MarkLillis

On 18/01/2019 at 12:52, villalad21 said:

We've always been leaking goals under Smith though even during our "good" spell.

Unless that change i don't see us being anywhere near top 6 by the end of the season.

Well no team can achieve anything if they have to score two goals just to draw the game.

The defence is a massive issue I agree.UTV

Agreed that we picked up second half,most probably because of Dean Smiths half time talk.

But I also think if Chester’s goal hadn’t of happened when it did then he wouldn’t have been able to save it.....

It is a long way off.

I am I the only one that thinks that if an average team like Hull can win six on the bounce in this division then there is still hope?

There is no reason why we can’t balance the change needed with enough wins to place us in the top six.

its reasonable simple.

The changes made need to be the right ones.

I can see how the majority of Villa fans would have difficulty believing our club can actually do that.....but it is possible.

4 hours ago, villalad21 said:

 

Barely. We are potentially 1 defeat away from being 8 points behind 6th, that's the reality we are faced with right now. This season is fading away to a no man's land similar to the 16/17 season.

We could talk about this all day....

It just depends on your outlook I think. I see us as well in touch (with top six), but we going through another bad spell.

Where I think we differ is that I think the bad spell will end..... and you don't

1 hour ago, villalad21 said:

Difference is in that the first season under Bruce he steadied the ship. He got us organized and defensive solid. He builded on that in his 2nd season nearly getting us promoted.

DS haven't steadied anything, we're a defensive mess under him, that's the most worrying thing about him. DS doesn't have a great defensive record at any clubs he's managed either.

Listen, i'm willing to give DS a chance next season but not at any cost. If we're not at least challenging for the top 6 spots this season i want him out.

That last paragraph...

We are five points off top six right now with 19 games to go.

We are challenging!

55 minutes ago, KMitch said:

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.

Me too

Very underrated during his time here.

Not the most spectacular of players though I think Eric Cantona would have described him as a “water carrier”

6 minutes ago, av1 said:

Linked with £7m player from club X: '

'why can't we find these unknown gems from the lower leagues before they cost millions? Our scouting network is rubbish'

 

Linked with unknown (possible) gems from the lower leagues:

'Who the f##k is that?

 

I love football fans. 

lol

We are all the same.

I find it funny that some clubs still have fans that think "We are xxxx F.C .....the best fans in the country!" We never boo/moan/have low attendances....

10 years ago this week we were 4th in the Premier league.3 points behind leaders Man Utd.

What a disastrous decade.

I know we have been lower in the league but who could have guessed back then all the heartache that was to come.

6 hours ago, wilko154 said:

I actually think these statistics are 100% down to Grealish and not a lot to do with Hourihane.

Hourihane plays the defensive midfield role and for the most part passes the ball to Grealish who is actively looking for the ball in the midfield, if he's not he's dragging players around to create space for Hourihane to pass to others.

When Grealish isn't playing the midfield are completely static and the job of the DM is far harder.

This is a really good call, but I don't agree that it is 100% down to Grealish.

Any player (not just Connor) on the ball needs an option or multiple options to pass too. I thought just before Christmas we were starting to show a real authority in matches because of our movement and wilingess to get on the ball.

This was not just Jack though....so what has gone wrong?

Get well soon

Is it fair to say that he can only address the problem of Jack Grealish being out injured by buying a like for like player? For example Bradley Dack or Romaine Sawyers.

Without this type of player our midfield goes completely missing.

It first became obvious to me against Leeds,looking at the center circle there were no Villa players in it on many occasions.

We need to tweak our style a bit until Jack is back!

Onto to my point.

What I would really like to get away from us afternatch interviews where our manager (whoever he is at the time) highlights that he knows about a particular issue,say workrate for instance as spoken about recently by Dean Smith.

He then states we will work on it in training etc.

So I have hope that we know what is wrong....and it will get better.

Next match the highlighted issue is actually worse!!!

This has been going on for ages,under a variety of managers or is it just me?

On 13/01/2019 at 08:35, eholm said:

 

Sorry don’t know what happened here please do not let this crap post spoil your enjoyment UTV

15 hours ago, TRO said:

I can't say I have seen any player of ours play well defensively for some time...not since JT hung up his boots.

Yes this is probably closer to the truth.

The standards set by Villa over the last decade have lowered our expectations so much we  now cannot recognise if we actually have signed a good player or just someone who is just a bit better than the ones we already have but still not really an improvement....

I think he cant possible be as bad as his debut performance suggests.

If he was he wouldn't have got past stage one on the road to becoming a professional footballer, let alone have made it and have two transfers.

The only way is up for him now.

I’m not sure this guy strengthens our defence in anyway other the being another “body” I can’t say I have seen him play well for us since his debut.

50 minutes ago, NIVillan said:

Our Troubles started in May 1981 when with a League Championship winning team we only brought in Andy Blair, followed by the Following year after the European Cup win I cant even remember who we bought that sumer. 

 

This is worth a whole thread,

Surely the most criminal waste of a football opportunity ever?

Adam Reach has played well in each of the matches I have seen him play in,he looks a good solid player and he can score from anywhere.

He was on my list in the summer but Bruce y didn’t see eye to eye with me so it wasn’t to be

5 minutes ago, jim said:

Speaking to a mate who is a ST holder says he is a strong athletic defender with some skill but he has a mistake in him.

Wolves fans will find a reason for letting a young promising defender leave.

I can remember doing similar for the Gary Cahill sale....

Lets hope this turns out in the same way.

His wages mean nothing to me.

However if his decision making skills in important positions were upto scratch I would say he’s worth that yes. 

Is playing in the Community Shield not ruling out a move to another club then?

Jose Mourinho seemed to think it was fine to list this down as a achievement, many clubs also list it as an  honour so surely its a competitive game?

It isn't the first time its been mentioned as most of you have picked up on it...

Our midfield struggle to track runners.

Sometimes our full backs struggle to track runners also.

Its our biggest problem at the moment in my eyes, (apart from the elephant in the room which is Jacks injury) when we play on the front foot we leave gaps on the pitch. The players have to be able to recover and recover quickly or we are exposed when we turnover possession.

Dean Smith absolutely knows this and I am sure we will be fixing it this January

47 minutes ago, villalad21 said:

He is welcome here, didn't mean him in particular in my post.

Just stated alot of those smaller clubs in this league have a inferiority complex against us, and from what i've seen on their forums it's true. We get hate for no reason, even Leeds fans are calling us "Vile" on their forum

Whilst a do agree with the fact that other teams should have a inferiority complex about us.The fact is they don’t, they just hate the fact they we think they are inferior....

No one remembers our history, our top six finishes and our great teams except us.

So they all think “who the **** are Villa they are nothing special”

We lost at QPR in a game where we performed very well and should have won.

As already pointed out by others Forest scored with the 5 shots they had on target to earn a draw.

If you ask me other teams are lucky that we are not 3rd and serious contenders already  UTV