Aston Villa v Wolves Post Match Thread.

[sirlordbaltimore]

Geez, everybody wanted both wingers out of the team and called for the diamond. I've no idea why, we already have no pace so putting four, slow central midfielders into the team was hardly likely to help. Smith has bowed to pressure to play two up front, the team won't have trained in that formation at all. Managers do start to look desperate when they start throwing reactive formations together.

And yet the tip of that diamond spent the entire 90 minutes being anywhere but. I'm starting to think Jack plays where he wants once he crosses the white line.

The crux of the problem is, we have wingers they aren't good enough and we don't have the creativity elsewhere or up front to play a different way regardless

[SaddVillan]

If you look at our bench and starters, it would be difficult too pick out more than 4 "average" Premier League quality players.(Grealpish may be touted as a world beater - but is he?)

So to have any chance at all against most sides, they'd have to be performing at 100% and the rest of the team would have to be running their nuts off in support in a formation and playing style that they all understood and bought into.

Sadly, this isn't the case.
In too many games, too many players have failed to perform.

And that is surely down to the management and coaching

In every career there's a level beyond which you can't go because you're just not good enough.

Now I know we all love DS because of his backstory - local lad etc., but perhaps winning the 2nd Div play-off last season was as good as he was ever going to get?

[Damo70]

We are paying the price for years of poor/shocking managers and piss poor ownership. I really worry that our present owners will see us as a lost cause and take their money elsewhere. As ambitious people, they didn’t shell out to buy a mediocre championship side with a big ground and support. There are some big decisions to be made in the summer regarding the direction of this club, staring with the management and coaching staff.

Judging by how many want Smith out and those that wanted him out even before the season was suspended those people obviously have issues with the ownership too as they appointed him and they also continue to employ him.

[Olof's Beard]

It looks to me like three, maybe more, of that lot have already lined up their next move and so have thrown it in for us. It’s the only explanation I can think of as to why they look so badly off form.

Is this really the only explanation you can think of? It's just easy mud to throw. The reality is much more simple. They are trying but just aren't good enough and we don't have the right blend of players at all, no matter what the formation. Confidence has gone too now so none of them are taking any responsibility, hence the lack of urgency.

[ktvillan]

Re: Brentford and Smith.
I am pretty sure that Smith is the one who benefited from being there and doing it the ‘Brentford way’. He has taken that reflected success and bagged himself a job at a massive club.
In the meantime, Brentford have continued with their philosophy and gone from strength to strength.

It wasn’t Smiths Brentford as has been shown since he left.

Fair point maybe it was lot more about the Brentford method than Smith.  And Thomas Frank has got them higher in the table than Smith did.

[CT]

I remember Purslow sitting there saying all our new signings would have character.

If that characteristic was to stroll around and give up, then yes, the signings have been excellent in that respect.

Clearly, players in that side has given up. We played the last 25 minutes like we were protecting a 2-0 lead.

I’ve seen more urgency from Henri Lansbury. 

[Legion]

https://www.skysports.com/watch/video/12015975/dendoncker-strike-sinks-aston-villa

[Nii Lamptey]

Expected. That's how woeful it's got.
The second I saw Traore named on the bench, I dropped some money on a Wolves win.

If you can take 'any' positives from that game, Grealish had a 15 minute spell in the first half when he looked like he was getting back to something like form, Douglas Luiz continues to impress, and John McGinn looked fresher coming on as a sub.

Played a good side today, but the least we expect is fight and urgency when a goal down.

Rubbish again, as it has been bar the odd glitch ALL season..... SMITH OUT. Now.

[villadelph]

Geez, everybody wanted both wingers out of the team and called for the diamond. I've no idea why, we already have no pace so putting four, slow central midfielders into the team was hardly likely to help. Smith has bowed to pressure to play two up front, the team won't have trained in that formation at all. Managers do start to look desperate when they start throwing reactive formations together.

And yet the tip of that diamond spent the entire 90 minutes being anywhere but. I'm starting to think Jack plays where he wants once he crosses the white line.

The crux of the problem is, we have wingers they aren't good enough and we don't have the creativity elsewhere or up front to play a different way regardless

Dean honestly expected Hourihane, Nakamba and Hause to run the flanks to provide service to the forwards.

You’ve gotta be piss drunk to think that would’ve been successful.

[eamonn]

I don't see more quality in Sheffield United's squad, probably Newcastle or Brighton's either. They are all well-drilled and capable of looking more threatening than required though. Our goal threat has evaporated with Jack being largely nullified.

[PaulWinch again]

I don't see more quality in Sheffield United's squad, probably Newcastle or Brighton's either. They are all well-drilled and capable of looking more threatening than required though. Our goal threat has evaporated with Jack being largely nullified.

Fully agree. The quality point is a factor, but if you’re really well coached you’ll be in with a chance. We’re going down because our coaching team doesn’t have a clue.

[villadelph]

I don't see more quality in Sheffield United's squad, probably Newcastle or Brighton's either. They are all well-drilled and capable of looking more threatening than required though. Our goal threat has evaporated with Jack being largely nullified.

Fully agree. The quality point is a factor, but if you’re really well coached you’ll be in with a chance. We’re going down because our coaching team doesn’t have a clue.

In what facet have we improved at all since the start of the season?

Has Dean Smith/JT made a single player better?

[andyh]

I fucking hate and detest seeing Hourihane waggling out his leg in an attempt to tackle and then skipping around like a fucking prancing horse when he has missed yet another interception.

Not as much as I fucking hate AEG and Trezeguet though.

And fucking Smith, now.

[supertom]

What is it about Aston Villa that has made us so far behind sides in terms of simple off the ball movement? We're 30 years behind the times in the way we play. It goes way back too. Pockets of good play aside, but never consistent, or seemingly without any forethought or grand plan, we play so rigidly. Even in better times under Gregory and O Neill, our play was pretty simple. With pube head we were very effective on counter attack, but as a possession side trying to break teams down, the movement was often poor. No small triangles, no pass and move, just a rigid 4-4-f-2. We've been the same way ever since, without an effective system and worse players.

Wolves by comparison, who weren't even that good today, coasted and every part about the way they played showed they've developed as fluid way of playing for a number of years. If a player receives the ball, another player has already anticipated the need to move and be in a position to receive the next pass. We don't do this and we've not done it for over 20 years. Frankly it's pathetic. It also highlights just why British managers have struggled for success this century and foreign coaches have become more successful. Then you look back at our meat and potatoes appointments, almost entirely predictable and uninspiring. There's a lot of intelligence in the way modern sides set up and train, but we're so far behind still. Unfortunately our choice in foreign coaches has been poor recently. There were some signs of Houllier instilling a bit more subtlety into our game, but we undid that all with the next appointment.

We've got to once again tear it all up, go back to square one and rebuild in the championship. But whoever the new manager is, needs tactical nous and an understanding of the modern game. In recent premier league times there haven't been many sides as consistently frustrating to watch as us in terms of passing and movement, in that ability to play in tight spaces. And the worst part is, we have a player like Grealish who'd absolutely excel if we could just drag ourselves out this outdated mentality.

[hilts_coolerking]

That was quite depressing to watch actually.  We didn't play atrociously but it was like a catalogue of our weaknesses: no pace, poor ball retention, no movement up top, defensive errors, goalkeeping uncertainty, lack of goal threat, nothing on the bench, no flair, little energy.  Wolves are a very very good side so we have to be at our best if we hope to get anything at all out of the game but the truth is we just don't have enough to beat good sides in this division, and barely enough to beat poor sides.  We have a weak squad and a poor manager.