Ratings and reactions: Villa 1-1 Stoke

[terrythevillan]

The way we play after taking the lead is a disgrace. Out passed in the second half by one of the worst away teams in the league who average 35% possession. The fact that they had more possession than us is embarrassing and I hate being associated with such a terrible way of playing football.

Bannan will never work on the right wing, or Gardner on the left wing. He could ruin players like Gardner by playing them out of position.

Not going to comment on the ref as we have MUCH bigger problems to worry about.

Sooo gutted the reaction isn’t going to be about Weimann’s goal as he deserves so much more.

MCLEISH FUUUUUUUUUCKKK OOOOOOOOFFFFFFF!!!!!

[VillaRoy]

God I hate watching Stoke! Their ok at what they do, but they haven't changed a bit. Slow down the games all the time, trying to play for throws is cringworthy, then waiting for Delap to shine his balls. Mike Dean was abysmal today. It's hard to get any flow in a game with them stopping for nearly a minute per throw.

Too many draw, but our young ones struggled against their way of play and physicality. Weimann MOTM. What a goal and looked our most dangerous player.

[drewdat]

Also a special mention to Alan Hutton for potentially his worst display in a Villa shirt, great effort.

Not only was Hutton's execution laughably poor, but his intentions and ideas made absolutely zero sense. It would be impossible to convince me that he isn't a saboteur.

[andym]

ref was shocking but not the reason we only drew

we let stoke have 61% possession in the 2nd half. they usually average just 30% away from home. they only had 1 point in their last 5 away games. and yet they come to VP and its a pretty easy point for them.

aside from weimanns wonder goal, how much did we really create, how many saves did their keeper have to make? oh and another goal conceded from a set piece. mcleish keeps saying we work on it and yet the same problems persist

pathetic. McLeish out

[PieFacE]

Getting fed up with Bannan on the wing, not his fault. But he cant play on the wing.

Agreed.

[dudevillaisnice]

playing Gardner on the wing is ridiculous.. he doesn't have the pace or skill to get past the player so why is he there?

He is ruining them.

[bose]

A point against Stoke is poor but expected given the way we have played this season and who is the manager. Poor, poor, poor yet again.

[briny_ear]

Another point on our slow painful crawl to safety.

I thought the kids did well again today and people shouldn't be so negative about them. In the past we have seen far more expensive, experienced players in Villa shirts crumble to teams like Stoke in similar circumstances.

Not sure why Eck was so happy at the end.

[dudevillaisnice]

Not sure why Eck was so happy at the end.

job done for him, got the point he wanted.

[Daweii]

ref was shocking but not the reason we only drew

we let stoke have 61% possession in the 2nd half. they usually average just 30% away from home. they only had 1 point in their last 5 away games. and yet they come to VP and its a pretty easy point for them.

aside from weimanns wonder goal, how much did we really create, how many saves did their keeper have to make? oh and another goal conceded from a set piece. mcleish keeps saying we work on it and yet the same problems persist

pathetic. McLeish out

We had 7 shots 3 of which were on target.. The only shots on target were pretty much Weimann's.

[coda]

McLeish walked off at the end beaming, like he was delighted to have pulled back a 1-0 to a 1-1 AGAIN.

He was waving to someone in the Trinity like it was mission accomplished. The man infuriates me.

[picicata]

A terrible game played by two terrible non footballing teams. The only moment of footballing quality was for our goal and for that moment alone Weimann gets MOTM.

I really cannot wait for this shitty season to be over.

Edit: And just how shite was Hutton today? Useless donkey!

[shambles]

Can't really fault the players or even McLeish, good performance. Ireland ran the show again. If McLeish is going to stay on, he needs to bring in an offensive coach b because we are lacking any real attacking thrust or penetration. Other than that, lovely to see our academy players holding their own in the premier league. Baker in particular was exceptional against a very physical (and sometimes unfairly so) team.

I think we should get Peter North in as our attacking coach. He knows all about thrust and penetration. Also seems to have some stamina from what I've seen. He's a prolific finisher, too. 8)

[briny_ear]

Nick, a Villa fan from Solihull, via text: "Would prefer Allardyce at Villa to McLeish,

:shock:

It is well known that all people from Solihull are insane.

(BTW that is where I come from...)

[NurembergVillan]

He's still got to go. The last few minutes when we actually tried have a go at them we looked fairly menacing. He's clearly setting the, up very, very defensively.

We're seeing some flashes of quality from the youngsters, with Weimann's goal likely to be one of the highlights of our season. I'm still not convinced by Bannan, although I think the other youngsters stand a chance with the right manager and experienced players around them.

[sonic_bouma]

absolutely awful

35% possession at home to hoofball stoke? they will never get 65% again until they come to VP next season....

7 wins in 32 games

**** off you ginger mong

[foreveryoung]

C I where ever you are just back from the game.

Villa looked good today up to Weimanns goal. Prove we can pass the ball and Stoke were hardley getting a touch. As soon as the goal came it was back to sitting deep. We have quality up front and McLeish should try it some time instead of shitting himself that we might concede to many if we play to far up the field, I see no proof of this yet. Stoke were just awful, letting players dry the ball for 1 minute is just taking the piss, slows everything down they were blantently playing for throw ins too.

McLeish looked up at us at the end of the game smiling his head off clapping like we had just won 5-0. He is so happy drawing ya know, a **** win now and again at Villa Park would hurt ya useless word removed!

[Dchitz]

playing Gardner on the wing is ridiculous.. he doesn't have the pace or skill to get past the player so why is he there?

He is ruining them.

since when does a player get ruined by getting played out of position stop being so dramatic...he doesnt deserve to be in the middle ahead of ireland or herd end of...its good game time for him and exposure....and quite frankly just because he was out of position isnt an excuse for him to give away needless frees, miscontrol balls and give away possession....he was dire and that shouldnt be ignored

[imavillan]

that was hard to watch....lots of endeavour but very little quality....and as for the Villa...

turgid dross.

We are Aston Villa, not Blackburn, not Bolton, not Wigan, not Wolves, not etc etc....we are Aston Villa.

Demand and expect more.

[Humanoid]

Given - 5, not much to do, not much he could about the goal

Hutton - 4 Played like he had earlier in the season, poor

Collins - 6 Played well, just needs to be more determined to win the ball rather than convincing the ref he's being fouled

Baker - 6 Did his job well enough

Lichaj - 6 Another good game

Bannan - 5 Not effective enough on the wing, and dare say not effective enough per se.

Herd - 6 Played well, but needs to be looking for the ball more as Ireland does

Ireland - 7 Played well for most of the game, always looking for the ball, although passing quality seemed to drop off during the latter stages of the 2nd half.

Warnock - 6 Played well defensively, but not effective enough going forward

Weimann - 7 Superb goal, merson style. Lots of effort put in throughout the match

Agbonlahor - 6 Just scrapes a 6, he needs better players around him to get the most out of him. Stoke made sure he couldn't get any time, fouled him a lot, and our midfield were usually too far away to support.

N'zogbia - 4 Waste of time. Would liked to have seen Carruthers come on instead

Gardner - 5 Didnt really make much of an impression. Didnt need to charge Pennant in the back.

Heskey - 5 Didnt have time to do much. Could have been used more today due to the game being physical

Usual story, but can't expect too much with so many inexperienced players, and 2 players playing out of position. However, still getting the same results as the experienced players did though. With Dean giving us next to nothing, a point is better than none. We need to more determined to keep possession. We'll have a better chance of getting 3 from Bolton.