It would seem I was right to try and underplay things, having listened to that game.
We started brightly, but seemingly got worse as the game went on. Which figures. They’re the same players.
But having only listened to it on AVTV, which is very more factual, it’s hard to gauge any nuances or opinions as to how we actually looked as a side.
Here, I could use your opinions.
Smith brought Bolasie on for Elmo and then Hourihane for Grealish, which is probably very similar to what Bruce would have done, imo.
So basically Smith changed little and used the game to look at our weaknesses.
What could he have seen?
I don’t have a clue, apart from the fact that we simply can’t keep up a winning mentality.
This is what Smith needs to instill, imo.
Still, I can’t complain too much.
We won and that’s what it’s all about.
All very much as expected .
We ain’t changing anything overnight.
Agreed Badger – high expectations but basically the same short comings – hence I went for the draw. Don’t get me wrong, really pleased that we won but Smith is not going to change things overnight.
To me most pleasing aspect was keeping a clean sheet and winning the game after scoring within 8 minutes.
Early days; just have to keep the faith UTV
But that’s exactly my worry Hitch.
Today was probably a result I could have predicted under Bruce.
An average win against an average Swansea side, that posed more threats as it went on.
If we hadn’t scored first, what would you have been thinking?
We need to start looking at how to kill games off.
Hopefully Smith will sort that.
No offence Badger, but you worry too much!
No offence taken.
I probably do worry too much, but it’s only because I want us to do well.
Hopefully illI be worrying less under Smith.
Congratulations to Dean Smith and his team. A good start. We are only 3 points from the play off zone, even with a number of issues to be sorted.
Rome cannot be built in a day.
UTV
Really pleased for Dean Smith to get a win on his first game in charge. Don’t know much about the game except Abraham had good chances to finish them off and Hyland made great saves to keep us in it. The important thing though is a win, a clean sheet and a confidence boost. Happy days!
I watched the game on AVTV which I have to say, is not the best. I wish they’d bring Jack Woodward and Tony Morley – much more interesting.
As for the game, it was essentially the same old Villa, sparkling at times but the final ball was so often lacking. And there are still far too many misplaced passes. McGinn was one offender who we can forgive for the number of times he wins back the ball and drives us forward, but If Smith can fix the unforced errors and stray passes in the middle of the park, then we’ll be a lot more effective.
Defensively, we set up in a more orthodox line and it paid off. We’re still very dodgy at the back but Nyland pulled off a couple of game winning saves. I like the fact the we are trying to build from the back and not lumping it up field; that was clearly a directive. When Nyland did kick it out he rarely got it right and several time bounced it out of bounds – an area he can improve.
All in all though, we won with an average display. Smith has a lot of work to do.
Yes, good shout bill.
The commentary on AVTV is purely factual.
I’d much preferred to have listened to this via WM.
But it seems their hands are tied.
Nyland’s been bouncing it out of play every since his debut against Wigan. New goalkeeper a must in January. But have to credit him for the clean sheet and saving the three points at the end.
i am happy just heard smiths match reactions. he said he worked on without the ball during the little time he had. i was impressed with how they hunted the ball particular first half. its a massive improvement on that part. they also offered themselves more to the man on the ball. we had good options. second half we seemed to run out off steam, but held on but should have been much further ahead if we had taken just one of a few good chances we spurned.
Ran out of steam?
Is this a fitness problem, in your opinion?
Or do we just run out of ideas?
i am not entirely sure why, maybe swansea stepped it up more. or like you said we ran out of ideas. we were really good first half much better than any other games this season maybe with brentford exception. but long before swansea stepped it up, we did have chances to finish the game off.
we showed improvements without the ball, better movement with the ball, but passing was again not up to scratch for such talented players. we should be better and we will be. smith decided to work on getting the ball back and we did that high up in the opposition half. that is hard to achieve cause its physically hard work.
That’s how it looked to me, we ran out of steam, first half exceptable in we worked hard for the ball , but things like our goalie diving for a ball that’s gone ten ft past the post , passing went astray from defence to attack.To be honest it didn’t look much different from Bruce’s play in second half, I know we have to give it time for Smith to gel what he’s been given, and I’m sure he will.good win.
3 points. God anoints.
Strictly Come Dancing.
Idiots prancing.
(But hey, the kids love it).
For those who are saying ‘nothing’s changed’, I think there was a huge change in that we only scored one goal and it was enough to win a game. The fact that the new management team have said that they worked a lot on the defensive side with the time they had with the players is encouraging. They’ve identified the reason why we’re not top of the league (which wasn’t difficult, to be fair) and have gone to work to fix it. Well done! On another day, we might have scored 2 or 3 with better finishing.
There were also changes in the starting 11. It wasn’t like Bruce at all. There way we go on on here, you’d think we were Man City and we expect to win 5-0 every week with champagne football.
We need to battle and grind out results up until the New Year. We have a very tough run of fixtures coming up. The league is so tight, pretty much every team could challenge for the play offs.
Reality check guys. We won. We got a first clean sheet. We could’ve had more goals. Our bench looks strong. We’re 3 points off the top six. The defence will be strengthened in January.
More big crowds and positive atmospheres and we’ll be ‘there or thereabouts.’ Who was it who said that?
Just looking at the table. It’s so tight it’s incredible! So much more interesting than just watching Man Citeh running away with title after title… Can we win the league but stay in it please?
