Stoke City v Aston Villa Post-Match Thread

[frankmosswasmyuncle]

Baker isn't even looking at the ball - he's concentrating on pushing Adam in the back.
You know, Charlie Adam, that lithe, slippery eel of a striker!
F**k me!

[ciggiesnbeer]

@MatKendrick: Villa are one point & one place better off than at the same 17-game stage last season. 19 points instead of 18, 13th instead of 14th. #avfc

Progress.

Jesus. Its cold when laid out like that.

I need several drinks.

[Ad@m]

Baker isn't even looking at the ball - he's concentrating on pushing Adam in the back.
You know, Charlie Adam, that lithe, slippery eel of a striker!
F**k me!

Yes, Baker showing his legendary positional skills yet again!

[adrenachrome]

Baker isn't even looking at the ball - he's concentrating on pushing Adam in the back.
You know, Charlie Adam, that lithe, slippery eel of a striker!
F**k me!

Yeah.  The Baker dude is not all that.
Fuck me in both ears!

[paul_e]

I agree with the Baker comments, I said it quite early in this thread, he got drawn in far too easily to allow Adam to chest it into space, half a yard deeper and it was a simple situation to deal with, that's why I find him so frustrating, I could handle the shoddy distribution if he was a good defender but he's pulled out of position far too easily.  Clark has made mistakes but I've never been truly nervous when he plays, I have serious reservations about Baker and I found it incredible that so many on here last year were happy to write off Clark and champion Baker.

That said I wish we could just have a season without a central defender being out long term, it's screwing the balance of the squad and has been the norm over the last 7-8 years bar MONs last season.

[john2710]

50 years ive been going to villa park i see one real problem the feckin owner tight fisted yankee twat came here with great intentions but words mean jack

What does £300 million mean then?

An initial investment of £80m to buy the club.
About £120m of debt that Lerner provides at minimal rates.
All or most of which Lerner would expect to get back if he sold.

I can understand that he couldn't continue to pour money in chasing something that is out of his / our reach. But we've gone from one extreme to the other. A couple of good / known signings or loans now would make a world of difference to the team & without them we are going to continue to struggle.

[David_Nab]

My concern is not just losing we are playing appallingly the goals we are conceding are from poor defending rather than good play and we are creating next to nothing.Take the first goal today first you have Clark diving in when he should of stayed on his feet. Freekick taken whilst he is still moaning , Crouch wins header against the far smaller Baker who is letting Adam run past him and his best efforts to stop him is a token push in the back.It's pathetic it really is.

Injuries are an issue of course which means we have had to keep chopping and changing the team but now we are losing players to suspensions Delph ,Gabby and now Westwood.The team lacks composure unable to play at less than 100 mph which they don' t have the technique to pull off leading to loss of possession attacking wise and late tackles defending.

Palace next is a must win no excuses.

[BoldmereVilla]

Same old shit !! We are boring, predictable, rash and just not good enough.
Everyone goes on about signing two quality experienced players but who ?? Who would come to Villa when we pay peanuts compared to other PL clubs.

There are good players available in the championship , Tom Ince, Jordan Rhodes, Matt Phillips but you have to be prepared to pay the wages. Instead we buy cheap from abroad or league one.

If you read this message five years ago you would think I was on about the Wolves, Albion or Small Heath but this is ASTON VILLA !!
We cant match the spending of Southampton, Hull or Cardiff

Its not good enough

[PeterWithesShin]

Next 3 games really are massive now.

[aj2k77]

Are we still midtable and improving season by season in line with '' the plan''?

Or has it finally sunk home that we've signed some real shit footballers and Lambert 80% of the time has no idea how to set a team up and his football is atrocious.

He should have gone last January after his horror run and I've stuck to it since. Can anyone see what work we do in midweek? Any plans we try specifically for certain teams?

We are a dirty long ball team. Thanks Paul, now get your P45 and fuck off.

[Witton Warrior]

All this debate!
Does anyone think we play good football?
Does anyone think our players are skilful? If so who in a team of 11

Whatever the injuries/wages/transfer money available are we looking a better team?

How much am I paying to watch this crap again?

[robbo1874]

I missed the game so can't really comment on it. But it just seems to me that we're going through a rough patch. We usually have one every season, just seems to have come a bit early this time around.

The injuries to okore and vlaar are unfortunate and are costing us. This is not lamberts fault, but having no back-up arguably is. His or Lerner's. we don't know if he tried to sign anyone else.

We certainly need to make a few signings in Jan. A quality centre back and a quality midfielder in my view would make a world of difference. Proven quality and experience. Two players. 20m.

I suspect we won't be spending anything like that though.

I still think even if we don't make any signings and things stay the same, we've enough to stay up - but 4 seasons of the same sure is getting depressing.

Lambert still has a bit of credit in the bank as far as I'm concerned, but its dwindling rapidly. If Clarke can get the sack from the albion, then lambert must be sweating a bit now.

Lerner needs to either back him in Jan, or get rid at the end of the season. And the merry go round start again.

[Chinchilla Bathhouse]

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

Come back at 9am and you will see all sort of reports through rose-tinted spectacles.

You mean things you don't agree with?  You mean when people have had the chance to sleep on it and come back with rational points of view rather than simply unleash pent-up explosions of fury?   

