Demitri_C Posted March 21, 2021 Author Share Posted March 21, 2021 2 minutes ago, PieFacE said: We've not spent that much really. We have spent a hell of a lot since we got promoted Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hippo Posted March 21, 2021 Share Posted March 21, 2021 3 minutes ago, Demitri_C said: If we end finishing 14th it really isn't that much much progress Smith spent alot we should br lookin at top 10 with this squad This is always at the back of my mind. We have a once a lifetime player in Grealish, and (tonight excepted) a goalie capable of getting into any team. Konsa ,Mings, luiz, mcginn international calibre. against that we limped home by a point last season. In the summer it has to be quality not quantity. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
barry'sboots Posted March 21, 2021 Share Posted March 21, 2021 4 minutes ago, DCJonah said: Agreed but he's only been managing in the top flight for one whole season. Rodgers is a superb manager. One of the best in the league. Dean Smith isn't perfect. But he's done a great job and surely deserves to continue to build his squad. Depends how ambitious you are. NSWE have put a lot of money in to our club and, I hope, will keep doing so. Would you want to give that to someone who has good runs and then bad runs, but doesn't have a clue how to try and reverse the latter and can't play without a player we could lose at any point? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PieFacE Posted March 21, 2021 VT Supporter Share Posted March 21, 2021 Just now, Demitri_C said: We have spent a hell of a lot since we got promoted We had to build a whole squad. If you were to average out the amount of money we've spent per player it would be minimal. In the grand scheme of Premier League squads, we've spent little. We still have a lot of work to do on our squad and it can't happen over night. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JAMAICAN-VILLAN Posted March 21, 2021 Share Posted March 21, 2021 1 minute ago, hippo said: This is always at the back of my mind. We have a once a lifetime player in Grealish, and (tonight excepted) a goalie capable of getting into any team. Konsa ,Mings, luiz, mcginn international calibre. against that we limped home by a point last season. In the summer it has to be quality not quantity. 3 players of the Martinez level in their respective positions. CM/CDM, CAM, Winger, and 3 squad improvements would make a good difference IMO. A few of our starters need to be on the bench. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OxfordVillan Posted March 21, 2021 Share Posted March 21, 2021 People are entitled to question Dean Smith, nobody should be beyond criticism. It’s natural that when a teams performances have been as below par as our have been over the course of a couple of months then a manager will be open to criticism, certainly will be questioned. I think Dean Smith has a good deal of credit in the bank with the owners, but we also shouldn’t underestimate our owners. I do believe that if opportunities present themselves then we have owners who can and will act. As things stand I can’t think of another manager that is available, or realistically obtainable, that could add more to us. But if this slump continues after the international break then credit in the bank will start to dwindle, and you leave yourself a little more vulnerable. As good as we were up to December, if we finish poorly then that’s what people remember the most. That’s football. I hope we can pull ourselves together after this international break, if even for the last 4 or 5 games and finish with something approaching our pre-Christmas form. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VillaJay Posted March 21, 2021 Share Posted March 21, 2021 3 minutes ago, PieFacE said: We had to build a whole squad. If you were to average out the amount of money we've spent per player it would be minimal. In the grand scheme of Premier League squads, we've spent little. We still have a lot of work to do on our squad and it can't happen over night. We've also had to do it at a time when player prices have been at an all time high. Maguire 80m, Joelinton/Haller 40m and so on. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VillaChris Posted March 21, 2021 Share Posted March 21, 2021 5 minutes ago, hippo said: This is always at the back of my mind. We have a once a lifetime player in Grealish, and (tonight excepted) a goalie capable of getting into any team. Konsa ,Mings, luiz, mcginn international calibre. against that we limped home by a point last season. In the summer it has to be quality not quantity. Got to do more in the January window next time we're in a good position in league by middle of January. Seems a recurring theme. Not signing Juninho in january window in 99, then getting in Heskey in 2009 when Laursen injury killed us more and blowing very realistic chance of top 4 and this season we were nicely placed but seems a wierd reluctance on here to accept we actually need another decent forward in the squad as that will always hold us back I'm afraid given we barely even get a point from games we're losing. West Ham sign likes of Lingard and move clear of us so it dosen't even have to be anyone world class. Sanson is neat and tidy but he dosen't really give the impression of someone who can instantly improve us like say Mings in the promotion season. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Indigo Posted March 21, 2021 Share Posted March 21, 2021 (edited) I'm perhaps naively optimistic for the Fulham game and onwards. We're in a rotten run so a break and a fresh start with Jack back could be just what we need to reignite our season and at least finish top 10 which in my eyes would be a cracking season despite our recent drop off. The bigger picture is still encouraging, albeit I appreciate it's getting harder to keep that perspective at the moment. I think - despite a couple of uncharacteristic brain farts from Emi and Cash tonight - we've become a top side defensively and that is a credit to Smith and Co. considering where we were, we just have to marry that up with the attacking side of things as personnel wise we're still lacking on the whole even with Jack. With him back we'll get by for the remainder of the season, and then I'd expect us to crack on after the summer given our recent trajectory. Take it easy and try to have a break on Villa over the international games anyway lads. I think some of the negativity can get a bit heavy both on here and on social media and isn't good for anyone. Here's to a (semi-)fresh start against Fulham. Edited March 21, 2021 by Indigo 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MaVilla Posted March 21, 2021 Share Posted March 21, 2021 (edited) 5 minutes ago, JAMAICAN-VILLAN said: 3 players of the Martinez level in their respective positions. CM/CDM, CAM, Winger, and 3 squad improvements would make a good difference IMO. A few of our starters need to be on the bench. completely agree, need to spunk a lot on a CDM, MC/AM & Winger, then need LB/RB/other squad improvements. Edited March 21, 2021 by MaVilla 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
