flashingqwerty

Its also worth noting that we looked more lost without him than with him. Every game he starts, as soon as he goes off we lose our way. He isn't going to score goals, but he is the only thing that gives us any hope of keeping possession because we play the long ball out of defence all the time.

In the last 100 years we've won the league once. I'm sorry, but we aren't a big club and haven't been for quite some time

Elmo and guilbert were on the bench. Both are fullbacks.

Quality and results aren't the whole point though. We clearly had very tired players from 60m and DS changed nothing. We are allowed 5 subs, have played more games than any other team, and rotated the least. We need to be making subs to keep energy levels up or we will get injuries, plain and simple.

Not recognising the tired legs cost us for me. All season long, DS has shown a complete inability to identify and replace tired players and a compulsive desire to not use his subs to the detriment of the players. Yeah, we are not gifted with world class players on the bench, but you know what? A fresh 0air of legs on a driven player with limited ability is better than a talented player who can hardly lift his feet from fatigue. And that my friend is all down to DS and is a major part of what will see us go down. "I can make 5 subs you say? Ah, sure, i only need to make 2, we're only 2 - 0 down." - Dean Smith, 2020-07-05

If you really think the recruitment is the issue then the buck still stops with DS. He is quoted as saying he has final say on players coming in.

Go on, tell me that 2nd goal wasnt due to Luiz Grealish and McGinn having nothing left in the tank? Absolute incompetent game management.

PLEASE CHANGE THE MIDFIELD THEY ARE WRECKED!!!!!!

Barry has pace, guilbert has pace, so, yeah, we do.

Thats not it at all. Whats frustrating is that even the blind man with no tv could tell our midfield was tiring. Yet somehow DS still thinks its ok to leave the tired players on. Might not have stopped them scoring but doing nothing was not the right answer, hes made changes on the wrong positions and left the most tired players on the pitch. Pathetically poor game management as usual.

Jota? Runners? Joke?

Did you not notice the midfield has stopped closing down? They are tanked

MAKE A CHANGE DS WE NEED FRESH LEGS IN MIDFIELD!!!!!!!!!!!

Yeah Klopp changes the game and Smith, as usual, does nothing to counter, and its cost us. Fresh legs needed

Why is McGinn marking VVD on corners?

Here comes trouble...

I think if you bring on Samatta it needs to be instead of one of the wide men. This game 0lan needs the big lad up top. As soon as Davis goes off, Liverpool will start to dismantle us.

Defensively sound but the attacking players have been exceptionally poor. Trez isnt good enough, Grealish still hasn't turned up post lockdown, McGinn is off the pace. Things are serious when Luiz is the best attacking player, and he is our DM. Davis and El Ghazi have been ok, but we are asking a huge amount of average players. I'd give Vassiliev a go for trez. I'd actually take Taylor off, move konsa to CD, Hause to LB and put elmo at RB. Maybe bring Guilbert in for ElGhazi a bit later. I'd be tempted to take Grealish off, hes done so little, but who do you bring in?

The closer the game gets, the more i feel like we might get something from this. Doesn't make sense, just a feeling...

1 or 2 zeros after the 1?

I expect a mauling. Fingers crossed klopp puts out the same team he did in the cup, then we might have a chance. With all the injuries we have at the back, its hard to pick a team. Hopefully Fred is back so we don't see konsa at rb again. Palace is the game that matters now, anything we get between now and then is a bonus

I saw a stat today that Villa lose possession from 70 percent of their throws. I suppose this is because our players have inferior physical attributes too amd not because of poor movement? Literally every time we have a throw in it looks like there are 11 statues in villa shirts on the pitch we move so little. Thats easily coachable, even league 2 sides to better than that against top tier sides. Player ability may be a part of our problem, but my opinion is that its not, but the coaching is far more to blame for basic stuff like that.

Why wait? Appoint a short term man like Warnock, Allardyce, etc until the end 9f the season. A manager like that could keep us up. Then appoint a Poch type, and we could go from strength to strength. Unfortunately, i have nearly as little confidence in NSWE as i have had in any villa manager since venglos

Personally, its not the league position that bothers me. Its the clear absence of any sign that these players do anything at the training ground. We are not as fit, strong or well drilled as the other 19 teams in this league. That alone should tell you DS is a massive part of our problem. Even in the championship, our players always looked weaker and less fit - this isn't a new problem, its just more apparent at this level.

The thing is Wolves were poor. It just so happens, we were worse.