Aston Villa v Stoke City post match thread

[martin o`who??]

Watching the sides before kick-off, Stoke took up their positions, we went into a huddle, it looked like an Adult side about to play a kids team, the difference in stature was unmissable, we just couldnt cope with them physically and were given no protection from the referee, it comes to something when your biggest most physical player (CB), hardly wins a header all day and spends most of the game flat on his face. Some Stoke fan was on Radio 5 after the game and said it was "Swan Lake" football, if that is stylish football to him, what the hell are they used to up there??. as for us, after Chelsea, back to reality, and the reality is, we are a rather poor football team.

[aj2k77]

Why did we constantly hoof the ball up the pitch when practically every Stoke player was over 7ft? Talk about playing into their hands!
Lambert's tactics are just laughable.

Because invariably under Lambert that is both plan A and plan B in a nutshell. Only difference is that plan B involves the same tactic but with more forwards and less midfielders to bypass.

[sidcowans10]

Having slept a few hours on it we all knew that yesterday was going to be the big test.   The pro-Lambert faction and the anti-Lambert faction knew that following a good quarter of a game against Norwich and a very good game against Chelsea the game against Stoke was going to show whether we had finally turned the corner and could start to build a less disastrous future.   Stoke were the perfect opponents, tough, well disciplined and physical who would test us in every department in which we have showed such incompetence so many times in Lambert's tenure.   By any measure we failed that test.   We failed it so comprehensively that we got an early goal and still went to pieces.

Whichever way you cut it, whether you are violently pro Lambert and believe he has the vision and ability to at least take us to a position where every season is not a flirtation with relegation or whether you believe he is out of his depth and massively overrated, that Stoke game showed us and him for what we are.   He is a second class manager with second rate staff around him.   We have a second class squad who are poorly coached and poorly organized.   We are rapidly becoming a second class club on the pitch.

He will not be sacked because those who run the club firstly have a massive guilt complex at the whole way the MON tenure and departure and everything that has happened since has been handled and secondly a posture has been adopted by those who run the club which is basically denial that anything fundamental is wrong.   Having Paul Lambert as the manager fits their attitude of denial perfectly.   He pleases them by buying cheaply and paying low wages.   He occasionally gets lucky and finds a Benteke.   Occasionally the players do their own thing and play very well.  He uses the flashes of brilliance to promote the myth that we are a young team still in transition and gives assurances that it will all come good in the long run.   When all these shaky assumptions are put to the test they collapse just like they did against Stoke.

Because he is not Alex McLeish his faults are glossed over by the majority of the fans.   Because he is not Martin O'Neill his faults are glossed over by the board.  He is never going to be sacked in the foreseeable future so it is pointless to demand it or expect it.   He has secured his position by following the board's instructions to save money even to the point that players like Grant Holt are wearing Villa shirts.   The board in turn will be loyal to him and will allow him to stay even if we are relegated.   

That is what we the loyal fans are looking at, an absentee owner, an obdurate self-serving board, a manager whose principal quality is that he is not Alex McLeish and a squad of players put together on a low budget with little or no regard to whether they are better than the players we already have or needed at all, coached by Lambert's loyal staff who give every impression of total ineptitude.

The end game of all this is still some way off, maybe a season maybe two but when it comes it is going to be very nasty indeed.

Sums it up brilliantly

[PaulWinch again]

Lambert's response of 'I expect I'll get blamed for that' would explain why we have such a petulant side. We were pathetic and had no character today.

Yet expecting him to take the blame for 5 and a half years when he wasn't here is fine? It was shit today - but that record isn't all, or even mostly, his. In fact, half of it is with a manager who gave us more 'success' than we'd see n in a long time.

Well of course not, but who's blaming Lambert for our record before he arrived? I don't think anyone is.

The question itself does. The fact that some consiider him refusing to accept the blame for stuff that happened years before he got here is 'petuleant' does. The fact that part of this record occurred whilst we were heading for 3 6th place finishes & a league cup final & an FA cup semi final shows that this stuff means f all anyway.

