Mjvilla

10 minutes ago, Philosopher said:

I agree with the ideal that we build a base of primarily British players and bring a few high quality foreign players to compliment that. 

However we do pretty much have that. A British back 4, Mcginn and Ramsey in midfield, Jack and Watkins up front. Actually for midfield is where England's Talent is slighty lacking and thus the hardest area to recruit British talent. Outside the top clubs you have Rice, Phillips, and JWP, all would only really leave for champions league clubs. Who is there outside of that. 

The wings however there is Lookman and Brooks who are both very attainable. Get them both in!

Left back there is  not one I can think of.

Did some reading up on Buchanan from Derby after seeing his name in here. Watched a couple of videos too (I know, I know), but he looks almost exactly what were after. Young, plenty of room for development, likes to get forward and will happily come in and play back up to Targett whilst continuing his development.

Young and British, I like the sound of. Among our best players now are young, British players we signed. Konsa, cash, Watkins. More signings of this ilk would be perfect.

On 20/03/2021 at 17:36, villa4europe said:

He's the no1 ranked wonderkid, I've bought him a couple of times but not played long enough for him to hit over 25 and really see how good he gets, he's definitley ok, out of all the youngsters he's the one that's consistently in the game, a lot of the other highly ranked ones don't always appear iturbe and Ivan martinez for example are only ever on it if I have Spain loaded, gasparini never scouts well, svilar on loan has worked for me a lot 

Livakovic is my go to keeper, he's the current rajkovic / Mexican keeper / enyeama 

Ochoa?

Our national side and the 2 most senior ages (I don't know below this) is being so badly mismanaged it's a serious worry. We are producing a number of very good footballers right now, and it's all going to go to waste.

The hard work of the last 10/15 years wasted by 2 failed domestic managers. It's criminal. I'd take a more progressive manager, an Eddie Howe or our very own Deano, and give them time to implement there style. Short term pain for long term gain. Then, replace the manager with like for like everytime.

We are going to have more wasted tournaments and wasted talent if Southgate and boothroyd continue. 

5 minutes ago, Awol said:

I’m not saying you’re wrong, but transfermarkt thinks you are: 

 

Does this not mean his contract at Frankfurt expires this summer meaning his loan? He returns to Madrid to his normal contract?

12 minutes ago, paul514 said:

I echo this, that is all that would achieve and it is an expensive but near guaranteed way to do so.

Also Koopmeiners instead of Bissouma (a player I like a lot BTW)

You hadn't mentioned!! 

5 minutes ago, Demitri_C said:

You didnt even read what i wrote so im not even bothering to respond to this

Can you explain to me where I went wrong and what I haven't read then please? Because I read, re-read and have now re-read your posts again and I have pretty much quoted you word for word.

11 hours ago, Demitri_C said:

Also your telling me sheff utd Newcastle were tough? We git a pathetic 1 point out of those two games 

The levels you are going to, changing you're argument to pick at Smith is absolutely bewildering to me. 

'Leicester don't panic when they miss key players' - proven how much they struggle without vardy 

'Well then, they must've played harder games' - kind of proven that this wasn't really the case.

'yeah, but we got 1 point against Newcastle and Sheffield united' - Liverpool got 0 points at home to Fulham, Brighton and Burnley. It happens. Certainly when you have such a new squad that's developing and a young squad that is inconsistent. 

Why are you so insistent on picking on the manager? 

39 minutes ago, Demitri_C said:

I havent said they aint what im saying is thats what makes them better than us.  They dont implode when one of their key players is out.

When grealish gets injured the fans get anxious and the team performs poorly. We will never achieve anything like this. If we want to be successful we have to adopt what leicester have and stop looking at grealish as our saviour

Have a quick look through their fans opinions and record when vardy was out for the last few years. I think it would be markedly different and I remember their fans opinions of Rodgers at these times... A number wanted him gone.

22 minutes ago, MotoMkali said:

What do you mean? I'm against his lack of substitutes and rotations and insistence of playing McGinn with no rest and prior to him an injured barkley. That's it I would prefer to play a more attacking style as well but at the minute without jack that is a non-starter. 

