Match Thread; Villa v WBA

[Dazzle]

Stating the obvious that we have to win this game. How do we manage to get a win with the same playing staff?

[Dazzle]

Changes that could be made are limited. It just feels like we have to try something, though, doesn’t it? Maybe bring Bjarnason in for Whelan to sit as one of the 2 in front of the back 4, keeping Whelan for a last 20-30mins again? I’d definitely want to see Keinan Davis on the bench as an option. Ditto Jacob Ramsey. I’d keep the back 4 as they were on Wednesday. Given our limitations for change I’d go with;

..................................Kalinic............................
Hutton.............Elphick.............Mings............Hause
.................................Bjarnason..........................
..................McGinn....................Hourihane.............
...ElGhazi..................Abraham....................Adomah

Bench; Steer, Whelan, Davis, Ramsey, Green, Elmohamady, Kodjia.

I think that’s actually our only available fit 18?

[smetro]

Well Albion no longer have Harvey Barnes - Dwight Gayle I beleive is suspended.
I think this is an easier match for DS than it first appears. Mings, Kalinic, Abrahams are all in pretty good form - we have a good record against WBA - I can see us winning this at a canter TBH.

We have only won once this year - and tend to win 1 in 5 - so we are due a win

Don't see it changing the course of our season though - we look like a poorly managed rudderless ship.

[Dazzle]

Well Albion no longer have Harvey Barnes - Dwight Gayle I beleive is suspended.
I think this is an easier match for DS than it first appears. Mings, Kalinic, Abrahams are all in pretty good form - we have a good record against WBA - I can see us winning this at a canter TBH.

We have only won once this year - and tend to win 1 in 5 - so we are due a win

Don't see it changing the course of our season though - we look like a poorly managed rudderless ship.

Gayle is 100% suspended for the game. The course of our season can be changed with the return of injured players, it’s a case of how far back we are before that happens. 2 of our top 3 players have been missing for a significant chunk of this season, Tuanzebe & Grealish. Chester has been carrying a knee injury nearly all season and is now out. To a lesser extent Lansbury has been unavailable nearly all season as well. We’ve lost two integral defenders and the best player in the league from midfield for 3months. Add to that an accomplished midfielder for this league in Lansbury and you have nearly half a 1st team missing, that would hurt any team in this league if they had a similar injury crisis. Imagine where we’d be now if we hadn’t have brought in Mings & Hause, or Kalinic for that matter with Nyland being out for the season. Sometimes Lady Luck has to be factored in, and we’ve had very little from her. Fer had an injury that showed up during the medical, Carrol gets injured in the very next game. Referees allow opposing players to stand offside and then kick the ball, studs up, out of our goalkeepers hands, and also allow opposition forwards to control a ball with their hand before knocking it in with their hand to score against us. I don’t remember Villa being the beneficiary of any such blatantly bad decisions this season? There are reasons, valid reasons, why we’ve fallen away since December. I’d also add that it’s my opinion we have very little money to spare to stay within FFP rules. And I think that’ll roll into the summer unless we win promotion, which I don’t think we will.

[big ming]

Sorry to be negative, but I can see no other result other than a defeat by the odd goal. Defensively we look better but we need to be with the midfield being so powder puff.
Perhaps he will try a back three and fiddle some extra midfield bodies with two up top - Keinan + Tammy.
Not much to lose by experimenting now.

[Dazzle]

Sorry to be negative, but I can see no other result other than a defeat by the odd goal. Defensively we look better but we need to be with the midfield being so powder puff.
Perhaps he will try a back three and fiddle some extra midfield bodies with two up top - Keinan + Tammy.
Not much to lose by experimenting now.

I hadn’t thought of the back 3 idea, but it could work given our current shortcomings in midfield. I could probably live with a line up of;

..............................Kalinic...........................
.........Elphick............Mings............Hause.........
ElGhazi...McGinn....Whelan.....Hourihane....Adomah
....................Davis............Abraham................

[VillaBill]

Lose 5-6

[Saunders82]

I'm so glad Dazzle has started this thread as I seem to have the evil eye when I start one, saying that for me this has a draw written all over it, unless we put some extra effort into the game, I hope I'm wrong and we sneak a win. UTV

[Dazzle]

Elmo and Green in for ElGhazi & Adomah. I hope that’s not a mistake, I fear it is.

[Dazzle]

Oh dear. It’s looking strongly like season over.

[VTID85]

1. How does a headed touch lob a 2m tall goalkeeper?
2. Why do we take so many touches in the box pinging it back and forth with no-one just SMASHING THE FUCKER AT GOAL?
3. How does a 5min spell for the opposition rip the preceeding 40mins to shreds?

[big ming]

Seems to me that, if you are going to pay pro footballers thousands a week, the least they should be able to do is control a football.
Dean Smith is struggling but the players are not doing the basics. Hopefully we are not going to be in a relegation scrap but we might be if we continue just caving in.

[VTID85]

Miserable Saturdays are properly here again. Hope this isn't all we have to look forward to every week til the end of the season now with no World Cup or Euros to look forward to.

[Jae1411]

I honestly think it's just a lack of effort and half of them are downing tools. Contracts not being renewed, people being told they can leave. In the first 10 minutes yesterday Rodriguez dropped off between our defence and midfield. Mings spotted the run, called hourihane who just waved him off, then he called whelan but he wasn't close enough and it was too late, ball in to Rodriguez feet and he put Robson kanu through 1 on 1. Mings was trying everything he could to gee players up, but nobody except tammy seemed to be reacting to him. I fear a large portion of the Bruce brigade know their time is up and just don't care. It really says something when only a few player look bothered and they're on loan or an academy kid

[VillaBill]

Awful again yesterday & Moore changed Albion for the second half knowing we didn’t have enough
Kalinic 5/10 ( I thought first goal had gone over)
Hutton 4 ( huge gaps his side)
Elphick 5 ( goals conceded since his return?)
Mings 6 (ok)
Hause 6 (probably his best performance, improvement)
Whelan 6 (ok)
Connor 4 ( invisible)
McGinn 5 ( not at his best)
Elmo 4 ( waste of a shirt)
Green 5 ( no help from ref, got kicked out of game)
Tammy 4 ( couldn’t trap a bag of cement)
We need to work for next year now, get Davis up top for a start

[Dions_Bald_Head]

That's more goals conceded than any other club in the top four leagues, according to the BBC. I know Bruce left us woefully short & Chester's been out, but what defensive coaching is going on?

Concerned that this lack of effort harks back to the rumoured dressing room bust-up. I agree with VillaBill - start the work for next season by seeing if there's anyone else in the squad/academy willing to put some effort in.

[Army villain]

Well that was another game that the old senior players did not show up, they are not putting any effort into the game.DS has not control over them.I remember a comment he made at one of the games, he said he was not expecting that performance from his players. Since he told most of them he will not be renewing their contracts, so they have stopped putting a shift in. Just shows the fans , that they just in it for the money. The players we got in on January did have a go.We need to get behind Smith and the management, let's see if we can build a football team we have the support UTV

[Dazzle]

I wonder what the midfield will look like for the Stoke game? No McGinn now, suspended. If Grealish and Lansbury are still unavailable we really are up against it.

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