weedman

It was a weird cameo really. When we were in possession he was lively, he chased the ball down the flanks, got involved, nearly scored and assisted a goal. But when they had the ball he was just totally disinterested, didn't close down, press the defense, chase back. I guess it was classic Kodjia, 8/10 when in possession, 2/10 when out of possession

6 hours ago, Indigo said:

To be fair if you go back far enough to earlier in the season there was a lot more than just one person saying it. All of whom are notable by their absence now, or at least that opinion anyway. Jack will continue to prove a lot of people wrong in the coming years imo, the guy is far beyond this level and will keep proving as much for the rest of the season. We're lucky to have held onto him for this long, never mind if we somehow managed to do so next season (assuming promotion is beyond us...).

At the start of the season there were people (myself included) saying he wasn't playing well enough and needed to do more. The summer debacle clearly affected him (he's said as much himself I'm sure). That's not the same as thinking he's crap and overrated. Good players can be out of form and while it doesn't change the fact that they're good players, it also doesn't mean they can't be criticised for it.

He's playing amazing now and has added more end product to his game that was missing even last season, let's hope he keeps it up and captains us to promotion!

HAUSE!!!

I know it was a slip and unintentional, but surely that's a foul on Green?

18 minutes ago, Zatman said:

He did and we won. End of

If he played McGinn instead of Whelan you be moaning that he changed a team from a 4-0 win or something dull like that

Imagine if McGinn started and the game played out the same way. "Sure we won, but how can you change the midfield after the last game? The players will be totally demotivated, big mistake from DS, showing he will always play his favourites"

4 minutes ago, limpid said:

There is a button at the top of the editor with "GIF" written in it. Click that.

Life changed

2 minutes ago, rjw63 said:

Kill them.

Kill them all.

If I knew how to post GIFs I'd reply with a Starship Troopers one right now...but I don't so you'll just have to imagine it

It's happening? 

27 minutes ago, TRO said:

If you watched Leeds tonight and looked at their intensity and will....you can clearly see a void with us.

These uncompetitive showings has to stop.

We should be doing that, in our games.

Were you saying the same thing Tuesday when they lost to QPR?

2 hours ago, wilko154 said:

Sorry but you are fighting a losing battle here.

Before Smith came in Bruce was playing players out of position on a weekly basis, Grealish included. Bruce was the main catalyst for the poor results and in games where Grealish was being deployed on the wings he was proving ineffective, this directly led to some of the poorer results. When Smith came in and regularly played Grealish through the middle our results dramatically improved.

The main reason for the poor results since December has been due to the loss of Grealish and Tuanzebe. It's not rocket science.

Sorry but Grealish was pretty crap at the start of the season and was subsequently moved to the wing while he got his head together after the summer. It wasn't "he was crap because he was on the wing" it was "he was crap so he was moved out to the wing". 

I know it's popular to blame Bruce for literally everything but I'll keep saying this until it becomes no longer true, the best and most consistent form of Jack Grealish's career has come in the 2nd half of last season, under Bruce. Bruce so far is literally the only manager able to get a consistent tune out of him so it's one area you can't really criticise him for 

I've got tickets for Saturday so hopefully Grealish will be in and even more hopefully Smith will end up trumping Bruce by getting even better, consistent performances from him and we'll all be happy 

5 hours ago, The_Rev said:

Parachute payments are gone next season. Half a dozen teams will have them. It's going to get more difficult.  

At least until you realise that parachute payments only cover the enormous difference between PL and Championship TV money and are almost completely eaten up by having players on PL salaries that you can't get rid of.

The only teams that benefit from parachute payments are yo yo teams that don't add much to their Championship team, therefore getting all the benefits of PL money without the negative of having to pay players crazy amounts (Cardiff for example should be in pretty good shape even if they come back down) 

Our mistake was, of course, not phasing the players on PL salaries out in those 3 years (even adding to them!) but most of them will be gone in the summer anyway so next year we shouldn't be any better or worse off than most teams in this division, apart from having to buy a whole new team that is 

I voted 2021, this year's out, next season will be a rebuilding year and after that we should be able to push on 

Our squad is hugely unbalanced for sure, and we're probably not good enough for promotion quality wise, however we have some of the best players in the league for their respective positions (Tammy, McGinn, Mings, Kalinic, not even including Tuanzebe or Grealish). The players are better than relegation form.

