Aston Villa v Stoke City post match thread

[Witton Warrior]

Unless we had one after I left (83 mins) we went the whole of the second half without a single shot on goal!
And that follows on from only 2 or 3 in the first half, with none after Gabby's blast over after about 25 mins.

How the fuck does that happen... 3-1 down at the start of the second half, at home, and we still can't muster a single fucking shot !!!

94th minute shot from Bertrand I think

[olaftab]

Cheer up..... cooooop cakes....
Good result for our lads today, most Stoke fans thought that we where going to get a battering today.
Don't believe everything that you read in the papers about Stoke, Mark Hughes is doing a good job here. We are improving with every match. We have taken some big scalps this season at home, and it was just a matter of time before things started t happen away from home. Good luck for rest of season, always want midlands clubs to stay in the Premiership. It keeps it a bit more interesting for all of us..
 

Well done. Most teams would have folded after being outplayed so much  up to the first goal. Great come back and you do play football now. I kept looking for hoofs  from centre backs into the pen box and long throw ins but none of that. N'Zonzi bossed the midfield from about 15 on. Enjoy.

[olaftab]

Our players probably spent most of last week patting each other on the back for beating Chelsea. They heard the praise and read the  nice words in the print and social media. So they felt  no sweat Stoke at Villa park turn up and win. Amazingly the first 5 minutes proved them absolutely right. Rolled the ball about with immense ease, great movement, classy interchanges, Stoke players chasing shadows  and culminating in one of the best footballing goals we have scored this season. That was probably the worst thing that could have happened today. What followed was a lesson in professionalism. Lack of it on our part and plenty of it with Stoke. What we needed today was a reminder that you have to respect every team and play for 90mins in every game. If you don't you will get a thumping and  I am afraid we got what we deserved. Not going to mention any individuals because just as the same bunch of players were brilliant against Chelsea the same were absolutely shambolic today. They were all lethargic, inattentive, petulant and mostly disorderly. Clearly we can only play against teams that let us play. Put up against a determined functional teams like Stoke, West Ham, Palace etc and we have no answer.
Next week's performance is going to very different especially if manu play with a swagger and confidence based on their recent good results.

[myf]

Another thing... not a single mention today of the match in the Times. Shocking how a club our size can become such a meaningless entity at the national level and in the press

[Damo70]

It was dire stuff but it seems like the Lambert Out brigade were almost hoping for something like this after the last two home games. And some of the biggest vitriol is coming from people who don't actually go to games. I can't defend today but let's at least see how the rest of the season plays out before we get all the knives out of the drawer for him.

[RichardBatchelor]

Over- confidence today followed by total loss of it. Not fair on the fans and an insult to Stoke who we apparently seemed to think we'd walk all over. Time for the kids to grow up... but we'll be back.

[Dribbler]

A good first 5 minutes and a well worked goal, and from there we should have been in the driving seat really, meaning Stoke would have to commit forward to try and get a goal, and we could get at them on the counter.

But oh no, we gift them some wonderfully cheap goals with some awful defending and we've then handed the advantage to Stoke, who can sit back and pick us off on the break.

The 2 things that stood out for me were that 1) we were out muscled in pretty much every 50/50 ball, and 2) i just couldn't work out the game plan for our getting back into the game. When a team sits back and defends with '2 banks of 4' behind the ball, we just don't know what to do. Do we want to go wide and whip the ball in or play through the middle? Neither it would seem, we just knock the ball around lethargically from the wings to the center, then back to the defence, and so on, until we lose possesion.

Much of the problem seems to be that our play is just far too slow in those situations. Every player gets the ball, controls it, looks around, maybe takes another few touches, then plays it to another player, who then does the same. This gives any well marshaled defence plenty of time to organise and position themselves appropriately and not give us any space to play in, or move into. Do we never practice one touch pass and move football?

A poor poor game overall.

[Rudy Can't Fail]

Normal service resumed.

If this is stability you can shove it up your arse.

[eastie]

@RonVlaar4: Awful game. Looking in the mirror, I wasn't good enough today, made to many wrong choices, needs to be better... Really disappointed. #utv

[Legion]

Benteke's goal

[Dribbler]

It was dire stuff but it seems like the Lambert Out brigade were almost hoping for something like this after the last two home games. And some of the biggest vitriol is coming from people who don't actually go to games. I can't defend today but let's at least see how the rest of the season plays out before we get all the knives out of the drawer for him.

After 30 plus games this season, and 40 plus games last season, do you really think the next 8 games are going to tell us anything new about Lambert and what he can offer?

[levico]

It was dire stuff but it seems like the Lambert Out brigade were almost hoping for something like this after the last two home games. And some of the biggest vitriol is coming from people who don't actually go to games. I can't defend today but let's at least see how the rest of the season plays out before we get all the knives out of the drawer for him.

We'll I'm in the Lambert out brigade and I go to every match, home and away unless on holiday. I certainly didn't want today to happen although I wasn't surprised. I just want him to prove me wrong -  but he won't. The only question is, how much damage will he have done before he us moved on on 2 years time?

[Rudy Can't Fail]

It was dire stuff but it seems like the Lambert Out brigade were almost hoping for something like this after the last two home games. And some of the biggest vitriol is coming from people who don't actually go to games.

What a load of utter bollocks.

[Witton Warrior]

It was dire stuff but it seems like the Lambert Out brigade were almost hoping for something like this after the last two home games. And some of the biggest vitriol is coming from people who don't actually go to games. I can't defend today but let's at least see how the rest of the season plays out before we get all the knives out of the drawer for him.

This was the usual fare though - look at the results they're not anyone's opinion.
How many wins/draws/losses - I have now watched 11 defeats at home this season - last week just highlighted the crap I normally watch the rest of the time.
I want Lambert and all the players to excel but he just doesn't seem to be that clever does he?
The Albrighton thing is a case in point - Marc is OK IMHO and injects a bit of pace and excitement but to just plonk him in the centre and see what happens is stupid.

I said on another thread that I would renew my ST if we put in a decent performance today (not necessarily a win note) - can't be arsed now.

[eastie]

It was dire stuff but it seems like the Lambert Out brigade were almost hoping for something like this after the last two home games. And some of the biggest vitriol is coming from people who don't actually go to games. I can't defend today but let's at least see how the rest of the season plays out before we get all the knives out of the drawer for him.

What a load of crap!
Take off your rose tinted specs and you'll see the emperor is wearing no clothes!