It seems emotions are running high for many Villa fans and I’ve held back from writing anything for fear of letting my anger get the better of me.
And I was angry, because everything that’s being said is correct.
The players capitulated tonight and that’s simply unnacceptable.
Where it seems my opinion differs slightly to the majority is that I don’t think the players simply weren’t trying.
They’re just quite simply not good or experienced enough.
And they know it, which is draining confidence, as soon as things go against them.
I think back to when I was a kid playing football during games lessons and can well recall myself judging which team was going to win within a few minutes. Invariably it was the opposition, because I wasn’t very good and never really got to play with the better (generally bigger) players.
But I digress.
I actually thought we were doing reasonably well for the first 10 or 15 minutes, although Leicester started to pressure us more, but Reina’s absolute brainfart gifted Leicester a goal and then the game was only going to go one way, as much as we tried to stay in it.
And then Mings. My god, as much as it seems he’s revered by many Villa fans, I just don’t see it and think he’s an absolute liability. He’d already given Leicester a chance early on, by messing about (yet again!) and while I definitely don’t think it was a penalty because it hit his shoulder, I can see why it was given because of the stupid position he’d adopted.
It doesn’t matter, because his marking at corners is shocking.
Do we zone mark or man mark? I genuinely don’t have a clue and don’t think our defenders do either, it’s that bad.
The list of bad performances goes on.
Targett was made mincemeat by Albrighton.
Likewise Guilbert. What’s happened to him? It has to be confidence and that simple realisation that he can’t cut it just yet. There’s no doubting that he’s got worse as the season has progressed to my mind and that applies to a few players.
Luiz just looks out of his depth, for example.
Nakamba did ok, as did Samatta, who worked his guts out, but had little to work with.
And there we have it. It got worse as the end neared and the confidence ebbed away more and more as the game went on. So much so that the 4-0 was probably perfectly justified.
Dean Smith knows his best eleven now and the team he put out was very close to it.
I think there are some decent players there, who will go on to have good careers, possibly elsewhere, similar to some of those who left when we were relegated last time.
But what galls me is the fact that it seems we’ve gone down the Moneyball route again, where we’ve signed decent players and thrown them in the deep end too early.
The players lack the experience and it seems to me that they’ve just been ground down over the months of playing more canny, experienced sides.
I said in the match comments that Smith is on thin ice now.
Do I think he should go, so we can give another manager the last games to save us?
Actually, no, I don’t. Not just yet anyway.
And it’s because I don’t think you’d turn these players around quickly enough.
I think the players are mentally exhausted and it’s why we continually make stupid mistakes.
That doesn’t excuse Reina, who needs dropping now to give Nyland a decent run, as much as I’d expect him to make mistakes too.
I’m just not convinced that you can blame the coach for players making stupid mistakes, game after game.
That said, Smith needs to be careful with his post match comments, as I fear he might lose the player’s confidence totally.
Looking on the positive side, which is getting increasingly harder to do, I never expected anything from this game and getting anything would have been a total bonus.
But I said in the preview that it was more the manner of a defeat that I was interested in.
And I didn’t like what I saw tonight.
I just don’t think we have the mentality and fight to survive.
I’m becoming more and more resigned to us going down.
Fortunately, I quite enjoyed the Championship, as it’s a much better league.
It’s not where we want to be though, is it?
The championship was fun with Jack and Tammy – two players who were far too good for that level. Have you forgotten the horror show that was the 16-17 season. The championship is even grimmer when you’re not winning and once we lose our spine I dread to think how bad things will get in next years championship if the board, as I fear, will stick with Smith.
We;ve already sold the ground for FFP, we wont be able to throw money around like the Xia days so we’d be reliant on our transfer strategy – not sure i’d be putting any faith in that after the acquisitions over the summer and January.
All fair comment.
I think the 16-17 season was a consolidation period, which was badly needed.
I don’t think we’re in such a similar position now to then, because everything about the club was toxic and had been for a while.
I think we’d challenge easily in the Championship next season, even if we sold our core players. Many of our players are just not ready for the Prem yet, but it doesn’t make them bad players per se.
But that’s my opinion.
I’m not convinced we’ll have the same FFP problems as we did.
What will Grealish, McGinn and Mings be worth if we have to sell them all? (which I don’t think will happen). I’d guess £150 mill at a minimum.
Grealish £80 mill, McGinn £40 mill and Mings £30 mill????
As for our transfer strategy, agreed, it looks ropey at the moment.
But I’d bet we would make money on quite a few of our players.
I don’t think they’re rubbish individually; we just haven’t been able to knit them together enough to make a decent Prem side.
Which is the problem with Moneyball, for me.
