Villan4Life Posted April 17, 2018 Share Posted April 17, 2018 http://oatcakefanzine.proboards.com/thread/278598/excellent LOL!! we all knew this here! 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheAuthority Posted April 17, 2018 VT Supporter Share Posted April 17, 2018 8 hours ago, Zatman said: awaits the excellent post game interview Quote "I thought we were excellent, really excellent" 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Demitri_C Posted April 17, 2018 Share Posted April 17, 2018 Quote Paul Lambert rues bad luck and says Stoke are in survival fight By Stephen Mills Last Updated: 16/04/18 11:21pm Lambert: We can still survive Stoke boss Paul Lambert gives his reaction to Sky Sports after his side threw away a late 1-0 lead against West Ham. Stoke boss Paul Lambert says his side are well in the fight to avoid relegation despite drawing 1-1 at West Ham Paul Lambert remained upbeat on Stoke City's survival chances despite Andy Carroll's 90th-minute goal denying them victory at West Ham on Monday night. Peter Crouch's 79th-minute goal looked set to see the Potters move within one win of safety with four games to play, but they are now five points adrift of 17th-placed Swansea who have a game in hand. Stoke's position looks perilous after they failed to pick up a win in their last 10 matches, but their manager believes they are still in the scrap to stay up this season. "I'm really proud of the team and if we keep doing what we're doing then we will certainly be in the mix," Lambert told Sky Sports. "I have great belief. We've had some really good games and we've just been really unfortunate with Lady Luck. "With effort, commitment and the way we are playing then we will see what happens. "I've never really had a problem with lifting the lads. They have been an absolute credit to the club in the way they've worked and the way they are doing everything to stay in the league. "If they'd done that at the start of the season there'd be no way they'd be in this position, absolutely no way. "I came in at a late time, but I absolutely love it and we are well in the fight." Lambert's only Premier League victory came in his first match against Huddersfield on January 20, but he is insistent that they have been unlucky in recent fixtures. And he says they can earn the points they need from their remaining games against Burnley, Liverpool, Crystal Palace and Swansea. Lambert said: "We've been playing really well and we are well in the fight. You can see it with the supporters, who are right behind us. "If we can get a win on Sunday then it really sets the cat among the pigeons, that's for sure. Paul Lambert insists he is proud of Stoke's players "All managers and players and teams need a little bit of Lady Luck to have success and it has evaded us, not just in this one but in a few other games. "As long as we don't give up, if we keep that level of commitment and performance then nobody can ever point the finger at us. "But we are right in the fight, make no mistake about it." The guys a lunatic One win in ten and your trying to say they have been playing well?? I would love to see what Stoke fans think of him. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zatman Posted April 17, 2018 Share Posted April 17, 2018 He said in interview he is loving this fight. Must be only person at Stoke believes that Maybe he was trying get us relegated only for that pesky Benteke Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keyblade Posted April 17, 2018 Share Posted April 17, 2018 11 hours ago, Zatman said: The same Stephen Ireland he put in the bomb squad 5 years previous. Some man It's almost like it was nothing personal, and was an owner mandated decision to alienate the highest earners. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zatman Posted April 17, 2018 Share Posted April 17, 2018 35 minutes ago, Keyblade said: It's almost like it was nothing personal, and was an owner mandated decision to alienate the highest earners. Since he has just done the same to Jese and Berahino its hard to tell Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keyblade Posted April 17, 2018 Share Posted April 17, 2018 21 minutes ago, Zatman said: Since he has just done the same to Jese and Berahino its hard to tell Those are disciplinary actions. Our bomb squad did nothing wrong to be disciplined. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobzy Posted April 17, 2018 Share Posted April 17, 2018 I love the amount of hatred people have for a manager being positive in public 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lapal_fan Posted April 17, 2018 Share Posted April 17, 2018 5 minutes ago, bobzy said: I love the amount of hatred people have for a manager being positive in public I think it's more the point that regardless of how well/badly they play, he says the same thing. It's not out of the ordinary to expect someone (particularly that teams manager) to mention points that aren't clearly optimistic. It makes you look deluded if you keep losing, but keep saying positive things. Accept that bad things are happening, and just explain that you're working hard towards them and you've seen improvement. It's management 101. Acknowledge bad things, but put a positive spin on it. But he's with the fairies if he thinks they've played really well.. Oh well, you've just lost 10 games or whatever on the bounce. 3 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
