Fazilla

Very difficult to pick up one player as they have all played their part.  However, I think that Pau Torres has transformed the way we play.  Whenever he is in possession something seems to happen.  I was watching a programme on Sky Sports on the signing of the season and most went for Declan Rice.  No mention of Pau. Why am I not surprised.

21 minutes ago, rodders0223 said:

The single worst refereeing performance I've ever seen.

 

Peter Bankes in the home game against Spurs ran him close.

I'd go with the team that played and won against Manure last Sunday apart from Olsen for Emi.  Lets see what our new goalkeeping coach can do,

3 hours ago, andym said:

There was a wide selection to choose from

• running in treacle across the area and only just about getting a toe on it to knock it out for the corner, despite having a 20 yard headstart on Fernandes who was closing down
• turning a 80/20 long ball into a 50/50 where Chambers had to bail him out because he was stuck to his line
• calling for a simple cross and then immediately dropping it on the corner of the 6 yard box
• trying to claim a simple looping high ball by flapping one handed and conceding a corner
• passing straight to Man U for the 3rd goal
• standing on his line and watching as McTominay gets the touch just 7 yards out for the 4th goal

Imagine what its like for the outfielders trying to play with that going on behind you

Spot on with all of the above.  I attended my first match in 1966 and can't remember a poorer goalkeeping display.  When I read that our manager insists on us playing out from the back I was worried for Olsen. 

Every time he had the ball at his feet he looked like a rabbit in headlights.  I was quite relieved when he booted it long.  After a truly horrendous first half. things got worse in the second half.  We score a great opening goal and 19 seconds later United punt a hopeful ball down our left.  I'm waiting for Olsen to sprint over and boot it into touch. Instead I see him scrurrying back to his goal with the inevitable result.  I can't remember much about the second goal, but the third one was down to his awful attempt to play to out from the back only for the ball to land perfectly for Manure.  As for the fourth goal.,again I was waiting for Olsen to claim a hopeful punt into our box. but surprise surprise he was glued to his line. 

I would hope that Emery never picks him again because he just is not good enough to play for Aston Villa.

That's got to be one of the worst goalkeeping displays I've ever seen.  Olsen was slow off his line and awful with his feet.

12 minutes ago, OutByEaster? said:

I hope Chambers isn't playing DM - we've got three better options in that position.

I quite like the look of us as a 3-4-1-2.

 

How often have you seen Chambers as a DM?

I thought he was really poor today. He gave the ball away in dangerous positions on numerous occasions.  The whole of our midfield was totally dominated. Time for a few changes Dean.

Villa have got a lot to thank the Doc for. Before he arrived Villa were getting crowds of 12,000, but then he came in and claimed that he could get Villa in the top five of the old first division. I remember him paying £110,000 for the Rioch brothers and standing in the Holte when there were 59,000 watching us beat Southampton in a cup replay. There was never a dull moment with the Doc around and he helped to set Villa on the road to success. RIP.

You really have to feel sorry for the Newcastle supporters having to watch the rubbish that Bruce's teams serve up and then listen to his pathetic excuses. Villa and Sunderland fans have heard it all before.

Magnificent team performance. What is really pleasing is that the fringe players such as AEG, Hause and Traore have all made a contribution. There is real competition for places now.

Stevie probably needs the Newcastle players to get their boots on.

Does anybody know how to book the official coach travel from Villa Park? I have looked on the avfc website and can't find a link. 

Just seen a picture of Jack with JPA with his leg heavily bandaged. Hope he is fit for tomorrow.

31 minutes ago, rodders0223 said:

No expectations and they still fail to meet them.
Cannot wait for every player to **** off in the summer.

No, actually, I cannot wait until next week when I get to boo these **** words removed again.

The only thing that has made me laugh on another miserable afternoon.

I must admit that I am not Whelan's greatest fan, but he changed the game when he came on. Fair play to him, but we desperately need more dynamism in midfield for next season. I can't see us making the play=offs this year.

19 minutes ago, villalad21 said:

The fact that he brought on Jedinak in the last 10 minutes when we are 0-0 against a relegation team is worrying.

He were actually scared to lose against Reading. That says alot.

No b***s to this guy, he is a coward. Job too big for him. Draws are worthless at this stage.

A day after i'm still furious of his tactical decisions in that game. I can see him being the next Lambert, all started promising, but then when it's not going well he cannot handle the pressure. Hope he prove me wrong though and i'm not DS out yet.

Perhaps you would have preferred the Bruce approach of throwing on as many forwards as possible in the vain hope that one of them scores.  His subs included a forward and two midfield players.  That hardly suggests somebody who is a coward. It is a manager who has inherited players who are not capable of playing the way that he wants.

2 hours ago, villabromsgrove said:

Smith's brand of football depends on eleven players embracing the system and playing as a unit. This is clearly not happening and probably wont happen with our current first eleven. We have a number of players who are so set in their ways that they can't adapt. 

