Southampton v Aston Villa - Match Thread, Sat 22nd February, 3pm

[Villan57]

He was talking uninformed bollocks trying to wind fans up.

Steer, Nyland, kalinic

Taylor, Chester (injured), Elmo, Freddy

Jack, Mcginn, Lansbury, Hourihane

Green

Davis, Kodjia

Name the 4 players who se could sign for the money we could spend that would keep that squad up. Bearing in mind we've no fit senior centre halves.

We had to sign the amount of players we did. Unfortuna but its true. I agree we needed more experience and agree that Cahill, Drinkwater and Giroud would have all been good signings that we could have got on the budget we had. But we could not just sign 3 or 4 top quality players in the summer and leave it at that. Unless we played Kalinic at centre half.

To be honest we needed a new team as I said but we still kept the like Lansbury Chester Hourihane Taylor Elmo etc who weren't good enough I'd have got rid of those as well but we needed a few premier league cast-offs to replace them. plus who the fuck would buy them on the wages they are on.
This is all hindsight to me I thought the recruitment "team" might know a player when they saw one and they may well do but we needed players for now not two seasons time

 

[Wicked Messenger]

Agree with you about the performances however disagree fully with the players liking him, if that was the case we would be much higher in the league and surely would have put in the kind of performance we did yesterday at a time when we had to beat them considering where we are this season and who we have left to play. We needed to beat Saints and West Ham to have any hope of staying up, and we gave our worst performance of the season against one of those. Maybe our worst is yet to come and I say that because just when you think we have shown our worst the Villa shows us another level of worse !

Your interpretation is that if you like the manager you try hard for them. Ask Morley and a few others whether they liked Ron Saunders

 

[JW1985]

You’ve just answered your own question starting with Cahill et al. You just can’t blow 130m on a whim, a gamble.
As for Big Sam, of course he was right. So were all the people saying we were doing a Fulham. Our defence is a shambles and to my mind Marv is a headless chicken. Trez tries, el ghazi has talent but not the attitude and Douglas at 21 has potential but is not ready to be a saviour. And just because they’re young does not mean they’re ever going to be good enough for the PL.

He wasn't right though was he. His words were we should have signed 3 or 4 players for 130m instead of 11. Which would have been lovely if we'd actually been in a position to do that.

So again I ask the question what 4 players would you have signed for the money we spent. Again baring in mind that the only centre back was a badly injured Chester. The only wide player was Green and the only 2 centre forwards were Davis and Kodjia.

I question the players we brought in. What cannot be questioned is the need to bring in the amount of players we did. In fact we probably needed more on top.

 

[robbali]

I'm starting to think you're right mate, I think the fact he supports Villa has clouded my normal judgement, he's no Nuno or Wilder who can motivate a team he's just another "go out there and pass it about keep possession guy"

There doesn't seem a plan on how to score a goal or how to stop a goal. He has the Head coach title he talks Transitions, The Press, rest defending, phases, groups, monitoring fitness levels, heads of recruitment etc that has become the new football speak but the bottom line his he doesn't have any of his own ideas like Nuno and Wilder. Not to mention Pep or Jurgen His ideas are from the latest football coaching courses.

Goals are scored from moves of less than 3 or 4 max passes, from set pieces or rebounds from set-pieces, they don't come from your CB's playing dangerous football on the edge of your own box.

You can't play like Man City or Liverpool with the players we have , they pass they move and they work harder than the other team every week.

We have a ball hog like Jack, no side has a player like that any more, we are unique and we have to find a way of playing football with Jack at the centre, surround hin by minders if you like but don't stick him at left midfield ffs

Yes should have built a team around jack...not stuck him out on the left wing.Smith is culpable for this. ..however poor the players are.

 

[Wicked Messenger]

He wasn't right though was he. His words were we should have signed 3 or 4 players for 130m instead of 11. Which would have been lovely if we'd actually been in a position to do that.

So again I ask the question what 4 players would you have signed for the money we spent. Again baring in mind that the only centre back was a badly injured Chester. The only wide player was Green and the only 2 centre forwards were Davis and Kodjia.

I question the players we brought in. What cannot be questioned is the need to bring in the amount of players we did. In fact we probably needed more on top.

It’s pointless bringing in more though if they’re not up to it. It’s not my job to find 4 30m players by the way, it’s Dean and team.

 

[garygaryshaw]

He wasn't right though was he. His words were we should have signed 3 or 4 players for 130m instead of 11. Which would have been lovely if we'd actually been in a position to do that.

So again I ask the question what 4 players would you have signed for the money we spent. Again baring in mind that the only centre back was a badly injured Chester. The only wide player was Green and the only 2 centre forwards were Davis and Kodjia.

I question the players we brought in. What cannot be questioned is the need to bring in the amount of players we did. In fact we probably needed more on top.

Considering most people have been saying we are still a striker and winger short, I can’t understand why anyone would think we only needed to buy 4 players last summer

 

[robbali]

True test is let’s say we don’t have Super Jack. How do the team play and perform then? What set up and style does Dean deliver on the pitch?

The team isn’t trash or dogshit, it’s got some talent albeit lacking experience. However a decent coach will be able to set them up to play and get the most from the type of players he’s got, not insist on imposing a system on players that don’t fit it.

He’s proved all season (and most of last - I credit the run we had to the influence of Jack and McGinn rather than any great coaching from Deano), that he’s naive and clearly not able to use his coaching staff and time on the training ground to create and embed a formula for playing.

