Reivax_Villa

18 hours ago, briny_ear said:

Unfortunately we only won 9 other games that season and finished 5 points off relegation with a goal difference of -22.

So maybe not the best advert for “young and hungry” after all?

I did mention the deficiencies that our team had also.

The point that I was trying to make was that we produced players for our academy that were good enough to play Premier League football at that time & keep us up.

Very interesting comment about our team spirit.

I cannot wait for the summer as someone alluded to, there are some bad eggs in the squad at the moment.

10 minutes ago, Tommo_b said:

Christ that was a truly awful first team? Bar Benteke I think our current team is better.

Lambert really was hung out to dry by Lerner, I know many disagree but Lambert did pretty well with what he had.

I think that he proved that it was less about big names and more about hard work and application.

For him to be in that condition and continue to play games and score goals..

My respect for him has gone up even higher.

However what is most important is that he gets surgery as soon as possible.

He should not  be here.

Promotion was a write off after the first transfer window.

There was no real foundations put into place.

It is very hard to see how far we have fallen but we are a mid table Championship club and next season will solidify that when we will have a smaller budget.

I was not impressed this game despite us scoring two goals. Our players do not fit Smith's system.

The main issue is the defence and DS cannot just purchase players to paper over the cracks, there needs to be some tactical structure to our defence because we struggle with long balls from the middle and wide areas.

Our full backs are not like wing backs so naturally they will tuck inside to defend whilst leaving wide areas exposed.  When we do not have the ball and we are in our own half. our shape has to change to a 5 4 1 to support the middle and wide areas for the second ball. 

The way the game is played today,  high endurance modern full backs that can attack and defend is very important. Man City, Liverpool, Leeds, Norwich they have those type of players at their respected level.

DS had the luxury of two DOF bringing in coaches to assist him when they felt it was necessary, he does not have that here.  I personally think that we need another coach to assist him because 15 goals conceded in the last 8 games is very bad.

There are players that lack the fluidity,  endurance and decision making ability to suit Smiths needs.

There is so much more to say but DS needs the summer. There is real expectation at this club which I believe is to our detriment because many crumble here and very very few succeed here.

A season of no expectation may actually work in our favour.. just like Norwich & Sheffield United

I think he is a very talented individual. 

He should have never gone out on loan for us to bringing Bolasie on loan.

He scored an amazing goal against Norwich. 

Well based on that segment it does look like we are going to start investing in our youth and get them to the standard of first team football.

Norwich & Leeds are able to include youngsters in the first team and they don't look out of place. 

We are not at that level with our youth squad.

Quote

According to a host of journalists, and Y Clwb Pêl-Droed – an award winning website focusing on the Welsh Footballing Leagues – Aston Villa are one of three Championship clubs after the signature of Barry Town United’s Macauley Southam-Hales.

It would be a welcome move for the 22-year-old, who dropped down to semi-professional football in 2017 when he was released by Cardiff City. 

Southam-Hales, who initially played as a midfielder, has been retrained as a right-back more recently and has impressed for The Linnets this season across 20 appearances – and chipped in with a goal and a number of assists along the way.. more to follow

https://theclaretandview.com/2019/01/16/aston-villa-target-macauley-southam-hales/

1.43 - That outside foot pass

He looks like a player that DS would want to coach and improve.

He has the attributes to become our first choice full back for next season. He looks more of the modern day full back with vast amounts physical and technical ability.

If we  offload Elmo and Hutton it would be him and Bree next season.

He seems to be from the bracket of ex England players that should have pushed on and succeeded but failed.

Players like Bentley, Rodwell that could have done more but lost the passion for the game with injuries and big wages.

After watching that Sunderland show on Netflix he does appear to be our Rodwell in a sense. Not really expecting to play, but in and around the squad just getting paid and being the lovely chap that we don’t want.

1 minute ago, hippo said:

How we will know when we have a clear identity or not ? 

I thought hippos had good eyesight..

I think that we need to accept where we are as a team and club.

It was never going to be rosy when Smith got the job hard work is never easy.  Whoever thought that it would be are naive football fans.

