Indigo

1 hour ago, zab6359 said:

Why ahead of Konsa?

Better balance as he's left-footed and a more natural Mings replacement, and also even though I like Konsa I think he's been quite dodgy the last few games and hasn't solidified his place in the team by any means. When they played next to each other in the cups etc I think Hause was equally if not more impressive too, and if those games were enough to justify Konsa being given a go when Engels was out then I think the case should be the same here for Hause with Mings injured. If it doesn't work it doesn't work but I can't say I'd be any less confident with him in than Konsa at this moment.

Would like to see him next to Engels this weekend, think he deserves his chance.

10 hours ago, Pelle said:

It's quite funny. No, it's quite sad. Actually it's kind of pathetic that after we're beaten 4-1 at our home ground the most growing thread is the thread about our striker. And we played against the best defence in the league. Some say that if we'd had Tammy we'd be 6 now. I say that we score enough to be 6th but we concede far too many goals. Our attack is quite decent and he's a part of the attack.

What's his attributes? Well, he's rather stromng and keeps the defenders occuoied making space for the other players for one. He's quite good at finding a pass at one touch (No, I don't mean that the times he can't control the ball is passes. I actually agree with the criticism that he's bad at trapping the ball is poor). It's not often it opens up the defence, but it gets the attack rolling on. That's another. He's far from great. But seriously, he's part of the one thing we're good at, attacking and scoring goals. It's not despite we have him, it's not because we have him, but he's a part of it. We wouldn't be scoring that many goals if he was half as bad asome on here claim. We simply wouldn't. If we were then the rest of the players would be almost world class and only one of them comes close to be that. He's playing his part in what makes us going. That's his main task.

What he's not a main part of is the defence. And there are only 4 teams who've conceded more goals than we have, and two others that have conceded as many. We're joint 5th in shipping goals, or joint 13th if you like. This is where our main issues are. Not scoring goals, but conceding them.

Smith is most likely more concerned about how we do than us fans. He's a fan himself and he's got one try at what is probably his dream job. Believe me, he wants success more than any of us do. And he knows better than any of us how to get it. Will he get it? We'll see, but it won't be for being stubborn and not seeing what we can see. And definetely not at this stage. The odds are on him, not us in here.

Someone mentioed that he had a chance to shoot against leicester but opted for the pass to Elmo and it all went to nothing. In my book a legimit thing to chriticise, but that's what bad confidence can do. If you're low on confidence you don't dare to do anything on your own. You fear making mistakes. You hardly dare to do anything yourself. Better to pass so you're not the one who loses the ball. I'm not saying that he's defenitely low on confidence, but if I was to bet I'd bet on that.

I too want another striker in January, but I'm far from giving up hope on Wesley. Not after 16 games, And especially not after a run where we've played against manure, liverppol, citeh, chelski and leicester. 4 yaers ago I'd never thought I'd add leicester to those teams. And that manure would actually be by far the worst of them.

With suggestions like McGinn and Engels up top as that wouldn't be worse, I really hope that I'll never see you complain about a manager playing players out of position, but I'm quite sure you already have.

And for the last, where did you all expect us to be by now? Top 10? Top 6? Top 4? We're about where we should expect us to be this season.

Probably the most reasonable post in an otherwise ridiculous thread all around.

Haven't read through the thread but I thought he was very good on the whole. Missing that chance is what let him down and whether he's an out and out goalscorer or not he absolutely has to be putting them away, and generally he needs to be getting into those positions more often. Otherwise he did more of what his specialty is meant to be and linked the play well and just flat out got more involved than we've seen him do in a lot of games. Also used his physicality better and actually bullied the defenders about on many occasions.

I think it's gotten to the stage now where Brazil should call up Keinan Davis to replace Wesley.

1 hour ago, villalad21 said:

When i watch Tammy play it just reminds me how bad Wesley really is.

...or how certain people who said he wasn't good enough jumped the gun?

With the caveat that I only managed to catch the last half an hour or so I thought he looked great in that period. He obviously interprets the role of a sitting midfielder differently to Nakamba but he was doing exactly what you'd expect from a player who does so as he does. Spreading the play, getting it between the lines to the more attacking players etc and looked more confident doing so than at the beginning of the season which is a good sign that he's settling in a bit.

12 hours ago, rodders0223 said:

 

McCarthy started Glenn Whelan over him this month in a crucial qualifier. That says it all.

 

He started Alan Browne over him, not Whelan as they play in different positions in midfield (or at least have been for Ireland). Was a widely criticised decision to not involve him too.

Unbelievable today. What a player.

We're absolutely blessed that Brighton went down to 10, we were appalling beforehand. VAR allowing we've the chance to make the most of it and need to keep the momentum going in the second half.

Check out @AVFC_Religion’s Tweet:

Good strike, keeper might need to have a word though...

