Humanoid

Not doing ok, doing better without Smith

Can someone put Nakamba out of his misery

I was thinking wages would have been an influence. But some clearly had no interest, and I would expect the same again. You're essentially implying that the strategy is more important than keeping our best players. To have the quality of someone like Jack is a once in a generation odds Here's my list of who I would expect to leave: Douglas Luiz Tom Heaton Björn Engels Tyrone Mings John McGinn Jack Grealish Marvelous Nakamba Anwar El Ghazi As you say, there would be considerable funds to rebuild. But is risking relegation and having to rebuild again worth it for essentially the same stategy as before? Not for me. Staying up means the chance of keeping our best players.

It's the same model as 2015-16. Those recruits back then wanted out when Villa were relegated. What makes you so sure that the current recruits will want to stay if Villa are relagated this season? There'll be a lot of clubs after them. Then there are senior players like Jack, McGinn, Heaton, who'll want to be playing at the highest level they can, they won't have any interest in playing in the Championship.

With the Watford result the battle is well and truly on. Does Dean have what it takes to shake things up and start getting some good results in the next few games? If he starts against Norwich with the same tactics and formation then I doubt it. The board better prepare for relegation and resulting exodus of players

I agree he wasn't one of the underperformers on the pitch, but this IS the perfect opportunity for someone like him to come in to show some bottle and gumption, particularly when others aren't. A player should come in and fight for his place and show himself to be a winner. This is the basics of having competition in a squad for places. It should be absolutely natural for a central defender to be verbal and complusive about organisation.

I was watching Hause, and his body language suggested he wanted nothing to do with taking responsibility. Absolutely 0 leadership there at the moment

Dean Smith doesn't need sacking, he just needs to change his failing formation and tactics. If the board has anything about them, they'll have words with him about it.

The spending strategy is starting to resonate the 2015-16 strategy. Too many inexperienced young "potentials" not able to get it together on the pitch. If Villa go down they wont be interested in staying, which would mean more spending and another rebuilding exercise.

Like a headless chicken today.

Weekend at Wesley's

Lowest point of the decade? Playing 4-3-3, which pretty much covers the whole decade

Well, if this is the issue, it doesn't say much for Luiz. Apart from his 2 flashy goals, he hasn't done much to impress. If Jack does go back to CM, then it leaves out Conner when he's becomes fit, and either Trez or Jota come back in. If it improves their mentality, i'm for giving it a go.

Engles and Guilbert should have started today. Without enough quality players on the pitch, the team gets stretched by quality oppostition with players like Jack and Mcginn get too exhausted Nakamba seems to be happy to do just enough to get by, he should be imposing himself on games more than he does Luiz is having too many bang average games at best. Other than couple of flashy goals, he's done very little to impress. Need not saying anything about Wes

This guy is making me miss Marlon Harewood

I was thinking this the other week. If Wes was playing in the championship instead, he'd still be struggling

It's an intersting thought. Trez seems to always have an eye for getting a shot in or making an opening for a shot and would probably link up better with Jack and Ghazi than Wes. We'll still win nothing when the ball is pumped up the pitch in the air. But if its played on the ground Trez is faster. He's much better at chasing down and harrassing defenders too He's scored one less than Wes whilst playing much less game time

Chelsea's quality proved a little too much for certain players tonight. 2-1 isnt a bad result given the chances they had. If Tammy wasn't playing I think we may have had a chance to nick a point. Engels needs to come back in for Konsa. Mings had a few James Collins moments. Heaton was superb. Wasn't the right game for Conner to be starting Wesley just doesn't get any better Elmo didnt have too bad a game, but Guilbert is much better.

A much better performance than against Man City, even without Jack. Slackness in last 10 mins cost us any points at all. Surprised Konsa wasnt brought on for Wes. They'll learn from it.

IIRC, Man U didn't register to enter the FA Cup back then because the club world cup, fixture congestion etc. rather than pull out of the competition. Which does make me wonder why Liverpool entered the League Cup in the first place. There would seriously have to be some thick nits at both Liverpool FC and the EFL to not know fixtures would clash. If the fixture is rescheduled Villa should only agree to it for some sort of consideration and doesnt affect Villa's fixtures, or Liverpool withdraw.

Correction: 4 goals in 10 games

Yes, 4 goals in 9 games, but in 6 of those games he's been dire. The only decent overall performance was against Everton

Davis deserves a start. Always seems brighter and more keen to make something happen when he comes on

It was Grealish from start to finish today. Best Prem performance so far

He gave a solid performance today, and gives the impression that he's been working hard in training. I think he'll certainly improve himself over the course of this season