WakefieldVillan

We won the second half and probably deserved to as well, on another night we may have got a point. 

Proud of every one of them, lots of positives. Only real negative was Bailey, who had a mare. 

This is the "leaked" City team from their forum:

                      Ederson 
Cancelo    Dias    Ake     Zinchenko
  Fernandinho Rodri Bernardo 
   Mahrez      Jesus       Sterling

It's still a ridiculously good side on paper. 

As in all matches against this lot, I just want us to perform as well as we can (on & off the ball), no stupid mistakes that cost us a goal (let them earn it) and basically, not get battered!

Oh and not being p***** off with the ref or VAR would be nice too!

Hated him as a player, hate(d) Liverpool so hardly surprising as he was one of their greatest ever players - But whenever I have seen any of his interviews at Rangers he always comes across well and my feelings towards him had definitely softened during time.

But TBH, I don't care about any of his playing past, other than he should have a great influence on our (young) players, particularly the midfielders so that for one is a good reason for his appointment.

He will get my 100% full support and although he is no Dean Smith whom I wanted to be given longer, that ship as sailed having a Villa Manager / Captain scenario (which I loved about our club) so why not. He's young, he's a winner, he has ambition, he has personal pride - To me it's a bigger risk for him than it is for us and that shows a lot to me about his character as an individual. 

Every management appointment is a risk, this one on paper might be riskier than a lot of other choices we could have made, but who knows what the future holds, as said I didn't want Deano sacked but I am genuinely excited with this move and hope that he proves the doubters wrong UTV 

End of the day whoever we appoint there will be an element of risk attached to it so I think we have to just trust our owners / CEO to make the right choice and when that choice is made we all back the new manager 100% and give him time to stamp his authority.

Of the unlikely "big" name managers, I'd obviously go for the likes of Ten Hag, Favre, Poch, Simeone, Mancini ETC - But realistically I can't see us attracting any of them, possibly Favre but the others are out of our league.  I'd still hope we we're trying for that kind of calibre though.

Of the more likelier names (top of the "betting") I definitely wouldn't want Terry, Lampard, Hassenhuttl, Nuno, Frank or (definitely not) Martinez. I am unsure of the likes of Fonseca, Hjulmand (know little about them) and AVB.

So that leaves Potter and Gerrard who I would be more than happy with - though on paper you could argue that neither are a huge upgrade on Smith. 

I like what Potter has done at Brighton and although they aren't winning lots of football matches (the reason why we are in this manager search now!) he has them playing some very pleasing football on the eye and more often than not they just miss the killer finish (the game where we drew 0-0 at their place was basically them in a nutshell, they bossed us for 90 minutes doing everything but score). But every time I've watched them (whoever the opponent) they have been good to watch. I like Potter as a person, he comes across well, also got the Villa link but that wouldn't be the reason I would want him - He is a good age and I think he would do a decent job here if appointed. He find him and Smith are on a similar par TBH. It's a safer option than Gerrard I feel. 

Gerrard (Stevie G to his friends ) on the other hand, well, when his name was first mentioned I was immediately all for it - which is surprising because I have hated him all the way through his playing days. The slippy G moment was one of my footballing highlights (yes, I'm a child  ) but yes, never liked him one bit as a player, the screamers he scored past us, the dodgy freekick that he won himself, the red card tackle on Boateng, though spoiling his birthday cup final celebrations was one of the nicer moments! Buuuuuuut all that aside....

...I think (not sure why) he would be a good manager here. I think he has done a decent job at Rangers (hard to judge I know - "crAp league" "Celtic implosion" ETC) But there is a huge pressure up there and I think from what I have seen / heard he has handled it all very well, going a whole season unbeaten is a great accolade regardless of what league you are in, he's done coaching at Anfield too so he's progressed the right way. It's definitely a gamble if we were to appoint him, based on his managerial experience but then you look at what he achieved as a player and the winning mentality that he has, the effect he could have on our (young) players and I think it could be immense. Of course as a person he may not win over a lot of our fanbase, I get that, but I never thought Terry would yet he did. I think Gerrard would see Villa as a massive club (bit like Carragher, Neville ETC) I think he would act with respect and dignity, like Terry did and who knows what he would achieve. Maybe we need that bit of nastiness on the sideline, maybe it will help us with the VAR crap and poor refereeing decisions, who knows. Unpopular on here so it seems but I'm for it. But whoever it is will have my full support for at least two matches

First thought was that it will be Nuno, no real reason just a gut feeling. But if the new manager is already employed that rules him out. 

Not convinced with many of the names linked hence why I'd have stuck with Smith.

Echo what 98% of people are saying in here, I'm absolutely gutted. A real nice guy, who is claret and blue through and through. It was fairy tale stuff having Jack as captain and Deano at the helm but it's ended in a sad way. 