I guess the tiredness could be down to working harder without the ball. It would be interesting to see the Opta stats and compare with previous games. If it’s fitness that is going to take some time to address. Where we should improve is in retaining the ball. That should help on energy levels too.
Smith played full backs in their natural positions. That has got to help the defence get more resilient. We got a clean sheet. When was the last time?
Onwards and upwards.
But these are professional sportsmen. They have no excuse to be out of shape at this level. I think it’s a mental block. Aren’t you taught to let the ball do the running?
You would think so. Under Bruce w didn’t press, and often didn’t play from defence through midfield. It required less energy and I think that might be why the players aren’t at peak fitness. Time will tell. If we keep possession better we will make the opposition work harder, so maybe it will be them that tire first.
Totally agree that it’s unacceptable though.
Tough game on Tuesday night away to Norwich and it’s live on Sky TV. Right now I would be happy with a draw. We don’t have a good record at their ground and Smith has always had to rely on home form, particularly at Brentford. I would expect the goalkeeper and back four to keep their places, but midfield might need freshening up with games coming thick and fast. Could Bolasie start for the first time? El Ghazi hasn’t had many opportunities, plus Hourihane will be eager to start. If Smith can get these players playing at their best, then our squad will be a match for anyone, defence apart.
I’ve said it several times Holte, but I think we should go two holding midfielders away from home, so I’d put Jedi or Whelan in and replace Elmo with Bolasie. That way, there’s an extra shield for the defence, but we add a little more going forward.
We pressed higher and stopped just hoofing long balls from the back. 2 big improvements from Bruce’s era. Major changes wont happen overnight but I’m.glad we held on for the win could be huge in building momentum.
For Tuesday i think he will need to freshen up in midfield esp with game on friday too. We have a big squad so shouldn’t be an issue.
Thought this piece in the Telegraph was interesting. Smith talked about working in training without the ball and, maybe like me, assumed this was all mainly about better defending – not so apparently ….
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/football/2018/10/21/jack-grealish-can-become-even-better-says-dean-smith/
I know it sounds laughable right now, but how about getting out of this league, investing wisely, then challenging for the PL title within 3 years? Leicester did it, so why not?
Why did we come so close in ‘93? Because Big Ron wanted to win it. I recall Andy Gray (before he was lured by Sky) saying “we came here to win that”, “that” being the old 1st division. After that, I recall Gregory saying “we wanna win it” and we know Gregory flirted with the top of the PL on several occasions. MON, on the other hand, seemed content to scrape top 4. You never got the impression he wanted to win the league, despite the significant funds he had. And that’s why he fell short every time. If he’d aimed for 1st he’d have got at least 4th. But he aimed for 4th, so finished 6th.
Bruce was the same. He was aiming for play offs and fell short. Yes, 2nd was available very briefly, after the Wolves win and after we beat Blues at home, but we were never in the top 2 consistently.
My point is, a club like Aston Villa needs its leaders, firstly the manager, to get the message clearly across, that whatever league this club is competing in, the objective is to win that league. End of. That can only happen with a stable structure in place. Doug Ellis gave the club that structure and now, without wishing to tempt fate, it appears that with Sawiris, Edens, Purslow, Smith, and Terry ‘in charge’, we have that structure. Not to mention ‘Jesus’!
Let’s see if these men have the vision and drive to make Aston Villa great again. I really don’t see any reason why not. First thing’s first. Let’s get out of The Championship!
Rome wasn’t built in a day and neither is a decent football team. I think that fans and especially the owners need to have some patience and not expect miracles.
Personally so long as I can see some progress being made and some logical decisions being made by the management team I’ll be happy.
Prediction Norwich 1-2 Villa
Off topic but I think a valid point for debate. Rowett has been charged by the FA in respect of remarks he made to the referee on Saturday. There appears to be a difference of view on the words used but i’m not sure that’s the real issue.
I think most observers would ageee that the standard of football in the Championship has improved and there’s very little between (say) the top six Championship sides and the bottom six in the Prem. However, it seems to me that the general standard of refereeing in the Championship is poor by comparison and the EFL are covering it up by taking draconian action whenever it’s challenged.
Chester’s sending off is an example. According to those better informed than me, the referee having awarded a penalty should have shown Chester a yellow card in line with new rules and guidelines (a ‘double’ penalty in the circumstances being unjust). However when Villa sought to challenge the decision (have the card reduced to a yellow) they were advised the EFL might increase the ban to 3 games having, by implication, already admitted the error by only banning him for one game (but still a double penalty).
Or perhaps I’m wrong?
I can’t comment on Rowett, as I know nothing about that story, but there’s no doubt the refereeing in the championship is particularly inconsistent.
Oh b***er – I was feeling quietly confident about tonight but then it seems McGinn has got a one match ban for 5 yellows. How do we replace him in midfield? Wheelan?
Minded to think a draw would be a decent result given our recent awful record at Carrow Road.
Whelan or Jedi, then but Bolasie in for Elmo. What we’ll lose from McGinn, we’ll gain from Bolasie, and defence should be tighter with Thor and Jedi in front of them. I know we’re sick of draws and not really what we need, but it would be a good result, given their position.
I might actually a Sky Sports pass for the week if we’re on TV tonight. Hope it’s not the kiss of death! 😁 Would be good to see the changes in effect.
Yep, on Sky tonight – full coverage