Go To War Or Get The F*** Out! Villa v WBA 25/4 7pm Match Thread | Page 31 | Vital Football

Go To War Or Get The F*** Out! Villa v WBA 25/4 7pm Match Thread

Villa1955 said:
I just don't feel he has the tactical nouse Mike... team selection questionable, use of subs questionable.... plan B..... can't always see what his plan A is.... He is supposed to have a better group of players than we had last season, but if you take away his good start to the season, we would be relegation candidates right now... results even before Jack was injured were on the slide...But we will see if your right...
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This is where I'm still with him.

The first XI pick themselves if fit owing to a lack of real options on the bench unless Heaton has a second position no one knows about.

Ramsey is still introductory - he'll be good one minute, absolutely useless the next - it's where he is development wise We have a Chuk or Bidace to make up the numbers - even Wesley today was making up the numbers.

Hause, Nakamaba, Trez, El Ghazi, Davis, Engels - good squad but only starters for certain minority matches in reality given what we've seen (Hause aside in some ways).

Then we pad with Elmo, Guilbert, Taylor.

When Smith has a proper 18 I'll get proper critical. For now folks lambast him for not bringing on Davis earlier (I've been in that camp) but he's brought Davis on before and we've gone down to seven men. It's not a fix, it's a gamble. We only have gambles off the bench and even as someone who wants to see Smith gamble more and I can 100% see why he waited to change so long today because we were on top in every measure.

We just lacked the finish - I can get DS thinking I've got no guaranteed fix off the bench therefore I'll stick for a bit.

But again mate, our 2021 form is not relegation material. That's a buzzword favoured by some, but it's not true. Actually look at the points. It's bottom half but it's only relegation if you ignore another half a season to play. And folks have already said had we started in this form and ended in our 2020 form they'd be swinging from the rafters.

It can't be had both ways.

And whether people think it's an excuse or not....Covid, lack of Jack, Ollie not being a died in the wool lone striker/no competition and so on, it all figures in the drop off. We reached our season aim very early - Euro talk was batshit - players have clearly stepped off irrespective of other factors as we are safe and better safe than last year.

It has an effect whether fans like it or not. Players aren't machines and neither is the manager.

But again, if we spend another 80-100m and this time next season we are seeing the same old flaws, then we know DS has reached his ceiling and he's holding himself and us back, because he then has options. At the moment I still think we are punching above our weight. Not by much now, but still punching as we level out.

If Ollie was awake today we are 3-0 up before they have their second serious attack. Next season, a fit Wesley, a Davis or another, DS needs to show he's strong enough to hug Watkins and say 'it's not your day, take a rest' and he comes off at the break.
 
stennyvilla said:
Sorry, but if you start measuring his performance on the basis of what he did against Man City that is the definition of unfair in my book. City outclass everyone most games, and strikers are left stranded. He's looked good in the few minutes he's got in most games. Add them all together and he's our top scorer per minute pkayed thi
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I'm not judging him by his Man City performance but adding it for context. People are ignoring all of the lumbering duff appearances he's put in and saying on the basis of Fulham and 8 minutes today that he's been some kind of obvious choice for Smith to make. I don't see it as being remotely obvious.

For clarity, (again) well done Keinan on a great eight minutes and scoring your first Prem goal.
 
Langoe66 said:
Wasteley? Why do we need to mock our own players Divine especially when Wesley’s played for a mere 4 months in the Premier League, has had a potentially career threatening injury and probably been through 16 months of hell? The bloke surely deserves support and a chance to at least play a few games before he’s consigned to the bin again.
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To me he has been a complete waste of money and the worst Brazilian player who I think is an insult to the skilfull Brazilian players we have seen over the years. Joelinton is the the 2nd worst.
 
Pride of Lions said:
Shouldn't of been a ding-dong though. We're better than that, or should be, but we're not thanks to Smith!
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But that's not reality mate...they got their act together and have been in good form.

The name earns us nothing. As for the thanks to Smith, I'd much rather watch a game like than the shit against them in previous years. We need to stop thinking we're as good as we'd like to think.
 
mike_field said:
This is where I'm still with him.

The first XI pick themselves if fit owing to a lack of real options on the bench unless Heaton has a second position no one knows about.

Ramsey is still introductory - he'll be good one minute, absolutely useless the next - it's where he is development wise We have a Chuk or Bidace to make up the numbers - even Wesley today was making up the numbers.

Hause, Nakamaba, Trez, El Ghazi, Davis, Engels - good squad but only starters for certain minority matches in reality given what we've seen (Hause aside in some ways).

Then we pad with Elmo, Guilbert, Taylor.

