Vive_La_Villa

I think McGinn could play that role but then we lose a large presence further forward.

Nothing wrong with discussing how we can be even better than we are surely? I think those quick to jump on criticism are confusing discussion with complaining. There’s a big difference,

This. A top defensive midfielder would help them so much. I’m pretty sure it’s in Smiths thoughts. It’s fundamental to how his team sets up to offer more protection.

But it doesn’t!! Teri you are comparing our defence under Smith with our rivals during the same period. That makes no sense to me. You need to compare it to how our rivals have been all season otherwise you are comparing our new start with a manager alongside rivals form over 7 games. That’s comparing defensive form so in that respect your’re right. Our defensive form is similar to our rivals. Is that what you mean? If you take our defensive record under Smith and compare it to our rivals over the season. It’s still worse than any team in the top 6. We score a lot so it’s probably good enough for playoffs. But If we still believe top 2 is achievable then it needs to be a lot better. By the way whenever I say we can’t defend I include our keeper in this. He is the biggest problem in all this in my opinion. Plus the lack of protection from midfield needs addressing.

Love this post. Thanks for that.

It felt like villa had to work hard for their goals whilst forest would put 3 passes together and score. I’m sure we will be a lot more compact against Boro when we do not have the ball. Anyway Albion and Derby have conceded a lot of goals recently as well so it’s fine

They’ve conceded 10 all season. We need to get the lead and force them to try and attack. If we fall behind it could get tricky. Then again I thought that against forest so anything’s possible in this crazy league! Edit: They’ve only failed to win one game that they have taken the lead in. That was a 1-1 against Hull away. It will be attacking football v anti football.

I think that’s all anyone is saying mate. Apart from one poster who thinks our defence is fine. January could be massive for us. I’ve said before as long as we can keep within 10 points off top 2 by the time we replace our keeper we can still get automatic promotion.

I do think our defence is crap. I never once said ‘we are crap’. As you suggested. I don’t expect you to recognise the difference though.

Who said that!! We were awful under Bruce in both defence and attack. I havent seen anyone say anything otherwise. I’ve just seen people say he left Smith a shit defence and keeper

Its not irrelevant, It’s actually quite ridiculous to compare the defence of other sides during a period in our season just to try and make a point. We have changed a manager so yes let’s look at our last 7 games. Why the hell would we look at our rivals last games as a comparison? Has smith impacted them all?

Thanks for that. The current top 6 range from the best being 0.52 and the worst being 1.42. As we score a lot of goal I think we need to be somewhere in between that ratio if want top 2 or continue as we are if happy with play offs. I know you have don’t this but I think it’s completely pointless comparing smiths defensive record with teams around us during that same period as it would be dependant on their form since he took over. You can’t just ignore the rest of the season of our rivals defensive just because we got a new manager. That makes no sense.

I don’t think it’s a myth Thug. But there has been improvement which suggests we are heading in the right direction. As many have said a new keeper change could be a game changer for us.

Never once said that and have constantly posted about how happy I’ve been under Smith since he took over. But whatever makes you happy.

It’s ok. My opinions on villas defence aren’t keeping me up at night.

I don’t really give a shit about Derby and Baggies defence and I hope Smith doesn’t either. Imagine him saying (or even thinking) yes we are conceding a lot of goals since I took over but it’s ok because a few teams around us are too,

I’m happy. I’m just pointing out where I think we have a problem. That’s my OPINION. I don’t know what your problem is.

As I said. Thankfully Smith has admitted it hasn’t been good enough and there’s big areas for improvement at the back. Maybe you should give him a call and tell him about the facts.

Our defensive record under Smith is slightly better than what it was under Bruce. That’s a fact. I’m trying to have what I felt was a reasonable discussion about where we could improve. But you’ve clearly got a bee in your bonnet about something and now have started chatting crap about trump supporters and Brexiteers. So you’re right, it’s a probably a waste of time continuing it. its football mate. Lighten up.

Teri it’s not just the goals we are conceding it’s the nature of them. Teams aren’t having to work hard enough to score against us. Surely you can see this?

I like whatever we are doing in the attacking third as it’s seems to be working! We’re running defenders ragged. I’ve never seen us create so many chances in games before.

We’re not talking about the odd error. That’s normal. It seems to be costly errors every game! If you don’t think we have a problem at the back and are conceding too many soft goals Im them happy for you. Thankfully Smith doesn’t feel the same way otherwise we’d be stuck in this league for a very long time. How about two 0-0 draws bad, two 3-3 draws bad. We need wins. Doesn’t matter how they come. Poor defending/keeping cost us 2 points yesterday, a least a points against qpr and at least a point against Norwich. We’re conceding very soft goals that shouldn’t be happening. There’s no red herring. We just can’t defend.

Probably 7 more games without a decent keeper.

You got the odd Bruce lover questioning Smith. In the main the concern is our defence and keeper in general. This is something Smith will need to address and will need time and money to do this. Everyone accepted that when he took over. We conceded 2 to Norwich due to errors. 1 to QPR due to an error. Derby missed 2 one on ones due to errors, Bolton had one amazingly cleared off the line. Birmingham scored one due to an error and missed an open goal. A more clinical team was eventually going to take these guilt edge chances that we keep letting teams create. It’s a massive concern for some fans and I’m sure it is for Smith too. its not complaining, moaning for sake of moaning or being ungrateful. It’s an understandable concern.

I think you’ve totally taken constructive criticism out of context. Just because we are not spending all day waxing lyrical over our new manager it doesn’t mean we’re unhappy. Ridicolous to suggest a poster talking about concerns makes them look silly.