I didn't hear it, so I might be getting it wrong, I am just going on what I've read here, but if he was asked that, but if he said "I don't know, but I expect I'll get the blame for that" - isn't the pertinent point the fact that that answer suggests he thinks he's getting blamed for stuff he shouldn't be blamed for?

Pointless question, I agree, but the answer to it is telling. If that's what he said, anyway.

Which was essentially my point, why does he seem to be under the impression that people are blaming him for things that were outside his control? I think he's had a pretty easy ride all things considered.

[eastie]

Of our squad how many are genuine quality premiership class ? Guzan, Vlaar, Delph, benteke ?
There are several  others good enough to be classed as squad players but regular starters ?

I expect the likes of Delph and benteke and maybe Guzan to attract the so called big boys in the summer .

[amfy]

Lambert's response of 'I expect I'll get blamed for that' would explain why we have such a petulant side. We were pathetic and had no character today.

Yet expecting him to take the blame for 5 and a half years when he wasn't here is fine? It was shit today - but that record isn't all, or even mostly, his. In fact, half of it is with a manager who gave us more 'success' than we'd see n in a long time.

Well of course not, but who's blaming Lambert for our record before he arrived? I don't think anyone is.

The question itself does. The fact that some consiider him refusing to accept the blame for stuff that happened years before he got here is 'petuleant' does. The fact that part of this record occurred whilst we were heading for 3 6th place finishes & a league cup final & an FA cup semi final shows that this stuff means f all anyway.

I didn't hear it, so I might be getting it wrong, I am just going on what I've read here, but if he was asked that, but if he said "I don't know, but I expect I'll get the blame for that" - isn't the pertinent point the fact that that answer suggests he thinks he's getting blamed for stuff he shouldn't be blamed for?

Pointless question, I agree, but the answer to it is telling. If that's what he said, anyway.

Which was essentially my point, why does he seem to be under the impression that people are blaming him for things that were outside his control? I think he's had a pretty easy ride all things considered.

My point is two fold - the real question of why HE hasn't managed 3 wins in a row would have to be answered properly. A question about the last 7 years when he has only been here for just over a year and a half is a stupid question that makes him sound petulant, whilst also letting him off the hook.

My other point is that the figure of 7 years puts a pretty successful period within the 'not managing 3 wins in a row' range. So how important is it really? I think it might just be another pointless statistic. Winning enough games to attain the desired position in the league for this stage in our development is what is important. At the business end of the season, that is still where we are.

50% possession yesterday btw - how important has that one turned out to be?

[curiousorange]

Me and the missus were sat in the Holte next to a bunch of American girls who looked like a university football side having their first experience of top-flight football. That they'll take away a memory of whines, boos and rabid swearing rather than a fine claret and blue performance is rather sad.

[Clampy]

Me and the missus were sat in the Holte next to a bunch of American girls who looked like a university football side having their first experience of top-flight football. That they'll take away a memory of whines, boos and rabid swearing rather than a fine claret and blue performance is rather sad.

Are you on about the group of about 20 odd girls all wearing red jackets? We were sitting behind them.

[eastie]

Me and the missus were sat in the Holte next to a bunch of American girls who looked like a university football side having their first experience of top-flight football. That they'll take away a memory of whines, boos and rabid swearing rather than a fine claret and blue performance is rather sad.

Are you on about the group of about 20 odd girls all wearing red jackets? We were sitting behind them.

At least you could take your mind off the game then

[London Villan]

A more pertinent question would have been "how do you explain the home record of 9 defeats, two seasons on the bounce..."

[eastie]

A more pertinent question would have been "how do explain the home record of 9 defeats, two seasons" on the bounce...

He's a prickly one when criticised .

[London Villan]

...wrong thread...

[Boz]

A more pertinent question would have been "how do you explain the home record of 9 defeats, two seasons on the bounce..."

Spot On, what would he have answered to that I wonder 

[danlanza]

A more pertinent question would have been "how do you explain the home record of 9 defeats, two seasons on the bounce..."

Spot On, what would he have answered to that I wonder 

"I think our home form has been fntastic over the last two seasons, World class infact."
Or something similar.

[not3bad]

A more pertinent question would have been "how do explain the home record of 9 defeats, two seasons" on the bounce...

He's a prickly one when criticised .

Which managers aren't?