GrassyNoel

3 minutes ago, useless said:

We need to challenging for automatic promotion right from the beginning, this thing of accepting midtable because of only being a win or two from the play-offs is the mistake we made with Bruce. It's the acceptance of such low standards that's helped put the club in the position it's in now.

100%. Of course you take promotion whatever way it’s presented but I didn’t like coming up via the playoffs. I wanted us to be worthy by dominating the league and the best teams in it. For me Sheffield United played the best last season, and they murdered us at VP first 45. Looked the real thing. Enjoyed the comeback sure enough but it left me uncomfortable also. I wanted that to be us doing the hurting. 

2 minutes ago, villalad21 said:

Smith is completely out of his depth at this level and i think deep down he knows it himself.

Mike Walker. 

8 minutes ago, villalad21 said:

Yes. But he would never come here.

Nah, maybe not. Why not do you think? Financially we could compete, but is it too much work for a manager like him? Is he more of a “take over a good team and tinker“ type? Villa / Birmingham just not glam enough? 

Mourinho 10/1 for the boot. Could him and Terry do bits at Villa? Would he be welcome? Depending on survival of course. 

Definitely not the minute things go bad, we struggled first season when Graham Taylor got us promoted - this doesn't feel like that though.

I can't get Graham Turner out of my head. Or Mike Walker for that matter.

How come though if we have, say, four not-quite-good-enough managers, we HAVE to stick with the last one because apparently we can't keep chopping and changing? I say you can and you should until you get the right one. Don't just stick with what you have in the hope it works out and call it "long term planning and building" when it is clearly failing.

Might just be being petulant but I am truly sick of Villa being a joke.

Also illuminating...

http://clubelo.com/AstonVilla

A bit was made of Smith being a chess player, metaphorically and literally, when he joined us. I'm no GM but do play a bit and I'll tell you this - any player that goes balls out on attack might pick up wins against lesser opponents, but as soon as you come up against better players it becomes an absolute liability of an approach. It's certainly entertaining to watch this sort of game, but if you don't know how and when to defend once the wheels come off an attack, you are done. In fact, you soon realise you don't even go on the attack until you are safe to do so - all foundations laid and defence organised. It may seem like the top players play with overt aggression but that's an illusion, there's way more going on than attack.

Liverpool and Man City have styles of play we can drool over because they have taken care of all the prerequisites first. Just trying to emulate that style without really understanding the foundations is doomed, like a club player mimicking Kasparov but without the insight. 

What's the matter with you lot?! We were 4-0 down at this stage last game - massive progress!!

/s

When we’re properly established in the Prem I want to see us gunning for cups. Until then, be shrewd and plan accordingly. 

Al Ghazi really getting on my nerves at the moment. Not sure it’s entirely rational on my part. 

18 minutes ago, Phil Silvers said:

Most of these clubs are having their extended 15 minutes, when we lose, the frustration of the last 10 years sets in, we are on the right path now, fvck all these minnow premiership wanna be's back to where they belong

Absolutely this. PTSD is strong and real in (some) Villa fans (like me).

Interesting read...

https://medium.com/@DavidAnderson_1/brentford-fc-thomas-frank-v-dean-smith-66ba178fd80d

Personally I’m enjoying all the opinions here. VillaLad was far from alone in questioning whether Smith was really up to the job last year, before our run, even if the questioning was just notes of caution. At least one prominent podcast was wondering if results with Brentford gave us pause for thought. 

Smith’s Brentford also had a habit of dropping points from winning positions I’ve heard. I’ve nothing to back this up though, other than alleged Brentford fans on Twitter. If true, interesting. 

Smith and Terry look like men under siege. Feels like a tide turning afternoon. Affection gets you nowhere. This is multimillion pound business we’re looking at. Want loyalty, buy a dog. This is Graham Turner / Mike Walker territory. 

8 minutes ago, KHV said:

February will be too late 

Beginning of Jan for me

As harsh as it sounds we should be making calls now asking if you can start in the new year, if so who and what do you want

Fear you’re right. I might be wrong but didn’t Rafa say he’d come to us before Lambert took over, but wanted a war chest of about 30-40M which we wouldn’t (couldn’t) agree to? We’re in a different spot now, maybe he could be sounded out. 

On a brighter note it felt like we only played 15 minutes of football today, after Jimmy came on, during which we scored. I really hope the answer is in that last spell and stands out like a sore thumb to the coaching staff. We looked like we have done, seemed to panic Southampton a bit and find some belief. Those 15 mins might prove crucial going forward. Fingers crossed, I like Smith. Hate this current spell. 

Bruce was an improvement on Di Matteo. Smith in turn has been an improvement on Bruce. We’ve made decent progress in the right direction, not least the outside promotion slot success. Question now is, can the progress be allowed to stall? I think January may be the last roll of the dice - if things don’t improve it may be the end of the road mid-February. The other question is whether that’s enough time for a new manager to achieve anything.

Smith should be thankful Doug’s not in charge still that’s for sure. 

I’ve been dying to do this to Norwich since they beat us last game at VP last season. This is soooo sweet. 

No way on God’s earth Taylor is taking that ball off that Norwich player like Target just did. Major upgrade. 

Target, hopefully not too bad with the hamstring, should be battling with Hause for that position. Taylor 3rd.  

Rafa impressed me when he stuck by them when relegated. I was extremely jealous of how he steered them to promotion first time of asking. They bossed that league the way I’d hoped we would. Be very interesting to see how this ends. 

1 hour ago, Rob182 said:

Considering the amount of players that we need (loanees signed permanently, CM, ST, LB, RW and squad backups), I think being prudent could still result in roughly £100m spent.

Mings £15m, El Ghazi £5m & Hause £2.5m. That's £22.5m to not evenstand still (based on the assumption that we won't have Tammy or Tuanzebe back). Even if we bought a CM, ST, LB, RW and 4 squad players for £10m each, that still adds up to £100m..... and you often don't get much for £10m nowadays!

I think we’ll spend more than that, but are keeping quiet as we can to stop the feeding frenzy. 

I’m an absolute wreck. This is like waiting to do exams or give a speech. Just need it to actually start - the waiting is killing me. Villa to win tomorrow 3-1. Draw the return leg.