Pimlico_Villa

He was asked in his press conference about injuries and he just said Kodjia. Leaving Luiz out today is unforgivable

The only explanation I can think of for not making the subs is that he genuinely thinks the bench is not of sufficient quality and that he doesn’t trust them.

Would have played better if it had been a TV game.

Which is why he should have made better subs earlier. He sticks with his favourites too much.

Not being funny, but where has he shown his acumen this season? Genuinely curious.

No way will our owners have patience with him unless he is showing clear progress or the ability to learn. He is doing neither. They’ll compare today with the Spurs game and deduce that he either a) hasn’t learned that you can’t just sit back against top teams or b) he has bought garbage

I don’t think he is learning. The Spurs game should have taught him not to sit deep against good sides, yet that is exactly what he did today

Have to say that this is on Smith. If Luiz was left out of squad for tactical reasons, then that is a huge, huge error. Why on earth bring Elmo on? He is a liability.

I think he realises that there are other players ahead of him to play the 10 role for England, so he is insisting on playing an 8 role for us to show his versatility and maximise his chances of selection England. I only think he wants to play for England to boost his commercial profile and to make it more likely for someone to pay his £60M release fee. Especially with a major tournament next summer. Very, very selfish and Smith should be more authoritative instead of letting him play where he wants to play.

Agreed, 100%. Before a major international tournament, players will want to be playing.

Don’t think he thought he was better, just wanted to minimise disruption in personnel from last season

Can sense another refereeing howler. Don’t know why.

Thing is, a £60M striker in Jan is really a £40M player. Would be better to scavenge a Loan

I don’t think we get enough Refereeing decisions for that tactic to be effective

If we’re still in touching distance of surviving, then I would definitely buy a proper striker as well as a pacey winger. Anyone we could get on Loan?

True, but nowadays teams play with one striker and therefore need an attacking component from full backs.

Agree, but I think one of those MFs needs to play more advanced if we are going to score goals. Would sacrifice a winger to play a 10

Could get retrospectively punished for his dive against WHU as well. Maybe he could use his one leg longer than the other excuse, though.

Agreed on the 3 at the back point. If we aren't scoring goals then it is vital we don't concede. Playing Targett would likely be neutral: what we'd gain going forward would be offset by more defensive fragility. Plus, playing Targett implies we would get balls into the box, which is not effective as Wes cannot head the ball. So, not sure we would gain anything. In saying that, though, the Arsenal game is a free punt (pains me to say that) where Smith can at least try and be attacking. At the very least he should play Grealish further forward. Sneaky suspicion that his approach is more 'solid at the back and score on the counter'.

Should play more narrow/central as he hasn't got the pace or strength to play out wide. See him as a good link between midfield and Wes, but he just gets too isolated playing out wide

I actually think we'll have to wait until January to bring in some quality and pace in attack and will just have to try and get goals from midfield up until then. Can;t see us getting much else from our current front three. Maybe, we could move Grealish into an attacking role, but doesn't look like Smith wants to do that.

I think he has been a bit disrespectful of this League. He's approached it with swagger, thinking he can stroll past players like he did in the Championship. He should be more humble and cognisant of the calibre of players he is now up against. Can see him fading, especially if we bring in some quality/pace in January, which has to be the priority.

Think he needs the help of a designated Striker coach to try and get Wes firing.

Also, in general, I just don't think we have a goal threat

I don't think we are playing to his strengths. He likes to make clever runs across the box and meet through balls and has shown he can be effective with that approach. I don't know why we are trying to hit crosses at him because he just cannot head the ball. His hold up play is commendable, albeit he needs to start holding defenders off more effectively, but even if he does hold it up there is not a player in sight - either they are out wide or there is too big of a gap between our midfield and him. It's a real conundrum because he needs game time to improve, yet he needs to start doing the business soon otherwise it will kill us. If we drop him now then he won't recover and that will be a waste of £22M. We should either go 2 up top with Davis, or at least start playing to Wes' strengths.