OxfordVillan

Regardless which league we play in next season I think it’s become obvious that the recruitment policy has to be tweaked, and that’s something of an understatement. Having gotten promoted ahead of schedule, relegation now would be something approaching a disaster. Nearly everything done last summer would have to be ripped up, and we’d have to recruit all over again. Suso’s sole role is/was to source talent to compete in the Premier League, and we are looking well short of having the players to compete. I’ve said in the last couple of days, Suso’s position must come under pressure a good bit before Dean Smiths. It can be debated, and we’ll probably never know, but I don’t think Trezeguet is a Dean Smith pick at all. Nor Wesley, for that matter. Nor Nakamba. I think it’s quite well reported that Dean Smith wanted Kelvin Phillips and Benrahma, he got Nakamba and Trezeguet. Thats not to give a clean slate to Dean Smith, as there are signings made last summer that seem to be his and have arguably been equally disappointing. Jota and Engels are two that I think we can say are Dean Smith signings, though I think you can reasonably argue that Jota wasn’t bought as a 1st teamer, he was a squad filler. Engels started promisingly, not sure what happened with him but he doesn’t seem happy in the squad. Heaton was a success up to his injury, and he was definitely a Dean Smith signing. On the face of it, it would seem that Dean Smith wanted to spend money on players to fill what he thought were the most important positions (GK, DM, AM/Winger), and he has probably been proven right as the season has unfolded. I don’t think many of us would argue that our team would have been much improved with Kelvin Phillips anchoring the midfield instead of Nakamba/Luiz, and Benrahma playing out wide instead of Trezeguet. Ifs, buts, maybe’s.

Juanfran is gone. Incredible how we’ve let such a vital figure leave the club. He was instrumental in unearthing the Spanish & Portuguese talents currently thriving in the team. So many of them, I can’t remember a single name.........hold on, that lad Baston, he was Spanish wasn’t he? Oh yes, we’re going to be sorry we let Suso’s right hand man walk out.

It’s become a circus surrounding Grealish, and the time is right to go separate ways. Hopefully it should benefit both parties. I’d prefer he wasn’t captain, but I don’t see Dean Smith taking it away from him. Which is a mistake, IMO. To me Grealish has looked subdued most of 2020. Let’s hope he can find some form for a couple games or so and leave us having been instrumental in keeping us up. I’m concerned he won’t, though.

He didn’t play against Liverpool at Villa Park earlier in the season, and we were a handful of minutes from winning that game.

You’re feckin deluded! Luiz has been head & shoulders our best player since the restart. I think Grealish needs the captaincy taken away from him, as should have happened the moment he crashed his car pi55ed. Mings is by far a better leader of men.

Isn’t it enlightening to see the contrast in how two of our players used the lockdown time so differently? On the one hand you have Douglas Luiz, used the time to get right on top of a new language and improve his fitness levels. Been Villa’s MOTM in probably every game since the restart. Then you have Jack Grealish. Preening and preaching a lot on social media whilst partying with McCormack, a guy who has taken Villa for mugs and been completely unprofessional during his days at Villa. Grealish now up before the courts after crashing his car and disappearing for a day or two....... to let whatever was in his system disperse. And still he keeps the arm band. Incredible

This’ll be controversial, and incendiary to some of you, but I think it might be worth putting Grealish on the bench for the next two games. Safe to say we don’t expect anything from the next two fixtures, so why not?

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-8471461/Manchester-City-rival-United-Jack-Grealish-Bayern-Munich-pay-asking-price-Leroy-Sane.html This would be very good for us if there’s any substance to it, we could use the situation to get rid of the Douglas Luiz buy-back deal.

Exactly.

