PaulC Posted February 18, 2022 Share Posted February 18, 2022 10 minutes ago, Zero7 said: I think a few players need dropping, McGinn and Luiz don't appear too motivated, however if he drops then and we lose the knives will be out. Who'd want to be a manager. Its not just about the result though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TRO Posted February 18, 2022 Share Posted February 18, 2022 12 minutes ago, sharkyvilla said: I'd be surprised if McGinn isn't motivated. He doesn't seem like that kind of character and pretty much every manager has picked him because of his attitude even when he is a bit off the boil form-wise. Doug was at two international tournaments in the summer, sandwiched between two PL seasons and our other defensive midfielder injured. It's a big workload. McGinn is renowned for that, all the more reason why we are all surprised by his recent offerings. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Fun Factory Posted February 18, 2022 Share Posted February 18, 2022 He needs to freshen the team up with some changes. If it is the same starting XI from Newcastle at 2pm tomorrow, I would be concerned. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
duke313 Posted February 18, 2022 Share Posted February 18, 2022 1 minute ago, The Fun Factory said: He needs to freshen the team up with some changes. If it is the same starting XI from Newcastle at 2pm tomorrow, I would be concerned. Problem with that is if the changes don't work, fans will be asking why player X Y or Z was dropped. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Villa87 Posted February 18, 2022 Popular Post Share Posted February 18, 2022 38 minutes ago, The Fun Factory said: He needs to freshen the team up with some changes. If it is the same starting XI from Newcastle at 2pm tomorrow, I would be concerned. 2 changes for me. Ings for Watkins and Sanson for Luiz. 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lexicon Posted February 18, 2022 Share Posted February 18, 2022 There's something amazing about the fact that Pauline McLynn is a Villa fan too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PerryBarrPet Posted February 18, 2022 Share Posted February 18, 2022 1 hour ago, sne said: I gave up two years ago. As recently as that? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Made In Aston Posted February 18, 2022 Share Posted February 18, 2022 4 hours ago, TRO said: The top teams do.....and its something some of our fan base fail to see. I watched Villa teams of the past, who worked like dogs, because it was trained in to them. Its been a long time on a consistent basis, where our team was " hard to play against"...I think SG is trying to get that back, but its going to be a hard transition, because, some have had it too easy, for too long....and I don't think SG is going to find it easy to get that, from this group. If Man City or any of the other top sides had mathematically won the league with games to go, guaranteed they would still be playing at full intensity. That's the winning mentality we don't have. Our players put in maximum effort for the first few games under Gerrard, but have since resorted to type... and that is the biggest concern. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spoony Posted February 18, 2022 Share Posted February 18, 2022 1 hour ago, Zero7 said: I think a few players need dropping, McGinn and Luiz don't appear too motivated, however if he drops then and we lose the knives will be out. Who'd want to be a manager. I’m not sure the knives would be out over dropping them. The knives certainly would be out over losing though… Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PerryBarrPet Posted February 18, 2022 Share Posted February 18, 2022 6 minutes ago, Made In Aston said: If Man City or any of the other top sides had mathematically won the league with games to go, guaranteed they would still be playing at full intensity. That's the winning mentality we don't have. Our players put in maximum effort for the first few games under Gerrard, but have since resorted to type... and that is the biggest concern. This is true and is the reason we need serious change. Trimming around the edges is not enough. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
duke313 Posted February 18, 2022 Share Posted February 18, 2022 8 minutes ago, PerryBarrPet said: This is true and is the reason we need serious change. Trimming around the edges is not enough. Hopefully SG will know who needs cut and who doesn't. This summer will see a couple of players who've been there a while shipped on. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post OutByEaster? Posted February 18, 2022 Moderator Popular Post Share Posted February 18, 2022 4 hours ago, TRO said: Ron Saunders was a hard task master, as was Shankly as was Clough....Revie's Leeds was a talented, bordering on thuggery outfit, but they physically grafted for their results too. Today's Villa team would run rings around all of those sides - the game is simply faster, more athletic and more physically demanding than forty years ago. I think it's a lot harder to make an impression on the basis of hard work nowadays, every player is working at a high physical level, they aren't the eight pints a night and a steak at half time players of the past, they're athletic freaks in many ways, many of the great players of the past wouldn't make it now because they wouldn't have had the genetic gifts required to reach the levels of fitness required. To stand out in the modern game on the basis of hard work is difficult - every team is physically capable and is grafting, it's a minimum, it's measured during games and it a basic fundamental that's in place by the time they reach this level. City's running stats aren't great - they don't work harder than most sides - they keep the ball well and they save themselves for quick bursts of pressure or tactical fouls when they lose it - it's their mental ability, their system and their ability on the ball that give them control. If our tactical plan is "work harder" our manager will find himself in a lot of trouble pretty quickly. 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sne Posted February 18, 2022 Share Posted February 18, 2022 17 minutes ago, OutByEaster? said: Today's Villa team would run rings around all of those sides - the game is simply faster, more athletic and more physically demanding than forty years ago. I think it's a lot harder to make an impression on the basis of hard work nowadays, every player is working at a high physical level, they aren't the eight pints a night and a steak at half time players of the past, they're athletic freaks in many ways, many of the great players of the past wouldn't make it now because they wouldn't have had the genetic gifts required to reach the levels of fitness required. To stand out in the modern game on the basis of hard work is difficult - every team is physically capable and is grafting, it's a minimum, it's measured during games and it a basic fundamental that's in place by the time they reach this level. City's running stats aren't great - they don't work harder than most sides - they keep the ball well and they save themselves for quick bursts of pressure or tactical fouls when they lose it - it's their mental ability, their system and their ability on the ball that give them control. If our tactical plan is "work harder" our manager will find himself in a lot of trouble pretty quickly. All the coaching you need Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tomaszk Posted February 19, 2022 Share Posted February 19, 2022 I actually think we need more composure in the side than anything else. No one really has it aside from Doug. Buendia and Coutinho seem to be trying everything all at once every time they touch the ball. And McGinn's and Mings' long balls, man alive... People say we don't run every time we don't win a match. Been happening for years. Effort is not the issue with this side. