I don’t know what to say or think, to be honest.
Were we really that poor or is just that Leicester were very good?
I tend to think that Leicester looked the best, most complete side we’ve faced this season.
They work incredibly hard and close down very quickly.
Certainly many of our players looked frustrated, proving that their hard work was justified.
Somehow, we’re still not in the bottom three and we have some “easier” games coming up, so I’m not quite all doom and gloom, but it is somewhat worrying.
What I noticed more than anything today is how anonymous John McGinn looked again. It seems to me that he’s playing a lot deeper, probably under instruction from Dean Smith. If that is the case, it seems to me it’s taken an edge off his game and we would do well to get him more forward.
I don’t want to continue to slate Wesley, but I find myself continually thinking “How come we very often get the ball in the box, yet he never scores?”
Kienan Davis can’t get back quick enough for me, as while he might not be prolific, he is definitely a decent hold-up player. As soon as he’s match fit, he has to replace Wesley, in my opinion.
Even Jack’s game was off today, as the ball seemed to get stuck under his feet quite often and it summed things up, as I can’t think of a Villa player who merited a 7 out of 10, Tom Heaton apart.
We continue to give the ball away and Mings was guilty of this again, not long before he went off injured. I possibly shouldn’t say this, but even though he’s a bit of a talisman for us, a part of me would be glad if he misses a game or two, as maybe it’ll help him re-focus.
Simply put, our midfield got bossed and I think I was right in saying that this definitely wasn’t a game for Hourihane, as I think things would have been worse.
Their attack, particularly Vardy are a class above us and even their defence has excellent stats this season. I’m sure I heard they’ve only conceded 10 all season.
It’s probably not surprising that we lost, but it’s the scoreline that disappoints me.
Oh well, my hope now is that the players don’t lose heart and belief.
I still expect things to get better over the next few weeks.
BFR, I definitely agree with you on Cahill. I would have loved him coming back to VP. On Sturridge though, definitely not. He has scored in 2 out of 5 games for Trabzonspor, which isn’t bad you’d think, unless you take into account they have played 14 league games and lots of European games. I don’t know why he isn’t playing much but I guess he’s not fit. Therefore my conclusion is he doesn’t feature enough and we can’t afford someone so unreliable. We must act clever in January and get at least one top striker in and possibly two if Kodja is offloaded.
Fair enough, Holte. Whenever I champion Sturrigde, it’s always with the presupposition that he’s fit.
Agitated. The buzz word is investment, eh? If the owners are in it for investment only, it’s all a pointless pile of shite. Learner was also in it for investment, not for sporting glory, which leads to massive profit as a result. This upside down, back to front thinking is f*****, to quote Dr Tony. Get a winning team that wins things and your investment will come when the riches pour in from sporting success. Otherwise, if you’re just looking at buying and selling players as commodities, go and invest in other things. Try property, stocks, wine, gold, any old shite, really. Sport is about winning. If you don’t care about winning, you’re in the wrong business! End of story. Pissed off.
I want my team, our Villa, to win, be top of the world – of course I do BUT I also want us to be financially strong and sustainable. I never want us to be in a financial position like we were before our current owners stepped in – another Portsmouth, Bolton or even Bury in waiting!
I dread to think what would have happened if Brucie had actually won that play off against Fulham. Dr. T would have hung on and we now know that would have been an unmitigated financial disaster.
Edens and Sawaris have poured 10’s (100’s ) of millions into the club, not only to finance the team but also to stabilise and support the cash flow to run the club and they want a successful club playing at the highest level – I have no doubt.
However it’s now impossible to separate the business side of an EPL club from the business of trying to be winners.
BFR, I fully accept your point about bringing in some (older) EPL experience to supplement the team and perhaps in January we might see that happen – Pedro?
PAX 🙂
BFR, you raise very good points and I promise this is not a concerted attack between Hitch and me on you.
I don’t like the way things work now, at all and would love a massive splurge on over-priced, older players like Cahill.
But we’ve been down that road very recently and it simply didn’t work, to my mind.
Even O’Neil was being criticised for over-paying for players that he rarely used and I think he had probably the right reasons at the time.
Xia nearly bankrupted the club, it’s as simple as that and we were probably close to points deductions, to boot.
As much as I don’t like it, it’s the way we have to play it now.
Clubs have lost their choice in who they sign, because of the rules.
I actually agree with you about Cahill, but £150-175k a week, when Grealish is on around £55-60k?
There’s no way on earth that was ever going to happen.
And to be honest, rightly so, imo.
What would that have done to morale, even if it saved the club on a transfer fee?
There’s no future in those sort of wages, unless you can withstand £1 billion in debt like Man U (same old crap, “who cares about the debt, if the money keeps coming in?”, which will come home to roost at some time).
I believe Smith will demonstrate to the board that Wesley was not his signing and basically say “I told you so”.
Where he’ll be afforded the money to get the striker in that he wants.
And he has to get it right, imo.
Because if he doesn’t, he’ll be gone.
And if I’m wrong, where Wesley was actually his signing, he’s under even more pressure and again will be gone if he doesn’t sign a replacement who actually looks like a striker.
Our new owners will not countenance the blatant failure that we’ve seen over recent years, imo.
Blimey, Jim Smith and a very young (32) female England player have died 🙁
RIP 🙁
Read about Jim Smith – 79 – no age really. Decent bloke and a good manager. Not seen the young female England player though. RIP.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/astonvillafcATCB/permalink/2521040694807580/ Hope it works its about Ron Saunders funeral.