Mark Albrighton Posted February 17, 2019 VT Supporter Share Posted February 17, 2019 43 minutes ago, Fairy In Boots said: Jack adds ball retention & creative passing with are “smith ball” what’s happened since Jack and Axel have gone is Smiths not adapted accordingly and it’s increasing the pressure on him. He needs time but we don’t have time and that’s the problem. Interestingly Thatcherlover on Twitter who claims to be ITK reckons there’s a split camp over JT effectively being sidelined by DS. I certainly think there’s something wrong for us to have gone backwards so quickly. Just a caveat to say that twitter account is very pro Bruce (even more so than Bruce’s staunchest sympathisers on here) and he set out his stall on Smith from the get go. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VillanousOne Posted February 17, 2019 Share Posted February 17, 2019 Nothing about the way we are playing is rocket science. Teams press us high because they know few of our players can keep possession under pressure, aside from McGinn. Dean is trying to get Mings to do the Axel role of bringing the ball out from defence and he is making a reasonable fist of it. But even if he succeeds, who does he pass it to? Teams know that marking our wingers nullifies us completely, there is no cohesion between the full backs and the wingers because they change every week, only Hutton provides any overlap and when he does it he leaves huge wholes in defence and offers no cover to Elphick. Who does Mings pass to if he does come forward then, well Connor and Whelan offer nothing but hopeful punts forward or sideways/backwards passes, none ever get into any space or useful positions, even if they do who are they passing it to? Tammy is horribly isolated, he isn't a target man and when he comes deep we have no one in the penalty area. Only player that really takes anyone on or can cross is El Ghazi and he has been off form. Kodjia offers nothing wide and clearly doesn't want to even try and prove that theory wrong. But I swear the biggest issue we have is how slow we are getting forward, even before West Brom shut up shop in the second half we are slow and ponderous getting forward, with only one forward to aim at teams can easily sit deep and wait for the attack that never happens, even our set piece goals have evaporated. No one is bursting into the box to support Tammy, we are playing with fear and no confidence, the only person that can change that is Dean and at the moment he has become Lambert 2.0 in the post match interviews that barely address or acknowledge the problems we have. If we can't attack as a team at speed and defend as a team with the same pace and hunger then we are doomed. One thing i will say is it feels like our midfield has been next to useless for what feels like decades. Connor, Whelan, Jed, Thor need to be replaced with one with technical ability and a footballing brain and one player who has pace who can actually do the thing that none of then seems to be able to pass and tackle (gasp). 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AVTuco Posted February 17, 2019 VT Supporter Share Posted February 17, 2019 17 hours ago, Shropshire Lad said: Do you honestly believe the squad next season will look anything like the one from last season? Is it a given that it's better? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Albrighton Posted February 17, 2019 VT Supporter Share Posted February 17, 2019 1 minute ago, AVTuco said: Is it a given that it's better? Nope, but that wasn’t the point being made. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
villabromsgrove Posted February 17, 2019 Share Posted February 17, 2019 2 hours ago, markavfc40 said: This all shows what a mess things are though doesn't it and what a difficult job Smith has. He inherited the oldest squad in the league many of whom are unable to adapt to his ways or simply physically incapable of playing Smiths way week in week out. With many of those players having no future here beyond this season do you spend 6 months playing a style of football that perhaps gets more out of them or do you stick to your football philosophies and take the short term pain for hopefully long term gain. The above paragraph encapsulates our problems and DS's dilemma. I can feel Smith's frustration as he has to play out the rest of the season with players that aren't fit for his purpose. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KJT123 Posted February 17, 2019 Share Posted February 17, 2019 I think if it weren't for the away performances against Derby, Boro and WBA, I'd probably be calling for him to be sacked. The performances since then have been downright awful, with no progression shown whatsoever. The thing is, in those three matches, Smith showed what he's capable of. I'm confident we can get back to that level, but he needs results and performances quickly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dante_Lockhart Posted February 17, 2019 Share Posted February 17, 2019 What’s happened to the team that played attacking football when he first came in, 3-0 Derby, 3-0 Forest, 4-2 Blues. Hell, even 5-5 Forest. You can’t tell me that losing 1 player (Jack) means we are a completely different team. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chrisvilla4 Posted February 17, 2019 Share Posted February 17, 2019 It's all just so sad. We want good times and relative success and to see our team at least put a shift in. We just seem to lurch back into mediocrity. I'm willing to give DS the start of next season probably because I'm so apathetic about it all at the moment. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TRO Posted February 17, 2019 Share Posted February 17, 2019 1 hour ago, JAMAICAN-VILLAN said: Starting to wonder if the season might end with John Terry being sacrificed. As far as coaching staff go, barring sentiment and stature you might view him as the weakest link. Would a more experienced coach help our plight? I think you make an interesting observation. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
danceoftheshamen Posted February 17, 2019 Share Posted February 17, 2019 (edited) I find it staggering that a team with JT as a coach can be so poor defensively. We never hear from him either which is a big disappointment to me. See more stories linking him with Chelsea stuff than Villa which of course will always happen but even so it's all abit too quiet on the Terry front for my liking. Something clearly not right at Villa Towers Q: If we take the last 13 games points ratio and had that for the remainder of the season will we be relegated? Edit: Just worked it out, we are currently on a point a game ratio so we would end on 57 points.. should be safe at that. Edited February 17, 2019 by danceoftheshamen Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zatman Posted February 17, 2019 Share Posted February 17, 2019 I rather keep Smith than the underperformers that will be gone in summer than getting a new manager that will give them a chance 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lexicon Posted February 17, 2019 Share Posted February 17, 2019 23 minutes ago, Dante_Lockhart said: What’s happened to the team that played attacking football when he first came in, 3-0 Derby, 3-0 Forest, 4-2 Blues. Hell, even 5-5 Forest. You can’t tell me that losing 1 player (Jack) means we are a completely different team. Why not? He's the best player in the league, tbf. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DCJonah Posted February 17, 2019 Share Posted February 17, 2019 3 minutes ago, lexicon said: Why not? He's the best player in the league, tbf. Bolassie is also a loss from those games. Ultimately he wasn't good enough, but he had a decent spell. El Ghazi also seemed to hit peak form. We now have struggling wingers and no quality to play near abraham. Its had a big impact on how we play. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TRO Posted February 17, 2019 Share Posted February 17, 2019 54 minutes ago, VillanousOne said: Nothing about the way we are playing is rocket science. Teams press us high because they know few of our players can keep possession under pressure, aside from McGinn. Dean is trying to get Mings to do the Axel role of bringing the ball out from defence and he is making a reasonable fist of it. But even if he succeeds, who does he pass it to? Teams know that marking our wingers nullifies us completely, there is no cohesion between the full backs and the wingers because they change every week, only Hutton provides any overlap and when he does it he leaves huge wholes in defence and offers no cover to Elphick. Who does Mings pass to if he does come forward then, well Connor and Whelan offer nothing but hopeful punts forward or sideways/backwards passes, none ever get into any space or useful positions, even if they do who are they passing it to? Tammy is horribly isolated, he isn't a target man and when he comes deep we have no one in the penalty area. Only player that really takes anyone on or can cross is El Ghazi and he has been off form. Kodjia offers nothing wide and clearly doesn't want to even try and prove that theory wrong. But I swear the biggest issue we have is how slow we are getting forward, even before West Brom shut up shop in the second half we are slow and ponderous getting forward, with only one forward to aim at teams can easily sit deep and wait for the attack that never happens, even our set piece goals have evaporated. No one is bursting into the box to support Tammy, we are playing with fear and no confidence, the only person that can change that is Dean and at the moment he has become Lambert 2.0 in the post match interviews that barely address or acknowledge the problems we have. If we can't attack as a team at speed and defend as a team with the same pace and hunger then we are doomed. One thing i will say is it feels like our midfield has been next to useless for what feels like decades. Connor, Whelan, Jed, Thor need to be replaced with one with technical ability and a footballing brain and one player who has pace who can actually do the thing that none of then seems to be able to pass and tackle (gasp). a good rendition. I think we all know, That our midfield is dysfunctional.....but we have wingers who fail to impose themselves or provide quality crosses.....Your are right, we do not have a decent target man, who can hold off and mix it with huge centre halves and let players play off......Tammy, Elghazi, Adomah, Green & Kodgia are more inside forwards for me. We have full backs who fail to minimise the gaps between them and the centre halves, inviting the opposition to play searching balls between them and opening us up. There are issues all over the team......We have to systematically rectify them.....I see some time, before its fixed. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TRO Posted February 17, 2019 Share Posted February 17, 2019 2 minutes ago, DCJonah said: Bolassie is also a loss from those games. Ultimately he wasn't good enough, but he had a decent spell. El Ghazi also seemed to hit peak form. We now have struggling wingers and no quality to play near abraham. Its had a big impact on how we play. We do seem to be a "form sieve" for most players that come in. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
villalad21 Posted February 17, 2019 Share Posted February 17, 2019 39 minutes ago, Dante_Lockhart said: What’s happened to the team that played attacking football when he first came in, 3-0 Derby, 3-0 Forest, 4-2 Blues. Hell, even 5-5 Forest. Same happened with Lambert. I remember we played some great stuff in his first season, but as time went by we played more and more defensive. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikeyp102 Posted February 17, 2019 Share Posted February 17, 2019 28 minutes ago, danceoftheshamen said: I find it staggering that a team with JT as a coach can be so poor defensively. We never hear from him either which is a big disappointment to me. See more stories linking him with Chelsea stuff than Villa which of course will always happen but even so it's all abit too quiet on the Terry front for my liking. Something clearly not right at Villa Towers Q: If we take the last 13 games points ratio and had that for the remainder of the season will we be relegated? Edit: Just worked it out, we are currently on a point a game ratio so we would end on 57 points.. should be safe at that. Why would we hear from him? How often do we hear from any other coach? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Davkaus Posted February 17, 2019 Share Posted February 17, 2019 24 minutes ago, Zatman said: I rather keep Smith than the underperformers that will be gone in summer than getting a new manager that will give them a chance For me the question isn't Smith vs this squad of has-beens and never-will-bes.. Most of them are gone in the summer, we know that. The question is whether Smith has shown enough to be trusted to rebuild the squad. He was clearly brought in with the long term project in mind, but if we keep going like this, I think it's far from guaranteed. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sne Posted February 17, 2019 Share Posted February 17, 2019 I don't really buy that the type of football Smith wants us to play is so complicated or demanding that he needs a completely different set of players with different abilities to make it work. It's not revolutionary stuff. Pass and move, pressing and what not. Every footballer can do, if they want to. Think the issue is more that we have ad elderly, non motivated squad full of players who know they wont be here next season, they don't care. You can see that the heads are gone on a lot of players, sure you can argue that it's Smith's job to motivate them, but with what? Sadly those who still try are either a bit crap or does no longer have the legs to make it. With that said I don's think Smith is anything special in the world of football and if he can't get a tune out of the players for the rest of the season I think it would be sensible to look elsewhere to see if we can attract a higher quality manager. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sam3773 Posted February 17, 2019 Share Posted February 17, 2019 5 hours ago, hippo said: Really not sure. The defence is all his players now...bar hutton. the weakness has always been the defence. Even when were playing well we were still leaking goals at the back. predictably that undermined the confidence in the team and I think the players confidence in smith. Let Smith bring in his own players next season ???...I still think we will leak goals - his inability to keep a tight defence meant he never kicked on at Brentford (despite the hype) - and it is and will continue to cost him here. Smith is renowned for having poor defensive records, that's true enough. It's a weird one. Mings has consistently been rated our best player since joining. A lot said Hause was brilliant on Saturday and I would concur. Those are the two we have identified and recruited since Smith joined. I won't count Elphick as we had no choice but to recall him at the time with Chester being out only 'fit' CB - especially now we know he wasn't. Kalinic seems to be improving since he started, although is he better than Steer? Not sure. It is what it is I guess and in my eyes we're 15th currently. If this run continues for the next 10, I think the choice is clear for the board. If, and I hope this is the case, he turns it around and we end in the top half, I think he'll get a crack at next season 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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