Aston Villa v Stoke City post match thread

[Ger Regan]

Ger, I can vouch for Damo70 being a level-headed, intelligent poster.

Agreed, I do enjoy his contributions, just thought that one was a little bit off.

[eastie]

Ger, I can vouch for Damo70 being a level-headed, intelligent poster.

Maybe so but it was the suggestion some were maybe hoping for this defeat which I took umbrage with , we are all villa fans and want to win.

[adrenachrome]

Just home from the game.   Where to begin.   That was one of the worst performances collectively of any Villa side I have seen since the days of DOL.   I am not a Lambert out man because I am a realist and do not think it is going to happen.   There are enough downers following Villa without building up your hopes pointlessly.   Stoke outplayed us in every department today.   They muscled us and we capitulated.   In my opinion the reason we can beat the better teams is because they come to play football and our players are not scared of them.   Lesser sides come and play to get points at all costs and too many of our players have no stomach for the fray.

I was not surprised by the result because my diagnosis of the crux of our shortcomings is the gulf between how we can play and how we do play.   We never play poorly, we never have an off day.   When we are bad we are unspeakably bad and that is down to coaching and man management.

On the way to the game we heard Pat Murphy's interview with Lambert and on being told that we have not won three home games back to back for seven years his reply was "I expect I shall get blamed for that"   I think he sees himself as a victim when so much of what goes wrong on the pitch is directly his and his staff's responsibility.

One thing which I found inexplicable was the complete absence of any greater effort or urgency in the second half.   After a first half like that you would expect that they came out fresh from the mother of all bollockings but if anything they were more slap happy and lethargic than they had been in the first half.

If we scrape to survival nothing is going to change.   We are going to go into next season on a wing and a prayer with most of the bomb squad bombed out and Hoolahan, Holt and a couple of bargain buys brought in.   What we have seen in recent times is going to be the norm for the foreseeable future.   If you are an optimist you will continue to be an optimist, if you are a pessimist you will continue to be pessimistic.

I agree with a lot  of this, but how then do you explain some of our good away results which were extremely physical? Sunderland is one obvious example.

[brian green]

Sorry eastie.   I have just travelled nearly two hundred miles with my son each of us unable to bring ourselves to speak.   The silence was broken when he dropped me at my house and said "Take your chip wrappers with you."

[rougegorge]

Just home from the game.   Where to begin.   That was one of the worst performances collectively of any Villa side I have seen since the days of DOL.   I am not a Lambert out man because I am a realist and do not think it is going to happen.   There are enough downers following Villa without building up your hopes pointlessly.   Stoke outplayed us in every department today.   They muscled us and we capitulated.   In my opinion the reason we can beat the better teams is because they come to play football and our players are not scared of them.   Lesser sides come and play to get points at all costs and too many of our players have no stomach for the fray.

I was not surprised by the result because my diagnosis of the crux of our shortcomings is the gulf between how we can play and how we do play.   We never play poorly, we never have an off day.   When we are bad we are unspeakably bad and that is down to coaching and man management.

On the way to the game we heard Pat Murphy's interview with Lambert and on being told that we have not won three home games back to back for seven years his reply was "I expect I shall get blamed for that"   I think he sees himself as a victim when so much of what goes wrong on the pitch is directly his and his staff's responsibility.

One thing which I found inexplicable was the complete absence of any greater effort or urgency in the second half.   After a first half like that you would expect that they came out fresh from the mother of all bollockings but if anything they were more slap happy and lethargic than they had been in the first half.

If we scrape to survival nothing is going to change.   We are going to go into next season on a wing and a prayer with most of the bomb squad bombed out and Hoolahan, Holt and a couple of bargain buys brought in.   What we have seen in recent times is going to be the norm for the foreseeable future.   If you are an optimist you will continue to be an optimist, if you are a pessimist you will continue to be pessimistic.

I fell even more depressed after reading this brian :(

Yes, apart from the first 15 minutes, that was one of the worst performances collectively...full stop.

Players who suddenly looked quite capable last week looked incapable, and dynamic play was replaced by patternless, aimless slow and wayward play riddled with fouls.

