Anyone starting to get worried?

[Demitri_C]

Watford winning bad news for us. We really cannot a fford a loss against spurs. We bloody need a win

[cdbearsfan]

We drew 2-2 v them two months ago.

That said I'd take a point if it meant we beat Spurs and Arsenal at home in the run in.

You'd take seven points from those? Bit pessimistic mate.

[Demitri_C]

Thank god they drew tonight. We really have to take advantage of this sunday and pull away from watford.

[john e]

it might be naivety or just plain old misplaced optimism but I honestly thought we would be better than this

I don't really mean in points total although I was hoping for better but in the standard of our play and the attacking intent
when Smith first came the style of football changed overnight,
if I remember rightly the results weren't that good straight away but you could see what we were trying to do and we developed a more defined pattern of play,
progressive, open, attacking and this was with the players he had been handed to him by Bruce that were not particularly suited to that way of playing

I thought wow when he starts to bring his own players in we will be something else to watch
then Grealish got injured and the first of the alarm bell moments came, Smith didn't know what to do, he huffed and puffed but couldn't find an answer then the Golden boy returned and we were up returned to the premier league at the Smiths first attempt, and all was well with the world

we now have a team full of Smiths signings and we mostly play more like a Bruce team than what we were told a Smith team plays like
playing out from the back with Hause and Konsa who are maybe ok defenders but not very good footballers is like watching some sort of live car crash

a midfield without McGinn is a massive loss and we are now is totally reliant on one man
I like Luiz and Nakamba but they go from good to bad in the space of a few days, and the back ups Lansbury, Hourahane, Drinkwater, are just not good enough at this level (yes I'm writing off Drinkwater as a mistake already)

the worst two games for me are at either ends of the spectrum, Man City and Bournmouth,
Man City was a disgrace from start to finish, Elmo and Taylor as wing backs a total joke, they are no where near the level we need in this division ( yes I haven't forgot  the world class cross from Elmo for Trez against Leicester)
that was a white flag line up and the posters that were saying ' what did you expect' the answer was a fucking lot more than that shit show

Hause just passing the ball to Aguero to go and score his hat trick was just astonishing incompetence
an unfit Drinkwater plodding about like a wallrus was laughable
the team were just dog shit, where was the ' we will give it a go no matter who we play' mantra we were promised
no where that's where
other teams Palace, Norwich, Newcastle have managed to give them a game but no we just bent over and got fucked all over the pitch
absolute shambles

Bournmouth,
we overturn the odds against Leicester and if ever we need to win a game it's this one, we are on a high Bournmouth are on a low
we don't even make it out of the traps, absolute no show
massive questions for the rest of the season here, if you can't get up for this one we've got no chance
only when they go a man short do we look like scoring, just not good enough by a long long way

and that's why I'm worried
where are we getting these 13-15 points from if we surrender so meekly against Bournmouth

totally reliant on Grealish, even Mansfield Town would have a chance of beating a prem club if they had Messi playing for them that's basically where we are,

Smith needs to learn, this is his side now, his players, why arnt we seeing the Smith way

I've not given up yet but I thought we would be further forward by now both tactically and performance wise
yes we've had very bad luck with injuries but we look very vulnerable no matter who we play and that comes down to the management team to instill confiidence

like I say maybe I was hoping for to much and was naive in believing for better, but that's what we were promised with the Smith attacking style of progressive ball retaining football which is to sporadic for me and sometimes no where to be seen

Sorry for the long negative post but the question was 'anyone starting to get worried' and my answer is yes I fucking am right now

although I will feel a lot happier if we win the league cup

[ROBBO]

True in the sense that we would be far more organised under Smith, the lack of any sense of urgency against Bournmouth was telling, this is my biggest criticism of Smith if he cannot get the players fired up for such an important game then we are lost, I would imagine no matter how much he loves the club Grealish must be thinking he needs to be with better players.

[Steve67]

We have had a lack of urgency a few times now.  I am more concerned about the failure to address the midfield defensive cover during the window. I think the two problems go together.

[Sdwbvf]

Don't hold back!!!

I'd rather stay up than win the league cup. Both would be nice ...

[andrew08]

I’m concerned I guess. I thought we’d need a point a game for 17th and if we could get ahead of that it would be a bit more relaxing, but we sit on exactly a point a game and are in the last safe place. The injuries have killed us. McGinn, Heaton and even Wesley gives us at least another 3 or 4 points than what we’ve got now.
 
