Aston Villa Team Talk/Gossip/Rumours Thread 2019/2020

Bounty Hunter

disappointing but Bournemouth were lucky. 2 mistakes including a 1st minute penalty lead to their goals and Billings could have been sent off in the 1st half.

Hope we can see our new full backs introduced in the next game, not that our FBs were really at fault but the new lads might be able to add more offensively and stretch the opposition more.

Hopefully people don't overreact to losing the first 2 games

Corholio

Bounty Hunter wrote: »

disappointing but Bournemouth were lucky. 2 mistakes including a 1st minute penalty lead to their goals and Billings could have been sent off in the 1st half.

Hope we can see our new full backs introduced in the next game, not that our FBs were really at fault but the new lads might be able to add more offensively and stretch the opposition more.

Hopefully people don't overreact to losing the first 2 games

Exactly that I think, Targett is supposed to have an excellent cross on him, this was missing a lot today from the wings and overlap. Trying to balance positions on the bench seems to be why Guilbert is not on there, hopefully we see him next game.

Of course people will overreact too :P

Panrich

I think that last 75 minutes covers up the fact that we have a long way to go to survive in this league. Bournemouth came, got two early goals and then sat back comfortably enough soaking up whatever we threw at them. We huffed and we puffed and got a great goal but we were very wasteful otherwise.

JPA

I don't want to overreact but(!)
Our full backs are not good enough and I'm not sure on the wide players. Targett is surely better than Taylor and Guilbert is fairly unknown at this stage.

Hopefully Nakamba will get up to speed and sit in beside Luiz to form a solid 2 in the middle.

Then there is a problem of Grealish and Mcginn. I think we may evolve to having Mcginn playing wide midfield to accommodate him.
Depends on the opposition.

CSF

Think we need to settle down a little still. The bedding in thing is more than just a cliche.

LeBash

Theres no need to panic. 2 lads made 2 silly mistakes and if they didn't happen we'd have got 1 or 3 points out of that game.

Hourihane is missed for set pieces. He needs to be shoehorned into that team. First half we had 4 frees around the box and 4 corners. Hourihane at least creates 3 or 4 half chances or better from that.

Corholio

Second half showed some good signs. Luiz looks a player, he has this casual movement that makes it seem he's not awake but his footwork is tremendous, set up loads of attacks today by just turning a certain way. Connection between midfield and Wes hasn't clicked yet, but he showed better strength today.

I personally don't see Hourihane in that team. What he might give us in some set pieces, and only some as he has plenty of duff free kicks too, it would be taken away in general play imo. He's not a great ball player and lacks pace for anywhere in midfield. Off the bench is where he'll be useful unless someone goes on a bad run of form.

JPA

CSF wrote: »

Think we need to settle down a little still. The bedding in thing is more than just a cliche.

You are right but we don't want to lose our confidence. It's hard to get back.

CSF

JPA wrote: »

You are right but we don't want to lose our confidence. It's hard to get back.

Absolutely. But hopefully the fans don’t lose the rag and accelerate that.

fullstop

just saw the highlights now on MoTD. That was awful stuff from Heaton for the penalty. What on earth is he doing swinging a foot at that...just fall on the ball.

sc86

reality of how hard a season this could be has now hit home

remoteboy

Never expected it to be easy tbh. There's definitely enough in this team to stay up, just wish we'd bought a back up striker. Wes looks like he'll take time to settle.

CucaFace

Im a big fan of Dean Smith. I'll start with this as I think he can be a great manager for this club.

But what the hell is he thinking of continuing with Elmo and Taylor as the full backs for this side?

They are average Championship level full backs and im really annoyed Smith hasn't had the balls to start the 2 new guys who looked so good in pre season.

Also, El Gazi, another player who is championship level and this is where we have a huge issue for the season as we have very little back up. We should never have signed this guy and he showed more then enough times last season that his attitude stinks at time and he is not dependable to be a first choice player.

This squad is bare thin in certain area's and I'm shocked that a few of the youngsters were allowed out on loan.

I think our first 11 (when he gets the right full backs into place) will be good enough to keep us in the PL, but I really worry our squad is going to be strong enough to keep us up. 1 injury to a striker or a winger and we have basically nobody else left as back up...

remoteboy

I’m baffled by the full backs too. Best guess is he’ll ease them in, they’re clearly an upgrade on what we have. Probably doesn’t want too many changes all at once.

CSF

He gets to see things in training that we don’t. Hopefully this puts the fire in Targett and Guilbert and they’re even better now when they get their chance.

GHOST MGG

Smith said yesterday that guilbert isnt premier league fit and thats why he has not played or been on bench

Panrich

The big headscratcher for me is Nakamba. I don’t see him and Luiz fitting into the same team and I doubt if he moved here to sit on the bench (or in the stands as per the first two games).

JPA

Panrich wrote: »

The big headscratcher for me is Nakamba. I don’t see him and Luiz fitting into the same team and I doubt if he moved here to sit on the bench (or in the stands as per the first two games).

Nakamba seems like a pure DM whereas Luiz is a passing midfielder.
It's a blend that can work but needs to be balanced with attack. It's a setup that needs good fullbacks though!

artanevilla

I'd take a draw against Everton.

artanevilla

Also I think Marvelous is not up to speed in terms of fitness yet either.