But yes when there is an issue with a team in regards to defence and keeping possession it is mainly on the manager not the players. Because we couldn't defend to save our life before restart lasts season and then we were one of the best defensive teams. Which is both an incredibly impressive turnaround and an indictment of the system that we were previously using. 

It is just a fact in regards to corners and free kicks. It you watch other teams. You will see it isn't just us who hit the first man.

If you go back to the original post I made, this is a point I made. It's not a dig at villa, it's at footballers in general. I think they should be better at taking them in general.

The rest is going away from what I said and I have talked about these subjects enough, to warrant not doing so again.

31 minutes ago, TRO said:

It Is, but it might be worth remembering.....

We have won 12 games this season, with 11 clean sheets only 1 game have we conceded goals whilst winning.

That leaves 16 games where we have conceded, losing 11 and drawing 5....we have conceded 30 goals in those games averaging 1.875 goals per game.

I think our defenders are basically fine, but I would question if the team as a whole is as competent at defending the ball.

I think those stats open up food for discussion.

I don't think we can just say defensively we are ok , because we have all seen on occasions, we are not....We are still prone to silly errors and lapses of concentration or poor positioning.

However, if I was recruiting this summer, the front 6 is where my focus would be.

The back 5 in isolation is excellent. I think if we improve whats in front of them, starting from the front then we will see these stats improve. Which is what I think you're alluding too. 

Again squad depth and development increasing consistency across the board plays a part in this too. We don't have one of the meanest defences in the league by chance.

22 hours ago, useless said:

Chrisene, Marschall, Kesler, Ramsey, Chukwuemeka, Philogene-Bidace, and Barry, have all been called up for England duty, and McBride who I think has played the last few games at right-back has been called up by Northern Ireland for their U19s. Not sure if they're going to be available tomorrow, Brighton have won their last six games, so probably could do with as strong a team as possible, that said even without the big names from the U23s we can still choose a side from our usual U18 squad that has only been beaten by Fulham so far this season.

Are they all called up at under 18 age group useless? Is Marschall English or does he just qualify for England?

1 hour ago, Lerner's Driver said:

This quote has no doubt already been covered on here, but it struck me as pertinent...

"I always said, the first year in the Premier League is a tough year. The second year, you can have a real strong starting XI. But in the third year you are looking to grow your squad depth, and improve on that starting XI."

... to my eyes, it establishes a clear timeframe for accountability, as laid out by the man himself.

It's apparent to everyone, Smith included, that we must buy more and better quality players this summer to continue progressing.

Assuming we are successful in doing that, there will almost certainly be an immediate expectation to deliver - we can debate all we like how fair that is given the circumstances, but it's just how most top teams operate.

To me, that adds up to next year being make or break for the manager. There certainly won't be as much leeway for another massive drop off like we are currently experiencing.

No pressure then.

Very much how I see it, bit in bold. We are exactly where we expected to be, given our restraints. Next season, I'd like to think 8-6 place would be the aim. Of management and fans. 

We have a starting XI nearly good enough for that, we have the squad depth of a relegation side. We have to develop and get better this summer. Dean has done an incredible job, but it will count for nothing if we NEXT SEASON we aren't continuing that improvement. Becoming more consistent in performances. 

@TRO, I don't see it as taking comfort in the league table. I don't see myself as having my head in the sand. I think I'm being more realistic. Of course we are going to be inconsistent. Of course we are going to make mistakes. Have we run out of steam a bit? Potentially, yes. We can't rotate because the state of our squad in general. Do I have my head in the sand because I trust the manager to continue the progression and correct the wrongs we see?

Am I wrong to call out people saying we should sack the manager now? Based upon year, upon year of progress? 

I think to say the first 13 games were excellent and not more is very, very harsh. The slump has only really kicked in recently for me. Even up to arsenal at home. A deserved, tactical, win in which we should've won by more. Leeds away similar. Wolves at home I thought we were excellent first half. 

TO expect us to play to the level we did all season, with our squad depth is bordering on insane. We have achieved a very high level of performance (even in games we've lost man utd away, man city away, Burnley away to name a few) in much more than 50% of our games this season, in my opinion.

We've seen a clear negative trend without Grealish, and I'd agree that needs sorting. We have to find a way to win regularly without him. But it's all part of our development, for sure!

13 minutes ago, est1874 said:

I'd never heard about it until now. 

