Stoke v Villa post-match thread

[achilles]

Special mention for Whelan who I think played well, which I find surprising as I don't really rate him.

[Three Spires Villa]

Special mention for Whelan who I think played well, which I find surprising as I don't really rate him.

He did play well today

[AV82EC]

I thought Whelan and Hourihane ran the game second half.

We weren’t great in the first half but I think Ads described it well earlier.

A massive improvement and hopefully the start of a more positive run in to the end of the season.

[AVH87]

Watched the second half on a stream. We were the better side, passed it well. Didn't see the first but guessing we were poor, heard ElGhazy missed a sitter.

Probably the expected draw between two underachieving squads.

[ez]

I hadn't realised it's only 3 wins in 17 games. That's shocking.  The season cannot end soon enough and we rebuild.  I hope that the manager does get time to build but at the moment, I see nothing to suggest that he is a great motivator or will bring in the type of players that will swing us closer to the top two next season.  I hope that I'm wrong but it's still pretty inconsistent and lacklustre for the most part.  Injured players and some bad luck to be balanced, but we have to beat shit like Stoke.  Tough games coming up and I think we are too far off now to hope to land a play off place.

With such a poor run it was astonishing that we stayed in touch with the top 6 as long as we did.  Anyway, first half we were awful and Smith looked totally lost. Then as I'm about to lose all faith in him he brings out a second half performance which gives me a glimmer of hope.

[Toronto Villa]

Smith gave a much better interview aftern the game. More honest than in the last few weeks and said he got into them at the break whaich clearly got a response. He’s got a lot to contend with right now. Hopefully a few players start to come back into next month and April that at least gives some hope for next season. Although I imagine we won’t be seeing a good chunk of this squad together again come August.

[Steve67]

Be great to finish the season well to give us hope for next season, likely to be big squad changes though.

[PaulWinch again]

Smith gave a much better interview aftern the game. More honest than in the last few weeks and said he got into them at the break whaich clearly got a response. He’s got a lot to contend with right now. Hopefully a few players start to come back into next month and April that at least gives some hope for next season. Although I imagine we won’t be seeing a good chunk of this squad together again come August.

The improved second half gave me much more confidence than recent weeks. Needs to be carried into the next game though.

[Toronto Villa]

If you look at who might go up from the Championship, who might come up from L1 and who will likely come down the league shouldn’t have a Newcastle or Wolves type dominant side. I know we love said it before but with the right investment and time to prepare the objective has to be promotion next season. It won’t be easy but we should be making sure we are the favourites come August.

[Des Little]

Special mention for Whelan who I think played well, which I find surprising as I don't really rate him.

Agreed, also a shout out for Hourihane too. It cannot be easy playing in front of a critical crowd. Personally I think he had a good game (well second half). Fair play to him.

[TB]

If you look at who might go up from the Championship, who might come up from L1 and who will likely come down the league shouldn’t have a Newcastle or Wolves type dominant side. I know we love said it before but with the right investment and time to prepare the objective has to be promotion next season. It won’t be easy but we should be making sure we are the favourites come August.

Well, this is the bit I'm worried about, both in terms of funds available and the club's ability to bring in the right players.

[KRS]

Give Smith the right players and I’m sure we’ll get promoted playing good football. We saw a glimpse of what it could be like and it was a thing of beauty at times. Bring in the right calibre of players (they need to be better than those that he had at Brentford) that can pass, move, create and close down to play his high press attacking game, and it will be a pleasure to watch next season.

[Toronto Villa]

If you look at who might go up from the Championship, who might come up from L1 and who will likely come down the league shouldn’t have a Newcastle or Wolves type dominant side. I know we love said it before but with the right investment and time to prepare the objective has to be promotion next season. It won’t be easy but we should be making sure we are the favourites come August.

Well, this is the bit I'm worried about, both in terms of funds available and the club's ability to bring in the right players.

The owners are minted. We will be shedding some very large contracts in the summer. Despite the concerns of FFP we just lashed out £10m or so on a Gk and RB. I think we will be ok relative to our competition in what we will be willing and able to spend.

[TB]

Well, this is the bit I'm worried about, both in terms of funds available and the club's ability to bring in the right players.

The owners are minted. We will be shedding some very large contracts in the summer. Despite the concerns of FFP we just lashed out £10m or so on a Gk and RB. I think we will be ok relative to our competition in what we will be willing and able to spend.

I hope you're right, but then there's the other, not insignificant bit I mentioned - getting the right players with the required mindset and ability.

[Toronto Villa]

Well, this is the bit I'm worried about, both in terms of funds available and the club's ability to bring in the right players.

The owners are minted. We will be shedding some very large contracts in the summer. Despite the concerns of FFP we just lashed out £10m or so on a Gk and RB. I think we will be ok relative to our competition in what we will be willing and able to spend.

I hope you're right, but then there's the other, not insignificant bit I mentioned - getting the right players with the required mindset and ability.

It's always a concern. But if he's able to do what he did at Brentford and get those types of players in then we'll be in a much better place next season. Smith is struggling with what he has to work with but you can see like today's second half that when it clicks it looks good.