I wish him all the best in his future,was he perfect, well no, of course not - is he a good manager? Of course he is, he has done a great job here and can hold his head up high. 

Watching the memory video brought a tear to my eyes! This appointment is absolutely MASSIVE. 

All the best Dean UTV 

ANNOUNCE BIELSA 

@villalad21

It's nice to see he's been dropped/rotated and this City side look more balanced/better without him IMO.

Buuuut...

And as much as I'd love to believe it, no way is he sat on the bench having regrets that he's not playing with us, .. he's probably just enjoying this City masterclass.

So many players off form but this guy has been the worst of the lot (tonight and West Ham)!

Will give him time, like all new signings but got to improve drastically all round.

Crap first half (getting used to saying that).

Decent 25 mins after the break & might have sneaked an equaliser, which in the end would have probably been far.

Buendia going off stopped our momentum. Much improved 2nd half by him.

Not convinced by the starting line up, equally not convinced by the subs but the players have to take some of the responsibility. We are so mentally and physically weak its untrue.

This is the Buendia I want to see ! 

That was horrific. 

Could make so many changes, but where to start...

1) El Ghazi - lucky to be on the pitch, get him dragged before he does anything else stupid.

2) Bailey - been absolutely shocking, as he was against WHU. Doesnt look fit.

You could bring a fair few others off, but I'd save one sub just in case.

2nd half

                     Martinez

         Tuanzebe Hause Mings

Cash     Nakamba  McGinn   Targett

                        Buendia 

                 Watkins      Davis

Hoooooooooof 

Don't want to play 3 at back 

Or 

                     Martinez

Cash    Tuanzebe   Mings      Targett 

Buendia         Nakamba            JPG 

              Ramsey        McGinn

                          Watkins 

Neither side will win us it unless we get our heads from up our a*se.

Or put Watkins for Bailey, Davis up top.

And JPG for AEG.

Let's just pray  

31 minutes ago, villabromsgrove said:

It's gone a bit quiet in Deano's thread, and the new manager situation thread which is probably a good thing.

It's made me wonder where our heads are currently at just a few short hours before the match.

Is tonight's game a must win for Dean?

Not quite.

Is a draw having played well acceptable?

Yes, most definitely.

Is a draw having played our current lacklustre football alright?

It will stop the rot, so just about. Adds pressure on the Brighton game though.

Is a loss having dominated play okay?

Puts even more pressure on the Brighton game. If it becomes 5, then 6 straight losses I think he will be gone

What about yet another loss having stunk out St Mary's?

Might not get to Brighton!

With an international break coming up, is the game tonight the "cup final" that our players have promised Dean they will be fully up for, or is it just another game in an acceptable rebuilding process?

Based on nothing but a gut feeling, I think we'll play okay tonight and win. My "gut" didn't tell me whether that will be down to a couple of pieces of luck, or players actually giving 100% for 90 minutes.

 

FWIW I think we will lose, 2-0 or 3-1. JWP to obviously be on the scoresheet. We really, REALLY need to get the first goal tonight or I think our brittle confidence will see no way back for us. Hope I'm wrong! (Which I usually am ) 

Voted to keep him for the foreseeable...

But things need to pick up very quickly and he has to address a fair few issues - such as the amount of goals we are conceding, curbing the soft underbelly of our team,  choosing a settled formation, but ultimately by winning some games of football - Quickly. 

I think the fact that we have lost 4 out of 4 has put more pressure on him than the results overall, although no one can say it's been a good start to the season because it clearly hasn't - I think we have (he has) been very unlucky with being unable to field certain players at certain times and it was a bit of a disruptive pre-season which clearly hasn't helped matters. To be fair to Dean, he hasn't really used this as an excuse and it's his honesty before and after games that I like the most about him (though there were comments made post match of both the Arsenal & West Ham games that I didn't agree with - Maybe that's down to the pressure?!)

Overall I think he's done a very decent job for us and deserves up until the start of the January window - If at that stage we are in the bottom 3 or hovering around it and we see no improvement in performances / results then of course he will have to go. 100%.

I won't lie some of my reasoning may come from the heart not the head, I love having a true Villa man at the helm, there is sooo much wrong with the modern game right now and my love for the game has diminished considerably but having an AVFC man in charge is one thing I love. I just hope that he can turn it around but not convinced he will because if we lose on Friday we then have Brighton at VP and should we go a goal down there and it will probably turn ugly - and we've been there before...

42 minutes ago, OutByEaster? said:

So without Luiz, Sanson and Jacob Ramsey, who would you play there?

I thought other than his assist (that was excellent) Buendia was awful yesterday, a passenger, there's a reason we didn't look much weaker when we went down to ten.

