HKP90

I was one of those calling for Phillips at DM during the transfer window, but I have to say that we’ve done some great business with Marv. Cheaper and is not at all out of his depth in the Prem. Expecting him to be one of, if not the most important player in our team by the end of the season, especially given the system we play. Shame we had to play Luiz there exclusively at the start of the season as I still don’t think DM is his game, but I recognise that Marv had to get up to speed.

Such a cultured performance today.

Jesus wept, that really was an epically shit season.

So we’re back to wailing and gnashing of teeth again, cos we’re drawing. I hate the internet.

Thanks mate.

Mad to think that if we’d held on against Tottenham, we’d be 9th, and they would be 15th now.

I’m interested to see what Dean can do with a transfer window when and if we can establish ourselves in the Prem. He’s had an unbelievable first year, but as a team promoted from the Championship I am conscious that we were not exactly a draw for top level talent. The folks we’ve brought in have largely done very well, and are a good base. Add one or two top quality players (probably inside forwards) and we could be in business. We just need a bit more ability in the final third.

Yeah, you’re not wrong, although I guess we’re all fired up tonight. Everyone needs to sleep on it I guess. I’m off to get drunk.

What, when we’re talking to each other we can only refer to things we’ve only personally discussed? I thought this was a forum, not a DM. We were both commenting on the reactions to the game.

Didn’t say you did, was referring to a previous poster.

Tell you what, man, and this is no reflection on you or your comments, but after the work put in place to build long term, finally, after years of short termism put us a week away from financial catastrophe in the lower reaches of the Championship, if Smith is hounded out by some kind of fan backlash to narrow defeats like tonight, that’s me walking away from Villa after 30 years.

6 games, dude. Smith’s job questioned after 6 games. It’s Arsenal not Watford.

Yeah but someone was saying Smith will be gone by Christmas. That’s not constructive.

Criticism does not exist in a vacuum, it requires expectation. When the expectation is unrealistic, so is the criticism. So to answer your post, no I’m not suggesting that you, me or anyone is not entitled to criticise the team, but I am saying that when the criticism is unrealistic, it will in absolutely no way help us stay up. At all.

More than six games! Last year we were praising the mental resilience of the team under Smith which meant we were winning snd drawing the types of games we would otherwise have lost, hell we forced our way up through the playoffs inch by inch. Look at the West Brom games. That was demonstrable mental toughness. I’ll tell you what won’t lead to a strong mentality, and that’s our own fans getting the knives out when we narrowly lose to Arsenal. The players and manager have a lot to learn, and not much time to do it. How about we support them, yeah?

Six. Effing. Games. Come on, man!

Well let me ask you a question. Do you think that Smith’s job should be in question after a narrow loss to Arsenal in the last few minutes, given the task he had to accomplish in replacing the team this year?

Are you serious?

This!!! We’re gonna make mistakes, which we have to learn from but we’re not being battered every week.

We’ve had to entirely rebuild the squad this off season. Almost from square one. And after 6 games when we dont beat Arsenal, some folks are talking about smith not lasting til Christmas. F***ing embarrassing levels of entitlement on display.

Trez was knackered.

I said it last year after we got promoted, our own fans expectations will be the biggest hurdle to us staying up.

Come on. This was said all over this board about 5 games after he was appointed. Knees don’t jerk on here, they f***ing explode.

I think you are underestimating how many chances Tammy needed last season before netting. That was in an inferior league when our creative players were able to fashion those chances. Yes he’s doing well at Chelsea, but look at the quality of his team mates. Put wes in that Chelsea team and he’d also score. It’s mightily unfair imo to lay the blame solely at Wes. He’s not getting the support he needs, especially since he traditionally occupied a deeper role than Tammy. We’re asking him to lead the line now, which is a bit of a change for him too. He needs both time and creative support. In retrospect we needed to get another 1 or 2 wide men/inside forwards with quality, but remember we also had to build an entire team. I think we did what we could to field a competitive team, and we’re now in a position where 1 or 2 players would make us a quality side, rather than 5 or 6. I expect us to use this period to consolidate and bed in, and maybe try to get some quality in Jan. If we do that we’ll be mid table. Our defence is perfectly capable, which is probably the hardest and most important piece of the puzzle to get right.

Ok. Terse. I like it.