Stoke City v Aston Villa Post-Match Thread

[olaftab]

Typical of you glory hunters Aftab. I was a few years ahead of you and suffered the demise to the third division. We resent you youngsters jumping on the bandwagon to success.

Yes guilty as charged Paul especially after our win against Best, Charlton and Co previous December!

[edgysatsuma89]

Hhhmmm. I think everyone is entitled to express an opinion on this forum within reasonable guidelines. Knowing he goes nowhere near this site, I find attacks on Lambert less offensive than personal attacks aimed a fellow posters (you're just about to find the irony in this). A lot of people avoid kicking their pets by pouring out their frustrations on here, sometimes constructively, sometimes not. Does it matter? I don't think countering those posts by supposedly, coolly and calmly throwing all your teddies out of the cot helps either. If you start trying to dictate how people conduct themselves on here then you end up with a dictatorship. I believe we have moderators to deal with posts that cross the line of public decency.
As for the biggest dividing issue, I can forgive Lambert his transfer dealings. He has had a terribly limiting budget for a club of our stature. Some of his purchases have worked, most haven't. Fair play, but many believe he has compounded the issue with some of his unfathomable and many varied tactics; substitutions, formations and team selections have often left me feeling we are partially rudderless. As a previous poster stated, I envy those fellow Villains who keep faith in the management and believe things will improve. I can't emphasis enough how I am willing many of you to be right and all the doubters wrong. However, as I try to instil some optimism into my flagging resolve I cast my mind back to.the League cup semi final. Getting schooled by a fourth tier side. Not in a one-off anything can happen fixture, but over two legs of football. I still see the hapless Lambert stood on the touch line of VP in the remaining minutes and the decisions he took to try and turn the tie around. Decisions I would not have expected from a ten year old MOTD devotee. If you think Lambert is the man to take this club forward then great but I defend the right of those that are less convinced. Simple.

This. The post of the depressives. I nominate you chairman of the board.

[JUAN PABLO]

It does worry me when Lambert says on TV ' I thought we were brilliant first half'

I was not watching the same game , It was an awful Stoke team we were playing  and we were below ok .

wheres he get brilliant from

[David_Nab]

We were so brilliant MOTD didn't show anything from us in the first half ....

[Brian Taylor]

That team yesterday, ability wise, is the worst I have seen since we were last relegated and I have been going since 71. Truly awful.

I agree with you Nick and I started in exactly the same season as you

I think we need to form a 71ers  starters club. It's all of us who started watching the Villa rise from the depth of the third division. 

I remember Tommy Doc being brought in and made the statement on ATV news that he'd get Villa out of the 2nd Div..and we went in the Third! It was great year with incredible crowds as we came back up..Then I think again in a parallel universe. What now?

[eastie]

It does worry me when Lambert says on TV ' I thought we were brilliant first half'

I was not watching the same game , It was an awful Stoke team we were playing  and we were below ok .

wheres he get brilliant from

Quite, I would say average at best 1st half and poor 2nd half - certainly words like excellent or brilliant are way over the top.

[Ad@m]

It does worry me when Lambert says on TV ' I thought we were brilliant first half'

I was not watching the same game , It was an awful Stoke team we were playing  and we were below ok .

wheres he get brilliant from

From the world of doing your job on the training pitch, not through the media.  If you're looking for brutal honesty, don't listen to pre or post-match manager interviews.

[silhillvilla]

Not seen the goals conceded, how bad are they ?

[eastie]

Not seen the goals conceded, how bad are they ?

Not great defending on either but we have conceded worse this season .

[andrew08]

There was a situation in the first half when Westwood had the ball at his feet in space in the Stoke half on the right hand side as we were looking. Weimann and Kozak where running through on the far left unmarked. A simple cross field pass would have put them through 2 on one. Westwood, in the pressure of a Premier League game picked out their goalie, that's what you get when you buy players from Crewe. I like Westwood,he's steady enough, but he's not a 'proper' premier league player.

You get what you pay for I suppose.

[l_mckay]

Yesterday was a very poor performance,we never really looked like scoring and we did look shaky at the back an this was against a very average stoke to team. To be fair we did have 3 of our best players out yesterday which didn't help,but Lerner really needs to get his cheque book out in early January and get a couple of experienced players in. Looking on the bright side we are a couple of wins from a comftable position min mid table. Palace is massive now must win is an understatement!!!!

[Ad@m]

Yesterday was a very poor performance,we never really looked like scoring and we did look shaky at the back an this was against a very average stoke to team. To be fair we did have 3 of our best players out yesterday which didn't help,but Lerner really needs to get his cheque book out in early January and get a couple of experienced players in. Looking on the bright side we are a couple of wins from a comftable position min mid table. Palace is massive now must win is an understatement!!!!

I don't generally disagree with your assessment there but what on earth does 'must win' mean in the context of the Palace game?  Yes, it's a game we should be looking to win but what happens if we lose?  What happens if you lose a 'must win' game?!  And how on earth can any league game in December be 'must win'?!

Our fate this year will be based on our performance over 38 games.  For every crap performance and result against the likes of Stoke or Hull there are much better performances and results against the likes of Arsenal and Man City.  There really isn't any need to add made up pressure by designating games as 'must win' when they're anything but.

You'll give yourself a heart attack is you watch Villa with that mindset!!! 

[mr underhill]

in my recent experience it helps to watch the villa without any mind set

[supertom]

Yesterday was a very poor performance,we never really looked like scoring and we did look shaky at the back an this was against a very average stoke to team. To be fair we did have 3 of our best players out yesterday which didn't help,but Lerner really needs to get his cheque book out in early January and get a couple of experienced players in. Looking on the bright side we are a couple of wins from a comftable position min mid table. Palace is massive now must win is an understatement!!!!

I don't generally disagree with your assessment there but what on earth does 'must win' mean in the context of the Palace game?  Yes, it's a game we should be looking to win but what happens if we lose?  What happens if you lose a 'must win' game?!  And how on earth can any league game in December be 'must win'?!

Our fate this year will be based on our performance over 38 games.  For every crap performance and result against the likes of Stoke or Hull there are much better performances and results against the likes of Arsenal and Man City.  There really isn't any need to add made up pressure by designating games as 'must win' when they're anything but.

You'll give yourself a heart attack is you watch Villa with that mindset!!! 

Some might argue that if you're in the grouping of teams we are in, every game is a must win. The quicker you get to 40 points the better...of course yes, it's probably not conducive to good mental health, but I can thoroughly understand why we look at the next game as a must win having struggled with relegation 3 years on the spin.

Again, you look at us right now. 3 defeats on the bounce. We now have a home game against Palace. They're a side a lot of clubs in the same boat as us will be looking to try and bully. To kick them and keep them firmly ensconced in the bottom 3. If they pulled off a win, you'd be looking at arguably the second shittest team in the Prem this season catching up within sniffing distance of us.

So yep, it might give me a heart attack, but I do think it's a must win.

[paul_e]

There was a situation in the first half when Westwood had the ball at his feet in space in the Stoke half on the right hand side as we were looking. Weimann and Kozak where running through on the far left unmarked. A simple cross field pass would have put them through 2 on one. Westwood, in the pressure of a Premier League game picked out their goalie, that's what you get when you buy players from Crewe. I like Westwood,he's steady enough, but he's not a 'proper' premier league player.

You get what you pay for I suppose.

I think the wind played a big part in the example you've given, as it did for a number of other similar passes, it seemed to grab anything over a few yards up in the air and give it a real nudge on from behind us in the first half.  Going that direction there were a hell of a lot of balls like that which went very long in that direction, I don't thin you can put that down to a lack of ability.