Next Manager Speculation/Hopes

[ASHTONVILLA]

No to Postecoglou.

He's a very good coach but Villa Park is too early for him at this point of his career. The handful of teams I've seen his team play, including last night, they do look very well drilled. You can see evidence of proper coaching and tactical instruction. But he's one for Southampton or someone else right now.

I'd take him. Great coach, and will only go on to bigger and better things when he leaves Celtic.

[johnc]

No to Postecoglou.

He's a very good coach but Villa Park is too early for him at this point of his career. The handful of teams I've seen his team play, including last night, they do look very well drilled. You can see evidence of proper coaching and tactical instruction. But he's one for Southampton or someone else right now.

I think he is a good coach. He turned Celtic around more or less immediately. Has knowledge of other leagues and has brought in some good players. He has struggled in CL. Maybe the players arent good enough for that level of football. Reminds me of Wenger coming in from Japan. He came out of the blue and was a success. Postecoglou will end up in the Prem. I think we need to go for someone with a more proven track record this time

[andyh]

Re Diego Carlos...we're barely missing him. Mings has come in and been generally excellent and our defensive record is fine. Kamara is classy but not at the stage where he would dictate games for us. Digne has been mostly shite for us too so I don't think any of the injuries are really halting any progress.

How we're coached and set-up in games are the biggest obstacles.

We cannot possibly be missing Carlos.
He played a couple of games and we were all over the place defensively in both, we have no idea whether he’s any good or not.

[LeonW]

No to Postecoglou.

He's a very good coach but Villa Park is too early for him at this point of his career. The handful of teams I've seen his team play, including last night, they do look very well drilled. You can see evidence of proper coaching and tactical instruction. But he's one for Southampton or someone else right now.

I think he is a good coach. He turned Celtic around more or less immediately. Has knowledge of other leagues and has brought in some good players. He has struggled in CL. Maybe the players arent good enough for that level of football. Reminds me of Wenger coming in from Japan. He came out of the blue and was a success. Postecoglou will end up in the Prem. I think we need to go for someone with a more proven track record this time

Wenger had already done a very good job with Monaco before he went to Japan. He’d just been forgotten about. Hence his knowledge of talented French footballers. It’s a different game now and I think success in Scotland is not a good barometer any more.

[Risso]

We're definitely missing Kamara. He was doing what none of our other midfielders can do. Part of the problem now is that the midfield 3 are all having to do a bit of the defensive donkey work which isn't really their game.

[LeonW]

We're definitely missing Kamara. He was doing what none of our other midfielders can do. Part of the problem now is that the midfield 3 are all having to do a bit of the defensive donkey work which isn't really their game.

Since his injury we've not really been tested at all to see how much we miss him. We've not struggled to get a foothold yet in a game as we've seen against Forrest and Leeds. The problems are mainly with the offensive side of the game and the current Bruceball tactics of just hoping 'for a bit of magic' to win a game.

[ChicagoLion]

We're definitely missing Kamara. He was doing what none of our other midfielders can do. Part of the problem now is that the midfield 3 are all having to do a bit of the defensive donkey work which isn't really their game.

Since his injury we've not really been tested at all to see how much we miss him. We've not struggled to get a foothold yet in a game as we've seen against Forrest and Leeds. The problems are mainly with the offensive side of the game and the current Bruceball tactics of just hoping 'for a bit of magic' to win a game.

He was our best player until he got injured, he was breaking attacks and setting up counter attacks. So yes we miss him particularly the way Luiz went walk about against Forest.
I am not justifying the shit performances by this Gerrard team but We definitely look better with him.

[Risso]

We're definitely missing Kamara. He was doing what none of our other midfielders can do. Part of the problem now is that the midfield 3 are all having to do a bit of the defensive donkey work which isn't really their game.

Since his injury we've not really been tested at all to see how much we miss him. We've not struggled to get a foothold yet in a game as we've seen against Forrest and Leeds. The problems are mainly with the offensive side of the game and the current Bruceball tactics of just hoping 'for a bit of magic' to win a game.

Having him out affects the offensive side though. With him in the team, the rest of the midfield can be more attacking.

[LeonW]

We're definitely missing Kamara. He was doing what none of our other midfielders can do. Part of the problem now is that the midfield 3 are all having to do a bit of the defensive donkey work which isn't really their game.

Since his injury we've not really been tested at all to see how much we miss him. We've not struggled to get a foothold yet in a game as we've seen against Forrest and Leeds. The problems are mainly with the offensive side of the game and the current Bruceball tactics of just hoping 'for a bit of magic' to win a game.

He was our best player until he got injured, he was breaking attacks and setting up counter attacks. So yes we miss him particularly the way Luiz went walk about against Forest.
I am not justifying the shit performances by this Gerrard team but We definitely look better with him.

I don't think anybody has said that he wouldn't be a miss and we'll see how significant his absence is against much better sides. But against sides like Forrest and Leeds, even on their own patch, that area of the pitch isn't where the main problems lay. It's not like either had dominance in front of our defence in either game. Gerrard has managed to shore up the team defensively, but it's at the expense of everything else. Against a Man City or Liverpool, that's more acceptable, then against the sides like Soton, Leeds and Forrest.

[Hillbilly]

No to Postecoglou.

Damn right.

I'm a big fan of Ange. But he is now tainted from a Villa perspective by the curse of the "old firm". Gerrard, Lambert, McLeish, O'Neill, McNeill. We really must stop fishing in that puddle.

[LeonW]

We're definitely missing Kamara. He was doing what none of our other midfielders can do. Part of the problem now is that the midfield 3 are all having to do a bit of the defensive donkey work which isn't really their game.

Since his injury we've not really been tested at all to see how much we miss him. We've not struggled to get a foothold yet in a game as we've seen against Forrest and Leeds. The problems are mainly with the offensive side of the game and the current Bruceball tactics of just hoping 'for a bit of magic' to win a game.

Having him out affects the offensive side though. With him in the team, the rest of the midfield can be more attacking.

I take your point and that aspect of quicker transitional play through interceptions is the benefit of a specialist like Kamara. But the real problems we're having right now is what happens when the ball gets to a Coutinho, Watkins, Buendia, Bailey, etc.

[ozzjim]

We were hardly more attacking with him than we are now, or did I miss our sparkling forward play earlier in the season? Kamara is a good player for sure, but in neither game has he been missed as Forest and Leeds both sat in behind the ball, so prime Makalele could have been there and it made not a jot of difference really, and Luiz actually tried to get us moving forward a number of times in the second half at Forest. Our best displays have come with Luiz at 8 and Ramsey wide left though, which is food for thought for Gerrard.

[LeonW]

Here are our XG stats from our games in the league this season.

Bournemouth 2 (0.49) Villa 0 (0.59)
Villa 2 (2.57) Everton 1 (1.38)
Palace 3 (2.91) Villa 1 (0.80)
Villa 0 (0.30) West Ham 1 (0.33)
Arsenal 2 (2.80) Villa 1 (0.30)
Villa 1 (0.28) Man City 1 (1.92)
Villa 1 (1.34) Soton 0 (0.22)
Leeds 0 (0.30) Villa 0 (1.90)
Notts Forrest 1 (0.22) Villa 1 (0.66)

That’s less than a goal a game we’re averaging on expected goals.

[cdbearsfan]

We lost 2-0 to Bournemouth in actual goals.

[LeonW]

We lost 2-0 to Bournemouth in actual goals.

Apologies; we did. Blotted that out. Makes it an even worse look.