Shambolic Aston Villa vs Smethwick Post-Match Thread

[Dave P]

Agreed Barry. It’s February but I have never looked forward to a pre season so much.

[sirlordbaltimore]

Fairly adequate (compared to recent form) first 40 minutes, with Hause looking very decent IMHO followed by two avoidable goals.

Piss poor second half where the Baggies said 'come and have a go' and we fannied around doing the square root of fuck all in the main.

Kalinic 5 jury still out for me

Hutton 4 still as shit as ever
Mings 7 class above, finally have a CB that can bring the ball out like Axel
Elphick 5 he's not the answer and never will be
Hause 6 especially good in the first half, but when you relying on him to get forward and provide crosses you've lost the plot

Whelan 4 he's tidy, he's also very very limited and has no gears
Hourihane 3 woeful
McGinn 5 does what he does. hopefully the two match ban will let him recharge his batteries which has been long overdue

Elmo 4.5 i've always had a soft spot for him, but his time is up
Green 5 hoped the goal against Sheff Utd would boost his confidence, didn't really see many positives truth be told
Abraham 5 not a good day, still works hard but nah

Kodjia 5 another whose day is close to being over
Steer ? did he even touch the ball ?
Ramsey 5 few good touches, few bad touches. looked willing. audible groans around me when he lost the ball the first time. that'll help the lad

Smith 5 we all know this rabble are crap but i would have hoped he'd get them fighting for the shirt a bit. whether that's down to him not being able to motivate them (like a footballer should need motivating) or they just can't be fucking arsed i don't know. i suspect the latter

Crowd 5 in terms of numbers we can't be faulted, in terms of getting behind the team we can


The season is officially over. No idea what we can do now as the better kids are out on loan so not much hope of seeing any new blood etc. Wish the season could end right now and that we could start the massive clear out

[appyarryampton]

I think we are very easy to play against at the moment. This was summed up by the second half display yesterday.
Albion dropped into 2 banks of four, knowing we have not got the legs / skill to get round them or go through them.
Unfortunately I can't see any fit options at the moment.
I know we could go long, maybe with 2 upfront but I don't think this will ever be Dean Smith's style (and it still does not stop us getting overrun when we don't have the ball).
Grealish is the big miss, even if he does not play well, most opponents put a man on him all game. This freed up space for the likes of El Ghazi, especially if Grealish beats his marker. Effectively this kept our opponents 'honest'.
No one needs to be tight on Whelan/Hourihane because they are both too cautious when deep and have no pace whatsoever.
What really worries me is the abuse our players are getting. Hause was hammered by our support at Brentford on his first start and there were even a few groans at young Ramsey yesterday.
We are now going down the road of no parachute payments and a tight budget. The only thing that will stop us trying to build a good footballing team is the crowd pressure of expectation bringing a fear to the younger players (especially if they are not one of our own).

[XXVilla]

It's like this Stuart. Just because you think something, doesn't mean that everyone else should think the same.  Sorry about that but it's the way it is.

A bit rich...

[sirlordbaltimore]

but remember we were losing / struggling against Premier League squads then we are now struggling again shit Championship squads.

yes we're struggling against championship squads with a championship squad. if we were struggling with a premiership squad i'd be more concerned

[Clampy]

It's like this Stuart. Just because you think something, doesn't mean that everyone else should think the same.  Sorry about that but it's the way it is.

A bit rich...

I'm not sure what you are getting at. If people disagree with me, that's fine. I may disagree back and that's fine as well. Stuart is moaning that there isn't a Smith Out thread and has done with mostly every post.

[Nunkin1965]

All about opinions and we've all got em'
what I want is to be patient for a change and give him the summer to re build.
That means giving him and his staff time for a longer term development.
I'm hoping the owners will give him time and I'm hoping supporters will to.
Smith has an opportunity to develop the side and unlike Brentford, not have to sell every year.
Will it work or not? I don't know but I'd like to see him given a chance.

[clash city rocker]

When in the cold light of day you look at our squad and take into account who is on loan to us it is both frightening and so fuckin annoying when you consider the amount of money we have flushed down the pan in the last 3 years. We definitely don't have the nucleus of a team we can start to rebuild around next season......so we basically start from scratch and that takes time not just one season. I could cry looking back at the way we have been so poorly managed ( from top to bottom). There is no quick fix and therefore I think we will have to accept us as being a championship side for sometime to come.

[The Edge]

When in the cold light of day you look at our squad and take into account who is on loan to us it is both frightening and so fuckin annoying when you consider the amount of money we have flushed down the pan in the last 3 years. We definitely don't have the nucleus of a team we can start to rebuild around next season......so we basically start from scratch and that takes time not just one season. I could cry looking back at the way we have been so poorly managed ( from top to bottom). There is no quick fix and therefore I think we will have to accept us as being a championship side for sometime to come.

Leicester City spent 10 years out of the top flight and that included one season in league one. 2 years after getting back to the premier League they won it. It takes time and patience to rebuild a football club. We're only just starting out on our journey.

[ASHTONVILLA]

Leicester City spent 10 years out of the top flight and that included one season in league one. 2 years after getting back to the premier League they won it. It takes time and patience to rebuild a football club. We're only just starting out on our journey.

Leicester City are a small club that have spent the vast majority of their history in the lower leagues, 10 years out the top flight was normal for them. Aston Villa are a far bigger team, and should not be using shit clubs like Leicester as a bench mark.

[Richard E]

Leicester have won 3 trophies since we last won anything.

[Ads]

Leicester City spent 10 years out of the top flight and that included one season in league one. 2 years after getting back to the premier League they won it. It takes time and patience to rebuild a football club. We're only just starting out on our journey.

Leicester City are a small club that have spent the vast majority of their history in the lower leagues, 10 years out the top flight was normal for them. Aston Villa are a far bigger team, and should not be using shit clubs like Leicester as a bench mark.

Don't talk shite.

You evolve and adapt or you die out. Rome dominated the ancient world as everytime they came across a power with a good idea, regardless of how big or small their for was,
they adopted it.

[ASHTONVILLA]

Don't talk shite.

You evolve and adapt or you die out. Rome dominated the ancient world as everytime they came across a power with a good idea, regardless of how big or small their for was,
they adopted it.

So you think we can learn from Leicester by copying them and spending a decade out of the top division do you? How many managers did they get through in that 10 years? They kept changing until it worked. They also changed out the manager that won them the Premier League as it was not working.

[Ads]

You learn from what made them successful and what did not.

[ASHTONVILLA]

You learn from what made them successful and what did not.

What made them successful was dumping a manager that got them promoted when it was not working, and appointing Ranieri. They then dumped him after he won them the league when it was not working and appointed another manager.

I agree, when a manager is clearly not doing well the answer is sometimes to replace them and try something different.