osmark86 Posted August 31, 2022 Share Posted August 31, 2022 Just now, AVTuco said: We are relegation favorites in my book. Let's hope you all are right and Gerrard is sacked and all our players flourish and show how good they really are. I think Gerrard will get the sack, but not yet after City, however much we lose. And we'll still get relegated. Only at the minute. Over the course of a full season with the possibility of us changing managers & considering the squad we have I doubt this is the case. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VillaChris Posted August 31, 2022 Share Posted August 31, 2022 Just now, AVTuco said: We are relegation favorites in my book. Let's hope you all are right and Gerrard is sacked and all our players flourish and show how good they really are. I think Gerrard will get the sack, but not yet after City, however much we lose. And we'll still get relegated. Will take some going to appoint even worse manager than Gerrard. Dyche would comfortably keep us up (not that I want him). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
M_Afro Posted August 31, 2022 Share Posted August 31, 2022 Every other team in the league is full of bigger, stronger, faster, more athletic players than us. Our squad has some talent but nowhere near enough PL physical players. I honestly think we are in a relegation battle regardless of who is manager. That’s why I would play Tim now. Every week just get the kid in. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
osmark86 Posted August 31, 2022 Share Posted August 31, 2022 Just now, M_Afro said: Every other team in the league is full of bigger, stronger, faster, more athletic players than us. Our squad has some talent but nowhere near enough PL physical players. I honestly think we are in a relegation battle regardless of who is manager. That’s why I would play Tim now. Every week just get the kid in. Time to get a physio coach in and have them bulk the **** up Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TomC Posted August 31, 2022 Share Posted August 31, 2022 Just now, M_Afro said: Every other team in the league is full of bigger, stronger, faster, more athletic players than us. Our squad has some talent but nowhere near enough PL physical players. I honestly think we are in a relegation battle regardless of who is manager. That’s why I would play Tim now. Every week just get the kid in. There's some truth about needing to be bigger and stronger. I read at the start of the season that they want the games to flow more and the refs are going to call fewer fouls. From what's I've seen, that's happened. The game is getting more physical again. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tayls Posted August 31, 2022 Author Share Posted August 31, 2022 I’m beginning to think Buendia isn’t all that. Watkins I used to enjoy watching but I think he has also either regressed, or been found out and so is easily dealt with by defenders. Ings is useful for a side that can play the ball into the opponents box - something we can’t do. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kuwabatake Sanjuro Posted August 31, 2022 Share Posted August 31, 2022 We left it way too late to sack Sherwood in 15/16, hopefully we don't make the same mistake again. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Delphinho123 Posted August 31, 2022 Share Posted August 31, 2022 Just now, Tayls said: I’m beginning to think Buendia isn’t all that. Watkins I used to enjoy watching but I think he has also either regressed, or been found out and so is easily dealt with by defenders. Ings is useful for a side that can play the ball into the opponents box - something we can’t do. Buendia is massively overhyped by Villa fans. He’s a decent enough player but he’s miles away from someone like Odegaard. He gives the ball away far too much to play as a 10 and isn’t quick enough out wide. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HanoiVillan Posted August 31, 2022 Share Posted August 31, 2022 1 minute ago, Delphinho123 said: There was a time we were boasting about beating them to the signing of Buendia. How things change. We’re going to be right amongst it this season unless things change. Don’t get me wrong, the absolute first thing the board need to do to change this is to sack Gerrard but I won’t lie to you, some of the performances from almost all of our players should concern people. I too think we have a squad that should finish somewhere between 10th - 15th but right now, some of our players look truly, truly awful. I really hope a lot of this is down to Gerrard because if it isn’t, this thread is going to be an ever present this season. Agree with the bolded. It's frightening to see how badly they're playing, and there's a lot riding on this being confusion from the top rather than the players just being kind of shit and us not having strengthened compared to other bottom-half sides. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skarroki Posted August 31, 2022 Share Posted August 31, 2022 We're not going down lads come on now, let's be realistic. We've got a great squad and Gerrard gets sacked if there's even a hint of danger of relegation. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tayls Posted August 31, 2022 Author Share Posted August 31, 2022 1 minute ago, Delphinho123 said: Buendia is massively overhyped by Villa fans. He’s a decent enough player but he’s miles away from someone like Odegaard. He gives the ball away far too much to play as a 10 and isn’t quick enough out wide. Oh, without doubt. Can only dream for a player such as Odegaard. But yea not sure what’s going on with Buendia - I can only assume we aren’t playing to his strengths because he looked like the sort of player we needed when we signed him. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VillaChris Posted August 31, 2022 Share Posted August 31, 2022 4 minutes ago, Delphinho123 said: Buendia is massively overhyped by Villa fans. He’s a decent enough player but he’s miles away from someone like Odegaard. He gives the ball away far too much to play as a 10 and isn’t quick enough out wide. Just showed us what a once in a generation player Grealish was. He was always in the game, winning free kicks, going on mazy runs, controlling tempo of games when picking up the ball and generally scaring opposition to death whenever he got in their half. Buendia has his moments and stats I'm sure are decent in 2022 but just on the periphery. But then many would be compared to what Grealish was producing for us for 2-3 seasons. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grobs Posted August 31, 2022 Share Posted August 31, 2022 5 minutes ago, skarroki said: We're not going down lads come on now, let's be realistic. We've got a great squad and Gerrard gets sacked if there's even a hint of danger of relegation. How much of a hint do you need? 4 losses out of 5 with an easy start. Wake up 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TomC Posted August 31, 2022 Share Posted August 31, 2022 1 minute ago, Tayls said: Oh, without doubt. Can only dream for a player such as Odegaard. But yea not sure what’s going on with Buendia - I can only assume we aren’t playing to his strengths because he looked like the sort of player we needed when we signed him. I don't want to go off topic, but...Buendia is probably not good enough to get us into the top 4, but he should be good enough to get us into the top half. He's not helped by the poor runs around him. Neither he nor Coutinho are helped by the fact that teams can focus on them because we have only one creative outlet on the pitch. I'm surprised that Slippy hasn't played them together at all this season. Putting Doug on with one or both of them would also help. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AVTuco Posted August 31, 2022 VT Supporter Share Posted August 31, 2022 2 minutes ago, Tayls said: Oh, without doubt. Can only dream for a player such as Odegaard. But yea not sure what’s going on with Buendia - I can only assume we aren’t playing to his strengths because he looked like the sort of player we needed when we signed him. He's a good sub to bring on when we're behind to try to work some magic. His faults override his strengths when he starts. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
osmark86 Posted August 31, 2022 Share Posted August 31, 2022 7 minutes ago, skarroki said: We're not going down lads come on now, let's be realistic. We've got a great squad and Gerrard gets sacked if there's even a hint of danger of relegation. I don't think we are either, but I think that's the only direction that Gerrard is heading us as things stand. We have to sack him sooner rather than later, because it really isn't working. He had the summer to instill his ideas and these five games are NOT what we should have expected. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rich_H Posted August 31, 2022 Share Posted August 31, 2022 7 minutes ago, skarroki said: We're not going down lads come on now, let's be realistic. We've got a great squad and Gerrard gets sacked if there's even a hint of danger of relegation. This is the type of view that leads to sleepwalking into relegation. You can end up in the bottom 3 during the WC break, any quality players have one eye on their next club, you panic buy a few duds and the next thing you know it goes down to the last day and the future of the ownership and the club is in question. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
roonst83 Posted August 31, 2022 Share Posted August 31, 2022 At least we’ll have something to play for during Spring. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
osmark86 Posted August 31, 2022 Share Posted August 31, 2022 Just now, Rich_H said: This is the type of view that leads to sleepwalking into relegation. You can end up in the bottom 3 during the WC break, any quality players have one eye on their next club, you panic buy a few duds and the next thing you know it goes down to the last day and the future of the ownership and the club is in question. It doesn't really matter what us fans view though so it's not like it's a dangerous view to hold or anything Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andym Posted August 31, 2022 Share Posted August 31, 2022 We obviously have areas we could improve in our starting 11 and squad, but that's the same for what we would consider our rivals. Palace got a point at Anfield with Ward, Clyne, Ayew and with Schlupp playing midfield. Would people think we had upgraded if we signed any of those? Southampton just came from behind to beat Chelsea; if we were to bid for someone like Walker-Peters or Adam Armstrong how would we react on here - or even going after someone like Che Adams, who is decent, but has a worse goals record than either Ings or Watkins? Or maybe Brighton, who play the likes of Dunk, Solly March (who has averaged just about 1 goal and a handful of assists over the last few seasons), Welbeck; even a decent player like Trossard hasn't been any more productive than someone like Traore was for us when he was actually fit. You can pick holes in any squads outside the top 6 (and probably in any besides City to be honest). Yet they all seem to generally look like coached, cohesive units who have a gameplan, and that counts for a lot; they look at least equal to or sometimes greater than the sum of their parts. We look the opposite, a disorganised mess, with players who have looked good at previous teams or in previous seasons for us looking like they have no idea where they need to be on the pitch. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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