KMitch

2 minutes ago, av1 said:

Probably also upset about the fee, wasn't there Brentford lads on here last week declaring that Mepham had been valued at £20m plus and that Brentford wouldn't budge?

Yeah, I love all these fans of other clubs just stopping by to tell us how small time we are now.  hahaha

The Brentford lads, I can understand, but what's with all the Leeds chaps?

According to the Sun, I know...  lol, apparently we matched Bournemouth's 12 mil bid for Mepham and offered higher personal terms than they did, but he turned us down to play for Howe in the Premier League.

It really puts things into perspective just how low we've fallen recently.  

I think the main problem is that we live in a culture of instant gratification.  What do you want to watch today?  Open Netflix/Amazon/Hulu and you have the option to watch thousands of films/TV shows at any given time.  You can play as Villa on FIFA 19 or FM19 and easily turn the club around with just armchair knowledge of football.  How hard can it be in the real world?  On paper, we have a collection of individuals who appear very strong, but in reality don't come together well as a cohesive team.  We all knew when Smith arrived that things were going to be difficult this season and would take a while to right the ship.  The problem is that we're all used to instant gratification as a society now and if things aren't going well, immediately, some fans will want to write off Smith and try to get yet another manager in for another month or so of honeymoon performances.  Unfortunately, it doesn't work like that and we need to be patient over the next ~2 seasons or so for the team to be rebuilt in a younger fashion.  

Always loved OGS as a player.  Happy to see him doing well as a manager now, even if it is for ManUre.

34 minutes ago, Dave-R said:

He says he wants to revive and break back into an Everton squad, if he can't perform here I doubt that is going to happen for him there.

I dont like how he just up and left without letting us bring in a replacement first but Smith called back Greene so I guess we should of all seen that coming.

To be honest in my eyes I wish him luck, but I'm glad he's gone, he under performed like many of our other failures. I seen flashes of excellence from him, was very good and whipping them in fast and accurate. He didn't cause defenders anywhere near the headaches he should of and felt like we were just paying him money for nothing. Bolasie turn speed was fast but it looked like he could never keep up with himself and often was always trying to do to much and messed up on the ball because he was trying to do that little extra more.

Well that's a wage packet gone with which whoever takes it up I hope it's someone who comes in and has the same work rate, mentality, passion and drive as what Mcginn, grealish and Tammy has.

Imagine if we could find a winger who were capable of doing what the three I mentioned above can do, but on the wing instead. I think we would be seeing more goals and more trouble for the opposition and would have another special player, I feel that is who we need to keep an eye out for.

Honestly, Green could be that guy.  I don't want to hype him up, but he has looked solid enough in his appearances for us to warrant more time to develop.  At the very least, he looks like he'll develop into a Championship quality winger.  If he works hard and continues to learn, he could go even further.  

He showed flashes of the player he was at Palace, which was an overrated one-season wonder who had some amazing dribbling skills at times.  He didn't track back, struggled to make an impact in a lot of our games, and cost 80k/week.  Honestly, Green made more of an impact from the bench against Hull than Bolasie did in most of the games he played for us.  A player getting paid 80k/week in the Championship like him should be dominating the league like he's fookin' Ronaldo.  Sadly, did didn't work out and I'm glad we saved just under 1.7 Million in his wages for the rest of the season.  It should help with FFP a bit.

Just now, av1 said:

To be honest mate, Bolasie throwing his tools out the pram aside, there is no evidence to suggest the club is toxic unless I've missed something?

For me the drop in form is simply down to injuries to Jack and Axel. People will rightly say that our form shouldn't drop off so severely just because of a couple of injuries, but these two are completely integral to how Smith wants us to play. We simply don't have anyone in the squad that can pass a football effectively. 

 

Spot on...  There are definitely some confidence issues at play, too.  We looked like a completely different team against Hull after Chester's goal.  It was almost like a weight was lifted off of everyone's' shoulders and everyone started trying again.

1 hour ago, AvfcRigo82 said:

The whole team has started to look crap since Smith has arrived.

I am not saying they were awesome under Bruce but **** I didn't think they could get any worse, but they gradually are.  Concerning.

• Elphick looks like a much better player than he ever did under Bruce.
• Tuanzebe looked like Bambi on ice under Bruce, but since Smith's arrival he grew into our best defender
• Taylor now actually appears like he's played professional football at some point before arriving at Villa Park
• McGinn has stayed consistent under both managers.
• Grealish's consistency was always his struggle under Bruce, but he's looked more dangerous going forward with Smith at the helm.
• Tammy is the top scorer in the Championship...  I don't get how he looks like crap?

7 hours ago, Vive_La_Villa said:

Our owner owns an Egyptian club. Get some Mo salah’s in!!

Just now, romavillan said:

Wait a minute, is Makelele in a hotel room with Julie B as well?!?!?

Nah.  He's in her basement with Dale Stephens.  

2 minutes ago, AvfcRigo82 said:

Exactly. He's going nowhere.

That's my fear...  hahaha

1 minute ago, AvfcRigo82 said:

Cafu is going nowhere..

5 minutes ago, VillaBrum said:

According to Transfermarkt, he's a RB!

To be fair, if Hutton is indeed off to Scotland, we'll need a RB.  Elmo is shit.

Name any former Villa player from the past 10 years...  Someone on here will tell you that they were shit.

1 hour ago, Keyblade said:

I know he's not the most likely around here, but I would definitely take Ashley Westwood back if he were available, such is the state of our midfield. He's a better holding midfielder than Whelan, Bjarnason and even Hourihane. He can actually pass the ball for one.

