VillaCas

Mystified by some of the comments here

Thought we’ve played really well across the team. Need to be a little more clinical nearer the goal but certain that will come

Traore and Cash excellent first half

Another quick goal will finish them off

One of those games - could easily have finished 4-0. House, Elmo and Nakamba did well coming in. AEG has all the attributes to be a top class striker but never quite hits the heights.
Still early days for Traore - he seems to be trying hard and working hard but quite a ways to go yet. 
We’ve got a thin squad but a couple of quality additions and we could easily be looking at a top 8 finish ( without and I think 10th-12th)

Hopefully the luck in front of goal we lacked tonight will be in evidence on Sunday 

We played far better against West Ham and lost - Fortunately Wolves didn’t have their shooting boots on. Swings and roundabouts  

Smith has done an outstanding job since he’s been here - we’ve recruited well and are maybe three players away from having a squad that can challenge towards the top end of the table

On 01/12/2020 at 14:23, TRO said:

I think that is a really condescending response to what amounts to a very poor defensive display and a golden opportunity to snatch an away win, from a team, whose own admission was poor in display.

to keep responding on the whole season, when your comments would be much better served on the game itself, is irritating.

We have spent the best part of another £100 million, so you would expect an incremental rise in Stature.....but for a team who has dispatched the mighty Liverpool ,Arsenal and Leicester.....you would expect a better result than that, not to mention the woeful defending of crosses.

No passionate supporter of our club wants or delights in criticising the team, if you cared to listen to us waxing Lyrical after the Liverpool and Arsenal games, you would know that......No we can't win every game, but when you put in a cheap defensive display, allied to a comedy of errors up front, we are entitled to say it like we think it is.....No one wants to tarnish the dream, but sometimes reality has to surface.

still fuming with that debacle of a result......they say teams can get out of jail, they got out of Alcatraz, and we give them the bloody keys.

What a daft post! Your expectations are completely unrealistic - you seem to expect us to win every single game - we’re currently 8th which is amazing considering where we were 18months ago

Just now, Jareth said:

Looking forward to some traditional Portuguese tapas at the Barnsley game. 

I may have missed the email. Are we calling Burnley, Barnsley now?

3 minutes ago, Follyfoot said:

It’s against Barnsley mate

Burnley 

4 minutes ago, paul514 said:

Women's football is a joke, any academy PL team would walk a game with them.

It’s not an attitude that I can condone and they can’t  be compared to men’s teams.

However, I have watched an academy U15 team of a local rival beat their First XI Women’s team 6-0 in 60 mins recently.  True

1 minute ago, paul514 said:

Who tf is that sour faced trout anyway?

Karen Carney? she predicted a Villa win so she’s alright with me

Good battling performance against a decent side

Martinez excellent

Dean really is a knob - not a dirty game but reds and yellows all over the place - ridiculous 

Huge credit to Smith and his team

Really disappointed with a lot of the comments here - we are worlds apart from last season and playing very decent football. The squad has been hugely improved and we’ve taken a giant step forward

We are obviously still short of depth but it can’t all happen in one season. Very many people seem to think we should be winning every week - that’s unrealistic. Personally I’ll be happy with mid table this season and a further strengthening next summer

I'm delighted with Smith, the squad and the progress made

Unlucky not to get at least a point today and really deserved all three! You get weeks like that and then others when you get something and don’t deserve it

Our first XI is decent but we lack depth at the moment - that will come with time

Targett is very average, Traore (early days) did ok but Barkley was sorely missed

Grealish, McGinn and Luis all looked off the pace due to intl break

we go again

1 minute ago, Vive_La_Villa said:

We did before the game.

It’s an easy criticism but it’s just not true 

On 02/11/2020 at 07:04, VillaCas said:

This is what mid-table feels like - ups and downs, losing as many as you are winning.

We don’t yet have options, we don’t yet have a deep bench. If a few of our established players are off form we will struggle.

