HeyAnty Posted January 11, 2016 Share Posted January 11, 2016 Going, going gon.......? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael118 Posted January 11, 2016 Share Posted January 11, 2016 (edited) 54 minutes ago, Keyblade said: 28 minutes ago, Stevo985 said: I'm going to assume you haven't watched a Villa game since about September? Veretout's been our best midfielder over the past couple of months. I've watched every Villa match this season. Even though he has improved and done well in some matches I don't think his best is as good as the best our other midfielders can produce. Edited January 11, 2016 by Michael118 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VillaChris Posted January 11, 2016 Share Posted January 11, 2016 Still a fair bit optimistic if you think a midfielder with Bacuna and Westwood as regular starters is going to win many premier league games. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stevo985 Posted January 11, 2016 VT Supporter Share Posted January 11, 2016 7 minutes ago, Michael118 said: I've watched every Villa match this season. Even though he has improved and done well in some matches I don't think his best is as good as the best our other midfielders can produce. With respect, I think you're wrong. I think he's got the highest ceiling of any of our central midfielders. He and Gil could be a very effective attacking midfield if the rest of the team could cope with it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PompeyVillan Posted January 11, 2016 Share Posted January 11, 2016 Westwood is a good player, but he's not a holding midfielder, same with Gueye. Someone mentioned earlier, but we miss Sanchez. And Sanchez is a woeful footballer. We won't see the best of our central midfielders until we get 2 or 3 solid games from a solid holding mid. I was pleased with links to Toulalan, earlier in the window, I think he could have the Cambiaso effect on us and show up the bad eggs in the dressing room. But the links haven't come to anything. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post thunderball Posted January 11, 2016 Popular Post Share Posted January 11, 2016 (edited) Could post this in several topics, but I am going to drop it here and the relegation thread - it takes an analytical perspective on our predicament, and an interesting read for the anti-Garde amongst us, whilst also addressing the ongoing French recruitment and Sam Alladyce popular topics. Grim reading and even grimmer conclusion.... http://statsbomb.com/2016/01/how-bad-are-aston-villa/ Edited January 11, 2016 by thunderball 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
markavfc40 Posted January 11, 2016 Share Posted January 11, 2016 (edited) I would love to say otherwise but I just can’t see what some are seeing when they state there has been an improvement under Garde. Disregarding the obvious that results haven’t improved at all then I don’t see any improvement in how we defend, I don’t see any improvement in midfield in terms of the cover they provide for the defence, the amount of tackles they put in, the chances they create for the strikers or the attempts on goal they have themselves. Up front there is still a massive lack of movement, we don’t have any more shots and we don’t score any more goals. The very least you expect under a new manager though is an increased amount of work. The players putting a real shift in to impress the new manager. You’d think given how poor we were under Sherwood that a new manager coming in would be like a breath of fresh air and a chance at a fresh start. Players busting their balls in training and on a match day and suddenly looking half a yard quicker. We have seen none of that though. Another issue his predecessor was criticised for was chopping and changing the side too much yet Garde has done exactly the same making multiple changes to the line ups which are not down to injury or suspension. I can’t lie I have been hugely disappointed in Garde. He comes across well in press conference, says the right things but that counts for f**k all if we don’t see any improvement in results or performances. There seems to now be an acknowledgement amongst some that this is simply a poor squad of players that no manager can get anything out of. That wasn't what many of us were saying under Sherwood though. Quite the opposite and he was shown little grace. I accept that Garde inherited a difficult situation. No manager coming in mid-season ever inherits a good one but you expect a new manager to come in and to have a positive effect on results and performances after 10 games otherwise what was the point. Going forward things have to improve under him otherwise he clearly won’t stay as manager. No manager can go on not winning games and staying in his job. It will wear him down and it will result in players at the club losing belief in him and make it difficult for him to sell the club to other players. He is now becoming tarnished with a losers tag and being associated with the losers mentality we have apparently been trying to rid ourselves of. His CV isn't anywhere near strong enough to give him a free pass this season and say that he keeps his job regardless of results and performances. I genuinely hope for all our sakes that he starts to turn things round but sadly the longer he has been here the less belief I have that he will. Edited January 11, 2016 by markavfc40 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
