KMitch

My January Priority List:

1. Goalkeeper
2. DM
3. CB/LB Cover

I don't hate on our defense as much as some do around here, especially when it comes to Neil Taylor.  That said, we need to bring in someone who can fill in at CB/LB on rotation.  Goalkeeper and a DM for Smith's System are a priority, though.  Hourihane isn't going to cut it for the whole season.

He's an intelligent player who needs a run of games to get sharp again.  Once he gets his confidence back, he'll start to be as consistent of a threat as Bolasie has been lately.  He needs to keep starting over Kodja.

Absolutely demolished the 3rd placed team in the league...  Boro only allowed 10 goals in 19 games before today...  We comfortably put three past them and should have had a penalty on top of it.  Besides their one shot, which Nyland nearly bottled, they didn't look a threat at all.

Deano had us playing patiently against a Pulis side who you know without even looking at their previous game footage are going to put 10 men behind the ball at home and try to score off set pieces.  We took our time, kept the ball, and looked for opportunities when they opened up.  Brilliant tactics by the man who just "put out the cones and passed out the bibs" at Brentford.  UTV!  Long Live Dean Smith!

On 11/11/2018 at 14:16, Villan4Life said:

Just been watching some old video's from Dean where he names his fav things.

Here is his top tracks:

 

 

Huge U2 fan?!?!?!?!?!!?!?!  Uck!!!  I've changed my mind...  Smith OUT!!!

My MOTM.  He was immense in that deep-lying playmaker role today.  Broke up play, pulled the strings, and the goal was just icing on the cake.  If he can be consistent in this role, he's going to save us some money in January.

On 04/11/2018 at 06:02, rodders0223 said:

Young, English, at Chelsea. About £40m

With our owners?  40 mil will be a drop in the bucket, if we go up.  It'll be a signal of intent to the rest of the league that we aren't messing about and this isn't Randy's Villa that they remember.

5 minutes ago, ROTTERDAM1982 said:

Got caught the wrong side a couple of times in the 1st half, but for me the best defender we have had down VP since Macca.

 

I think if we go up, we could have a good chance of keeping him

Agreed.  It baffles me that Bruce didn't play him at CB...

Axel & Abraham are two of the types of signings I can see us making going forward under Smith/NSWE.  Young, highly-rated, motivated, and aren't content with playing U23 football at a "big" club.  

5 hours ago, Villan4Life said:

Seems the general feeling from some Villa Fans on social media is because Bannan ran show against us at Villa Park we should sign him.

Steven Sidwell (Reading) and Stephen Ireland (Man City) tore us apart before signed for Villa then was poor for us.

Sidwell was poor for us?  I certainly don't remember him being in the same conversation of shit as Ireland was...  Maybe you're thinking of Nicky Shorey, who was one of the best left backs in the league at Reading, then came to us and became shit...

Didn't we go on a streak of like 14 games where Sidwell started and we didn't lose?  I also remember MON playing him much deeper than the role he had at Reading, and while he wasn't destroying teams every game, I wouldn't go so far as to call him shit.

On 28/10/2018 at 08:57, MaVilla said:

To be fair, im sure it is very easy to look at someone in certain leagues and they look good.

Everyone knows that "players need to adjust to english football", but i have heard so many times from many clubs about how a players looks good and would be a good signing if they could adapt.

for example, if leagues arent overly physical or dont cross as much, it might be easy to get a mis interpretation of how good someone is.

I always remember a fair few years ago....was it Rangers?, who apparently signed this amazing looking Argentinian defender, amazing on the ball etc, looked like the next big thing for most scouts watching him, but when he came to rangers he was flippin terrible, apparently what ppl overlooked was argentinian clubs at the time defended very deep, which covered up that he was as slow as a snail, had the agility of a sloth, and was so bad in the air a chipmunk could have won a header over him, and as Rangers played a fairly high back line, he basically became an instant car crash sensation.

So in closing, yes scouts "should" spot any weaknesses etc, but eh, humans make mistakes and make incorrect assumptions.

Also, just because a foreign player comes and doesnt perform immediately, doesnt mean they are bad, it might just mean they need to adjust, or it might actualy mean they are bad......who knows.

there are plenty of foreign players who took a little time to settle and were very good once they did, and others that didnt succeed, im just saying.....lets not automatically assume someone is terrible from a few games.......(although hey....they might be??)

 

Lets not forget how many players Villa have let go because "they arent good enough for Villa", and now play in the PL or in higher leagues abroad......