A lot is made of ‘fitness and physicality’ - for me this is a red herring. When we play well it’s not an issue but when we lose it’s trotted out as a key factor. In reality our fitness is on a par with the clubs around us we just don’t have sufficient quality players to cycle through

It’s still early days and the table will take a while yet to settle down - if after 15 or so games we are mid-table that will be fine, if we are in the dog fight at the bottom we should then be asking questions

I bet we don’t have anyone on here tonight complaining about fitness levels, physicality or the timing of substitutes!

We’re as fit and physical as anyone in the league, it’s just that at the level we are, our performances will always be up and down

A massive UP this week!!

Targett — again!

VAR decision was correct - don’t like it but it was the correct decision 

Everything breaking down with Targett or McGinn

16 minutes ago, est1874 said:

What annoys me more is deploying the same tactics regardless of the opposition. There's no better word for it than stupid IMO.

He doesn’t 

Leeds we’re better than us on the day -that happens. Southampton were fortunate that Ward-Prowse hit three perfect free-kicks because in general play we were marginally the better side.

I’m certain Smith understands our issues and our reliance on the same few players. We’re on a journey, from a Championship side, to relegation battlers, to a mid table team, to hopefully better.

All these comments about needing additional defensive cover, strong defensive midfielders and options up top are not the insights you believe them to be - Smith knows this better than anyone, it will just take time to build

Patience is required,  Midtable this year and build further in the summer. At the moment we will be losing as many as we are winning - it shouldn’t come as a surprise 
 

We’re a work in progress - we did good business in the summer and will probably add another couple in January. 

Midtable is our aim this season and we’ve made a good start to achieve that

We clearly need more options - additional CB, LB, DCM, another winger - that we haven’t got these are not oversights, they a due to the fact that we can’t do everything at once. We bought in players who were available and I’m sure have more targets in mind

The loss to Leeds was poor. Today was just one of those things with three perfect free kicks for them. We weren’t good but xG showed we were not as bad as some would have it

4 minutes ago, OxfordVillan said:

Well, we conceded two goals to a player who scores free kicks like taking a penalty. He’s renowned for his ability. I’m sure it’s not beyond the wit of man to have a defender pre-prepared to go to a post as soon as the whistle is blown! What’s the worst that could have happened, concede a goal?!

You’re totally wrong. If it were a thing you might see it happen once or twice - you dont

2 minutes ago, darrenm said:

But when you have a split second decision to make, giving away a free kick is what players are told to do. Hence the phrase professional foul.

No it’s not

3 minutes ago, villa4europe said:

Agree and disagree

Cash has to give away a free kick because he messed up his position, he doesn't hand ball it they have a 1v1

Luiz one there is more to do but kind of the same, the free kick isn't the mistake, the shit positioning meanj g they have to foul is the mistake 

Sorry but I would rather Walcott have to control it, bring it down and attempt a volley than give Ward prowse a dead ball from the centre of the D.  Luis didn’t need to make his challenge

Just now, darrenm said:

3 incredible strikes.

Not a lot you can do about those.

People say you shouldn't give away free kicks. That's wrong. Fouls are part of the game.

Those strikes by Ward-Prowse and Ings were unbelievable.

Of course you shouldn’t give free kicks away in front of goal against the best free kick taker in the league - three free kicks=three goals

6 minutes ago, OxfordVillan said:

This one is on the coaching. I’m sat here chatting with my 13yr old daughter and we’re saying how those free kicks are like penalties for Ward-Prowse, we said it before the first free kick and how teams should put a player on the goal line to help the goal keeper. Villa are thick. The change over the last 90 minutes of football to the previous 4 games is staggering. Beyond fathomable. And the inability to alter things from the touch line is really getting to me. We’re 6-0 down over the last 90mins of football and it could have been 10. And Cash should have been sent off. It really has been dire and the early season flame has been extinguished emphatically. 

How often do you see a man on the line? I tell you - never! because then the attacking side can put players behind the wall and in front of the keeper.