Recency bias notwithstanding, it is still objectively a ridiculous thing to do.

Like many of my colleagues, I like staying up drinking and watching Netflix til 3am, doesn't mean the business shifts working hours for the entire workforce.

Smith is and has always been too soft on the players, they might like to act like petulant children from time to time, but the reality is they're not. 

Treat them like children and they will behave like children, and that gets reflected in the attitudes and accountability out on the pitch when things aren't going our way. Case in point - we've yet to win a game coming from behind this season.

Mings allegedly shouted "be braver" at his teammates after we conceded the first goal to Spurs. It's telling, for me, that he felt the need to do that.

Can you find some evidence of this please? Something that suggests, factually, he is too soft. I don't see this change as being too soft, I see it as trying to change with the times. I don't necessarily agree with the change.

Again, I don't do social media so if there's something factually there, I probably have missed it.

3 hours ago, GingerCollins29 said:

This is why people realise finishing as high as possible is so important.  Finishing top 10 shows other players and jack that we have made accelerated progress year on year and are on the fringes of top 8/top 6. Also gives us more edge in terms of ffp. Difference between finishing 9th and 12th may not seem huge, but to potential targets it could be massive

Bought it into a more relevant thread, but I actually think very differently to this.

I think potential recruits will be looking at our improvements, looking at the number of players who have got better and looking at the number of players that have been developed to international/very close to international level whilst at our club and think it's a good fit.

These players are human beings, when looking into a move, it won't be 'who finished higher last season'. They will look at much more than just that. It's their future and their life they are deciding on here. Everything we've done/are doing points at us being a very good proposition for a lot of players. Finishing 14th or 8th doesn't change that too much, in my view.

9 minutes ago, mykeyb said:

I agree with all of the above but does that mean I cannot question issues I see during a match?

If it was just questioning issues during a match then that's fine. Of course, the post you've quoted is quoting a post talking about how Fergie had calls for his head early into his reign...

I've seen multiple calls for the manager to be replaced in the last 36 hours.

This, for me, is mind blowing.

6 minutes ago, Vive_La_Villa said:

I always take a complete day off from the site when we lose a game. Especially when we were shit.  Gives people a chance to calm down. 
 

Logged back on here yesterday and it’s quite relaxed.

Yep, this and staying away from the match thread and the immediate post match thread do the business for me.

1 hour ago, Demitri_C said:

I see this football manager quite being bought about alot.i dont think there is football manager about it.

We all seen trez is not consistent and he really is not good enough for this level. He has 0 goals 0 assists this year. He was heavily linked in the summer with Turkey but we kept him on and smith felt we only needed one winger in traore. 

Now im hearing excuses from some posters that because trez and aeg cant get in any of the top sides that means we shouldnt be looking at challenging for europe.

No one said finishin top 8 was easy but it was achoevable this year due to how bad the likes liverpool spurs wolves arsenal etc have been.

We havent even had injuries like leicester have yet they seem to cope. Why is it we cant cope with one player injured?

Its poor and not good enough. Wewill never achowve anything if we cabt cope when grealish gets injured 

Name a Turkish club that could afford the £8.5m plus fee that would've come with trez? I think I remember reading they wanted to loan him, absolutely no good for us.

If we got £8.5m for him, are we really going to be able to get better for £8.5m? 

All the players mentioned (benrahma the latest by you) cost £20m plus. We simply didn't have that to spend. This is neither the owner nor deans fault. It's simply FFP. 

Simply saying we can sell trez and bring another winger in is football manager type speak. It's easy on there, I play it. I sold trez to China for £17m. PERFECT. But it's not going to happen in the real world.

I just don't think it's a coincidence that those that think all this is easy are those that are complaining about Smith.

It's funny though, also, that despite those teams you mentioned being so bad. 1 is sat behind us, 1 is 1 point ahead of us having played a game more.

The other 2, only 1 side in the entire English game has managed to sit above them that you wouldn't expect to be there... But it's Deans fault for us not being there? I just can't get my head round it. 

