PaddytheVillan

It's mental that people are saying Bournemouth are down when they are on the same points as us, with an easier set of fixtures to come. We have no win in 9, and they are capable of scoring regardless of opposition. 

This is either delusion or arrogance. 

Gutted, put in a good shift but our team is not good enough. 2 goals in 5 games and 2 points from 15. 

We shouldn't be relying on points vs Liverpool, but we are, and this is more points gone in the breeze. 

5 hours ago, villalad21 said:

That's why Lambert managed to keep us afloat for 2 seasons.

He always managed to get some big scalps. Some good memories against Liverpool and Chelsea.

3-2 win against Citeh with Weimann scoring the winner sticks out the most.

Spot on. You need a couple of unexpected results, as you won't beat all the teams around you. This season: we shouldn't be relying on points vs United or LFC, but that's what happens if Bournemouth and Southampton do the double over you...

5 hours ago, useless said:

If Watford win tonight that's us almost as good as down. We desperately need this to be the one time Chelsea don't slip up.

They managed to avoid slipping up against us, though it was nice of our defence to make it so easy for them. 

This will be brutal - not only are Liverpool excellent and on top of the world, but we are terrible against top teams and the players looked bored, demotivated and aimless v Wolves. 

I would say they'll put at least 4 past us sadly, and can't see us scoring.  

I think he's shown some potential, despite an awful game yesterday (along with all others bar Luiz). 

He will be very good in the Championship.

Every player utterly awful other than Luiz.  Humiliating to not create a chance, even from set pieces. It will be tough to rebuild from the Championship. 

No more words to say. One of the worst performances in a season of awful games. 

Apparently Luiz now speaks a bit of English, which has helped him immensely. He'll go back to Citeh at some point. 

Wolves are too good not to score. We'Lloyd need at least two, which won't happen. 

As soon as the commentator said that Carroll and Gayle hadn't scored for 36 games combined or something ridiculous, we knew what was going to happen. The Villa defence didn't need to make it so easy though.

A really poor second half, Trezeguet can't play for us again. Our wingers are not good enough - we need to either play with wing backs or narrow out and pack the midfield with two up top. We can't keep carrying weak, disinterested, wide players that lack quality. 

This needed to be 3 points and wasn't. It's not enough. 

Poetic justice that Bruce sends us down. We can't create chances, can't score, and make 5+ stupid, avoidable mistakes in defence each game. Another summer of rebuilding for the Championship awaits...

Fairly sure Bruce is going to be the person to send us down - maybe some poetic justice there for how some of our fans treated him in the later days...

Agree that we have to go for a formation with 3 CBs...

Steer (where is he??)

Elmo Konsa Mings Hause Targett

McGinn Nakamba Luiz

Grealish 

Davis

Not a huge fan of Hause or Konsa, but I am happy to mostly stick with the starting XI v Blades.

Steer

Konsa Hause Mings Targett

McGinn Nakamba Hourihane

Samatta Davis Grealish

Got to figure out a way to get Davis and Samatta into the same XI - I think this will be vital for our season. 

Nyland is mostly an excellent shot stopper - in that he can make incredibly athletic and seemingly impossible saves. This was on display in buckets v LCFC, and kept us in a game we should have lost. However, he's completely erratic at a lot of the other areas of goalkeeping - judgment of high balls, collecting crosses, organising a defence, distribution etc. At his age, which is not young, I can't see how he will improve on this.

Steer is not as good a shot stopper, and is not top class, but is a much more consistent, balanced keeper. We saw that for the second half of last season. If he is fit and ready, he needs to be number 1, Nyland 2 and Reina 3. And then we'll have Heaton back next season. 

38 minutes ago, OxfordVillan said:

...............................Nyland............................

Guilbert..........Engels.......Mings........Targett

McGinn.......Nakamba......Drinky.......Grealish 

.................Davis...............Samatta..................

 

Bench; Reina, Elmo, Hause, Konsa, Ramsey, Vassilev, Luiz, ElGhazi, Trezeguet. 
 

4-4-2. Disciplined back 4, FBs instructed that first duty is to defend. We have the forward players to win the game if we don’t leave ourselves exposed and needing to score 3 or more to win it. I’m convinced that with Grealish, McGinn, Samatta, and Davis in the lineup we will cause problems and score. This game should present a great opportunity for Drinkwater to finally step up, no excuses about being behind with fitness now. If he fails to show then we’re down to Luiz, and he just doesn’t have the experience or grit that we require at the moment, imo.

I think we'll use Drinky from the bench. Not sure why McGinn would play wide right? Has he played there before?
I do like the idea of Davis and Samatta - Dean likes 433 and Samatta has played well in the past in a 3 up top so he might play there, with Keinan through the middle. 