 

He was poor yes, but he was far better than Bailey who should have blocked their first goal and contributed nothing going forward (hope it was just a fitness thing for him).

I think if we had took Bailey or Targett or Young off we wouldn't have looked much weaker so a tad harsh on Buendia who at least provided Ollie with a tap in.

Well the team I had included both Luiz and Sanson with McGinn (fingers crossed that at least one makes it) but if they are out then I'd go with Nakamba (best of a bad bunch of midfielders yesterday) and Chuk.

Not ideal to be throwing in young ones when we are playing how we are, but he's shown he's a good player, so no reason why he can't do a job for us. Not that long ago when JJ wouldn't have been a regular starter but he's improved and I think Chuk as a higher ceiling.

2 hours ago, OutByEaster? said:

Hopefully Luiz is back - although seeing as there's absolutely no explanation of why he's out, it hard to guess at that. No news on Ramsey either, but his looks a bad one - I'll assume him out. Sanson remains a mystery.

So, with Luiz:

----------------------------Martinez--------------------------

Cash-------Tuanzebe---------Mings--------Targett

-------------------Luiz------------Nakamba-----------------

---------------------------McGinn-------------------------------

Bailey----------------------------------------------El Ghazi

-----------------------------Watkins--------------------------

subs

maybe Ings, Traore and Sanson if they're available.

If not:

Steer, Hause, Young, Buendia, Chukwuemeka, Iroegbanum, Davis, A Ramsey, Archer

Which is a mess of a bench.

Without Luiz:

----------------------------Martinez--------------------------

Cash-------Tuanzebe---------Mings--------Targett

--------------------------Nakamba----------------------------

--------------------McGinn------Young---------------------

Bailey----------------------------------------------El Ghazi

-----------------------------Watkins--------------------------

Subs; Steer, Hause, Bogarde, Buendia, Chukwuemeka, Iroegbanum, Davis, A Ramsey, Archer

Which is even scarier.

Not knowing what's happening with Luiz, Ings, Traore, Sanson and JPB, and having Konsa and J Ramsey out leaves us ridiculously short.

Villa win.

 

 

 

All about opinions but I wouldn't want Young playing CM in any circumstance (even yesterdays) If he starts it should be to replace an out-of-form Targett.

I also think it would be pretty harsh to drop Buendia yet pick Bailey who was pretty dreadful, at least Buendia created a nice assist.

FWIW I'd give them both another chance, mainly due to Traore probably not (fully) fit and I'm not sure AEG is what we need when the chips are down.

Key was always going to be the midfield battle which we lost hands down but some strange selections by Smith and even more so with the substitutions I thought.

The Mings one was brave but that backfired. Bringing Young on to play in Midfield was the wrong call (thought that was negative as we had started badly, maybe trying to protect Chuck/A. Ramsey). Taking Buendia off also bizarre. Bailey was much worse.  But I would have took Targett off and moved Young to LB. Also last 20 minutes if we're going to be knocking long balls up to Ollie like we did then we may as well of brought Davis on to hold it up (not AEG) and try get some territory / second ball.  Anyway, not sure it would have changed things that much - The hammers didn't even have to play particularly well and still ran out easy winners (in the end) but thought the manager was poor and deserves criticism.

It was a poor performance, again, and there's no getting away from it but boy was that referee and VAR abysmal. In the 90's Hause probably gets away with a yellow, but I agree it is a red. Konsa was a yellow for me and the refs decision shouldn't have been overturned. As much as I wanted the numbers evening up I think Fornals was only a yellow and Bowen. But to blow your whistle when we were in such a promising position was infuriating. The ref made quite a few dubious calls but we only have ourselves to blame.

Think many of us predicted a defeat so it's not the end of the world, but a run of 4 consecutive defeats, playing poorly, conceding goals for fun, injuries, illnesses, squad disharmony? ETC it is very concerning and if it continues the pressure will really be on Dean and the players. We can be a decent side but you have to earn the right to play and at the moment we ain't doing that. We need to see some real fight or it's going to be a challenge staying up. 

Think McGinn is ok so that's a positive (I think) - I would snap someone's hand off for a point as we need to stop the rot ASAP!

Don't think anyone did enough yesterday to warrant a start in this one but injuries / illness / suspensions may give a few a reprieve. 

Difficult to pick a team but I think the only definite starters will be Martinez, Cash, Mings, McGinn and Watkins. 

Hause and Targett were both poor against the Hammers and I'd drop both and play a back four of Cash, Tuanzebe, Mings, Young - But looking at that on paper worries me a lot.

If Luiz is fit then he definitely starts, so him, McGinn and perhaps Sanson (assuming Ramsey is definitely out). If not then I'd go for Chuk. 

Same 3 up top again. Buendia, Watkins and Bailey. Bailey had a stinker yesterday and doesn't deserve to keep his shirt but hopefully these three can gel together in time, starting Friday!

