smokingzen

5 minutes ago, PatrickCousens said:

Today is on Smith to a point, but then so was the win at Burnley and draw v Leicester away. 

We need reinforcements. We are without our keeper, best midfielder or any strikers.

Smith done enough to show me he's a good manager. The reaction to today is what will be telling.

I think he's a good manager too, but I'm beginning to doubt he's good enough for the Premier League. 

21 hours ago, avfc1982am said:

I think he's going to be WC. Nothing I have seen as of yet leaves me to think anything else. Yeah he can ponder at times, get caught out as we've seen with all our players at some point. I just think there is something special with him. I think this season is going to be up and down for a few due to settling down but I think when he gets his big boy strength over the next year or two he's going to shift gears like Jack has. He's the second most comfortable player on the ball in the squad imo and that itself speaks volumes of his potential. 

Agree, but unfortunately sometimes he seems so comfortable on the ball he falls asleep.

1 hour ago, Elton said:

Thanks for your concern but it doesn’t annoy me. I was simply pointing out that your sources are nonsense for those that may think that you’ve stumbled onto some quality information from these clearly fake accounts. If people are gullible enough to believe these accounts then that’s theirs or your business. If you want to spread fake stories on this forum then surely I can be allowed to question them. Don’t be fooled by these ‘sources’. A broken clock is right twice a day.

So are you an ITK on the ITKs, or just another broken clock?

Smith needs to show he's learnt his lessons from the last game and not play so open and with such a high line for Vardy to exploit the space in behind. 

If we can do that and nick a goal without pushing too many players forward we could nick the first half. If that were the case, or it was a draw, then Leicester would likely switch things up at half time and again Smith needs to react and change our system again accordingly. There's a reason we've had a lot of first half success compared to second half, and that's because teams have adapted against us in the second half of games but we've carried on playing the same way.

21 minutes ago, mjmooney said:

This seems to fly in the face of everything that Smith and Purslow have said about the type of players we want. 

However, needs must, I suppose. 

Not really... you just need to understand what they've said in context. Our primary recruitment strategy is to buy younger players to develop, to bring in to the first team or sell on for profit, but that doesn't mean we can't supplement this with more experienced players for the short to medium term. In fact I'd suggest every team needs that balance and it's what we've been lacking this season.

13 hours ago, The Fun Factory said:

If he could play like he did for Leceister he wouldn't be playing for us. We have done this before wishing new signings can jump in a magic time machine.

Being given the opportunity to play, and play regularly, with the right players in a system that suits can make all the difference. 

He suited Leicester's counter attacking style and I think he'll also suit ours. I think he could be the missing link in our midfield and will balance out well with the players we're already have.

He has a good footballing brain and positioning,  can retain the ball well under pressure and doesn't keep the ball any longer than needed; more often than not providing good link up play and moving the ball forwards for quick transitions to move from defense to attack. I think he'll link up really well with Grealish and our 'wingers' and help us to retain the ball better and create chances. 

24 minutes ago, KenjiOgiwara said:

Stupid changes. Konsa for Engels is mental. Elmo for Guilbert is beyond laughable. 

Only if you haven't been watching the last few games and understand very little about football.

It's a home game we need to press up the field and attack, Engels gets turned for pace too easily whereas Konsa has more pace and will therefore provide better cover.

Guilbert has been having a mare the last few games, that's plain to see, Elmo will steady the ship a little and also link up better with Trez. 

The Arsenal penalty wasn't a penalty, the goal they scored from the free kick should have been disallowed for interference with our wall, and we had a stonewall penalty disallowed.

So whatever the pros and cons of our play, inept refereeing cost us 3 points yesterday.

Hourihane will almost certainly start today IMO... it's a big game, first game at home and we'll want to be on the front foot but also start with a relatively settled team that's not going to be phased by playing at Villa Park. We need to set the foundations for fortress Villa this weekend. For that reason i think that Taylor and Elmo will probably start also. It's going to be an interesting tactical battle but i think we can control this game a little more and exert some real pressure. We'll need to be weary of the counter attack though.

3 - 1 to the Villa.

Villa Shocker – Minority of Villa fans gag on media spunk after swallowing too much!