Panrich

artanevilla wrote: »

I'd take a draw against Everton.

Definitely. We need to get at least a point from that game. To lose our first two home games would really put us under pressure.

LeBash

I think Taylor and Elmo have been brilliant under Smith. 3 or 4 per season friendlies is all I've seen of the other 2 lads but they were against weak teams. Guilbert looks like a magnet for yellow cards, seems to like to go off his feet.

Both will get a chance in the League Cup I'd say.

Corholio

Taylor has actually done decent defensively this season, it's going forward where he is very weak. He looks afraid to try anything passed the half way line, it's a real drawback in the way the team plays. Elmo is relatively solid, his crossing is very good. With only seeing a bit of Guilbert he's definitely more of player who takes the ball forward at more pace than Elmo, how he fits in to PL is still unknown. Smith has given them the chances to keep their places, they'll have to keep up playing well or be replaced.

Saying that, I'd like to see how Targett gets on offensively, his crossing is supposed to be a big strength of his, and could work well with Wes.

Panrich

Kevin MacDonald leaves the club. This should have happened a long time ago if the allegations are true which it seems they are.

https://www.theguardian.com/football/2019/aug/20/kevin-macdonald-aston-villa-bullying-investigation

LeBash

Panrich wrote: »

Kevin MacDonald leaves the club. This should have happened a long time ago if the allegations are true which it seems they are.

https://www.theguardian.com/football/2019/aug/20/kevin-macdonald-aston-villa-bullying-investigation

Had to be proved and investigated first or he would have owned Tony Xi's old share of the club.

He is rated highly by a lot of people in football but I'd consider us a very poor club for promoting young players to the first team.

Panrich

LeBash wrote: »

Had to be proved and investigated first or he would have owned Tony Xi's old share of the club.

He is rated highly by a lot of people in football but I'd consider us a very poor club for promoting young players to the first team.

It’s a long long time since Gareth Farrelly was at Villa so plenty going on to investigate under the noses of those in charge down the years.

LeBash

Elmo got a 1 year extension and O'Hare on a season long loan to Coventry.

dfx-

LeBash wrote: »

O'Hare on a season long loan to Coventry.

Anyone seen him play? Supposedly played a handful of times in 17/18..

matrim

dfx- wrote: »

Anyone seen him play? Supposedly played a handful of times in 17/18..

he is supposed to have done well at carlilse last year

LeBash

dfx- wrote: »

Anyone seen him play? Supposedly played a handful of times in 17/18..

Hes a very good young player. Seriously tenacious lad. Scored quite a few in the U23s think he was part of the next gen cup win as well. Last seasons preseason he was brilliant but picked up a knee injury

Corholio

Thought he might have got a Championship loan this year. Just like with Green, this year will shape him, for good or bad. He obviously has talent but at what level I'm not sure yet.

GHOST MGG

Squeaky bum time tommorow night..have an awful feeling we are going into the international break with no points..hope it leads to a reality check and a fightback after the break.

LeBash

Weve the 2nd most shots on target, just behind man city

pavb2

GHOST MGG wrote: »

Squeaky bum time tommorow night..have an awful feeling we are going into the international break with no points..hope it leads to a reality check and a fightback after the break.

I think we've had the reality check and other than the 2nd half against Spurs where we couldn't get out of our own half I don't think we've played that badly. Personally I think I'd got used to watching championship football and was shocked at how much faster the PL is especially the way Bournemouth came at us in the first 20 minutes.

Early days and though it's a baptism of fire at the moment this is due to the lack of PL experience and not playing as a team for any given amount of time.

By no means does Smith know his best starting 11 yet, Targett, Nakamba and Guilbert havn't played, Hause is back from injury so with the exclusion of a firing striker which is the biggest concern, though initially it may be a bit of trial and error at least we have options. Still far too early to hit the panic button.

Sono

Hopeful of a big performance and win tmw night, Wesley to get off the mark.

Corholio

Guilbert and Jota come in for Elmo and El Ghazi.

https://twitter.com/AVFCOfficial/status/1164960590814752768?ref_src=twcamp%5Ecopy%7Ctwsrc%5Eandroid%7Ctwgr%5Ecopy%7Ctwcon%5E7090%7Ctwterm%5E3

CSF

Targett not benched this week. Someone will be pissed off every week in those fullback positions by the looks of it.

remoteboy

Looking forward to seeing Guilbert. Hope he looks as good as he did in preseason.

artanevilla

Close enough to the team I'd have picked. Not sure that augurs well though.

JPA

Mings groin looking dodgy in the warm up.

artanevilla

Haven't setting into yet. Mings after booting the head off Engles shoulders.

CSF

Super shaky start, so probably doesn't help to have both CBs having injury scares early in the day.

CSF

Making Everton look like City here early on. Have to settle and find a way in to the game.

artanevilla

Jota working exceptionally hard, tracking back. Is Trezeguet even playing?

basillarkin

Jota not helping out enough with tracking back
Could be a problem

Corholio

Wesss!!

Delighted for him!

basillarkin

Nice

fullstop

Great goal! Lovely ball from Jota.

remoteboy

Great goal. Jota looks up for it.

LeBash

What a ball from Jota