Dean Smith - Confirmed

[Monty]

Think it was Matt Law in the Telegraph who mentioned yesterday that until McGinn is Villa's third or fourth best midfielder, we won't get any further.

Matt law must be a twat then

Seems a bit over the top and he might not be wrong as well.

And he's a Villa fan, so it's not like he's saying it with malice.

[tomd2103]

With 2 defensive minded midfielders you can play 4 in front, like west ham do and england should. Also gives you massive flexibility to change shape 4231 - 433 - 4141

Its a glaring gap in our squad and i would have rather one of those than ings.

Think Soucek is the key to West Ham's flexibility in midfield.  Rice plays as a holding midfielder and Soucek either plays alongside him or can push up further if required.  They are probably the best central midfield partnership outside the top three teams.

[LukeJames]

With 2 defensive minded midfielders you can play 4 in front, like west ham do and england should. Also gives you massive flexibility to change shape 4231 - 433 - 4141

Its a glaring gap in our squad and i would have rather one of those than ings.

Which makes it all the more frustrating that us idiots on here could see we were desperate for a proper DM but our £1m a month management/recruitment team thought we could do without

[Nunkin1965]

My worry is that we look very fragile now. Confidence especially.
Young was selected (wrongly in my opinion) over Carney due to what he'd be up against and the effect it may have had on him?
If there is a bit of an issue with Mings then that's a problem because I think he plays despite his clear weaknesses for his leadership.
It's not perfect but he's the only option especially after Saturday. And it was a massive call leaving him out.
If Dean is relieved of his duties its a big job for someone to arrest the slide imo.

[Steve67]

And yet we might only be a couple of players short of being quite good.   Those players would be DCM's by the way!

[Nunkin1965]

And yet we might only be a couple of players short of being quite good.   Those players would be DCM's by the way!

It's such an obvious gaping chasm in the squad and you're right it may be that we're just a player or two short of dramatically improving the group.

[ozzjim]

It's not difficult to sort in Jan though. You could go and get any 1 of a number of athletic holding midfielders we were linked to in the summer, play them along side Luiz and push McGinn up and look more solid straight away.

[Woody17]

We are bang average now he whom shall not be named left us in the summer.
Smith has been lucky during his tenure at Villa having said player within his squad and without him we are showing our limitations. How many times did we play well without him over the last two or three seasons?
It doesn’t make me happy saying that but the realisation of us being a one man team is there for all to see.
Smith will be gone by Christmas.

[London Villan]

Neither JWP, or ESR are holding midfielders though.

[Rudy65]

Still can't see a new guy waving his wand over that midfield and magically transforming it into anything, so lets hope if they decide to sack him they employ someone with some clout who can get some money out of them in January. A side not struck down with injuries every other week would help too.

We’ve had a massive injury list

Our midfielders are McGinn Luiz Ramsey Sanson Nakamba
With some good youngsters coming through
I think that’s a pretty good bunch of midfield players when they are fit

Really. Looks bang average to me

[Nunkin1965]

We are bang average now he whom shall not be named left us in the summer.
Smith has been lucky during his tenure at Villa having said player within his squad and without him we are showing our limitations. How many times did we play well without him over the last two or three seasons?
It doesn’t make me happy saying that but the realisation of us being a one man team is there for all to see.
Smith will be gone by Christmas.

It doesn't make me happy to say that I think it might be sooner.
And it would be a great shame if he's put through the nightmare of Smith out chants etc.
He desperately needs a result on Friday imo.

[Flin5tone]

We've now got wolves singing mind the gap aston villa as they put a 2nd past Everton.

They looks worlds apart from us.

We need to make a change and fast

[Rory]

Wolves are irrelevant in every sense other than one - they are one of the teams we should be aiming to take six points from every single season.

Who cares what they sing.

[Richard E]

Who cares that they exist.

[richtheholtender]

It's not difficult to sort in Jan though. You could go and get any 1 of a number of athletic holding midfielders we were linked to in the summer, play them along side Luiz and push McGinn up and look more solid straight away.

Why not do it in the summer?