That’s the very essence of what a Head Coach should be doing, and he’s clearly not.

I said in December I’d seen enough and that it was just a matter of time until the results and position were bad enough for the owners to have to respond and fire him.

What Deano has done is put the pressure on everyone else; the players who’s he’s now called out, and the owners who ultimately the ones that need to make a decision. For me it’s just when and not if. And the sooner the better.

Just not sure they will plug until it's too late. Or wait even longer until we are midrange next season.. in the championship.

Smith called the players out yesterday so that line has been crossed. Reality is smith should of been fired early December when it was abundantly clear his tactics and management skills aren't up to par

He was given the January window presumably. It's made no difference. We are in free fall.

 

[robbali]

At one point yesterday it was Tyrone v the Southampton attack. Can't say I noticed Hause or Konsa heading crosses and corners clear and blocking shots. I saw them getting beat in the air by Shane Long.

I don't get the hostility towards Mings based on yesterday.

Those two are useless. Mings has his faults but the other two are championship at best.

 

[Divine_islet]

Your interpretation is that if you like the manager you try hard for them. Ask Morley and a few others whether they liked Ron Saunders

Yes that is what I am trying to say. If they do not, then why would they even try?

 

[Villan57]

Considering most people have been saying we are still a striker and winger short, I can’t understand why anyone would think we only needed to buy 4 players last summer

It wasn't 4 players it was 4 top quality players instead of 13 ordinary ones who have turned out to be no better than the ones we kept or let go .
We all know we only had 2 players who were any good

 

[robbali]

Frustrating as I thought Tarrgett would have wanted to prove a point yesterday. Freddy I can’t make my mind up about. One week he looks good enough for this league, the next he is all over the place. Don’t think it helped him yesterday being up against Djenepo who was bang at it

Is Elmo any worse than Guilbert? Stick him in against city . Doesn't really matter now.

 

[JW1985]

It’s pointless bringing in more though if they’re not up to it. It’s not my job to find 4 30m players by the way, it’s Dean and team.

That wasn't the point of the question. The point is we couldn't just sign 4 30m or players. We had to sign 11 players because we didn't even have the bare bones of a squad. Every Villa fan knew this. Sam Allardyce didn't because he didn't bother to even look at our situation before spouting off yet now he's being held up as some prescient genius who knew exactly what we needed.

 

[garygaryshaw]

Is Elmo any worse than Guilbert? Stick him in against city . Doesn't really matter now.

Personally I dont think he is, I think Elmo gets a lot of undeserved stick as some people didnt want him before he signed. However there are plenty on here who would disagree with me on that

 

[JW1985]

It wasn't 4 players it was 4 top quality players instead of 13 ordinary ones who have turned out to be no better than the ones we kept or let go .
We all know we only had 2 players who were any good

I don't get how anyone Could think we just needed 4 top players in the summer. Seriously!! The only centre back we had was James Chester. So straight away if we only sign 4 top players for 30m plus 3 have to be centre halves. Then what. We had to sign the amount of players we did. I'm not saying that we shouldn't or couldn't have bought better but the idea that we Could have got away with only bringing in 4 players is ludicrous.

 

[robbali]

Reina looks like he's put a stone on since he joined

Ha I've seen park goalies move faster than he did for the second goal. And Guilbert not leaving his 'lane'. You couldn't make it up.

 

[garygaryshaw]

It wasn't 4 players it was 4 top quality players instead of 13 ordinary ones who have turned out to be no better than the ones we kept or let go .
We all know we only had 2 players who were any good

I'm not convinced all our signings are that bad. It was only a few weeks ago you were saying yourself with a decent striker we would be top half.
Every team can have bad days, but the majority of our problems seem to stem from a completely unflexible set up. Deano just keeps trying the same thing week after week. The vast majority on here can see our midfield gets over run against any opposition that doesn't try and sit back against us, but for some reason he wont put another man in there.

 

[Villan57]

Is Elmo any worse than Guilbert? Stick him in against city . Doesn't really matter now.

Well if he did mean what he said Elmo is one of the few options, I don't see what else he can change, that's why he's talking bollocks

 

[robbali]

How dare you call out the untouchable Mings.

I’ve only seen the highlights, he looked all over the shop. It’s like he smokes a couple of spliffs before a game he seems that laid back and chilled sometimes. If he starts a game for England in the euros against a half decent side that could ruin him because he’ll get torn apart.

Unless he concentrates harder for England than he does Villa?

It’s unfair of me to call out a player having not seen the game, but every other player gets called out for mistakes (rightly so) and Mings is not faultless this season

Mings is now calling for 'unity'. First port of call should be him and his mates in the back 'five'.

 

[Villan57]

I'm not convinced all our signings are that bad. It was only a few weeks ago you were saying yourself with a decent striker we would be top half.
Every team can have bad days, but the majority of our problems seem to stem from a completely unflexible set up. Deano just keeps trying the same thing week after week. The vast majority on here can see our midfield gets over run against any opposition that doesn't try and sit back against us, but for some reason he wont put another man in there.

I actually think we'd be safe now if we'd had a decent striker but the fact is we never and the games we could have taken something went begging and now its too late the rot has set in and the conference has drained away

 

[robbali]

I can’t for the life of me understand any stick towards Reina, he was the best we could get in January and he’s looked good since joining. He’s not a robot and with the amount of shots he inevitably faces he’s not always gonna get it spot on. Pick on someone else who warrants it ffs.

Tbf Idon't think anyone has escaped this week. Even jack.