Aston Villa vs Stoke Post Match Thread

[Phil from the upper holte]

I was gutted I couldn't go today and now reading this I'm glad I didn't. Was it Lambert's player not playing for someone else or are they Just not good enough?

[Ron Manager]

If you were Tim Sherwood tonight hopefully back home in the warm. You would be thinking what on gods earth can I do to turn things around.
It must have been a real eye opener for him  today when he found he didn't have the answers.

[N'Rexy]

Can I call for some calm. Sherwood isn't going to turn things round in 5 days. This will take a few weeks for him to even make a mark after the last year's of decline.

We may well go down but that's because of what happened pre Sherwood.

[steffo]

Only my second game of the season. I have been in exile whilst TSM2 has systematically destroyed the club with his negative dross. (It extends to youth/junior level too)

Compared with my previous visit on New Year's day (C. Palace) we still have a chance, although it will go down to the last day v Burnley.

I can understand why Richardson was selected over Sissoko. He is shocking and was caught cold for the cross on the equaliser.

Gabby's not the brightest is he? Some say his asset (if he still has one) is to run at defenders. I still maintain when the ball is played to him he can turn them and either get the foul or go. His pace is virtually gone.

I would have put Gabby wide and Andi Central and even given Sinclair a bash on the right to mix it up.

We played 4-4-1-1 v 4-2-3-1. I though we did okay considering our position. We didn't deserve to lose, with 89 mins 1-1 v a very tough ugly Stoke team not a bad start considering 2 weeks ago we would be expecting a sleepy 0-0 at best. You cannot legislate for a blunder of monumental proportions which cost us a vital point.

[Stu]

I've said this all along, regardless of who the manager is, this is a really poor set of players. We are absolutely where we deserve to be. They go hiding, are too cowardly, and are badly lacking in intelligence. Not one of them can grab the game by the scruff of the neck. They each and every one of them expect someone else to take responsibility. They shirk. Neat, tidy, ineffective.

Completely agree. They didn't put a shift in today at all, looked lackadaisical and un-motivated. We're in a scrap to stay in the league and playing a mid table team with no ambitions of Europe and no threat of relegation were ideal for a new manager dead-cat bounce. They showed nothing.

[tomd2103]

Went to the game earlier and left gutted.  I personally thought the formation was OK and the simple tactic of getting the ball up to Benteke was understandable given the short time he has had to work with the players.  Unfortunately, we were up against the team in the league best equipped to deal with that tactic, so we didn't really make much of an impact.  We got in some decent positions, but our quality in the final third was desperately poor.  To be honest, the quality of our set pieces today would have been disappointing for most Sunday league sides.

As for Sherwood, I hope he can build on the way we played today.  I don't think it was a bad start and had Vlaar not made two awful errors at the end we would have got a point.  He made changes throughout the game (would have brought Bacuna on instead of Weimann), but really doesn't have too much to work with.  As I said, I think the formation could work, but he's got to realise:

- Agbonlahor and Weimann are impact subs at best

- When Sanchez goes off the boil in a game he needs to be taken off

- Gil is a bit of liability when he comes into deeper positions.  He needs to stay in the final third

- If we are going to continue with the formation then Bacuna or maybe even Grealish need to come in on the right - Edit or even try and get something out of N'Zogbia

- Guzan's kicking off the floor is a problem if we are trying to hit Benteke.  His kicks are too short and too flighted     

[Villa Lew]

Didn't like all the hype about this game, most of the regular pundits tipping us to win. Even on our own poll on the pre match thread only 4% were tipping an away win, and 80 odd per cent going for a Villa win, despite the fact that we had only won 2 out of our last 21 games. Thought something had to gone wrong.

Considering such a positive build up and importance of the match, the commitment and quality was dreadful. Only positives were the performances of Sinclair and Clark. Even though his form has dipped recently still believe Gil will prove a major asset to the club.

[leylandalbion]

I was convinced after the goal that we would walk it. Stoke had one shot prior to the goal. fell apart again. Not good still can't believe we will go down.  Looks like the players think they will. Out muscled and without Delph or benteke playing 50% we have little threat.  Utterly gutted

[MattW]

My observations (in no particular order )

We were the equivalent of leaving a bag of chocolate raisins on a radiator. Started off alright, then lost all shape, before melting into a complete unusable wreck

Formation:
The two in the middle were badly outfought and outnumbered today. They offered practically no out all from defence, resulting in us going too direct, most of the time.
Gill was far too deep, dropping deeper to pick he ball up and getting himself into trouble too often. Any mistakes in those areas will result in him losing his confidence instantly. It seemed to affect Hutton's play too, as the link up play was pedestrian and poor.

