If We Can’t Beat Ipswich, We Are Really Done for the Season - Notes for Aston Villa Friday, 25th Jan 2019 10:50 by HarryFromBath HarryFromBath assesses the mood in the opposition camp ahead of Saturday’s game at Villa Park by delving into their forums. “Well, boys and girls, we appear to be going backwards”, “We’re just nowhere near ready to go up”, “The last few games have been abysmal, we make everything look so difficult”, “It could be over for our play-off ambitions if we don’t bounce back really quickly after our recent turgid performances.” “My play-off hopes are pretty much dead.” Villa head into Saturday’s game sitting comfortably 13th in the table but a five-game winless run, including a poor 3-0 loss at Wigan two weeks ago, have dented the hopes Claret and Blues may have had of mounting any sort of serious promotion charge. “The season is gone. We should prioritise players we need to develop and bed in for next season”, “We need to build as we will be here for a while and not be the smash-and-grab yo-yo team we were hoping to be. It’s three years in now, so we need to plan and build a team from the ground up.” “I don’t understand how it has gone so bad so quickly”, “It’s all so typically Villa, the occasional bout of hope and good form followed by a period of sustained capitulation. Once you understand that, it becomes easier to accept”, “You get the odd glimpse and then it’s back to earth with a crash again.” “We have big problems”, “The Wigan display was one of the poorest I have seen for a long time and it has been poor for the last few months”, “It was an abomination and represents a nadir from which we climb back up”, “We’re built on sand”, “We’re a mess, as poor as we were under Steve Bruce.” Dean Smith“For the first few games under Smith we were brilliant, shaky at the back but superb going forward. Our frontline was far too good for the best defences in the league. A couple of months later we now can’t string two passes together and we are also being constantly pressed back inside our own half.”  Dean Smith (Aston Villa)The 47-year-old left Brentford in October to take over at the club he has supported since childhood. An initial honeymoon period saw Villa go on a seven-game unbeaten streak, but this recent poor run has highlighted the work needed to get his inherited squad playing a very different style of football. “We definitely had a bounce when Dean Smith arrived. We looked terrific in the first few games, which makes the last few weeks even more baffling”, “The crisp one and two-touch passing we first saw under him has disappeared”, “It looks like the honeymoon period is now over. This is reality.” “Smith, if you don’t turn this around you won’t get until the end of the season,” A minority of fans are already voicing their doubts. “It looks increasingly like he has run out of ideas and it doesn’t bode well at all”, “This isn’t Brentford. Smith just won’t get the time here that they allow their managers.” “The ‘Smith needs time’ stance will soon be forgotten”, “Which would be disastrous”, “I do despair. Some fans want him out after three months when the transfer window hasn’t got going. You can’t change the whole philosophy of a club in three months with little or no change to the playing staff.” Cautious, Disjointed Football“Something is wrong with this team. You don’t get this bad overnight”, “This team is not playing as a team at all”, “We play one-dimensional football which is too reliant on wing play and deep crosses”, “I wish we would try to do a bit more than go out wide. It’s all so very reminiscent of Steve Bruce.” “Our tempo is terrible. Every player needs two or three touches to control the ball and then a few seconds to release it. We are so easy to close down it’s very worrying”, “For Smith’s high-press style, the players aren’t working hard enough and they don’t have the discipline for it to be successful.” “The defence is very poor and our possession and creative players offering options have gone off the boil. We give the ball away too cheaply”, “We have nothing in the middle of the park. We are unable to control games even a little bit and always seem to revert to the Hollywood across-the-pitch pass.” “It would help if we had a leader on the pitch. Nobody organises the back four and nobody clenches their fist and demands a response. We are a leaderless team on the pitch”, “We have no confidence. What on earth has happened to the team that was beating the top six for fun earlier in the season?” KalinicHuttonChesterElphickTaylorHourihaneBjarnasonMcGinnAdomahAbrahamBolasie
“An utterly uninspiring team.” Smith has preferred working with a 4-3-3 as was the case against Hull last week (above), but he has not been afraid to switch to a front two if needed as he also did late on in the same game (below). “The switch to 4-4-2 gave us another option. We created more chances.” KalinicHuttonElphickChesterTaylorHourihaneMcGinnEl GhaziGreenAbrahamKodjia