villa89 Posted April 17, 2018 Share Posted April 17, 2018 (edited) 37 minutes ago, bobzy said: I love the amount of hatred people have for a manager being positive in public It's the delusion of being positive all the time even when it's blindlingly obvious things are not going well. Roberto Martinez is similar. It's like they swallowed a business management handbook where everything always has to be brilliant and nothing is ever wrong or bad. The reason I don't like it is that it's really condescending and treats people like they are idiots who can't see the wood for the trees. Just be honest, people will respect you more. Edited April 17, 2018 by villa89 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lapal_fan Posted April 17, 2018 Share Posted April 17, 2018 16 minutes ago, villa89 said: It's the delusion of being positive all the time even when it's blindlingly obvious things are not going well. Roberto Martinez is similar. It's like they swallowed a business management handbook where everything always has to be brilliant and nothing is ever wrong or bad. The reason I don't like it is that it's really condescending and treats people like they are idiots who can't see the wood for the trees. Just be honest, people will respect you more. It's actually bad management. In the handbooks it's the yin/yang - mention the bad, but make sure to put something equally positive in too. Always finish on a good, positive note. To be positive all the time makes you look delusional, mistrust-worthy or thick Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
a m ole Posted April 17, 2018 Share Posted April 17, 2018 1 hour ago, villa89 said: It's the delusion of being positive all the time even when it's blindlingly obvious things are not going well. Roberto Martinez is similar. It's like they swallowed a business management handbook where everything always has to be brilliant and nothing is ever wrong or bad. The reason I don't like it is that it's really condescending and treats people like they are idiots who can't see the wood for the trees. Just be honest, people will respect you more. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VillaChris Posted April 17, 2018 Share Posted April 17, 2018 10 hours ago, Keyblade said: It's almost like it was nothing personal, and was an owner mandated decision to alienate the highest earners. Ireland's hardly played tbf under Lambert. From what I remember Ireland was a regular in first half of 12/13, played a terrible match at home to Wigan and barely figued for rest of the season sp he wasn't an original bomb squad member like Warnock and Hutton were. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Demitri_C Posted April 18, 2018 Share Posted April 18, 2018 Spoiler whoops ignore Quote Lambert's record is nearly as bad as Chris Kamara's but what else is the Stoke City boss supposed to do? Martin Smith laments the latest setback to have blighted Stoke City's season, this one that late hammer blow at West Ham By Martin Smith 13:34, 17 APR 2018 UPDATED13:39, 17 APR 2018 I’m certainly not the only Stoke fan who’s said this in the past 24 hours, but it really is the hope which kills you. You get used to knocks, disappointments and injustices when you’re a Stoke City supporter, but West Ham United’s 90th-minute equaliser on Monday night was still a devastating moment, standing above all others in a season of crushing blows. The team did so well to stay in the game for so long, and seemed to have executed the perfect smash-and-grab raid when Peter Crouch scored on 80 minutes. Unfortunately we’ve got into the habit of shooting ourselves in the foot this season, and we did it again in this game. All Jack Butland had to do with a relatively harmless cross into the Stoke box was catch it. Yet for some reason only he knows, but totally in keeping with our panic-stricken football towards the end of most games, he decided to punch it… and a few seconds later the ball was in the back of our net. READ MORE Stoke City news and transfer rumours LIVE! Manager and players defiant after Potters have crucial victory snatched from their grasp Jack’s been doing that a lot in recent weeks, punching instead of catching, and I don’t know why? Collecting the ball there could have seen him drop to the floor to exaggerate his catch and then kill a good 20 or 30 seconds before punting it down field. From that point on we should have been able to do for three to four minutes of injury time what Watford recently did to us for a full 90 minutes - kill the game. It wasn’t to be, though, meaning another occasion when we’ve come up short. And this was one time we couldn’t afford to do that. We HAD to win this game, and it’s hard now to see us clawing our way out of trouble with the fixtures we have remaining. That’s not being defeatist, just an acceptance of the monumental task now facing us. It’s good to see Paul Lambert managing to remain upbeat about our prospects, as he must feel he’s broken a shop full of mirrors, walked under ladders and run over several black cats recently. All he’s known since he came to Stoke is bad luck. Against Bournemouth he saw a 1-0 lead turn into a 2-1 defeat inside the last 20 minutes, with two of his defenders colliding to set up the Cherries’ equaliser. We then missed a last-minute penalty against Brighton, before Jack Butland bundled the ball into his own net for a disastrous own goal at Leicester. Charlie Adam sold us down the river with his idiotic red card against