The only place I could get to see the game today was in a bar that showed all the Prem games at the same time, which was dominated by the Man Utd game’s commentary being blasted in our ears.
Still, you can’t have everything and I was consoled by the fact that there was an excellent Scandinavian showing of Villa fans. I met a chap from just up the road from me too, as an extra bonus.
I was in fine fettle from the off and fully expected us to take the points, with the players wound up and trying to impress the new manager.
What a mistake that was.
I’m not going to go into it too much, but I thought we were frankly awful against a Stoke side who were frankly poor too.
Sherwood dropped Cleverley and Westwood, something I couldn’t really argue with, but also started Gabby, which I didn’t agree with.
After today, it’ll be interesting if Gabby starts the next game.
Whatever, I don’t need to tell you what happened.
We were simply shocking.
Maybe someone can tell me what the gameplan was, because I just don’t have a clue.
I couldn’t see what we were trying to do, as I find that impossible when you are constantly giving the ball away, as we did throughout the game.
This was summed up quite early on, when Guzan had a free kick outside the area and just hoofed it straight out for a throw.
It’s just beyond pathetic and this sort of thing shouldn’t be happening from supposed Premier league players.
Perhaps it’s a lack of confidence.
I suspect though, it’s more than that and Sherwood has a massive task on his hands.
In short, we threw away 3 points against a decidedly average team that were in poor shape because of injuries.
What chance will we have against the top teams or even those around us who are willing to fight?
Which brings me onto that “fight” part of the side.
I didn’t see any of it today.
And that tells me we’re in serious trouble.
The only consolations at the end of the game were that Chelsea drew to Burnley and Utd lost, much to the dismay of the glory hunters who were in the bar.
Perhaps there is some justice after all.
