Stoke v Villa post-match thread

[GarTomas]

I sense in the post match Smith interview he’s rather fucked off with the players and can’t wait for the summer to gut the squad.

[Legion]

I think most of us are.

[SoccerHQ]

1-1 away at a crap stoke team. Bruce as much as I hated him would have been vilified for the run we are on at present. As much as I hope Smith succeeds he needs to take responsibility for a fuckin awful run of results....piss poor and simply not good enough.

Have you looked at the injury list and John McGinn's suspension?

And now Hutton looks to be fucked for a good while too.

Good. He's been a liability for a good while, so at least Smith will be forced to try someone else back there (if we have any other options).

Bree should slot in....oh.

AEM did fine which was good to see after the runaround McClean gave him at VP.

What I like about AEM aswell is he dosen't mess around trying to beat 5 men or do a million step overs before thinking about a cross, he receives the ball and crosses it into the six yard box.

Our other wingers were so bad in the first half I was actually beginning to think he was the best attacking wide man we had at our club which maybe says it all about expectations against reality.

[frank]

Our best display for a while and we really should have won. We attacked with more purpose than we've shown since Smith's early games, unless you count the comeback against Sheff U.  Stoke were, admittedly, very poor but I was encouraged by our positive approach for the whole of the 2nd half, and our supporters appreciated this with much more  enthusiastic applause than I've heard for weeks.

[Ads]

It was Neil Diamond what done it.

Got the crowd up straight away second half.

[PaulWinch again]

Get In! We got a 1:1 Victory!!!!

Urgh you’re tedious. Must have been devastated when that equaliser went in.

[exiled on the wirral!]

Really makes me laugh some people on here. We played well for the first time for ages, the away crowd was behind them, and the players and the manager got clapped off at the end. Probably should have won but ended up with a point. Everyone at the game pretty satisfied. Then you come on here and the same people(most of them not at the game) moaning as usual.

We are not going up, circumstances have transpired against us this season, but hopefully the management that have been appointed for the long run are planning for next season. How about we give them the benefit of the doubt instead of dismissing their capabilities already.

[mr underhill]

but conversely, this is relegation form. I'm not suggesting for a moment that we will be relegated, because there are 13 worse sides than us. But we haven't had any form to speak of since early December.

[PeterWithesShin]

The only thing more tedious than Stuart is the "weren't at the game" shite.

[wittonwarrior]

Sweet Caroline did the trick.  Great 2nd half performance, first half and  Stoke were worse  than us

[Ketzster]

We were better in the second half, but it has to be put into context. We were atrocious again in the first half and Stoke offered less than Ipswich did at VP a few weeks ago, that’s how bad they were. All of these teams that are supposedly awful that we have failed to beat, Wigan, Reading, Stoke, Preston who had all those injuries etc, it doesn’t say a lot for where we are at the moment. We are extremely poor and a 1-1 draw away against that Stoke side is disappointing.

[SoccerHQ]

but conversely, this is relegation form. I'm not suggesting for a moment that we will be relegated, because there are 13 worse sides than us. But we haven't had any form to speak of since early December.

It's frustrating but ultimately that's what happens when a target drifts away and everyone at club deep down knows it can't be achieved. Of course if we win every game in run in we can make top 6 but we're not good enough to win half of what is left.

We're like a team that gets to 40 points in the premier league by March and barely wins for the rest of the season.

Anyway instead of the usual arguments what I want from rest of the season is players to step up and show us they can be good players at this level.

Mings already has (Elphick was again more shaky today than him imo) so hopefully we can get him full time. Hause is improving after his awful start so he's another potential as is the enigma that is El Ghazi. If Andre Green can get a run of starts and show he's capable at this level that will be another boost and mean squad requires a little less surgery than the major overhaul it already needs.

[SoccerHQ]

We were better in the second half, but it has to be put into context. We were atrocious again in the first half and Stoke offered less than Ipswich did at VP a few weeks ago, that’s how bad they were. All of these teams that are supposedly awful that we have failed to beat, Wigan, Reading, Stoke, Preston who had all those injuries etc, it doesn’t say a lot for where we are at the moment. We are extremely poor and a 1-1 draw away against that Stoke side is disappointing.

Stoke still have plenty of players who'd get in our team.

They're in a massive flux like we are. Manager wants to play one way and the ones still on massive prem wages couldn't care less. They've underachieved more than we have this season.

[Steve67]

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.

[Mister E]

1-1 away at a crap stoke team. Bruce as much as I hated him would have been vilified for the run we are on at present. As much as I hope Smith succeeds he needs to take responsibility for a fuckin awful run of results....piss poor and simply not good enough.

Have you looked at the injury list and John McGinn's suspension?

And now Hutton looks to be fucked for a good while too.

Good. He's been a liability for a good while, so at least Smith will be forced to try someone else back there (if we have any other options).

Elmo, presumably.