Wigan Athletic Vs Aston Villa Sat 12th Jan 3pm | Page 26 | Vital Football

Wigan Athletic Vs Aston Villa Sat 12th Jan 3pm

I’ve gone to the gym and calmed down a bit. I’ve just read a paragraph of Smiths justification for changes then stopped reading. He said he brought on Hause so that we had a defender who can bring the ball out.

That’s not going to be a game changer 99 times out of 100, and also Barcelona we aren’t. 4-4-2 and a striker on should’ve been the obvious way to go.
 
Seemed to be empty seats in the Villa end, but I couldn't get a ticket.Thousands of empty seats in the Wigan end where I was .An unbelievably poor performance.
And yet, we're not broken in the league.

Front rows looked like they were not sold, you also get groups who watch maybe 15 minutes of the match then spend the rest of game in the concourse which I find odd. Especially when you’ve travelled 100 odd miles and spent a hundred or whatever on the day out.
 
If you look at it logically we haven't played well since the west Brom game and that coincided with Jack not playing since and axel getting injured. Now no way should losing two players weaken us so much but really it highlights just how unbalanced the squad is. Only 1 centre half 1 left back and a raft of midfielders bar mcginn who play exactly the same way and that is too slow and too negative. Now Smith did not have a good day today but it is obvious to me that the squad needs a major overhaul and we need players who can fit into smiths style of play . It defo needs rebalancing and really I can't see the performances picking up until Jack is fit and even then we will struggle because we concede goals for fun atm.

Having said that I would go out tomorrow and buy the first left back I could find.
 
Fans need to start voting with their feet, especially the away hardcore

If our hardcore away support give up and only 500 travel like most clubs in this league, what is there to be proud of?

Were playing crap and the atmosphere at Villa Park is shit.

There are fewer and fewer things to be proud of, but our away support is incredible. The 1k who go to every game, the next 2-3k who go to probably 15/16 per season and the next 1k who probably do 5-6.

I do 3-4 away games a season and I can’t get a ticket sometimes, but that’s credit to those who put in some miles especially to watch the same shite every year.

If they give up we may as well all give up.
 
Sirden, you are right but this is why Smith is frustrating me.

I am pretty sure Jokanovic didn't have players to fit how he wanted to play, so he went into their U17 side and picked out a young kid who he thought may make it, and he is now worth 80m quid.

Redmund, Demari Gray - 3 miles away young kids given a chance because players older than them weren't performing.

Instead of saying "You are not performing so I am giving a youngster a chance to stake the claim" we are playing the under performing player week after week.

Its so bloody frustrating.

Listen, I am not saying we have the next Jayden Sancho in the U17's but I am damn bloody sure if the likes of Enda Stevens and Jonothan Hogg can make it at this level, the likes of Green, Davis , OHare and JDH should have a shot at it whilst others are failing.
 
Front rows looked like they were not sold, you also get groups who watch maybe 15 minutes of the match then spend the rest of game in the concourse which I find odd. Especially when you’ve travelled 100 odd miles and spent a hundred or whatever on the day out.

I can't believe it my son went for a pee second half and said there were loads of people in the concourse talking and hanging about . WTF is that about ??
 
On paper the line up is good but there’s a lot of gelling required and things will need to just click. The problem is they haven’t really clicked for a month or so even with the odd win.

The problem we have at the moment is:
1) A new keeper working with the defence
2) A defence who haven’t played together (or at least recently)
3) A central midfield who haven’t yet gelled and can’t compliment each other
4) wingers who drift in and out of the game
5) a striker who tries to press from the front but a collection of individuals behind him.

I’m less confident about today having thought about the above points than I have been all week expecting a result.

I think realistically we’ll get a draw today, hope I’m wrong.

I even tried to manage my optimistic expectations before the game and I’m still pissed off.
 
Sirden, you are right but this is why Smith is frustrating me.

I am pretty sure Jokanovic didn't have players to fit how he wanted to play, so he went into their U17 side and picked out a young kid who he thought may make it, and he is now worth 80m quid.

Redmund, Demari Gray - 3 miles away young kids given a chance because players older than them weren't performing.