Our dirty little media rag can today reveal that a small but impotent section of Villa fans are today gagging on the media spunk that we have sprayed into their mouths over the last couple of days. Whilst trying to sell newspapers and picking up on any possible negative, real or otherwise, our exclusive articles were swallowed hook line and sinker by a handful of fans who were looking for something to swallow whole. After swallowing too much however these fans began to feel queasy in the pits of their stomachs and began to attempt the regurgitation of the large amounts of spunk they had swallowed. After successful regurgitation by some fans they then began the process of spitting out this icky goo back into the world, much of this spunk can now be found plastered over various Aston Villa fans sites and forums. Much of it however is still dribbling down their chins. We spoke to renowned Aston villa fan Mack Almond about the situation and he had this to say:

'Well I don't really know much about football but I do know first hand about the dangers of swallowing too much spunk and at the end of the day I really wouldn't advise it. No matter how attractive the donor might seem, and how much you really do want to swallow it, swallowing too much can serious damage your health. My advice would be to not suck this stuff up at all, but if you really have to, spit it out without swallowing, even then it will leave a slightly unpleasant taste in the mouth but at least you can say you didn't swallow it whole.'

Tomorrow – Randy Learner Exclusive: I used to be a Porn Star and made my millions by **** people, now I'm going to **** Villa, real hard.

Link

I don't have any agenda that I am trying to push. I simply heard what he said. He was asked about new signings in January and he said no, then went on to say he didn't particularly like signing players in January and then qualified it by saying that of course players may leave in which case they would need to be replaced. Not sure how I hear that how I want ? I heard it as it was said.

I have said in the past - I said it once and then stopped posting until our new manager was anoounced - the board were as much, probably more at fault for the timing of O'Neils departure by putting him in an untenable position. They also have pulled the rug from under us with lack of investment that was promised to the fans. Having said that, it is my club, been my club far longer than Lerner so I will fully support the new manager and the team as I always have.

You state you don't have an agenda but then your second paragraph quite clearly spells out where your coming from and what your trying to get at!

You didn't "simply hear what he said" either, you have heard the words he said and then drawn a meaning from them no doubt based upon the beliefs you express in your second paragraph. That is how you "hear that how [you] want." It's called selective interpretation.

Nope, sorry, not imagining it. He gave the distinct impression that there would be no signings in January. He went on to say players may leave thus others may come in which to me pretty much backs up the fact that he is also on a sell to buy remit.

(Unless ofc you sell someone for loads and loads of dosh. Then it's just sell)

Mmm i love the way you turn your interpretations and suppositions into a fact. Can you teach me this trick of alchemy?

Whilst I will withhold judgement on Houllier himself, I do think the bits in the press and that Press conference have conveyed a future that has been dampened down a lot. Houllier seems he's on the same songsheet as the board with their updated plan for the future.

* We belong 7-12th

* We need investment

* Unlikely to be much money

* We will struggle to compete

* We'll mostly go for cups

It's not all bad. It's sensible, progressive and sees us try to keep a pace without risking everything.

All good - just not quite the dream we were sold four years ago. Now the plan looks like survival with cups rather than reaching for the stars.

Some nice selective 'glass half empty' interpretation of his words there.

I suppose we shouldn't mention:

* Wants to progress year on year

* Has a target of champions league place and silverware over the next 3 years

* Said there was money but thought we have a very good squad and that January wasn't always the best time to buy

* Said that money on it's own can't buy success and that we also have other weapons in the bag

Etc., etc.

Some fans grab every little bit to moan. This time I dont understand the problem? What is important is what he do when i takes over. Not if he, like most of us, thinks that Liverppol is a bigger club then Villa. A newspaper in Sweden have vote of which team their readers support. Liverpool got 32% and Villa 2,5%. And is really important that he thinks we have belonged to 7-12 place, not 6-11. and maybe like someone pointed out, read the next line about imroving year by year.

There are a small number of supporters that were vocally against GH's appointment, you remember, the ones that the papers picked up on and quoted as representing the majority of Villa fans.

No doubt these same people will now be picking up on any point they can, real or imagined, to try and stick the knife in to our new manager. I'm sure that over time this will only get worse.

All Time Premier League Table - we're 5th if you don't want to bother clicking.

Do we win a prize for that?

My point being, that table is based upon the all time Premier League points tally, not on average finishing position which at the end of the day is the important thing.

I never appreciate the brown nosing that any new appointment at a football club does, whoever, I also don't appreciate our new manager playing down the club with a downright lie.

Idiot.

If we are being honest, difficult as it is to accept, Liverpool have had better success in the last forty five years than ourselves.

I still believe we've got great potential to become a massive club, and I hope this cause is aided by GH's management.

Although, I will say it isn't advisable to make a statement such as this when first appointed at a new football club.

I don't care about the Liverpool being a massive club bit, that's blindingly obvious.

I care about that 7th to 12th bit. Not only is that entirely wrong, it's probably the grouping of positions we least belong in, why the **** would you say that about that club you've just took over?

A moronic statement.

I would say a moronic statement is one like the above that is quick to jump on a manager's back based upon a translated quote when the context of the statement is unknown.