At worst we should be mid table, comfortably seeing off the bottom teams and not having quite enough to compete with the top ones. We're barely competing against anyone at the minute. I want Smith to do well, and it's too early to judge him but if we don't show any improvement between now and the end of the season questions will rightly have to be asked 

8 hours ago, LakotaDakota said:

It was more aimed at people saying out ancient players can't play 2 games every week. The simple fact is that other than 8 lots of midweek rounds they don't anyway

They are professional footballers, expecting them to be able to actually play 46 games of football in 273 days whatever money they are being paid doesn't seem too unreasonable

Its not, but it's not that they can't play, it's that they won't be 100%, and at this level that makes a huge difference to their performance 

33 minutes ago, LakotaDakota said:

August 6th to May5th is 273 days.

273 days to cram in 46 games, I just don't know how these poor people getting paid 2 million quid per year to play football can possibly cope with the demands of actually playing a game of football every 6 days or so

I really hate this mindset. Money doesn't make you fitter. Money doesn't stop you being fatigued. Money doesn't make you a better player. 

At the top level the difference between 100% and 95% is massive. At our level it's probably more 100% to 90%. It's not like Sunday league where you can roll out of bed pissed 10 mins before the match and still play basically the same because the difference between 100% and 50% is negligible. No player chooses to be below peak condition, but playing lots of high intensity football matches certainly causes it, regardless of whether they're on £50 a week or £500,000

8 hours ago, delboy54 said:

Weedman,

I think there is more chance of me winning the lottery than Villa getting promoted this season in my opinion...ok its not a fact until its mathematically impossible that we cannot go up, but I take your point.

Its so frustrating for all of us that the Aston Villa team we support through thick and thin currently seem unable to play football at the most basic skill level - and this has been the case not just recently but for many years, apart from the odd game, most games have been dire. Perhaps we should be renamed as Aston Inconsistant Villa, or Aston Consistantly Poor Villa.

Regards

Del

Oh I agree, it's totally disheartening at the moment, the football is dire - as bad as its been since we were relegated, the results are dire, just about everything is dire right now. Although I'd still say we have more chance of getting top 6 than either of us do of winning the lottery (still buying a ticket mind) 

I was merely being pedantic as people using the word "fact" to describe their opinion which is in no way a fact is a real bug bear of mine

37 minutes ago, delboy54 said:

All this talk about being "so many points off the playoffs, and so many points still left to play for".....yes that is a fact

Correct. This is a fact

37 minutes ago, delboy54 said:

Another fact is that the way we are playing over the last few weeks means that the above fact is irrelevent as we will not pick up these points as we are rubbish and the teams above us are better than us.

This is not a fact. This is an opinion. It's highly likely sure, and it's an opinion I agree with, but it's not a fact. 

Think of buying a lottery ticket. It's highly unlikely that you'll win, but it's not a fact until it actually happens/doesn't happen 

6 minutes ago, Kiwivillan said:

Norwich just thumped 3-1 by Preston

So we've gained +1 GD on Norwich...wheres that "its happening" gif?! 

We get blocked off too easily which is a problem with man to man marking, it's why so many managers are going zonal but it takes time to get used to, if it were me as soon as playoffs are completely gone I'd switch to zonal (can always man mark real danger men) and work on it relentlessly in pre season 

He's a tough one, I see similarities between him and Delph when he first joined in that there's just something about him but he's a little rough and I think once it all clicks in to place he could be a good player. That's why he was sent out on loan and its just a shame really that he got another injury and we had to call him back early because our wingers are just so crap. 

I don't think he's that good really (at the moment) but there's some potential there for sure. He has the raw attributes, he's direct, quick, fairly strong (for his age and I imagine he'll toughen up more with some more games and some more years) and works hard. His technique just isn't quite there yet but you can see he's doing the right things but it's just not working (overhitting crosses, misplaced passes) but you'd hope with a bit more experience these things will start to improve.