Losing 11 games at home takes some doing and losing so badly to a team with a reserve midfield who are so poor away from home is unacceptable.

[eastie]

The thing is it's not a one off , its a regular thing and has been happening for far too long - our home form is an embarrassment,

[brian green]

Perhaps the difference 'chrome is that we had a referee who was fair and not card happy.   I think we did try to man up a bit today but when we did we fell foul of vain Mr Clattenberg.   As Legion pointed out Stoke are still the same narky game manipulators they have always been but Mark Hughes gets a good press and Stoke are now the good guys.

[saunders_heroes]

The thing is it's not a one off , its a regular thing and has been happening for far too long - our home form is an embarrassment,

Precisely. It was a hideous performance, but not a one off. Most of our home performances under Lambert have been unacceptable. We're Aston Villa not some 'johnny come lately' club from the lower leagues who are just happy to be in the Prem for a season or two. Let's have a bit of pride in the club!

[Clampy]

For what it's worth I can see what Damo was trying to say. There is a bit of inconsistency with some posters on here and that will always be the way I suppose. Whilst no-one was saying Lambert was the best manager in the world last week, no-one was calling for his head either. A week later they are. I presume that's what Damo was suggesting and if so, I agree with him.

[Fin Feds Dad]

When our options from the bench are French division 2 player and a championship teams reject - then we are in the shit - and will be for the foreseeable future.

Out thought - outmuscled - outplayed .

Pathetic .

[pooligan]

Fair play to you Brian, if only our players showed the same passion and dedication as you

[Damo70]

If you read what I put I said that from the over dramatic reaction from some "It seems like" some were "Almost hoping" for something like this. I have no problem with people like Paulie for example who make many valid points about Lambert's reign on the whole and have consistently said the same thing after both good and bad results. If anyone calling for him to go was as keen for him to go this time last week after the Chelsea result then fair play and today they will feel vindicated in their lack of faith. If anyone has jumped directly from happy to give him more time to sack him after today they are fickle. And trust me, I don't have rose tinted specs. I have missed one home game in all competitions since Lambert took over so like many others I have witnessed more than enough slow motion car crashes at Villa Park in such a relatively short space of time, with the added bonus of having to exit the North stand and walk up Witton Lane seeing and hearing celebrating away fans. Ger, I promise you I wasn't trying to be deliberately confrontational. And cheers to Olaftab for having my back.

Fair enough, damo. I just get a bit twitchy when I see that type of post put up (similarly to when I see "happy clapper" or some other nonsense posted). Tempers can flare easily on a night like tonight, I really doubt that there's very many on here who actually take pleasure in a game / result like today.

The one comment I would take back is the dig at posters who don't go to games complaining. Like a lot of others I had years of not going regularly due to work, family, finances, moving away at one point.It still hurts and you still care. I think I was a bit bitter and twisted after yet another grim performance and result along with the aforementioned witnessing of yet another away fan party. Then I was reading posts from people who had the luxury of changing channels!

eastie, I meant that the calls for Lambert to go in a few posts made it seem that some were almost waiting for an outcome like today. I probably didn't word it well but Clampy gets the gist of what I meant.

Cheers Legion.

[brian green]

Thank you for the compliment Pooli but I am nothing more than a glutton for punishment.

[Clampy]

Perhaps the difference 'chrome is that we had a referee who was fair and not card happy.   I think we did try to man up a bit today but when we did we fell foul of vain Mr Clattenberg.   As Legion pointed out Stoke are still the same narky game manipulators they have always been but Ailsa Stewart gets a good press and Stoke are now the good guys.

Considering most of their players are over 7ft, a few of them went too down bloody easily. Like you said, despite the change in manager they're still the same horrible side to watch.

[adrenachrome]

Perhaps the difference 'chrome is that we had a referee who was fair and not card happy.   I think we did try to man up a bit today but when we did we fell foul of vain Mr Clattenberg.   As Legion pointed out Stoke are still the same narky game manipulators they have always been but Mark Hughes gets a good press and Stoke are now the good guys.

Yes BG, that is spot on. They did not miss a trick to niggle and time waste, and we end up with 5 yellow cards.