I always liked Westwood.  He was a bargain signing which turned out well for us.  I never understood the flack he got from a lot of fans.  He always worked hard on the pitch for us, but I guess it was because he wasn't a hard tackler or a goal scoring threat.  Someone in his mold would thrive in the DM position in Deano's set up.

Even on a budget, if we scout, recruit, and develop our young players properly with the right manager at the helm, promotion is incredibly realistic in a few seasons.  I understand the frustrations everyone has with being in the Championship, but we don't even have a stable foundation to build upon right now.  Getting to the Premier League won't mean **** all if we keep throwing money at the wrong players.  It's going to take some time to right the squad/wage bill and start integrating our academy graduates into 1st team rotation.  Sustainable Promotion within 3 years needs to be the board's goal.  Once we've built a solid financial platform, we'll pull away from the bottom half of the Premier League because of the size and revenue generated by us being a much larger club than the Bournmouths/Burnleys of the Premier League.  Without money, even clubs like Southampton, who have famously recruited well over the past 10 seasons, are struggling to survive in the Premier League.  We have traditionally had money, but spent it on awful players/managers without a sustainable plan for the future.  You can't just have money anymore.  You need to be well run and rich to consistently charge up the Premier League table.

1 hour ago, Tomaszk said:

He's just extended his contract this month Penney.

The Penney rumors started this week after someone posted an old article on the AVFC subReddit from October about us "monitoring" Penney.  Then the Twitter brigade started up...  But you're right, he's extended his contract and this 100% isn't happening.  hahaha

25 minutes ago, sne said:

Turkish papers claiming we are after Islam Slimani, currently on loan at Fenerbahce from Leicester.

Somehow I don't see this one happening  

also reports we are after yet another Everton player who can't get a game there after a bad injury in James McCarthy.

Don't see that one happening either.

Both seem like transfers I'd expect to see had Bruce still been here.

McCarthy would be an excellent stop-gap for our midfield problems this season.  Grealish/McGinn/McCarthy would be an ideal combo for Smith's system.  

1 hour ago, Junxs said:

Great post but you ruined it by calling Taylor a key player

He's the only left back in the squad...  His backup is Hutton, and we all saw how that worked out for us.  He is a key player for us, only because we look so much weaker without him in the side.

Three things that are causing us to lose right now...

• Tactics - We played a deep line in a team which "defended first" under Bruce.  Smith wants us to play a high line, high press, attacking brand of football, which is almost as much of a flip in the opposite direction you can go.
• Squad depth (or lack of it) - On paper, we have the best strikers and attacking midfielders in the league, but as we've all seen so far this season, that isn't the case.  Tammy & Jack are fantastic players, but all the other attacking players in our team are inconsistent and are probably overrated. At the other end of the pitch, our defensive depth is a joke and we should never have sent Elphick & De Laet out on loan.  
• Fitness/Age - Smith's system requires a lot of effort and running from the players to close down the ball and press the opposition into making a mistake.  We did this for the first month or so, then key players got injured (Jack, Axel, & Taylor) and our lack of depth in key positions burnt our players out.  They've looked exhausted in the past two games.  I don't think we have a young enough team at the moment to play this style of football for an entire season.

Now, this leads Smith to make a key decision here:

Does he change the system he has been drip-feeding our players for the past two months and revert back to Bruceball to try to scrape points while resting our players?  Does he write off the season and blood the youth, who will go missing and make a lot of mistakes in games?  Does he persist with his style but tone down the intensity of training, to try to keep our players fresh for games, and wait for key players to come back into the side over the next 2 months?

I honestly think the 3rd choice is the best option at this point in time.  We can still make the playoffs this season, Grealish is due back in 3 games, and we still have a couple of weeks left to get a few players in this window.  As much as I don't think it's likely for us to get promoted this season, it's still possible if we put together a good run of wins in the last couple of months.  Most of us were writing off last season in October until we went on the run which led us to the playoff final.  If it becomes apparent that we're out of the running for the playoffs, I think it will be time to blood the U23s and get them exposure to playing regularly, to see who is an option for next season in the Championship.  Until that moment, I still want us to try and play the strongest possible team to attack and win.

17 minutes ago, Demitri_C said:

Exactly thats why this ffp and tv deal is absolute bollocks. How can you compete if your not allowed to sign players?

Wasn't that the point of FFP?  To make an "even playing field" for Championship clubs?  Clubs without money massively outnumber clubs with money in the EFL, so obviously the rules will be in their favor if it's put to a vote.  Clubs like Brentford, who are well run and have a good scouting system, will end up profiting under FFP, while clubs like ours, who are a clown-car circus, end up getting screwed twice by our bad decisions.

2 minutes ago, MaVilla said:

well :), afaik he is kind of an AMC or maybe more of a forward thinking MC, either way im pretty sure he isnt a DMC?????

According to WhoScored, he looks like a utility midfielder who has played several different roles this season for them.  Mostly at AMC, though.  lol

1 hour ago, MaVilla said:

Sawyers is more of an amc than a DMC.

I got blasted on here yesterday for saying that he was an AMC...  

Makes me wonder just how much "other" football we all watch.  hahaha

4 hours ago, Zatman said:

Couldnt get much out of an average Ireland team, couldnt even get 3 passes out of them

Why pass 3 times, when you can just hoof it!  It's much more efficient...

3 hours ago, jim said:

I think it initially came from someone questioning his his instagram posts showing him in Dubai, Ireland, hunting etc... midweek. Then some facebook ITK said he only works 2 days and matchdays. 

Yeah, and all Smith did was pass out the training bibs and put out the cones at Brentford...  We really don't know anything at all about what is happening behind closed doors.  For all we know, JT could be heavily involved but takes some days off, like most people do at their day jobs.