I think he could be a good player if he can get a good couple of seasons without a major injury, fingers crossed  

3 hours ago, gaffer85 said:

I don't see your point if your  going to compare the 2 managers I think you have to compare the 2 first seasons as manager  of the club and personally i think that Smith is slightly doing better than Bruce was at this stage of their aston villa tenure 

I can't understand how Bruce was given so much time yet people are starting to question Smith already 

He literally had one window and that's not  even the good one 

Let's get behind what he is doing and hopefully he brings back to where we belong

On this post I agree with the first bit, we should compare to Bruce's first season because we're in a similar mess player wise, but on the bold bit, let's not rewrite history and say Steve Bruce received no critisim in his first season.

The debate over style of play, tactics, results, etc started around the time his honeymoon period ended and we started losing again, and critisim of his January signings started in February. Most people then, as most people do now, acknowledged that he needs a bit more time to make the team his, but it was far from a universal opinion and claims like "people are writing off DS after 5 minutes but gave SB 2.5 years" is just nonsense 

Some people never wanted DS and have made their feelings clear from minute 1, in the same way some people never wanted SB and made their feelings clear from minute 1. Some people have now written DS off after a few months, as some wrote SB off after a few months. Most agree next season is the one to judge Smith on, as most people agreed the next season was the one to judge Bruce. 

From what I recall the argument over SB was far more heated than the one over DS as well so while it's right that DS needs some time to build a new team, he's not been criticised any more than our previous manager was, as much as literally any manager would be at this stage in their tenure 

It still amazes me that there are fans who didn't enjoy last season. Ultimately we fell short, but it was our best season in over a decade. We've spent years in relegation battles losing most weeks, went down as one of the worst teams in PL history, our first season in the championship was a boring mid table nothingness, this season is an inconsistent mid table campaign.

Yet the season we scored more goals, won more games, actually competed and came out on top most of the time, only missing out on the last day at Wembley by a single goal. Hell, with a half decent ref in that game we could be a PL team now. How that season is still so terrible to some people is beyond me

On this season. While we obviously could still get promoted as it seems the teams above us are just as inconsistent as we are considering they haven't opened up a proper gap despite our terrible form, the way we're playing it's just not going to happen. We need to improve our form ASAP to have any chance and I just can't see it this season 

40 minutes ago, Don_Simon said:

As a teacher, I mark a lot of work I find hard to understand. "Wonabe G's" is a whole new ball park though. Please, embellish... 

As soon as you said you were a teacher I saw this last line in red pen circled 

Just now, roonst83 said:

Whilst I agree with the fact that those players listed are mostly poor there’s not many other better options available at the moment.

Our wingers in general are terrible. Adomah looked average at first, then unbelievable for a bit, back to average and now barely looks like a footballer, El Ghazi is equally as bad, but at least occasionally bundles his way into a shooting position and seems to have a decent shot on him, Green is constantly injured and when he's not is just a typical young winger, full of energy and enthusiasm but blows more cold than hot, Kodjia isn't a winger. 

I'd be tempted to do away with them for now and go 3-5-2, it would mean Taylor as wing back which is frightening (although I think he's been better the last few games), or possibly Green there, and a choice between Hutton, Elmo or Adomah as RWB which is even more frightening, but it would pack us in the middle. 2 strikers (Abraham and Kodjia/David) while keeping our 3 CM (McGinn, Grealish and Hourihane/Carroll/Whelan) and 3 central defenders (Mings, Elphick, Chester) which should solidify us and force us to attack more through the middle where we're stronger. If we do go wide it should mean that there's plenty of space there so even our limited options should be capable of at least making a cross (that doesn't drift out for a goal kick/throw in or hit the first man occasionally with any luck)

I like 433 as a formation generally, but it simply doesn't work when the full backs and wingers are as bad as ours are. All our attacks go through them and 9 times out of 10 they screw it up

It didn't look at all deliberate to me, and as soon as he did it he spun round and got the ref to stop the game would indicate it was an accident too. I remember the Zlatan one as well and I remember not thinking that was deliberate at the time as well, in that one he jumps to go over him and as he does it Rooney gets up which completely throws him off balance because he has to hurdle him and his foot hits Zlatan. That one was definately an unpopular opinion though! 

He's either really clumsy or really dirty, either way, accident or not you can't keep stamping on people's heads, needs to be more careful 

A good performance overall though, he looks a player