DaveAV1

What baffles me, and the lads I go down the Villa with, is what is it that Bruce, or whoever does the halftime talk, actually says? Because whatever it is they need to stop saying it. No matter how well or badly we have played in the first half, the second is almost invariably worse. Teams always seem to come out in the second half re-energised, and we seem to let the whole tempo of the game be dictated by the opposition. Why????

There were two guys behind me, (upper Holte), and the vitriol they had for Taylor was outrageous. We hadn't played 5 minutes and one of them called him a "useless sheep shagging bastard". It turns out they were Amavi fans, who they referred to as the best player we had at the club. For the record I think Amavi is a good player as a wing back, but in recent games has been poor and made a lot of mistakes. But to slag a player in a Villa shirt like that, particularly on his debut, was disgusting. I hadn't seem them before and they sounded like a pair of FIFA playing cliche sprouting knobs. Anyway that's that off my chest and nobody got thumped!

I think essentially, to sum up what sne has said above, very well laid out and argued if I may say so, is that the single most important thing in modern football is money. Whilst it can't guarantee success, lack of it almost certainly makes it extremely difficult. Even Leicester, remarkable though the achievement was last season, had a very supportive owner who had invested a reasonably decent amount. 

Lerner imvested plenty in the early years, but it was mismanaged by a combination of MON and a complete lack of management structure above him. Lerner eventually became bored and  disolutioned and so the opportunity was lost. I blame him and MON in almost equal measures, but ultimately Lerner because he was the guy, supposedly, in charge. 

We must be wary of that happening again. Owners are like players, yes they kiss the badge and profess undying love, but ultimately the majority aren't like us. It's not in their hearts or their blood. They chose, they weren't chosen. 

The time is now, we mustn't squander it again. 

1 hour ago, itdoesntmatterwhatthissay said:

Petrov could control the ball and find a pass. His defensive positioning was okay and his tackling poor, so he just worked his way to being fouled or staying close to the man without sticking a foot in....I've seen nothing from Gardner which suggests he has the brain to play a position alien to him. And he definitely doesn't have the skills for it which means when the pressure is on he can't find a way out.

Having said that we're a Championship club and he most certainly is a Championship player....and he's still young enough to reassess his career.

I agree it's a bit of a long shot, but even after a complete January overhaul, we only have one average, aging, injury prone defensive midfielder. So you can surely understand my desperation!

That was sung during BFR's reign. I don't know why it died out. 

Also I believe there was actually a song recorded called, "Ooh Ahh Paul McGrath", which made the charts in Ireland, if not no.1 

Yes we have a friend in Jesus

Yes we have a friend in God

Yes we have a friend in Jesus

And his name is Paul McGrath

Ooh Ahh Paul McGrath, say ooh ahh Paul McGrath!

When Petrov came to us he was billed as an attacking midfielder. However he dropped back further into the midfield and did well in that roll. Could Gardener do the same? His most obvious attribute is his great shooting, but that doesn't have to disappear from his game as a holding midfielder. Arriving late when the ball is cleared to the edge of the box he'd be in a perfect position to shoot. Whether he can do the rest of it of course is another matter. 

38 minutes ago, villa4europe said:

That's where I disagree, you'll see that happen 10 times at villa park on Saturday without a card given

youll also see thors foul get a yellow card 9/10 times

Agreed. I moan all the time about the ball being kicked away and nothing given. At least not until the 10th time it happens and in the 89th minute.

While I'm on my soap box, it drives me mad when goal keepers waste time for virtually the whole of the second half and then get booked in injury time. Damage done, they'll take that. Book them with 30 minutes to go and see how long they take picking the right blade of grass to put the ball on!

Off topic sorry. 

The second booking I think we can all agree was one of those, "seen them given, seem them not given". Hard to argue with what ever the decision the ref makes. It was the first booking that was harsh, how many times do we see a booking for kicking the ball away in the first half? Very rarely I would suggest and he didn't really hoof it into row Z. Ok if it was late in the second half in a tight match then that's fair enough. Rules are rules you may say, but refs are so inconsistent that isn't how it plays out and to be fair the ref has some discretion and can take into account the state of play at the time. What would we be gaining from wasting time in the 30th minute or when ever it was?

We're only really debating this because it's Jack Grealish, who many of us feel frustrated with and because the rest of the team are causing equal frustrations. Hopefully in a few weeks time we will only be arguing about who scored the best goal in our latest 4 goal hammering of someone who dared to stand in our way  

2 minutes ago, The Fun Factory said:

Could give him a go on the last day of the season when nothing is riding on it. Other than that its far too early for him.

You believe we will be comfortably in the play off places by then? 

I think they will give him until the end of the season at least. If we finish strongly then he will get a he summer, but not huge amounts of money. Goal keeper and central defence being the main areas to spend on.  I believe however that the clock is ticking for him and Round, Wyness and Xia will have started looking for his successor. 

