Merry Christmas all!
I watched most of the Leeds game and I was absolutely livid at the way we threw the game away at the final whistle.
I thought the ref was shocking and seriously wonder how paid officials can get so many calls wrong.
Regardless, I thought Leeds were probably the better side overall.
Did they deserve the win?
I don’t know.
But it is what it is. We’re going to lose some games, simple as that. A 94th minute goal conceded still remains disappointing though.
So gutting that I just didn’t fancy posting anything about it at the time.
That said, I think given our defence, we’re doing quite well.
To keep things in perspective, we gave Leeds a pretty good game. If you accept that they’re looking favourites to win the title at the moment, we have much to look forward to, if Dean Smith can get the right players (read defenders) in.
Surely we have to recall Elphick and then add a decent left back, meaning we will look better?
What’s important, is that I thought the team ran their guts out for the manager and that bodes well.
Our promotion hopes aren’t over for a moment, in my opinion.
Which is why I’m extremely confident that we can beat Swansea.
Squad news and Grealish is out.
Hands up, as much as I thought we wouldn’t miss him, we have.
He definitely adds creativity and we look slightly lacking without him.
Yes, we can still score goals, but we still lack that added clever pass, which Grealish brings at times.
Tuanzebe is out too and that’s probably currently a bigger loss, as he’s really started to look the business recently, in the way he’s played so calmly and without fuss. He also plays out too, something else we lack.
On Swansea’s part there’s still a bit of doubt about Wilfried Bony, who’s still on the recovery trail after an anterior cruciate jobby.
Oli McBurnie and Bersant Celina are available, as is Daniel James. I’ve never heard of any of them.
While we haven’t quite been getting the results we want lately, I’m still optimistic that we can out-score the opposition.
As Smith said, Leeds are probably the best team we’ve played under him.
Hence I don’t see Swansea being so tough.
A nice 2-1 win for us, I reckon.
What we can well do without is yet another draw.
We need the points.
How on earth did you think we wouldn’t miss Grealish? Our best player by a mile. With him playing against Leeds we win that game as, forget about his attacking, he is an outlet for us, rarely loses the ball and wins lots of fouls which is invaluable in seeing out a win. Sign a few ball playing defenders in Jan and we will be comfortably in play offs come May
i said we are more able to cope without grealish than under bruce where he was the heart of our team. therefore we are more able to cope without him under smith who focussing more on the team than individuals. injuries are a part of the game. his role will was ttaken by another player and they have a chance to shine.
Actually Nath, I suspect Sid’s question was aimed at me.
Sid, I reckon Smith is more about the team and not individual players.
Rightly so, imo, because heads can get turned and players will have ambitions at leaving for bigger money/prospects.
I’m ambivalent about Grealish, fwiw.
Yes, he’s skill-wise the best player at the club, by a mile.
But I’m not at all convinced he produces anywhere near what he should.
Hasn’t Hourihane got way more goals than him? (and he’s a player who, on average does very little in games, imo).
That said, I do believe Grealish adds to the team, with free kicks and drawing players.
But he still has lots of room for improvement for me.
Opinions, opinions 🙂
one tactical thing i notice under smith. is with us playing one up front Abraham. when we don’t have the ball it would be generally his role to harass the goalkeeper and defenders, so they don’t pass it around themselves, but under smith he has them alternating this so not to burden one player lol also they don’t press the goalie until its a forces pass back and all off them are pressing, that is stuff that i find really interesting.
Bolasie & Ghazi both helped out their full backs yesterday better, but Bolasie just seems to go back as deterrent rather than to put his foot in. both these two share the load with Abraham. not forgetting hourihane and Mcginn
Abraham was blowing his top at his midfield, they failed to help him attacking goal .I don’t blame McGinn he’s the only player at times getting stuck in, the little guy all over the place after the ball more like him would do us good.
thats all character building lol my old mate used to say bill. he was letting his mates know he needs them closer. its great to see that they are all demanding off each other. midfielders are the engines, they have to support the forwards but also the defenders will also be blasting them for not tracking back if they neglect that part. often see hutton doing that.
1st match I have not watched or listened to for years…..Boxing Day shopping (sad)….and only saw the extensive highlights on Quest- ha ha – so this is the best I have seen so far…..
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sH0IebFfU94&g4id=5
Seems PNE’s injury list is as critical as ours so it’s who has the better second XI – on paper, you’d have to say Villa so I’ll call this a win but won’t be surprised by a draw.
Assume no red button Saturday!
Hitch, I think red button is only available for midweek games. It might be okay for QPR game. Having 3 games within a week will push squad depth to the limit. Even with the injuries we should be better suited to cope than Preston and QPR. If we can get 6 points from these 2 games we should be sitting in a play off position with the transfer window open.
totally agree badger about grealish. i have said recently about grealish injury and we wouldn’t miss him as much as say last year. i don’t mean he isn’t our best player any more. cause i do believe he is the most effective player.but now under smith we do have other players that are dangerous too
but like badger says and i totally agree, smith has brought in many slight changes sofar and one of them is no reliance on one player its more focussed on team. we are coping really well with grealish’s absence. still would rather him be in the team but we are coping very well.
under bruce he would often hold on to the ball too long. or the ball would end up at his feet when our team run out of ideas. pass to grealish was the team talk i bet. this did create space for other players, but we never exploited that under bruce. but smith has used the space grealish creates and its the space he creates which is a loss aswell as the player himself.
