So Dean Smith responded to the run of fixtures by saying we can beat anyone on our day. Well Dean how wrong you are. Yep we had a go last weekend against city but it was the cup final. Tonight we have AGAIN been just really poor with a distinct lack of threat if any. People call me negative on here but the viewing is there for all to see. Pretty much all of the signings we made in the summer are just not up to it, Smith came out and said we had no choice but to buy these players ?? There were gems in the championship we could have gone for that know the English game. Look at Sheffield united, that's exactly what they have done and look at the season they have had. It's depressing as hell being a Villa fan knowing Championship football looms, and with the word being most of the squad are on minimum release clauses we might not have much of a squad come the summer !! The board got it so so wrong in the summer on totally unproven players and this is why we are going down !!
posted on 9/3/20
comment by Bales (U22081)
posted 4 minutes ago
Where's Grealish going to go? Surely he won't want another season in the Championship.
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To United. Apparently it's all been agreed, whether they stay up or not.
posted on 9/3/20
What happened to Mings?
posted on 9/3/20
that was truly awful
Reina ffs get rid and play Nyland
Mings/Engels..wtf does John terry do with these guys on the training pitch
Full backs, I liked but been woeful
what is the purpose of Douglas Luiz, he is neither a DM or an AM, he is just a nothing player for Villa
Elmo, fck me free transfer now preferably
Nakamba is certainly not Marvelous
Samatta I like but no support, nothing to feed off, nothing
Grealish and McGinn,will wave goodbye too end of season even if they stay up, which looks unlikely
Was night and day from the Man City game
posted on 9/3/20
Don't see any way back after this, especially with the next 4 fixtures coming up.
I honestly thought this season was the start of our resurgence back to the upper echelons of the top flight, especially with our wealthy owners. But we've made some poor signings, and worse still the coaching appears non-existent. Why?
We knew this year would be tough, but there are too many players who are too soft and inconsistent. Why can't we defend? I think Grealish is done.
I just hope our owners are in this for the long haul.
posted on 9/3/20
I'm afraid this is the moment of truth. Before tonight we still had a decent chance, especially after the cup final performance. In theory there's still a decent chance, but it doesn't look like happening.
It's not the players. Bottom line for every manager is being able to get the most effective performances out of the players he's got. This was nowhere near. The setup is naive, the coaching abysmal. It's a mixture of Dean and the coaching staff he brought in with him.
The owners have shown their ambition for the club. This isn't on that radar.
posted on 9/3/20
It is a mixture of everything how can the same team go from the city performance to that?
posted on 10/3/20
You'd struggle in the championship playing like that. 0 shots or corners is shocking.
posted on 10/3/20
Fulham bought in a lot of players when they were promoted, and then those players went on to fail them. Same seems to have happened here.
posted on 10/3/20
comment by CurrentlyIntheUK (U11181)
posted 4 hours, 21 minutes ago
Fulham bought in a lot of players when they were promoted, and then those players went on to fail them. Same seems to have happened here.
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Happens to most team that do that. The teams that do the best after promotion are usually the teams who play a defined system, are organised and only sign players to fit what they were doing to get them promoted. Its what Wolves did and its what Sheffield Untied did.
Teams that bring in too many players have to redefine themselves and it usually stops them from getting a settled side. even now, at this point in the season you see Villa switching between 3 and 4 at the back. Smith doesn't know what his best team is and doesn't allow them to settle and organise in a system. Seems like if Grealish isn't on form, you will most likely lose.
posted on 10/3/20
Fact is we had to bring in the number of players we did. A lot of us expected a bumpy ride in the first half of the season. But by now we should have a settled side with an established way of playing. That we haven't is only partly down to injuries.
Last night we played almost the same team as against Man C in the cup final. But we were set up differently. Dean Smith accorded Man C a respect which he failed to show against Leicester. Naive. Against Man C Guilbert had a very good game; he was tasked with keeping the lid on Sterling, which he did very effectively. Against Leicester he was a free roaming RB who got too far forwards too often and we were carved open time and time again down that side.
We're going backwards, which is odd because on a number of occasions we've shown we do have the players to compete, if organised correctly.
I haven't an earthly on why Reina, now a journeyman pro at the end of his career, was chosen instead of Nyland. Or why El Ghazi was dropped.