M_Afro Posted March 21, 2021 Share Posted March 21, 2021 We have got a very good back 5. A brilliant left forward and a hard working centre forward. The rest are just not good enough yet. Luiz and Sanson might get there but they are not there yet. Hopefully Ramsey will get there too, but none of them are good enough to start yet! Dean needs to spend big on centre mid and wide right this summer. If he doesn’t get that right then we are better off without him. I have never known a villa team so reliant on 1 player before. It’s his job to get the best out of what he has got and he is failing miserably at the moment. Sort it out Dean. Not good enough! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VillaJay Posted March 21, 2021 Share Posted March 21, 2021 Our first 11 is probably a 10-12th place side and that's where we'll finish. We need 3-4 quality players to push to a top 8 side and keep grealish. In reality outside of Jack, Emi and Konsa every other player can and should be improved on if we can. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaulC Posted March 21, 2021 Share Posted March 21, 2021 1 minute ago, VillaChris said: Got to do more in the January window next time we're in a good position in league by middle of January. Seems a recurring theme. Not signing Juninho in january window in 99, then getting in Heskey in 2009 when Laursen injury killed us more and blowing very realistic chance of top 4 and this season we were nicely placed but seems a wierd reluctance on here to accept we actually need another decent forward in the squad as that will always hold us back I'm afraid given we barely even get a point from games we're losing. West Ham sign likes of Lingard and move clear of us so it dosen't even have to be anyone world class. Sanson is neat and tidy but he dosen't really give the impression of someone who can instantly improve us like say Mings in the promotion season. If we had signed Lingard instead of West Ham I think we'd be where they are now. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mykeyb Posted March 21, 2021 Share Posted March 21, 2021 23 minutes ago, foreveryoung said: I keep hearing we need to build and we need to replace players in the summer. But guys, if that's the case, a Sean Dyche, Chris Wilder, Potter could coach Villa. Smith was brought in as a quality coach, not to bring in ready made players like a top 4 team. It just looks like systems are not working, we are playing exactly the same football every week and getting the same result, nothing. The definition of madness is still doing the same thing and expecting different results. I don't know who our next game is but their manager already knows how we will line up, how we play, can have a pretty good guess at who will be subbed on and off and when the subs will happen, Christ we all know it. I know Dean doesn't have the options we would like from the bench and as I suggested in the match thread but got shot down for playing Davis changes our approach. How many crosses and free kicks did we put in today without anyone getting on the end of them? I thought bringing Samson off was the wrong call as he was starting to ask questions of Spurs and as soon as Barkley comes on we lose our foothold. Dean please consider something different...... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nick76 Posted March 21, 2021 Share Posted March 21, 2021 1 minute ago, VillaChris said: Got to do more in the January window next time we're in a good position in league by middle of January. Not sure it was possible because of covid, wasn’t Sanson the second biggest signing. Most didn’t do anything and no real movement. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PieFacE Posted March 21, 2021 VT Supporter Share Posted March 21, 2021 Just now, VillaJay said: Our first 11 is probably a 10-12th place side and that's where we'll finish. We need 3-4 quality players to push to a top 8 side and keep grealish. In reality outside of Jack, Emi and Konsa every other player can and should be improved on if we can. Yeah agreed. I think the first step for us now has to be to replace Trez and AEG with 2 better wingers. I'm kinda talking £30-40m wingers. Also have the option to move Jack in the middle then too. We need other options who can step up creatively when Jack is out. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HeyAnty Posted March 21, 2021 Share Posted March 21, 2021 42 minutes ago, andym said: The odd bad game, i tend to look at the players But when its an extended run of looking so poor, questions must be asked of the coaching staff Only 4 goals scored in the last 8 games, and not many more shots or chances created Its dire, directionless football Extremely predictable football, I would call it. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nick76 Posted March 21, 2021 Share Posted March 21, 2021 1 minute ago, PaulC said: If we had signed Lingard instead of West Ham I think we'd be where they are now. Yeah but Lingard has been cack for years but suddenly plays well....great in hindsight but not sure many would’ve wanted him in January. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DCJonah Posted March 21, 2021 Share Posted March 21, 2021 16 minutes ago, Lerner's Driver said: Lucky that the other teams underestimated us at the start, and/or weren't up to speed with our dynamic early season play, lucky that we were able to rack up those points because if the rot had set in just a little bit earlier than it has we would have been in a relegation fight this year as well. So no credit to us then. Gotcha. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sulberto21 Posted March 21, 2021 Share Posted March 21, 2021 With all due respect Barcelona give the ball to Messi and let him sort it out. Naturally they have better players than ours though. But they still rely on the great man to do it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts