DaveAV1

I’m old enough to have had the pleasure to be around during the Saunders days and those days were truly wonderful. The man himself has been rightly lauded since his passing and the phrase many people have used to sum him up was, “Would you bet against us.” Now that was a wonderful piece of psychology by Ron to bring hope to supporters and players alike and of course it worked. However I remember that Ipswich game and we really didn’t play well. I can only imagine the social media posts after that game had it existed. Not good enough, bottled it, players should have been rested etc. You could have said the same after our final game at Highbury. As it was results favoured us and Saunders great heart and spirit that he instilled into the team brought us through and we deservedly won the league. What I’m trying to say is, even the best teams aren’t perfect and even the greatest of seasons have their low points. No matter what level we’re at, sticking together, not folding when the pressure is on and avoiding knee jerk reactions will stand us in good stead in the long term. I know the modern world is an impatient place, but old principles still have an important role to play. Sacking managers every few months hasn’t exactly worked well in the past. I recall Klopp getting stick a couple of seasons ago and heaven knows what they would have said about Fergie finishing something like 11th in, I think it was in his second season.

Ironically I think he may be safe if we got relegated rather than just stayed up. If we slump and look like going down in Feb, then I think he will go at that point. If we go down on the last day by a fine margin then they may feel that he can be the man to bring us back up. If however we just stay up and the board think that perhaps we should have done better and he’s reached his ceiling then again I think Dean could go. Whatever happens I believe the board will review the situation with an open mind in the summer and make a decision fairly quickly one way or the other.

I don’t disagree that the pressure is mounting and we all know that the football business isn’t known for its patience and calm reaction. I do think though that he’ll be afforded some more time. That said, I’d hope that we do have a plan regarding a successor as we should always have. If we were top of the league we should have a plan as whoever the manager is they could step under a bus tomorrow.

Whilst I agree that on paper they are no great shakes, the evidence that they are a team to be feared is the simple fact that they are 5th in the league. There seems to be an attitude that the teams to be feared are those that are considered to be traditionally top six or “big clubs” and teams like Sheffield United and even Leicester will surely be a pushover once they realise they’re playing the mighty Villa, who have just been promoted via the playoffs, have a relatively inexperienced squad that has been hurriedly assembled over one transfer window and a coach that is only in his 16th PL game. Yes we need to improve, because there will be no points for sympathy, but we also need to be realistic. It sounds like we were awful today and have indisputably been poor for the last few games, with too many key players not on form. But seasons are like that especially for teams in our position, knee jerk reactions won’t help. We can’t change the manager every time we go on a bad run, otherwise most teams with the exception of perhaps one or two would get through half a dozen managers a season. The club have invested heavily both financially and in terms of philosophy They’ve publicly stated that they want a playing style to run through all age levels and have a philosophy of buying players with potential to develop and offer the opportunity to, where appropriate, have value in the transfer market. It’s 14th December, less than two weeks ago we had just played very well at Old Trafford for the first time in years. At this moment I believe it’s highly unlikely that the board are suddenly going to rip all this up and start again.

Perhaps they thought that a new contract would give him support and the confidence to continue to believe in his style of play? I would imagine it came with a fair few clauses and targets. From what I’ve heard about the owners I doubt it would have been done with any sentimentality or without consideration of all the risks involved.

I think we possibly underestimate how much influence Mings has on our style of play. It’s surely not a coincidence that we went for hoofing the ball rather than playing it out from the back. He makes the odd ricket by sometimes over playing, but generally, on the evidence of this game, his influence is huge. I know this doesn’t excuse the performance overall and by most players, but it can’t be ignored.

The same fans who knew for a fact that we wouldn’t even make the playoffs. Anyone who suggested such a thing was ridiculed early last year. But they know best....

So you don’t think that adding a player like Maupay would make any difference because we don’t involve the striker in our style of play? I don’t think Wes is comfortable or confident at the moment and as a result doesn’t get himself involved enough. I’m not saying he deliberately hides, but it’s fine margins, especially with strikers, as to whether they’re effective or not. I hope he finds his way, but he’s struggling right now. Fortunately we are scoring goals from other areas otherwise we’d be in real trouble.

I think time on the ball is a big factor, you just don’t get much of it in the PL. Benteke struggled at first, but settled to the pace of the game reasonably quickly. Savo on the other hand never really got used to it. He moved abroad and if I recall, was for a while anyway, top goal scorer in Europe. Wes at the moment looks more Savo than Benteke. Hopefully for him and the team that changes quickly.