piav_k4 Posted January 11, 2016 Share Posted January 11, 2016 I am still a bit confused as to how we are trying to win games... Defensive shape 4-1-2-2-1 trying to contain rather than aggressively press to win the ball. Attacking shape 4-3-3 moving the ball around (quite slowly) trying to fashion a chance. Full backs providing the width as Gil cuts onto his left foot and Sinclair vice versa. Gestede up front but not many crosses going into the box. Against Wycombe they tended to be low crosses too... When we try and speed up the passing to cut through teams our technical weakness shows as some one either doesn't control it or sends a pass astray. Through balls are hardly attempted at all even when teams are pressing high against us. One recent one I can remember recently is the one through to Gestede v West Ham that resulted in a penalty... It doesn't seem to be working but Garde is persevering. Pardon the Football Manager terminology. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael118 Posted January 11, 2016 Share Posted January 11, 2016 (edited) 18 minutes ago, VillaChris said: Still a fair bit optimistic if you think a midfielder with Bacuna and Westwood as regular starters is going to win many premier league games. Gueye and Bacuna looked pretty good together as a duo in one game under Tim Sherwood. They are both workhorses and both good offensively as well as defensively. With Westwood included there is less pressure on them. They'll have more freedom to drive forward with Westwood as the supplier. That allows Gil more freedom and space to play his best suited role behind Kozak who is our most natural finisher. That is the blueprint to more goals with the squad we have. Edited January 11, 2016 by Michael118 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DCJonah Posted January 11, 2016 Share Posted January 11, 2016 5 minutes ago, markavfc40 said: I would love to say otherwise but I just can’t see what some are seeing when they state there has been an improvement under Garde. Disregarding the obvious that results haven’t improved at all then I don’t see any improvement in how we defend, I don’t see any improvement in midfield in terms of the cover they provide for the defence, the amount of tackles they put in, the chances they create for the strikers or the attempts on goal they have themselves. Up front there is still a massive lack of movement, we don’t have any more shots and we don’t score any more goals. The very least you expect under a new manager though is an increased amount of work. The players putting a real shift in to impress the new manager. You’d think given how poor we were under Sherwood that a new manager coming in would be like a breath of fresh air and a chance at a fresh start. Players busting their balls in training and on a match day and suddenly looking half a yard quicker. We have seen none of that though. Another issue his predecessor was criticised for was chopping and changing the side too much yet Garde has done exactly the same making multiple changes to the line ups which are not down to injury or suspension. I can’t lie I have been hugely disappointed in Garde. He comes across well in press conference, says the right things but that counts for f**k all if we don’t see any improvement in results or performances. There seems to now be an acknowledgement amongst some that this is simply a poor squad of players that no manager can get anything out of. That wasn't what many of us were saying under Sherwood though. Quite the opposite and he was shown little grace. I accept that Garde inherited a difficult situation. No manager coming in mid-season ever inherits a good one but you expect a new manager to come in and to have a positive effect on results and performances after 10 games otherwise what was the point. Going forward things have to improve under him otherwise he clearly won’t stay as manager. No manager can go on not winning games and staying in his job. It will wear him down and it will result in players at the club losing belief in him and make it difficult for him to sell the club to other players. He is now becoming tarnished with a losers tag and being associated with the losers mentality we have apparently been trying to rid ourselves of. His CV isn't anywhere near strong enough to give him a free pass this season and say that he keeps his job regardless of results and performances. I genuinely hope for all our sakes that he starts to turn things round but the longer he has been here the less belief I have that he will. 7 minutes ago, markavfc40 said: I would love to say otherwise but I just can’t see what some are seeing when they state there has been an improvement under Garde. Disregarding the obvious that results haven’t improved at all then I don’t see any improvement in how we defend, I don’t see any improvement in midfield in terms of the cover they provide for the defence, the amount of tackles they put in, the chances they create for the strikers or the attempts on goal they have themselves. Up front there is still a massive lack of movement, we don’t have any more shots and we don’t score any more goals. The very least you expect under a new manager though is an increased amount of work. The players putting a real shift in to impress the new manager. You’d think given how poor we were under Sherwood that a new manager coming in would be like a breath of fresh air and a chance at a fresh start. Players busting their balls in training and on a match day and suddenly looking half a yard quicker. We have seen none of that though. Another issue his predecessor was criticised for was chopping and changing the side too much yet Garde has done exactly the same making multiple changes to the line ups which are not down to injury or suspension. I can’t lie I have been hugely disappointed in Garde. He comes across well in press conference, says the right things but that counts for f**k all if we don’t see any improvement in results or performances. There seems to now be an acknowledgement amongst some that this is simply a poor squad of players that no manager can get anything out of. That wasn't what many of us were saying under Sherwood though. Quite the opposite and he was shown little grace. I accept that Garde inherited a difficult situation. No manager coming in mid-season ever inherits a good one but you expect a new manager to come in and to have a positive effect on results and performances after 10 games otherwise what was the point. Going forward things have to improve under him otherwise he clearly won’t stay as manager. No manager can go on not winning games and staying in his job. It will wear him down and it will result in players at the club losing belief in him and make it difficult for him to sell the club to other players. He is now becoming tarnished with a losers tag and being associated with the losers mentality we have apparently been trying to rid ourselves of. His CV isn't anywhere near strong enough to give him a free pass this season and say that he keeps his job regardless of results and performances. I genuinely hope for all our sakes that he starts to turn things round but the longer he has been here the less belief I have that he will. Put me down as someone else who can't see this improvement. I'd love for someone to point out what's better about the Wycombe, Sunderland and Norwich games than what we had previously. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PieFacE Posted January 11, 2016 VT Supporter Share Posted January 11, 2016 Meh, I'm not sold on him to be honest. hiring him was a huge gamble, an exciting gamble for sure, but a gamble all the same. Looks to me like it is yet another terrible decision by Mr.Fox. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