1 hour ago, villalad21 said:

Stop with the non sense.

Luiz is more like a box to box like Ji Sung Park, Ballack, Seedorf. He's not a deeplying playmaker like Carrick or Alonso.

You seriously need to watch this guy play. Your way off the mark

He's played plenty as a deeper lying midfielder. Plays there for Brazil U-23s, was being talked up as possibly being Fernandinho's understudy had he gotten a work permit, and literally said in an interview when he signed for us that it was his game to take the ball from the back and start moves. He can play and has played in different roles in central midfield but it really isn't nonsense to talk of him as being that sort of player when there's plenty of evidence that points to him being that.

21 minutes ago, HalfTimePost said:

No we should call this out whenever it happens and the club should react to it too. Can’t just ignore it, we made excuses with the Tammy chant as it was just a few in one pub. Then Konsa’s is on the terraces and there was a push against calling that out as the racist chant that it was..

Now it’s been adapted to shoehorn in 3 racist remarks for Nakamba at an away game. We should call it out and condemn it.

Yeah I mean we're all Villa fans but in the grand scheme of things calling out moronic racism is definitely more important than us picking up three points against Norwich.

This stuff just isn't on, misplaced endearment for our own players or otherwise racism is racism and everyone partaking in that song is an embarrassment.

The goal was a dodgy one from both him and Heaton (who could have reacted a bit quicker and been more convincing when he actually did) but I thought he was brilliant otherwise. Numerous blocks and clearances - the same things which were being cited as reasons he was great a few games ago. Not understanding the criticism outside of the goal. 

What a player.

What a signing Nakamba looks by the way, such a tidy player on top of all the great defensive work. Love the guy already.

This game has been wild so far, we're that vulnerable ourselves at the back that we have to get out there second half and try to build on the lead, which fortunately enough looks very possible because they're even more dodgy than us. Great from Wesley outside of the penalty (which McGovern did very well with to be fair to him), he's such a confidence player that I hope that doesn't negatively impact him too much though.

Please don't pull a Villa, Villa.

Should have taken that first time, get Keinan on immediately.

Would have liked to see Luiz come in for Hourihane as he probably influences general play more while Conor is the more dangerous off the bench, but otherwise can't really complain about going with the same team considering how well they did in the first half last week. It's just a matter of putting it together over the full 90 which we've struggled to do so far regardless of the starting XI.

We've got to take some points over the next couple of games and really couldn't have asked for a better opportunity against Norwich than we've been presented with here. No pressure lads...

1 hour ago, villalad21 said:

Imagine if this was us.

We would go into that passive survival mode in 2nd half and invite Spurs into our half.

This has been the most notable thing for me. They battered Spurs until they got the third because their vulnerability was too good of an opportunity to pass up. Compare that to us vs Arsenal and the difference is stark. If we weren't so naive in how we manage games we'd be fine.

I was initially against playing Jack out left but I thought (at least in the first half) the compromise Smith found last week of having him doing it in that fluid 3 behind Wesley actually worked quite well, especially with Targett there to make up for the width that would have otherwise been lost.

Get Luiz in for Hourihane (who just didn't influence the game enough last week) and I'd be pretty happy with that team starting. As much as he may not like it Hourihane is probably going to be more effective off the bench for us so it's two birds with one stone in that sense.

22 hours ago, Rightdm00 said:

We have a defender winning the physical battles, always seems to be in the right spot and then put the ball on his feet and he calmly pulls off a Cruyff turn when under pressure to retain possession. This team has some issues, namely the midfield being far to easy to play through at times, but Ming's isn't it. 

 

I mostly agree and have to say the criticism of him on the ball seems a bit strange to me as it's one of his best attributes really.

BUT I'm not sure re: physical battles. At least serially anyway. Have to say it's one part of his game that is surprisingly lacking given how physically gifted he is, he's often beaten in the air by strikers far shorter than him, much less specialists like Burnley.

Yesterday (and much of the season so far) was so frustrating but have to say more than anything else that this guy has just been phenomenal. He looks...unique in how he goes about it but he's such a great all-rounder and at least right now looks more of a goal threat in the Premier League than he was in the Championship. Bids will start flooding in soon but if we can hang onto him I wouldn't be surprised to see him go on to be regarded one of the best we've seen play for us in this league.

Has shades of *that* Leicester game about it. Genuinely astonished at how terribly that game was managed given the advantage we had.

I do feel for him in that it really is the case that he doesn't have anyone to pick out much of the time (although granted tonight there was a couple of times where he miscued some decent openings) because of how poor our wide players have been, but now and again he does need to show some impetus himself and have a bit more killing instinct. Rather than hold the ball up at the edge of the box frustratingly waiting for someone to make a run he needs to be able to have a go himself now and again and try to get a shot away, teams are going to know what to expect of him and cut off passing lanes, so he's got to present a bit more direct danger himself.