Stoke City vs Aston Villa Post Match Thread

[Smirker]

They were discussing who was going to win the league at work the other day (not me, I don't give a fuck). A b-loser kept saying "get yer money on Stoke" and laughing like it was the funniest joke of all time.

I'll be repeating that Monday morning, except I'll be exaggerating his fucking stupid speech impediment.

 

[PaulWinch again]

I was genuinely impressed with that, we were the better side overall. Aly and Senderos were both excellent, Richardson was very handy in midfield. Vlaar was his usual quality self and Weimann did well for the goal. We still need to have more composure going forward, but Grealish had a nice 20 minute cameo. Excellent result.

[Rolta]

We look like a proper team now. Considering how little we've spent this summer and that 3/4 players who should make an impression this season were missing, Benteke, Kozak, Cole and Sanchez, I think this year is going to be like night to day from last year. Players like Bacuna, Weimann, Westwood, Delph will have much less pressure on them as there is the experience there now in the likes of Richardson, N'Zogbia and Senderos along with what we had already. That hopefully gives them a chance to develop at a more suitable pace. Good passion from the touchline too.

Cissokho is a proper full back.

[darren woolley]

Over the moon with the result a good win for us thought the defence played well.

[hilts_coolerking]

That went a lot better than I expected.  It was crap to watch but a proper away performance.  First priority is improving results so in that respect it's just what we wanted.

Couple of the new lads played well too so all in all in it's a very good start for us.

[saunders_heroes]

Gutted I never went now. Roll on next week!

[Exeter 77]

A solid performance and a good win. Very impressive defensively especially after Crouch came on with 20 minutes to go as I fully expected an him to be involved in at least an equaliser.

[pauliewalnuts]

Easily the biggest plus for me (after the three points, obviously) was that defensively, we looked calm and composed, whereas over the last two years, all too often we have looked like we're winging it and hoping for the best.

Sanchez coming in might allow the other midfielders to move forward more, and Grealish looks like he could slot in at this level, but even so, I'd like us to get some creativity in during this window. It would make all the difference.

Also, the fact we should have won far more comfortable suggests the strikers can't come back soon enough.

Impressed with Hutton and Cissokho, both did extremely well, I thought.

Stoke to me looked pretty awful. I know it is also, mainly, because we played well, but I didn't really feel threatened by them much over that 90 minutes.

[Lastfootstamper]

A brief glimpse of Senderos after the whistle on Final Score. Looks like playing for The Greatest Club On Earth means something to him. Good to see.

We're gonna win the league

[Goldie.7]

It's the first away win since new years eve, at a place where most teams don't win i'm very happy.

[dekko]

Very impressed by how the back four looked.  I don't think we'll be scoring too many until Benteke gets back, so we really need to get the defence right, and this is an encouraging start.

[Percy McCarthy]

Bring on Football First! And five minutes of Match of the Day!

[brontebilly]

Only saw second half but we were defensively very solid. All four defenders are physically strong which makes a big difference against the likes of Stoke. Was disappointed with the rest of our side. Worked hard but our lack of quality on the ball was evident. Hopefully Sanchez can improve us in midfield. Guzan was appalling with the ball at his feet, Keane was going ballistic with him at one stage.

Awful game in truth. Not sure what Hughes was doing leaving Crouch and Adam on the bench for so long and leaving that impostor Steven Ireland on the pitch. He was delightfully useless.

[PaulWinch again]

Yep forgot actually, fair play to Hutton he made us a lot better at right back.

[Mike Jeffries]

Splendid - bloody splendid!!!