And right on cue, look who’s here, still fuming a full eight hours after full time.  It’s our “supporter” aJ2k77, with the charming:

“We are a dirty long ball team. Thanks Paul, now get your P45 and fuck off”.

Honestly, what part of you thinks that's acceptable?  I was going to post this last Sunday (inspired by aj2k77’s anti-Lambert torrent of abuse on the match thread after 22 minutes against the champions.  Yes, 22 minutes.  That’s support for you).  I decided against posting, but I’ve decided to do it this week, because I’m tired of all this.

I hate it when we lose.  I hate it when we’re crap. But the thing I hate about it most of all, more than the fact that I can’t bear to watch the highlights, more than not wanting to read the reports, more than worrying about where we’re heading, the thing I hate most of all about being beaten is coming on this forum and seeing some of the vicious unthinking bile that people contribute to the discussion.  I respect everyone’s right to an opinion even if I don’t agree with it; what I don’t respect is relentless unconstructive negativity and vitriolic abuse.   

It’s obviously not everyone, thankfully I think the majority of people on this thread do try to be constructive in trying to fathom what the hell is going on at the moment. There have been some brilliant posts on here tonight.  Unfortunately there is an increasing number who seemingly can hardly wait to put the boot in.  Even when we win it’s because we were lucky; we deserved to lose, let’s not go and enjoy ourselves or anything.

I’m sick of people moving the goalposts like this; last season we didn’t have enough points at this stage – hence we were going down.  This season we’ve got more points on the board – now we’re not playing well enough, hence we’re going down.  Last season our defence was taking us down.  This season it’s the lack of goals we score.  I’m sick of people being so eager to find fault, I’m sick of people refusing to give credit where it’s due, I’m sick of people ignoring facts and statistics where they counteract their argument, I’m sick of angry feckers giving rude and sarcastic responses to anyone who dares to question their ire, and I’m sick of seeing anyone who posts a measured and considered message being leapt upon and called an apologist for Lambert.  As for the personal abuse, well that’s just uncalled for; some of the match threads are vile.  If some of you are as aggressive and obnoxious in real life as you come across on here then I‘m glad we’ve never met.   And don’t give me the excuse that you’re pissed off.  We’re all pissed off.  We don’t all behave like you, thankfully.  I hope none of you have pets of kickable size.  In fact, I pity all your families if that’s what you’re like whenever we don’t win a match with the panache of Brazil 1970.

We’re all Villa supporters, right?  We support the team, we support the club, well how about we support each other a bit as well?  You know, letting off steam when appropriate, having a laugh when appropriate, in short, gauging the mood of our fellow Villa fans and engaging with them in a manner that is appropriate.  As opposed to just getting angry and turning on people who might actually empathise with your point of view.  I know I’d find defeats easier to bear if I could come on here and be part of some reasoned debate and exchange some gallows humour.  These days a visit to the match and post-match threads makes every defeat feel worse.  That’s not right.  If I want to read mindless slagging off of Lambert I’ll go to the Small Heath forum.  I don’t want to see it here.

If you’ve got nothing useful to say then please don’t post.  This will sound simplistic, and that’s because it is: go and do something else instead.  Get a new hobby.  Go and visit some old folks in a hospice.  Go to an owl sanctuary.  Take yourself away, do something different and get some perspective. Do anything you like, just stop poisoning this site with your bad tempers.  It doesn't help.     

[villan from luton]

My concern is not just losing we are playing appallingly the goals we are conceding are from poor defending rather than good play and we are creating next to nothing.Take the first goal today first you have Clark diving in when he should of stayed on his feet. Freekick taken whilst he is still moaning , Crouch wins header against the far smaller Baker who is letting Adam run past him and his best efforts to stop him is a token push in the back.It's pathetic it really is.

Injuries are an issue of course which means we have had to keep chopping and changing the team but now we are losing players to suspensions Delph ,Gabby and now Westwood.The team lacks composure unable to play at less than 100 mph which they don' t have the technique to pull off leading to loss of possession attacking wise and late tackles defending.

Palace next is a must win no excuses.

Crouch won the header against the far smaller Herd and then the lumpy Adam was too quick for Baker, apologies if my beer gogle eyes are wrong. Agree that beating Palace is a must

[aj2k77]

A. Basics are still appalling (free kicks, throw ins, corners). All show no sign of any work during the week.

B. Signings. Bar the obvious one no others I would say have been a success and the majority of them are now among the first players we should be looking to sell.

C. Limited tactics. Sometimes baffling selections.

D. Style of play. Or actually no style of play. 11 players on a pitch chasing the ball around hoping something will happen with no plan from game to game as to how to make it happen. It really is as basic as that right now.

E. Substitutions. Rarely have any effect. We don't have strength in depth? Well wasn't that what his summer signings were touted as being?

Even his dour demeanour bugs me, he comes across as inspirational as Howard Wilkinson in his latter years and the team resembles him. Theres more reasons aswell which i'm sure your aware of seeing as you know when I post and at what minute of a particular game but I can't be bothered repeating them anymore.

£43m quid and he's produced this turd of a team and i'm sure theres no one salivating at the prospect of sticking the boot in after another dismal day. 99.9% would rather be arguing about who we should sign to solidify our champions league push rather than how the hell has Chris Herd managed to sneak back into the side again.