QldVilla

Congratulations, us supporters from abroad will be listening.

Sometimes people look at stats or videos to determine a players worth. The reality is sometimes players are immature, play better when they get support from the manager, etc etc. Smith and the coaching staff obviously think there’s something about him that will improve the squad, that’s good enough for me. I also believe they will get the best out of him, exciting times.

We need another CM and you would think it would be an upgrade. Would love Sanson, has a great passing range, good work rate, but believe he’s happy at Marseille, if Villa are still interested guess it will come down to the sales pitch.

We were linked to Morgan Sanson earlier in the year, I’m hoping we’re showing interest again.

Players like Trez always needed those 30+ games in the PL. He will be a better player, but competition can only be a plus.

Traore is a good player, the stats may just reflect the style of how he’s played at Lyon. El Ghazi hasn’t proved himself in the PL yet, this had to be his season, maybe if Traore is signed the competition will be good for him.

I’m wondering whether we’ve had offers for our current wingers and had to get someone in or are we upgrading them? Traore is an upgrade on El Ghazi, who is at the cross roads needed a strong season to remain at Villa, maybe the decision has been made?

He wouldn’t go to Newcastle, probably never seen Goal...

We don’t know where Heaton exactly is with his injury, but we do know the type of injury at his age can go either way. Martinez will take the pressure of Heaton and allow him to slowly get back up to full fitness. Great signing.

Wasn’t aware there was a rumour, it’s just what the process is with these type of injuries. The club would be the only ones who know where he is at, but it will be largely down to how quickly he gets his fitness and confidence back.

He’s young, so always helps with recovery, but the challenge is getting the mobility and confidence back when running and making lateral movements. His fitness, speed are all impacted on and can take several months to get back close to where he was. When he’s back he’ll be on the bench and may take to Xmas before he’s 100%.

I believe Wilson can do a job, but is also a player who’s ruptured ligaments in both knees. He’s not worth $20m.

I questioned whether the club was ready to be promoted and during the season thought we were in real trouble. Smith has shown a little naivety as any manager when their first time in the PL. But to his credit and a little luck, he was able to turn things around and have the players believe. We will be a better team next season, the inexperienced PL players now have 30+ games under their belts and will some astute signings, we should move up the PL table. Up the Villa.

Modern coaching is not like 20-30 years ago and you treat athletes like an army unit. Each athlete has to be treated like an individual and it is the coaches responsibility to meld those individual personalities into the team unit. You challenge each athlete individually, but also within the framework of their positions within the team. Its easy to look from the outside and say a coach should be doing this and that, but you don’t know what is going on on the training field and behind close doors and how this effects the decisions for game day. I believe Smith has been a little naive in his first season in the PL, but it’s whether he learns and grows from those experiences that matter. Theres not a lot of difference from where the club is and being a top 10 team. When it’s confirmed today we will remain a PL team for next season, we make the right 5-6 signings, we should be close to cracking the top 10.

Agree, if we stay up and the owners are serious, they’ll buy the quality players needed to keep the good players at the club.

Agree, it’s probably the toughest out of three games. It will depend how Moyes sets up, he’s not going to sit back and counter like they did against Manure. Smith will need to get his tactics right and we need to play for 90min.

Don’t think it matters, Moyes will want to win and they are playing for him.

I believe we are going to need a point. Arsenal will beat Watford, but have a feeling Bournemouth will roll Everton. I don’t see West Ham relaxing, there manager will want the 3 points.

If he’s going the club obviously decided to let him go. Personally would have liked to see another season at PL level, but again think he’s only a squad player and we definitely need better wingers if we stay up.

I thought that was more to do with if the club went down. There’s a player there.

I’d seen enough of him this season to believe there’s a player there, for me he’s a bit of a goal poacher, bring him on last 20 minutes and get you a goal. Reminds me a bit of Tim Cahill, orthodox but pops up in the right places to get those goals. He’s a good squad player in PL, but limited in what he can bring at this point. Maybe another season in PL he will progress?

Grealish being captain has never sat comfortably with me, the lad is brilliant, but didn’t believe he needed it to improve his game, sometimes I believe it hampers it. For me McGinn should be the next captain.

Some interesting comments in the last few posts regarding Smith. There were problems with out performances going back as far as early November. I think Smith went into his first PL season with a little naively and this was highlighted in some of the performances early on in the season and probably cost us 5-6 points. And as much as the League Cup run was great, how many points did that possibly cost us 2,3,4 points? im of the opinion that the club wasn’t ready for promotion, but I want to know more about the transfer strategy and whether the Manager got his players, or sacrifices were made to get so many players in? Because of this, I believe the whole club is at fault, if we go down I’m still willing to give Smith the opportunity to set things right and by that, automatic promotion.

He didn’t say anything, so not sure what is spot on. He believe we should be safe from relegation, but that’s an opinion, with little or no facts to support it. Try again.

I believe your looking at this from a glass half full perspective. Maybe try looking at the reasons why the performances haven’t been good enough to safely navigate relegation, which there is still a small chance to do. Your whole argument is based on performance of the team, but if you unpack this, you find varied issues and more complex issues, than the manager not achieving your result. Try again.