kurtsimonw Posted January 31, 2017 Share Posted January 31, 2017 10 hours ago, dont_do_it_doug. said: Yet you're questioning his self discipline? Incredible. Yep. I wonder, how long does it take without feeding a troll for it to die. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brommy Posted January 31, 2017 Share Posted January 31, 2017 3 hours ago, Jesperchr said: Am i the only one who is a bid worried about the impact, of the constant changing of the squad will have?I mean, the entire team is made of new players, who needs to settle, with no “old” players to make them feel home. I am a bid scared that none of the new players are willing to fight for the team, the same way a player who is villa at hart would be… you got Baker and Graelish who are born and breed villa (first 11 + subs) Without several new players (especially in midfield) we were almost certain to miss a playoff position. Whilst some players can take time to settle, the better quality of our new players (again, especially in midfield!), give us a fighting chance of making this season's playoffs. More likely than promotion, we'll have had them playing for us for nearly half a season instead of part of a preseason in the summer so we should start better next season. I wouldn't put much emphasis on whether a player has Villa 'at heart'. Over the years we've seen plenty of players, with no previous association with Villa, work hard and perform well for us. We've also seen players who supposedly do have Villa in their hearts that don't put in anywhere near enough effort. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael118 Posted January 31, 2017 Share Posted January 31, 2017 5 hours ago, kurtsimonw said: Yep. I wonder, how long does it take without feeding a troll for it to die. Fool. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
supermario Posted January 31, 2017 Share Posted January 31, 2017 Can't say the feeling of 'excitement' and 'Aston Villa' are two things I have associated together much in recent times but I'm feeling it today! I'm feeling wildly optimistic and I'm fancying a cheeky steal on the play offs now. UTV!!! Anyone else?! 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mandy Lifeboats Posted January 31, 2017 Share Posted January 31, 2017 Over the past 5 seasons I've felt genuinely optimistic on several occasions. I've seen various poor players and bad attitudes leave. They are replaced with fresh players with fresh attitudes who are surely much better than the players we lost. But 6 months later I realise that we've got the same problems.....just different names giving us those problems. Again, I feel optimistic that the squad is clearly much better after the transfer window than before. But I have a nagging doubt that I'll be disappointed once more. I think it's a medical condition called "Warren Aspinal Syndrome". 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
supermario Posted January 31, 2017 Share Posted January 31, 2017 (edited) 12 minutes ago, Mandy Lifeboats said: Over the past 5 seasons I've felt genuinely optimistic on several occasions. I've seen various poor players and bad attitudes leave. They are replaced with fresh players with fresh attitudes who are surely much better than the players we lost. But 6 months later I realise that we've got the same problems.....just different names giving us those problems. Again, I feel optimistic that the squad is clearly much better after the transfer window than before. But I have a nagging doubt that I'll be disappointed once more. I think it's a medical condition called "Warren Aspinal Syndrome". That's why I've said it now before any balls are kicked tonight or onwards from today. Making the most of this rare feeling before I'm proved wrong! Edited January 31, 2017 by supermario Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mandy Lifeboats Posted January 31, 2017 Share Posted January 31, 2017 Optimism + 45 minutes vs Brentford= Warren Aspinal Syndrome. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ermie123 Posted January 31, 2017 Share Posted January 31, 2017 Crap 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maqroll Posted January 31, 2017 Share Posted January 31, 2017 Elphick in for Chester next game, Chester looks like he needs a break. Drop Hutton and Amavi for the new boys, go 4-4-2 with Hogan up top. If the team looks flat, sharpen the axe Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sne Posted January 31, 2017 Share Posted January 31, 2017 Squad's fine now. Having serious doubts about the manager thou. Then again I had that from the beginning so nothing new there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HanoiVillan Posted February 1, 2017 Share Posted February 1, 2017 (edited) The rather horrible thought occurs that perhaps buying a 'team of captains' and then removing them from the environment they thrived in, as leaders of deeply average players, and then building a sort of Championship version of the Harlem Globetrotters, might just lead to them all kicking back on the highest wages they'll ever receive in their careers, treating us as a kind of plush early retirement home. EDIT: That certainly seemed to be what was going on last night. The assumption is presumably that if you buy a 'team of captains' then when it all goes wrong, at least somebody will take responsibility. In fact yesterday absolutely nobody did. Edited February 1, 2017 by HanoiVillan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kurtsimonw Posted February 1, 2017 Share Posted February 1, 2017 I see it as a Championship team for many years, unfortunately. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VILLAMARV Posted February 1, 2017 Share Posted February 1, 2017 Goalkeeper wise we're all over the place. Both our first team keepers potentially leave in the summer. I suspect we might try and tempt Smithies in the summer. Defensively Richards is hanging around like a bad smell, Cissokho needs to go permanently in the summer, As long as RDL comes back ok we're looking set for Right Backs after Huttons contract expires in the summer, Amavi sounds like he's off in the summer to me, so Taylor will need some competition then, Nice to see Bedeau come in yesterday, but we can't expect too much too soon from him. At least we're in the position of needing to add quality now and not numbers I suppose. Richards, Cissokho and Amavi out and a CB and LB in would be nice Midfield is better but still a work in progress. Lansbury Jedinak, Grealish and Hourihane would make an ok diamond. Gardner and Bacuna aren't good enough imo. I'm surprised Bjarnason played centrally yesterday I thought he was going to play out wide in a 4. Still only Adomah providing any real width and that worries me more than anything else with the squad in general. Green