Rightdm00

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.  

2 minutes ago, deeps said:

Davis has done more than Wes. Sorry but he has. 

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

2 hours ago, villalad21 said:

Man City will have 70-80 % possession.

Hourihane will be a bit of a passenger in that scenario.

Harsh but should be dropped.

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.   

3 hours ago, carewjust4u said:

He's very good at attacking the front post, which is especially useful for us as we play with over-lapping FBs. Whenever he attacks that post, it opens up space centrally for Hou/Mcguinn which is great because those boys can finish. 

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.  

6 hours ago, villalad21 said:

Smith.

Can we please stop with zonal marking when defending set pieces?

I hate it.

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. 

Just now, Paddywhack said:

I'm sooooo friggin' bored of other fans talking about his look.

He could score the winning goal in the final of the world cup and they'd still be unorignal nob in the crowd saying "yeah, but have you seen those silly, tiny socks?"

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.

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!

Wow Randy Lerner's last big F you to the club was selling Villa to that fraud of an owner.  What was his fit and proper test?  " Tony Xia please pat your head and rub your tummy."  

3 hours ago, villalad21 said:

This isn't the Championship were you play 2 games every week.

It's not an issue at all for Mcginn, Mings and Grealish to play every Saturday.

Evey teams got star players who play every week, why should it be a problem at Villa?

Were you around for the MON years?  Then you would remember us starting the season on fire, MON naming the same 11 every week and just when a Champions league spot was within our grasp those 11 players would lose game after game due to fatigue. 

This board complained every week as MON named an unchanged side. Rotation is a necessity in the Prem even more now that every team is required to play a pressing style of defense. Not rotating players is definitely going to end up costing us. Thankfully this season our only worry is not finishing lower than 17th. 

12 hours ago, Keyblade said:

That whole analysis is contrary to what I see on the pitch. Yes he does a lot of defensive work, but it's not like we're being bombarded every game. And he's actually a pretty good passer (84.5% is nowhere near as bad as they claim). Do they get paid to write articles or something? Must have been a slow day.

That article makes a couple great points especially the one about Nakamba being the first line of our defense.  It then throws in that awful line about Nakamba being an average at best because he completes 84.5% of his passes.  As others have mentioned that's a joke of a stat if you are trying to say Nakamba isn't Prem quality.  Still, our midfield has been very porous all season with teams not having to work very hard to get the ball into our final third.  I am pretty sure Ming's wishes he didn't have to make multiple goal saving blocks a game.  Dean took the first step to address that issue by moving Grealish to the wing.  The next step, especially versus stronger opposition, will be pairing Douglas with Nakamba and using both of them to help defend the middle 3rd.  

Also, just to be clear Nakamba is definitely a prem quality midfielder.  I would almost venture to say that outside of the Top 6 we have the best midfield in the Prem.  

5 hours ago, villalad21 said:

Looks like Nakamba agrees with me. Why give attention to 3-4 idiots when he's receiving love from thousands.

Good on you Nakamba just love you even more always focus on the positive ignore the trolls!

https://www.birminghammail.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/aston-villa-racist-chant-nakamba-17054729

I mean what else is he supposed to say?  He is in a brand new country, a brand new team, new culture....I could go on.  The last thing he wants to do is create a flash point.  Many minorities grin and bear racial issues when the only other option is to stir the pot.  That is why it's important for the Club and other stake holders to speak out, have Nakamba's back in a sense.  The response by everyone involved has been spot on so far.  Which as a black kid who was always the only little black dot in the team photo's it's been great to see.  

1 hour ago, villalad21 said:

Yet we are the team that's conceded most shots on target.

Just recently we've conceded 5 goals in the past 2 games.

And in the 3 Prem games before the last 2 we allowed a total of 1 goal.  Our defense is more than adequate to maintain our Premier League status.

20 hours ago, Jay.P.A said:

He is bloody brilliant. Need him in our team. 

Barnsley played a suicidal high line and made that Brentford front line look AMAZING!  Hopefully he kick's on from that game and justifies a move by the winter window.  

