DaveAV1

We can talk all day and night about JG's strengths and weaknesses, but ultimately the one thing that concerns me most, is that I've never seen the lad bust a gut. I want him to succeed, I've defended him in many an argument, but without hard work no player ever fulfills their potential. 

I watched the first half of Bournmouth v Man Citeh last night, and the thing that stood out for me was the way Bournmouth worked so hard and in every position. They played for each other and everyone put in maximum effort. Citeh had a little more quality but Bournmouth were excellent. I can't remember the last time I saw a Villa team work like that, let alone Jack Grealish. 

Steve Bruce said when he was appointed, something along the lines, "I've been waiting for this chance for 20 years". That should have told us all we need to know. In 20 years the only big club that has appointed him is us, and even that was once we had been relegated to the Championship.

Whoever we appoint next both the club and the manager have to have a structured plan. Not just enthusiasm, hope and a pile of money. I'm not knocking the Doc at all, he's a breath of fresh air, but we need to get things right and quickly. The new man should be told that there will be some money for a goalkeeper and a centre half, but that's it, work with what you've got. If there are other aspects of the squad he wants to change than he has to look to the youth team or generate cash from sales. You know like a proper manager does.

Remember the Glacticos at Real Madrid a few years back. They bought every superstar they could get their hands on. On paper an incredible squad, but on the pitch they weren't a team and achieved, what was for them, very little. Comparisons, although at a completely different level, can be seen with with our squad right now.

6 minutes ago, villa89 said:

He is but the point is i dont care if I hate the new manager personally, if he can do even a semi decent job here it would be a breath of fresh air. Be it mick mccarthy or Johnny foreigner. At this stage I don't care. 

I can't fault your opinion there mate. 

2 minutes ago, villa89 said:

Can we hire a manager who's competent? I'm not looking for the next mourinho, just someone who can come in and get the best out of the squad of players he has, most of the time. For example a manager who can take this expensively assembled squad and get them playing like a team that will be in the tip 6 next season, where they should be. 

I don't care if the manager is Harry bloody redknapp at this stage. Just someone who isn't complete turd. 

I think you'll find Harry Redknapp is a complete turd. 

3 minutes ago, Davkaus said:

Yup. If he chooses to leave Huddersfield, it'll be for bigger and better things than a struggling Championship side.

We're not just any struggling Championship side, we're the mighty Aston Villa! Someday it will turn around and the man who does it can fulfill all his and our dreams. We just need someone who believes it and has the tools to do it.

18 minutes ago, Eastie said:

Or even RDM

Yeah him too!

Just now, DaveAV1 said:

He might if they don't come up and we can sell him his very own Aston Villa project. I was keen on him before Bruce, but to be fair my knowledge of him has only been gleaned from t'interweb. 

What I have found to be the most disappointing and frustrating aspects of this season though, has been the complete lack of competence and basics we have shown on the pitch. Whilst desirable, modern and forward thinking football shouldn't be essential in this division. We're not trying to compete with the top of the Premier League. With the amount we've spent a decent steady manager who can motivate the players, should have us competing for a play off place not nervously looking over our shoulders. To be fair, that's what I thought we were getting with Bruce!

And RMD!!

16 minutes ago, Eastie said:

Would Wagner come to villa though ? I'm not convinced he would come .

He might if they don't come up and we can sell him his very own Aston Villa project. I was keen on him before Bruce, but to be fair my knowledge of him has only been gleaned from t'interweb. 

What I have found to be the most disappointing and frustrating aspects of this season though, has been the complete lack of competence and basics we have shown on the pitch. Whilst desirable, modern and forward thinking football shouldn't be essential in this division. We're not trying to compete with the top of the Premier League. With the amount we've spent a decent steady manager who can motivate the players, should have us competing for a play off place not nervously looking over our shoulders. To be fair, that's what I thought we were getting with Bruce!

22 minutes ago, DCJonah said:

I think he probably will be a good signing once we sort out what position he is going to play and he gets up to speed. 

I just strongly disagree he was one of our best players yesterday and for me he shouldn't be starting yet. 

I think it's unfair on him. 

I'd say he was the most improved player, but he had set the benchmark a little low. I think he's a decent midfielder for a couple of million in an area where we were short. He does appear to lack any pace though. 

14 minutes ago, Eastie said:

Xia will stick with him in my opinion and has tweeted overnight words to that effect - his latest tweet minutes ago stating -

"4years,we had culture asking changes if things not going well. We need rebuild but stability is important. Dedication after belongingness."

"Belongingness", now there's a fine word. Give The Oxford English Dictionary a call! You've got to love The Doc 

Get him in then, and make Eastie head of coaching recruitment 

Just now, Eastie said:

Maybe Sack calderwood and get Mike phelan  in  as number 2 ?

That's not a terrible shout. Were they at Man U at the same time?

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.