Mister_a

I think we will be in a better position to judge after the next games before Man City on the 12th Jan.

Considering we have just played Man City, Liverpool, Man Utd and Chelsea - who are light years ahead of us in terms of spending / squad,  i think people are being overly harsh on the team and Dean.

If we still manage to lose from winning positions against those around us, then there may be more cause for concern. Until then, i'm still optimistic about our chances of staying up (because let's face it, that's our aim this season, despite hyperbolic posts from morons who think we should be top 10 or some nonsense this season).

Kevin Friend on VAR so expect nothing

Just now, AVTuco said:

Why would they?

Exactly, only really noticed it towards the latter half of this game.

No one passes to Wes any more.

3 minutes ago, villalad21 said:

From the Newcastle reddit thread

"F***the Villa scum as well."

Didn't realize they were so fond of us.

You must have missed that bit at the end of the 2009 season where we relegated them. Who were you supporting back then?

2 hours ago, Laughable Chimp said:

Shots on target by itself may not give the whole picture.

That was kind of my point. Pulling one bad stat and using it to beat the management over the head seems a bit pointless. Especially if there are other stats that contradict.

1 hour ago, villalad21 said:

I'd like to see a middle ground.

Defensively so far this season has not been acceptable to me.

We have to tighten up the defense and be tougher to play against. We certainly can't keep conceding 20+ shots every game.

I remember the Brighton game and how easy it was for them to get past our midfield with 10 men! A real warning sign for me.

Sheffield United got the balance right. They are very hard to break down but at the same time are creating plenty of chances.

Currently we're basically a slightly better version of Norwich and i do fear for us this season if defensive organization don't improve.

You like your little stat don't you. 20+ shots per game. Tired of hearing it.

We have faced 57 shots on target against us all season.

If we have had 20+ shots against us per game (which is probably a load of made up nonsense also), then the majority are way out and off target, let everyone keep shooting from there for all i care.

Currently there are 7 teams that are worse off with shots on target against.

Incidentally we're currently 4th in the table for shots on target also, funny how you never bring that up?

http://www.footcharts.co.uk/index.cfm?task=basics_shotsontarget

Yes we need to tighten up defensively, especially in the last 20 mins, but can you stop going on about something that doesn't really make much difference as thought it is a major failing.

2 minutes ago, Chindie said:

I'd prefer Ozymandias over both but here we are.

He does good works, so i hear

40 minutes ago, HanoiVillan said:

I have a long-standing policy of very rarely visiting the thread of whoever the manager is, so apologies if this has already been discussed to death, but I thought his post-match interview was good. Refreshingly blunt about how poor we were in the first half. Obviously the next, harder, part is putting it right and I'm not ignoring that, but at least he's starting from the right analysis. 

Yeah, so much better than that guy who kept going on about pulling up socks, and that other one that kept "going again".

At least this one shows that he can see what we can, it's just time now to see if he can actually do anything about it.

I guess most other teams having a 400-800 million pound head start on us gets overlooked a lot also.

I'd be more than happy with not being relegated this season, then build more in the summer, time will tell as is the way I guess. 

I miss the days of floaty corners  wait, no i don't. Just. do. something. with. the. ball. please.

49 minutes ago, villalad21 said:

I think if we lose this we're in for 7 losses on the bounce as i can't see us getting anything against Man Utd, Chelsea and Leicester.

We're going to nick a goal against the play and win 1-0

Wolves have done their homework, nullifying us well at the moment. 

18 hours ago, mottaloo said:

Found this on paddy power's Instagram account 

 

 

Seven Fingered buffet? - sounds about right for them.

10 minutes ago, StefanAVFC said:

Don't feed.

I'm just testing some cold hard logic to confirm for myself.

4 minutes ago, villalad21 said:

I didn't say it was a poor performance.

I thought we did ok. Liverpool were extremely wasteful and sometimes you ride your luck. On a normal day at the office they would score 4-5 goals.

Just disagree what we judge as a good performance. That is all.

Best performance of the season i still think is that second half against Bournemouth. We were all over them.

So, we did well against Liverpool, who normally would have scored 4-5 goals?

Do you ever stick to a position or do you just make it up as you go?

Just now, villalad21 said:

Against a 10 man Arsenal...

I'm just confused what we judge as a good performance.

If working hard and giving 100 % is the definition of a good performance that i will politely disagree. Working hard is the minimum expected.

Liverpool dominated every single stat. Arsenal were all over us in that second half.

I don't understand why you are so negative about absolutely everything, that's all.

We are a newly promoted side, we nearly went bankrupt 18 months ago, we were in the championship for 3 seasons.

What the hell do you expect when you keep saying we were poor against last seasons top 5. Well, duh, we are obviously going to be.

All of those teams have way more talent available to them, and have been consolidating their positions for years.

A good performance against them is not losing 6 - 0.

Seriously, what are you expecting in our first season back?

17 minutes ago, villalad21 said:

Still don't see how we played superb against Liverpool. I really don't.

We fought hard and defended for our lives. I give us credit for that.

But look at Wolves against Arsenal. This is a good performance:

 

Why are you comparing Liverpool and Arsenal as if they are remotely similar teams. They finished 28 points behind Liverpool.

Here's the stats of us vs the arse, in case you fancied comparing like with like. Not so far off now are we, but that doesn't suit your narrative.

2 hours ago, villalad21 said:

If we do stay up.

Mediocrity won't be acceptable, not with these owners. Pressure will be on

I think the owners, for now, will understand that teams with a bench that cost more than our entire club cost them might play a bit better than us, no?

The only thing the owners will be doing is looking to invest in better players, but it's going to take some time before we can compete with the top 10, let alone anything else.

Look at where we have been for the past few years. It almost sounds like you want us fail so you can say I told you so.

Could have won this with Jack. We’ve come a long way in 12 months.

5 minutes ago, villalad21 said:

Of course you can. Hourihane can probably get 5-10 goals this season. As well as Grealish, as well as McGinn, as well as El Ghazi. Luiz even have 2 goals already.

I think we are very likely to stay up even if we had a 5 goal a season striker.

Yeah, that Dean Smith is doing a great job isn't he

22 minutes ago, villalad21 said:

Would i swap Wesley for a striker who scores half the amount of goals but his general play is better? Yes i would, 100 %

Below is a list of top 10 AMC/Strikers with number of assists for this season.

Exactly how much do you think we would have to spend on a player that would contribute more assists in a forward position looking at this list?

You are comparing apples with oranges and then complaining about a lack of citrus.

Just now, villalad21 said:

You just brought up his "impressive" goal ratio.  Just pointed out the goals aren't as impressive when you consider the circumstances of the goals.

His general play haven't been good enough.

A fair point, but what does moaning about Wes solve? We can't get another striker before Jan, and whatever question Keinan Davies is the answer to, it isn't "who is going to score more goals than Wes this season?".

Have you considered getting behind the team instead of moaning about Dean and Wes at every opportunity?

4 minutes ago, villalad21 said:

The goals isn't a massive concern to me in a Dean Smith team. His teams have goals all over the pitch. a 15 goal a season striker isn't necessary under him as it were under Lambert.

It's his general play i'm not happy with.

"Wesley has failed to score in 7/10 games this season."

"The goals isn't a massive concern to me in a Dean Smith team."

Which is it? and what does it have to do with Dean Smith?

Would you care to find a position and stick with it?