Badger, you never mentioned Grealish in your comment, he had his worst game that I’ve ever seen him in, it was a game that you had Madison v Grealish and believe me Grealish lost. them players as you’ve said are simply not Premiership players. No excuse we tell me Smith should stay, he’s had his chance and if he goes now might boost a yes we can stay up, to have him stop we most certainly go down, Smith has no answer and knows very little on how to stop the rot, Sorry all but my vote goes for him to go , and its now. Mr nice guy has lost my respect for him to humiliate my club by stopping, Bruce must be laughing his socks off at us.
I think Badger makes some very good points and has ‘hit the nail firmly on the head’ – the players aren’t good enough and are mentally exhausted no more so than Grealish who has been trying to lift the team on his own week in week out – so for JG not only mentally but also physically exhausted and he looked it last night.
We are done, no doubt in my mind – it’s now just a matter of when.
Then onto the next question – what will the owners do? Will they stick with it or decide throwing money at Villa is no longer on the agenda particularly as FFP will have an increasingly negative impact on the ability to invest (notwithstanding short term boosts from selling the family silver). Even here relegation will reduce their value.
The future is looking decidedly uncertain imho.
Bill, I couldn’t give a flying one about Maddison.
I didn’t mention Grealish because he was equally crap, but doesn’t deserve a slating purely because of what he’s done for us this season.
I suspect he’s mentally burnt out too.
Because he’s had to watch the load of crap that plays around him.
When you have to watch professional players who can’t play a simple 5 yard pass without giving it away, it must be soul destroying.
The rot started when our experienced players left in the summer and we replaced them with inexperienced average players. Can anyone name our leaders on the pitch? Mings I hear you say. Well, since his England call up, his form has gone rapidly downhill. Grealish either has a slight injury, run out of steam or has had his head turned. The burden on him to single handily carry the team has been realised by all our opponents. They all know if they stop Grealish we have nothing else up front. Other than McGinn and possibly Samatta, I don’t think any of them will be premier league players in the future. With regards to Smith, are our judgements clouded by the fact he is a Villa fan?
I agree that, in hindsight, we should perhaps have retained a couple of our senior experienced defenders for a further season. However, I’m not convinced it would necessarily have made a significant difference.
Key moments for me were the three long term injuries with, in reality, only one worthy replacement in Samatta.
We’re finishing bottom and deservedly so. Whilst we can blame Suso and Purslow for the woeful summer transfer window, Smith is accountable for the performances on the pitch. We can’t defend a basic corner, we play a stupid high line that teams get in behind time and time again, countless individual errors that seem to happen every 10 minutes in the game, zero protection of the back 4/5 from the midfield, woeful delivery and support in wide areas and I could go on.
We’re 20 goals away from conceding the same amount we did in the 15/16 disaster. With the fixtures we’ve got I’d say its inevitable we’ll actually concede more this season. That is how bad it is.
I just do not see what benefit we have in keeping them on now. The only thing that could save us now is a new manager bounce and even that is a slim outside shot. Smith is finished – Brentford was his level. He rode out a huge slice of luck with Jack and Abraham being top 6 PL players in the championship.
I really expected to see that Smith had got the sack this morning, he’s obviously out of his depth, his team cannot even defend a corner for goodness sake!
I would love to know what they do in training!
This team is woeful and we’re very possibly going to finish bottom again.
What a sad state of affairs for this once great and proud football club!!!
I think Smith should go now, unfortunately I can see they would make Terry caretaker,and what has he done?unless he’s just been very clever remember they picked him I think before Smith.? Remember who was running the dressing room at Chelsea. I think they’ll wait till we back in the championship then make Terry manager,god knows why? But there’s a lot of good managers out of work at the moment, what about Rowett I know he managed the blues but he had them near the top of the championship,or Marcelino anyone? playing 442.? whatever new management bounce might work
Vardy, like many other players who are low on confidence and form, come to Villa and manage to find it. Why do we offer that platform SO often? And not just this season, but every year?
I want/ed Smith to work out. There’s possibly still time if we go back down that he’ll have learned a ton from this season, go back down and smash it and win the EFL and bring us back up again. I think so many things were stacked against him this year with the level of new players. So many people called it – even our own fans who knew we had no choice but to invest. I personally don’t think it’s the players that are letting us down, but the fact that we had a new and unsettled, unfamiliar squad who just don’t get the time in the EPL to adapt.
I like Mings but agree with Badger that the last half of the season he’s been awful – but then so has ALL the defence. That has worried me the most all through the season. I don’t think we have any hope of staying up and once we go down, can say good bye to Grealish, Mccann at the very least… I’m not worried like I was last time since I know we have owners who can afford this but it’s not good.
