ozvillain

no fight, no movement, no urgency. Grealish keeping us afloat but most of these players just aren't good enough.

Love the way he grabs the ball off the keeper and running back to the halfway line...SAMATTAAAAAAA

this is jus turgid

If you can’t beat em....

At some of the games over here they let fans onto the pitch at the end of the game once players, coaching staff etc have left the field. It’s actually really nice - I know it trashes the turf but end of season? Could be a good compromise?

1 minute ago, osmark86 said:

Totally agree with this. Shafted by VAR again but still got the points. Solid performance.

VAR can just get in the bin!

9 minutes!!!!!! Did it, get in. Biggest downside . Wes finally has a game where he looks the part and gets injured - you couldn’t make it up. 

1 minute ago, onmeedson said:

The Wesley situation says it all for me, Why would any other player put a shift in when a stand out problem is not addressed, if your not dropped when you are failing why bother. Ron Saunders was all about discipline, he even kept on his key players backs to let them know who was boss. Watford had pearson we had smith no contest.

yep, players talk to each other, they see JK on the bench...

1 hour ago, Paul33 said:

Oh wow ..... what have I just watched ? The most pathetic and inept performance of the decade just before it finishes ?

I have a good mate who is a Blades fan and he keeps telling me their manager wouldn't touch more than 2 or 3 of the Villa squad ....... equally, he doubts Smith would touch more than 2 or 3 of their squad but look at the league table and the respective league positions !

I don't think Smith is a bad manager - inexperienced yes - but the mistake he and his management team have made is to load Villa with inexperienced, lightweight players with little or no experience at this level. I think he knows it and desperate moves like playing Lansbury who was crap even in the Championship suggests he knows we go nowhere with lightweight flare players who don't like it up 'em !

My fear in January is that his team will bring in yet more overseas players with decent CVs but with no experience in this league and who will need 4-6 weeks minimum just to adjust to it ..... by which time we'll be truly adrift. What we need in an ideal world is 5-6 proven Brits from either the Premier League or Championship. Players with talent but players who will graft, players who will track back, players who can handle the pace, players who can bounce off the knocks without rolling around like girls and, above all else, players who will play for the badge on the front of the shirt ..... not the name on the back.

I could moan about the ludicrously crass decision to play our lynch-pin playmaker on the left touchline for sixty minutes but, whatever the formation, turds do not polish well and our current squad is littered with more of the brown stuff than my local park.

We are in big trouble now and January's signings have to be as 100% right as they were 100% wrong in the summer ...... I'm rapidly losing confidence !
 

My biggest concern in the summer was the lack of PL experience and it is showing, a couple of experienced heads could have made all the difference. I know he left on awful terms but how much did Everton pay for Delph? I would have taken him in a heartbeat...We should have pushed more to keep Tuanzabe and actually signed a striker. I love Smith and it's sad but he's not turning this around. This league is brutal and it destroys promising managers who can't cope with the pressure when things get tough and I am afraid that is what is happening to Smith. We can't afford to let the club go down with him....once that pressure really kicks in, there's a one in a million manager who can get his players to turn it round. We talk about the players having no fight, and no cohesion but don't underestimate how much that has to do with psychology, intense pressure week in week out, if you've never experienced things going horribly wrong, you don't know how you will cope with it and a lot of players will crumble, not want to play, start to hate the game...it doesn't matter how much you are paid players will never perform well if that mindset kicks in. And that is why PL experience for both players and manager  is so valuable. It's not just the physical side of it it's the mental pressure of being in a losing side when you are physically under the kosh being able to cope with it and fight....and bizarrely out of all our players, given his background, I would have thought Wesley would have been the one most able to deal with it, but then maybe he is simply not good enough.

I’d play El Ghazi up front tbh and trez on the wing. I don’t think Anwar would struggle too much making the transition. The player he reminds me most of is a young Gabby so....

we concede around the 66-70 min mark because the midfield starts to look puffed. Every game!! They work their socks off but Smith needs to make a sub around the 60 min mark for the mids to give them some fresh and keep the momentum going. The less said about Wes the better, i just hope he gets it together, but again should have been subbed much, much earlier. 

FFS!!!

Hits him on the underside of the jaw -I've been hit by a ball like that and not from that range and I didn't black out but it was close

2 hours ago, MotoMkali said:

Yeah. So he could be struggling. Spending long periods of time away from your family must suck. On top of that he has got to settle in a new location and play in a system with a different style 

Remember how the rest of the team raved about him when he first came over, and what a handful he seemed in those pre-season games. I reckon he's struggling to settle in and that's impacting game/confidence. He's 22 in a new country, with new team mates, only one of whom speaks his mother tongue. Doesn't matter how much money you are on, if you are feeling homesick, so yep he's been poor but hopefully he will start to feel more settled and pick up.

Wasn't offside then! Woot!!!

Can't complain re VAR on that one but why are they only using it properly against us?!?!

8 minutes ago, hippo said:

?? - He did a plan b - Davis - the fact that you didn't like the plan b and the plan b didn't work - doesn't mean he didn't have one.

To be fair if the rules of the game applied it would have bought us a point. Surely a complaint to the FA over Friend is warranted?

Poor from us but to disallow a goal for perceived diving when then player gets straight back up and play continues - come on?!?!

It's clumsy but not a second yellow!!!

In summary. Urgghh dire. Ref is bent. Better team would have spanked us.

This Ref!!!!

Jeez we're off the boil today.

GET IN!!!!!!!!!!!!

He won’t go this season, he’s too crucial as part of the spine of the team from last year. Once new players settle though could be a different story in 12 months

No judgement, but youtube can make anyone look amazing