Aston Villa vs AFC Bournemouth pre match thread

[Dogtanian]

"Best" on what basis? If you're applying a permanence to said status, then noone can be dropped or called up. I'd suggest that any attempt to deduce who is the best at any given time should include a consideration of current form, in which case Taylor does not deserve to be dropped.

I also think it sends a bad message if he is dropped when he's played well.

This was the same nonsense that took place last year against Blues

Whelan had had a reasonable game the match before so got picked again because of it when a better player in John McGinn was on the bench after being injured/suspended

we played crap struggled to make any inroads until McGinn was finally bought on then we started to play a lot better and go on to win the game

this is not some kindergarten game where we need to share everything around in case we hurt their feelings
Taylor played ok at the weekend but judging him on the whole time he’s been with us I would hope we have better options than him now,

I’d play are best 11 every time where possible especially in the league
al this pissing about with players more suited to the championship will get us nowhere

We might not care about a player's feelings, but unfortunately Dean Smith is paid to in as much as it's his job to manage that squad, their feelings, and deliver results.  It would be wrong to just piss everyone off to favour a small group ( a la O'Neil ), because the whole point of having the squad is that at some point you will need the people you have pissed off.

Also, we have no idea what is happening on the training pitch and how well people are settling in behind the scenes, who may be physically and mentally ready to put their best in and who might benefit from being eased in or another few weeks build up.

Football, and management in general, has long grown past the point of just shoving your 'best' starting eleven on the pitch and expecting the best team performance.

[chrisw1]

Nice response Muskahound.  I was about to type something similar and you've saved me the trouble.

One for all and all for one and all that.

[chrisw1]

With that said, I'd like to see Targett and Guilbert playing sooner rather than later.

[john e]

Play inferior players you will get inferior performances

you can say what you like but I hope the players you want to keep on playing indefinitely are replaced sooner rather than later with players who are more premier league quality

[themossman]

Couldn’t agree more (edit - with Dogtanian). All that breaking eggs and omelettes stuff is just old school pretend-macho bollocks. 

Nobody is saying pick players on sentiment alone. We have a squad which for the first time in years appears to have a sense of togetherness, and mutual respect between players and management. To risk that by treating players like numbers and ignoring the softer side of management would be a stupid thing to do, and I trust smith to be more evolved than that. But that also doesn’t mean picking players based only on loyalty and sentiment (Heaton vs steer).

[villa `cross the mersey]

Switch your Danish dictionary spellchecker off!

Oi, that's closer to Swedish😛

I don't think he's finnished

[paul_e]

The flipside to that is that Targett and Guilbert will have legitimate reason to think they would be starting in the first game after pre-season so not picking them because and Elmo and Taylor don't deserve to be dropped isn't a great example of man management either.

Fullbacks who didn't go too far forward so we largely had a back 4 ready in place made sense for Spurs away, especially given we had Hourihane as DM so he isn't really capable of stepping back to make a back 3 if we get a quick counter attack. I think everyone in the squad would understand that experience and defensive stability were important for that game.


However, at home against a team that we should be competing with you want full-backs who are much more willing to get forward and be involved in our attacking play. I don't think anyone would see it as unfair if the younger, fitter and more attacking players of Targett and Guilbert get the nod.


The idea that it might upset Taylor and Elmo to find they're not going to start every game regardless of the circumstances paints them both as having the mental strength of toddlers.

[paul_e]

Switch your Danish dictionary spellchecker off!

Oi, that's closer to Swedish😛

I don't think he's finnished

It definitely wasn't finnish, nothing like enough i's for that.

[themossman]

But that’s a bit different to what’s being said above. I tend to agree that smith picked defensive, experienced FB’s to deal with spurs and that he will pick more attacking options against teams we are going to go after.

If that’s explained to players then they wouldn’t (or shouldn't) have a problem with it. That’s not the same as all that nonsense about kindergartens and toddlers and like it or lump it, which isn’t the stuff of good management at all.

[john e]

i've only got one point

that is we should play our best 11 players for every game in this league

that might change depending on the opposition, but i didn't think Taylor was good enough for us in the Championship so i certainly dont think he should be holding down a premier league birth
i suppose it all comes down to how high you rate him, Smith obviously thinks he's good enough so we have to go with him for better or worse

[Clark W Griswold]

you can say what you like

Gee, thanks.

[PeterWithesShin]

And as was said at the time you have no idea if starting McGinn may have seen us lose, draw or win by 4, or get himself sent off considering how he can be and what went on first half. DS picked a side that won the sha game, so his team selection was right.

[john e]

And as was said at the time you have no idea if starting McGinn may have seen us lose, draw or win by 4, or get himself sent off considering how he can be and what went on first half. DS picked a side that won the game, so his team selection was right.

we had all this out last time

i say again and its my only point

i think we should play what we believe is our best 11 players, that's it

i've already said if you believe that Whelan is better than Mcginn for certain games and Taylor/Elmo better than  Guilbert/Target then that is completely fine with me

i have no problem if that's what you think, i just think differently

[PeterWithesShin]

You pick the best team for that specific match. We won so it was the right team to select.

[john e]

You pick the best team for that specific match. We won so it was the right team to select.

so what your saying is

no matter what line up a manager picks to start a game and no matter how many changes he makes during that game
no matter how badly the team is playing before he makes those changes
 as long as we win that was the right line up in the first place

thats bonkers mate