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Pre Match Thread


villalad21

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On 11/12/2018 at 14:41, Raver50032 said:

My birthday on the 14th (Friday) and I'm spending it in Chernobyl. No joke... Fly back on Saturday so will be listening to Radio 5 in the car on the way back home from Heathrow with score updates. UTV... sword them... finally, sword them.

Home in time for the Fall out if we don't win.

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Big blow if Grealish is out, but the thing about us now is that we are no longer a one man team. If one has a bad day, others will step up. Grealish, McGinn, El Ghazi, Bolasie, Adomah, (and the scottish Cafu ;) ) are all players who the opposition must be aware of. And to add to that, we have Kodija and Hogan as possibilities from the bench.

Yes, our defence might be a big fragile, but we have kept a clean sheet in about half of the matches with Dean Smith in charge. Us supporters would rather have this style of play and ship a few goals than what we have been used for many years now.

Watched Stoke live a few weeks ago. Good players and solid team which works hard. Seemed to play well in patches of the game, but also patches of the game in which they seemed to switch off. McClean works very hard up and down the left side, and it will be a good battle with whoever plays for us on that side.

Dont think we will lose, but fear a typical Gary Rowett draw. Only a win is good enough in our situation though..

2-1 Villa

McGinn, Abraham, Allen

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1 hour ago, villalad21 said:

Just don't start Whelan

Tbh, I think this sort of game and the way in which Stoke play will require someone of Whelan's ilk. He may not turn heads, but he gives you that reliability which is sometimes unappreciated by fans, but you can guarantee the manager respects what he brings to the team. He was immense in the Blues game.

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1 hour ago, sheepyvillian said:

Tbh, I think this sort of game and the way in which Stoke play will require someone of Whelan's ilk. He may not turn heads, but he gives you that reliability which is sometimes unappreciated by fans, but you can guarantee the manager respects what he brings to the team. He was immense in the Blues game.

Its not about what he brings in defense, it's what he brings when we are on the attack. He really slow us down, rather have someone like El Ghazi take the Grealish role

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1 hour ago, villalad21 said:

Its not about what he brings in defense, it's what he brings when we are on the attack. He really slow us down, rather have someone like El Ghazi take the Grealish role

But it's defence where we sometimes lapse. I agree, Whelan ain't the fastest, but his experience ,for me, can be an asset.  We don't want a case of too many Indians and not enough chiefs. Like I said, it wouldn't surprise me at all to see him in the line-up Saturday.  It's not for no reason that Stoke fans still hold him in high esteem. 

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14 hours ago, sheepyvillian said:

But it's defence where we sometimes lapse.

Dean Smith doesn't believe in containing a lead but outscoring the opponent.

A dmf is fine in his system. We need a Fernandinho/Kante type of player not a Matic/Fellaini type of player. Whelan is simply too slow

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We have lost our last three home games against Stoke and last beat them at Villa Park 9 years ago. Overall we have won 47 and drawn 26 of the 104 league games between the two clubs.  They were promotion favourites before a ball had been kicked this season but took a while to get used to their new status and will start Saturday's game 2 points behind us. A win will see us move closer to the top six and it is high time that we beat them at Villa Park!  

I can see them getting into the playoff positions by the end of the season but hopefully that will be no concern of ours by then as we will be in the two automatic places. This will not be an easy game particularly if we start it without Jack but we need a win to keep our upward momentum going. A clean sheet and a minimum of two goals for us would suit me just fine.  

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