Watford v Aston Villa post match thread

[achilles]

Then we, the away following, did something very un-Villa like and actually blindly got behind our lot and roared them off at Stoke and Sweet Carolined them back on. A different second half and a game we ought to have won.

I cannot square the circle of a performance like Man United away, outclassed yet dogged at Chelsea, to everything that's followed. There's been a mental disconnect.

We need to be going to Burnley and putting in the most mind numbing, dreary and pragmatic performance possible. We must avoid defeat. I have ideas on selection, but that's for another thread. Lose and it will probably be it for Smith.

Great post Ads.

That Stoke game was surreal, Stoke got a goal when Hutton got injured and was off the field but we played well after that and I think the fans could see that we had put the Swansea shambles behind us and the players were showing commitment, effort and desire to get back into the game. The players got a standing ovation from the fans at half-time and we were 1-0 down, I think DS even clapped us as he went off with the players. I had never known that before or since and we went on to get a draw and would have won except for Butland in the Stoke goal. That was definitely the turning point of last season!

Also agree about Burnley, however we do it don't lose, scrap this expansive football and get back to basics, defend as if your lives depend on it, if it is ugly so be it! UTV

[RamboandBruno]

Then we, the away following, did something very un-Villa like and actually blindly got behind our lot and roared them off at Stoke and Sweet Carolined them back on. A different second half and a game we ought to have won.

I cannot square the circle of a performance like Man United away, outclassed yet dogged at Chelsea, to everything that's followed. There's been a mental disconnect.

We need to be going to Burnley and putting in the most mind numbing, dreary and pragmatic performance possible. We must avoid defeat. I have ideas on selection, but that's for another thread. Lose and it will probably be it for Smith.

Great post Ads.

That Stoke game was surreal, Stoke got a goal when Hutton got injured and was off the field but we played well after that and I think the fans could see that we had put the Swansea shambles behind us and the players were showing commitment, effort and desire to get back into the game. The players got a standing ovation from the fans at half-time and we were 1-0 down, I think DS even clapped us as he went off with the players. I had never known that before or since and we went on to get a draw and would have won except for Butland in the Stoke goal. That was definitely the turning point of last season!

Also agree about Burnley, however we do it don't lose, scrap this expansive football and get back to basics, defend as if your lives depend on it, if it is ugly so be it! UTV

Agree with this. I don’t get to too many away games, but was at Stoke and the away support was fantastic considering our dire form of that period continued in the first half, second half different story and the tide and our season turned. Sheff We’d away was similar in terms of the support I felt helped to drag the team to victory.

I think Burnley is a horrible place to go in our current form and the apparent mental state of the players at the moment. I’m not sure I see us getting anything. But agree we just need to load up the middle, Targett getting injured may be a blessing as well.

Just somehow need a very ugly draw or win

[AV82EC]

I think the best we can hope for is a draw. The last time we won at Turf Moor was 12 September 1936.

I suppose we’re going to have to break that hoodoo at some point, however it’s not looking likely at the moment.

[VinnieChase84]

Safely say I never want to see Lansbury in the starting lineup again. He’s utter crap. Ponces around and offers sweet f all

[Brend'Watkins]

Good post Ads.

It was and I can only conclude that the issue is down to the absence of Mings as the main cause. He hasn’t always been at the top of his game but what he always did was make sure those around him were putting a shift in. Jack doesn’t do that. If you add the absence of McGinn you have no one on the pitch to tell or show the rest what needs to be done.

[darren woolley]

It was a poor game for us when they went down to ten men they played better I was gutted and freezing cold at Vicarage Road Burnley will be another tough game they don't get any easier know.

[Goldie.7]

I think the best we can hope for is a draw. The last time we won at Turf Moor was 12 September 1936.

Wood is due a goal or two. Him scoring against us is totally not going to happen. Then Man City after, it's looking grim.

[PeterWithesShin]

Higher higher Watford
Lower lower Villa

[ktvillan]

Smith deserved a full season in the PL,  and I'd be happy to stick with that if we were playing some decent stuff and were at least competitive even in games we lost.  Like we were up to the Man Yoo game apart from the odd aberration.   But that's no longer the case.  Anyone can see we're not even doing the basics now- lack of effort, lack of heart, lack of fitness, lack of leadership, lack of adaptability, lack of squad depth of the right quality, lack of managerial nous, lack of experience.  There are few, if any, positives.   It's become a perfect storm of inadequacy and it's difficult to see Smith turning it around if the players aren't even putting in effort for him.

[Hillbilly]

Lansbury is everything I dislike in a player, good whack of talent and wastes most of it.

I don't understand why we kept this waster and got rid of Birkir Bjarnason who at least gave a reasonable impression that he wanted to be a footballer. Lansbury is just a shit Stephen Ireland.

[villa `cross the mersey]

Lansbury is everything I dislike in a player, good whack of talent and wastes most of it.

I don't understand why we kept this waster and got rid of Birkir Bjarnason who at least gave a reasonable impression that he wanted to be a footballer. Lansbury is just a shit Stephen Ireland.

With hair

[tomd2103]

Lansbury is everything I dislike in a player, good whack of talent and wastes most of it.

I don't understand why we kept this waster and got rid of Birkir Bjarnason who at least gave a reasonable impression that he wanted to be a footballer. Lansbury is just a shit Stephen Ireland.

Guess we didn't have much of a choice really.  He was among a crop of players we signed when we went down, who probably couldn't believe their luck at the deal we agreed with them.  I suspect there is little chance of shifting the likes of Lansbury and we are stuck with them until their contracts expire.

[Toronto Villa]

Regarding Lansbury, before the pre season game we played in Minnesota Dean Smith spent some time chatting with a few of us at a pub we were all gathered at. He spoke really highly of Lansbury and felt he could be a big year for him. That should have been the warning that not all was well.

[Drummond]

He would hardly say he was shit.

I'd have thought that a player like Lansbury could do well in what a normal Smith side would be. However, this season he, as with most of the rest of our squad, are being found out.

[Three Spires Villa]

He would hardly say he was shit.

I'd have thought that a player like Lansbury could do well in what a normal Smith side would be. However, this season he, as with most of the rest of our squad, are being found out.

True, we got a few duds in