Steer

Guilbert Engels Mings Targett

McGinn Nakamba Luiz

Samatta Davis Grealish 

Subs: Nyland, Elmo, Konsa, Hause, Hourihane, Lansbury, Drinkwater, El Ghazi, Vassilev 

 

With five subs in the back, this would be easy to switch up to a 41212 if needed, or bring on El Ghazi if we need width. 

It will be pretty gutting if we get relegated. Maybe I'm over rating some of our players, but we'll lose a team that clearly have good camaraderie, and are on the whole good players. We have a few top players like Mings, McGinn and Grealish, and a few players with the potential to develop to that level like Nakamba, Luiz, Guilbert, Davis, Samatta. In fact, the only complete write off players we have (in my opinion) are Konsa and Trezeguet, who should be moved on regardless of what happens this summer.

We were utterly appalling just before the season was paused; getting pasted by Leicester and losing to really weak teams like Southampton and Bournemouth. Hopefully the break will benefit us, the realist part of me says we'll be almost as bad as we were before and end up going down. 

Steer is fit again I think, I saw an interview with him. But he hasn't played regular football for over a year, so I imagine he will be very rusty. Nyland looks really good in patches but always has a clanger in him. Agree that I'd go for either over Reina, but praying Heaton will be fit and the PL will allow him an exemption to join the 25 man squad. I think they have to given the change in calendar. 

Any chance Heaton will be fit for any part of the season (assuming a completion date of late July)? And if so, anyone know if he will be eligible to play? He would be a huge improvement on Reina or Nyland. 

Not at all what we need right now. Ridiculous to sign a starter that's 21 with next to no English football experience.

Likely will be decent in the future. Very poor right now, an absolute liability in a weak team. 

12 minutes ago, MaVilla said:

Yes I see your point.

But what so you want them to do, post something like this?

My point is they had two posts that were respectful and bigger than football - Teale's birthday and Sid. That's plenty of content for one day. Sometimes the hardest decision to make is doing nothing. I think we are embarrassing ourselves posting a clip of us beating Wolves 4-1 two years ago. 

Social media, especially to the younger generation, is part of how fans connect to the club. The stupid content, and the tin-earred approach to comments and feedback, really grind my gears. 

Couldn't find a specific thread on this anywhere or a thread this would naturally fit in to.

I work in communications and PR, so know how difficult it is. And I realise I'm probably also looking for an easy target to lash out at. But Villa's social media team, particularly on Twitter and Facebook, are really irritating me. In the build-up to the match they kept on posting stupid photos with "feeling positive" and images of JT and Smith, and "Back between the sticks" with an image of Reina. We had next to nothing to feel positive about going into the game after five straight defeats and in 19th, and then went into the game and got smashed, with no positivity, tactics and a clanger from the man "back between the sticks". 

Today, they wishes Shaun Teale a happy birthday (which is fine) and posted a thoughtful message about Sid. But then they post a bizarre interview with Nakamba (probably the best player of a bad bunch yday), and even worse stupid "throwbacks" to Grealish scoring v Blues and us beating Wolves on this day two years ago. Totally clueless and embarrassing - especially considering that we'll likely be playing Blues again next season, and where Wolves are now comparatively. The comments consisted of angry Villa fans telling them to stop, and Albion / Leeds / Leicester trolls. 

Sometimes, silence is a choice and one that the Villa guys seem desperate not to take. They're professionals, and they should know when what they are doing is riling the fans and creating further discord. 

Is this just me? Genuinely trying to decide if I'm subconsciously looking for a scapegoat, or if others feel the same. 

An absolute spanking here will make it difficult for the owners to stick with Smith. A worse result may be another "plucky' 1 or 2 goal margin late defeat.

Either way, this will be comfortable for Chelsea. Even if McGinn is fit enough to start (which is a risk in itself) we'll still be stuck playing either Luiz or Hourihane. 

18 minutes ago, useless said:

Well people moan about the players giving up and not having any believe, but sometimes the fans are just as bad in that sense. Yes survival is going to be very tough, but to just completely give up now and  write-off our chances is ridiculous, we're in a position that at the start of the season many claimed that they expected us to be.

Although most (including me) expected us to be in and around the relegation zone, I didn't expect to see us getting destroyed week in, week out. Whether  by Bournemouth, Southampton, Leicester or Man City, it's not good enough and there is no silver lining, frankly it's getting worse each week.

We can't keep a clean sheet, and with Grealish out of form we can't create chances. I don't see how this is going to change with our current management and coaching in place in our upcoming fixtures against Man City, Man Utd, Chelsea, Arsenal, Liverpool, Wolves, Everton? I'm not totally sure we will even win one more game this season. The Leicester game isn't the exception, it's the rule. 

I can't believe we spent  £140m and have the worst team in the league.

Going down, and in such a miserable fashion.