Stoke City v Aston Villa Post-Match Thread

[Ian.]

Looking at what we pay for players and what we pay them I think our position in the league flatters us.

I think for a manager to find 2 or 3 diamonds from the lower leagues is borderline genius. We are expecting him to do this as well as gel them into a team which is generally made up from our academy which makes it near on impossible.

[olaftab]

Disappointing as this all is we need to show patience and stick with PL.

We are a massive work in progress and under the constraints that the Club operates under it really will be a gradual process, although it feels glacial if progress at all.

I just think that with so many young players we are bound to have these times. Yes we need investment in January but we also have good players not performing due to injury and loss of form that will come again, Benteke, Wiemann.

We're all pissed off but we've also got to be realistic.

I agree 100% with this.

Yes very sensible post. We need to get real.

[Meanwood Villa]

A woeful performance. Again. We look pretty damn useless at the moment. Things can change of course. Let's hope they do sooner rather than later.

[arnie66]

Looking at what we pay for players and what we pay them I think our position in the league flatters us.

100% correct and this is what worries me more than anything else......I was hoping for mid table mediocrity this season but it now looks like that has been replaced with at least a ten team relegation battle which will challenge our young and inexperienced squad equally if not more so than last season.

I hope and pray that we act wisely in January or we might live to regret it

[Monty]

Looking at what we pay for players and what we pay them I think our position in the league flatters us.

I think for a manager to find 2 or 3 diamonds from the lower leagues is borderline genius. We are expecting him to do this as well as gel them into a team which is generally made up from our academy which makes it near on impossible.

And we're asking him to play more exciting football than we have done for a decade. And, for a few months either side of the season break, he actually succeeded. There are a lot of problems with us at the moment, but it's not been all bad.

[mike]

Disappointing as this all is we need to show patience and stick with PL.

We are a massive work in progress and under the constraints that the Club operates under it really will be a gradual process, although it feels glacial if progress at all.

I just think that with so many young players we are bound to have these times. Yes we need investment in January but we also have good players not performing due to injury and loss of form that will come again, Benteke, Wiemann.

We're all pissed off but we've also got to be realistic.

I agree 100% with this.

Yes very sensible post. We need to get real.

If relegation is part of being a work in progress I'd rather not get real, thanks.

[frankmosswasmyuncle]

I continue to have faith in Lambert's "plan" even if it is a bit see through and threadbare at the moment.

He has put faith in the players who performed last season and amazingly almost none of them have done the business this time around:
 Lowton was a reliable, ever-present; Westwood was the new Carrick/Scholes; Sylla's good run in the team coincided with the team's good run (keep him in!); Benteke was on fire; Weimann was a threat to every team he played against and a proud product of our Academy system. Even Bennett was spoken of as settling in and improving considerably towards the end of the season.
None of these players have performed to the levels they did last season in spite of that year of experience behind them, most with improved contracts for the very reason they had proved themselves and stepped up.
This season they simply haven't done what was expected.
Do we stick by them, knowing they CAN perform better but are just not doing it at the moment, or do we ditch them and start all over again?
I can't blame Lambert for sticking with many of the players he's brought in and have shown they have the potential to do well and kick on this year, but for whatever reason they all seem to have "burnt out" or be off form at the same time.
There's no easy answer, but being the kind of guy he is, in the situation he's in, I honestly think he can only stick with the squad he has and work on getting them back to some kind of the form that we saw from Feb last season.
The last 3 games have been painful, and I think we'll see more of it before, IF, it gets any better.
UTV

[Stu]

Worst team in 20 years.

Not even close

Since 1993, really?

[Stu]

All these injuries are showing his signings up for what they are. Crap players.

They key injuries have largely happened to his signings.

His other signings aren't taking up the flak either.

It's a terrible squad.

The bench today:

Steer
Bacuna
El Ahmadi
Helenius
Luna
Bowery
Sylla

All Lambert signings.

[Liam_Baggies]

As I said no offence intended , but your comment that you thought we'd survive still made me think maybe thats ok at the Albion but  we are hoping for a bit more than that - sorry if it came across as being arrogant .

I noticed you didn't pop on here after our win at southampton a fortnight ago  by the way .

I mentioned the surviving part because it's something I've seen from a number of Villa fans who think relegation is a concern when it isn't.

I was on here when you beat Southampton but I didn't feel the need to post - what that has to do with it I don't know.

[eastie]

All these injuries are showing his signings up for what they are. Crap players.

They key injuries have largely happened to his signings.

His other signings aren't taking up the flak either.

It's a terrible squad.

The bench today:

Steer
Bacuna
El Ahmadi
Helenius
Luna
Bowery
Sylla

All Lambert signings.

Not easy to see where changes can be made to galvanise us against palace - we have problems as it is against sides who come to defend - not a game for the purists.

[Flamingo Lane]

A "work in progress" (the phrase that's trotted out by a number of people on here) suggests elements of planning towards an ultimate goal.  Well I'm buggered if I can see a plan or a goal in what's happening here.

[olaftab]

While I wish al Aston Villa fans a Merry Merry Christmas, as you are not one of us Lambert I hope yours stinks

A dreadful comment. Paul Lambert deserves a very good Christmas just like  the rest of us. It's only football FFS.

[olaftab]

As I said no offence intended , but your comment that you thought we'd survive still made me think maybe thats ok at the Albion but  we are hoping for a bit more than that - sorry if it came across as being arrogant .

I noticed you didn't pop on here after our win at southampton a fortnight ago  by the way .

I mentioned the surviving part because it's something I've seen from a number of Villa fans who think relegation is a concern when it isn't.

I was on here when you beat Southampton but I didn't feel the need to post - what that has to do with it I don't know.

And also he didn't pop on here after our defeats against Fulham and manu so eastie please let it go.

[Stu]

As I said no offence intended , but your comment that you thought we'd survive still made me think maybe thats ok at the Albion but  we are hoping for a bit more than that - sorry if it came across as being arrogant .

I noticed you didn't pop on here after our win at southampton a fortnight ago  by the way .

I mentioned the surviving part because it's something I've seen from a number of Villa fans who think relegation is a concern when it isn't.

I was on here when you beat Southampton but I didn't feel the need to post - what that has to do with it I don't know.

I don't think this is the time, Liam, to be honest.