Villarocker

Seems like Heaton is less popular than Wesley lol

Thought it was unpleasant that only Luiz showed any concern for his teammate when Wesley got injured. You'd think the players would have shown a bit more concern than that.

I think the management team might all agree we need some experience through the team. We have Heaton in goal. Get Vida at the back, Wanyama in the middle and an experienced striker up front and we will be OK.

That reads like you're making him an offer!

Against Watford, there were a few occasions where he was looking for a through-ball to run onto and he was the right side of the centre back to get there first. However, on each occasion, the pass wasn't made. He would have had a chance to run at goal or get a shot away at least 3 or 4 times that game but nobody tried the pass. I am sure that Grealish, Lansbury, Luiz all had that pass available but they didn't make it and that told me that they simply don't trust him to make something of it. I actually felt sorry for him as he was pointing where he wanted it but not getting the ball. But, I guess when you look so poor game in game out you start to lose the trust of your teammates and that is a huge problem for us. For the team's sake, Smith has to make a choice. He either adds Kodjia to the starting lineup to help him out or he drops Wesley for Kodjia and give him a kick up the backside. Maybe Smith is thinking that it would have an even worse effect on him. Who knows?

When you watch him recently you can see that the players are not often looking for him. I noticed this several times during the Watford game. It's like they don't trust him to keep the ball or doing something decent with it. That is damaging to the team and the management team should be noticing it and sorting it out. If it means dropping the lad then so be it.

That's pretty much where I'm at Dave Who would leave us if we went down? Grealish, McGinn, Mings = approx £100m+ in sales. We would probably spend just over half of that on the likes of Bowen, Benrahma, another decent centre back and a striker. I think we would go back up and this seasons new players will have had two seasons together and be a lot better for it. Obviously, we would lose three talented players but who is to say their replacements won't turn out to be just as good for us? I just want our owners to have a plan and enforce it rather than firefighting all the time, which is what was happening the last time we were in the Premier League. Up the Villa!

So people want to swap the English Smith or a German (I think) one? I'd prefer to keep our version thanks.

He gets no cover when Grealish plays down the same flank because Jack always drifts infield searching for the ball. Targett has the whole left side to cover himself so maybe that should be taken into account? A prime example of this was the Leicester game where Ricardo - the Leicester right back - was awarded man of the match. Surely that says it all?

Like to make a fast buck hey....

Fair point but the same goes for Solskjaer at Man Utd, the fans know how much he loves the club and therefore give him more time because they know how much the club means to him and they trust him. We need to do the same with Smith and at least give him this season and a decent portion of next season to see how it goes.

I think he's tried to tweak it but the ones coming in aren't performing either. A few weeks ago, some people were calling for Mings and McGinn to be dropped/rested and then look what happens when they aren't playing. The defense has fallen to pieces and the midfield non-existent. He's changed the right back and to I'll-effect, he's swapped the wide players around to try to find the right combination but they all perform as poorly as their predecessor. I think the whole team is simply suffering from lack of form and confidence. My biggest criticism of Smith is his persistence with not leaving out Wesley. Or, at the very least, not getting Kodjia on the pitch for a whole game to support him. Yesterday, Smith had the perfect chance. He could have started Kodjia wide left where he's played many times before. Grealish could have played behind Wesley and we could have had any of the wide players on the right. That was a great chance to get another striker on the pitch for a whole game against a weak team but he didn't do it for whatever reason. I also think he needs to stop playing Luiz in front of the back four - he's not suited to that position. I watched Wesley very closely yesterday and on multiple occasions he was on the right shoulder of the defender to have a ball played through for him to run on to. The pass never came because none of Lansbury, Luiz, Elmohamady or Hourihane saw the pass. He needs Grealish playing centrally as he would spot that pass. I actually thought Wesley played better despite that terrible miss.

Absolutely right! I am supporting Smith and I'm Villa through and through. Born and raised in Aston with all pictures of me as a baby taken with the Mecca of football in the background. Brought up watching the likes of Withe, Shaw, Morley and Cowans etc with my Dad in the Holte (right side). I don't want a rinse and repeat of the last time we were in the Premier League where we went through manager after manager trying to find the right one. I want some consistency and someone to get behind and support. I feel safer with Smith because he's one of us. Anyone thinking that he's not hurting as much as us would be wrong because it must be killing him seeing us lose game after game being a supporter himself. He may take us down but ultimately its the players that are not performing. Grealish is working his knackers off and pretty soon he will dip in form because of tiredness. Yes, Smith is making mistakes but he's inexperienced in his job, just like most of his players.