I am accepting that this is a long term project where we need to believe in what our manager is trying to achieve.

If he is here for two seasons and we have not been promoted BUT we have a clear identity then I will still support him.

We do not have an honest bunch of players they do not work hard which is why we are inconsistent.  They think that talent alone will win them games when that is not the case.

Teams like Brighton, Huddersfield & Cardiff were not a talented side nor did they have big name players and look where they are.

The fans that want DS to be sacked and every other new manager that arrives after a few months to be sacked will never see this club succeed if they get what they want.

I think we need to remember what we are.

A championship club. We haven’t really  done anything since being in this league.. we buy players with a reputation we’re just a bunch of pretenders.

3 minutes ago, bobzy said:

Why?!

I’m failing to see anything wrong with it. Are we going to ban opposition clubs/managers from going to the match of a team before they play them?

It’s a ridiculous fuss over nothing. 

i think training sessions are slightly different than a match.

They are watching a teams preparation before playing them.

The real question is how many times has this been done this season.

An investigation is required and Derby will definitely lodge a complaint. 

This is a great move for both parties.

He will learn so much at that level.

I still think that he is a bit too lightweight to play up front.

I can see him playing as a wide forward IF he develops his game.

He should look at players like Mane.

6 minutes ago, Tommo_b said:

Now I’m not trying to cling on to Benteke memories here but you’d seriously not be interested in signing him if the option came up? He would kill this league! More then Grabban or Abraham would. 

Benteke is not the same player.

And remember we played through him which meant we played a lot more direct to suit his style.

The reason why he was not a success at Liverpool was because they had a much more progressive style of play opposed to the direct style we had.

I have seen him at Palace he scored 3 in 30 last season.

And sign him on what  a permanent deal where we spend more on wages?

I see a lot of sour responses towards Abraham.

He is way too good for this league , he has scored a high number of goals at this level and has featured for England.

He has very good link up play, i can think of the through pass he made to Grealish to score and he can score from anywhere in the box.

The only loyalty TA should show is to himself and family so if he is being offered over £100K a week he should take it.

Wolves play attractive football and are progressing rapidly.

I would be gutted to see him leave and it may result in us finishing in the top 10 instead of playoffs.

What we need to stop doing is signing players on loan if we do not have a first option to sign.

1 hour ago, PompeyVillan said:

McGinn is a funny one. I admire alot of what he does, but he is quite inconsistent with his passing. He has alot of potential but occasionally his execution for simple passes is quite poor. He frustrates abd impresses me in equal measure. I don't make him our best player, but he's up there. 

I agree.

He brings a lot of intensity and graft to our team.

For me what makes him stand out is that his character shows through his play and he will continue to develop and become a Premier League player.

He does have a tendency of running with his head down and missing simple passes. His passing and first touch are not his best attributes.

I do think that he will improve as time goes on.

He is a Premier league player.

If he played for palace, wolves or watford he would get 10 goals minimum a season which is good enough at that level.

He is out of our reach.

Our best player this season.

Without his goals we would be further down the table.

Despite the amount of chances he gets a game I still cannot see any of our other three strikers converting the amount chances that he has had.

He has carried us.

He needs a lot of time without unnecessary pressure.

We have a lot of declining players and our best players do not even belong to us.

I am looking forward to this window and the summer one.

I have already said I don't think promotion will happen with this team & despite DS saying that he wants Top 2 he has to be realistic.

It is very unbalanced team. 

Back four and our central midfield are not good enough.

We lack real quality in passing and movement. 

The only player that contains both of those attributes is currently injured with an unknown injury & when he does play he does not really score often or makes assists.

If we did not have Abraham we would be in the bottom half of the table.

There has to be a serious rebuild. 

Our top players last season have declined rapidly. i.e Chester, Adomah, Kodjia.

Our best players are loan signings which makes it slightly more difficult to rebuild because they need replacing.

For me, I will take this season for what it is.. a rebuild. If we scrap playoffs then good.

What I would like to see is us sign players that fit with DS philosophy and actually belong to this club.