M_Afro

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.

Just take a single sentence out of context. Well played sir!

I am a very reasonable person. You cannot just look at the league position. You have to look at the whole picture. Our form is terrible. We struggled against every side in the division over the second half of the season. Not a single comfortable victory. That’s not good enough for me. I doubt it’s good enough for the owners but we will see.

Well. It’s just opinion. We will have to wait and see what happens. It would not be the first time that I was way off to be fair.

I don’t want to fall out with you mate. I suspect we are misunderstanding each other. My point is that Dean has admitted that the first, long Covid break was a great chance to take time out, re-assess and change things. Make tweaks which lead to an improvement in form. This is his opinion. Not speculation. The second, much shorter Covid break seems to be used as an excuse for our form by certain parties (not the club).This is pure speculation with no evidence whatsoever. It also ignores the fact that our form had started to dip before the covid break. All we know is that 8 members of the squad had Covid. One of those was Trez who has hardly figured anyway. I am a medical layman but my wife played a significant role in the pandemic. She has not seen a single patient with extreme covid symptoms who is young and fit. Not one. It is way too early to understand the illness and will take years of research to start to better understand it. Blaming our form on something we know nothing about is just speculation. Not even Dean, who better knows what going on, has done that. He just said that it affected our momentum.

I think we will have to agree to disagree. I want him to be a success but he is not delivering in my view. All that really matters is what the owners think. I don’t think they will be happy and Dean is under massive pressure. 2 more really poor results could be enough for them.

But he only arrested it after a long Covid break. If that break hadn’t occurred we would almost certainly have been in the Championship and he would have been sacked. He seems incapable of arresting it in normal season. I know he did it when we were in the Championship but how much was that about getting Jack back? Having Jack in the Championship is akin to Barcelona having Messi at his best.

A slump is a run of a few games. This is half a season. We also invested heavily over the summer (and January) to ensure that a slump didn’t happen again. All teams have to cope with injuries. As for C-19 it’s absolutely impossible to tell what impact that has had. It could have been a good thing, giving us a rest during a busy period but we will never know. What is a fact is that in each of his seasons as manager we have had long spells of good form and long spells of terrible form. There has never been a consistent level of performance over the course of the season. He seems totally incapable of arresting the poor form. A good manager is able to maintain a fairly steady level of performance, with minor purple and red patches. Smith’s Villa are the football version of a schizophrenic.

It’s not going to be a few points difference though. It could well be 8 or 9 by the time we have finally limped past our final game. That’s a pretty big gap to be fair.

I don’t know. He should be ready for a run in the Championship 22/23.

I don’t think people hate Smith. I would think most fans really like him. He is a lovely man and he is one of us. You can’t blame today on some kind of end of season on the beach scenario though. If that’s true we have been on the beach since Christmas because the level of performance has been consistent since then. That has to sit with the manager.

That’s just not true. The only 2 teams who have been as inconsistent as us in the second half of the season will be enjoying the championship next season.

Please remember today before you have a go at Mings again. Our defensive organisation was non existent. Konsa looked like a pub player. Even Targett was pretty poor.