Fully agree.  I feel like we've had a collection of players over the past 10 years or so who could have done a job for us, if we played a different system at the time or didn't have a revolving door of shit managers who completely dismantled the team every season.  This just goes to show you how important it is to have a consistent playing philosophy all the way from the academy to the first team.  You'll know early on if a player isn't going to fit the club's system and scouts will continue to scout the same types of players, regardless of which manager is at the helm that season.  We're so far behind everyone else and it shows.

I'm really pissed off about all the former academy products who never even played a game for us in the first team who are now regularly playing in the Premier League/Championship.  Who was the last manager we had who actually took a chance on a crop of our U23s?  Houllier?  I remember him rotating in players like Albrighton, Bannan, Weimann, Herd, Hogg, Clark, and Baker quite regularly.  None of them got any game time under MON, except for the "Moscow Incident", so it was pretty radical for GH to roll the dice on these players vs the bench of cloggers MON signed (NRC, Beye, Sidwell, Collins, Dunne, etc.).  Except for Herd, they all play Premier League/Championship football today for other clubs, while we keep dumping money into "bargains" who never work out or over the hill "leaders" who don't contribute enough for what we paid for them.  

Just now, Rugeley Villa said:

I think Norwich will be around the play offs come the end of season. 

There or abouts...  

Norwich are pressing the Hell out of our defenders because our team clearly isn't comfortable passing the ball out of the back yet, and they're looking to capitalize.  There was one throw in near our corner flag where I counted 8 Norwich players within 20 yards of Taylor trying to take the throw.  Hopefully, Smith noticed that too and will reiterate to the team  to not be afraid to go long if they over commit the press.

Very nervy half for me.  We could have been 2-0 up or 3-0 down, depending on how some of the chances fell.  Nyland looks like a different man all together under Smith so far.  

Just now, osmark86 said:

Cafu is a winger not an rb

It only took him until his mid thirties before he learned how to pick a cross...

1 minute ago, sir_gary_cahill said:

He’s here for the season, isn’t he?

I meant at least until we can get some cover at CB in for rotations.

2 minutes ago, sir_gary_cahill said:

Jedinak was on the bench, I remember seeing him warm up 

You're right.  My bad.  For some reason, I thought he was left out of the squad.

TBH, as much as I like Thor and his work ethic, his position is the weakest in our midfield right now and I can see us bringing in a starting player this summer to fill that ball winning role.  Birkir would struggle if he didn't have McMilner next to him in the midfield.  With McGinn out next match, it will expose just how fragile we are in the center of the park.

Maybe it means nothing?  Maybe it's just he first week and Smith & co are still assessing the squad? 

Nobody has anything to say about Taylor's performance today?  He actually looked like he has played football before.  I thought he was pretty solid at left back.  Nothing glamorous going forward, but he wasn't a calamitous mess at the back either.  It's something for him to build upon.  If we can keep everyone injury free, our Defense might not be as big of a problem as we all feared it would be, at least until January.

He was solid today and looked like the player Manure fans have been raving about.  Hopefully he can stay injury free until January.

He looked like a different player in front of goal today.  Great saves all around.  His kicking needs a lot of work, especially if we're going to start playing the ball out of the back, but he was a major reason why we got the 3 points today.  Keep it up, son!

The first half was the most complete performance our squad has given in a long time.  Dominated possession, looked threatening every time the ball moved forward, and our defenders quickly won the ball back before Swansea could do anything with it.  Unfortunately, as good as the first half was, the 2nd looked more like the Villa we've watched under Bruce and were lucky to come away with all 3 points there.  It's still a remarkable improvement on things.  I'm really looking forward to what Smith can do with the team over the next few months.  Hopefully fitness levels go up and the whole team continues to look more comfortable in possession.  It's early days, but things are headed in the right direction.  UTV!!!

This kid is going to be a star.  He'll win the Premier League golden boot at some point in his career.  Strong, fast, works hard pressing, and always seems to be in the right place at the right time.  One of the chances that fell to him in the 2nd half today surprised me that he was even able to control the ball, let alone get a shot off.  Benteke is the only other Villa forward I've ever seen do stuff like that consistently.  Give the squad a couple of months of Deano's attacking movement training at BMH, and Tammy will be scoring 2-3 a game.

Elmo & Hourihane are tied for the most assists in the Championship now (4 each).  Arguably his best performance ever in a Villa shirt.

McMilner...  I love this guy.