Stoke City v Aston Villa Post-Match Thread

[ez]

Suggestions that we should stick with Lambert until the end of January don't make sense. By that point a new manager - if you can get one - is unable to use any contacts to beg/steal/borrow loan signings or buy any body he can with the £500k available.  If Lambert goes it has to be no later than after we lose at Sunderland on New Years Day.  New Year New Start No Lambert

Agreed.

Anyone who thinks Lambert is going to be getting sacked is kidding themselves.

Suggestions that we should stick with Lambert until the end of January don't make sense. By that point a new manager - if you can get one - is unable to use any contacts to beg/steal/borrow loan signings or buy any body he can with the £500k available.  If Lambert goes it has to be no later than after we lose at Sunderland on New Years Day.  New Year New Start No Lambert

Agreed.

Anyone who thinks Lambert is going to be getting sacked is kidding themselves.

I tend to agree but I remember people on here saying McLeish would be going nowhere.

[Legion]

From Pravda:

Paul Lambert spoke of his frustration following the defeat to Stoke, insisting: "I don't think we deserved to lose that game."

Lambert watched on as Charlie Adam gave the Potters the lead before Libor Kozak benefitted from a mistake to slot home the equaliser.

But former Villa striker Peter Crouch was on hand to earn the victory at the Britannia Stadium for the home side.

Lambert was pleased with the effort and quality in the first half, as Villa enjoyed the advantage of a prevailing wind.

And the boss also felt his team earned several opportunities after the break as they endeavoured into the typically-strong breeze.

Asked if Villa did enough to get something, he said: "I thought so. I really did. I thought we were worthy of a point from it.

"I thought we were excellent in the first half. I thought we dominated the first half and looked threatening.

"Even in the second half we had chances. The goalkeeper made a good save from Kozak. It was a close game.

"We thought when we got to 1-1 we might have gone on. We looked as if we could go on and sneak it. Sometimes you get it. Sometimes you don't.

"The last two games we have been disappointing but in this one I couldn't fault them for their effort and the way they played. We might have got an equaliser.

"The wind was very strong out there. The conditions were hard for both teams. We had it in the first half. Stoke had it in the second half.

"There was some good play from both sides. But I don't think we deserved to really lose the game."

Lambert also gave his verdict on the contentious moment when Marc Wilson could have been given his marching orders in the first half, as he upended Andi Weimann as the last man, only to see yellow.

The manager added: "I had a word with the referee and just asked his opinion of it.

"His verdict was that the keeper had the ball safely in his hands.

"Andi has got there first. But you have to respect the decisions. Sometimes you get them. Sometimes you don't. He interprets how he interprets it. You have to go with his decision."

[Kingthing]

Switch everything off now to do with football...until the next match.

Did you mean March?

[ChicagoLion]

Suggestions that we should stick with Lambert until the end of January don't make sense. By that point a new manager - if you can get one - is unable to use any contacts to beg/steal/borrow loan signings or buy any body he can with the £500k available.  If Lambert goes it has to be no later than after we lose at Sunderland on New Years Day.  New Year New Start No Lambert

Agreed.

Anyone who thinks Lambert is going to be getting sacked is kidding themselves.

Suggestions that we should stick with Lambert until the end of January don't make sense. By that point a new manager - if you can get one - is unable to use any contacts to beg/steal/borrow loan signings or buy any body he can with the £500k available.  If Lambert goes it has to be no later than after we lose at Sunderland on New Years Day.  New Year New Start No Lambert

Agreed.

Anyone who thinks Lambert is going to be getting sacked is kidding themselves.

I tend to agree but I remember people on here saying McLeish would be going nowhere.

Yes but it was the end of the season-not January
RL new that if he kept Mcliesh he would hardly sell another season ticket, that is the only thing that will drive Lerner.

[baddowvillans]

Paulie I don't disagree with your thinking that he WILL go just he should if we don't get a minimum of 4 points from the next two games. As for who we'd get.........my mum's not doing much these days.............couldn't do worse

[pauliewalnuts]

"The last two games we have been disappointing but in this one I couldn't fault them for their effort and the way they played. We might have got an equaliser.