I think what anyone who wants Dean Smith gone needs to consider is, “who next”? I can sit here and say he’s not the best manager, that we’re not doing as well as we should be. But the overriding question is who would we/could we get to replace him that brings any sort of guarantee of improvement? Now, if the Villa owners suddenly announced that they’d secured the services of, say, Pochettino, then I’d be thinking, “wow, that’s an appointment that is next level”. But come on, that’s not going to happen, not a chance whilst there’s a chance we could end up in the championship. So who could Villa get, even in the summer. I hear ppl say Rafa, but potato head Bruce is out performing Rafa at Newcastle......and most of us think potato head is useless. Rafas best days are long gone, it’s 15yrs since that fluke in instanbul. Brendan Rogers got closer to a Premier League title than Rafa. Now, Rogers is a manager that I thought we could prise away from Celtic when Bruce was sacked, but there’s not a hope of getting him away from Leicester now. Good manager. Not obtainable. So who? What type/level manager are we talking about? Could we tempt Hasenhuttl, and is he that good that we’d view an appointment like that as a definite step or two up from Dean Smith? You see, it’s so easy to say sack the manager, let’s get someone better in. But it’s harder to give names, realistic names, that can be viewed as a step up, isn’t it? At this moment in time I can’t think of anyone who is obtainable, and who would be an undoubted improvement on Dean Smith. Those type managers are in top club’s already.

Anyone who thinks Jack Grealish is the messiah is kidding themselves. Jack Grealish massively let both himself and the club down with his lockdown pi55 up with McCormack and pals, crashing his car in the morning whilst obviously still over the limit. That just hours after preaching to ppl on social media about staying home. His form since the turn of the year has been patchy, and since the return from lockdown hasn’t improved. Constant reports of done deal with Man Utd, reports he could come out and state are 100% untrue. If they are. Jack Grealish hasn’t been great in 2020, that’s the reality.

Anyone advocating John Terry to replace Dean Smith needs to give their head a wobble. Seriously. Firstly, would that be the same John Terry who, surely, would have been working with our defence (and the players in general) in his capacity assistant coach? Do you think John Terry is doing exactly as Dean Smith is instructing him, that he has his hands tied? Secondly, did you see John Terrys reaction to Villa going 1-0 up against his beloved Chelsea? Because that on its own should see him being relieved of his duties at Villa. Contrast Terrys “celebrations” with the likes of the assistants at Liverpool, Man City, Man Utd......almost any other team. Terrys was pretty much a slow hand clap. So way before Dean Smith is relieved of any duties at Villa, John Terry should be. And that’s before we look at the role that Suso has played.

Agree 100%. We were the better team against both Sheffield Utd and Newcastle, and on another day we take the good chances we created and get the wins which would see us with 4pts more in the table and approaching safety. The other teams around us (Brighton excluded) have looked pretty woeful and incapable of getting points. If we’d looked as hopeless as Watford, Norwich, West Ham, or Bournemouth then I’d be really concerned. The one game that I was frustrated with and thought Dean should have done better was the Chelsea game. However it’s that lack of converting performance into points that could well be the death of us, there’s been a few games this season where our performance should have resulted in 3pts but we’ve ended up with none. That has to stop pretty damn quickly.

Samatta wasn’t woeful before lockdown, you’re right there. But he’s looking like he’s running through treacle on this return to football.

How many teams have you seen this season outplay Wolves? How many Villa players would you pick for a team over Wolves players? Your answer lays there.

The game has definitely just gone with those subs.

Oh dear god. Why take Davis off and put on the two blister sisters.

Please, one decent delivery

Yep. I said yesterday he has to be instructed to play more zippy, more quick 1-2s. Offload quicker.

Sorry, but that’s nonsense. The effort is there, nobody is sand bagging out there. I think you’re confusing effort with ability. If this team go at Wolves we’ll lose 3 or 4 nil. We either have to choose to play tight defensively, or play to score goals. Playing to score goals put us 19th with the most goals conceded in the league.

Do you not see we simply don’t have the players? Samatta looks woeful, Davis has ability but he’s an inexperienced player with very little 1st team action, we’re playing our 3rd choice GK, arguably 3rd choice LB, Hourihane is a tryer but an extremely limited midfielder, Hause is a Wolves cast off, elmohamady was dispensed of as a Premier League player a number of years ago. Realistically we have Jack Grealish and Douglas Luiz who are Premier League players. Wolves have 11.

Might be controversial here, but we aren’t breaking fast via Grealish when the opportunity arises, he’s quite pedestrian today. A couple of times he could have gone at a last line Wolves player and he’s slowed it up and gone sideways.

Deliveries into the box today have been woeful

WTF is Grealish playing at? Put the ball in the **** box

Yellow card all day long for Doherty. Turns his back in the jump, straight into Nakamba. No intention to win the ball when eyes aren’t on it.