Stoke Post Match

[Pablo]

To be honest most teams look shaky on set pieces against Stoke.

I thought it was a great performance. Had it not been for Begovic (the best keeper in the league) this would have been a very comfortable win.

The penalty save had my heart pumping for about 4 hours . I really think it will be a bonding experience for the lads, a moment that will define the start of our season. That will lift us to greatness.

I think we might just thump Villa now.

[Norbs]

Spot on

[gentingfrmhell]

villa would be a good test of how far we have come

[Arn]

villa would be a good test of how far we have come

Benteke will be a big problem. Probably the best striker in the air in the PL.

[DannyMan2006]

We played that game like we were playing a weak team who concedes by the bucket load. We made them look far worse than they are.

The worst part of our game is the height and strength of the team & yesterday we played a team where by that is their strongest attributes.

Of course because of the above the Stoke team had chances. But our attacking play is so good that with any luck we should almost always out score the opposition.

And our weaknesses will show up far less against other teams who don't excel in those areas like Stoke.

I think we picked up yesterday like we finished last season. On the front foot and full of verve.

Our team as a unit at the back still needs to improve, but hopefully Mignolet will continue to make saves which Pep hasn't been doing.

[DannyMan2006]

villa would be a good test of how far we have come

I fancy us to have too much for Villa. And if we can keep winning the tests will keep coming. I think many in our fan base are waiting for us to fail & will jump all over it when of course we do lose.

[ChesterDave]

Think we will beat Villa too. We won't have as big a wall to break down as with Stoke. We might not keep a clean sheet but can see us getting a few. Sturridge, Aspas, Couthino - all will get chances and even Hendo looked decent enough going forward!

[dom9]

I'm not taking the Villa game for granted in the slightest. If last season taught us anything, it was that just as things started looking up, we'd shoot ourselves in the foot with an insipid performance.

[Assassin]

I'm not taking the Villa game for granted in the slightest. If last season taught us anything, it was that just as things started looking up, we'd shoot ourselves in the foot with an insipid performance.

It's great for us that villa have to play the chavs wednesday

[Assassin]

WTF is Doug Ellis doing there anyway ? :

By the look on her face, he is touching up the brunette in front of him

[Kronenburg1892]

BBC possession stats are never accurate, sky have it 55-45 and that still sounds generous.

I heard possession stats usually come from Apta and are worked out by the amount of time a team has the ball before the other gets it. It includes the time a goalie takes a goal kick, or a player takes a throw-in. It doesn't really describe how the play went as we saw yesterday with those stats. A team taking more goal kicks will add more time to possession even though the weight of the attack was in their half against them.

[DKdan]

It's great for us that villa have to play the chavs wednesday

Just checked that after your post. Why on earth do they play midweek games already??? Lambert must be pretty pissed with a start of Arse, Chavs and us - and even though they play midweek they get to play us already saturday - not even sunday!

It can only be because Villa was so strong last year that the FA did this to them.

But it really is great for us. I just cant remember the last time we took advantage of such things.

A red card to Benteke wednesday would be excellent!

[rodo]

Just checked that after your post. Why on earth do they play midweek games already??? Lambert must be pretty pissed with a start of Arse, Chavs and us - and even though they play midweek they get to play us already saturday - not even sunday!

It can only be because Villa was so strong last year that the FA did this to them.

But it really is great for us. I just cant remember the last time we took advantage of such things.

A red card to Benteke wednesday would be excellent!

it was rearranged as they play the super cup a week on friday so it was brought forward

[DKdan]

Excellent! Thank you Rafa!

[dww]

I'm not taking the Villa game for granted in the slightest. If last season taught us anything, it was that just as things started looking up, we'd shoot ourselves in the foot with an insipid performance.

I also think that Villa will be a lot better than last season. A striker like Betenke gives you a chance in almost any game. Particularly given our defensive lapses against physical forwards in recent times.