Hopefully Ings back on the bench with Traore. 

With Saints possibly playing two strikers I actually can see Smith going 3-5-2 with Emi, Tuanzebe, Hause, Mings, Cash, Targett, Luiz, Young, McGinn, Watkins, Ings. - I'll stay off the match thread if he does .

3 hours ago, Wainy316 said:

I look at our line ups man for man and on paper I'd say we look better everywhere apart from the all important central midfield, but that's where games are won or lost.  Obviously there's a massive disparity in confidence too at the moment.

Think we're pretty evenly matched on paper, but they are stronger in CM like you say, and a more robust team all round.  

-----------------------Martinez---------------------                                               

Cash--------Konsa-------Mings-----------Targett

--------------------------Luiz---------------------------

----------------McGinn-----Ramsey------------

Buendia-------------------------------------Bailey

-------------------------Watkins------------------

Or

 -----------------------Fabianski--------------------- 

Johnson--------Zouma-------Ogbonna------Cresswell

   ----------------Soucek-----Rice--------------------

Bowen-------------------------------------Fornals

---------------------Benrahma-------------------------

-------------------------Antonio---------------------

If i was picking a starting eleven from the two teams today I'd go - Martinez, Cash, Cresswell, Konsa, Mings, Rice, Soucek, Bowen, Benrahma, Bailey, Antonio.

May have (villa) claret & blue tinted glasses on though with 4 of the back 5 ours, bearing in mind the goals we are conceding and they've had about 8 clean sheets in their last 11.

That's possibly due to the protection they get from the midfield two and both teams style of play.

Not a team I'm looking forward to us facing on the back of three successive defeats and I would probably take a point right now if offered.

They are likely to play a 4-2-3-1 with Rice and Soucek a very strong midfield partnership I think the best way to combat this would be to pack the midfield and go 4-5-1.

We definitely don't need to be playing 3 central defenders (against a lone striker in Antonio) and our recent performances confirm that anyway - It worked to an extent at Chelsea (still lost) but not every game.

We have conceded 3 goals in our last two matches and I think we need to get a more solid base to work from, therefore injuries / fitness issues aside, I would go something like this:

                              Martinez

Cash           Konsa               Mings          Young

Traore     Luiz      Nakamba    McGinn      Bailey                           

                               Watkins

Ings a little unfortunate not to start as he has been better than Ollie so far this season but I do think Watkins is more suited to play as a lone forward hence why I would give him the nod - I would be hoping that having Ings on the bench to come on at any time for him (ok, 60 mins on) will spur him on to reaching the levels of last season 

I think Young's knowhow might be important against the likes of Benrahma and Bowen so I include him over Targett. 

Traore (if fit) and Bailey given license to get at the West Ham full backs and provide ammunition to Ollie.

Key will be the midfield battle - they did a right number on us at VP last season and if they win this tussle it will be a long afternoon for us. There are arguments for various combinations in the midfield area, the likes of Sanson, Ramsey, Buendia, Chuck and to be honest I am not sure which is our "strongest" 3 which is completely different to our opponents. They are all capable of good and bad moments. I think Nakamba makes us a bit more solid and we tend to win more than we lose when he plays (?), yes his passing isn't great but I don't think it's a time for being pretty - just a time for grafting and getting the points for the real team in claret and blue!

Sad to hear, wish him a speedy recovery too - rate him highly and would have liked to seen him at Villa!

46 minutes ago, Stevo985 said:

He was brilliant against Chelsea to be honest. Pretty much every media outlet I've seen has said as much as well.

Yeah, I stand corrected - He did play well in that game

I would say he's had a decent start to the season, maybe a 6/7 out of 10.

I've watched the following City matches;

• Leicester (Sub) -  Came on around the hour, didn't do anything of note.
• Spurs - Kept the ball ok, was one of City's better players, his opponent Tanganga MOTM though.
• Arsenal - Didn't touch the ball for first 25 mins, set up 3rd, against 10 men, game opened up looked good.
• Chelsea - Did ok, nothing more nothing less, went close with a curling effort.
• PSG - (only watched 1st half) - went down easy a couple of times (KW), played a part in City's best chance.
• Liverpool - Played centrally (false 9), was very poor, rightly subbed.

Other games I have not seen fully -

• Norwich - Scored, by all accounts played well (in an easy win).
• Soton - 0-0 - Have no idea how he did.
• Leipzig - Scored a great goal, played very well by all accounts.

The goal against Leipzig aside, I haven't really seen too much of his real quality and it's all too safe.

Don't get me wrong it's great that he keeps the ball extremely well (boy could we have done with some of our guys doing that yesterday!) but Jack's whole game is about expressing himself and taking players on and I've seen very little of that so far.