I like the look of Samatta and he will score. But it’s when we scores that will be crucial. Goals in defeats mean nothing. It’s obvious but if he scores 5 winners in matches that otherwise would be draws we’ll be safe. I think he will. Or I hope he will.

We’ve also got a freak result to come, every other team seems to have had one. It might be in the final.

[Sexual Ealing]

we now have a team full of Smiths signings and we mostly play more like a Bruce team than what we were told a Smith team plays like
playing out from the back with Hause and Konsa who are maybe ok defenders but not very good footballers is like watching some sort of live car crash

I know what you mean but they aren't Smith's signings. That's not meant to exonerate him, but he was never here to make signings and he doesn't.

[RamboandBruno]

I think the Bruce comparison is a little unfair tbh. Smith introduced a clear pattern of play from the off, with one up too and two wide men and grealish further forward. It looked really good till grealish got injured and looked really good when he came back. That is only partly because grealish is an excellent player, it’s also because it meant McGinn didn’t have to try and over compensate as he had been doing.

Despite some defeats I thought the same shape was doing ok, for the first part of the season, some unlucky defeats like Arsenal and Liverpool, some comfortable wins like Norwich and Newcastle, a couple of no shows like Wolves.

But losing McGinn was huge, as big as losing jack last year, in terms of the team shape and energy in the middle. Smith had to change it to try and survive given the adverse circumstances with extreme injuries we’ve had. I thought Man City he mad wrong team selections, full backs and the slowest of slow midfields, but otherwise I think your being over harsh. Pointing back to Norwich and Newcastle giving city a game is a bit meaningless when we’ve battered both those teams.

I’m positive for the rest of the season until there’s a reason not to be. I’m happy to stay up this year and regroup and as things stand we’re not getting cut adrift and a cup final as well.

[ChicagoLion]

I think the Bruce comparison is a little unfair tbh. Smith introduced a clear pattern of play from the off, with one up too and two wide men and grealish further forward. It looked really good till grealish got injured and looked really good when he came back. That is only partly because grealish is an excellent player, it’s also because it meant McGinn didn’t have to try and over compensate as he had been doing.

Despite some defeats I thought the same shape was doing ok, for the first part of the season, some unlucky defeats like Arsenal and Liverpool, some comfortable wins like Norwich and Newcastle, a couple of no shows like Wolves.

But losing McGinn was huge, as big as losing jack last year, in terms of the team shape and energy in the middle. Smith had to change it to try and survive given the adverse circumstances with extreme injuries we’ve had. I thought Man City he mad wrong team selections, full backs and the slowest of slow midfields, but otherwise I think your being over harsh. Pointing back to Norwich and Newcastle giving city a game is a bit meaningless when we’ve battered both those teams.

I’m positive for the rest of the season until there’s a reason not to be. I’m happy to stay up this year and regroup and as things stand we’re not getting cut adrift and a cup final as well.

Well there is rewriting history. The defeats to Liverpool and Arsenal we’re not unlucky they were self inflicted.
He was playing Jack in midfield and it was not working.
We have been hovering around the bottom all season so it has not been working.

[RamboandBruno]

I think the Bruce comparison is a little unfair tbh. Smith introduced a clear pattern of play from the off, with one up too and two wide men and grealish further forward. It looked really good till grealish got injured and looked really good when he came back. That is only partly because grealish is an excellent player, it’s also because it meant McGinn didn’t have to try and over compensate as he had been doing.

Despite some defeats I thought the same shape was doing ok, for the first part of the season, some unlucky defeats like Arsenal and Liverpool, some comfortable wins like Norwich and Newcastle, a couple of no shows like Wolves.

But losing McGinn was huge, as big as losing jack last year, in terms of the team shape and energy in the middle. Smith had to change it to try and survive given the adverse circumstances with extreme injuries we’ve had. I thought Man City he mad wrong team selections, full backs and the slowest of slow midfields, but otherwise I think your being over harsh. Pointing back to Norwich and Newcastle giving city a game is a bit meaningless when we’ve battered both those teams.

I’m positive for the rest of the season until there’s a reason not to be. I’m happy to stay up this year and regroup and as things stand we’re not getting cut adrift and a cup final as well.

Well there is rewriting history. The defeats to Liverpool and Arsenal we’re not unlucky they were self inflicted.
He was playing Jack in midfield and it was not working.
We have been hovering around the bottom all season so it has not been working.