markavfc40 Posted January 11, 2016 Share Posted January 11, 2016 22 minutes ago, DCJonah said: Put me down as someone else who can't see this improvement. I'd love for someone to point out what's better about the Wycombe, Sunderland and Norwich games than what we had previously. I agree. Now some will pick out the odd game or 45 minutes and say that was an improvement on what went before. Against West Ham we played well, the Man City game we really battled. The second half against Newcastle we did well. It is few and far between though and I could equally accept if someone put up an argument that under Sherwood against Sunderland we were very good, against Leicester for an hour we played well. It would just be nit picking though. The major thing with Garde is that I don’t see what he is trying to do. I don’t see any fundamental change since he came in where I can say this is what he is trying to do to get the best out of the players and this is totally different to under Sherwood. Last season when Sherwood came in you could see he got the players to play on the front foot and get the ball quickly up to Benteke and play to the strengths of the squad he inherited. The change between the football under Lambert and Sherwood was almost instantly noticeable and for a time at least the changes he made had a positive impact. Now even those who say there have been positives changes would have to acknowledge that they haven’t been positive ones in terms of what matter, results, and in terms of having a positive impact on performances in terms of how we defend, the chances we create, the amount of goals we score or even in our movement off the ball or in the protection our midfield offer the defence. If I am having to look for improvements under a microscope then the improvements are not worth talking about because, as has been shown, they will have no positive impact. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr_Pangloss Posted January 11, 2016 Share Posted January 11, 2016 I think those who see improvement are squinting, very, very hard. The differences between Villa under Sherwood and Villa under Garde are few and far between and there's really no difference in the part that matters the most, results. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jareth Posted January 11, 2016 VT Supporter Share Posted January 11, 2016 So Garde hasn't got the wins, but he has pushed Randy into making a statement today. He's also seen through Gabby, wants to shift Nzogbia and the other dead wood. Maybe he'd make a better director of football... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dont_do_it_doug. Posted January 11, 2016 Share Posted January 11, 2016 Fair play to him for speaking up about the shambles that we've become, calling Randy out on it. Very bold. He's possibly a dead man walking now mind, but thanks all the same. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pilchard Posted January 11, 2016 Share Posted January 11, 2016 Very clever what he's done today. Even mentioning that he asked them to do it two weeks ago and still nothing. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TRO Posted January 11, 2016 Share Posted January 11, 2016 Despite all the real issues....."Gumgate" is a distraction he could do without. Let him concentrate on the the central issues. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VillaChris Posted January 11, 2016 Share Posted January 11, 2016 One thing I back and have done for the last few weeks is him calling out our senior players who should be sweating blood for this club....people like Gabby (who won't play for this club again under Garde but might yet again get lucky by outlasting another Villa manager given his contract) and Grealish who should know better and will hope start dedicating himself to be a proper player. Be interesting to see what happens with Guzan and Lescott now, two other people who should be giving their all for this club, I don't expect either to play tomorrow. For too long many in this squad have used this club as a holiday and retirement home which needs to stop so I back Garde 100% on this. Needs to get a few wins though soon. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dudevillaisnice Posted January 11, 2016 Share Posted January 11, 2016 1 minute ago, dont_do_it_doug. said: Fair play to him for speaking up about the shambles that we've become, calling Randy out on it. Very bold. He's possibly a dead man walking now mind, but thanks all the same. Yeah he has pretty much called the board out now. He said he has already told them what changes he wants to make and his words "they know that let's see.." Exactly what I feared, whether people rate him or not you always back your manager. This doesn't seem to be the case. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TRO Posted January 11, 2016 Share Posted January 11, 2016 18 hours ago, Villan4Life said: Problem with that is Steve Walsh (Assistant Manager and Scout) for Leicester was the brains behind everything. Pearson wouldn't be half as good without Walsh next to him including player recruitment as we have Reilly doing that for us. Its a decent point, but who employed Walsh. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts