So I called the score correctly, where the truth is that I was really fearing a severe beating.
Did I lie convincingly in the preview?
Maybe not.
Ultimately, I think we need to remember that Leicester haven’t just gone second in the league at this past middling stage of the season for no reason.
They’re a very good side; hard working, skillful with good goalscorers and are well organised by a very good manager in Brendan Rodgers.
Am I blowing them up too much?
Possibly so, but it’s only because I think Leicester is exactly the club that I aspire us to be.
The “little” club that doesn’t deserve to be in the top 4.
But sticks it to them.
It’s what I want us to do.
Be honest, how many of us expected to win this game today?
I didn’t by a long shot and the first half hour or so went pretty much to script and we went two down far too easily.
We seemed to lack any confidence with Jack Grealish being out and I know I keep banging on about it, but I thought our defence was shown up for what it is. Poor.
Don’t ask me to go into specifics, because I’m sick of saying it.
That said, our midfield was horrendous yet again.
How long can Dean Smith keep playing Barkley, when he just looks so off his game?
I’ve seen comments suggesting that McGinn’s game suffers when Barkley plays and it makes sense, as I can’t remember the last time the Scot had a decent game either.
The point is, as soon as Barkley went off, we looked better.
Ramsay is not your action man type that Barkley is, but he just got involved and it’s what we were lacking.
It was the same with Trezeguet; he just played.
We cannot go on playing Barkley because he’s costing us.
And if Smith doesn’t see it, he’s going to seriously get marked down as intransigent amongst the fans.
Did Leicester back off?
I’m inclined to think they did somewhat, but also like to believe that we did put them under some real pressure late on.
Certainly Rodgers seemed happy to go a lot deeper and defend the game, but I wouldn’t say Leicester were at ease with it.
We still looked dangerous on occasion.
I’ve seen arguments that say we’re not going to qualify for Europe and we’re not going to get relegated either.
Which means we ought to give the younger lads a chance.
Having seen one of Leicester’s players, who looked like he was about 14, I have some sympathy with this.
In fact, I’m going to put a poll up about it.
A large part of me wants us to go all out for a place in Europe.
But if we are to do that, I don’t see there’s any chance that any of the kids will get the slightest look in.
I’ve never been a big fan of playing the kids, but it seems to me, this is as good a chance as Smith will ever get.
Not that I see it happening for one minute.
The manager seems massively reluctant to bring experienced players on, let alone kids.
So all in all, probably a better result than expected.
Leeds up next then.
At least we’re away.
Smith does seem to be going the way O’Neill do by not changing thing up a bit more.
Barkley should definitely be on the bench why not give Sanson a go maybe he mcginn forward more like he was doing in the past.
Ramsey definitely needs to be on I think. Was worried that we’d be hammered after that first 45 Mon.
Barkley seems to have the wrong attitude too as I he supposed to play every match and not be substituted i hope we don’t buy him.
Your spot on Badger Barkley is was good so get rid of the waster, I thought DS was or for blooding the young ones but no warming up the sub bench
I thought our club policy re the youngsters was that if they are not in around the 1st team by a certain point then we get rid…..if we are safe we DO need them getting time or close the scheme down and just buy 100 mill every year.
Badger, wow that’s a lot of points / issues you raise!
I admit to not seeing much of the game as moving home has taken over my life! But what I did see reinforces my view that Barkley is not for us – well not at £40m or whatever ridiculous fee is being bandied about.
Now, I’ve always been an advocate (fan) of Hourihane but I also called his loan move on here way before it happened. He’s too good a player for us to let go but he’s marmite with the fans and maybe with the management too. A lot of fans wanted him gone – now they want him back. It’s the old adage – be careful what you wish for.
Get him back at the end of the season – tell Barkley to go forth and multiply – and offer Hourihane a new contract.
I don’t agree with your view of our defence. 11 cleans sheets don’t happen by accident. I do agree that the signing of Martinez has delivered the missing link in the chain but all the defence – even Mings – has played superbly particularly when the midfield have offered nothing. You attack from the back and you defend from the front.
Now back to Barkley – not only is he a liability I, like others, think he’s prevented us seeing the best of McGinn. Did Chelsea put some form of ‘if fit he must play’ condition in his contract. Leave him out, bring in Sanson or Nakamba and push McGinn further up the pitch.
