Aston Villa 0 v Stoke 1 Post-Match Thread

[Legion]

I thought Steer was OK as well.

[Risso]

Great save from Steer first half, and nothing he could do for the goal really, with three defenders failing to stop the header.  I'd give him a 7 out of 10 for the performance, with 2 marks deducted for having a man bun.

[Clampy]

They mentioned it in the commentary towards the end of the game last night but Stoke's centre half wearing no36 was immense for them. One to keep an eye on if he carries on playing like that.

[Nev]

On the hunt for a positive regarding last nights result I came up with the idea that the loss, and in particular the performance will focus the minds of both club staff and fans that there is plenty of work to do outside of the first eleven.
We have been, rightly so in my opinion, praised for our work during this transfer window and the evidence so far is that we are a better side but as good as the recruitment has been it's the results that matter and we do need to strengthen in a few positions.

The giddy excitement of recent times has been nice but to see it reigned in a bit may stand us in good stead in the long term.

Unfortunately I fear more reigning in on Sunday.....

[dicedlam]

Early days yet and I am not for one moment writing him off, but I was massively unimpressed with Traore last night.  Hopefully he'll come good when surrounded by the likes of Jack and Luiz, but he didn't seem very interested in trying to beat some average Championship defenders last night.  Can't see him dislodging Trez from the first team for a while yet.

I agree. Just for his work rate alone Trez deserves to keep his place. There also seems to be a good understanding growing between him and Cash on that right side, so I only see Traore coming off the bench in the next few games.

[Risso]

On the hunt for a positive regarding last nights result I came up with the idea that the loss, and in particular the performance will focus the minds of both club staff and fans that there is plenty of work to do outside of the first eleven.
We have been, rightly so in my opinion, praised for our work during this transfer window and the evidence so far is that we are a better side but as good as the recruitment has been it's the results that matter and we do need to strengthen in a few positions.

The giddy excitement of recent times has been nice but to see it reigned in a bit may stand us in good stead in the long term.

Unfortunately I fear more reigning in on Sunday.....

I think you're right Nev.  Easy to get carried away, and it's only six years since we got 11 points from the first 4 games (including beating Liverpool) under Lambert and thinking everything was hunky dory and giving him a new contract on the back of it.  We then went on to lose 6 games in a row, conceding 15 and scoring only 1 goal while doing so.  I don't think that will happen again, but we do need to temper expectations.

[fredm]

[/quote]

Shows how light up top we are. Smith has very few alternatives. Glaringly obvious that another striker is needed. Will he act before Monday's deadline??
[/quote]

Agreed. Archer from the U23s, but Smith is no longer interested in him.
[/quote]

So has something happened/been said that makes you have this opinion, Legion?  Thought Cameron was one of the up and coming hopefuls?

[kippaxvilla2]

It has cost us (if you believe the numbers) over £200m to get this squad together.  And there are still probably seven that aren't good enough to step up to the first team.

[ktvillan]

Early days yet and I am not for one moment writing him off, but I was massively unimpressed with Traore last night.  Hopefully he'll come good when surrounded by the likes of Jack and Luiz, but he didn't seem very interested in trying to beat some average Championship defenders last night.  Can't see him dislodging Trez from the first team for a while yet.

I agree. Just for his work rate alone Trez deserves to keep his place. There also seems to be a good understanding growing between him and Cash on that right side, so I only see Traore coming off the bench in the next few games.

Jesus, £19m on someone not capable of displacing the utterly underwhelming Trezeguet.  Come back Suso all is forgiven.

[Lastfootstamper]

On the hunt for a positive regarding last nights result I came up with the idea that the loss, and in particular the performance will focus the minds of both club staff and fans that there is plenty of work to do outside of the first eleven.
We have been, rightly so in my opinion, praised for our work during this transfer window and the evidence so far is that we are a better side but as good as the recruitment has been it's the results that matter and we do need to strengthen in a few positions.

The giddy excitement of recent times has been nice but to see it reigned in a bit may stand us in good stead in the long term.

Unfortunately I fear more reigning in on Sunday.....

I think you're right Nev.  Easy to get carried away, and it's only six years since we got 11 points from the first 4 games (including beating Liverpool) under Lambert and thinking everything was hunky dory and giving him a new contract on the back of it.  We then went on to lose 6 games in a row, conceding 15 and scoring only 1 goal while doing so.  I don't think that will happen again, but we do need to temper expectations.

I know it was a bit of an attritional draw against Newcastle, but I'm pretty sure we only got one point for it, not two.

[sickbeggar]

Didn't Traore spend last season at right-back? Traore to right-back, Cash to left-back. Sorted..

[tomd2103]

Early days yet and I am not for one moment writing him off, but I was massively unimpressed with Traore last night.  Hopefully he'll come good when surrounded by the likes of Jack and Luiz, but he didn't seem very interested in trying to beat some average Championship defenders last night.  Can't see him dislodging Trez from the first team for a while yet.

Biggest disappointment of the night for me.  Kind of expected a poor level of performance from some of those in the side last night, but was hoping for a good performance from him. 

Guess the Thursday to Sunday turnaround was too short, but it pretty clear from last night that we needed some of the first team playing to add a bit of quality.  Pretty disappointed to miss out on a quarter final to be honest.

[frank black]

Early days yet and I am not for one moment writing him off, but I was massively unimpressed with Traore last night.  Hopefully he'll come good when surrounded by the likes of Jack and Luiz, but he didn't seem very interested in trying to beat some average Championship defenders last night.  Can't see him dislodging Trez from the first team for a while yet.

Agreed, just praying that he’s just not fit yet. On the albeit limited evidence of last night he seems a bit Nzogbia. His goal in the last game was a cracker, did he play well in that game?

[Legion]

Shows how light up top we are. Smith has very few alternatives. Glaringly obvious that another striker is needed. Will he act before Monday's deadline??


Agreed. Archer from the U23s, but Smith is no longer interested in him.


So has something happened/been said that makes you have this opinion, Legion?  Thought Cameron was one of the up and coming hopefuls?

He is (or was) as Smith prefers Ramsey and Vassilev.

[Legion]

Bridge is another one that could have been tried instead of Hause yesterday. Just my opinion of course.