The point at Stoke could be very, very vital indeed. Let's be under no illusions, we ARE in a relegation fight and WILL BE in a relegation fight for the remainder of the season, so it was at least encouraging to see some endeavour, some spirit and even some ambition in the performance against Stoke.
We shouldn't get carried away of course. The game was a poor quality one betwen two limited sides, however Villa were the better of the two sides, in terms of possession and shots on goal. I for one was pleasantly surprised at least, if not excited.
You'll notice that I'm trying to be positive here. The performances against Arsenal and Stoke were actually 'OK'. We've looked a lot better and it's wholely down to the team apparently taking a more positive and ambitious approach. What we SHOULD have been doing all season of course and as plain as day and night. But you never know, maybe, just maybe, 'Mr Negative' has seen the light and Villa may actually play to their strengths for the rest of the season!
So, should we be positive? Well, tonight Guzan was commanding and the defence gave their all, seemingly willing to put their bodies on the line for the cause. I thought that Clark was excellent in the anchor role and N'Zogbia gave a performance full of commitment and no little threat too. He certainly put Stoke 'on the back foot' at times - something we've missed since Ashley Young. Gabby and Delfouneso worked hard. Tho only disappointment was the delivery of Albrighton which was poor to say the least.
But overall, the last two games have been better. They've needed to be too because if you ask yourself, 'Who is worse than Villa?', I'm only coming up with Bolton and possibly Blackburn, up until this week!
We're only six points off the drop zone and we could well be closer, come the half way point of the season, at New Year. We ARE in a relegation fight (I know there are quite a few on here with rose coloured specs) and those people in particular, need to readjust their expectations for the season. McLeish has brought negative, dull, uninspiring, impotent football to Villa Park but I'm afraid he's going nowhere! We have to accept that.
In an extremely tight Premier League, where no fewer than TWELVE teams can go down, should we in fact be celebrating points gained at The Britannia Stadium?
Maybe, just maybe.
HAPPY NEW YEAR.
Point at Stoke - Celebrate or not?
posted on 27/12/11
Stoke have beaten Liverpool and Spurs at the Britannia this season, as well as drawing with ManU.
I'd say its a good point.
posted on 27/12/11
i think it's a good point too and was impressed the way we stopped stoke from playin for most of the game, that in it's self is no mean feat!
posted on 27/12/11
Good things; we got a point against a team who are never less than very awkward to play against, we coped with set pieces much better than of late, and we retained possession for a lot of the game, which we also did against Arsenal but not earlier in the season.
Bad things; the game was dire, and it was the sort of result which could secure us in mid table but not top 8 which is where we should be going.
Maybe against a different sort of team we could retain the good things and also play better football. But will we?
I've got a simple method of determining how we're doing. Suppose all the teams beneath us win the next game but we lose; how far do we sink? Likewise, suppose all the teams above us lose the next game but we win; how far do we rise? Currently (if Swansea win today), we could drop to 15th, just one point above 16th and 17th, definitely relegation territory if not in the relegation zone. We could also rise to 9th (if Norwich don't win today), just in the top half of the table. I reckon 15th-9th is a reasonable description of where we're at; it would take continued improvement and the results to match to get above that, while a slump for whatever reason would leave us in real danger.
posted on 27/12/11
I feel that the days when we could turn our noses up at a point at stoke are gone for now. we don't go there with a better team anymore. so much as i am not happy with this situation i will take a point for now. But be warned Mr McLeish this is not the case going forward, you need to be aware of this.