has looked promising but with no real defensive side to his game so far much like Grealish who is still floating around looking for a position mainly. I would like to see a bit of Lyden if/when he's back from injury in Jedinak's absence. Tshibola was, in hindsight, a bit of a disaster. He's very raw, we can but hope he learns a bit playing on loan, but he, Sanchez, Veretout and Gil are all potentially back in the summer. We need a lot of surgery in terms of the squad here in the summer imo. I'd be hoping for Bacuna, Gardner, Veretout, Gil, Sanchez to all go permanently as well as working out if Tish has a future here, if not let him go too and look for 1 MR 1 or 2 ML and another CM. Still a right mess in midfield though for me. Up front, well lets get the resignation of Gabby being here out the way first. McCormack was in hindsight a disaster, be hard to see him playing for Bruce again at this point. I expect him to move on in the summer rather than sorting his stuff out and coming back to be useful, Kodjia and Hogan it is then. RHM, well who knows what's going on there? Kozak is going to leave. Davis is making the bench by default at the moment (nothing against him all good luck to the kid). Lots of wages tied up in Gabby, McCormack and Kozak considering they contribute next to nothing at this point. Overall, loads better but still much work to be done. I want to add that for me I am far from disappointed. I didn't think we had a cat's chance in hell of going up this year before we'd even kicked a ball and I'm quite pleased with the overhaul of the squad because it was and still is drastically needed imo. A real shame that we bought so many passengers in the summer but maybe, in the context of Xia taking over it is better for these things to happen early doors. I can't see them making the same mistakes under this new owner who seems intelligent enough to learn from mistakes. Just my opinion looking in from the outside. But after 2 windows we need to shift the rest of the dross so for me, in the summer I can see up to 16 players leaving and another 8/9 coming in. Johnstone, Bunn, Hutton, Richards, Cissokho, Amavi, Bacuna, Gardner, Veretout, Sanchez, Gil, McCormack, RHM, Kozak, Tish?, Gabby? We would need at least 1x GK, 1x LB, 1x RM, 1x LM, 1x CM and 2x ST if they all went and I'd add another CB, CM and LM on for good measure. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nnock1984 Posted February 1, 2017 Share Posted February 1, 2017 I'm sick to death of this horrendous 4-5-1 formation - it's not working!! Two formations to play for me, 4-4-2 at home and 5-3-2 away. Two strikers is a must! 4-4-2 Johnstone Bree Chester Baker Taylor Adomah Lansbury Hourihane Amavi Kodjia Hogan 5-3-2 Johnstone Bree Chester Elphick Baker Amavi Lansbury Jedi Hourihane Kodjia Hogan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kurtsimonw Posted February 1, 2017 Share Posted February 1, 2017 Good post @VILLAMARV I do think it's easy to be very disappointed, and I couldn't argue against those that are with the crap we've put up with. But the disaster of last season is still only a few months in to the past and it will take time to rebuild the squad. Even assuming every single transfer was a success, it'd be hard to have gone up this season. We're still a good few players away all over the pitch from having a proper squad. We need a couple of keepers defenders, widemen and definitely striker. Minimum. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kurtsimonw Posted February 1, 2017 Share Posted February 1, 2017 1 minute ago, nnock1984 said: I'm sick to death of this horrendous 4-5-1 formation - it's not working!! 4-5-1 is fine... if you don't play as deep as we are. If you push up a bit, it's fine and you have better options going forward. But sitting as deep as we were last night meant their full backs were free all day long and could walk up to our 18 yard box Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daweii Posted February 1, 2017 Share Posted February 1, 2017 (edited) So.. I think Bruce wants a 4-4-2; ------------------- Johnstone ------------------ Bree ----- Chester ------ Baker ----- Taylor Adomah - Lansbury -- Hourihane - Amavi --------------- Kodjia --- Hogan --------------- I believe that may be strong enough to do damage against most teams in this division. Where we fell apart yesterday was a lack of options (not an excuse) as we played a central three of this; ------------------- Lansbury ------------------ ---------- Bjarnson --- Hourihane ---------- Yet because everything was flowing through Lansbury the opposition rightfully threw like 7 guys on him all game and he couldn't do anything. Yet because the strategy seemed to be Lansbury supply Bjarnson or Hourihane those two wound up being useless. This broke down everything we tried to do. Lansbury was the engine last night and Brentford to their credit found a way to keep stalling him. So hopefully a 4-4-2 spreads responsibility a bit more. That formation should protect slightly better from being man marked out of a game, but we have to be prepared to have a plan B, C, D, E and F cause our lack of adaptation to Lansbury being marked out of the game was pitiful. Our team on paper is one of, if not the best in the league but without the right strategy and formation we may as well be fielding 12 year old Sunday League players every week. So while last night was a shambles and I never want to see that again. I am hopeful that we were playing in a sub-optimal formation for whatever reason Bruce may have had. If his desired formation is 4-4-2 then Saturday better be a damn sight better. Edited February 1, 2017 by Daweii Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
briny_ear Posted February 1, 2017 Share Posted February 1, 2017 1 hour ago, kurtsimonw said: I see it as a Championship team for many years, unfortunately. At leadt you're optimistic we won't get relegated, then. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kurtsimonw Posted February 1, 2017 Share Posted February 1, 2017 Amavi doesn't deserve to be in the side for me. I agree with your 4-4-2 but would definitely have any of Grealish, Green or Bjarnason over him. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daweii Posted February 1, 2017 Share Posted February 1, 2017 7 minutes ago, kurtsimonw said: Amavi doesn't deserve to be in the side for me. I agree with your 4-4-2 but would definitely have any of Grealish, Green or Bjarnason over him. Yeah. Amavi is completely replaceable there. I selected him solely because it feels like we brought Taylor in to free up Amavi to play to his strengths. Amavi is clearly an attacking player that for some reason believes he's a defender. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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