that lamberts substitutions rarely have a positive effect on the game and we have often looked worse this season after making changes.

We are lacking in creative quality and need to address that area in January, gabby and Holman for me are the players we need to improve on in their positions.

[Irish villain]

Baker and Clark have really impressed me. With  Guzan, Clark, Vlaar and Baker I feel we are better off in defence than we were with Friedal/Given, Collins, Dunne and Cueller.

We have a solid base and a decent  midfield. What we lack is a bit of spark, somebody who can be a match-winner by themselves. If we had such a player (a Merson, Keane, Young  or Carbone type) we would win a lot of those games we seem to draw.

[nigel]

One thing I've noticed is that lamberts substitutions rarely have a positive effect on the game and we have often looked worse this season after making changes.

We are lacking in creative quality and need to address that area in January, gabby and Holman for me are the players we need to improve on in their positions.

Think this poo poo's that.

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.

[olaftab]

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.

However this was the first time since they  have returned to the first division that I felt we were totally secure against them. We completely nullified them.

[ktvillan]

Forgot to mention I though Guzan was great today.  As good as our back three were in dealing with the aerial threat, Guzan showed a lot of balls coming for and claiming plenty of crosses, which took the pressure of the others a bit.  Friedel could be a bit of a flapper in such situations and Given tends not to go for crosses. 

[paul_e]

Forgot to mention I though Guzan was great today.  As good as our back three were in dealing with the aerial threat, Guzan showed a lot of balls coming for and claiming plenty of crosses, which took the pressure of the others a bit.  Friedel could be a bit of a flapper in such situations and Given tends not to go for crosses. 

I think that's the reason he's playing ahead of Given, he commands the area really well (particularly given that he was being written off after taking a bullying from Samba in a couple of matches), he's clearly worked really hard on that area of his game and is now as good as anyone in the league at claiming crosses.

[eastie]

One thing I've noticed is that lamberts substitutions rarely have a positive effect on the game and we have often looked worse this season after making changes.

We are lacking in creative quality and need to address that area in January, gabby and Holman for me are the players we need to improve on in their positions.

Think this poo poo's that.

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.

I think our lack of clear chances and goals poo poos that - Holman and gabby are the areas that we need to improve on !

[ktvillan]

One thing I've noticed is that lamberts substitutions rarely have a positive effect on the game and we have often looked worse this season after making changes.

We are lacking in creative quality and need to address that area in January, gabby and Holman for me are the players we need to improve on in their positions.

Think this poo poo's that.

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.

Fair enough but he needs to get in the box quicker and more often to support the attacks.  Gabby doesn't seem to be mentioned much in those stats.  Still if he works hard....

[Can Gana Be Bettered!?!?]

One thing I've noticed is that lamberts substitutions rarely have a positive effect on the game and we have often looked worse this season after making changes.

We are lacking in creative quality and need to address that area in January, gabby and Holman for me are the players we need to improve on in their positions.

As someone has pointed out on another of your posts, you're wrong.

From where I was sat, the vast majority of the crowd, including me, thought Ireland & Bent was a positive and good choice of substitutions to make.

Ok, they didn't quite work out how we would've liked, but the idea was clearly the right one.

[eastie]

Forgot to mention I though Guzan was great today.  As good as our back three were in dealing with the aerial threat, Guzan showed a lot of balls coming for and claiming plenty of crosses, which took the pressure of the others a bit.  Friedel could be a bit of a flapper in such situations and Given tends not to go for crosses. 

I think that's the reason he's playing ahead of Given, he commands the area really well (particularly given that he was being written off after taking a bullying from Samba in a couple of matches), he's clearly worked really hard on that area of his game and is now as good as anyone in the league at claiming crosses.

Yes Guzan was superb and unrecognisable from the keeper that was so awful against Blackburn a few years ago- he looks solid in the air and credit to him , he has looked an excellent keeper this season.

[villasjf]

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.

Good post mate this young team is going to be something special if we can keep them together with this manager. Westwood will be an international soon and well deserved, there are some nuggets out there we have never heard of and our scouts are finding them.

[eastie]

One thing I've noticed is that lamberts substitutions rarely have a positive effect on the game and we have often looked worse this season after making changes.

We are lacking in creative quality and need to address that area in January, gabby and Holman for me are the players we need to improve on in their positions.

As someone has pointed out on another of your posts, you're wrong.

From where I was sat, the vast majority of the crowd, including me, thought Ireland & Bent was a positive and good choice of substitutions to make.

Ok, they didn't quite work out how we would've liked, but the idea was clearly the right one.

I'm not saying it was wrong to bring on bent and Ireland , I'm just pointing out that our substitutions have rarely worked well this season, invariably we have looked a worse team after making changes.

I expected bent and Ireland to be chomping at the bit and eager to prove a point but neither had an impact.

[paul_e]

One thing I've noticed is that lamberts substitutions rarely have a positive effect on the game and we have often looked worse this season after making changes.

We are lacking in creative quality and need to address that area in January, gabby and Holman for me are the players we need to improve on in their positions.

As someone has pointed out on another of your posts, you're wrong.

From where I was sat, the vast majority of the crowd, including me, thought Ireland & Bent was a positive and good choice of substitutions to make.

Ok, they didn't quite work out how we would've liked, but the idea was clearly the right one.

I'm not saying it was wrong to bring on bent and Ireland , I'm just pointing out that our substitutions have rarely worked well this season, invariably we have looked a worse team after making changes.

I tihnk it's a work rate thing, ireland and bent just don't offer the level of work that gabby and holman do, so suddenly stoke found themselves with more time to punt the ball upfield and we didn't have as much space around their box.  I'd have made 1 when he did and then looked at making the other 10-15mins later if we were still struggling, probably bringing bent on first.

[onje_villa]

Have to say I'm quite surprised with the positive reaction by most on here. Not that I disagree completely but I think some have gone a bit far in their praise.

Firstly I was surprised to see Lambert line up with a 352 today though I thought defensively it worked well for us and meant our full backs could get further forward than usual.

I concur that the young defenders were excellent and stood up well to Stoke. Westwood is a really accomplished young player but he's the guy to do the simple things. I felt we were too comfortable in there with him and Bannan playing neat passes to one another. Like others have said, someone needs to drive forward from midfield. So many times we had the ball in defence and there was no real drive to get forward, I thought there was a lack of off the ball movement today and it meant we often went backwards.

Gabby's a strange one, he had some great runs in the first half but most of the time he just looks lazy when playing up front. I wonder what happened to playing 1 up top supported by the two inside forwards. I feel we're much more of a threat that way. With two up top we just look too flat.

[brian green]

Just home from the game.   I felt it was a game of three quarters and one quarter.   When Bent and Ireland came on the pace and bite of our game slumped.   I have few criticisms of Lambert but one I do have is that his substitutions never seem to work.   I am always left with the distinct impression that the "fresh legs" do not do it for us.

As somebody behind me said the introduction of Bent and Ireland seemed more like showcasing them than anything else.

It seems to me that the character which is emerging from Lambert's team is one of hard work and team spirit.   Bent and Ireland add absolutely nothing.   Both are or have been quality players but to my eyes they do not fit in a high energy, high work rate set up.