Match analysis and pictures
It might be worth Villa boss Paul Lambert pinning the Oxford English dictionary definition on the Bodymoor Heath notice board as a polite reminder to his players following this stalemate against Stoke.
The claret and blues have registered only 12 times in 16 Premier League games this season, which makes them the lowest scoring team in the English top flight.
In fact, only a handful of teams in Europe’s elite leagues have scored fewer goals than Villa this season: Pescara in Serie A, Nancy in Ligue One,shaojingjing30@gmail.com Granada Atletico in La Liga and Bundesliga sides Augsburg and Greuther Furth,suctiontruck since you asked.
Undoubtedly, there have been signs of improvement in the style of football played by Villa under Lambert so far in this campaign, evident in patches in a snooze-fest against Stoke. But it’s time they started to find the onion bag on a regular basis.
Passing the ball in nice triangles is all well and good; however, it will not prevent this season descending into another battle against relegation.
Lambert pledged to play more attacking football on his appointment, but Villa’s endeavour has not manifested itself in the ‘goals for’ column.
The reintegration of Darren Bent into his plans will hopefully help Lambert address the issue, having brought the ￡24m striker off the bench for the first time since October 27.
Bent was desperately short of service in the 24 minutes he spent on the pitch against the Potters in a match which lacked moments of real quality. And the poacher’s future is still uncertain ahead of the January transfer window with Lambert prickly on the subject, although it now appears the bridges have been mended to such an extent that it looks as if Bent will play at least some part over the next month.
With captain Ron Vlaar still not recovered from a calf injury, Lambert named the same starting line-up that drew 1-1 with QPR last weekend.vessel
Villa made a bright start as they zipped the ball around the pitch with confidence, although their best chance in the early stages came from a Barry Bannan corner in the 12th minute. The midfielder’s inswinging flag-kick pinged round the penalty area and dropped to Christian Benteke, who was denied by a brilliant last-ditch block from Ryan Shawcross.
Moments later,roadsweepers the impressive Matthew Lowton cut inside from the right flank and forced Stoke keeper Asmir Begovic to make a smart save with a low piledriver.
However, Villa retreated deeper into their own half as they struggled to break down an organised Stoke defence which has kept eight clean sheets this season.
A rare Villa counter-attack in the 35th minute yielded a good opportunity when Eric Lichaj’s low cross for Benteke was brilliantly cut out by Robert Huth. Villa began the second half with purpose and Bannan’s diagonal ball was met by Lowton, who headed into the path of Benteke, but the Belgium striker’s tame volley was comfortably saved by Begovic.
Unfortunately, that was about as good as it got for both teams as the rest of the contest became painful viewing with neither side prepared to gamble in search of the three points.imprintsticks
However,exchangers on the plus side, Lambert seems to have sorted out Villa’s defence in the past two matches and a 5-3-2 system has plugged a leaky backline which had struggled to keep clean sheets. Stoke rarely threatened.