Qwpzxjor1 Posted September 13, 2010 Share Posted September 13, 2010 As soon as the equaliser went in I knew it was coming. Gutted. The defense did brilliantly but Stoke's tactic of 'lump it into the box with your entire team of 6 foot 6'ers really should be more exploitable than we showed tonight. There was very little counter attack threat, so they were quite happy to keep sending their big players forwards. Albrighton showed glimpses of great play again, but generally his crosses were not good enough. Gabby looked way off the pace too, possible why we had no counter attacking threat. Can't fault Stoke's first goal, was excellent play and a good header. Second was obviously a free kick from a diving prick which allowed them to get their centre halves forward (who ended up scoring), but really we should have made them more fearful of sending their defenders forwards all the time. Villa of 2 years ago, when we were playing majestic counter attacking stuff, would not have lost that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SoccerHQ Posted September 13, 2010 Share Posted September 13, 2010 The NRC one wasn't that powerful, think it was going straight into Sorensen's hands. Gabby was excellent first hour, held the ball up well and two superb crosses, one for the goal and the other that Young headed wide. Can't wait to see him and Ireland linking up, that's if Ireland is allowed onto the pitch against Bolton. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SoccerHQ Posted September 13, 2010 Share Posted September 13, 2010 I must admit I thought Albrighton had a really good first half, was always an outlet and hit in some very good crosses that were well defended. Downing is a confidence player and got some from his goal, very nearly had another shortly afterwards but then disappeared again in the second half. Very disappointed with Ashley Young, considering he was in the free role he needed to do better when he had possession, I would've hooked him and put Ireland on. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AVFC-Prideofbrum Posted September 13, 2010 Share Posted September 13, 2010 When was the last time we won away from home on a monday night? We usually concede in the last minute aswell, Spurs and Liverpool away a couple of seasons ago spring to mind. Only second time we lost in 13 games on monday night tele! Last time we won, I don't know but definitely beat Liverpool last year monday night. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SoccerHQ Posted September 13, 2010 Share Posted September 13, 2010 Oh yeah, forgot about that one sorry! Usually have been draws in recent years. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
o'lbs Posted September 13, 2010 Share Posted September 13, 2010 I've not long got back from stoke. had to sit with a load of chav scum but was a good seat behind the dugout. What lifted the fans was pulis turning up at half time. they came out the blocks flying but when we got the ball on the deck and knocked it about they were chasing shadows. We should of been 4-0 up in the first half. the 2nd half was just like the 2nd half against everton backs to the wall. The whole season is going to be a write off. It's a big fúcking mess. Houllier needs to get to Birmingham tomorrow and sort this fúcking mess out. He's getting paid 8 million quid, he needs to drop the french FA right now. Pulis left his dying mother to give that half time team talk. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mosch1one Posted September 13, 2010 Share Posted September 13, 2010 I didn't watch the game as I am not in the country but I don't understand why KM is getting crucified for subbing Gabby for Hesky with 5 minutes to go with Stoke just equalising! Surely they were just going to lump everything into the box and obviously Heskey helps a great deal when defending corners etc? Also, I'm guessing, KM may have thought Heskeydog could hold the ball up a little more, although we know that isn't really true. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Risso Posted September 13, 2010 Share Posted September 13, 2010 I didn't watch the game as I am not in the country but I don't understand why KM is getting crucified for subbing Gabby for Hesky with 5 minutes to go with Stoke just equalising! Surely they were just going to lump everything into the box and obviously Heskey helps a great deal when defending corners etc? Also, I'm guessing, KM may have thought Heskeydog could hold the ball up a little more, although we know that isn't really true. You didn't see the game, so you can't see what a **** idiotic substitution it was. Albrighton did zilch second half, and we were crying out for somebody like Ireland to come on so we could put Young back on the wing, and exert a bit of pressure back on them. I don't think that useless lump Heskey got within 30 yards of the ball when he came on. Utterly, utterly inept from KM. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paddy Posted September 13, 2010 Share Posted September 13, 2010 If you think the rest of you are pissed off I got told this morning that my tumour's still growing after this third different type of chemo so probably going to have to see if I can get on a clinical trial or something. Thought the footballmight cheer me up. No such luck. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rjw63 Posted September 13, 2010 Share Posted September 13, 2010 If you think the rest of you are pissed off I got told this morning that my tumour's still growing after this third different type of chemo so probably going to have to see if I can get on a clinical trial or something. Thought the footballmight cheer me up. No such luck. Sorry to hear that Pat Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SoccerHQ Posted September 13, 2010 Share Posted September 13, 2010 Which puts things in a little perspective, keep strong Paddy. Villa of 2 years ago, when we were playing majestic counter attacking stuff, would not have lost that. We actually did in the very same fashion. :x Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AndFos Posted September 14, 2010 Share Posted September 14, 2010 If you think the rest of you are pissed off I got told this morning that my tumour's still growing after this third different type of chemo so probably going to have to see if I can get on a clinical trial or something. Thought the footballmight cheer me up. No such luck. Really sorry to hear that paddy. Try to keep strong! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VillaAndLoyal Posted September 14, 2010 Share Posted September 14, 2010 I read eight pages of this thread and then finally got too annoyed at not reading one single mention of the superb Villa fans tonight who were an absolute credit to this club. I don't care if I get slated for saying this, and I know everyone seems to have a different reason under the sun for not attending matches, but I personally think it is PATHETIC, utterly pathetic, that Aston Villa Football Club cannot sell out 2,900 tickets for a reasonably priced away match not far up the road after a 16 day break without any football. It is quite simply laughable in my opinion. A good proportion of people who post on here have the benefit of television replays and the toning down of the microphones but for those of you who were there - you will know when I say that the Villa end was positively jumping at quite a few times during that game. Superb support from those who were there - it's just a huge shame there weren't more of us. Before anyone says I'm breaking any rules, I have not singled out anyone in particular and I am not saying I am a better fan than you, I am simply stating my humble opinion as a Villa fan that I think we have a woeful fanbase considering the supposed statue of the club and our location geographically in the country's Second city. It's almost like O'Neill took 6,000 fans with him when he left? We seem to have an awful lot of fans who very rarely or never go to the games. Hundreds of empty seats for a local derby does NOT look good and it certainly doesn't help provide the team with that 12th man. Luckily those that were there did a pretty damn good job of that themselves. There were eight players in that team tonight who didn't deserve to be on the losing side. Warnock is a complete liability - always dives into tackles, always loses out in the air, and always seems to slip at the crucial moment. Friedel did make a couple of fine saves, granted, but in particular in the first half he was completely woeful. Every clearance went out of play or to a Stoke shirt - for someone of that experience he often doesn't show it - and let's not blame the wind shall we. Richard Dunne... jesus wept... he looked like he had been downing pints of Guiness in Temple Bar all day, was he drunk? Seriously. He had an absolute nightmare of a game, and it's not been the first time in the last few months either. Special mentions go to Collins and Young at the back, Collins in particular who was an absolute rock and won everything. Downing after his goal was a different player - confidence is seriously under-rated in this League, it did him the world of good. And I also thought Ashley was class second half and for the end of the first - if only he could finish. Gabby and Reo-Coker also had very good games imo. As for the result, yes we lost and we unquestionably got our tactics wrong with the Heskey/Gabby switch. And yes, it was daylight robbery that we didn't even get a point when we looked to be cruising at one point. Painful isn't the word. And yes, despite what I may think about some sections of our own support - I am still so **** glad I don't support Stoke City. What a vile little football club with the biggest myth going about their so-called famous atmosphere. A combination of Stoke's bully-boy tactics, our inability to finish the game off, and Lee Probert lost us that game. That is all there is to it. Two of those factors are hard to manipulate - but we had our chances, glorious chances which we did not take. And in this league you almost always get punished for it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rjw63 Posted September 14, 2010 Share Posted September 14, 2010 Cracking post mate Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
privateer Posted September 14, 2010 Share Posted September 14, 2010 I thought we played really well for large parts of that match, but the minute we ran out of steam you could sense the goals coming. The fact Kevin Macdonald couldn't feel them coming and a need to freshen up is a good enough reason alone why he didn't get the job. Inexperience. Funnily enough I'm even less experienced in football management than Kmac but I could see it. As could thousands of others which suggests it isn't inexperience. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rjw63 Posted September 14, 2010 Share Posted September 14, 2010 No, it's being a "Sylvester" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
srsmithusa Posted September 14, 2010 Share Posted September 14, 2010 I haven't read the entire thread. But I was only able to see a bits and pieces of the match on my computer while at work. On the last "foul" call when Petrov clearly did not touch Jones, I got distracted in the middle. But wasn't the free kick taken from about 20 yards closer to the goal than where the supposed incident supposedly occurred? If I'm right about that, it's a bigger referee screw up than the call itself. But like I said, they expect me to pay more attention to my work than the match. They have no sense of priorities. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ponky Posted September 14, 2010 Share Posted September 14, 2010 It was - basically they cheated their way to the win, but it doesn't change the fact that we should have cleared the ball. There are so many if only's in a game like this though, and most of ours happened in the first half. A 0-3 half time score would have been pretty safe even for us. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kurtsimonw Posted September 14, 2010 Share Posted September 14, 2010 We should have cleared it, but there shouldn't have been anything to clear. Robbed of a point and it's depressing. The state of refereeing is quite simply embarassing. I can't say I've been happy with the officiating in any of the 4 games, so it's not just me being bitter as we've won 2 of the 4. Well done to whoever went to such a horrible kick-off time/day, you did the club proud, sounded superb on the tellybox. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kurtsimonw Posted September 14, 2010 Share Posted September 14, 2010 We should have cleared it, but there shouldn't have been anything to clear. Robbed of a point and it's depressing. The state of refereeing is quite simply embarassing. I can't say I've been happy with the officiating in any of the 4 games, so it's not just me being bitter as we've won 2 of the 4. Well done to whoever went to such a horrible kick-off time/day, you did the club proud, sounded superb on the tellybox. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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