Xia made a comment soon after Bruce arrived, which basically said they had only employed him to get us up, but he had been impressed with him so he might stay on in the Prem if he gets us there. Clearly he doesn't see him as a man to take us massively forward, so he won't hesitate to pull the trigger in the summer if we're not making significant progress by then. 

3 minutes ago, villa89 said:

It's not his lack of pace that's the problem it's his speed of pass. He takes an age to do anything and seems shocked when he gets tackled dwelling on the ball. You might get lots of time playing U-21 football but not at this level. I wonder if he has ever played a one touch pass in his career. It's get the ball, take a touch, look around, take a touch, flick your hair, take a touch, look around again, maybe pass or else run down a dead end and give the ball away. The lad needs a lot of coaching. 

Despite just sort of defending him, that's spot on. Our goal, despite being made by Jack with a very good pass, was a fine example of a great finish by a confident, on form player, who doesn't need 2 or 3 touches before he makes his play. 

Like many people I think Grealish has a long way to go before he's "made it". If he ever does. However the fire directed at him tonight, although coming from the heart, is a little harsh. His second booking was unwise, but really not malicious. The first booking was frankly ridiculous. Yes he's a very easy target when things are going wrong, and he has brought that on himself. But when was the last time any of us saw a booking for kicking the ball away in the first half at nil nil? Besides that, it looked like he kicked it to their goalie, not into row Z. The ref wanted his moment and added to it by booking Hogan for not retreating quickly enough. Has anyone seen that happen in the first half very often either?

We can all look at reasons, and find, mostly justifiably, reasons for every defeat. Yes Johnstone spilt the ball, but so did their goalie but it bounced away harmlessly. We are going through a period when we can buy a win. Coming on top of the last 5 or 6 years compounds the depression for us and also is in part the reason. I'm not trying to make excuses for anyone, but sometimes in life, as many of us know,  everything just goes to shit no matter what you do. But also, those of us who have got past 50, know that eventually the sun comes out again. 

1 hour ago, Demitri_C said:

True say mate but I think we have had quite a easy run recently and have fallen even further behind. We have a lot of tough games coming up so I cant see us going on the run capable of getting in top 6

Sadly I think you're probably right. But a man's got to have a dream.....

10 minutes ago, Demitri_C said:

To be honest do we really wanna go up this season? We haven't found that consistency or been able to beat teams with ease yet therefore I fear if we went up we would just come back down again. I think we need another year down here to mke us a team again. We have sorted the home.form out at least which is promising for next season.

Then I think we can go up and have a real chance of staying up once we get there

I largely agree with you, we certainly don't look like a premier team at the moment. However if we found the kind of form we would need to get up from this position, then we would at least have a lot more confidence and team spirit than we currently have. 

Employ a teenager while they still know everything. 

With Gabby injured for now, and even if he wasn't injured, RHM should get a place on the bench amd with 18 more games he'll get get plenty of pitch time if he's as good as we all hope. The whole thing may have worked out for the best. Introducing him in a controlled manner, rather than chucking him in out of necessity and saying,"Go on son save our season". No matter how much talent the kid has, he's still just a kid with a lot to learn before he gets to the top. Which he hopefully will and in a Villa shirt. 

On 01/02/2017 at 06:47, VILLAMARV said:

Go back and read the last page mate, that's not what he's saying at all. He just wrote in quotations to quote rather than quoting quoting

Ah ok my mistake. Apologies smg and thanks VILLAMARV for putting me right. I get a bit defensive about the Villa at times! 

2 minutes ago, Eastie said:

The new lads need time - it's hard throwing in a whole new midfield - that said tonight was worse than anyone could expect .

I agree Eastie. Has anyone ever started a complete new midfield in the middle of a season before? It was a risky decision by Bruce and it didn't come off. However defensively we were garbage, James Chester who has been great up to tonight had a mare. These things happen, but they need game time together and will improve. Promotion this season is looking increasingly unlikely, but if we can finish the season strongly we will have the basis of a well bedded in team for next season. There seems to a lot of throwing out of the baby with the bath water tonight. Patience might be in short supply after what we've been through in the last few years, but we have to find a bit more yet. 

7 minutes ago, smg said:

'Overpriced Brentford mug' only a Villa supporter could greet a player who hasn't even kicked a ball yet like that. I'm not even sure it's been confirmed but no matter Villa supporters on here know best, he is crap !

Well you seem to be condemning him before he's kicked a ball. You know best I guess. 

He still has to pass his medical. I'm sure it's a formality. It is isn't it.............?

2 minutes ago, BOF said:

Yep this whole 'having people in positions they're competent at' thing is really quite good isn't it?

It's rather splendid. If only we'd thought of it years ago. 

3 minutes ago, Phumfeinz said:

We're far too light at CB to let Elphick go

I completely agree. 

There has been a story about Elphick going. I'm no fan, but I can't imagine we'd let him go now. Unless however we really rate this lad? Still seems unlikely though.