Also his statement isn't "entirely wrong" which means that your statement must be at least partially wrong. Actually I'm being kind, if his statement isn't 'entirely wrong', i.e., it's partially right, then yours is entirely wrong.

Our league positions over the last 18 years of the premiership have been:

6, 6, 6, 11, 16, 10, 6, 16, 8, 8, 6, 6, 7, 5, 4, 18, 10, 2

Averaged out over the full 18 years our average finishing position is 8.38, obviously you can't finish 8.3 rd (that would just be moronic and idiotic hey) so rounding up we would say 9th.

If we do the same averaging over the last 10 years we would get 9.3rd, or rounding down, 9th.

Only averaging over the last 3 years would we get 6th.

At the end of the day we don't know the context of how he said or meant the statement. But there are plenty of contexts where it turns about to be not entirely wrong!

Where I do agree however is that he shouldn't have said what he said in any context, he should have heeded the General's comments about how some of our 'supporters' can act like "pit vipers" purely on the basis of a couple of random media quotes.

I expect him to not only fail, but ruin the finest crop of youngsters at the club in my memory. So anything above that will be great! Low expectations are best for now I think!

Yes I think he's going to ruin their careers just as he did with Gerrard, Caragher, Owen etc., to name but a few. And I think he might just fail like he did at Liverpool and Lyons and as French Technical Director too.

I take it your not an empirical philosopher then?

When the doubters and the cynics start to moan it is up to the positive majority to sing louder and drown out these negative supporters.

Well a month ago never in a million years would I have thought he would be the next Villa manager his name never even entered my head as a possibility. The more I have read up on him however the more I think that he is the right man for the job and he ticks almost all of the boxes for what we need at the club at this present time. In that regard then I think the board have done very well in choosing the right manager for the right reasons and I hope of course he is now a big success at the club.

I'm glad that we can now get back to football, what really matters at the end of the day, and we can begin to judge him not on the past or preconceived judgements but on what he does at our great club.

I think it will take a bit of time for his influence to truly shine through, but it will be interesting now to see how he works with the present squad, how he sets them up and if he can get them to be a little more tactically and technically astute. I look forward to seeing some of his hopefully more eclectic signings and how his knowledge can help develop the academy and the whole structure of the club to bring the youth through. It will also be interesting to see who he clears out. I think we've got interesting and exiting times ahead then.

I also think that he buys into the club's philosophy and Randy's vision for the club which with his background is I believe good praise for where the club is now. Indeed he even had his own '5 year plan' back when he was at Liverpool. I think Houllier has a winning mentality and he wouldn't have come to the club if he didn't think we could challenge for something, no doubt then that he will understand the club structure that he has to work within and will have been given assurances that he will have some money to spend.

I hope now that all Villa supporters get behind him and give him a fair crack of the whip. This was always going to be a season of transistion but I still expect no less than a top 8 finish and think he will attain that easily. Next season with possibly 5 or 6 signings under his belt I think we can really push on.

How irritating that people seem unable to distinguish between two trains of thought.

I tell you waht you go away and search my posts and tell me where I have not had one positive thing to say about ASTON VILLA. Or where all I am saying is negative things abour ASTON VILLA or where I have suggested that we should be happy to merely be in the premier league, ASTON VILLA, that is.

Keep searching.

I have been highly critical of Randy Lerner, I have been critical of Krulak, I have been critical of the board and their PR and handling of this whole affair, I have even been critical of MON at times and his decisions, I have been critical of the appointment of Houllier and especially Thompson. I have been critical of Macdonald when he was caretaker and the choices he made.

Tell me is that Aston Villa, or individuals charged with various functions in the club?

I was critical of Doug Ellis, I was extremely critical of David O'leary did that make me negative towards Aston Villa at that time do you think?

In fact let me tell you it didn't then and it doesn't now.

Randy Lerner is not Aston Villa

Krulak is not Aston Villa

Oleary was not Aston Villa

Ellis is not (and never will be) Aston Villa

there is a huge difference between being critical of people involved in the running of the club and being negative towards the club, never saying one thing positive REGARDLESS OF THE PERCEPTION OF SOME, or the myth that others would like to perpetuate.

Being critical is allowed. Having an opinion which is not the popular one is also allowed and should continue to be allowed without people getting all shirty that because you are not happy with their beloved Randy that you hate Villa and are being negative about the club.

There is a world of difference and the difference between my opinions and those that I have said I do not like by Thompson is, quite frankly, a universe apart.

The fact that some people on here cannot understand that is to their immense discredit.

