mikeyjavfc

7 hours ago, BOF said:

If you do one thing today, read this thread. It is actually genius.

 

They forgot to mention the ashtray in the trophy cabinet. Craig Gardner as technical director. Retiring Bellingham’s shirt number. The list goes on.

Hmmmm feels like a classic Everton signing this. He will be on massive wages so he will be expected to play, which is dangerous as he hasn't played much football for last year - feels a bit like the Barkley loan again. Thinking long term, if he's going to be a blocker to Chukwuemeka or Bailey into the first team then I don't really see the point. 

90% of footballers are boring media trained clones with a wife and 3 kids by the age of 25. I can’t begrudge Grealish for showing some personality and enjoying his life as a stinking rich playboy footballer. Now that it’s not villa he is embarrassing good luck to him I say.

Not sure either team could field a full 11 for this unless we raid the U23s. We could probably have a good 5-a-side match vs Chelsea down a Powerleague instead though? I’m guessing it’s cancelled given how pissy Chelsea were at having to play Wolves yday. 

7 minutes ago, Adman said:

How come we can't be told if someone's got covid due to patient confidentiality,  but we can know Nakamba has injured his knee, has gone for a scan, it's not good and is off to a specialist on Tuesday?

I think it’s more likely kept under wraps because it would give our opposition a big advantage if they knew which of our players were out missing.

The new strain is super transmissible so this will be hitting a few squads soon. I sincerely hope the players and staff are testing daily now as it’s the only way to have any chance of staying covid free going forward. 

Amazing to think that Wesley still has 3 years on his villa contract. Like it or not he’s not going anywhere soon. I wonder if he needs to drop down a level to find his form but who could afford his wages?

I think Trez might get some minutes under Gerrard yet. His pressing and effort is second only to Watkins, which Gerrard will like.

Also we lost to a deflected shot that found the bottom corner and an absolute worldie that 99% of players would have shanked row z. Hardly soft goals to concede and we could have been luckier with both.

Good performance in the end, showed a lot of fight and spirit but lacked a bit of quality and ball retention. You can feel that the new patterns and systems still haven’t completely sunk in yet but it’s very promising after only 2 weeks. I know it’s city but we need to have more possession than that against them in the future. The graphic showed 29% after about 70mins. But overall pleasantly surprised and it definitely wasn’t the usual capitulation against city.

Shame Norwich couldn’t take the win against 10 men but a draw at home to the 2nd worst team in the division is pretty dreadful for Newcastle anyway. If Burnley can get something at the weekend it’s a long way back with the run that follows. They really did need for their takeover to happen before the summer as planned didn’t they? Shame

The board are no fools so if they think SG is the man to take us back to European football then I think we have to respect that. This decision won’t be based on a hunch, they will have been considering all sorts of metrics to determine the likelihood of success.

I know there will be a bit of a circus around ‘Stevey Gs Aston Villa’ to begin with but personally I don’t mind the extra exposure for Villa. I love Dean Smith but there is no doubt he is not box office in the eyes of the neutral fan and does not raise the profile of villa much beyond the fan-manager narrative. Obviously counts for nothing if he doesn’t take us back up the league but it is a nice side effect.

Welcome Steven and co. Very interested to see how another manager will choose to set up this squad. 

1 minute ago, MWARLEY2 said:

Ooohh. Hows Daniel Murphy going to take that . 

Not well when McPhee stays on and we have 2.

Points on the board would be nice but more importantly we desperately need a good performance to build confidence and stop the rot. I didn’t think we’re that bad against West Ham until the red card, so hopefully there is something to build on with the same team shape. Konsa swaps for Tzanzebe and Ramsey swaps for Luiz (assuming fit) and I’d keep the rest the same.
If we stink out the place again then I fear Dean is due for the chop prior to the international break. A good performance (regardless of result) then I think he stays.

The short term results are bad but I’d prefer if we made our managerial decisions based on the longer term vision. Do the upper management see Dean being our manager for next 5 years (assuming he weathers this storm), or do they plan to make a change at some point anyway? Do they have a profile of the type of manager they want and is anyone attainable who fits the bill? I really don’t see the point of sacking Dean just to bring in a mercenary manager - the season is far from gone. I hope we don’t sack Smith full stop but if we do I hope it’s used as a chance to progress and not just a salvage job. God forbid if there’s no plan for life after Smith then I’d much rather muddle through till summer and accept a lost year and then make a change, similar to Wolves last year.

14 minutes ago, M_Afro said:

I agree with the sentiment entirely but why play Ollie out wide when you have Buendia and    Traore (and arguably AEG) who have played that position far more effectively in the past? One of Ollie or Ings needs to start on the bench, 100%. I would start with Ollie with Ings to play super sub if required.

I agree. I would be disappointed to see Ollie start out wide tomorrow when we have more than one wing specialist sat on the bench. This is just more shoehorning but in different formation. Pick a formation and play the best players for the positions in that formation, even if that means a ‘better’ player starts on the bench.

10 minutes ago, Lord Willard said:

Back to 433 please. 

Bailey Ings Buendia 

Ramsey DL McGinn  

Usual back 4. 

 

 

 

Came to post this. Everyone is fit now so we need to get back to basics. 

An awful result and worse experience yesterday, but after a few hours to mull it over I can see it in the context of our season. It was another summer of upheaval after selling Grealish and the issues with new coaches, injuries, the euros/copa america/olympics, covid and international breaks have also not helped. The logical conclusion is the second half our season will be better than the first as we become more settled as a team and more comfortable with our system.
I’ve seen enough from this team and Smith in games to see that there is something decent brewing it is just consistency that is killing us, yesterday being the extreme example. I will back us to finish strongly and at a minimum match our league position from last year. No danger of smith being sacked before the end of the season in my view, however next summer I think the owners will think carefully about the long term plans. Even if we have a good season in the end, is Smith the man to lead us for next 5 years? 

To be fair, getting relegated so the EFL can rubber stamp the Saudi takeover that the PL never will sanction has a certain logic. Not so much if you want to get the same asking price though. 

Looked poor tonight. Can’t figure out why he always came back in on his right foot with a sideways or backwards pass after he had carried the ball. If he had mixed it up and gone to the line and crossed on his left foot might have had more joy. 

Anyone know any good emergency free agent goalies?