Podster

Good Point

I can see how going from managing at Le Parc des Princes to manageing at Villa Park would be tempting.

So, because we made the mistake of not sacking him after his dismal management at the end of last season, we have to do the gentlemenly thing and let him carry on screwing up this season, great plan.

The penny aint dropping withyou Demitri is it, it is not one game, its 12 games, we only got 9 points from the last 11 games last season, he should have already been sacked by now. The "got to give him time to turn things around" policy just means another season passes with us ending up in a relegation battle, and no class managers available.

The penny aint dropping withyou Demitri is it, it is not one game, its 12 games, we only got 9 points from the last 11 games last season, he should have already been sacked by now. The "got to give him time to turn things around" policy just means another season passes with us ending up in a relegation battle, and no class managers available.

The penny aint dropping withyou Demitri is it, it is not one game, its 12 games, we only got 9 points from the last 11 games last season, he should have already been sacked by now. The "got to give him time to turn things around" policy just means another season passes with us ending up in a relegation battle, and no class managers available.

I'v been chillin for 40 years, sadly so have villa, I am still waitin for a reason to say we are cooking, quite the opposite, we have been sitting at the bottom of the freezer, and SG just don't have a clue how to get us defrosted.

But it's not after 1 game is it, he was clueless for the last part of last season.

The players Gerrard bought look good mainly because they are competing against other players in the villa squad whe are below par players. It's the same old pattern of buying in players who are better, but not that much better than what we already have, we need less quantity buying of players who look good sometimes but will never light up the premiership. Better to have paid big bucks for 3 top class players than buy a bag load of players who would barely make the bench for the so called big six. Or is it just that Gerrard is clueless but we have been hypnotised by his name. I honestly dont get what is happening to this great club.

Same old problem, we buy players in that are either on a par with what we have or only so slightly better that they make no difference, so we end up with a steady turnover of new names that do nothing more than blend in to the same standard football, no one we have signed is going to raise the team. We are supposed to have owners whe have the power to buy like the top clubs so why do we settle for buying players that the big teams wouldnt dream of buying.

Totaly fair, and to make sure it was fair he got more than one ball.

Yes we missed our chances, and the defensive marking was real bad, but check the rules, getting the ball does not mean its not a foul if your follow through kicks the player in the shin, or anywhere else, it was potentially dangerous play.

If Jack is not is the starting 11 for Englands next match, then I have to ask if Southgate has something personal against him. What more can Jack do !!!

And I thought I was the only one

I can honestly say the same, and I am 64, we have had a few great players in my lifetime , but I cant think of one that was better than Jack.

The problem is that Smith hasnt worked that out

And which of those tactics involved focusing on being solid at the back, I get what you say, but I suppose I am generalising on the overall game, and many great managers have said play with the focus being on not loosing, its no good playing in a way that your mainly focused on scoring at the expence of being exposed at the back, if a team scors 3 goals at home and still get beat it is obvious where they are going wrong, and its hard to fix it with an attack minded manager, all the TV pundist said this about Villa for most of last season, and it's happening again.

We have a manager who has the one tactic he employes game after game, there is no tactical sense to the game he has us playing, this is just en extenstion of last season, he doesnt seem to have the ability to get the team playing any different. Without change we will be talking bottom third of the table by christmass. I dont think we will get relagated, but that is only because the I am sure the 3 teams relagated will come fron the current bottom 4, and we were lucky enough to have a 12 point head start on them. I hope the owners dont wait untill we are in the bottom 6 before they bring in a manager who has the tactical ability to know how to play in the premier league because clearly Smith doesn't.

We have to be realistic, Leeds was never going to be an easy game, and judging by the ammount that said we would get 15 points from the next 5 games (including the Leeds game) it is easy to see how wrong the mindset was of many fans, and I imagine the players themselves thought it was 3 points they were going to get, they had plenty of recovery from their last game but were still off the pace of leeds, even more so from the time of the first goal to the end of the game. They played like they did in many of last seasons matches, lets just score a goal, and not enough concentration at the back. They underestimated the attacking power of Leeds. I am sure the players would have had a different approace if the had been playing Aresenal on friday. Lets hope they learn from it. As for the player rating you have given John, I believe you are spot on.

I wanted to throw a question out there , what teams do you think will finish below Villa this season? Or putting it another who should we finish higher than? My views Brighton, punching above their weight Crystal Palace, the wheels have been coming off for a couple of seasons now Fulham, just not quite good enough W B A, I could be just putting them in there because of local rivalry, they might surprise a few, (hope not though) West Ham, I just dont like them nicking our kit colours Southampton, Unless Ings is on fire again they will struggle That would put us 14th which I believe would be fair/good (but not great) progress I thought it would not only be interesting to see what people came up before the season starts, but who came closest to getting it right by the end of the season.

I see, thanks

I am new to VT and saw this topic, what is Draft Fantasy Football, I have played FPL for years but not come across DFF

If the likes of Wolves, Leicester and brighton can attract big names why cant we, there are plenty of PL clubs that are smaller than us and with less financial backing that are able to get a big name to sign, I dont expet the team to consist of 11 world class players overnight but is it too much to expect a couple of big names. There are some better playes that have gone to China than we have in our team so dont tell me big names will only play for top clubs, most footballers will look ay what they are going to be paid before they look at the colour of the shirt, all i am saying is spend a bit bigger, go for quality not quantity this season. Dont bite my head of for having a view.

Yes, we had 3 players whe did well, and because we had a bad season there has been speculation that we are in danger of loosing them to other premier clubs, we need to make Villa a club that top quality players want to join and stay, not use us as a stepping stone to clubs who are smaller but more likely to stay in the PL than us, I am fed up of the fact that pundits on tv have refered to us as a selling club for the last few years

I believe that if we are going to do more than have another relegation fight next season we need to do better that bringing in players from lower divisions and then resting our hopes on the possibility they play above themselves, I mean, how much better is he than what we have got. How is a 12 mil player going to hold up against the likes of Man U/City Lpool Chelsea Spurs when he has been used to the likes of Luton Barnsley, QPR. All the talk about the new owner swanting tho take Villa back to being a top team is not going to happen without bringing in some established class players. If they are going to spend the rumoured 100mil then get 3 players that will make a difference, not 6 who are only there to push what we already have.