Pre Season Friendlies Thread | Page 31 | Vital Football

Pre Season Friendlies Thread

Agree. Good run out. What you hope for in a friendly. Think generally the players did very well. Felt we looked a bit sluggish playing out from the back at the start and got closed down too quickly. Try that against Spurs and we'd get slaughtered. Don't know why we were sluggish; players still tired?

Think the new players all looked pretty good, maybe Engels was still feeling his way into things, which is understandable. Not too impressed with Taggart, but he hasn't played many games.

Lansbury looked class in a forward role. Don't know how often he'll get picked but I think DS will make use of him. Hourihane did that unsung DM role pretty well and kept things going forwards when he could.

Think Dean will be happy. On to the next test!
 
sirdennis said:
Charlton are a championship side and Leipzig will be a very good test. I think the fixtures are fine .
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Agree, the fixtures can be better from a financial point of view, but it's fitness/tactics being focused on and if those get nailed the step up in quality of opposition won't matter as much.

You could actually argue (give where Villa are at the moment) a tougher fixture list as a true test would be detrimental as we wouldn't get the basics in because we are still learning them and need an element of dominating to give us the leeway for mistakes as players learn and put what DS wants into practice so it becomes second nature.
 
Selection is looking interesting now.

Given that Grealish, McGinn, Douglas (hopefully) and Wesley are a given, you are looking two from El Ghazi, Jota, Hassan and probably A N other (Maupay ?)

To me one has to be Jota, his link between Grealish and Wesley looks sublime, so where do the others fit in - and in what system
 
Whatever the standard of opposition what is evident is our style of play and what we are trying to achieve. I struggled to identify a style under Mr 4 Promotions and what we were trying to achieve.

Smith's influence is evident more than ever. We would have walked the league had Deano had the pre season this time last year.
 
mike_field said:
Agree, the fixtures can be better from a financial point of view, but it's fitness/tactics being focused on and if those get nailed the step up in quality of opposition won't matter as much.

You could actually argue (give where Villa are at the moment) a tougher fixture list as a true test would be detrimental as we wouldn't get the basics in because we are still learning them and need an element of dominating to give us the leeway for mistakes as players learn and put what DS wants into practice so it becomes second nature.
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Totally agree with this. Smith has set out a real structure to these pre season games. 2 different 11 playing each half, slowly increasing the tempo and quality of opposition and where the games are played.

Have to say I’m impressed with how together the squad seem to be, especially with new players coming in.

They will obviously go through some difficult games and losses. Will need this team spirit and togetherness in spades
 
If anything on the subject of game play, I think players from last season are showing they are a step ahead because they know DS. The likes of Jota who've already worked with him are seamless (fitness allowable) and it's only really the newbies who are truly settling in and learning the style that have stood out a little more, simply because they are still settling in.
 
Its all ir-relevant anyway coz with Trump n Boris, WW3 will be in by November, Grealish , McGinn n Mings will be on the front line, and Hogan will be shooting (and missing) at a russian soldier
 
I thought HL played well, but again, where does he fit in ?. Mind you, if McGinn got 14 yellows in th Championship, he will get 25 in the Premier !
 
I was impressed with engels.he is very decent on the ball , 6' 4" as well. With him Tyrone and Wesley we have some real height in the side.
 
Another good work out and plenty of positives. Tempo, style of play suiting the players we have, togetherness etc etc.....on a different plane to anything we have seen for many a year. Never take too much notice of pre season friendlies but really impressed with the way pre season is taking shape. Two tougher games on the way in the lead up to the big kick off which is another plus.....Jota standing out for me thus far. Very impressive.
 
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