When Smith has a proper 18 I'll get proper critical. For now folks lambast him for not bringing on Davis earlier (I've been in that camp) but he's brought Davis on before and we've gone down to seven men. It's not a fix, it's a gamble. We only have gambles off the bench and even as someone who wants to see Smith gamble more and I can 100% see why he waited to change so long today because we were on top in every measure.

We just lacked the finish - I can get DS thinking I've got no guaranteed fix off the bench therefore I'll stick for a bit.

But again mate, our 2021 form is not relegation material. That's a buzzword favoured by some, but it's not true. Actually look at the points. It's bottom half but it's only relegation if you ignore another half a season to play. And folks have already said had we started in this form and ended in our 2020 form they'd be swinging from the rafters.

It can't be had both ways.

And whether people think it's an excuse or not....Covid, lack of Jack, Ollie not being a died in the wool lone striker/no competition and so on, it all figures in the drop off. We reached our season aim very early - Euro talk was batshit - players have clearly stepped off irrespective of other factors as we are safe and better safe than last year.

It has an effect whether fans like it or not. Players aren't machines and neither is the manager.

But again, if we spend another 80-100m and this time next season we are seeing the same old flaws, then we know DS has reached his ceiling and he's holding himself and us back, because he then has options. At the moment I still think we are punching above our weight. Not by much now, but still punching as we level out.

If Ollie was awake today we are 3-0 up before they have their second serious attack. Next season, a fit Wesley, a Davis or another, DS needs to show he's strong enough to hug Watkins and say 'it's not your day, take a rest' and he comes off at the break.
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Preach!
 
eltoro said:
That’s a dangerous game for me, I’d rather Smith wasn’t given another £150m, and it’s better for the team to have a manger from the get go then bring one in to dig us out of hole should we be in one.
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Well, that's the thing. DS isn't in total charge of transfers, the next lad will have the same constraints.
 
Villa1955 said:
It could also have had the reverse effect, if they were playing the way they have been this past couple of months, the crowd could have turned on them....
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You could very well be right, one thing is for sure Barkley wouldn’t of got as many games as he has, and that in its own right might of got us more points again.

Also our lack of shooting outside the box when it’s begging to be hit, players taking too long, today we were better I did like McGinn’s and ELM long range efforts, but I also feel with the crowd shouting shoot we might have some more goals too.

But yes things it could also have the reserve effect.
 
mike_field said:
But that's not reality mate...they got their act together and have been in good form.

The name earns us nothing. As for the thanks to Smith, I'd much rather watch a game like than the shit against them in previous years. We need to stop thinking we're as good as we'd like to think.
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I've just referred to the stats for the match.

We had 70% possession.

24 shots, of which 11 were on target.

That goes some way to intimating we are and should be better than the tesco bags, however, the way we're set up, the way Smith leaves any tactical substitutions until too late (usually) proves he hasn't got the nous!
 
Stephen Jay Hawkings said:
They looked like prime fucking Barcelona against Chelsea and in a few other games, and under Big Sam too. World's gone mad.

And yet we dominated them. Should have won that. But fuck it, let's sack the manager.
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Yup, the only thing I can criticise today is the **** ref for that penalty and our own finishing. We've had other games where we should've been clear, but we played well this time!

Makes it even more gutting.
 
Might as well play wesley Watkins and Davis as the up front three from now on, no point in playing wingers since it's only the Targett and Elmo that cross it.

Traore is so one footed it's crazy.... I reckon an email came in asking smith if he wanted a former Chelsea winger from the 2015 season and he figured it was Hazard ....

I like Dean, I want him to do well....I was impressed by his buzz words at the start in his interviews but his lack of plan b/ tactics / subs are frustrating... it wasn't working tonight, needed two up top, Davis did well, wesley will spend more time in the shower than on the pitch....

Mings chewing gum annoys me.

Watkins is a great runner and poacher.... but give him time on the ball and he almost panics and fluffs it.

Final ball is always questionable. Attempting 1-2s at the edge of the box is pointless if they just play it to someone that has a player on their back.

Would have been a peach from Elmo if it went in.
 
Can't comment on the 2nd half as I switched off after they scored. I'm getting bored of watching a team who struggle to play simple 5 yard passes to each other. Most teams in the league have sussed us out and know that if you press us high our players are simply not good enough to pass through them. We will either give the ball away cheaply or hit it long resulting in Ollie battling 100/1 odds of holding on to the ball against 4 defenders twice his size. A serious overhaul is needed to fill the middle of the park who can make the correct decisions under pressure but it is these players which will cost us a pretty penny so the recruitment needs to be spot on this summer.

On a positive note I'm chuffed for Kienan grabbing his first PL goal. Teams like WBA with a fragile confidence will hate playing against someone like him. He gives the defence a major headache and another problem to think about. If we are not going to start him I would hope we give him a fairer crack of the whip going forward to show what he can do.
 
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