Aston Villa Team Talk/Gossip/Rumours/Champions League Thread 2024/25

rebelomar

Still no change. Amazing really

Patser

Targett is suddenly getting forward into spae again and again, and putting crosses. No one there

Patser

Traore 'won' that free. Even for us, it's not nice to see diving

matrim

Sanson and Barkely for Nakamba and Ramsey

Patser

Ah FFS Traore, 1 yard out and scuffs a bouncing ball....

We're not going to score are we

Panrich

Could it happen that Davis gets his first PL goal?

Patser

Here comes the hero!!!

Davis for Traore

Patser

Panrich wrote: »

Could it happen that Davis gets his first PL goal?

No, but he'll mis-hit a great chance, trip over the rebound, take out 3 defenders and ball will roll to..... lets say Elmo to equalise.

Davis will of course be injured

Patser

Targett loves hitting this little dink passes into corner for Grealish. El Ghazi isn't on same wavelenght....

matrim

Patser wrote: »

Targett loves hitting this little dink passes into corner for Grealish. El Ghazi isn't on same wavelenght....

El Ghazi made the run there but the pass from Targett was well overhit.

rebelomar

Ah lads this is fairly pathetic. No creativity or imagination.

McGinn just lumps everyball into the box. He really is hit his ceiling as a player.

The quality into the box is equally as bad.

listermint

Have to admire Sheffields work rate here.

Esse85

No quality in the final pass.

Over a half hour against 10 men bottom of the league team with nothing to play for.

The option is to bring on a guy who's never scored in the league and has about 2 goals in his career as a striker.

I really hope this is the game that makes the club and many fans realise how short of quality we are.

AEG, Elmo and Davis need to be shown the exit door this summer.

McGinn needs to be replaced this summer, simply not good enough to be a starter.

Embarrassing night.

JPA

Didn't deserve anything to be fair. Load of ****e.

Patser

Yep, that was depressing.

Cross, cross, cross.....hmm lets try another cross.

Oh look a smart low ball into box.....played back wide for a cross.

That said, a team like SU absolutely love the whole pack the box with big men style of football. And there were chances. Watkins hit crossbar, Traore could have had a hattrick, Konsa had a good shot.

Back to drawing board for Smith, Luiz has to start next game

CSF

We were set up terribly for this game but that doesn’t change the fact that some of the individual attacking performances were unforgivable.

Had all the ball and yet could have been playing for another hour and not scored. Awful.

Esse85

How Smith thought playing the same side he played against Leeds would work against Sheff Utd is absolutely bizarre.

If ever there's a game not to play Nakamba in, it's against bottle of the table fodder.

Really disappointed in Smith.

CucaFace

This really showed up how poor our squad really is.

Outside of Grealish, we don't have one winger in the club who i would trust to do a job on a half consistent basis. The crossing was just shocking tonight. Traore is a player that drives me crazy. Has ability, lacks a brain. Will cost us more then give us over his time playing for us. AEG and Trezegue just aren't good enough for this level.

We have no danger whatsoever through the center of that midfield.

Others have mentioned McGinn, he really needs to be upgraded.

Barkley came on and showed exactly why we should stay miles clear of him after this loan deal, he did nothing whatsoever. Its hilarious how pundits still talk about him as a possible English squad player for the euro's.

I will say i thought Davis did more then most tonight when he came on.

Cash was also a huge loss tonight as Elmo just didnt have the pace to utilize the large space that was open for him there tonight.

JPA

Ya, that was the wrong team to start, no need for Nakamba much as I like him.

We had no real control of midfield, I think Luiz should have been back in.

rebelomar

To be fair even with Jack in the team recent performances have been very workmanlike To be kind.

It's not just individuals...it's also the collective. We have lost the verve we played with at the start of the season. We've been incredibly solid and that had got us results.

However Smith needs to address the lack of creativity because while Grealish will improve us, it won't be magically fixed. We can't be happy to just scrap results. You get found out eventually.

Barkley is awful. Honestly...he needs plenty of WD40. I can hear him creaking from here. He's glued to the ground and can't even attempt a half turn.

So disappointed tonight but it's been bad for weeks imo despite some good results.

LeBash

That was so frustrating but SU defended brilliantly.

CSF

LeBash wrote: »

That was so frustrating but SU defended brilliantly.

They were ok. We were giving them bread and butter stuff to defend. Never made them work for it.

JPA

LeBash wrote: »

That was so frustrating but SU defended brilliantly.

But it was all about width and crossing which they could handle. Targett tried his best but there was very little pushing forward from Elmo, he wasn't getting as far forward so was easier to defend.
I'm sure we would have won that game with Grealish.

sc86

Grealish or no grealish we struggle again teams that sit back , like burnley.

As i said a few pages back , sheff utd might be bottom but are hard work to beat.

We are top 10 team , thats what top 10 teams do , blow hot and cold

CucaFace

sc86 wrote: »

Grealish or no grealish we struggle again teams that sit back , like burnley.

As i said a few pages back , sheff utd might be bottom but are hard work to beat.

We are top 10 team , thats what top 10 teams do , blow hot and cold

I think the issue is that none of the CM trio who start are really technical skillful CM type players. So any danger from us usually has to come from the flanks. When the flanks aren't working well (as is often the case without Jack) we have very little else to offer.



We badly need a central playmaker to come into the squad in the summer.

Bounty Hunter

Sheffield Utd who go a man down after a 57th min red card and we lose is obviously very disappointing no matter how things went.

