MaVilla

1 hour ago, Demitri_C said:

He isn't even bothered why Smith persists on playing is beyond me. The guy knows he is off so why are we even bothering with him. 

isnt his contract until 2020? (with an additional 1 year option if AV want it?)

So if he isnt here after the summer......we actually need to find someone to buy him......

6 minutes ago, av1 said:

This place is hilarious sometimes. Take a look around all the player threads, everyone agrees that both full backs are awful, that John McGinn is the only midfielder we have and both wingers are useless. 

Some of those very same posters come into this thread and claim that Smith is rubbish because this squad is easily good enough to finish top 6. 

Stop applying logic friend, you will confuse people

i would almost keep Mings at CB, even though i would also like to see him at LB, dunno.

I suppose until season end, when Tuanzebe returns, i agree Mings, Chester, Tuanzebe and Hutton as a back 4 is good (Hutton aside).

Elphick/Chester can challenge each other for the CB spot.

Next season if we can buy Mings, i do kinda see him as a key CB for us, hes a unit and perfect for what we need in the left CB role imo.

Next season i can see it being -

New LB - Mings - Chester - Guilbert

Will be pretty happy with that tbh. (unless we offer Elphick a contract extension as backup, however im unsure he would accept even if we did offer - a 1 year extension might be a good idea if he does decent, saves wasting money on a bench warmer CB)

i mean damn, if Hause actually proves himself, could be a Mings/Hause CB pairing? (Big IF as i get the impression DS doesnt rate him or he isnt fit or something, otherwise why hasnt he had a run out already - Chester obviously needed that rest even before Mings came in, and DS for whatever reason didnt trust Hause to give it him)

56 minutes ago, Johnnyp said:

I still can't get my head around the guilbert situation to be honest. I don't buy this " we could only get him if they could keep him for the rest of the season " lark. I mean c'mon. You want him now, you go out and do your job and get him. His loyalty and wanting to see it through and help the Caen cause whilst it's admirable, i couldn't care less. We've been soft in negotiations for years though really. 

it was  a stipulation by Caen, they basically said "buy him now and loan him back", or "wait till summer and you can challenge anyone else for his signature who wants him".

AV said ok, which tbh im fine with if it means we got in b4 other teams, and hes actually decent.

i would be interested to see a Carroll, McGinn, Grealish midfield trio, however maybe they might be a bit small as a group for it to work.

How did Kalinic do today?

I heard he did well?, and additionally no posts here, so i would assume the lack of posts implies he did do pretty good?

We should get this boy signed up imo.

I know its only one match but you can see he's a good player.

1 minute ago, holteend1982 said:

Whilst I'm not overly impressed with what Ive seen from Smith so far it's still way to early to want him out yet. He needs to be given a proper chance and with the amount of high wage players leaving in the summer it will be a great opportunity for him to build a younger quicker more attacking side.

Will be interesting to see how much better we play once Grealish and tuanzabe return, I still think we can put a good run of 6 or 7 wins together and make the play offs. 

Will almost be interesting when Tuanzebe returns, if Mings carriers on like he did on his debut, we would be nuts to drop him.

Could go to left back maybe........

1 minute ago, Lerner's Driver said:

It's on the official Villa Facebook page. Smith thought we were really good today.

i mean to be fair, if Tammy didnt miss that sitter (and my granny could have scored it), a bit of luck with the one off the bar, and that really good save, could have been 3???

But ye, i didnt watch the match and heard that we werent great?

2 minutes ago, Vive_La_Villa said:

Well Don Simon. If we didn’t see improvement when he first took over we would actually be in a relegation battle now. 

Yes it’s gone tits up since the great run but there’s still hope the return of the best player in the league can keep us in contention for the play offs so not all is lost just yet. It is slipping away though. 

The weird irony is we are now 9th (1 place higher than yesterday), and 4 points off the playoffs (1 point closer).

But granted, we have been terribly poor since Grealish got injured, and if we can get him back quick, hopefully that can stem the slide.

We should have done better in our last 4 to 6 games, no doubt.

Just saw his miss, i know im gonna get battered for this, but oh my lord what a miss, school boy stuff.

If any other of our strikers missed a chance like that they would be absolutely crucified.

I could have scored that chance, no joke, i literally could have.

He misses a lot of chances, the more i see him the more i think that the longer he has to think, the less likely he is to score, he defo seems more of an instinct player.

anyone got DS's post match conference?

Honestly, and in a genuine way, i would just love to sit down with Smith and ask him whats going on, would love to know his true thoughts.

Obviously he must see what we see, but also he must see whats going on within the club, that we also dont see.

Whether his logic is correct or flawed, there must be reasons he is picking who he is picking,, and reasons we are playing like we are currently.

I mean i have my own opinions, but as i say, would love to discuss it with DS, and try to understand his thought processes.

I get the feeling two of the bigger issues might be 1) Grealish is critical to our style of play, and 2) some players just arent trying as the know they are out at the end of the season.

Just now, GingerCollins29 said:

Clearly a joke, sorry if I made you mad 

apologies, its just we do see such comments and some ppl actually believe it, apologies i didnt realise u meant it tongue in cheek.,

14 minutes ago, Johnnyp said:

4 points off. Mings played well. Won't happen overnight fellas. Naive to think otherwise. The dead wood need removing.

its not dead wood mate, its a forest

1 minute ago, KHV said:

Horihane isn't terrible. He is the only one that delivers a good ball .

The problem is down the sides. Hutton Taylor Adomah and El Ghazi are awful 

delivering a "good ball" and going missing for the other 89 minutes and 55 seconds, does not make a good player.

2 minutes ago, GingerCollins29 said:

Michah's debut was good also...

Get a grip 

2 minutes ago, Dave-R said:

Then if so my apologise in advance.

Usually it's not surprising if comments like that pop up

Yeah i think he was parodying the expected responses

Just now, GENTLEMAN said:

Sticking my head out of the parapet here. But still think Smith needs the preseason and summer transfers to impose his style on the team, then he gets judged. 

I do agree with your comment and I also think most people here do also.

I think some are just annoyed that it doesn't even look like we are trying to change at the moment, you know, some progress in style even if results aren't perfect?

1 minute ago, Dave-R said:

What is wrong with people who comment like this, seriously some people need to wake up and learn to stop being so judgemental.

Thing is you can't be sure of anything, new club, new start for the players who have come here this window, which in turn could yield some very amazing displays.

pretty sure he was joking/being ironic.

Just now, GingerCollins29 said:

I get what you're saying but we should NOT have to rely on one player to get a result at reading....

yeah, without Grealish we have zero penetration and are so predictable.

Hourihane is damn terrible, i really dislike that guy.

El Ghazi/Adomah and friends just......no idea what to say tbh.

Tammy missed a sitter again?

1 minute ago, Sam3773 said:

Thank God that should be our last game without our slick haired midfield messiah. 

are we expecting Grealish back for the next match?

2 minutes ago, KenjiOgiwara said:

Hourihane, Whelan, Taylor and Adomah should never ever **** play again. And I really really mean that. They are complete aids to this side. Get Grealish back and Carroll in there and we might actually string 3 passes together.  We desperately need a winger tho. Why wasn't Green playing? There's absolutely no way Green is worse than Adomah. I refuse to believe that. 

Green is injured.

1 minute ago, Sam3773 said:

OK I'll do a positive. 

Our first clean sheet in over a month. Mings looked one of our best players. Thought Smith made the wrong sub though. Kodjia should have replaced El Ghazi who was awful for a good hour. 

and Adomah?!?!?!?!