fightoffyour Posted December 3, 2012 VT Supporter Share Posted December 3, 2012 Us to score from a long throw to really piss them off. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LockStockVilla Posted December 3, 2012 Share Posted December 3, 2012 If Vlaar's back it wouldn't be such a bad idea to move Baker out to left back. I know it's not his best position but Jason Roberts caused our defense enough issues on his own last week to suggest that we might need some added height in the defense. Beyond that, we need to try and beat them at our game, rather than theirs. So long balls to Benteke isn't going to cut it, I also fear a little for our lightweight midfield. I also agree that playing Baker would not be a terrible idea. Tbh, Lichaj does not offer loads going forward, so I do not think we would miss him that much. I know we used this tactic against WHU and it worked fairly well against they hoofing style. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AValon Posted December 3, 2012 Share Posted December 3, 2012 This could be Bentekes toughest game to date, or he could be the one doing the roughing up. Either way, it'll probably be the highlight of a drab kicking match. I agree, we totally need Vlaars presence for this one. They won't take prisoners and neither should we. Suffocating football and a frustrating draw. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PieFacE Posted December 3, 2012 VT Supporter Share Posted December 3, 2012 Horrible game. We never seem to beat Stoke. 2-0 to them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
R.I.C.O. Posted December 3, 2012 Share Posted December 3, 2012 Was tempted to go but its Stoke and it will be a dire affair with long throws, crap football, in the cold, and Tom Jones songs being chanted by toothless simpletons. I can't imagine anything worse! Our team has no chance against a team like this. They will do what they usually do, kick and rush, drain the life out of anything creative and one or two of their rugby players will score from a set piece. I can't wait for the day they get relegated. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pacbuddies Posted December 3, 2012 Share Posted December 3, 2012 My son can't make this game as he has to go to a Christening so I asked my brother in law if he wanted to watch us play Stoke. He said he would check his diary and if it was clear he would put something in it just so he didn't have to go! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smetrov Posted December 3, 2012 Share Posted December 3, 2012 Got draw written all over it - 2 low scoring sides - chances at a premium. It might make sense to give Bent at least 45 - we aren't going to get many chances - and there's no one I would want it to fall to more...... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The_Lions_Roar Posted December 3, 2012 Share Posted December 3, 2012 Tis ones a must win in my opinion. There's a 3 point gap opened up between us, fulham and Newcastle, theres a few 6 pointers this weekend so results could go our way. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
roonst83 Posted December 3, 2012 Share Posted December 3, 2012 If Vlaar's back it wouldn't be such a bad idea to move Baker out to left back. I know it's not his best position but Jason Roberts caused our defense enough issues on his own last week to suggest that we might need some added height in the defense. Beyond that, we need to try and beat them at our game, rather than theirs. So long balls to Benteke isn't going to cut it, I also fear a little for our lightweight midfield. I agree with all of this. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CI Posted December 3, 2012 Share Posted December 3, 2012 If we can win it would set us up nicely for the Xmas games, a draw isn't great, defeat would be worrying. We've put ourselves into a position where we have little margin for error in games such as this. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ciggiesnbeer Posted December 3, 2012 Share Posted December 3, 2012 Unfortunately not beating QPR means even more pressure is on this game. Anything but a win puts us in a very tough spot for the next three games. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LockStockVilla Posted December 3, 2012 Share Posted December 3, 2012 1-0 win. Westwood to open his Villa account. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
switters Posted December 3, 2012 Share Posted December 3, 2012 Stoke are in good form but this is winnable. They strike me as the kind of team who start to get comfortable once they're in midtable & lose their edge...which is why they've still never managed to finish top half, despite often spending time there for part of the season. Hope we make a statement and play Westwood, Bannan and Ireland in the middle. Need big players at the back to be able to defend set pieces, but we'll have a lot of the ball and need to have players who can use it. Benteke needs to be up for this one, it'd be great to see him dominating vile thugs like Huth. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
8pints Posted December 3, 2012 Share Posted December 3, 2012 It'll be interesting to see what team and tactics Lambert goes for in this game. I hope Vlaar is back, not sure if he will be? I hope we win. I have a feeling there may be a few goals scored so I'll say 3-2 to us. I'd play - ------------------------Bent------Benteke------------ ---------------------------Agbonlahor----------------- -----------------------------Ireland------------------------ ----------------El Ahmadi------Westwood----------- Lichaj------Vlaar/Clark---------Baker------Lowton ----------------------------Guzan----------------------- May be a game more for Baker than Clark. And again, even though I keep putting him in, I don't think Bent will be in there. Where I've put Ireland could be the interesting position, that may be Herd or Delph since we are facing Stoke. Or Holman, that could be a good choice. Be interesting if he starts with Bannan, he'll have to be up for it facing the Rugby Boys. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KjParton Posted December 4, 2012 Share Posted December 4, 2012 I **** hate Stoke and their fans. I go to school in Staffordshire a bit up North, so there's a fair bunch of Stoke fans. The tripe they make up about how "they're a better football team than us", "all you have to do is look at the table" "you drew to QPR" is just frankly boring, and the sooner they get relegated the better. I'd almost go as far to say I hate Stoke nearly as much as I hate Blues. A win over them on Saturday would be perfect stomping ground for me to go and brag in their faces! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
8pints Posted December 4, 2012 Share Posted December 4, 2012 I **** hate Stoke and their fans. I go to school in Staffordshire a bit up North, so there's a fair bunch of Stoke fans. The tripe they make up about how "they're a better football team than us", "all you have to do is look at the table" "you drew to QPR" is just frankly boring, and the sooner they get relegated the better. I'd almost go as far to say I hate Stoke nearly as much as I hate Blues. A win over them on Saturday would be perfect stomping ground for me to go and brag in their faces! I'm gonna make a banner saying 'Do it for Dolly!', take it to the match and hopefully it motivates us Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hogso Posted December 4, 2012 Share Posted December 4, 2012 Us to win it, Benteke to have a stomer - fighting fire with fire. Unsure about what midfield we shoud go with for this one. Bannan has been doing OK, but his tendancy to shoot long balls down the pitch won't do any good against this side. Not that they do much good anyways, usually. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KjParton Posted December 4, 2012 Share Posted December 4, 2012 I'm gonna make a banner saying 'Do it for Dolly!', take it to the match and hopefully it motivates us I looked forward to looking for it haha! The amount of Dolly jokes I get - unbelievable! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AshVilla Posted December 4, 2012 Share Posted December 4, 2012 We need to be winning games like this tbh We are the home side i want to see us attack them from the off My heart says we will win my head says we will get a draw at best I seen how Stoke steam rolled baggies the weekend i fully expect them to try to do the same against our young side the weekend Set pieces will be a massive problem how we defend against them will decide this game imo Ireland in for Bannan please Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob182 Posted December 4, 2012 Share Posted December 4, 2012 I don't want to see Bannan this week. As well as having a poor game against QPR, he lacks the physical attributes to make an impact against Stoke. Here's what I'd go for: --------------- Benteke --------------- -- Gabby ------ Ireland ---- Wiemann -- -------- El Ahmadi --- Westwood ------- Baker ---- Clark ------ Vlaar --- Lowton ----------------- Guzan ---------------- I'm a little unsure of how Baker would play at leftback, because we need our fullbacks to attack to give us width in the final third, so maybe swap him for Lichaj. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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