I think it’s a case of individuals perspective rather than re-writing history. I didn’t expect us to win at Arsenal, bearing in mind at the time we really didn’t know how their season would pan out. Yes we made mistakes particularly for their second, but we also had a stone wall penalty turned down, which potentially means we win the game, so in my view unlucky. We went toe to toe with the current best side in the world and just couldn’t hold on and ok lost a man for the winning goal, but not every player is mane and not every player scores that, so other than wolves giving Liverpool their hardest game of the season is in my view something to look back on, where we currently stand, as a great effort-bad luck. Given the players got a 5 minute standing ovation from the holte at the time, there’s plenty others would agree, at the time anyway.

I hoped we wouldn’t be hovering around relegation all season but expected we would, out of interest what did you expect given the complete over haul of the team and the relative inexperience at this level.?

This thread is whether we’re worried, and I don’t want us to go down, and despite being a middle aged family man with a million things going on in life, it still puts a huge dent in my weekends when villa lose. But I choose not to be over negative until the point we are relegated or looking likely. We are currently holding our own and results went our way yesterday and let’s hope so today. I think 3 more wins and a couple of draws might be enough, and I think we’ll get them.

[ChicagoLion]

I was in the Holte v Liverpool and it was only when I watched the replay did I realize the fuck up that led to their 2 goals.Arsenal were down to 10 men and our manager was a rabbit in the headlights.
I expected us to be lower half the table but safe I did not expect our midfield to be so porous or so many  of the abject performances where we have been all over the place, the last being Bournemouth.
We are capable of some very good football but we allways give any opposing team, plenty of opportunities to score against us and this is our biggest problem.

[robbo1874]

I think the Bruce comparison is a little unfair tbh. Smith introduced a clear pattern of play from the off, with one up too and two wide men and grealish further forward. It looked really good till grealish got injured and looked really good when he came back. That is only partly because grealish is an excellent player, it’s also because it meant McGinn didn’t have to try and over compensate as he had been doing.

Despite some defeats I thought the same shape was doing ok, for the first part of the season, some unlucky defeats like Arsenal and Liverpool, some comfortable wins like Norwich and Newcastle, a couple of no shows like Wolves.

But losing McGinn was huge, as big as losing jack last year, in terms of the team shape and energy in the middle. Smith had to change it to try and survive given the adverse circumstances with extreme injuries we’ve had. I thought Man City he mad wrong team selections, full backs and the slowest of slow midfields, but otherwise I think your being over harsh. Pointing back to Norwich and Newcastle giving city a game is a bit meaningless when we’ve battered both those teams.

I’m positive for the rest of the season until there’s a reason not to be. I’m happy to stay up this year and regroup and as things stand we’re not getting cut adrift and a cup final as well.

Well there is rewriting history. The defeats to Liverpool and Arsenal we’re not unlucky they were self inflicted.
He was playing Jack in midfield and it was not working.
We have been hovering around the bottom all season so it has not been working.

I think it’s a case of individuals perspective rather than re-writing history. I didn’t expect us to win at Arsenal, bearing in mind at the time we really didn’t know how their season would pan out. Yes we made mistakes particularly for their second, but we also had a stone wall penalty turned down, which potentially means we win the game, so in my view unlucky. We went toe to toe with the current best side in the world and just couldn’t hold on and ok lost a man for the winning goal, but not every player is mane and not every player scores that, so other than wolves giving Liverpool their hardest game of the season is in my view something to look back on, where we currently stand, as a great effort-bad luck. Given the players got a 5 minute standing ovation from the holte at the time, there’s plenty others would agree, at the time anyway.

I hoped we wouldn’t be hovering around relegation all season but expected we would, out of interest what did you expect given the complete over haul of the team and the relative inexperience at this level.?

This thread is whether we’re worried, and I don’t want us to go down, and despite being a middle aged family man with a million things going on in life, it still puts a huge dent in my weekends when villa lose. But I choose not to be over negative until the point we are relegated or looking likely. We are currently holding our own and results went our way yesterday and let’s hope so today. I think 3 more wins and a couple of draws might be enough, and I think we’ll get them.

i didn’t see the Arsenal match, as it was before I got my Optus sport hookup. If it was such a stonewall penalty as you say, did it go to VAR and if not, why not? As I recall at the time everyone was fkd off that we lost when we should have got something.

[Ads]

It was the most blatant handball you'll see all season at Arsenal. Think the penalty we got at Sheffield United only far more obvious.

Still a chance for Arsenal to get dragged into the relegation scrap. Tarquin, SHA losing, cheating, entitled, twats that they are.