I like rewarding players like Ramsey and Nakamba with a start given how well they had done and I am not Barkley's biggest fan but everyone knew that more creative / attacking side would suit this game more and I honestly thought both Luiz and Barkley would come back in, or perhaps Sanson would get a chance to start. That said this is typical Villa, as soon as we expect a win, we lose to the team at the bottom of the table.

Is Luiz carrying a knock I wonder?

Players like El Ghazi have gotten goals when called upon this season but he is also the type that will need to be improved upon next season as without Grealish Villa can suddenly look like we are not able to change things in an attacking sense. Who knows if he can get back to the same level but it will make such a difference when we can get Wesley back as an option , 1 eternal optimist here aside I don't think anyone expects Davis to get a goal when he comes on in games and as much as I like Watkins sometimes we need the ability to push a second man up beside him.

Patser

Can we once more realise how lucky we are not to have Bruce in charge any more


https://punditarena.com/football/robredmond/newcastle-steve-bruce-matt-ritchie/



And just to add Davis almost scored last night, after a lovely 1,2 . Defender just got ahead of him to put it behind

OneColdHand

Patser wrote: »

Can we once more realise how lucky we are not to have Bruce in charge any more


https://punditarena.com/football/robredmond/newcastle-steve-bruce-matt-ritchie/



And just to add Davis almost scored last night, after a lovely 1,2 . Defender just got ahead of him to put it behind

I shudder to think where we would be if we had persisted with Bruce in charge.

CSF

OneColdHand wrote: »

I shudder to think where we would be if we had persisted with Bruce in charge.

To be honest, I think it was still just the Championship. I saw people link us potentially to a Sunderland situation but I think that was rarely on the cards.

matrim

I'm still grateful for what Bruce did for us. He stabilised us and started on the road to where we are now. But he had done about as much as he was going to be able to do and it was the time to make a change.

CucaFace

matrim wrote: »

I'm still grateful for what Bruce did for us. He stabilised us and started on the road to where we are now. But he had done about as much as he was going to be able to do and it was the time to make a change.

Totally agree.

CSF

matrim wrote: »

I'm still grateful for what Bruce did for us. He stabilised us and started on the road to where we are now. But he had done about as much as he was going to be able to do and it was the time to make a change.

Do you really think so? Until Smith turned us from a bad team to a good team, my interpretation would be that the only thing that stopped us from being another Sunderland was having Grealish and being able to afford a calibre of player that other clubs just can’t.

Yes Di Matteo’s horrific spending did make everything that followed look so much better. So so bad.

Bounty Hunter

Dean Smith and Aston Villa have blocked Emi Martinez, Douglas Luiz and Marvelous Nakamba from representing their countries at the end of the month.

The trio were in line to be called up by Argentina, Brazil and Zimbabwe respectively but, knowing those countries are among the UK's red-list, Villa have stopped them from doing so.

JPA

It's all a bit strange. I think a lot of the internationals will be postponed.

JPA

Jack most likely for tomorrow.
I don't like this non descript talk about his injury, I'd prefer some actual information.

CSF

JPA wrote: »

Jack most likely for tomorrow.
I don't like this non descript talk about his injury, I'd prefer some actual information.

So would Wolves though

AVFC.Stephen

Bounty Hunter wrote: »

Dean Smith and Aston Villa have blocked Emi Martinez, Douglas Luiz and Marvelous Nakamba from representing their countries at the end of the month.

The trio were in line to be called up by Argentina, Brazil and Zimbabwe respectively but, knowing those countries are among the UK's red-list, Villa have stopped them from doing so.

This is normal no?

Bounty Hunter

AVFC.Stephen wrote: »

This is normal no?

Might become the norm for the next while

matrim

AVFC.Stephen wrote: »

This is normal no?

Pretty sure Liverpool, Chelsea and Spurs have all said the same thing

Brian201888

Luiz, McGinn, Sanson start. Trez in for El Ghazi

CSF

Sanson gets his chance to impress. Barkley legitimately in the doghouse.

Panrich

I'm not sure about Trez and Traore together as neither look effective on the left but ElGhazi must be injured. Philogene-Bidace on the bench is interesting.

Bounty Hunter

CSF wrote: »

Sanson gets his chance to impress. Barkley legitimately in the doghouse.

Hopefully this is great management by Smith (at least it's proactive changes) with Sanson doing everything he can to grab his chance and Barkley doing the same if and when he gets another chance.

I wonder if Barkley might come on as a winger if needed, the bench is def light there with Grealish and I presume El Ghazi injured.

CSF

Bounty Hunter wrote: »

Hopefully this is great management by Smith (at least it's proactive changes) with Sanson doing everything he can to grab his chance and Barkley doing the same if and when he gets another chance.

I wonder if Barkley might come on as a winger if needed, the bench is def light there with Grealish and I presume El Ghazi injured.

I wonder which of Trez and Traore plays on the left tonight. Trez looked awful there when he played there, but I’m not 100% sure if Traore is comfortable there either.

artanevilla

Grealish has a toe infection.

Corholio

artanevilla wrote: »

Grealish has a toe infection.

El Ghazi has. Smith just mentioned it there.

Esse85

Jack was more leg related from what DS said.

I'd prefer Trez on the left to help back and defend against Adams Traore. Other wise he'll skin Elmo alive with no cover.

Looking forward to seeing Sanson start.

artanevilla

Ah ok, must have misheard.

Bounty Hunter

Oh Watkins so close, would have been some start

artanevilla

Impressed by Sanson so far.