Sam3773

Hopefully into Villa time now. 3 goals, incoming. 

Decent results around if we can pull a rabbit out our ass.. 

Elphick inexplicably reminds me of Rodney Trotter.

Defended well but we've had to. Attacking players have barely got involved. Feels like the good ol' days of not having a midfield. Really need some creativity in that midfield.. Get the kid on. 

Just now, Thug said:

He's playing left back.

I didn't say he's a left back by trade.

He's left back

look at the game

He's LEFT. BACK.

Beginning to wish he got left back at the hotel. 

Well, that's a team..

9 hours ago, Dave-R said:

That's nice to see, can you do the same and compare to the likes of little, Atkinson and Gregory stats??

please..

I certainly can. 

Gregory: P:19 - W:15 - D:2 - L:2 - PTS: 47*

Little: P:19 - W:6 - D:8 - L:5 - PTS: 26

Atkinson: P:19 - W:9 - D:3 - L:7 - PTS: 30

* What an unbelievable start. Just to caveat this one, Gregory came in, in February and only had 9 games of that season so his stats have a summer in the middle. Still an unbelievable run of form. 

1 hour ago, Stuartc445 said:

This is the typical Camp 1 post I was on about. 

I think you find like me the fact we haven't won every game isn't why we are showing concern it's the manner of the performances absolutely no fight and looking like a bunch of strangers.

It's funny you should mention the FFP stopping us from signing players. The last few weeks it looks like we've signed a whole new team because it looks like they've never played together before. 

What's funny is last season aside, "no fight and looking like a bunch of strangers" has pretty much summed this club up. 

Let's throw Smith onto the McLeish, Lambert, Sherwood, Garde, Di Matteo, Bruce pile and twist again. Eighth time lucky. 

5 minutes ago, M_Afro said:

I think it is a fair comparison to be honest. At Championship level we are very similar to Man U at Premiership level. We are the biggest, best supported and most successful club in the championship with the highest of expectations from our fans. I also honestly believe that we have a squad of players capable of competing with anybody. We showed this against Derby, Middlesbrough and West Brom.

It is the job of the manager to get the best out of the players at his disposal. I do not believe that Smith is close to doing that, excepting the early matches. I hear lots of fans criticising the attitude of the players and yet surely it is the role of the manager to deal with that and eradicate any issues. 

I genuinely did not want Smith because my feeling is that managing AVFC is an entirely different prospect to anything he has done previously. That does not mean he cannot be successful but the risks associated with the appointment are large. I also hope that he proves me wrong but thus far I feel that my fears are proving to be correct. I do not buy into the opinion that he must be given time. If, by the end of the season, things have not improved, then I would get rid of him and show a bit more ambition with the next appointment. I really wanted Brendon Rogers and I really believe he, or someone of similar quality, is attainable if we show enough ambition.

I'm in a similar boat - I optimistically wanted Brendan Rodgers and cited concerns with Dean Smith prior to his appointment. I do, however, believe if Rodgers were on 19 games with the same result, there would be many more people wanting to give him time. 

I can only put that down to experience and form. Rodgers can't rubbish because he's proven at other clubs, something Smith doesn't have to back him up sadly. 

Where we differ is with the players. I don't believe they're good enough, especially to play the football Smith wants, with a high tempo requiring a more youthful set up. There are, of course, exceptions where we have played very well, but we had those moments under Bruce. The odd 'Lord mayor's show'. 

While I remain frustrated that we're not competing and the performances have been poor, Smith has to get summer for me, unless we go on a long spate of losses now. It would leave us in the same boat come October if he has a poor start next season, but it's only right he gets to drill his methodology into the team over the summer break, and bring some fresh legs into the team. 

The alternative is another rinse and repeat, and another manager some won't agree with. Currently though, I really do think he's doing as good with this squad as any manager could do. 

4 minutes ago, M_Afro said:

How’s Ole Gunnar getting on in his new job?

I think that's a bit of an exception because of how they played, or didn't, for the last manager. They were seriously underpeforming before. Can you say the same for our players? 

4 minutes ago, HeyAnty said:

Why, did he suddenly become bad for 8 mins? What was he like for the other 86?

To be fair, he wasn't overly tested for 86 minutes. Good positioning for Hourihane's free kick but very little otherwise. For those 8 minutes we really tested him, he was dire. A better keeper and we don't get the point. 

In terms of our players, I thought we had moments of looking OK, but nothing more than fleeting moments. Whelan and Green changed the game and added more desire into the mix. If they don't start on Wednesday I'll be very surprised. 

I dunno. I watched 86 minutes of us looking like a league 2 team trying to perform a cup upset away from home. We were dire and most of that, in my opinion, was a lack of desire, pace and talent in midfield other than McGinn. 

17 minutes ago, HeyAnty said:

If a team is able to score 3 goals in 8 mins to get a draw, I think its says more regards the initial tatics/system than it does about the players abilities.

I dunno, I think it probably says more about the opposition goalkeeper's lack of ability. 

Mad game. We were awful. One of their goals shouldn't have stood, we should have had two penalties but we got the point. 

Unfortunately it doesn't and shouldn't take away from the performance. Which was dire. 

What. The. F... 

Really struggling to keep some faith here. 

Really struggling. 

Well we look awful. Worse than awful. We have absolutely nothing about us. 

Just now, villalad21 said:

Jedi replaced McGinn mate, dunno what game you were watching.

There were no formation switch in that game

Amended just now. Watch Smith's post match interview. 

1 hour ago, villalad21 said:

I can agree with that.

But i got to say, tactically i have not been impressed with Smith. Only one way in playing, no plan b whatsoever when things doesn't work.

We have 2 of the best strikers in the league, it's really a shame we won't ever see a potentially 4-4-2 or even a 3-5-2 with Kodjia and Abraham up front.

Smith switched from a 4-2-3-1 to a 3-5-2 at Walsall for the 15/16 season after little success with 4-2-3-1. He put Jedinak on against Reading switching the system up to allow Carroll to go further forward. That was his plan B after identifying a lack of service to the striker. 

30 minutes ago, srsmithusa said:

The positive didn’t last till the end of your paragraph.  

I really did try.. 

14 minutes ago, MaVilla said:

are we expecting Grealish back for the next match?

Apparently the Sheffield United game was the target for his return and he was meant to be well in target. 

5 minutes ago, Dave-R said:

Then if so my apologise in advance.

Usually it's not surprising if comments like that pop up

Just covering some of the idiocy from the transfer thread, condemning our signings before they've kicked a ball. Odd. Can't see any of them now he had a good game.