MarkLillis

I always find I am the opposite to TRO.

At the match I kick every ball I can almost feel like I’m on the pitch with the players some days.At the Norwich match I sat in the Doug Ellis (away from my usual Holte End Seat) and I noticed so much more with a better view.

It really wound me up at the game some of the things I could now see were now worrying me.....

By the time I was back home and reading this site I was focusing on the positive things that happened.

Things always seem better on reflection if you look for what’s going right and build on that.

I am sure Dean and the boys are looking at it from this angle too.

59 minutes ago, Brumstopdogs said:

Be interesting to see who me manage to get in. Should be an exciting few weeks.

We can do this - the famous and great Aston Villa!

 

 

Great clip.

I am the only one who thinks Villa (and Everton) do not get enough respect.

I mean never out of the top six for points scored in league footballs entire history?

its like we are just having a little dip but only Villa fans seem to understand.

I am always impressed by John Fleck at Sheffield Utd.

Not a world beater by any stretch of the imagination but the type of player id like us to have on our books right now.

Also Kalvin Philipps at Leeds is a very good player ( I know that you know this...)

Finally....Jamie Vardy - comes across a bit of a too with his celebrating in front to opposition fans, but he plays exactly how  striker should play. He must be a nightmare to defend against.

1 hour ago, gurru991 said:

Most bona fide footballing superstars are not looking for a relegation battle.  It makes the January window even more difficult when prospective players know they could be relegated. I see two or three loan moves till the end of the season as the answer. I realize it is not building for the future but its all about survival now. 

I do know what useless means though.

How often in the last 10 years have our new signings just slotted into the team without any debate on how good they were?

I would like some signings to turn up and for me to go away after their debut thinking “that’s why we signed them then” not “why did we sign them?”

51 minutes ago, AV82 said:

Wingers are priority for me. Please lord we need two at least.

Wingers have a worry for me all year.Trez,Jota,Anwar or Jack (out wide!) are not cutting it.

Two new wingers will change us dramatically.

As long as they are good of course .

2 minutes ago, nick76 said:

Suspicion based on what? What have this board done other than good so far?

My guess is the suspicion is based on an overall assumption that things can never be good for Villa ( disclaimer - not my belief)

After the last ten years of false dawns can you blame any Villa fan for having this opinion?

2 minutes ago, useless said:

Have a feeling there might be a few surprise departures, maybe might even see a few players we signed in the summer leave.

Just a feeling?

10 minutes ago, KenjiOgiwara said:

I don't. He's not good enough. Never has been. People got fooled by his one trick. 

Is that the one when he scores goals

4 minutes ago, KenjiOgiwara said:

I genuinly just think we need a striker, winger and another CM, cause Lansbury, Hourihane and Jota are absolute shit at this level. 

But if I could be greedy I'd want another fullback (ideally one that covers both rb and lb) to rotate as well. Elmo is exactly the sort of quality that gets you relegated. Same can be said for Taylor. 

Whether most of these are loans I don't really care at this point, but preferrably loans with options to buy. 

 

I think that’s harsh on Connor

13 minutes ago, JAMAICAN-VILLAN said:

After our last few games, fans of other teams have been saying we are the worst team they have played this season. Says it all. Embarrassing.

To be fair this is an accurate description of Villa since the start of December.

However I prefer to hold on to the hope that pre December we were better.

Its very hard to see right now but with Mings back and the right signings (whoever makes them!) then performances will improve.

Talk to Southampton and Watford fans about fluctuations in form....

23 minutes ago, KentVillan said:

This is a fair take on it, although I think some of this perceived lack of fight is down to players being tactically exposed and unsure of their decision making. It's not necessarily about character.

Aggression and intensity have to be channelled intelligently. We've all seen young players get fired up for derby games and all it results in is a couple of pointless bookings and an early bath.

What I think this team is really missing is a bit of leadership and experience. Dean has tried to use players like Elmo and Lansbury to overcome this, but they just aren't up to the standard physically anymore (if they ever were).

Heaton rushing out of his goal to stop Jack from getting himself sent off was the perfect example of how lacking in mature leadership figures we are. It shouldn't need your goalkeeper to do that, but he was the only player out there yesterday with any significant Premier League experience.

Last season, we had Whelan, who brought a lot of calm and wisdom to the midfield during our run to the playoffs. Now clearly Whelan wouldn't have been able to hack it in the Premier League, but I think we needed to sign a direct replacement for him in the summer. Instead we signed a lot of talented kids. I still believe most of them will come good, but they're just floundering a bit now we're playing the attritional "grown up" football that defines this part of the season.