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Laughable Chimp Posted February 19, 2022 Share Posted February 19, 2022 (edited) Interesting stat. Despite losing jack Grealish, we are still the most fouled team in the league and there's a bit of margin between us and second place. In fact, there seems to be barely any change compared to the rate at which we were fouled las season. Edited February 19, 2022 by Laughable Chimp Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
allani Posted February 19, 2022 Share Posted February 19, 2022 32 minutes ago, Tomaszk said: He needs to show he's worth giving that to for me. We could be set back years if we spend a load of money on players for the next two seasons then have to sack the manager in six months. No interest in ploughing on down the wrong path just because we've started on it. So Coutinho and Digne haven't been considerable upgrades? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zatman Posted February 19, 2022 Share Posted February 19, 2022 Just now, allani said: So Coutinho and Digne haven't been considerable upgrades? Coutihno yes but we dont know if he will stay next season. Digne I wasn't that impressed when he was at Everton and his passing and crossing have been really poor so far He has had 2 accurate crosses from 16 vs Newcastle and Leeds combined and lowest passing stats in the team vs Newcastle. Cash who is criticised for his end product in comparison has 3 accurate crosses from 6 in the same games 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
allani Posted February 19, 2022 Share Posted February 19, 2022 30 minutes ago, Tomaszk said: I actually think we need more composure in the side than anything else. No one really has it aside from Doug. Buendia and Coutinho seem to be trying everything all at once every time they touch the ball. And McGinn's and Mings' long balls, man alive... People say we don't run every time we don't win a match. Been happening for years. Effort is not the issue with this side. I agree. I think this is why we might be "surprised" by our midfield signings in the summer (yes plural!!). I just have a feeling that we will be signing players who are better at dominating the ball than maybe winning it back. I suspect that at least one of them will be happier in playing in a deeper role but I think they'll be more constructive players than destructive players. I actually think that we do a decent job winning the ball back from teams - our problem is that when we get it, we either lose it again too cheaply or as you say we pump the ball aimlessly up front hoping that Ollie can do something with it. Last season he could. This season he can't. However, I do think that our midfield have a habit of letting their man walk past them once they have harried them into making a pass. This is something that I have been particularly critical of McGinn about (but he is not alone). It has been suggested that maybe we are playing a zonal defence rather than a man-to-man defence. But either way we have a habit of leaving opposition midfielders unmarked at the edge of our box and our defenders with more than 1 player each to try and cover. And for all his pressing when we don't have the ball - I genuinely don't believe that Ollie is very good at making an effort in the box. He looks like someone who is waiting for the ball to drop to him rather than someone who will make the ball drop for them. That said if VAR stopped giving him offside every time that he is alongside the last defender maybe that would help!!!! For all that we excuse McGinn and Luiz for their defensive lapses (because they are being played too deep / out of position) I am not sure that either has demonstrated recently that they are good enough. For me JJ starts ahead of McGinn and Luiz has to show a bit more than the fact that he has the potential to be very good in the right set-up. I still believe that there is a really good player in there but he needs to extract that soon on a more consistent basis. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
allani Posted February 19, 2022 Share Posted February 19, 2022 4 minutes ago, Zatman said: Coutihno yes but we dont know if he will stay next season. Digne I wasn't that impressed when he was at Everton and his passing and crossing have been really poor so far He has had 2 accurate crosses from 16 vs Newcastle and Leeds combined and lowest passing stats in the team vs Newcastle. Cash who is criticised for his end product in comparison has 3 accurate crosses from 6 in the same games I am hoping that the noises on Coutinho appear to be more positive than indifferent at the moment. I think he is our player to lose. Fair enough on Digne. Personally I always thought he was the best left back outside the Sly 6 and so was delighted that we have signed him. I don't know enough on the crosses stats but didn't Ollie only win 4 aerial battles out of 25 against Newcastle or something mad like that? So hard to tell on those two stats whether the crosses were bad, the striker wasn't doing enough to win the ball or whether we ****ed up the strategy and should have been telling our wide players to stop crossing the ball into the box and try either low crosses (which are by their very nature usually easier to cut out on the way into the danger zone) or to work the ball into the box. I do think that passing accuracy stats can sometimes be misleading as there is a big difference between trying to make an incisive pass near the opposition goal than there is knocking the ball across the back line in your own half with no-one really pressing you. I think this is why I sometimes get frustrated by the complaints about Emi2 "giving the ball away" when he his trying to execute a killer pass and yet players like McGinn who try floaty, terrible balls that even if they make it to the intended man, immediately put them under pressure. I sometimes feel that McGinn deserves two separate groups of stats just for himself - one set for when he is in the opposition half (generally good) and one when he is in our half (generally not so good). But that is a different debate! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hippo Posted February 19, 2022 Share Posted February 19, 2022 30 minutes ago, allani said: So Coutinho and Digne haven't been considerable upgrades? Digne hasn't been a considerable upgrade. Most certainly no. Lost possession more than any other player v Newcastle. And 8 of his 9 crosses hit a Newcastle man. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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