The next few games are as much a test of Smith’s management as the ability of the team.
Oh and I voted no on using the kids on the basis that we’re not in danger of relegation.
We had a couple on the bench today and I woukd like to see that being a general approach in the future.
If the game allows then bring one or two on for ten minutes to see how they cope.
If Smith is not prepared to throw Sanson into the ‘mixer’ why would he do it with the kids?
Hitch, I saw nothing in Mings today to tell me he’s good.
He half turned for the first goal, simple.
I saw someone comment elsewhere the other day that he reads the game really well.
You have to be kidding me!
Watch it again and you’ll see he gets caught out a couple of times and races back to get himself out of the proverbial with more last ditch tackling.
Until he convinces me otherwise, he’s a shocking defender.
A big mouth means nothing to me and he’d do best to practise what he preaches.
Putting kids on the bench and not using them is a total and utter waste of time, imo. If you’re going to put them on the bench give them minutes.
And if you’re going to say the game is too tight to risk it, then don’t put them on the bench at all, as all you’re doing is building their hopes up.
It’s like Conor and El Ghazi getting dropped when they’re doing well.
WTF? where’s the incentive to perform?
And I say that as someone who thinks Hourihane is rubbish and not good enough.
Barkley being invisible is no reason to bring another invisible player back, imo. We need better.
I’m now firmly of the opinion that Smith has his favourites and is not quite the man manager we all think he is.
In fact, when he gets sacked, I’ll bet it’s one of the reasons the fans wanted him gone.
oh, Hitch.
Not being at risk of relegation is precisely why Smith ought to be trying the kids.
But i also don’t think he will do it, so voted no as well.
Something is not right when Smith prefers an aging player at RB, who probably won’t be playing for us next season, over a decent Guilbert.
There has to have been a big fallout there somewhere, I’d guess.
Which reminds me. I don’t like this hiding things stuff either.
Why was Grealish kept a secret?
Going back to it, will Smith re-sign Elmo?
If so, that will be a terrible decision, imo.
Well, at least we agree on Barkley 🙂
No arguments that we need to continually find better players but all clubs need good squad players as well. Barkley or Hourihane?
Hourihane for me.
Smith is on record as saying he wants Guilbert back next season and no, I don’t think he will offer Elmo a new (or extended) contract. Villa had Hayden on the bench today who got really good reviews in his performance against Liverpool in the Cup. Guilbert’s absence gave him that opportunity.
This debate about Hourihane is a red herring!
Hourihane has a good left foot and excellent at free kicks. And that is it. He was anonymous for long periods in matches. If we want a team of premier quality players, Hourihane does not cut it. Ramsey has made the progress to replace him. Hourihane could see this developing and at his age wants to be playing, hence his agreement to a loan move. I wish him well as he helped us back into the premier.
Badger I agree with Barkley being dropped. I don’t think there is a line in his contract making him undroppable. I think Smith is giving him every chance to turn his form around. For once dropped, it is unlikely he will get back into the team quickly. With the wages they are paying him that would look like a poor decision to bring him into the club in the first place.
Since our Covid outbreak we have not really been at the races. Do we know who caught it? Was it the midfield players? Luiz, McGinn, Barkley or Grealish have not been at their best since we started again.
With these players out of form I would like to see Nakamba, Ramsey and Sanson given more starts.
I voted yes for the kids playing more games. Fact is even if not we don’t play the kids, we still won’t make top 4. The Europa league with its Thursday fixtures is a dumbed down version of the champions league. It stretches even larger squads to the limit and we haven’t reached that level yet.
The jury is still out on a number of first team players too. Martinez, Cash, Konsa, Luiz, Watkins and Grealish this season have performed well and consistently enough to be considered good enough. The others still have more to do to convince me.
Surprised you haven’t included Targett in your list; I think he’s more than proved his worth this season.
It looks like Grealish may be out for a month, according to the BBC, whereas Smith is saying he’s hoping he’ll be back for the Leeds game;
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/56147920
I know who I think will be closer.
It really winds me up that Smith is massively over-optimistic and I’d rather have the opposite.
Badger, I have heard from a reliable source that Jack is out for 6 – 8 weeks. If this is true then I don’t understand Smith’s philosophy of keeping everyone in the dark. He doesn’t take this approach with any other player. What does he hope to gain from deception? Like you said, I would rather hear the facts and anything better is a bonus. It happened when he was out in our promotion season too. We never heard the truth that time either.
That doesn’t surprise me in the slightest, Holte.
It happened with Wesley too.
The amount of time he’s been out is ridiculous, even if it was a bad injury.
Heaton’s 10 years older, but has healed and is fit already.
I said a while back that it wouldn’t surprise me if we don’t see Wesley this season.
Not that I’m bothered about him because I don’t rate him.
Wesley as a back up to Watkins might offer another approach to how we set up. Unfortunately he wasn’t very good prior to his injury so I can’t see him being better now.
Leeds up next and they will be confident having beaten us already and comfortably too.
Not that it means anything but why not play Watkins out wide in Jack’s position with Davis in the middle and Trezeguet on the right. Midfield I would play Nakamba with Luiz or Ramsey alongside McGinn. Sanson I think would find Leeds a tough proposition to make a full debut. Barkley I would hope doesn’t have a clause in his contract. If he starts on Saturday we know he does.
The slapheads on MOTD were scathing about Villa’s midfield providing no cover for the back four. A case epitomized by the time Maddeson had to pick his spot.
This is a managerial failing: the job of attacking midfielder is different from defensive midfielder, and it is only a guess that a player has the skills for both. McGinn definitely, and Douglas Luiz probably, are attacking midfield players who cannot do the defensive job. I don’t blame Smith for the trial, but he should have seen the results before now. Sanson we were told is another attacking midfielder, which means only Marvellous is available to do the defensive work unless a youngster is brought in.
I wonder if Sanson was bought over the head of Smith? A manager who wants a new player would give him an early debut unless the team had won its last match. That didn’t happen. The starting midfield flopped against Leicester so changes should be made. Wot the Els? Both Elmo and Elga showed that one of them might be carried in an otherwise full-strength squad, but the team cannot carry both.
It is OLL trying to dodge the sin bin with a new email and browser.
And it hasn’t worked OLL.
I’m even more perplexed now.
As for the midfield, you’re right.
If Nakamba doesn’t start next game, some will be asking what’s going on.
Interesting debate around Grealish’ absence being ‘leaked’ on social media.
Now, whether you agree or disagree with the club’s policy, if players know that their clubs’ policy is to keep confidential the condition of any player then IMO they have a duty to keep that information away from public scrutiny.
I was told Saturday night that Grealish was injured and out of the team. My grandson had seen on Twitter that a couple of Villa players had replaced Grealish in their fantasy football teams for the games over the weekend. So the football equivalent of ‘insider trading’ 🙂
Clubs don’t have to announce their teams until an hour before ko and there have been previous allegations that team sheets have been leaked. There is, of course, a perfectly reasonable strategic reason for keeping team sheets secret until the last possible moment.
Guardiola seems to agree that players should not be leaking team information through social media and I think Smith has a perfect right to be annoyed. He may also, when talking about how long players will be out, be using a tactical ploy to keep the opposing manager guessing.
So whilst we, as fans, might want to know exactly how long a player will be out of action, that information is for the manager to use in a way he thinks best helps the team on the pitch.
Hitch, I might agree with that last part if Smith actually changed tactics occasionally.
As for leaks, that’s been happening for years and Smith knows that full well, surely?
I’ve seen teamsheets a good half an hour before they’re announced sometimes and I know I’m not alone either.
I think the issue is whether players colluded in dropping Grealish from their squads.
I very much doubt they did and anyone with the tiniest bit of common sense would have dropped an injured player, even if we are talking footballers here, lol.
It’s probably right the players ought to be banned from picking players from their own club, I suppose.
In other news, I see we’re going to sign the world now that Sawaris is doing some big fat money deal.
You have to laugh 🙂
Badger – not implying players are colluding in any way but your suggestion that players should not be allowed to select from their own club is a simple and pragmatic solution. It would soon expose any collusion that might be going on.
It was so simple in the old days before the horrors of the internet and social media 🙂
This is a test to see if “OL” is the problem.
This is another test, now I’ve approved the previous comment
this is another test
Yet another test with my phone
And another