Post match thread. Villa 1 Leicester City 2

[algy]

I try to look at positives rather than blame Barkley for everything. It’s been a great season so far and we’re still 8th, yes 8th. We’re not going down. I think Ramsey Is going to be a fabulous player for us next season and maybe the way Smith is using him at the moment will benefit him next year. Sanson too looks great but is possibly not yet up to PL pace, again a purchase for next season. The management team will bring in quality for next season to improve the squad which at the moment is not up to PL standards. Leicester are quality but we’re getting there

Yeah, I see Sanson as essentially a signing for next season - he'll just be comfortably bedded in. Likewise Ramsey I see as a player who is being integrated in to the side without putting undue pressure on him.

[PaulWinch again]

I can't agree with that. While I absolutely think a club like ours ought to be competing in the top 6, you have to have regard for context. A top half finish would be an excellent return. We will invest and we will go again.

I can't agree with that. While I absolutely think a club like ours ought to be competing in the top 6, you have to have regard for context. A top half finish would be an excellent return. We will invest and we will go again.

Yep agreed. We’ve made a big step forward this season, but we’re not going to go from scraping survival to established top 6 just like that. We still need to strengthen the squad and Dean needs to show he can use that squad.

[steamer]

they are second and probably deserve to be.
9 away wins
We are better than we imagined we would be, but the goals are not as prolific as they were.
Jack is an undoubtable miss when out.
To move on we need some creative midfielders and more forward options.
I would give Barkley his train fare back to London, ambles around , either breaks up / slows up play or loses possession.
Then throws his toys out when subbed
Ramsey and Marvellous to start next week

[Ian.]

When he played against Liverpool he was forceful and powerfully going forward and we do not see that nearly enough to justify playing him. If he was like that all the time he’s some player.
At the moment it’s like starting the game with ten men.

[Rudy65]

Stupid decision to let Freddie go out on loan! Is he really worse than Elmo?

No, and he plays similar to Cash. Its one that I cant get my head around.

And for the most part was decent last season

[SoccerHQ]

It was a performance from last season when we nearly went down

I know we can take comfort and say well we’re eighth not going down plenty of points
Look how far we’ve come etc

But we should always be about where we’re going not where we’ve come from

If we want to get into the top six we have to make better choices and not just keep saying oh well we’re doing better than we thought we would

I’ve said a million times on here we’re the biggest club in the Midlands by Miles and the Second richest in the premiership
Going into the form of a bottom half prem team when we lose our best player isn’t good enough anymore
I don’t want to settle for mediocre or average I want us to push on

Agree with this.

It's a bottom half mentality to just think we're hardly capable of winning any games if Jack is out. Reminds me of Palace who plod along and then lose game after game after game whenever Zaha is injured. They'll finish 14-16th this season. We're much better than that.

In fairness I didn't expect much today as Leicester are a top team nowadays who have signed superbly over last three years and still have a few of their title winners around to add experience so perfect mix and one of our most difficult games all season.

Next few weeks we play Newcastle, Wolves and Sheffield United so it's not some impossible fixture list without Jack so I don't think we should just accept us completely falling off in form like in previous seasons.

We do actually have some decent players in final third now so we just need to remodel the midfield a bit into more hardworking and solid unit and I reckon we'll be o.k.

Not on this site but seen a few elsewhere say they'd be happy finishing 14th ffs. Maybe in September.

[Rudy65]

Silly Smith stubbornly selecting Barkley instead of Nakamba lost us the game.

NaKamba either plays instead of Luiz or not at all In my view

[passport1]

For some reason Barkley is not the player he was at the start of the season. Pure speculation but I do wonder whether following the Sanson signing  he has geen told he will not be signed in the summer? Whatever  the reason he should not be starting at the moment.

[Rudy65]

For some reason Barkley is not the player he was at the start of the season. Pure speculation but I do wonder whether following the Sanson signing  he has geen told he will not be signed in the summer? Whatever  the reason he should not be starting at the moment.

Maybe not told he won’t be signed but has come to the same conclusion

[Rudy65]

Other than the crazy shot at the end I thought McGinn played ok today particularly after Barkley had gone off and Ramsay and Sanson were doing the running

[The_ads]

I can't agree with that. While I absolutely think a club like ours ought to be competing in the top 6, you have to have regard for context. A top half finish would be an excellent return. We will invest and we will go again.

Absolutely this. We shouldn’t get too high when we win or down when we lose. Two years ago we were struggling in the championship about to go on a ridiculous run for promotion, and here we are, two years later, disappointed not to be in the top 7 of the premier league. Let’s see where we are in May but we’ve come on leaps and bounds. Owners will spend again and it’ll be time to move on the likes of El Ghazi, Trezeguet, El Mohamady, Taylor and , Nakamba potentially, and bring in some real quality that, when we lose some key players, can slot in and perform as well.

[Toronto Villa]

We didn’t get Southamptoned. It looked like we might. A 2-1 loss vs Leicester in the end after a very poor start is a decent result even though we lost.

[taylorsworkrate]

For some reason Barkley is not the player he was at the start of the season. Pure speculation but I do wonder whether following the
Sanson signing  he has geen told he will not be signed in the summer? Whatever  the reason he should not be starting at the moment.

He just isn't that good.

He's a slightly above average player on a good day.

[Gareth]

Not read through comments so will probably be rehashing previous opinions but after half hour I fully expected to be on the end of 5 or 6 so was pleased that we made a game of it.

Thought McGinn, Mings & Targett all had very decent games & Watkins as ever was a willing runner.  Sanson & Ramsey added plenty of effort when they came on.

I’m not sure without Jack we are good enough yet to start playing 433 against one of the best sides in the league because the wingers were passengers until literally the moment Traore scored.  Add this to Barkley being a 3rd passenger it was difficult to see us getting anything out of the game.

Barkley is a big concern, now we are not in the 2 games a week cycle I’m not sure he has the excuse that he is returning from injury - for me today he was playing walking football with no fire in the belly & should have been hooked at half time.  For a player on loan because he wasn’t getting football at his parent club he doesn’t appear to have the desire ram it down Chelsea’s throat & show them that he deserves a chance to go back & get in the side.  With Jack being out he had the chance to grab the limelight & be the star, first audition in the role was an epic failure.  He certainly shouldn’t start next week, particularly as it is a side whose
chief attribute is running but hopefully he realises that he has to up his game substantially & does so for rest of season.

[Bent Neilsens Screamer]

For some reason Barkley is not the player he was at the start of the season. Pure speculation but I do wonder whether following the Sanson signing  he has geen told he will not be signed in the summer? Whatever  the reason he should not be starting at the moment.

Maybe so but you’d think he’d still do his best to make Chelsea think he could be part of their plans or to impress a potential buyer. He’s doing neither atm. For a hefty loan fee I want more and can only think that it contains a must play clause.