useless Posted December 22, 2019 Share Posted December 22, 2019 Wesley scored fifteen in all competitions last season including goals in the champions league, and provided ten assists. Was linked to Arsenal, Lazio and others before signing for us, he wasn't just some random striker that we just decided to pay a lot of money for for the sake it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Laughable Chimp Posted December 22, 2019 Share Posted December 22, 2019 (edited) 6 hours ago, Dr_Pangloss said: The lack of skills is the problem, skills to actually be a striker. I think his finishing is decent mind, yes it was a poor miss yesterday but he has taken his goals well here. But there's a stunning lack of anticipation, decision making, ability to make a good run and find space in the box, just none of that is there. I'm convinced this would have been seen by any scout worth their salt whilst he was at Brugges, surely 5 games of watching him would have identified this. I am shocked we saw fit to spend £22m on a player who just does not have the basics down for his position. It's shocking piece of mismanagement. The guy won the Belgian young player of the year award. He was building a reputation in the league, and I'm guessing the board simply thought that he would be a quality investment in the future and just hoped Smith would be able to mold him into his system. I agree, it really doesn't feel like any piece of genuine scouting was put into this purchase, its like someone just looked at his stats, credentials, physical attributes and age and thought he'd be a good investment and felt they needed to sign him up without ever actually seeing him play. I hope the decision makers have learned a valuable lesson from this transfer. I refuse to think any scout who's actually seen Wesley play actually thought he would be a good fit for Smith's system. On that note, next time I play FM, probably gonna copy this transfer strategy and hope it turns out well. Edited December 22, 2019 by Laughable Chimp Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
villalad21 Posted December 22, 2019 Share Posted December 22, 2019 8 minutes ago, useless said: Wesley scored fifteen in all competitions last season including goals in the champions league, and provided ten assists. Was linked to Arsenal, Lazio and others before signing for us, he wasn't just some random striker that we just decided to pay a lot of money for for the sake it. Safe to say Arsenal and Lazio dodged a bullet then. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Elton Posted December 22, 2019 Share Posted December 22, 2019 3 hours ago, Dr_Pangloss said: This is pretty deluded. Yeah, a centre forward who gets little service is a bigger issue than a team that can’t defend. I’m not saying Wesley is doing great at all and shouldn’t be replaced but some people (feel free to include yourself) are clearly blind to the bigger issues. I can think of several players who are playing similar or worse than Wesley but don’t get the same amount of stick. I understand it though, as some fans can be quite simplistic in their understanding of football. 1 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Elton Posted December 22, 2019 Share Posted December 22, 2019 1 hour ago, PaulC said: Depends how low you want to set your standards. Wesley might end up with 6 or 7 goals which is not going to help us stay up No, of course it won’t help but he is one player and can be replaced with Kodjia, Davis, new signing etc. He is not at fault for where we are. We aren’t good enough as a team all over the pitch at present but the knives are out for one guy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaulC Posted December 22, 2019 Share Posted December 22, 2019 1 hour ago, hippo said: But 6 or 7 goals from Wesley shouldn't be a surprise given he only got 11 in a weaker league. I have no idea what anyone seen in him. Yes it was a huge gamble 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaulC Posted December 22, 2019 Share Posted December 22, 2019 37 minutes ago, Elton said: No, of course it won’t help but he is one player and can be replaced with Kodjia, Davis, new signing etc. He is not at fault for where we are. We aren’t good enough as a team all over the pitch at present but the knives are out for one guy. Yes totally unfair to blame the player himself it’s the managers fault. Too stubborn to give anybody else a chance Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Graham t Posted December 22, 2019 Share Posted December 22, 2019 On 17/12/2019 at 16:15, VillaCas said: You talk about balance but you’re so rose-tinted that you refuse to see what’s in front of you. Ive no problem when Wesley comes deep and receives the ball but he needs to make much much more effort going the other way Kodija ( who is a long way off what is required) showed more effort to get forward in 20 mins than Wesley does in half a dozen games Clearly, it is a truism that Strikers look better in a better team - just the same as it is a truism to say with a better Striker we would be a better team I believe Wesley lacks the skills required - The power of his shot is poor - for a big guy he presents no aerial threat in the box - he lacks the pace and inclination to run in behind - he is very slow to get in the box - he cannot beat a man - he can’t shift the ball to make a chance - he shows little predatory instinct I would love to know, Objectively, which of these statements you disagree with None , spot on mate. Oh, and he doesn't 'attack' the ball either. For me it's AEW......( anybody except Wesley ). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Five Ken McNaughts Posted December 22, 2019 Share Posted December 22, 2019 Take a look at Guilbert's long-range shot that was tipped over just before half-time. Four players – El Ghazi, Luiz, Hourihane and Targett – all charge into the six-yard box in the hope of picking up a rebound or deflection. Where is Wes? Totally static, on his heels, somewhere near the penalty spot. Look, I'll cheer him on every time he is on the pitch in a Villa shirt, but can you teach "predatory instinct" to a 23-year-old? I'm not so sure. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spray Posted December 23, 2019 Share Posted December 23, 2019 (edited) I piss myself with laughter every time this guy attempts to jump for the ball, it's comedy gold. Whoever recommended him to us clearly took a backhander. Linked with Arsenal BTW. He would've fitted in perfect there because they're the worst group of players for over three decades. Edited December 23, 2019 by Spray 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Delphinho123 Posted December 23, 2019 Share Posted December 23, 2019 The bizarre thing is, if we go down, he still won’t be good enough. God knows how we’re going to get rid of this guy. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KenjiOgiwara Posted December 23, 2019 Share Posted December 23, 2019 36 minutes ago, Delphinho123 said: The bizarre thing is, if we go down, he still won’t be good enough. God knows how we’re going to get rid of this guy. I've said the same for months. It's absolutely clear he does not have it atm. Maybe if we're lucky he'll develop into something, but I just can't see it. There's no way he's good enough for the championship never mind the PL. Ultimately I really want him to come good, as all Villa fans do, but he has shown us nothing. Absolutely nothing in the space of soon half a season. And the absurdity of playing one striker... that finds it perfectly acceptable to sprint 60 yards defensively, but never is in the box, well it's painful. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brummybloke Posted December 23, 2019 Share Posted December 23, 2019 Maybe him and hogan can form an awesome formidable pairing and terrorise the premier league? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MattVillaPortsmouth Posted December 23, 2019 Share Posted December 23, 2019 He is doing what he was when we brought him, he is not (and won’t) be a teams top scorer as to me he is more of a forward than a striker. So needs to either play as a front 2 or have runners off him (playing further up the field, ahead of him). It’s too easy for people to sit back and go ohh look a forward who doesn’t score, he is rubbish it’s his fault we are dropping like a lead balloon - others have said he is by a long shot not our biggest problem. His strike rate at Brugge was 1 in 3.4, here it is 1 in 3.8, so if he wasn’t scoring bucket loads in a weaker league was never going to do it in a new prem team. I am by no means saying he is playing well or anything, but our tactics make him (and others) look bad, smith must be telling him to be so deep (or if not why hasn’t he stopped him). Our players don’t play to his strengths, and that is tactics we are too 1 dimensional and only look for jack. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
briny_ear Posted December 23, 2019 Share Posted December 23, 2019 15 hours ago, useless said: Wesley scored fifteen in all competitions last season including goals in the champions league, and provided ten assists. Was linked to Arsenal, Lazio and others before signing for us, he wasn't just some random striker that we just decided to pay a lot of money for for the sake it. Just a thought - are we sure we got the right Wesley? Did we by so some random hapoenchance sign someone with the same name who had never played football or even seen a football game before? Sometimes it seems that way... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KenjiOgiwara Posted December 23, 2019 Share Posted December 23, 2019 14 minutes ago, MattVillaPortsmouth said: He is doing what he was when we brought him, he is not (and won’t) be a teams top scorer as to me he is more of a forward than a striker. So needs to either play as a front 2 or have runners off him (playing further up the field, ahead of him). It’s too easy for people to sit back and go ohh look a forward who doesn’t score, he is rubbish it’s his fault we are dropping like a lead balloon - others have said he is by a long shot not our biggest problem. His strike rate at Brugge was 1 in 3.4, here it is 1 in 3.8, so if he wasn’t scoring bucket loads in a weaker league was never going to do it in a new prem team. I am by no means saying he is playing well or anything, but our tactics make him (and others) look bad, smith must be telling him to be so deep (or if not why hasn’t he stopped him). Our players don’t play to his strengths, and that is tactics we are too 1 dimensional and only look for jack. I don't care about his strike rate tbh. I expected around 10 league goals to call it a good season. The big issue is that he doesn't play well, and that has very little to do with goals. In Wesley's excuse the last 4 matches we've played pretty poorly, bar Man Utd, so he is sort of excused for not being better. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tomav84 Posted December 23, 2019 VT Supporter Share Posted December 23, 2019 15 hours ago, Elton said: No, of course it won’t help but he is one player and can be replaced with Kodjia, Davis, new signing etc. He is not at fault for where we are. We aren’t good enough as a team all over the pitch at present but the knives are out for one guy. i agree with this for the southampton game...however we have played better than saturday and not got the result we needed because we were playing essentially with 10 men. burnley and west ham are 2 that spring to mind. the last 2 games we've been abysmal all over the pitch. wes actually did OK sat when the ball actually went near him he's just the wrong type of player we need. we need someone playing off the last man...he's not that player. but i think most are in agreement that a wes/kodj partnership in a 2 man attack needs to be tried. i doubt we'll see that in the next 3 games though...possibly the cup game maybe Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PussEKatt Posted December 23, 2019 Share Posted December 23, 2019 Its ok.DS has got it sorted, he said after the Leicester game "goals change games" so he keeps playing Wesley because he dosent like change.Its obvious FFS Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KenjiOgiwara Posted December 23, 2019 Share Posted December 23, 2019 24 minutes ago, tomav84 said: i agree with this for the southampton game...however we have played better than saturday and not got the result we needed because we were playing essentially with 10 men. burnley and west ham are 2 that spring to mind. the last 2 games we've been abysmal all over the pitch. wes actually did OK sat when the ball actually went near him he's just the wrong type of player we need. we need someone playing off the last man...he's not that player. but i think most are in agreement that a wes/kodj partnership in a 2 man attack needs to be tried. i doubt we'll see that in the next 3 games though...possibly the cup game maybe I actually think a proper tough targetman would work well for us, but I agree a very pacy, mobile 'off the shoulder' type of striker would work as well. Ideally we need both. Unfortunately Wesley is neither. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr_Pangloss Posted December 23, 2019 Share Posted December 23, 2019 Mitrovic would be so much better, can do the target man stuff but works very hard, offers front foot aggression and gets into good positions. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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