Peter Griffin

Yes it could. be a real link but when I see those type of connections it starts to look like someone in the media putting 2 and 2 together and coming up with 5

Yeah, I agree, it wouldn't be one of the big names in football but I think it would be a big name from the up and coming managers group and definitely someone that can bring youth through. I know I will get slated on here for this but it is only to try and help explain my point but if we were to employ another PL manager it would be the likes of Frank or Potter as opposed to Rafa or Bielsa or Moyes. That said, we exploited the situation last Jan to buy Sanson when he became available. Bruce may be available soon and we may just exploit that opportunity too

Ah, we are aligned in out thoughts I suspect

It is quite amazing how much having Jack playing ahead of him made him look like such a better player. I didn't realise it at the time but without Jack on the left wing Targett looks like a 5m LB instead of a 25m LB looking for an England call up

you should repost it on the Dean Smith thread

You are missing the key step in what happened. The ref warned Mings for time wasting and he then started his run up to take the free and stopped. It was this that correctly got him a yellow card

Bloody hell people, Nobody suggested sacking Smith and getting either Ancelotti or Rafa, will you read the thread before jumping to Dean's defence.

That is not the topic being debated. But the club should always be looking for succession to DS. What if he leaves, gets sick, or gets sacked? A proper business will always have succession planning in place for key staff. It is normal business practice

The discussion was not about bringing Ancelotti to Villa, nobody suggested that. The discussion was about the type of manager Villa could attract. Two of us posted in quick succession that if the likes of Everton could attract a manager like Ancelotti then Villa should be able to attract a manager of that calibre. In your enthusiasm try and contradict everyone that says anything against Dean you are missing the full point of the discussion and going completely off topic

Is that the point? It is about the calibre of manager that we could attract. Are you suggesting that Ancelotti is not a high calibre manager

Yeah, the same Rafa that has won many league titles, many national cups, the UEFA cup and the Champions League. Has also managed Liverpool and Real Madrid. That the guy alright. The discussion was about the calibre of manager we could attract. It is amazing how people can post stupid comments to try and support their narrative without actually thinking through what they are saying.

If Everton can attract Ancelotti and Rafa, that level of manager must be within our reach

I think he is a great guy, I have a lot of time for him. But, imo, he is not good enough for Aston Villa. His footballing skills would be good enough but the main problem is his inconsistency. Thanks for the service Tyrone but it is time to move on

Surely the answer is in your post. Time to upgrade

We should be trying to flog him to the Toon in Jan

Poor coaching or maybe not enough coaching of this system and the players don't understand it yet

this

That's an understatement

I am not trying to be harsh on Ds or the team, but collective brain farts are not acceptable. The staff are all paid a ridiculous premium as they are the elite. At a certain level brain farts are just not allowed. They need to perform consistently at 100% for a full 90 minutes once or maybe twice a week. Less than that is not good enough

Talent spotting is key and I think we need that on an ongoing basis. Some will work out and some won't. But when it comes to the really key position that needs to be filled I would prefer to see us buy the finished player that will more or less guarantee an instant impact. The worry is that DS doesn't see this issue but it is difficult to believe that he doesn't. Part of your previous post triggered a thought inside me which is quickly a concern...'Brentford was always a great watch, even when Dean was there, but they had inconsistencies that denied them titles'. That is scarily where we are now and in the time since DS left Bees, they have won promotion to the Premier League and are currently making a bloody good fist of it. I really hope we are not discovering DS's achilles heal.

and majorly infuriating

I would be happy to see us only buy one player between the Jan and next summer transfer window and invest 100m on a single player that brought steel to the spine of our team. Rice would do nicely. Phillips would be a cheaper option and Bellingham would be an interesting one and that would have the added bonus of upsetting our neighbours

Luton?

Yeah, can't disagree with anything there. The questions u pose are really key and no doubt Deano is metaphorically banging his head against the wall looking for the answers. If we can see the problems then no doubt he can see them too. I think McGinn is the closest we have to a roll your sleeves up old style attitude but even he turns off far too frequently. I would love a really natural leader with a never say die attitude in the team. A Roy Keane type player and we could be top 6 I think. We need the drive on the pitch which would help us play against the teams we struggle to play against. I like your observation that we play better against teams that want to play football and would explain the inconsistency

Surely we should be practicing deflected free kicks and how to defend against them when they send the ball completely the opposite direction