villalad21 Posted October 24, 2020 Share Posted October 24, 2020 1 minute ago, Tommo_b said: Yet sill behind us and played a game more.... Hopefully it will last Really hope this isn't the start of a bad run. Players and staff needs to show some bottle now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AntrimBlack Posted October 24, 2020 Share Posted October 24, 2020 5 hours ago, nick76 said: Nah, Conor would’ve been bypassed in this game. You could argue the players on the pitch were anyway but this wasn’t a Conor game at all. Nakamba, yeah maybe. Not sure about Traore in this either, not sure he’s a roll your sleeves up type of person. Im not a fan of Davis but maybe throw him on for Trez and get some things to stick upfront for Watkins or Grealish to feed off. Nakamba for Barclay. Maybe even Elmo or Engels on for McGinn, got to a back three to stop those wings being so exposed and Cash being doubled up on when we’re defending. Midfield weren’t helping Cash so a right sided centre back could and then on the counter Cash would have more freedom going forward. We must do something about our vulnerability on our wings. The space out there for the opposition is crazy. It has been evident in the previous games as well, not just last night, except that last night it was ridiculous. Cash was really hung out to dry. Smith should really have done something last night to change the situation, which was glaringly obvious. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
danceoftheshamen Posted October 24, 2020 Share Posted October 24, 2020 Have been reflecting on last nights game and for me the issues we had were mulitple. Grealish was actually the main culprit for wasting possession (19 times he gave the ball away someone posted) & Trez was just as bad. This effectively starved Watkins of any decent ball and set up wave after wave of needless Leeds attacks down our flanks as inevitably the pair of them were giving it away in area's ahead of our fullbacks. Leeds simply knocked it into the scantilly manned area's out wide and caused us loads of issue's as a result... especially with McGinn & Luiz often having gone forward to support our attacks when possession was wasted leaving Cash & the defenders with an impossible job. For me he should have hauled Grealish off as a lesson as he is becoming a bit of a lone soldier who consistently tries to do too much rather than play the pass and as a result gave possession away nineteen times!...... It's a team game and as good as Jack can be and as much as we love him he needs to remember that the team is much more powerful than a lone soldier... It may even benefit his England chances. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TRO Posted October 24, 2020 Share Posted October 24, 2020 9 hours ago, Villarocker said: I think a change that could've been made earlier would have been to take off Trez, put Watkins wide right and tell him to concentrate on doubling up with Cash, then put on Davis with the instruction to not allow Ayling any time at all on the ball. We could have then looked to hit Davis with the long clearances and hope for him to hold it up and bring others into play. feasible option. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vreitti Posted October 24, 2020 Share Posted October 24, 2020 Football is a game of fine margins, and yesterday really proved that. The game was pretty even for most part, until Grealish missed that exceptional solo effort, and soon after Bamford got that lucky first goal. Perhaps our heads dropped a bit, and Leeds just kept on playing and applying even more pressure. In the end they fully deserved that comfortable victory. There wasn't much Smith could do either. We now have a great first eleven, but not enough depth to substantially change things around. I do think we were a tad complacent too... we finally got some much deserved media recognition, and perhaps it affected our quite inexperienced group of players. The way we now respond is going to be key. I fully trust Smith to get it right again. We have a fantastic opportunity with the upcoming fixtures to bounce back strongly. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
useless Posted October 24, 2020 Share Posted October 24, 2020 We were always going to lose at some point, that's the main reason I had a bad feeling about yesterday. What's important now is how we react to that defeat, hopefully we put in a good performance against Southampton. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TRO Posted October 24, 2020 Share Posted October 24, 2020 19 minutes ago, useless said: We were always going to lose at some point, that's the main reason I had a bad feeling about yesterday. What's important now is how we react to that defeat, hopefully we put in a good performance against Southampton. The 38th game would have been nice Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Farlz Posted October 24, 2020 Share Posted October 24, 2020 Let me make it clear in that no way did I want us to lose last night but I'm somewhat fine with that 100% record/unbeaten run being over. It wouldn't have gone on for much longer anyway but it definitely would've kept building unnecessary pressure imo whichever way you look at it. We just need to hope now this side can bounce back against Saints and not allow the Leeds result to knock us back so much we start going on a terrible run. It's been a fantastic start to the season, miles better than most of us would have imagined. If we could just have a nice boring season in 11th or something with absolutely no worries in May I'd be delighted. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post KentVillan Posted October 24, 2020 Popular Post Share Posted October 24, 2020 Played 5 Won 4 Lost 1 Somehow this is cause for some negativity about the management and various players. I do think some of our fans have a very serious pathological problem with putting anything in perspective. The time to start worrying is when you aren’t creating any goal scoring opportunities. Last night could realistically have ended 2-1 to us (or whatever) with much the same passage of play and tactics. We were definitely outplayed in the second half, and we definitely dropped our heads. There are some minor questions about whether Smith is using his subs early enough, although this early in the season and with no major cup commitments, this is unlikely to be an issue. Fact is we have a very good first XI now, who are well suited to one system. We have some backup options for that same system. What we don’t have is a lot in the way of game changing tactical subs, so you can say Smith failed to change things up, but it’s hard to see who he brings on and where. Keinan Davis? Conor Hourihane? I like them, but come on. Let’s just draw a line under this one and move on. If it becomes a pattern over the next few games, then fair enough, maybe there’s something that needs changing. 