Nath, I do think we miss his personal creativity in the middle and his perception in going forwards, yes Smith has stopped that defensive attitude by reverting them to think of going forwards more that backwards.we also have wingers and not wing backs all the time.we now have creative minded players and that’s down to Smith and Terry plus his training crew. Bruce shackled player in thinking defending was the game,
Aston Villa have recalled rookie defender Easah Suliman from his loan spell at FC Emmen, according to reports in Holland.
Suliman joined Eredivisie newcomers Emmen in August but Dutch broadcaster RTV Drenthe claims Villa have agreed to cut the loan spell short.
The England under-20 international hasn’t enjoyed the playing time he’d have liked to in Holland. Three substitute appearances and a total of nine Eredivisie minutes is all Suliman has to show for his four months at Emmen.
Suliman’s fruitless spell in Holland follows on from an unsuccessful stint at Grimsby Town in League Two last season where he only accumulated 58 first team minutes.
The next 6 games are all winable. IF we cab take 18 from 18, we will be challenging for 2nd. It’s a cliche but every game’s a cup final now! Lots of twists and turns. Who’d have thought Forest would be out of the top 6 now? It’s like musical chairs. Who’s in the top 6 when the music stops? I just hope we can put that run together and not be worried about scraping 6th…
According to Sky Sports, we are interested in buying half the Brentford first team LOL
i believe smith will go back there to bag him some bargains. that centre back barbet looks nailed on. sawyers could be another smith might feel he needs to improve us for the second half of season.
Well hes lost interest in Cahill according to Birmingham live .
Aston Villa have abandoned their pursuit of Chelsea defender Gary Cahill, according to reports.
The claret and blues have been tracking Cahill since the summer window with the centre-back’s contract at Stamford Bridge set to expire at the end of this season.
Despite fans’ eagerness to see Cahill – who left the club for Bolton Wanderers in 2008 – back at Villa Park, Villa have reportedly pulled the plug on the deal.
The Telegraph report Chelsea’s preference to offload Cahill permanently in January but Villa wouldn’t be willing to do that or cover the cost of his £110,000 per week wages for a loan deal.
Shit £110,000 a week who would take on a deal of that on loan, these end of life player’s should be grateful to get enough to pay taxes in their banks.
With luck Bill we won’t be seeing any loan signings. I’m fed up of Villa being a feeder club. Also let’s not have players winding down their careers at our expense. Terry was great for the time he was here but I think Smith is looking at long term for new signings. Sticking plaster signings won’t help us if we fail in getting promoted.
With the transfer window about to open, we pretty much agree on the type of players we need to strengthen, but with a wage bill that has to be managed, who are the players surplus to requirements and should be offloaded if at all possible. We have plenty of options in midfield and up front. Hogan, Davis, Hepburn Murphy should be considered, alongside Lansbury, Jedinak, O’Hare and Doyle Hayes as sales / loans. Disgruntled players who never get a chance at first team action will affect harmony at the club. So surely it would be better to get them playing elsewhere with another club paying or subsidising their wages.
davis probably wont be smiths cup of tea, hogan has served under smith before so we have to assume he will be able to carry out his instruction,jedi will be out the door and lansbury will get his chance to shine in the team.
all the kids or players from under 23 are most likely to be loaned out,thats murphy hayes ohare davis probably suliman could be loaned back out if thats permitted.
why would we risk blooding them & weakening our team, only ppl who think they are any good are ppl who have never seen them, but for a friendly or two and a few under23 games. if smiths thinks they might be worth keeping then you will see them in the team. otherwise keeping them to sit on bench is wasting our time and theirs, they all need games to progress and too get them they will have to drop down.
smith has to be allowed to sign who he likes and club and fans should support him and trust his opinions whatever that is,
I see Suliman has been recalled after very few minutes abroad and at Grimsby.
That tells me a lot, even though he’s highly rated.
We’re supposed to be in for Sawyers and a Spanish player. Both are midfielders, with the Spaniard being defensive.
Either we’re going to be spending a lot of money if we’re going to be chasing mids as well as defenders, or more likely, this makes no sense whatsoever.
that sawyers has played under smith at Brentford and Walsall. so i am sure that smith will know him really good, sawyer might play his system really good and that might be the clincher. nobody knows how long grealish is out for his injury wasn’t diagnosed straight away not sure if they know now. maybe grealish will be sold to spuds and sawyers his ready made replacement,
that DM spanish player i dont know him myself. but heard hes a really good prospect. i think we need a dm as jedi whelen are not up to scratch for smiths system he demands more than defending and passing poorly. so that makes sense to me
The Spanish link has been down played but I think Barbet / Sawyers from Brentford are reasonable calls.
Personally, I would move Kodjia on in preference to Hogan as I think (as has been pointed out) Hogan is more of a ‘Smith’ player that Kodjia. Also I believe Kodjia would fetch a better price.
As you will probably gather, I’ve never really been a fan of Kodjia – is Smith?
I agree Hitch that Hogan could contribute more as a team player than Kodja. Up till now though it seems that Smith favours Kodja, probably because with Abraham playing central striker, Kodja is seen as better playing out wide. If Hogan plays either Abraham would have to play out wide or we would have to switch to 4-4-2.
Just read a story / interview with Neal Maupay and reading between the lines if we made a decent bid for him he would definitely come because of Dean Smith. Especially if we signed Barbet who is also french. Would Brentford consider any of these though and jeopardise their chances of staying in the championship?
I’d take Maupay in a flash