In that case I'll let him off for being crap then Hard enough playing at thet level for the 1st time without trying to do so carrying some sort of injury.
We all know the small squad philosophy of el loco but if the top brass can't see the length of the list then there 5 year plan is going to go up in smoke and the riches that will evaporate along with it....come on surely they must hold a bit of sway regarding telling the man we need some recruits ffs
I myself have said we need a striker but the truth is we need more competence from our midfield. Man City havent used a No9 for 2 seasons and Liverpool have Mane but hes not a No9. Pressing teams with posession at the heart ofbtheir game are using competent midfielders and wing backs and thats where thgoals are coming from. Yes false No9 etc but thats just a position and why Bielsa never seems to want an out and out striker, he wants rotating positions and defenders dragged about and goals coming from all over. We have been used to low number of goals from out striker but goals from Klich, Harrison, Dallas, Hernandez. (All scored between 6-12 each season) This season Harrison has failed so far Raphinha has stepped up but nobody else as yet Inthink Harrison and Dalas ave scored 2 so far and James has now scored 2 but only 2 from Bamford, 1 from Bamford replacement Gelhardt and Rodrigo 2. We need more from all of them
The danger for them has been ignore Bielsa and sign a few players against his wishes and he'd just walk. The squad we have simply isn't good enough for any other manager or coach to get more out of them than Bielsa is currently managing so it is a bit of a catch 22. Throw in how much we have wasted on players who are simply not good enough and unless we have a huge amount to throw at this close season we're in for more the same next season
Lets hope we never buy that bagofwank Rashford, what a useless, greedy twat. Now Buendia is the player we should have bought 2 seasons ago because hes different gravy and is creative has hell, plus we could have had Watkins at the same tie but knocked them both back? How different would things ave been
Not sure we knocked either of them back Doc. Similar to Ben White we just weren't prepared to pay what was necessary to make it happen.
Buendia clearly has talent but he hasn’t really shone for Villa. Watkins is a solid striker but nothing special in my opinion. I’d be happy with either in my squad but thought they were expensive at the time.
Both Leeds and Villa out of the FA Cup so our postponed league game could get rearranged for the 5th Feb (FA Cup 4th round weekend). Think it was an Amazon Prime game though so maybe not. Burnley out as well of course.
Read that as Burnley game was postponed first, so that would take priority, also would mean we play Villa twice in 4 days, whether that would have any bearing on it.
Rather we just said " soz we're busy that weekend " and the new signings will have more time to settle in Surely we are signing new players if U23's are leaving on loans.
I can't see us letting them go without someone coming in, that would be madness at present, perhaps that's why they've not gone out yet, waiting for the new signings first, or seeing if any of the wounded are returning. Hearing Struijk could be another long term casualty, couple of months by the sound of it.
Evening all, At the risk of being shot to bits after reading today's thread, you do understand that it's not easy finding good players to sign, don't you? I know you do because you've been posting about the money we've wasted on players we've signed. I agree with Doc, top teams don't have a traditional CF, they have a front 3. Our problem is converting the chances we create or, more accurately, making better decisions in dangerous areas. With a few exceptions we've had the same problem for years. Even with the catalogue of injuries we have had, our defence looks solid even with changed personnel. Our heavily depleted team went head to head with one of the stand out teams in the PL this season (who were pretty much at full strength). We are streets ahead of the teams fighting at the bottom even with our threadbare squad so I'm still trusting the club. We're having a tough year with injuries but we're not adrift at the bottom like anyone reading this would think. Imagine how fresh our players will be when they eventually come back
Not too sure about our defence looking solid, we have conceded more goals than anyone apart from the bottom 2.
I genuinely think the issue is lack of quality further forward. We make too many individual errors giving the ball away cheaply leaving the defence badly exposed. Our defenders are very good.
Definitely a lot better than we were at defending set pieces/corners. We haven’t conceded many from those - if any. Most of the goals have come when the defence have been left exposed by the players in front of them not tracking back, attacks breaking down because of a loose pass etc. Our defenders themselves are excellent and aren’t the problem.
With Hjelde, Cresswell, Struijk and Drameh I am confident our defence is solid for many years to come. I’m not sure Firpo will ever complete more than 75% of games, he’s a bit on the fragile side, I’m warming to him but he reminds me of Pablo, the slightest knock and he’s asking to come off, he not a Kisnorbo. Life after Bielsa, would the next coach feel Struijk could cover as Dallas isn’t getting any younger? We need to hold on to Phillips, Gelhardt and Raphinha, give James a bit more time on the left to see if he can improve but the rest of them, I don’t care who we replace. Rodrigo, Klich, Roberts, Harrison, Shackleton they can all leave tomorrow. Bamford, we all know what he does for the team, he’s keep for now until we’ve sorted out the midfield but he’s always going to miss important chances.