I think West Ham followed your model of management and look where they are now. Smith all day long for me. I went into this season in the real world, realising that we had bought a whole new team that were mainly young and without any Premier League experience. They are not big names and came from much inferior leagues to the one they now find themselves in. Players from abroad usually take a while to settle down due to new country/culture etc. We won't see the best of these guys until next season and if that means in the Championship then so be it. I think that if we do go down and, right now, that's looking very likely, who would you want as our manager then? For me, I'd rather have Smith. I think that we should follow the Burnley route and stick with the young inexperienced manager and hopefully reap the rewards in the long run.

Exactly! Together with the fact he's on gardening leave (apparently) on a big fat bonus not to manage anybody else for a year.

His style of play got us promoted or did you forget that? Man City, Liverpool, Chelsea, Man Utd, Leicester etc play 4-3-3 but they all have better players than us. Tell us all Mr Genius, what would your formation be and who would be your starting eleven?

BEST POST EVER!

Your poor son...

Dean, the second goal Was a foul by Luiz because you simply cannot do that and expect not to give a foul. That is your fault for pursuing with playing him there when he simply does not have a defensive bone in his body. The third goal was a foul on Jack. But, why was Jack on the right wing when he's supposed to be playing left side? Because, he's the only player wanting the ball. Take the Captaincy off him, get him playing in HIS role behind the striker and give the armband to either Mings or Heaton. And, play Kodjia, either up front or wide left.

Someone who sees the bigger picture.

No - it was easy. I'm a goalie and I'm thinking "all strikers are taught to head the ball back from where it came" blah blah blah. It was easy. Wesley actually headed it towards the least exposed part of the goal. He is NOT a centre forward right now. He can be but not this season and he will cost us our place in the league.

Question to all - replace him with who? Who can you see coming in and making that lot better? Who will have the impact to find one of Luiz, Nakamba or Hourihane good enough to sit in front of the back four? Who will they pick at full back? Who will be behind the striker? Who will play as the striker? Who will play out wide? It's so easy to criticise but whoever comes in may get the same players to work with that Smith has and the changes may not come. We came up via an amazing run of results and play-off final win - we didn't romp the Championship! He will go home tonight and be gutted by that. But, that's what he's got to work with. An average of £11m per player in a league where Ayoze costs £30m and sits on the bench. Joelinton costs £40m+ and can't hit a barn door from a yard. We are one of three new teams in the league and the other two get to pick from the players that got them up automatically. We are having to pick a team from a squad that includes 11 new players and needing the bulk of them to form our starting eleven. What if we sack Smith, bring in Ranieri, go down, sack him, then try to get back up with someone like Chris Houghton as manager with McGinn, Grealish, Mings, Heaton gone etc?

And play who where? We all need to ask the question whether these are Smith's signings or Suso's? Things have conspired against us today. First goal was our own doing. Second goal was pathetic from Luiz. Third goal was a foul on Jack. Smith takes responsibility for team selection and yes, I'd blame him for playing Luiz there. The first goal was nearly all of the defence so how to blame him for that? Third goal was a foul too. The real critisicm I have is persisting with Wesley when he's been appallingly bad. If a defender plays like that they are out next game.

Smiths team selections are my criticisms of him. Kodjia now is too late. He should have been on at half time or, at least after they went a man down. Our problem today has been Luiz sat in front of our back four - he's been absolutely turd today. That guy is no more a defensive midfielder than I am. Guardiola must be bunging Smith to play him there. We either play him behind a striker or not at all as he offers no cover to our defence at all.

Why? Play to the whistle! Luiz is to blame. He made no attempt to get the ball and thought it OK to just barge into his opposing player in the penalty area. It was a brainfart moment from a player that looks way out of his comfort zone playing in this league. My only criticism of Smith is his persistence in not bringing Kodjia on.