birdman

That's the Matt Targett I want to see every week!

Oozes quality, experience and winning mentality. Could be the signing to survive this league! 

44 minutes ago, The Other Mat said:

It seems People consistently criticise Smith for his 'in game management', but when he does make the right tweaks/subs etc, he's never given the credit, like the 2nd half today. A month or so ago we would have lost that game, but we didn't and that's definitely due to Smith decisions at and after half time today.

Ive been a massive critic of Smith's "rabbit in the headlights" game management so it's good to see an improvement today. Will give more credit when I see more of it! 

Regardless of being up to match fitness, done no worse so far than a fully fit Luiz! 

Doug made a decent appearance though so hopefully a little sit on the bench has focused his mind. A good point away from home with a new striker in the way so something to be happy about! 

The first touch to take the ball further away from the defender was sublime. And then lashes it in with the weaker foot! Form is temporary, class is permanent.

Let's hope he can learn to get going when starting games rather than becoming another super sub. Great cross, equally great finish from Jack!

If we can get him on loan, not have to pay full wages etc its a win win because at the moment we are a decent way down poo poo creek without so much as a foam finger!

The Premier League is fast paced and unforgiving. You need speed, composure and accuracy otherwise you are going to look silly. If you have a poor first touch those first three attributes go out the window! At least Nakamba gets stuck, some other players wont even do that however he isn't the only one to struggle with basics and so I'm left with serious concerns over our coaching staff/methods? What the actual hell is going on at the moment?!

Luiz needs benching for a few games to get his head together....has that vacant look in his eyes....not good! Bring him on second half depending on how the game is going.

2 hours ago, wilko154 said:

I didn't think he was that bad. Watching the highlights back he was directly involved in the first 3 goals, however he had two players either side who shirked all defensive responsibility all game.

We effectively hung him out to dry yesterday.

The only bonus is that he now has minutes under his belt and he will improve over the next few games. Technically he is very good, head and shoulders above Hourihane and Lansbury.

He will come good, unfortunately time isn't on our side.

Yes I agree with this, he really was hung out to dry by his team mates. He was massively off the pace (made to look worse by Man City) and lacked sharpness but at least he made the effort. As you say hes now got minutes under  him so hopefully its all improvement from here.

I knew starting Connor was a mistake (again) but didn't think he could be that poor. Drinkwater still managed to be better than him despite making errors through lack of match fitness. At least he was trying! 

He really is the epitiome of a one trick pony! 

Not just Doug but It would help if we got basic passing right! We need crisp, fast passes not lazy half arsed ones like we see alot of the time. Despite giving the ball away time and time again against Leicester I applaud the effort and attitude we had. Big boost having Mings back and it influenced the whole team. 

For me these are his best "World Class" attributes. Not many players with his combination of style and ability. Definitely an "X Factor" player and cant wait to see him in an England shirt!

Balance
Technique
Intelligence
Mentality
Strength

And his best skills...

Ball retention
Drawing fouls
Passing
Close control
Carrying the ball at pace

What do you think?

2 hours ago, KevinRichardsonsMoustache said:

His default personality is the downtrodden one. Rather than Ronaldo’s ‘none will beat me’ attitude, AEG is more like ‘they just beat me and I hate it’. With the injury against United, you could see his utter dejection. He just doesn’t deal with set backs. This explains his dramatic shifts in form. 

Absolutely spot on. Ive always said its his fragile mentality which explains the inconsistency. I think Matt Targett suffers the same problem actually.

Brilliant game management from Jack last night. At least someone has the intelligence to do it. Dictated the pace of the game when we had possession and Leicester just could not get the ball off him. Also feel sorry for him having to endure such poor passing from his team mates, giving the ball away time and time again. I actually cant wait to see Drinkwater in action!

11 minutes ago, Genie said:

Its almost impossible to get a decent player to join a side with the real threat of relegation. We needed to do better business in the Summer. Now its a rescue mission.

Exactly, people can whinge all they like but it's January and there will only be scraps available for a club in our position!

Hopefully Drinkwater will feel he has something to prove

Given our midfield situation I'm personally in support of this signing. Beggars can't be choosers especially in January and we desperately need some steel in the middle of the park. Let's hope he delivers

21 minutes ago, CosmicVillan said:

Could be a blessing in disguise, the pressure must be immense.

Zero blessings for anyone sadly. Gutted for Wes. 2 season ending injuries in a single match! Only at Villa! 

Wesley picking up a serious looking injury after ending his goal drought... does it get any more VILLA than that?! Will be a miracle if he's only out for a month I'm fuming with the officials and that absolute weapon Ben Mee! 

2 minutes ago, Adam2003 said:

And actually timing late runs for them into the box really well - there was another today where the defender just beat him to it but you could tell it was something they have been working on.

That was a fantastic header today the way he ghosted in. Love that he is more willing than ever to have a crack at goal. His confidence is really up in this respect and I want to see him testing the keeper as much as possible. 

Spotted this gem today from the Twitterati, absolutely hilarious

If the guy had just made that ONE easy pass today he may have come out of this with a bit of credit. Anyway looks like hell be starting for us for the foreseeable so best we can do is get behind the guy and hope for the best! 

2 hours ago, Fairy In Boots said:

Bit of ITK he’s shit in training too, he can’t score **** all in practice games. 

So the players have to keep on saying “c’mon Wes, chin up” but it’s become a bit of a joke. 

I don’t blame Wesley for this I blame the powers that be that brought a young Raw Brazilian new to the country, culture and league and gambled on him scoring enough to get us to safety. He averaged roughly 1 in 3 for Bruges. Quite why we’ve gone so balls in on a 22 year old I don’t know

I'm calling absolute bull on that ITK stuff although admittedly the chin up bit made me laugh as I immediately started to play the situation out in my head like a comedy sketch

Smith is a terrible ditherer! Rabbit in the headlights and it's a shame someone on the coaching team didnt give him a slap to snap him out of it! Should have been all out attack, immediate instructions to the captain or players to re organise themselves. Instead we actually got worse I'm worried because he is repeating past mistakes.