Rightdm00

That performance was pretty much on par with every game this season. A lot of running, never quitting, but a real lack quality in the final third. He can definitely do a job this season but if we ever wanna push up the table he will be one of the first players we will need an upgrade on.

Midfield was completely unbalanced without Jack. For most of the 1st half Nakamba was more advanced then Douglas and that was never gonna work. Maybe playing Hourihane over Douglas could have fixed that but that's no sure thing either. Our lack of depth is very obvious and worrying. I hate to say this but we need another 20 million easy this next window. We are 2 injuries in our starting 11 to being non-competitive in most matches.

Last international break came as we were in a roll. This one is a bit different How quickly the season can change. Injuries were eventually going to come into play and this week off will be very beneficial. Glad we got the goal back and never quit. Really hope the owners can spend another 10 to 20 million this January.

2 weeks for a muscle strain is pretty standard. If anything it shows you how top notch Villa's medical staff is. Running out a half fit player can lead to far more serious injury.

The games looks nothing like it did "back in the day." Teams press the entire length of the pitch, cover far more distance and require all 10 field players to participate in offense and defense. Wolves would definitely rotate their squad I'd they could but they lack the depth of a squad like City or Liverpool. Maybe you don't remember but MONs failure to rotate the squad during Villa's last European venture cost us dearly. Wolves, per The Athletic, have a cutting edge recovery program that starts the moment the players leave the pitch. I guess we will see how well it works in a couple days.

Completely agree. My job is currently paying for my graduate degree. I will owe them an extra year of service and then im free to shop my skills elsewhere. What Dean is describing is just how life and employment in a capitalist economy works. He sounds like an awesome manager. I see why the players are so willing to run through walls for him. He genuinely seems like he only wants best for his players and coaches.

I posted that in Man City post game thread. I'll pay up tomorrow. I'm a little too buzzed to be inputting card #s and such.

Yep, this all the way. Our depth makes it very hard to close out matches. Hourihane or Lansbury is not the type of midfielder you bring on to close out a game but what other choice does Smith have. Deano got it spot on today and if no one can notice the improvement between Spurs and now then please buy some glasses.

Defensive depth is great. Midfield depth is average to good but our attacking options are just dire. I'm pretty sure kodija didn't break into a Sprint all game and Keinan could be out for whoever knows how long. New forward, maybe even 2, in January please.

Thank you. A strikers job is to score goals. Everything else is secondary. Scoring a goal in football is one of the hardest things to accomplish in any team sport. That's why strikers are valued greater than any other position on the pitch. Yes, we would all love Wesley's hold up play and all around hustle to improve but to suggest replacing him with a striker that has shown zero ability to score goals at this level is really just the height of silliness.

I'm sorry but that just isn't true. You don't just ignore a players past when considering their future endeavours. It's not the end all be all but it definitely has to be considered. Otherwise you end up buying some one hit wonder just because he had a good run of games in one season. When transfer season comes back around everyone on here will be posting a players past endeavours to determine if he is someone to get excited about. Look, I would like to have a reasoned conversation about our striker situation but statement likes that show me that probably isn't gonna happen. So I will leave this one at that.

He scored a grand total of 2 in the Championship. The Prem is many times harder than the Championship so yeah just like Che Adams and many other Champ strikers who struggle he could be goal less right now. You have mentioned multiple times how we are in a relegation fight and can't wait on players to come good. That is literally what we would be doing if benched Wesley and gave Keinan a solid run of games.

I wonder if you would be saying we have goals throughout the side if we had only scored 10 goals this season and had a minus 6 goal difference. Wesley has directly contributed to 33% of the goals we have scored this season. You don't just hand wave that away. Che Adams over at Southampton hasn't even scored yet in 7 games and he scored 22 for a trash Birmingham side last season. Che wouldn't be the first Championship striker to bag 20 and struggle to find the net in the Prem. I love Keinan for his effort and work rate but his goal scoring record is a major issue that some of you seem to be glossing over. Wesley needs compitetion for his starting place but if you're looking for it in a striker who scored 2 in 28 in his last full campaign then you really need to look elsewhere.