To compare us to Leicester is even more bizarre. They have had years and years of building a squad full of £20m plus players. Developing the players they buy. Being able to buy shit and replace it after a couple of years if they aren't good enough. They spent £31m on a 19 year old in the summer. We aren't there. We are a long way off that. If you're comparing us to Leicester now, then we may aswell give up now on Smith and any other manager we employ. Even with multiple injuries, they are better than us 

On 15/03/2021 at 14:05, MotoMkali said:

Look you have to play it like that. There is probably about a foot for margin of error on these balls otherwise it goes too high and sails over the box or the keeper catches it. Or you hit the first man. Hitting the first man is better because if your team plans well you can have a person attack the front post to either knock it on or glance it into the net like we have done several times this and last season. Hell hourihane hit the first man about half the time. It looks bad but is necessary. 

It's no surprise you are so against Dean Smith when you are this lenient to players being unable to cross. It's all on the manager and the players arent to blame.

12 minutes ago, T2CSCFC said:

Hourihane has been an unmitigated disaster for us (Swansea) and that view is almost universally held now

I've never seen a pro footballer who can't even run let alone tackle. Since he's come in he's completely unbalanced the side and lost all energy or zip. His close control is very poor and he hides every game. The odd free kick doesn't go anywhere near enough to compensate for all that.

 

Also think he didn't fancy it one bit v Cardiff and couldn't wait to get off. Please take him back.

Thanks for the feedback. Which I'm not surprised by. He was a fantastic pro for us, but definitely would go missing in games and didn't have the legs for high energy.

It's not a shock that a few on this forum have been trying to say Conor should still be here because he can do a job. 

Genuinely hope Swansea come up, have a bit of a soft spot for them and was actually at the Johnstone paint final (equivalent sponsor) from that year, when they beat Carlisle (I think) 1-0 and Trundle scored a worldie volley at the millennium stadium. The Swansea fans I was with made a huge thing about it being in Cardiff too which was fun!

57 minutes ago, VillaFaninLondon said:

 

Thanks. I can see this from both sides really. I can see what Dean is trying to do. He's right in what he says, when I was 18-24 before the missus and kids, I was up all hours. There's no doubting that in my mind. He's trying to allow footballers to live as normal lives a possible, I guess. 

But, I also see the discipline side to it. A player gets paid enough, he should be able to train at 10.30am. 

Is it specifically a change we made after the covid break to change our form? Because we were fantastic before it. Was discipline an issue then? Was being up late a problem then?

10 minutes ago, VillaFaninLondon said:

10-12 games isn’t really a short term thing like you say, as we’re talking about 3 months there, but ok. 

 

I can guarantee both City fans at the start of the season and Liverpool fans now grumbling about that form and not happy with it. Don’t think their performances dropped quite as much as ours have though.

 

What I want, hmm let’s see:
•    To beat the weaker teams in the league and not drop unnecessary points (OK, can’t guarantee you might slip up once or twice in these games, but it’s happened 6-7 times to us this season)
•    To stop playing in the same predictable manner of flinging crosses into the box for nobody like last night, or hitting long balls up to Ollie like at Newcastle
•    To learn to play without Jack and get the best out of other players – some of this is a personnel issue I understand, but players like Luiz, McGinn, Barkley are paying well within themselves and this can’t be just down to the player
•    To tweak the system and occasionally spring some surprises (tactics, formation, preparation etc) – Smith is too easy to get the better of tactically

 

I also am concerned that the players are up late at night playing games and training later than most teams, it doesn't seem right to me and suggests a lack of discipline.

 

I don’t want Smith gone, but I believe the final 10 games of the season are important. If this form continues and we slip badly down the table (not saying this will happen, just hypothesizing), then serious questions have to be asked of his management. 

 

First off I want him to win at least three of the final 10 games because I believe there are three winnable games there. If he can add another 1 or 2 surprise wins out of nowhere (possibly Everton), or a couple of draws, that will be great too, but at least beat the teams we should be beating. 

Where has this come from? Can you help me out please? I don't do social media, so will probably need some help as to where these sorts of things have come from and how we can compare it to other teams!

43 minutes ago, Kingman said:

It is Thursday, Thats why I said tomorrow. 

Well, ignore me then. I'll crawl back into the hole I came from. 

9 minutes ago, Kingman said:

Yeah, Could of sworn it was Wednesday today? 

I thought it was Thursday so googled it when I saw you commenting it was today and it's definitely tomorrow at 2pm. As per the fa website