I still say we’re running with a no hope manager, we can all come up with excuses for him but he does very well on his own, I still think it’s time to call the shots by dismissal over none achievements. How long are we going to be humiliated by having nothing to cheer about, What we all have is pride in being a Villa fan, you tell me how players we have owned and sold do better at other clubs Hogan being the latest to find his home, how is it our under 23s are shipped out or sold to othe clubs and we don’t use them ourselves, we have coaches and mangers that are frightened to make decisions but rather run with has been players or under par footballers. We are a disgrace and it has to be said a joke having managers coming and going and do better elsewhere.
Rant over. Till we get players who die for our club.
That was probably the most pitiful performance since the relegation season. Villa played like it was an end of season mid table game with nothing at stake. Disgraceful. How can we have John Terry as defensive coach but have the worst defence in the division ? He must go. Whoever is responsible for our hopeless summer buys must follow him out the door. :ook at Sheff Utd. Kept most of their promotion squad and doing brilliantly. So it is possible.
Smith might be a good manager back in the championship but what happens if we get promoted again ? More of the same ? I remember him saying at the start of the season that he was going to ‘give it a good go.’ I naively expected a Keegan ‘up and at em’ fighting spirit. Wrong. Smith has turned into Bruce – scared, over cautious and defensive. At least go down fighting with pride – not like last nights whimper.
Problem – if Smith goes who is out there ?
I bored stiff with unkown foreign managers.
Rowett did well at Blues and got a raw deal.
I always thought Sherwood did well for us and also got a very raw deal.
Wild card = Brian Little. his managerial record is excellent.
Big Sam. Nooo.
Might be a case of sticking with the devil we know !
The least we should expect of the team is to be organised and prepared to battle. We are not seeing that and it means we have the wrong manager/coaches again. We look doomed, and maybe the owners accept that. Maybe they understood it was a real risk given the major surgery the club needed before the start of the season.
Things won’t change this season unless the management team changes, and it may well be too late anyway. I fully expected Smith to be fired by this morning. Terry is part of the management team. I can’t see it changing if he took over as manager. We need to get it right in the summer and maybe that’s exactly what the owners are planning right now.
I can’t even watch the games anymore. I turn the TV off after about 20 mins. It’s depressing to the point that I don’t really get angry. Seems I have about as much fight as the players.
Absolutely… I fully expected to see that Smith had been fired too!
Whatever happens, it’s a sad state of affairs at AVFC!!!
I’m not shocked that Smith hasn’t been sacked yet. Purslow has already made it known that Smith is a key figure for the future and commented that they are prepared for the possibility of relegation.
I don’t think we have a prayer of survival under Smith. Against Leicester we were decent for 10 minutes before they wrestled control and we couldn’t match the tempo. We will be bottom before the season ends but I think Smith will be allowed another bash at promotion because he achieved it last season. Next time however we won’t have Grealish, McGinn or Abraham. I certainly don’t trust Suso to bring in the quality needed either. I really don’t know what is best for us. In 2016 we tried new managers and failed miserably. Maybe it is better to evaluate at the end of the season once relegation is confirmed. Only time will tell but it seems we will have to suffer lots more misery in the remaining games.
OMG i was fuming last night and all day today i have been in shock, i prepared myself before the game for what might be a nightmare game. but still nothing prepared me for our nightmare display.
i am not gonna waste my time either, saying what i think we did wrong nobody is interested any ways. scoreline was about right they could have been more ruthless at the end , we were well and truly beaten. yet as badger says it started so well. neat passing and high pressing. it didn’t last long and it wasn’t cause the players didn’t care or wasn’t trying, they just were not good enough without the ball to compete. that is what it boils down too. i have been saying that all season and other have too,
all season i moaned about our defenders backing off, switching off, marking space at set pieces, we had the foxes worried in the opening 10 minutes, but soon as they realised we had a soft underbelly (defence) they just pressed on pinning us back like the cup game. had we committed to keeping three up front their full bakcs would not have been able to continue to overlap at will. in another word we invited the pressure upon us like always.
my mates saying meet your here saturday villa play chelsea. i will definetly not be watching that game. can not take another hurtful performance like last night. as for the rest of season its looking bleak. at home we are better cause the opposition are more inclined to sit back and catch us on the break, game against chelsea i believe we will be caught on the break in a close game. it depends on chelsea if they want the win they will get it. we can not keep these premiership teams at bay.
Nath, it’s always darkest before the dawn.
It’s a line I like and it’s very apt, as I’ve had a crap week up to now.
Will things get better?