I know he's limited in what he can say, but I hope he doesn't really believe this.

[pbavfckuwait]

But this is the thing I do not understand 2 players of class, 60k a week, 6 players of crap 20k a week same outgoing, problem is with the Villa at the moment is we lack leadership on the field, leadership from the Manager and no leadership from the top echelons, in other words we are going nowhere but into a downward spiral very very quickly, pay for monkeys and you get monkeys.

[ROBBO]

Wages are the problem, get good players you say but why would anyone decent come to Villa when other clubs will pay them more? toward the end of the Doug era all i wanted was for him to sell up to a new owner, well now i'm in that position again i want an owner who comes to games, at least Doug was there suffering with the fans.

[PaulWinch again]

"The last two games we have been disappointing but in this one I couldn't fault them for their effort and the way they played. We might have got an equaliser.

I know he's limited in what he can say, but I hope he doesn't really believe this.

This is what worries me, I know people say he can't criticise the players in public but still.

[kippaxvilla2]

We can blame Lambert as much as we like and I want to.  But the bottom line is if you as a club decide to shop at Lidl then the likelihood you are not going to end up with Harrods merchandise.

It isn't that hard to work out that to stand a reasonable chance of competing in this league you need to spend money and if you don't do that the very least you need is some experienced heads in the team.

We are now happy treading water as the ambition. Where once we were ambitious enough to try for the league, we then lowered our expectations to trying for Europe.  To today's ambition survival.

The owner doesn't seem in the least bit interested anymore.  Lambert was about the best appointment we could have made given the spending limitations.

I don't think he's doing a very good job and has had a lot of tolerance from the supporters.  But changing him out wouldn't work in my opinion as someone else comes through the revolving door with the same constraints.

[Monty]

"The last two games we have been disappointing but in this one I couldn't fault them for their effort and the way they played. We might have got an equaliser.

I know he's limited in what he can say, but I hope he doesn't really believe this.

I think the near-constant headshaking towards the end of the match was more telling.

[eastie]

The fact he says we were excellent in the 1st half and dominated the game leaves me cold .
I have rarely felt less enthusiastic about football and don't really see lerner sacking lambert even if we lose the next few games - I think we are on a slide and heading one way right now , and i struggle to see a way out of this.

We have problems in all areas of the pitch and a squad woefully lacking in quality with a manager who I have no real faith in to sort the mess - it really is a bleak situation all round .

[pbavfckuwait]

Yeah maybe Doug taken into content had alot more in common with the support than we ever gave him credit for, I think Mr. Lambert would have been walked around the rose garden before today, or definetaly after today, P45 and taxi for Lambert

[ChicagoLion]

"The last two games we have been disappointing but in this one I couldn't fault them for their effort and the way they played. We might have got an equaliser.

I know he's limited in what he can say, but I hope he doesn't really believe this.

I think he does, it does not matter how shit we are he comes out with the same crap, a more honest assessment might allow us to believe he is going to do something about it. Based on the way we are playing he either does not think there is a problem or does not know how to solve it. Either way we are in deep shit.

[russon]

My match ratings.

Guzan - 6. Points deducted for not having the guts to walk off in disgust.
Lowton, Herd & Clark- 2. (For putting their shorts on the right way round)
Baker - 1. A lamp-post wearing football boots. Never a footballer in a million years.
Delph - 4. Brainless booking yet again. Thinks he's hard, you're kidding no-one son.
Tonev - 2. The rest were playing football, what were you doing?
Westwood - 3. Invisible, points awarded for last season's goal here.
Weimman - 3. Motormouth, full of running but so's a steeplechaser, as threatening as a water pistol.
Kozak - 5. Scored, didn't hide, meh.
Albrighton -6. A reasonable display standing out as better than it was because it was surrounded by pap.

I despair. The Villa could make a grown man weep these days. Happy Christmas.