Everton, whilst the Toffee’s winner was also offside. Arsenal were handed a late penalty which clearly wasn’t to turn our game at the Emirates, Tottenham’s winner at the bet365 Stadium should have been ruled out for offside, and then we've let it slip in the last minute against West Ham. That’s a massive tale of woe to squeeze into a managerial reign which is still only 11 games old. But bad luck or not, it all means we’ve now gone 10 games without a win. At this stage of the season that’s disastrous, and focuses attention on the manager. For what it’s worth, I think Paul Lambert has been an improvement on where we were in the last few months under Mark Hughes, but that’s not saying much. The reality is that his record is one win, five draws and five defeats from 11 games. That’s starting to edge close to the nightmare 14-game reign of Chris Kamara back in 1998. The “bounce” we were hoping for under Lambert hasn’t happened, and eight points out of a possible 33 is not good enough. To cut our manager some slack, he doesn’t exactly have a great deal to work with. We’re down to the absolute bare bones of suitable players all over the pitch, and in attack, or at least in terms of creativity, we’re simply not good enough. Lambert has tried to be innovative, but there’s little he can do to effect a dramatic change with what he has, and that speaks volumes about the parlous state of the Stoke City squad right now. Andy Carroll celebrates with of West Ham team mates Javier Hernandez and Pablo Zabaleta after scoring against Stoke City at the London Stadium. (Image: Catherine Ivill) Realistically, we know we’re all but dead and buried, but mathematically we still have a chance. It’s almost certain that if we won all four of our remaining games we’d stay up, and even three wins still gives us a chance. I know that’s not very likely, especially when we look so weak up front, but miracles can happen. In 2011/12, Wigan Athletic looked dead and buried yet saved themselves with a remarkable run of seven wins from their final nine games, which included victories at Liverpool and Arsenal, and at home to Manchester United. READ MORE Can Stoke City survive 'hammer blow' West Ham goal? Here's Gary Neville's verdict... However unlikely it seems, all we can do is soldier on and try to make it happen. Many of us may be resigned to life in the Championship, but just think what it would feel like to save ourselves from this apparently hopeless position. It’s hard to be optimistic when you’re 10 games without a win and you’ve just seen victory snatched from your grasp by a last-minute goal. That said, what else can we do but hope against hope? There’ll come a time of reckoning at the end of this season, whatever the outcome. In the meantime, we just have to hope we can pull off the miracle we need and that maybe, just maybe, we’ll actually be the recipients of some good luck in the four games to come. Click Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob182 Posted April 18, 2018 Share Posted April 18, 2018 On 4/17/2018 at 14:39, lapal_fan said: To be positive all the time makes you look delusional, mistrust-worthy or thick Untrustworthy.. Thicko 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobzy Posted April 18, 2018 Share Posted April 18, 2018 On 17/04/2018 at 13:54, lapal_fan said: I think it's more the point that regardless of how well/badly they play, he says the same thing. .... But he's with the fairies if he thinks they've played really well.. Oh well, you've just lost 10 games or whatever on the bounce. I haven’t watched too much of Stoke, but by all accounts it does sound like they’ve played well under Lambert and been incredibly unlucky. Of course, football is all about results so it doesn’t particularly matter - but it sounds like his team has been “excellent” for him and not got the results that, perhaps, they’ve deserved. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kuwabatake Sanjuro Posted April 22, 2018 Share Posted April 22, 2018 They need at least a point against Liverpool next week and then to beat Palace and Swansea in their last 2 games to stay up. Uphill task. They will be a strong championship team, they will have money to spend when they lose the likes of Shaqiri, Butland, Ndiaye, Allen and probably one or two others. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Django_Zooms Posted April 22, 2018 Share Posted April 22, 2018 Paul Lambert has proved to be useless for Stoke, but facing them and Southampton and Baggies next season with reduced finances reminds us yet again how desperately Villa need to win the Play-Off lottery. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VillaChris Posted April 22, 2018 Share Posted April 22, 2018 36 minutes ago, Kuwabatake Sanjuro said: They need at least a point against Liverpool next week and then to beat Palace and Swansea in their last 2 games to stay up. Uphill task. They will be a strong championship team, they will have money to spend when they lose the likes of Shaqiri, Butland, Ndiaye, Allen and probably one or two others. They've been down since Charlie Adam missed that last minute penalty in February. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Demitri_C Posted April 22, 2018 Share Posted April 22, 2018 I for one am delighted they are down. Horrible fanbase. If they stick with lambert they will struggle for top two Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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