I’m not convinced on Villa’s part.
i also have had a shit week sofar villa losing only made things much worse. your right with its always darkest before the dawn, in villa case we have had to try to cover the fact we can not defend all season.its been a real handicap as the season progressed, more the more teams are catching us out.
both full backs are terrible without the ball. both have good attributes and should be far better than they are, both make positional mistakes, they constantly ball watch. both centre backs or three when we tried they defend ok in normal play. nothing too alarming just the fact they are over stretched most of the games, they are bound to make mistakes. troubles starts at corners a=or set pieces, we are defending against space, have been all season. mings is covering position is the most dangerous one. but teams know he wont move so they are placing the ball away from him and we are marking opposition best headers with our less capable headers.
if are defence was stronger and we could withstand a little pressure without folding in completely. we would be much better offensively too. if i was to imput anything i would be more aggressive like play 2 or 3 up field. its not a contradiction like some say. if you can not defend full stop. you must grab the bull by the horns. attack the opposition. we kind off played three up front but both grealish and elmo never stayed wide and high enough. to stop the full back dangers from foxes.
if you played two forwards this also would help, but even when davis came on he was coming so deep to receive the ball. we are a team that plays short passing and can not seem to play decent longer passes. balls which can turn defence into attack balls. both target and gibert can not manage to pass them balls into space for forward to run onto. they seem to find touch always to grealish frustrations.
the only saving grace is home form and teams tend to sit back away. if they continue to do this we might pick up the wins at home. otherwise we rebuild in the championship. the hand we was dealt this season was a very weak hand indeed. lack of experience at the back will cost us.
Watching Leipzig v Spurs seems like a re-run of the Leicester v Villa game. Spurs started well but a mistake by keeper and suddenly it looks like men v boys.
See, I don’t believe the problem is with the manager at all.
The players were bought in by Suso and whoever and Smith just has to manage what he’s got, the same as he did at Brentford.
It’s the Moneyball system that is flawed and not the coach, imo.
You could of course, say that Brentford are doing equally as well without Smith.
In which case it seems to me the problem lies with those who are choosing the players at the Villa.
Hence I’d sack Suso before Smith.
But the manager is always the headline and he’ll go first.
It boils down to the fact that if you buy players on the cheap, that just aren’t ready, there’s only one way things are going to go, unless you’re very good at it, which we aren’t.
I don’t believe our owners will want to move away from Moneyball.
If we are relegated this season, I suspect we’ll see what our owners are really all about.
Will they continue to invest, or will they reap any available profits?
Looks like the truth about what’s going on behind the scenes at villa is coming out. Fighting in training and Terry probably stabbing Smith in the back similar to when at Chelsea re their loss of the dressing room.
It’s a sad state of affairs really when they should be fighting for the club on the pitch not off it.
Drinkwater should be sent back to Chelsea and O’Hare recalled in his place. Grealish and O’Hare together i reckon would make a good pairing.very sad day.utv
I heard through my work that someone who knows a steward at Southampton said that there WAS an incident between Smith and Terry in the tunnel. Smith refuted this after but now it seems that this was likely to be true.
I guess it was more they would admit too, there is a disagreement going on and lies will be told to us the fans. Either Smith is not in control and Terry is arguing the point, or Suso is running the show on who plays or not. It needs someone the stand up and speak out. They are fooling the public and robbing the fans. Time to talk Villa.
Absolutely!
Could be good timing if Drinkwater goes after reports of head butting Jota and being sent home. McGinn is almost ready so he would be surplus to requirements.
Whilst it’s not over till the fat lady sings, I think we need to make changes at the back in the full back positions because Guilbert and Targett are liabilities defensively. I would put Konsa in at RB because he is athletic and physically more opposing. Likewise I would swap Targett for Hause for the same reasons. If we are persevering with a flat back 4, then all of them need to defend as their main role. Also we would improve at both ends from crosses into box. I would stick with Nakamba as a holding midfielder and play 4 in front of him consisting of El Ghazi and Trezeguet as wide men with Grealish and Hourihane or McGinn when fit in the middle with Samatta up front.
We haven’t got a great squad but we need to get rid of the weak players (Guilbert, Targett and Luiz) and add a bit of physicality to our team and fight!
In the position we are I think you make some good points Holte. I would definitely agree with Hause at LB as long as he doesn’t venture anywhere upfield nor is he required to do anything but welly the ball out of defence at the first opportunity. Not sure about a Konsa at RB – think I would prefer Elmo just given his level of experience.
So would Konsa make a good defensive mid – he’s quick, good on the ball and he can actually pass it to one of our team!
But I would also like to see us play two up top (Davis / Samatta) with Grealish in the ‘hole’.
If we’re going down let’s do something different and have a go.
Finally Nyland deserves a run in goal so send Reina and Drinkwater packing!
I said that about Guilbert and Taggatt months ago, Guilbert slow going forwards and slow to get back, Taggart the same, Minns has to take control by being in the right possioning fron corners, I think he’s aware of Guilbert inability to defend along with Taggart.defiantly need to use other players than them two.
As much as we all agree Bill and Hitch that major changes need to be made, what’s the betting that Smith keeps pretty much the same team with Reina in goal 🤔
He will be a right part if he don’t change things Holte,