Style of play:
Sherwood talked of variation. If Benteke was no available, another player would have to be found. Far too often we played it direct to Benteke, who didn't win very much (I was impressed with the German they had a centre half). Where was Agbonlahor, and why was he not running the channels?
Only Sinclair showed any desire, putting a good shift chasing them in possession, and had some decent touches.
Why was Gill not pushed further up the pitch where he can play those deft passes, or even get in a good position to shoot?
It was pleasing that our centre halves (in particular Clark), stopped playing those stupid 5 yard passes to the full back, when the full back clearly has no when to go.
Set pieces again were diabolical. Martin Laursen used to make an average ball a goal scoring opportunity. Blamanche Ron is a tart for a big man and should be sticking his head in areas where he has a chance of scoring

Players
Guzan - decision making poor. Distribution poor. Not his best game.
Hutton - always puts a shift in. Gill dropping so deep got in his way, and if he bombed on he was more often than not caught out when someone lost possession
Richardson - had a good first half and worked hard. Unlucky to get injured.
Sissoko - the Villa left back disease strikes again: good start to the season, the a drop in focus/ confidence. Offers zero attacking threat
Vlaar - both goals came from his mistakes. A captain should be installing belief into his players, but Ron displays little of those qualities. Lacks character.
Clark - has got stronger and stronger as the season has progressed. Making up for his lack of pace with good reading and positional play. Looks like he wants it and will be hurting tonight.
Delph - why oh why does he keep going on his right food, thus halting any impetus in an attack? He's clearly been told to be more direct, as he placed balls into the box, rather than working the ball back to the keeper from good positions, as in previous weeks
Sanchez - does he not know "man on", or could it be that there was no-one close enough to him for most of the game? Does some good things and then tries to be too accurate at other times.
Gill - why drop so deep? Thoroughly disappointing today. Not sure if it was injury niggles or the first sign in a loss of confidence
Sinclair - excellent game. Scored, worked his bollocks off and looked to link up at most opportunities.
Agbonlahor - hmmm. The coaches need to get a grip of him and tell him to start working the channels. Absolute waste of a shirt at the moment. Shows little sign of wanting to put it right. Ironic how Keane had problems with him and Delph. They clearly like it on their terms.
Benteke - is he lacking confidence, or desire? Didn't win much in the way of headers today. Bearing in mind he wasn't up against Shallcross or Huth. Too easily marshalled. To be fair, it doesn't help when Agbonlahor doesn't offer any threat, so defenders can double up on CB
Wiemann - dear me, that was terrible. He clearly isn't a winger.

I honestly think we will stay up. For that to happen, we need luck, perspiration and application (probably in that order).

For someone who didn't watch the game that was very useful, thanks.

[Bad English]

I remember my head jolting when one of the commentators said "..Agbonlahor....". I'd forgotten he was playing.

[Stu]

Can I call for some calm. Sherwood isn't going to turn things round in 5 days. This will take a few weeks for him to even make a mark after the last year's of decline.

We may well go down but that's because of what happened pre Sherwood.

That is precisely the alarming bit; we should have had a new manager putting his stamp on the place and sussing out how to turn things around a month ago, at least. As it is we lie 19th in the table, look as bad as ever and there's 12 games left to save ourselves. I think relegation might just happen this time.

[Deano's Mullet]

The denial of defeat has sunk in now and i feel depressed and ashamed. Lerner and these players deserve everything they get - wages aside.  Keep dicing with the drop and the trapdoor gets you eventually.

[tomd2103]

Can I call for some calm. Sherwood isn't going to turn things round in 5 days. This will take a few weeks for him to even make a mark after the last year's of decline.

We may well go down but that's because of what happened pre Sherwood.

That is precisely the alarming bit; we should have had a new manager putting his stamp on the place and sussing out how to turn things around a month ago, at least. As it is we lie 19th in the table, look as bad as ever and there's 12 games left to save ourselves. I think relegation might just happen this time.

All in hindsight of course, but that would have also allowed him to bring in any players he felt necessary.  As it is, he's got to work with what he has got. 

[brian green]

A long and disappointing day.   Having thought about it through four hours of traffic, I think today we lost because of the Lambert legacy.   The inability to stay calm and play intelligently.   Things happen, like the equalizer but instead of simply pressing on and staying on the front foot we start to panic and make unforced errors.   The longer the game goes on the more error prone we become and defeat becomes a self fulfilling expectation.   We needed to keep the ball on the ground against Stoke but constantly indulged in looping aimless headers and long clearances.   Now I agree with Hilts that long ball may be our only option with so little time to eradicate player faults, but it has to be long ball played properly and with skill but it degenerates into aerial mayhem. I also agree with Robbo when he says he thinks we have been guilty of self deception in the belief that we have a good squad.   However you cut it the fact remains that a big element of our plight is due to lack of player quality.  The quality many of them fail to show has been touched on a number of times in this thread. It is lack of intelligence.   Too many stupid things happen which should not happen, today's winning penalty being a perfect example.   I also agree with all the posters who have said the core of our current disastrous run is not getting rid of Lambert much sooner. We know that the new four year contract is to blame for that.  With a heavy heart I have to say that based on today's game I think it will be too much for Tim Sherwood to keep us in the Premiership in the time he has available.

[MattW]

The four year contracts thing for Gabby and Lambert was utter lunacy.

Incredibly stupid. I recall Fox mentioning the Lambert negotiations were in train when he arrived. At the time I wondered whether he was disowning the decision slightly.