Instead of saying "You are not performing so I am giving a youngster a chance to stake the claim" we are playing the under performing player week after week.

Its so bloody frustrating.

Listen, I am not saying we have the next Jayden Sancho in the U17's but I am damn bloody sure if the likes of Enda Stevens and Jonothan Hogg can make it at this level, the likes of Green, Davis , OHare and JDH should have a shot at it whilst others are failing.

That maybe the case. I watched the U-23 game v Man Utd the other night and it was a bit like watching a schoolboy match in terms of tempo and intensity. It bore no relation at all to a championship game and unless you are prepared to forego the chance of promotion then fine give the kids a chance , but you are taking a hell of a gamble if you do play them , and how many fans would have the patience for the long haul.
 
I can't believe it my son went for a pee second half and said there were loads of people in the concourse talking and hanging about . WTF is that about ??

Apparently that end holds 5000 but they would only let us have about 4,500 tickets for whatever reason.
 
No where near the bottom of where Villa have been in the last few years you will get bigger kicks in the bollocks if you hang around long enough Smithy thats football learn from it move on those who arent putting in the effort you have one signing to answer for so far the new keeper.
 
Just watched the "high lights" Dear God what was the defending like. A Sunday afternoon side would be embarrassed by that. WTF was Taylor doing on the first and was he missing for the second? I have been one of his fans but that was very very poor.
 
Taylor has never been able to defend - or not for us at least. All teams need and look to do it knock it over his head and you can feel his nerves especially when he’s running back towards his own goal against a pacey winger.

He also isn’t great going forward, you look at someone like Enda Stevens (another reject) who gets to the opposition bi-line and gets 6-7 assists per season.

The only thing Taylor gives us is natural width being left footed. That’s the only think he gives us. One fucking thing!
 
Taylor has been absolutely piss poor since being exchanged for the lesser spotted Ayew. Terrible player and to think the exchange was valued at £8m. Bought back as he can play in his position but he is awful.

Typical Villa
 
Watched the match from the main stand and the villa fans were electric to start of and made it feel like a home game. Unfortunately once we conceded both the team and villa fans just never recovered.

Ignoring individual performances the whole team didn’t press high and it’s concerning as we’ve shown we are great when we do. What’s changed?
 
Well that has to be up there as one of the most depressing away day performances of the past few years...and let's face it, there have been a fair few! Compare what we witnessed today, to the Derby performance....like chalk and cheese which makes today even more difficult to take, surely the absence of two players shouldn't make such a huge difference but we're not the same team without them, that's the stark truth. Not going to talk about individual performances today, it's pretty obvious where our weaknesses are but reading through the thread I see some are now already questioning whether Dean Smith is the right man for the job.....when he has been here for a year and the team is his, not the unbalanced mish-mash he's inherited, perhaps then we can start asking that question. Like the players, he didn't have a good day today but overall he's been pretty impressive since arriving at the club and talk about him 'losing the plot' or the job being 'too big for him' is premature in the extreme.
 
It's that none have been given any time that I find the most disappointing so far tbh.
(and that's not throw them all in at once)
altho we'll train on players for utd,chelsea and now wolves.
We all know pretty much what our senior players deliver - which is not enough.

If all our youth players are not worth any playing time at all then we may as well get rid of them all and close down Bodymoor.

Suppose we can keep trying to polish that turd by shuffling Barney,Whelan & Houri around endlessly

If we go back to the Yeovil game this season both RHM and JDH started and both were substituted after 56 mins. Neither made an impact against a League Two side. Not that any of the team were great that night, but when they get a chance they have to take it.

RHM has had a few appearances from the bench too and has looked out of his depth. O'Hare has done alright but as seen last weekend is still too lightweight. In fact I would say that's a problem for all of them, they're not up to it physically yet.

Davis is the only youngster that has made an impact, and I wonder if a lot of that is to do with the fact he's a big strong lad.

I'm not saying the young lads are no good, but I don't think most of them are really ready yet and that's the reason the manager is not taking a chance on them.

But the longer we are in this kind of form, the more I would be inclined to throw some in because they can't be any worse, lightweight or not.