Stoke City v Aston Villa Post-Match Thread

[cdbearsfan]

At least we've finally managed to shake off the "rubbish at home, quite good away" tag.

[timeoutbigbar]

Started reading this thread just now as the anger from the game had started to subside.  It's coming back.  Fucking awful. 

[Ian.]

 I missed it today, Xmas shopping instead.
I'm a bit scared to read this thread. From the little I heard while at McDonalds it sounded terrible and nasty.
I'm in a pretty good mood now and the kids are still up so ill save this til later.....I'm really looking forward to it too :/

[john e]

I'm not voting for Abbey Clancy tonight

[AlexAlexCropley]

wouldn`t be surprised if we now start winning at home and losing away.Just hope so cos my half season ticket kicks in Boxing Day.
Didn`t  matches used to be 1 o`clock Boxing Day or 11 ?

[brian green]

Mazrim defined it on another thread and I very much agree with him.   Something has happened at Villa Park that we do not know about.   I really do have the feeling that the club has lost its heart.   As I have said recently even in the darkest times we always believed totally that we would rise again.   The last four seasons have got me feeling that IF we do rise again it will only be to the top half of the premiership.   That is an absolutely monumental act of defeatism.

So how did the club lose its heart?   I believe it is the consequence of losing an owner for all his faults and they were many and well known, who loved the club and loved the game.   In Steve Stride we had an executive who also loved the game.   They have been replaced by Randy Lerner and Paul Faulkner for whom Aston Villa Football Club are no more than a business investment.   I am sure Randy likes "soccer" and takes an interest in our games, albeit from a distance but Faulkner will never be a football man while he has a hole in his arse.

I am very disappointed with Lambert, very disappointed indeed but until the very top level of the club matches the Villa fans' love of the club and the love of the game of football no amount of managerial musical chairs is going to make the slightest difference.

It is not the low wages and the bargain basement buys which are eroding the Villa, it is the fact that they are seen as an end in themselves.   Aston Villa's holy grail is not to hold aloft the European Cup once more but to have a nice tidy set of accounts lodged at the bank all in the black and all blessed by the approving nods of accountants and bankers.

When we, the fans, raised the hundred grand for Tommy Docherty to buy Brucie, he bought Brucie and it made one heck of a difference (actually they threw in that wonderful club servant his brother Neil) but what he did not do was buy ten ten grand squad players.

If Lambert gets money in the January window he is a leopard who will not change his spots, he will buy cheap again but it is all hypothetical because he will not get any money and he will not sign anybody.

[Rudy Can't Fail]

Not that he's any great loss but ashley Westwood is suspended for the palace game .

Good. It will force Lambert to give somebody else a chance to play the deep defensive role. It's Sylla's natural position, Herd could play there, both will give the defence some protection. Sometimes Villa managers make great discoveries when forced to make changes. Here's hoping, Paul.

[bertlambshank]

I could cry at that.

[edgysatsuma89]

I am going to the next two games mind, hopefully Montbert, Santa can get us something. Otherwise I'll have nothing but the usual lynx deodorant.

[pauliewalnuts]

At least we've finally managed to shake off the "rubbish at home, quite good away" tag.

Ha ha ha, excellent, that's made me laugh and cheered me up, thanks.

[saunders_heroes]

The transfer window opens in less than 2 weeks. Time for Lerner abandon the ridiculous "young and hungry" nonsense and sign some real Premier League players starting with a top class midfielder. Anymore lower league crap and we may as well pack up.

[eastie]

Mazrim defined it on another thread and I very much agree with him.   Something has happened at Villa Park that we do not know about.   I really do have the feeling that the club has lost its heart.   As I have said recently even in the darkest times we always believed totally that we would rise again.   The last four seasons have got me feeling that IF we do rise again it will only be to the top half of the premiership.   That is an absolutely monumental act of defeatism.

So how did the club lose its heart?   I believe it is the consequence of losing an owner for all his faults and they were many and well known, who loved the club and loved the game.   In Steve Stride we had an executive who also loved the game.   They have been replaced by Randy Lerner and Paul Faulkner for whom Aston Villa Football Club are no more than a business investment.   I am sure Randy likes "soccer" and takes an interest in our games, albeit from a distance but Faulkner will never be a football man while he has a hole in his arse.

I am very disappointed with Lambert, very disappointed indeed but until the very top level of the club matches the Villa fans' love of the club and the love of the game of football no amount of managerial musical chairs is going to make the slightest difference.

It is not the low wages and the bargain basement buys which are eroding the Villa, it is the fact that they are seen as an end in themselves.   Aston Villa's holy grail is not to hold aloft the European Cup once more but to have a nice tidy set of accounts lodged at the bank all in the black and all blessed by the approving nods of accountants and bankers.

When we, the fans, raised the hundred grand for Tommy Docherty to buy Brucie, he bought Brucie and it made one heck of a difference (actually they threw in that wonderful club servant his brother Neil) but what he did not do was buy ten ten grand squad players.

If Lambert gets money in the January window he is a leopard who will not change his spots, he will buy cheap again but it is all hypothetical because he will not get any money and he will not sign anybody.

I feel your passion Brian , very good post .

[SashasGrandad]

Unless Vlaar gets back quickly and stays fit, we are going to be in trouble. Plenty of effort and spirit, but no composure or leadership. 5 players booked is a damning statistic.

Looking through this thread - this is about the only comment I can really agree with. Without Vlaar and Gabby there is no experience. First half we were comfortable because Stoke were even more shite than we were. The ref had no bollocks, their left back was kicking lumps out of Albrighton, Shawcross was all over Kozak, their keeper didn't have the ball when Weimann was taken out, we just didn't have the ability to to take advantage.

Stoke put Adam on 2nd half - he's not much good but changed the game - simply because he knew how to encourage his team mates to wind up our young inexperienced players.

A lot of our players are struggling but they are not totally incompetent - we need a couple of old heads in there to steady the ship. To tell the young ones the best way to beat a "clogging team" like Stoke is to keep playing football, when you get fouled get up and wait for them to foul you again, even an inept ref will eventually get the message. Don't get up and get booked in the next challenge.

Inept ref - how can any ref let Stoke get away with tactics where Weimann is held back every time he tries to break away? He might not have the ball - but it was obviously part of Stoke's plan.

I will probably be in a small minority - but sacking Lambert is not the answer to our problems. We are not small time like the Tescos Baggies.

One bright spot - "The Library is ours" song - pity those off the field showed more class than those on the field.

[supertom]

We rarely ever look like winning games these days. Today was no different. Even some of the games we won, we didn't even look like winning, but somehow pulled off the result be it one moment where the ball falls kindly or a well timed and well executed Bacuna FK. The trouble is you cannot go through a season playing badly and expect to win more than you lose. Playing so shit has caught up with us in the last three games and we're now getting the results we deserved during that 5 match unbeaten run.

In the last 8 games I couldn't honestly say we deserved to win any of the matches. We were poor against Cardiff. We were poor against Southampton. The Southampton game in particular was incredibly fortuitous. under 30% possession and 3 shots on target and we won 3-2, whilst they pulled our defense all over the place at times. Poor finishing on their part cost them what really should have been a win.

The next two games will tell us if we're still dogfighting, or if we're comfortable. On current form I can't see us convincingly beating anyone in this division.

[SashasGrandad]

I'm not voting for Abbey Clancy tonight

I hope Alijas takes her up the .............

The judges are giving the scouse slut lots of marks - lets hope the phones in Grimsby keep working.