This article pretty much shows that Mcginn is pretty much playing off of Wesley sometimes even ahead of him as the second striker.  He really isn't doing a lot of the midfield work, which is fine because he is our #1 goal threat, but it shows why we had to get that extra midfielder in the lineup.  Can't wait til we get that double pivot lineup. Douglas & Nakamba with Mcginn, Grealish, and one of our wide men behind the striker.  I feel going forward that will be our preferred formation.  

5 hours ago, mikeyp102 said:

Why are people talking about him being sold. Jesus wept. 

Exactly. He just signed a new deal right after the window closes. If he leaves it will be for a stupidly high fee. 

You defend from the front. Once we have an attacker running at our back line that means two lines of defense have already been played through. Currently we sorely lack steel in the middle of the park.  Teams have been playing through our midfield with regularity this season. I'm pretty sure that was the main reason Jack got pushed out wide. Connor is probably fine at home as Nakamba's partner but on the road it has to be Douglas. You could almost make the point we need another pure DM to break up play as neither Douglas or Nakamba really fit that role. I know it sounds crazy after spending $140 million but the January transfer window will be key to our relegation fight. 

1 hour ago, Keener window-cleaner said:

I just love it that we have a manager who thinks the same as me, I was secretly praying for Jack to be moved out on the left so we could have some turnover in the middle and let Conor get some game time, and that is exactly what DS does the next game.

I love Dean SMith and I think he is doing almost everything right at the moment. Remember when we had Bruce? The strange teams he put out, the lack of any kind of tactics and dull performances. We are blessed to have DS.

We will come good, just the fact that we are disappointed that we haven't had 6 points from Arsenal away and Burnely at home says quite a bit of how competitive we are in this league.

Moving Grealish to the left was pretty much the #1 suggestion on VT after our midfield got overrun vs Arsenal.  Deano makes it work and makes us all look like tactical geniuses . Having a manager like Deano who is always thinking of ways to make his team more progressive, more attacking is a blessing. 

1 hour ago, Farlz said:

It's a fantastic finish tbf

I have to admit on first viewing I thought he shinned it. On replay I had to eat my words. Fantastic touch and placement. 

And people were on here banging the " Tammy is to sleight wont be physical enough for the Prem."  As most people know toughness is a state of mind as much as it is how strong/built you are.  I'm assuming this play acting that Wesley pulls must have worked in other leagues he has competed in but it just aint happening in the Prem. 

His second half performance was just abysmal.  We play a lot of American Football over here in the states.  Seeing someone get knocked out from a collision, sadly, is pretty commonplace.  The player goes limp upon impact.  That's actually the most dangerous part for the impacted player.  They go limp, the head makes a bee line for the ground and the arms do nothing to lessen the impact.  Other times their arms go into what's called the fencing position where the player is laying down on the ground but their arms are stuck straight out like he is looking for someone to give him a hand to get back up.  

 Wesley somehow took that shot to the face, no doubt painful, was conscience to react, throw has hands towards his face but somehow once on the ground he's out in a very comfortable yet comical looking position.  It was embarrassing and we had to concede possession once play was restarted.    Honestly if Wesley had actually been knocked out cold and Aston Villa's doctor sent him back out there they should all be fired.  Wes is a bit soft, I really hope Dean has a talk with him after today.  That crap has to stop.  

Got bullied as the game went on.  On the first goal Ashley Barnes damn near ripped his shirt off to get to that ball before him.  Still as a defender you have to be stronger than a shirt pull.  No major complaints but he will have to be stronger going forward especially against cynical teams like Burnley.  

2 minutes ago, Keyblade said:

We should play with Douglas and Marvelous holding, with Jack, John and one other floating behind Wesley and taking up wide positions. We'll be flying soon enough. We're almost there.

Putting Jack out wide in that free role was the first step.  Now just have to find the proper midfield combo.  I am 100% with you that Nakamba and Douglas will be 2 in the double pivot.  Playing Jack, John and only one of our wide men also means we don't have as huge of a need to find another wide man in the January window.  We can focus all of our resources on another striker and maybe another midfielder if the right deal shows up.