A'Villan

His distribution is fine as well. He passed it out 30 times against Derby and only twice did it not reach a Villa player successfully, both passes were long balls. I generally agree with what you're saying, though he still has an error in him. Grabban's goal was a tame effort that never should have made it between Nyland and the near post.

If you take the Forest game out of the equation we are conceding 0.7 goals per game and scoring 2 goals per game under Smith. That's not bad at all. Smith has shown that by having an effective strategy and game plan the team can operate in a way that optimises the results of the players efforts. Bruce and Smith both have defensive players that are capable at this level, it's the way that each has chosen to setup as a team that is the difference. One heaps pressure on the opponent, the other invites pressure to be placed on us.

I believe our run of form is due to Smith having the team play with purpose and ambition. We're prepared for each fixture and play with a hunger to see that it's played on our terms. We were never going to get promoted on the basis that Steve Bruce had four promotions to his name or because the players we signed had performed well previously. Promotion will come from hard work and appropriate tactics in the here and now. From having players buy into the coaches setup and being motivated to perform from one fixture to the next in order to give us the best chance of victory in each. As for selection I think we have seen glimpses of brilliance from across the squad and have top quality players throughout, Smith seems to be getting the best out of them all. "You're only as good as your last performance" I doubt there will be any resting on our laurels under Smith and the above will probably be an apt motto for the season ahead.

I read this earlier today, you may find it of interest: https://eflanalysis.com/analysis/championship/aston-villa/dean-smith-aston-villa-tactical-analysis-statistics Interestingly you are spot on regarding the straights balls being played on the floor from deep midfield to the edge of the area. Hourihane attempted 8 of those out of his 50 passes against Derby and that's shown in a graphic in the link above. If you only take Smith's games into account, Villa are the highest ranked for shots per game, possession retention and pass completion. We also are equal first for points amassed per game. Our pressing game has our opponents averaging only 73% pass completion while we are well over 80%. That goes hand in hand with us having a higher possession share and more shots on goal per game than any other team in the division. Opponents have doubled the amount of fouls given by us in every fixture except the Norwich game, which still saw Norwich concede more fouls than us. This has meant we are easily the leagues highest scorers from set pieces this season, with a total of 15 goals.

Fred Hampton was a genius and an old soul despite being only 21 years old on the day of his assassination. He achieved a lot more than providing a breakfast program. He doesn't get as much recognition as Malcom X or MLK Jnr but his message and deeds were equally significant. That's why he was taken out by COINTELPRO.

Only Norwich are averaging as many points per game as us under Smith. Having Bruce as manager for the first quarter of the season has meant that Smith has to make up ground on our rivals, a deficit which might be insurmountable even with over half the season to play. Even still, we are making our mark on the league as possibly the best team and will fear no one as the season progresses. If we continue playing the brand of football that Smith has implemented we will continue to have the edge over our opponents and put ourselves in position to take the points, or at least something, in each fixture.

Absolutely. We are also averaging 2 points per game under Smith. No team in the division except Norwich are doing that. So by all means we are playing like a team that belongs in the top 2.

Averages under Smith are impressive. 2.4 goals per game. 16.8 shots per game. 60% possession. Over 80% pass completion. The opposition have doubled our foul count in every fixture except Norwich, which they still had more fouls than us. We are the number one team for shots per game, possession and pass completion averages under Smith.

It's a bit premature for any team to think they have an automatic promotion place on lock. We can only focus on what's ahead of us and at the moment it's taking 3 points from West Brom who are 4 points better placed than us and 5 places higher in the standings. I don't want to get carried away but we have been impressive so far under Smith and look like one of the competitions best teams. There's a long way to go but should our form and performances continue as they have been, there's not going to be too many other teams in the league who can match us, on the day or on the points tally. There's no guarantees though and with over half the season to be played there's much to be done. I think the run between now and first week of January will be a good indicator of how capable we are of picking up the points necessary to make up the ground between us and the top 2.

