Aston Villa v Stoke City post match thread

[Billy Walker]

This match reminds me a bit a bit of that 0-3 game v Wimbledon all those years ago under Sir Graham - after the Lord Mayor's Show and all that.  There were some poor performances out there today but I think an awful lot of it was to do with the immaturity of certain players as much as anything else.  Everything went right for Stoke (fair play to them) and some of our younger lads have to take this on the chin as a lesson.  I'm surprised we let in four but I'm not totally shocked that we lost, that's where we are at at the moment.

[barrysleftfoot]

 Was impressed by Stoke john e.The guy on the left in partic, Odemwinge wouldn't have been the worst signing, he's a far better player than Gabby or Weimann.But , yes, Stoke played well.

[pauliewalnuts]

No surprises today. This is what we really are not the team that beat Chelsea. What's more depressing is that nothing is going to change,we'll probably avoid relegation, Lambert will get a new contract, Summer signings will be more of the same and next season will be another flirtation with relegation. Just what's the point?

That's exactly my thoughts.

What is the point? Maybe keeping a squad of kids and cheap dross in the top flight really is an achievement? Who wants to watch that year after year, though?

[Deano's Mullet]

Stoke weren't afraid to hold onto the ball - as some one else said when we have it its like we're handling grenades.

[Archie]

No surprises today. This is what we really are not the team that beat Chelsea. What's more depressing is that nothing is going to change,we'll probably avoid relegation, Lambert will get a new contract, Summer signings will be more of the same and next season will be another flirtation with relegation. Just what's the point?

It's fuc*ing true.

[ez]

Stoke were good

Hughes is a better manager.

[dicedlam]

Our problem is that every now and then we will get a good result - sometimes two but usually just the one - and we will then follow up with a sequence of truly awful performances.

It isn't just inconsistency, it is veering from one extreme to another. It's great that he gets such good results against the top four, but the vast majority of teams are not in the top four. What about those matches?

I honestly expect this summer we will have the addition of three or four players of the same mediocre quality, and more or less the same shitty season we've had this season and last.

Except we won't have Benteke, of course.

There will be question marks whether both Delph and Vlaar will stick around too?

[supertom]

Poor. Not good enough. I don't think there's light at the end of the tunnel. I'd trade the Man City and Chelsea home wins for 4 home wins against sides like this that we should be beating on our patch.
Lambert consistently comes up short unfortunately and a lot of our players will never be good enough to play week in, week out at this level. Sylla in particular look like he'd walked in from the stands and nicked someones playing shirt. Baker will forever be a liability.

Just when you think there's a glimmer of forward progress, we take 2 steps back again and make a side like Stoke look like Barca.

If we scrape over the 40 point mark come the final game, Lamberts position needs to be reconsidered. I'm not sure I trust him with another transfer window to get it right. Will we ever have a comfortable season under him? I'm not sure.

[PaulWinch again]

No surprises today. This is what we really are not the team that beat Chelsea. What's more depressing is that nothing is going to change,we'll probably avoid relegation, Lambert will get a new contract, Summer signings will be more of the same and next season will be another flirtation with relegation. Just what's the point?

That's exactly my thoughts.

What is the point? Maybe keeping a squad of kids and cheap dross in the top flight really is an achievement? Who wants to watch that year after year, though?

It annoyed me listening to the commentary when Niall Quinn was excusing our display because our team is 'kids'. Well frankly they're not that young and most of them have been exposed to nearly two full seasons of the Premier League now, it is nowhere near good enough.

[Toronto Villa]

Stoke were good

Hughes is a better manager.

you must have forgotten the miracle he worked at QPR prior to Stoke then. Not saying he's not doing a good job there with his resources but let's not get too carried away. I know this will be batter Lambert week, and I'm really blaming anyone but this is how it starts. By the end of the evening Bruce, Pulis and Poyet will all be better managers.

[richard moore]

No surprises today. This is what we really are not the team that beat Chelsea. What's more depressing is that nothing is going to change,we'll probably avoid relegation, Lambert will get a new contract, Summer signings will be more of the same and next season will be another flirtation with relegation. Just what's the point?

There isn't any anymore and it's why I've not been to Villa Park for the last two seasons. Lerner has ruined this club and dumbed down our expectations to the point where we'll soon be celebrating getting to 10th in the league. We are now truly at the same level of the West Hams, Stokes and Southamptons and can't even attract better players than them anymore

[richard moore]

Our problem is that every now and then we will get a good result - sometimes two but usually just the one - and we will then follow up with a sequence of truly awful performances.

It isn't just inconsistency, it is veering from one extreme to another. It's great that he gets such good results against the top four, but the vast majority of teams are not in the top four. What about those matches?

I honestly expect this summer we will have the addition of three or four players of the same mediocre quality, and more or less the same shitty season we've had this season and last.

Except we won't have Benteke, of course.

There will be question marks whether both Delph and Vlaar will stick around too?

Vlaar isn't even that good, he just looks it compared to the rest of the shit in the team. It's like Kyle Walker, he looked like Messi in our team which wasn't very difficult at the time

[Deano's Mullet]

Four points better off than this time last season. Such is progress.

[taylorsworkrate]

I think the inexperience excuse that even Niall Quinn was trotting out, is really starting to wear thin now. It's not like it's a team of 18/19/20 year olds anymore.

[eastie]

Stoke were good

Hughes is a better manager.

you must have forgotten the miracle he worked at QPR prior to Stoke then. Not saying he's not doing a good job there with his resources but let's not get too carried away. I know this will be batter Lambert week, and I'm really blaming anyone but this is how it starts. By the end of the evening Bruce, Pulis and Poyet will all be better managers.

Hughes got great results with wales.
Got blackburn into Europe, finished top 5 at city and top 8 at Fulham - he kept qpr up and did a poor job there in honesty but I'd rate him well above lambert .