M_Afro

When are people going to understand the plan? We bought players with potential in the hope that their value will grow. They are assets. Gone are the days (hopefully) when we waste good money on over the hill journey men. How the hell do you think we got here in the first place! It is too early to judge/write off any of the summer acquisitions. The only one where maybe we took a punt is Jota and even that could still potentially work out. Get a grip people. For once we are trying to build a better future. It will take time but it is the right strategy. The good thing about our current strategy is that even if we do go down, we will still be in a pretty decent position. Keep the faith and support the boys. It is hard and we all feel pissed off but we really are stronger together. I have no idea whether Wes is going to make it. He may not to be honest but writing him off already is ludicrous. Give the kid a break. For what it’s worth and I have been wrong on many occasions, I think he will come good.

If we go down I don’t think we will lose anyone other than Jack and Ty. We will stay up anyway so it’s all pretty immaterial

Centre midfield is our number 1 priority. We need an athletic, powerful, box to box, tall beast who can win the battle in the centre of the park. A Viera/ Keane to pull us out of the doo doo when we need it. A winger and then CF to finish it off would also be nice!

Sounds like a plan. A barmy, brummie, boozy Boxing Day atmosphere will hopefully cheer the boys home on Thursday. If we could follow that up with a long overdue away win at Watford, I’m sure we will all feel much better.

I agree with a lot of your post but part of being a head coach is implementing/changing tactics in order to positively influence the team. I have not seen any of this from Smith. It was the same when we went on our awful run last year. He kept doing the same thing over and over again until Jack returned and saved our bacon.

I really wish Dean would try 5 at the back. It would get more height in the team and also better suit our fullbacks who are both much better in attack than defence. Whilst SJM is out it would enable Luiz and Nakamba to sit in front of the defence. Jack could play in an advanced central role. This would leave the option of two up top or a 9 with someone in the hole. Gotta be worth a pop. I think it would make us more solid whilst also provide an attacking threat.

If Watford play like this against us, it will be more embarrassing than yesterday! Hopefully they have got their big performance out of the way early!

We need to see where we are after the next two games. Two wins and things will feel much better. At the very least we must get 4 points. We cannot afford to lose another game to a relegation rival. Yesterday was painful.

We are a professionally run football club for the first time in my lifetime. Doug used to run us as a corner shop, Randy as a hobby, Tony as a goodness knows what! These guys are not taking risks. There is a plan and an infrastructure designed to deliver that plan. Long may it continue!

Massive game for both teams. We definitely cannot afford to lose it and hopefully we will win it. Either way it will be tense, close and terrible for the nerves! Come on Villa. Last chance to give us a Christmas present and we deserve it! I am going 2-1 Villa..............oh stuff it. It is Christmas after all.............4-0 Wesley hat trick and a goal for SJM on a much needed return to form for Scotland’s best footballer and of course “a partridge in a pear tree!”

We have been totally schooled in midfield. Non of ours are premier league standard yet and Luiz is probably the only one who may ever get there.

Thought it was Sherwood?

Anybody who is suggesting we re-sign Benteke should watch the first 41 minutes of tonight’s Palace match.... wtf has happened to the big man? He is an absolute shadow of his former self. Pretty sad to see really when you think about how good he was for us.

Just watched the highlights from Saturday. There were lots of players illegally encroaching when he missed the penalty. VAR is supposed to be used to ensure this does not happen. The penalty should have been retaken. I can only assume that having already used VAR to award the penalty to Villa the software has a bug that automatically will not allow another VAR decision in our favour during the month of December!

We all get that you don’t like him. You don’t have to mention it in every post!

I would try a 5-3-2. It would get more height in the team with the three centre backs, better suit Targett and Guilbert. It would also make us more compact in the middle whilst hopefully helping Wesley up front. Dean is just trying the same thing over and over and actually achieving very little. Earn your corn Deano and get the best out of what you have!

Totally agree about Phillips. I’m sure we would be in a healthier position if we had signed him or another similar player. That would be priority one for me in January. We cannot dominate games without controlling the middle of the park.

He sticks with the same tactics and formation every week and does nothing to change it during the game itself! He needs to be cleverer and mix things up a bit. If he doesn’t we are going straight back down! Time to earn your corn Deano.

Ha ha. I prefer to be positive. When he scored against Everton it clearly lifted him. Let’s hope that it can happen again.

I really hope he scores today. He really needs the confidence boost. Come on big Wes. You can do it!

I wonder if anybody will try and sign Bellingham from the clowns down the road? He looks like a proper player and still only 16, a They would probably flog him for peanuts.

For the first time I am starting to think that Wesley should be dropped if only to make everyone realise that he is our best option. He keeps getting picked because anybody else that we could pick would be worse! Maybe Davis could do a job but he is injured so what else could the manager do but keep picking Wesley. I also think that he is doing ok. He is clearly lacking confidence but he is still showing for the ball and putting in the work. I’m confident that he will go on to have a decent career, hopefully at Villa.

We defend so poorly from front to back. I lost count of the number of times we failed to react to a second ball but then compounded the mistake by not pressuring the man who won the ball. Our players are also totally unaware of the movement of opposition players. We let them drift into space totally unopposed all game long, often just standing and watching. Finally we are so poor at defending set pieces. Our players are weak and totally lacking in the ability to clear the ball. At the start of the season I expressed concern about the diminutive stature of all our midfield players. It is killing us at the moment. I would be tempted to try a back three just to try and get some more physical capability on the pitch. Set pieces are still a big part of the English game and we are the worst in the league at defending them. Dean and JT really need to sort this mess out.

Leicester are very good but Dean needs to change his tactics. Our form is awful and getting worse by the week.

Happy with the team. I think it will give us a bit more stability against a very good midfield. We need to be patient and not leave ourself open to their counters. I live in Leicester so more desperate than normal for a villa victory. Come on you Villa boys!!!!!