Stoke City v Aston Villa Post-Match Thread

[TheSandman]

Chinchilla Bathhouse: Your post above is too long to quote especially as all I'd want to add is that I agree 100% with it.

I honestly was starting to wonder if it was just me. It's getting to the stage that I'm wanting to switch off every Villa-related website and never go back to any of them. If we were bottom I'd understand it.

[Goldie.7]

When you can't beat Sunderland, Fulham or Stoke things look a whole lot clearer.

[PeterWithesShin]

How clear are things when you can beat arsenal and man city?

[eastie]

When I find myself awake at 3-15 am worrying about a football club then it concerns me .
I really hope we get 2 results this week or we could find ourselves in deep trouble .

[Damo70]

The Christmas home double header is crucial.

[Goldie.7]

How clear are things when you can beat arsenal and man city?

One good win and one fluke win doesn't fill me with joy. We won't beat Arsenal at home and the same away at City. Lambert's 55 games in charge = 15 wins.

[PeterWithesShin]

When I find myself awake at 3-15 am worrying about a football club then it concerns me .
I really hope we get 2 results this week or we could find ourselves in deep trouble .

I'd be very depressed if I let the Villa bother me that much. I'm on here purely because I'm having a smoke break from a film. Much as I love the Villa, there are hundreds of things that would keep me up, but Villa losing isn't one of them.

[PeterWithesShin]

How clear are things when you can beat arsenal and man city?

One good win and one fluke win doesn't fill me with joy. We won't beat Arsenal at home and the same away at City. Lambert = 55 games in charge, 15 wins.

Same as two defeats at grounds we very rarely win at doesn't have me panicking.

[OzVilla]

It used to keep me awake but it doesnt anymore. I stopped staying up to watch games at 1 am too - that really helps as going to bed angry/depressed/dispirited wasnt worth the very occasional elation.

[Damo70]

Off the top of my head I can't remember us putting in a ninety minute performance of quality and giving the opposition a hard time since the opening two games. Arguably at Norwich maybe.  The stat about us now only being one point better off than the same stage last season has scared me to be honest. We need those two Christmas home games to go well or I think we will be back to last season with supporters and team lacking confidence and getting jittery.

[eastie]

Off the top of my head I can't remember us putting in a ninety minute performance of quality and giving the opposition a hard time since the opening two games. Arguably at Norwich maybe.  The stat about us now only being one point better off than the same stage last season has scared me to be honest. We need those two Christmas home games to go well or I think we will be back to last season with supporters and team lacking confidence and getting jittery.

Arsenal and Chelsea we were excellent - Norwich not so good - its a worrying stat as last season we had a really good last 3 months and found a style that worked for us - now teams are combatting that and we are struggling for goals .

Really is a huge week ahead of us - 4 points required at least i think.

[ROBBO]

Any team that has their first pick centre halfs missing will struggle in defence, one out you can cover but both out at the same time is unlucky to say the least.
Clarke is competent with a senior player alongside him but Baker is a liability in any position and it just shows how weak a squad we've got that Lambert has to play him.
Westwood in midfield has been a big disappointment, when he gets the ball he does very little with it either he goes sideways or backwards, this has been the major weakness for a few years now i would say ever since Milner left and why this wasn't fixed in the summer it's hard to understand.

[Goldie.7]

How clear are things when you can beat arsenal and man city?

One good win and one fluke win doesn't fill me with joy. We won't beat Arsenal at home and the same away at City. Lambert's 55 games in charge = 15 wins.

Same as two defeats at grounds we very rarely win at doesn't have me panicking.

I'm not panicking either just not very optimistic.

[old man villa fan]

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.     

My feelings entirely.  I have never been a major contributor to this forum but feel that I have put effort and perspective into my comments.

I am currently on holiday in Thailand and sat down with a mate (another Villa supporter of nearly 50 years) to watch the match live. I do not believe we deserved to lose and crucial decisions went against us at important times in the match.  Many of our thoughts on how the match was going was backed up by the commentators.

We are clearly suffering through injuries to key players and we need to bring some players in.  I have always had a feeling that since Lambert took over we have been treading water until some of our youngsters started to come through.  Not the ones that started to appear during the course of previous managers but ones that reach the U21s during the course of Lambert's reign.  Although we have produced good reserve sides, I always thought it was due to the collective, rather than the individuals and this is why few of them have stood out in the first team.

January is a bad time to buy players as not many want to move on mid-season.  I think there is far better value in loans at this time of year, more so with it being World Cup year.  There must be a lot of experienced international class players that cannot get games with their clubs but need to be playing.  Even if we have to break our wage structure for half a season just to bring some stability to the team when we are struggling with injuries.  As many have identified, a central midfield player in the more advanced role is a must.  Somebody that can dictate play.  A central defender is another and, I believe, a goal scorer.  The goal scorer needs to be somebody that can compliment a big striker.  I am not sure how many loan players you can bring in, is it 2 from your own league but unlimited from overseas.

We then need to reassess the position at the end of the season when we are able to off load some of the high earners.  There have been comments earlier about comparing Lambert with McLeish but in my opinion McLeish wasted money that we did not have on high long term contracts for Hutton, Given and CNZ.  The result of this is Lambert having to shop at the likes of Aldi but there again you occasionally do get some quality their at bargain prices.

[holte hero]

Agree entirely with chinchilla, a breath of fresh air