Dominic Solanke -19 million pounds 10 games/ 0 goals Kelechi Iheanacho - 26 million pounds 51 games/4 goals These strikers are around the same age and cost. There are even more examples like Pepe over at arsenal or Joelinton at Newcastle. Our boy Wes is out producing all of them and yet people are are actually writing him off. Crazy! I love how those having a go at Wesley just gloss over his goal/assist tally. That is literally how you judge a striker. Whenever transfer rumors start flying around and a striker gets linked it's the first thing that gets metioned around here. Wes has some definite flaws and Smith sometimes waits too long before subbing him off when he has a stinker. Having said that 10 goals/5 assist at the end of the season would be considered a great success for an initial campaign.

Muscle injury, if its a minor strain, is probably about 2 weeks. Sucks but I would rather him miss a game like Liverpool where we have only a small chance of winning over some more winnable sections of our schedule.

I am not in the start Keinan camp but why Dean waits so long to bring him on i'll never know. Did the same against Burnley. Wes got concussed and he still threw him back out there for another 10 minutes before Keinan got his shot. Wes's finishing is miles better Keinan but man when he has a stinker its bad. Real bad. Why not bring Keinan on a little earlier.

When Wes has a game like this why does Dean wait so long to take him off. Maybe it is a confidence thing but Wes's game currently is in no way suited for that type of match. Other than that slight complaint it was a decent performance that just lacked that cutting edge. Also, I love Trez and his running but man his finishing/shooting is pants. $10 to Villatalk when he finally scores one for us.

No need to apologize. Wes has an awful game. Games like this really exposes the flaws in his game.

If Man City have that type of possession # then Hourihane is exactly the guy you want on the pitch. All Conor needs is half a second and the ball sitting on his left foot to produce a quality strike. He does it time and again. Conor is also our only good free kick taker on the team. We aren't going to shut out City. We need our top goal scorers on the pitch if we want to have any chance.

Yep, made the run to the near post that freed up Hourihane and El Ghazi for that double chance in the 2nd half versus Brighton. Did the same thing for Mcginn's goal that VAR took away versus Burnley. ~20 million doesnt buy you a complete footballer. Wesley's has flaws no doubt. I think his biggest sin though is his flaws are the type you wouldn't normally attribute to a footballer of his size. I think if instead of the 3 one time finish goals he had 3 powerful headers and a thundercunt strike from outside the box there would be less complaining about Wesley's play.

2nd goal we conceeded from a set piece in 9 prem games. The first one was an Auba free kick so zonal had nothing to do with that. Doing just fine there.

Honestly, I think it's the ultimate compliment. It means they don't have anything legitimate to complain. The boy is just that good. So they have to fall back to complaining about his hair, or his socks, or his tiny shorts (okay maybe not yet but soon ). I hope Pool and ManC have the same complaints.

Yep, and the expected goals from that game back up our style of play as well. Dean's style of play so far this season is to press upon losing the ball but only in short burst. Afterwards we drop into a low block pretty much inviting our opponents into our half. This stretches teams out and opens them up for the counter from our inside forwards. That low block is what opens us up to conceding more shots than the average prem team. The majority of those shots are bad shots though. The xG from the Brighton game had them at 1.32. So those 20 shots were mostly from ineffective areas. Our xG was 2.92 so we definitely generated far better chances and should have at least scored one more. Norwich game was the same way. xG of 3.68 for us and 1.85 for Norwich. We concede shots but they are mostly from poor scoring positions on the pitch. Then on the offensive we are consistently generating shots from effective scoring positions and then also scoring bangers like the 2 Douglas has put in. To summarize throwing out a stat like shots conceeded without any other info really doesnt say all that much. Also, if anyone is curious our league position based on xG goal difference is 11th so we are exactly where we should be right now.

Probably the second worst game we have played this season but Jack Grealish is just so damn good.

Grealish grabbing the game by the scruff of the neck. Love our CAPTAIN!