Richard, from your posts I seem to get the impression that you think MON is (or was) Aston Villa and now that he has walked out, yes, walked out, feel it is justified to criticise pretty much everyone involved with the club because he isn't here. What is this Aston Villa you support so much if it doesn't have something to do with the Chairman, or the board, or the manager or caretaker manager, and the players, etc, etc? These are the 'real' and 'tangible' things that actually constitute the club at this time, yet your comments are consistently negative towards all of them. So is it just the ethereal concept of Aston Villa that you support?

Imagine this, you walk into someones house, you critice them, their wife, their children, siblings, parents and grandparents. The person gets angry and says how dare you insult my family please leave. You say, no I wasn't criticising your family, just you, your wife, your kids, your parents etc., etc., your family is something more than these. Somehow I don't think the argument would wash.

Also there is a huge difference between being critical with just cause and being critical because you just have an axe to grind. All of those people you mention are more a part of Aston Villa than you, or I for that matter, will ever be, they constitute part of it's core history. Our current owner, the board, manager and players, and a host of other staff, constitute what Aston Villa is at this point in time, and for that reason I will support them for they are Aston Villa at this present moment. No everything hasn't been perfect, but things rarely are, but I would say we are arguably in the safest pair of hands we have been for a long time and I am generally happy with the way the club has conducted itself and think the future is bright for the Villa.

The fact that some people on here cannot understand that is to their immense discredit.

My apologies if this is veering slightly off topic, might be better in the Support the Board thread, but it does also obviously relate to our new manager.

Deleted, please confine you comments to peoples opinions and not making posts about other posters - Bicks

Please let us put to bed this totally pathetic talk of the club trying to get a manger on the cheap. Now I'm not quite sure of the financial difference between a “cheap option” and an “expensive one”, £2 million, £5 million, £10 million? At the end of the day do you really think a man that has ploughed a couple of hundred million pounds worth of investment into the club would risk much of that investment by trying to save a few million on a manager? It should be perfectly obvious to anyone with half a brain that the right manager will pay for themselves at the end of the day and that Randy has enough common sense and nous to try and get the best person for the job regardless of cost.

Anyone that thinks otherwise really just can't see the wood for the trees and IMO has an underlying agenda against the board.

If Houllier if appointed - mid table at best - wait and see.

Looking at the odds - Houllier is 3rd favourite - behind KMAC and curbishley - interesting.

Well i will wait and see, the point being however that IF whomever comes in fails, then i will criticise them then for whatever reasons. I won't be waiting like many of the naysayers to smugly say "told you so!".

Many people were saying we would be lucky to get better than 8th with MON here, so whomever comes in I will be satisifed with 8th or higher. As soon as MON went this was always going to be a season of transition.

I see nothing wrong with Houllier myself, everyone is making something out of nothing.

Nothing wrong with Houllier?

You mean other than his previously questionable health, the fact he is 63, has been out the game for a couple of years and out of the Premier league even longer and despite some success at Liverpool spent a lot of money on some utter utter shite.

He may well be the best or one of the better options available but to say there is nothing wrong with his selection or should I say possible selection is staggering.

Bah humbug. There isn't a prospective manager out there that we couldn't make a list of 'perceived negatives' about.

1) 'Previously questionable health' - well you said it, previously, he's had no problems in the last 9 years or so.

2) 63 - there have been much older managers and it need not be a detriment to the job, indeed 37 years of managerial experience might actually be a good thing. Wenger, Ferguson, Redknapp 3 managers in the top four that are all over 60.

3) Out the game for a couple of years - well no he hasn't he's been technical director for France, something which also might prove invaluable here.

4) Out of the premiership for a couple of years - So? So has Mourhinho. Means nothing.

5) Despite some success - 6 years 6 trophies, yes please. Despite? IMO if he wins that amount of trophies his player purchases are justified.

6) Spent money on utter shite - See 5, plus he also brought in some great players for the time and developed players like Gerrard. Fair play to the man he also admitted that he bought some shite players after he was ill which also shows he's open to learning from his mistakes.

This kind of post is exactly the problem with this thread, as soon as any manager is mentioned there are a load of people that are all too willing to shoot them down in a hail of negatives, often when they are not even justified.

I have heard a little whisper that we may be in for Klinsmann after all. Don't shoot the messenger, just passing on what I heard. I'm not one to post 'ITK' BS however have reason to believe this to be accurate. Like I said though, just passing on what I have heard. Would do for me....

A MacDonald Klinsmann combination was always my first choice but Klinsmann just doesn't have the depth of managerial experience that Houllier does and so I doubt it. A 'dream team' of MacDonald, Houllier, Klinsmann however, now that would really be something.