Holding midfielders who either automatically pass backwards or sideways, or give the ball away immediately if they try to play forward. Full backs who either play head down and flat out going forward or play like out of position headless chickens defensively, both incapable of reliable end product. Wide men who repeat the same runs into heavily marked blind alleys, and are also unreliable at filling in for absent full backs, etc etc.

I'm not blaming Smith for that because they're not his players.

I remember him saying that when Ollie Watkins was signed for Brentford it took six months to get him to adapt to Smith's style of play. Watkins is a young player and was able to adapt, but imagine trying to convert players who have played negatively or as individuals all their long careers, into a quick neat and unselfish attacking unit.

It's probably not going to happen until major surgery is attempted this summer.

 

Imagine trying to get the likes of Whelan, Jedinak and Hutton to adapt to Smith's style of play.

21 hours ago, hippo said:

not saying you're wrong - but of the managers we have dispensed with - who would you have kept on longer ? 

Probably none of them, but I am prepared to give Smith longer than three months before I start slagging him off.

10 minutes ago, villalad21 said:

Most of the squad made it into the playoff final last season.

Calling them "shit" 1 season after i find ridicilous.

Under the right system and tactics this squad work very well in this league.

Comparing the team that played in the playoff final with the team that played today we have lost Johnson, Terry, Grealish,  Snodgrass  and Grabban.  Give Smith time to bring in his own men and then judge him.  Over the last few years we have changed managers regularly and look where it has got us.

1 hour ago, bobzy said:

That's a weird assessment of his 16 minute(!) cameo.  At one point, he passed the ball out wide and actually ran forward for a quick one-two - aside from McGinn/Grealish, I can't remember any midfielder doing that for us this season.  Even the yellow he got was the result of a **** awful ball to him from the defence.

Just for comparison, he made 11 passes in 16 minutes with a passing accuracy of 90.9% (he misplaced one pass).  Whelan - who he replaced - made 29 passes in 73 minutes with a passing accuracy of 76%.

 

He just didn't seem that bad at all.  I have no idea what people were expecting from 16 minutes(!) worth of football from him.

Well that was definitely something...

I was told he’d make forward passes and bring energy but he touched the ball once in 20 minutes, didn’t complete a single pass, and got a yellow. 

So which one is true? Did he make 1 pass pr 11?

18 minutes ago, screwdriver said:

everyone I know is saying the same thing. we should of got brendan rogers

if we don't beat sheffield next week the fans will turn.

and watch them lose 10k off the gate at the same time.

well done wes edens and silent egyptian. great businessmen you are. I'll be seeing you both down the launderette.

Dean Smith has been left with some very poor players and I will only start to judge him when he has had a pre-season and a chance to get rid of the dead wood like Whelan, Hutton and Jedinak.  He has also lost two of his best players in Axel and Jack,  As for everyone wanting Brendan Rogers, there is a reason that Liverpool sacked him.. Yes he has done well at Celtic, but if Scott Sinclair can rip the league apart it says something about the quality of opposition.

15 minutes ago, Mat Kendrick's Dentist said:

As an Irishman, I can assure you he was equally bad 5 years ago.

That is a frightening statement to make. How on earth are Villa going to get into the playoffs if we have to rely on Whelan in midfield?

10 hours ago, Pimlico_Villa said:

For me, Smith is showing a worrying trend that was prevalent under Bruce: identify exactly what went wrong in the post-match interview, but then do absolutely nothing about it. So antagonising to see.

Worried we are being duped by him as for all his talk results, style and performance have been terrible, not to mention League positioning. 

Really beginning to question whether he is all gloss and no substance. 

I know that the modern football fan is an impatient being but this post is something else. Smith has been here for a couple of months. In that time he has lost his best defender and his most creative player.  He hasn't been able to bring in any of his own players and the squad is unbalanced .  Despite this results and performances have improved.  Think back to the away game at Sheffield United to prove that progress has been made. I think the time to start judging Smith is in a year's time when he has been able to bring in some of his own players and had a pre-season to work with them.

The first requirement of a full back is to defend, but the amount of space that QPR had for their second goal was incredible.

1 hour ago, PompeyVillan said:

I'm not immensely impressed by his YouTube highlights for Hause. If you were to do the same for James Chester he'd look like Paulo Maldini. Chester has done some incredible 'highlight' defending. A highlight video is less important for a defender, it's better for them to not have to defend by barrelling through someone, or a last ditch challenge. 

Hause looks a bit clumsy on the ball to me. We've got enough of that ourselves already.

If he wasn't good enough for Wolves in the Championship, what suddenly makes him good enough for us? Not flawless logic because their defence last season is massively better than ours this season. 

I very much understand that Smith is the sort of manager, like Eddie Howe, who is used to signing players with potential to improve them. Unfortunately we're in a bit of a rush and can't really afford players the luxury of learning on the job. 

But, a center back is a center back... 

Well I will reserve judgement until I have seen him play. For a start off he is left footed and can play CB or LB so it may be that he will replace the Scottish Cafu.