M_Afro

As a team I think we really lack football intelligence. This kid has it in spades. His reading and anticipation are incredible. If our midfield trio had his intelligence we would be much the better for it. Exceptional tonight. Really enjoyed watching him play.

I think the same every time I watch Saint Maximin. Very Tony Daley like in my view.

Would be interested to hear from a pro booer! I just can’t get my head around why anyone would do that. It was so sad to hear. You only have to look at what happened to our very own Dalian to see that we still have a real massive problem. I would urge anyone who thought booing was a good idea to read what happened to Dalian. It might give you a very different perspective.

I am pleased for AEG. He is a likeable bloke and has played an important role in our renaissance but I think now is the perfect time to sell him. His value will be fairly high, probably the highest it will ever be and we need better than he can offer. He scored a great penalty today but the rest of his performance was really poor. If we could sell him for a large amount and replace him with a younger player of similar value but greater potential, then we should do it. Otherwise, happy for him to be back up next season.

This is so true. Sort out centre mid and wide forwards and we are top 8 easily. Bert did quite well today but AEG was a total passenger.

We have been poor when coming up against an energetic, pressing team in recent months. Chelsea will not give us a second of rest so it will be interesting to see how we cope with that now Jack is back. I suspect Dean will bring Luiz back in for Marvelous, although hopefully he will stick with our team from Spurs. The result is kind of irrelevant although a win would be lovely. A good performance and no injuries will do me though. Is it too greedy to hope for a Grealish goal? UTV

Really hope Ty makes the England squad and then forces himself into the starting 11. I love everything about him. I think our recovery only really started the day that he walked into our beautiful club.

Norfolk is the epitome of bland. For a young man Birmingham wins hands down.

https://forum.pinkun.com/index.php?/topic/142426-buendia-to-arsenal-for-reported-£40m/ Enjoy

I have just had a quick look on the Norwich fans site. They seem to think that Buendia is their greatest ever player. They also think he is way too good for us and we have got no chance of signing him. For those two reasons I am in. Make it happen Villa.

I gave Dean loads of grief after one of our worst performances of the season at Palace. Only fair that I should give him some Kudos after today. Much better Dean. Very well done. Loved seeing the youngsters on the pitch too. No complaints from me.

I thought he said that he thought that Dean was the weak link. He then went on to say he got us promoted but only off the back of the good work undertaken by his old mate Brucie! That bit made me laugh out loud.

Thanks for sharing mate. Very interesting listen. I do like Jordan. He clearly likes the Villa and always bigs us up. We need more media spin like his to help raise our profile.

Quite a long way into this season it looked like we were on for 60 plus. Not achieving 50 would feel very disappointing. It’s unlikely we can get a win in either of our last two matches so a scrambled draw will have to do.

That’s exactly what I said

I don’t disagree about the pundit/neutral fan point but part of that is because Villa go under the radar. They will not look at the detail. They will just see a club that finished 17th last season and 11/12th this season. They won’t look at form, performance, injuries, sequencing of games etc. I think the owners will take everything into account, positive and negative and that he will come under pressure. Just my opinion of course. I could be well wide of the mark.

I know you can’t ignore the early season form. We were ace up until Christmas. Way better than anyone expected, but when you get such a long spell of poor form, the pressure is going to be there from the people who have invested £300m or whatever it is on new players. I know people don’t like to hear it but it’s true. I said after the CP match that I wanted a change. I have obviously calmed down a bit now and can see things from a wider perspective but those kind of stats will grab the attention of the owners and not in a good way. Whether any of us think it’s right or wrong, another 2 performances like Sunday and I would not be surprised to see Dean sacked. Just for the record, what I would like to see are 2 very good performances, regardless of results, that show we are on the right track. If we get those then I will be happy.

How is 21 games the second half of the season? We only play 38 matches. All of those other things are true but still........I am shocked.

I listened to the Villa Podcast last night. They reckon we have 17 points from our last 18 games. I haven’t checked that stat but if it’s true I am genuinely shocked. It has felt bad for a while but I had no idea it was that bad. That could easily be 17 points from 20 games come the end of the season! That will certainly get some attention in the boardroom.

The thing that has recently made me change my opinion of Smith is the fact that the players don’t seem to know what they are supposed to do. That was more obvious yesterday than on any other occasion this season. It actually became worse after Jack came on. His presence just seemed to confuse matters further. I really hope that Smith can do something in these last two games to alter my perception. I don’t expect any points from the two matches but I do expect a clear plan, executed by the players, that at least makes it difficult for the opposition whilst offering some kind, no matter how infrequent, of forward threat. If they perform like that in the last two games, regardless of the result, then he will win back some favour with me. More shambolic performances like yesterday I seriously think he will come under pressure.

The is still our biggest problem, followed next by the wide forwards. Our midfield three, whoever they are, are utterly terrible without the ball. We don’t press effectively, just sit back and invite pressure. We don’t track runners effectively. We can’t tackle. We have no presence in the air. Our anticipation and game reading is non existent. There is no leadership. Non of them carry the ball effectively. We are not physical. Add to that the fact that McGinn is not fit enough and gives the ball away too much. I think that McGinn, Luiz, Sanson are all good enough to be part of our squad but they can’t play together. We need to buy a proper DM and a proper 10. Then one of the others comes in to complete the trio. I don’t think Dean sees it the same way though. McGinn will start for him whatever, probably alongside Luiz.

Ramsay is just lacking in confidence. You can see that there is a player there. It’s hard for any young player to come into a struggling team. I would send him for a season loan in the Championship. It’s a shame his last loan was cut so short because of Covid.

I said that he couldn’t just look at the league position to judge our season you also have to take into account all factors. This includes our awful form and performances.

I genuinely don’t understand why you can’t provide an informed negative opinion (not fact, just your own observations) of the manager without getting attacked. Surely that’s what the forum is for? Smith is not above criticism and we all see things through our own experience. For me, I have seen enough from him to think that a change is due. I also will be fully open minded to changing my opinion should the facts change, which of course I hope they do.

The exception that proves the rule.