None of these kids is individually to blame for the situation, nor deserving of the abuse. But collectively it makes us look a bit soft and lacklustre.

I always mention Leicester's signing of Cambiasso when they were last promoted to the Premier League. It was an inspired move. Completely short-term in nature, but helped them to settle in, and no doubt his teammates learnt a lot from him in that season. We should have done something similar.

Excellent post.

I would like to see how someone with  an opposite opinion would argue with this common sense statement.

6 minutes ago, nick76 said:

I love this long term idea but for now can we just get some players for right now whether loans or perm.  Our whole squad feels like long term projects.....it won’t hurt some experience in there.  I know not the plan by the club but I’m just asking for a couple, say a midfield general, a winger and a striker.  We need a captain in the middle of the park and then we need some pace upfront.

Where I stand also

Im watching on Sky they say it is all Watford....

1 minute ago, villalad21 said:

That mainly comes from the manager.

Chris Wilder does the closing down then?

10 minutes ago, villalad21 said:

They were all a part of the team that got promoted in the first place. Weren't they?

Considering Sheff Utd first eleven mainly contains of the eleven from last season it shows it's possible with desire and commitment.

But you have watched Sheffield Utd play this year haven’t you?

There success is based on a hard working physically intensive style of play.

Elphick,Hutton,Jedi,Whelan or Uncle Albert couldn’t have helped us in that regard.

The players we really needed to keep were Axel and Tammy.

Over the last decade as a club we have had a habit of leaving our young players unsupported.

By that I mean that both on and off the pitch the older heads do not do what they are supposed to do.

On the pitch over recent years (last year an exception I think) the older players haven’t led well.Right now I feel sorry for Jack being at 24 one of our most experienced!!! 

Off the pitch I have listened to grown men spout utter rubbish about players they profess to support.So what do we expect the kids around them to do?

I do agree with the point that we do have a sense of entitlement at Villa.

I don’t know what to do to change that though.....we are a big club and only ten years ago were a top 4 contender for three consecutive seasons

How do you forget the past and just accept low standards? 

We are a very difficult club to play for and support!

30 minutes ago, villalad21 said:

Exactly. The bar for Wesley by some fans in laughable

As he appears to be our only viable option in this position a lot of fans have decided to do the best thing possible....

Support  him

1 minute ago, Ikantcpell said:

How much is he worth in todays market?

He is priceless.

No other team has a player like Jack!

It is very concerning that we will risk losing him simply because of the standard team mates we have surrounded him with.

4 minutes ago, Davkaus said:

I think this says it all.

With all due respect a raw 22 year old striker should not have bare the responsibility of being our main goal getter in the fight against relegation.

its an oversight I’m sure will be rectified in the coming transfer window.

UTV

This was in truth I one of his better games.

He actually controlled the ball and held defenders off.

I would like to see this from him more often.

We have been given a massive opportunity.

Promotion  wasn’t in the plan last year when DS took over....there is no way anyone at the club was expecting this year to be a PL season.

Now we have to give ourselves the best chance of staying here instead of the alternative which is fighting for promotion in the quicksand of the Championship.

That will require us as fans to get behind the team.

The team can do their part and start showing the fight that was missing from the last three performances.

Combine both points above with some shrewd January signings and all is not lost.

UTV

1. FA Cup final - not a shot on goal.....pathetic

2.Bolton at home under McLeish, atmosphere was toxic and it was then I realised we were not just having a bad patch.

3.Chelsea

4.Bradford

5.The Albion defeats. Hard to take at the time.....although we have now recovered some pride.

It was only two weeks ago that we were playing Newcastle off the Park and getting a very creditable draw at Old Trafford.

I am sure we will get upwards of 4 points from the next 3.

We have good players, its only matter of time before that manifests itself into points.

UTV

4 minutes ago, MotoMkali said:

I just want to make it clear that over the last 7 games we have played the current top 6. That is not a fair run for anyone. Hell if Liverpool had to play the current top 7 in a row I only see them coming away with 10 points. We had the worst run of fixtures of any team in the league. Our next 4 games though are probably the most important of the season. By the end of it we could be on 27 points (I reckon 23) but we need to beat Norwich and Southampton and at least get a draw against Watford to prevent any of them getting past us between now and January. 

Agreed. What is annoying about this is the media are not taking it into consideration.

Also annoying was the almost overwhelming absence of understanding on the Holte End yesterday that we were playing a Leicester team that were very good , they MADE us look bad.

We can be well beaten...….as a newly promoted side I was expecting it to happen more often.