I like this idea, or perhaps a walk of fame set into the pavement? We can all think of plenty of names from the past to make a decent start then that can be added to as we dominate English and European football over the next couple of centuries.....

I agree with this. I believe the board buy into the Villa man in charge thing and will also realise that from where we were 12 months ago, he’s done pretty well. However they will expect him to carry on doing well, they are extremely ambitious and I think their expectations are probably mid table this season. They’ll give him time and I think he’ll finish this season provided we’re not going rapidly backwards and not showing signs of knowing how to turn things around. However there will be a full appraisal of the management/coaching team early on in the summer. Dean Smith will only keep his job if they think that he has the ability to move us forward the following season. Mitigating circumstances, major injuries etc will be taken into account but sentimentality will play no part in the decision making and neither should it. I hope we finish the season strongly and that Dean can carry us forward and be a successful manager for us for years to come, but if not then AVFC comes first and there will be a change. I’m pretty sure Dean is very aware of this and whilst to be successful at any job you have to back your own ability, I doubt he’ll kid himself if he’s not able to match the ambitions of the club.

I think you’re right, but I doubt we will be looking to do anything in January, given the nature of the market and the issue of not making too many mid season changes.

In the last two matches the importance of a good striker was very evident. Particularly in the Chelsea game, if we’d had Tammy and they’d had Wesley the result could have been different. I won’t slaughter the lad and hope that with time he will develop into a good striker, but it’s a big ask for the kid to run the line without any real help. A good striker in January would make a huge difference to the team and could even spark an upturn in Wesley too.

I think it’s a combination of jadedness and playing too far forward that has seen his form drop off. The reason he’s playing further forward is probably to offer more support for the struggling Wesley. Adding an effective and energetic striker in January is vital both for goals and the effect it could have on other players including John McGinn.

You mean when you were chosen.

My Dad took a group of kids to BMH as they’d been invited to watch The Villa train. The security then wasn’t as it is now and so Dad just parked up the minibus and walked into the changing rooms looking for someone who might know they were coming. He immediately met Brian Little who was an absolute gentleman, knew Dad’s name and said he’d go and find the boss. My Dad thought Ron would say a quick hello and get someone to show them around, but that wasn’t the case at all. Ron was charming, made a big fuss of the kids and took them all out to the first team training pitch, stopped training and set up a match for the kids to watch. All the players were equally wonderful to the kids, everyone got autographs and had a kick around with the team. Dad was so impressed with Ron, the players and the whole club. We were both immensely proud of our football club. I apologise to anyone who has heard me tell this story before on here, but I thought it might be a fitting time to recount it again. Thank you from all of us Ron. Rest in peace boss, you were hard as nails but had a big heart and truly knew people, a man’s man.

Who are you and where have you hidden villalad21?

Lansbury is 80!?? I know he’s knocking on a bit now, but 80, surely not???

We’re not going to get rid of Wesley, he’s young and has only played 14 games at PL level. He’s developing and settling in both on and off the pitch. Some players do it instantly, others take months, some don’t settle at a club at all. Benteke took a couple of months or so before he started to look like the player he eventually became for us and to be honest he hasn’t as yet reach those heights at either Liverpool or Palace. Ken McNaught took about two thirds of a season, I shudder to think of the abuse he would have got these days on social media, but once he settled we couldn’t play without him. I agree he has plenty of room for improvement, but it’s much too early to write him off, particularly as we now have a coaching set up that is very good at developing players. I think we should and probably will be in the market for a striker in January to both play with and instead of Wesley depending on the circumstances. It will help the lad and certainly take some of the weight of expectation and responsibility off his shoulders. It also shouldn’t be forgotten that we are scoring a decent amount of goals as a team and he is our leading scorer. He’s a young player that’s leading the line at a major club in the biggest league in the world. That’s some responsibility. I’m sure he and the coaches know he needs to improve, but he also needs time and patience. A strike partner that brings us something different and we could see him suddenly take off. I hope so anyway.

Odious, classless, little oik. It amazes and disgusts me in equal measures that the clueless idiots at the BBC spend licence fee money on such a knuckle dragging fool.

That’s the first time and probably last that Fergie has been compared to Doug. I’m not even sure if Fergie could do a bicycle kick!

That’s spot on. Macca was never afraid to put into row Z if the need arose, but then again we are talking about a world class footballer in his case, but still the point is valid, Mings needs to improve that important element of his game.

But factually accurate.

Man Poo and Man Shitty. Come on embrace your inner child

Brucie has probably got a plan for dealing with Snodgrass and Abraham.