Can't blame anyone for thinking that automatic promotion is within our grasp this season, I do too. It will be a big ask given our start to the season and current deficit but we've shown that we're capable of beating anyone in this league and that we're playing the kind of football that will give us an edge in matches so that we come out on top more often than not. Even in our last defeat against QPR we had just under 70% possession and over 80% pass completion compared to their 60% pass completion. So far under Smith we have been in the contest in every match and in most matches we have had the better of our opponent. It's been enough to win most of our games under Smith. We can only take it a game at a time and hope that at the end of our fixture list we have been consistent enough to be at the top. There's some tough games between now and the first week of January but there's no denying that so far Smith and the team have risen to the occasion, against some tough competition.

Pretty confident neither. I didn't get a chance to ask though. I did establish that for everyone else the high was similar to any other bud. No one else who smoked experienced anything like what I did. I'm not entirely sure it was completely related to smoking the joint. I've had synthetic on two occasions and both were unpleasant experiences, only similarity to this experience was the onset and overwhelming sensation of losing touch with usual perception. There wasn't really much of a feeling of being 'stoned' rather an increasing faintness, loss of sight and balance.

Probably good advice. That occasion was truly a standalone anomaly. I've never experienced anything like it in the thousands of times I've used cannabis.

I criticise LeBron all the time for the amount of time he spends on the ball. '86 Celtics were the epitome of team basketball and saw the Spurs dynasty modeled to be like them. Likewise the 80's Lakers were notorious for the passing game of Magic. The UntouchaBulls dynasty was achieved through the trust placed on the supporting cast of Jordan and the team tactics of coach Jackson. The Pistons could have enjoyed a dynasty and were no doubt collective outfit. Even the Lakers' three-peat side had to work as a team despite it having the leagues two best players in Shaq and Kobe. Now we see a GSW team carving up the competition and making full use of the five players on court. Klay Thompson's 60 point game a prime example of this, he held the ball for a total of 90 seconds. It's a team game. Apart from a Miami Heat team which you could argue should have seen more success, LeBron has failed to achieve in a team setting.

Add to that the competition for his signature, which will probably be greater than Iheanacho. Let's look on the brightside though. We have a player enjoying his football at our club and who in all probability will be adequate for the Premier League. When it comes time to make a decision on his future he will have us down as a place where he has had success in what should be the priority for him, playing good football.

Three-peats are very hard. I'm not following the NBA at the moment but GSW need to sort it out and soon if they want to make history. Am I right in thinking that only the Celtics (Russell), Bulls (Jordan) and Lakers (Kobe and Shaq) have achieved it in the games history? From what I hear the raptors are a dark horse side for the championship this season?

I don't want to take the limelight away from Vince here. He is a special player. But this is just another example of how great Jordan really was. Jordan averaged just under 20ppg at age 40.

You got to take 'em to make 'em and that goal was superb. Great to have yet another player who can produce the goods available for selection.

Ten goals in thirteen games. What a tremendous season he's en route to have. Not just in goal tally terms, general contribution. I remember when this loan was initially being discussed I said I hadn't seen Abraham but would prefer we used Hogan, Davis or made amends with McCormack. My word I can be a bellend!

I was wondering where the GIFted one had got to. Welcome back.

I spent most of my life aspiring to be like and admiring players from other clubs as the best in the world. I've never been so fond of a footballer as I am Grealish and proud to have him at the club I support. I actually start to catch feelings with the idea of him spending his career here and contributing to our rise to the top.

That two-touch chop between feet spin move and then effort on goal from outside the box was absolutely sublime. Honestly if it went in it would've been one of the best goals I've ever seen from a Villa player.

@TRO I guess I was referring to the individual efforts of our defense as opposed to the defensive performance of the team. Even though they kind of go hand in hand, the way both teams played the game, notably on the front foot, was more cause for the game seeing 10 goals go in than any particularly bad or "shambolic" mistakes from players. As I said, I didn't see the first two Forest goals and so can't comment, but aside from Hourihane allowing Lolley time to set himself for his shot and Nyland allowing Grabban's tame effort between him and the near post, the game was filled with moments where the defenders were put to the test, and I saw numerous occasions where our defenders (Tuanzebe and Hutton mostly) put in commendable efforts.

"Running water never grows stale, so you got to just keep on flowing"

It's the only television show that has sparked my interest enough to watch in it's entirety other than The Wire and Breaking Bad. Edit: I might've seen every episode of the Dragon Ball series but that was as a child.