Next Aston Villa Manager

[ROBBO]

I thought after the Leicester game that Smith had sorted them out but not to be, even Grealish struggled against them. It really looked like men against boys for all the game and if they could have been bothered it could have been double figures.
Getting tired of Smiths excuses if he can't get his way on players coming in then he should walk away, he would not be out of work for long but not in the prem.

[ChicagoLion]

You've got to ask what is John Terry doing? You'd expect he'd sort that defence out but I guess Smith has the final say

Is there any defense that would cope with the  midfield Smith put in front of them?

[GarTomas]

You've got to ask what is John Terry doing? You'd expect he'd sort that defence out but I guess Smith has the final say

Is there any defense that would cope with the  midfield Smith put in front of them?

With the options available maybe McGinn, Grealish plus one.

The challenge is we don’t have the quality up front so we move Grealish up there; if we move Grealish up we don’t have the sufficient quality in midfield.

[ChicagoLion]

You've got to ask what is John Terry doing? You'd expect he'd sort that defence out but I guess Smith has the final say

Is there any defense that would cope with the  midfield Smith put in front of them?

With the options available maybe McGinn, Grealish plus one.

The challenge is we don’t have the quality up front so we move Grealish up there; if we move Grealish up we don’t have the sufficient quality in midfield.

I think we should play Konsa or even Mings in a holding role to provide some protection.

[GarTomas]

I agree Konsa could play there and if Engels was fit or not gone way off form would be worthwhile.

Hause, Mings and Engels with Targett, Guilbert, Drinkwater and Konsa would be very solid and give us the option to have Jack, a striker to come in and maybe rotate El Ghazi and Trez.

Would be much better than what we put out yesterday.

[mr underhill]

with the best will in the world Danny Drinkwater isn't solid.

[chrisw1]

You've got to ask what is John Terry doing? You'd expect he'd sort that defence out but I guess Smith has the final say

Is there any defense that would cope with the  midfield Smith put in front of them?

With the options available maybe McGinn, Grealish plus one.

The challenge is we don’t have the quality up front so we move Grealish up there; if we move Grealish up we don’t have the sufficient quality in midfield.

I think we should play Konsa or even Mings in a holding role to provide some protection.

Can you imagine starting with 4 center halfs?  This place would go into meltdown claiming that Bruce was back.

[Risso]

It's more like Sherwood's back at the moment.

[Villan82]

Little rumour floating around VP yesterday is that Dean and JT not exactly getting 'on' at the moment

I have always suspected that there was an element of that.

[wozwebs]

Where have Targett and Engels vanished too. Slight knocks have turned into weeks out. All is not well.

[ChicagoLion]

It's more like Sherwood's back at the moment.

Good point

[Villan82]

Why did we rule out loans? An experienced head or two - loans - would have maybe been worth a point or two to us. Especially at the start of the season when we were playing well but incapable of closing out the game.

The problem with Loans is that you're kicking the problem down the road. That's ok sometimes but when the task at hand is to make a functional squad from a large number of signings and a fairly fractured existing squad it's not necessarily all that helpful. I think they decided to try to rough it out and built a team spirit via adversity but the injuries and falls in form of a few keys players means we're behind where they wanted and we're looking to add some more experience to help push us over the line so we can go again in the summer.


I don't know what impact a change of manager would have on getting the squad where we want it to be by the summer though so I guess it's about finding a balance between the short term need to avoid relegation and the long term goals of growing the squad as a unit.

Survival was aim number one. I would quite happily have kicked the can for one year and returned to it in the summer as a PL club with three new lambs to the slaughter up from the Championship.

[Blagg]

Little rumour floating around VP yesterday is that Dean and JT not exactly getting 'on' at the moment

I have always suspected that there was an element of that.

I suspect that whatever happens, Terry will not be Assistant Head Coach to Smith next season, he'll be getting frustrated and wanting to be the main man somewhere soon. If the right opportunity appears he'll be off before the end of the season.  Just a guess, obviously.

[paul_e]

Why did we rule out loans? An experienced head or two - loans - would have maybe been worth a point or two to us. Especially at the start of the season when we were playing well but incapable of closing out the game.

The problem with Loans is that you're kicking the problem down the road. That's ok sometimes but when the task at hand is to make a functional squad from a large number of signings and a fairly fractured existing squad it's not necessarily all that helpful. I think they decided to try to rough it out and built a team spirit via adversity but the injuries and falls in form of a few keys players means we're behind where they wanted and we're looking to add some more experience to help push us over the line so we can go again in the summer.


I don't know what impact a change of manager would have on getting the squad where we want it to be by the summer though so I guess it's about finding a balance between the short term need to avoid relegation and the long term goals of growing the squad as a unit.

Survival was aim number one. I would quite happily have kicked the can for one year and returned to it in the summer as a PL club with three new lambs to the slaughter up from the Championship.

I don't think they were worried about us being where we are, and by the end of October I'd have agreed. At the time we were 15th, 2 points short of 7th and looking competitive in every game. That coincides with injuries to Mings, Grealish and McGinn, all 3 played in just 3 of the 10 games in that period and it's pretty clear that they're the heart of the team and we couldn't afford a run with any of them missing. It's particularly clear now how important McGinn is because our midfield just isn't functioning without him.

[Drummond]

What wrankles with me is the fact that Smith’s Brentford played such good football (and they still do), yet despite a huge budget, he can’t seem to get a decent tune out of this lot on a regular basis.  Are him and Pitarch on the same page? I’m not sure they are. That said, he’s still got my backing to get it right.

I'm with you.

What I will say is that it takes time to develop a good playing style and understanding, unless you've got fantastic players.

For example, you could have dropped the Man City players in together and you can bet they'd do far better than our lot.

There are times when we look good and others when we look abject. Yesterday was appalling and they played through us, round us, at will.

There is fault everywhere. It's time for them all to to stand up and be counted. Take a deep breath and focus on the next game. We've played a couple of different formations now so let's see what happens.

I understand people don't think Smith is up to it, and I'd agree, at the moment, he's not. But, do we think he'll improve? Learn? Get better?

I do and I think the players will too.

Smith and Wilder have a similar path, starting low and moving up through the leagues. Wilder has had more success and more time.

I wasn't convinced Smith was the man for us when we were needing someone as he didn't have the experience, yet that was what people were clamouring for.

He did us proud in his first year. Now he's into his second and is struggling. Isn't it time to support him rather than fuck him off?