KentVillan Posted December 16, 2019 Share Posted December 16, 2019 I wonder if the way Smith should use Grealish is to play him a mix of wide left, wide right, and central? We're very predictable, and the good managers like Rodgers and Wilder are able to plan for it and set traps. Smith could undermine that preparation by switching Grealish's position. At the moment, we're vulnerable when Grealish and Targett link up on the left and lose the ball. Rodgers played a defensive mid (Ndidi) who doubled up on Jack with the right back (Riccardo), and left a quick striker (Vardy / Iheanacho) up in the space that Targett had left behind. Then as soon as Grealish / Targett lost the ball (which was always going to happen at some point), the ball gets sent down the line for a very dangerous counter attack. A classic trap - but knowing that Grealish would play wide left, and most of our attacks would go down that left channel, made it much easier for Leicester to execute. I'm not sure it's Grealish who's the problem though (apart from the fact that too much of our play goes through him). We've been caught like this in games where he hasn't been playing (e.g. Traore break against Wolves). I think it's more that our full backs play too high in the tougher games? 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JAMAICAN-VILLAN Posted December 16, 2019 Share Posted December 16, 2019 On 15/12/2019 at 02:10, vreitti said: A few weeks back ppl were praising how much better we look with him playing in from the left. Confidence is low, and as a result we've lost form as a team, don't think Jack's position matters much. Exactly, it is when he made the switch we finally started to click. Granted, Connor also came back into the team at the same time and the balance just seemed right. The WHOLE team is disjointed, and it will affect performances. I feel a tweak really is needed though, similar to that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vreitti Posted December 16, 2019 Share Posted December 16, 2019 Just now, JAMAICAN-VILLAN said: Exactly, it is when he made the switch we finally started to click. Granted, Connor also came back into the team at the same time and the balance just seemed right. The WHOLE team is disjointed, and it will affect performances. I feel a tweak really is needed though, similar to that. Yeah, there's definitely something not working optimally at the moment. Too many changes to the starting eleven perhaps. I'd look through our better games (Everton, Norwich & Newcastle) and stick to that lineup, bar Wes who shouldn't be starting now. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
villa4europe Posted December 16, 2019 Share Posted December 16, 2019 1 hour ago, KenjiOgiwara said: It's worth considering that teams will give him more attention than before. He's been dominating in the free role on the left, so when teams try and shut him down to a larger degree it doesn't nessecarily mean he's playing poor there. agree with this, its not grealish that's playing poor, its fairly obvious that everything goes through jack on the left (the commentators state it around 15 times a game for a start) so the opposition doubles up on him, sometimes triple up on him that means we have a free man somewhere, sometimes 2...what are they doing? that's where McGinn's poor form is also impacting us, we should have a free man in the middle if jack is doubled up on, it certainly doesn't look like it (vs sheff utd it looked the opposite) that's where we are at our best, jack doubled but still doing his thing, space in the middle for McGinn if we move jack to the middle in a no 10 free role then you still need a midfield that runs past him and wingers giving him an out ball 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lapal_fan Posted December 16, 2019 Share Posted December 16, 2019 I think the tactical switches people are proposing are pretty sensible to be honest. We've enjoyed seeing Jack on the left because for the first few games of him playing there, opponents probably didn't have a plan. Now they know he's such a key part of our attacks, they make contingencies to stifle him. Switching him somewhere could well upset the plans of opponents. What you'd hope would happen is with the doubling up on Jack would give more space to other players who could take advantage of that space, unfortunately, that hasn't happened. What seems to be happening is that we're giving Jack more of the ball, hoping he can do something creative. Off the ball we've been pretty poor for a few games now, players seem nervous to make decisions for fear of us losing the ball and teams countering us. We've lost a bit of bravery. We've still not got a settled CM pairing, and we seem to change it depending on who we play. McGinn has gone off the boil since September now, and we could really do with him picking up form, making himself available and not wanting to pass forward every time he gets the ball. I think Jack's issue at the moment is other players aren't taking much responsibility and relying on him too much. It's all become a little predictable. Smith could do with a small tactical change, if only to give us more than one way of playing. I think he's probably already identified that as an issue. Up top Wes needs more support, and it's got to the stage where I feel for him now, he's isolated, he's not playing well and mentally, he must be shot. Davies being out as well means he's not been able to be taken out of the spotlight, which I guess would really benefit him for a game or 2 to get back on the training pitch and try some new things. January is going to be interesting.. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sne Posted December 19, 2019 Share Posted December 19, 2019 Where has this "he has a £45m buyout clause" come from? It's all over the media. If this is true we must get him on a new contract asap because that is way too low. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tomav84 Posted December 19, 2019 VT Supporter Share Posted December 19, 2019 10 minutes ago, sne said: Where has this "he has a £45m buyout clause" come from? It's all over the media. If this is true we must get him on a new contract asap because that is way too low. if it was true he'd already be a spurs/city/liverpool player 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sne Posted December 19, 2019 Share Posted December 19, 2019 1 minute ago, tomav84 said: if it was true he'd already be a spurs/city/liverpool player Depends on the finer details in the contract. The clause might not have been active in the summer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Farlz Posted December 19, 2019 Share Posted December 19, 2019 Quote Jack Grealish is Villa's most obvious asset, with the midfield player having a £45m buyout clause in the new contract he signed last year, but the club would be loath to sell him. https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-7807011/Aston-Villa-threat-FFP-rules-Dean-Smith-possibly-forced-fire-sale.html It come from the same article about us and FFP. While the Daily Mail isn't exactly the pinnacle of football news I do hope the £45m buyout isn't true. That's really quite low. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tomaszk Posted December 19, 2019 Share Posted December 19, 2019 I suspect that's only if we're in the championship. Otherwise there'd be a queue out the door. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tomav84 Posted December 19, 2019 VT Supporter Share Posted December 19, 2019 Rob Dorsett just tweeted. No one has a buy out. **** you daily mail Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vive_La_Villa Posted December 19, 2019 Share Posted December 19, 2019 So in the space of a few days the Daily Mail have informed us all Mcginn has been playing with an injury and Grealish has a 45m buyout clause. Anything else? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brumstopdogs Posted December 19, 2019 Share Posted December 19, 2019 33 minutes ago, Vive_La_Villa said: So in the space of a few days the Daily Mail have informed us all Mcginn has been playing with an injury and Grealish has a 45m buyout clause. Anything else? Next there going to be telling us that Wesley has one leg 3cm shorter than the other one... 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TRO Posted December 19, 2019 Share Posted December 19, 2019 On 16/12/2019 at 09:44, lapal_fan said: I think the tactical switches people are proposing are pretty sensible to be honest. We've enjoyed seeing Jack on the left because for the first few games of him playing there, opponents probably didn't have a plan. Now they know he's such a key part of our attacks, they make contingencies to stifle him. Switching him somewhere could well upset the plans of opponents. What you'd hope would happen is with the doubling up on Jack would give more space to other players who could take advantage of that space, unfortunately, that hasn't happened. What seems to be happening is that we're giving Jack more of the ball, hoping he can do something creative. Off the ball we've been pretty poor for a few games now, players seem nervous to make decisions for fear of us losing the ball and teams countering us. We've lost a bit of bravery. We've still not got a settled CM pairing, and we seem to change it depending on who we play. McGinn has gone off the boil since September now, and we could really do with him picking up form, making himself available and not wanting to pass forward every time he gets the ball. I think Jack's issue at the moment is other players aren't taking much responsibility and relying on him too much. It's all become a little predictable. Smith could do with a small tactical change, if only to give us more than one way of playing. I think he's probably already identified that as an issue. Up top Wes needs more support, and it's got to the stage where I feel for him now, he's isolated, he's not playing well and mentally, he must be shot. Davies being out as well means he's not been able to be taken out of the spotlight, which I guess would really benefit him for a game or 2 to get back on the training pitch and try some new things. January is going to be interesting.. With FFP rearing its ugly head again.....I would say very interesting. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TRO Posted December 19, 2019 Share Posted December 19, 2019 On 16/12/2019 at 09:22, villa4europe said: agree with this, its not grealish that's playing poor, its fairly obvious that everything goes through jack on the left (the commentators state it around 15 times a game for a start) so the opposition doubles up on him, sometimes triple up on him that means we have a free man somewhere, sometimes 2...what are they doing? that's where McGinn's poor form is also impacting us, we should have a free man in the middle if jack is doubled up on, it certainly doesn't look like it (vs sheff utd it looked the opposite) that's where we are at our best, jack doubled but still doing his thing, space in the middle for McGinn if we move jack to the middle in a no 10 free role then you still need a midfield that runs past him and wingers giving him an out ball been a bone of contention for me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brumstopdogs Posted December 20, 2019 Share Posted December 20, 2019 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tomaszk Posted December 20, 2019 Share Posted December 20, 2019 Need him at his best for these games. He's got to be so good they can't mark him out the game. No one is showing enough to win matches for us if he's not firing . 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Villaphan04 Posted December 20, 2019 Share Posted December 20, 2019 Pretty surprised that he 'doesn't' have a buy out clause. Very good news for us Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ferguson1 Posted December 21, 2019 Share Posted December 21, 2019 Wouldn’t blame you if you’ve had enough because you deserve better than this. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr_Pangloss Posted December 21, 2019 Share Posted December 21, 2019 Wouldn't blame him if he forced a move this Jan. Deserve better than playing with this pathetic load of dross and under a clueless set of coaches. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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