6 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KenjiOgiwara Posted October 24, 2020 Share Posted October 24, 2020 I'm saying this as a foreigner so I should step lightly, but I've always heard about how negative and moaning brummies are, and how negative and moaning Villa fans in particular are. I thus wondered having no fans in the ground actually benefits us. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MaVilla Posted October 24, 2020 Share Posted October 24, 2020 (edited) 8 hours ago, KenjiOgiwara said: I'm saying this as a foreigner so I should step lightly, but I've always heard about how negative and moaning brummies are, and how negative and moaning Villa fans in particular are. I thus wondered having no fans in the ground actually benefits us. the worst thing your parents could say to you...... Edited October 24, 2020 by MaVilla Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KentVillan Posted October 24, 2020 Share Posted October 24, 2020 2 minutes ago, KenjiOgiwara said: I'm saying this as a foreigner so I should step lightly, but I've always heard about how negative and moaning brummies are, and how negative and moaning Villa fans in particular are. I thus wondered having no fans in the ground actually benefits us. It’s Villa fans specifically, not Brummies. It’s to do with our history, the size of our stadium, etc. Being “gaslit” by Doug Ellis for years. Squandering so many opportunities to kick on. It’s built into our psyche. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KenjiOgiwara Posted October 24, 2020 Share Posted October 24, 2020 5 minutes ago, KentVillan said: It’s Villa fans specifically, not Brummies. It’s to do with our history, the size of our stadium, etc. Being “gaslit” by Doug Ellis for years. Squandering so many opportunities to kick on. It’s built into our psyche. Guess you could be right as I've heard similar stuff about fans at Goodison. And they seem to do alright without fans this season. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VillaCas Posted October 24, 2020 Share Posted October 24, 2020 9 hours ago, TRO said: I think you make some good points. For me the next move is to add some presence/muscle in the middle, like Klich or Berge or Partey,but not just muscle a brain in the middle too.... but moreover for the squad, not just the first team. I thought we allowed the centre backs to be got at too easily last night. I agree. I think we should have enough to be relatively comfortable this season but to move to the next level we need a couple of MFs who can give the front four a platform - McGinn, Grealish, Barkley and Traore are all forward looking players, Trez (normally) gives decent cover but he is limited in many ways. Luis is playing as a holding player but he’s not a true DCM. We could do with a couple of Nakamba+ type players. If only we could have got hold of Phillips last season. We’ll have ups and downs I’m sure but I feel we have turned a corner Pleased for Dean that he is proving the doubters worng Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xela Posted October 24, 2020 Share Posted October 24, 2020 2 hours ago, KentVillan said: Played 5 Won 4 Lost 1 Somehow this is cause for some negativity about the management and various players. I do think some of our fans have a very serious pathological problem with putting anything in perspective. No. We must win very game and no player is ever allowed an off day. Same goes with the manager. Why can't you accept that?! 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nick76 Posted October 24, 2020 Share Posted October 24, 2020 3 hours ago, AntrimBlack said: We must do something about our vulnerability on our wings. The space out there for the opposition is crazy. It has been evident in the previous games as well, not just last night, except that last night it was ridiculous. Cash was really hung out to dry. Smith should really have done something last night to change the situation, which was glaringly obvious. Problem was that at half time while Leeds were on top we could’ve took the lead. Also we’ve seen how Leeds seem to run out of puff in second halves except against us. If we had took the lead and took the wind out of their sails like other teams we may not be talking so much about the wings but your point is valid and something we must address. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaulC Posted October 24, 2020 Share Posted October 24, 2020 48 minutes ago, nick76 said: Problem was that at half time while Leeds were on top we could’ve took the lead. Also we’ve seen how Leeds seem to run out of puff in second halves except against us. If we had took the lead and took the wind out of their sails like other teams we may not be talking so much about the wings but your point is valid and something we must address. Would hate us to go 5 at the back again. We could play two holding midfield players but we have 12 points out of 15 so i would stick with what we are doing at the moment. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
villalad21 Posted October 24, 2020 Share Posted October 24, 2020 (edited) McGinn has played way too many games recently and i believe Barkley still had a little knock. Not playing until Sunday will do us a world of good. I'm just so worried Dean doesn't trust his bench. Him only bringing on Traore is not good. We need to have a competitive squad and we don't at the moment. I know you are probably sick and tired of hearing about him, but in Bielsas system it looks like anyone in his squad can come in and do a job for him and most of his squad is championship quality, so why can't Smith get a tune out of the likes of Nakamba and El Ghazi? Edited October 24, 2020 by villalad21 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
useless Posted October 24, 2020 Share Posted October 24, 2020 We don't have to start chopping and changing the side just because we've lost one game, that was our big mistake last season, we barely fielded the same line-up for more than two games in a row and I think it was a major factor in our poor season. On Bielsa, Smith has taken more points than him this season in less games, and took more points than him in the championship whilst he was our manager, so whilst MB has done a good job at Leeds not sure why's he should be heralded as someone for Smith to try and emulate. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ozvillafan Posted October 24, 2020 VT Supporter Share Posted October 24, 2020 I'm trying to think of what Smith could have done to change things up - and I could only think of 1 bold move: Replace Barkley with Nakamba at the 60 minute mark. Our shape wouldn't change too much, but it would push McGinn forward and stop their midfield running through us. Often in the second half Barkley watched as the opposition either passed or ran past him. He rarely pressed from the front and he wasn't tracking his man. He was playing more like a 10 than an 8, and it wasn't working. 2 more defensive midfielders, McGinn box-to-box and Grealish with more room to roam and who knows? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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