“I would be pleased just to see an improvement in defence as it has been shocking for weeks”, “We lose the ball in dangerous situations and it’s completely unacceptable at this level”, “We were not defensively great under Bruce, so I’m not surprised we are worse playing a more attacking style.” January arrival Lovre Kalinic has replaced the injured Orjan Nyland in goal, but some of his handling has already unnerved supporters. Centre-halves James Chester and Tommy Elphick have struggled to adapt to playing out from the back, while newly-arrived Kortney Hause is still building match fitness. The lack of cover for the two attacking full-backs is a bigger worry. “Our inability to bring the ball out from defence and the glaring issues at full-back are just killing us. Every team now knows to attack the Alan Hutton-shaped hole in defence on the right or the non-entity that is Neil Taylor on the left.” “Where the hell is our midfield? Our midfielders are never available for the simple pass”, “We need to push a midfielder further into the box otherwise Abraham is completely isolated”, “Midfield is the weak link. This team is simply screaming out for a defensive midfielder who can do the leg work.” “How do you build a good midfield out of Birkir Bjarnason, Conor Hourihane, Glenn Whelan and John McGinn? If you play with two you are overrun. If you play with three you are almost overrun”, “They don’t pass into dangerous pockets of space. It is ineffective football, far too slow and far too safe.” “Why aren’t our wingers busting a gut to cover the full-backs?”, “Everyone nullifies us by marking the wide players, knowing we have nothing creative in the middle without Grealish”, “If Smith insists on using his preferred formation with Adomah and Bolasie out wide, then we will lose every game.” No tears were shed when the Claret and Blues sent Yannick Bolasie back to parent club Everton this week. Andre Green has returned from a loan spell at Portsmouth and many see him as a preferred wide option as Albert Adomah has struggled for pace and Anwar El Ghazi has lacked consistency. “It’s painful how much we miss Jack Grealish.” The 23-year-old attacking midfielder has been absent since early December with a shinbone injury and has been hugely missed. “Grealish was able to draw opponents to him and he created the time and space for wingers or the striker to create chances.” “Few players match the intensity of Tammy Abraham”, “I wish the rest of the team cared as much as him.” Abraham has easily been Villa’s stand-out striker. Keinan Davis is a good target man who lacks experience. Jonathan Kodjia’s wider attacking game is weak while Scott Hogan is struggling for form. Aston Villa 2 — 2 Hull“A good comeback but a strange result overall”, “Happy to get a point, especially after the first-half tripe. We ended the game on a high note and that will hopefully carry over to the Ipswich game”, “The first 45 was genuinely appalling but we grew into the game after the break and it was all Villa.” Villa ended Hull’s six-game winning run, coming from two goals down to salvage a point. The Tigers led on 27 via Jarrod Bowen’s left-foot shot before Evandro then acrobatically volleyed in a second 10 minutes later. James Chester headed home a freekick to halve the deficit just before the interval. “Great service and a great goal.” Tammy Abraham brought Villa level on 64 with a calmly-taken low shot. “The second half was night and day from the first. It was better late than never, but we should have won it”, “If we take that momentum into Ipswich next week, we should get the win we need.” Wigan 3 — 0 Aston Villa“What do you even say after that?”, “I’m not sure what has happened. It feels like the season was lost today”, “This is worse than I thought we could perform in my most awful nightmare. There is literally nothing there. It is even worse than under Bruce”, “That was an unmitigated disaster.” Wigan took a well-deserved lead on 41 after Gary Roberts fired home after being set up by Anthony Pilkington. Villa made a triple change with just under half an hour to play but Wigan confirmed their victory thanks to a Michael Jacobs header on 79 and a Joe Garner penalty four minutes later. “In 30 years supporting Villa I honestly can’t remember a worse performance than that, taking into account the opposition who were absolutely dreadful themselves”, “The basics were not there, we were League One standard players with no system, playing as if they had not trained for a month.” KalinicBreeElphickChesterTaylorHourihaneBjarnasonMcGinnEl GhaziAbrahamBolasie
“That’s just about the best team we could put out all things considered.” As things unravelled, Smith substituted Elphick, Bjarnason and El Ghazi with like-for-like replacements in Hause, Whelan and Adomah but to no effect. “I thought the Swansea loss was bad but it was nothing compared to that.” Aston Villa 0 — 3 Swansea (FA Cup Third Round)“The honeymoon is very much over now”, “That was a horrible performance that was vintage Bruce from start to finish”, “We looked completely disjointed and couldn’t hold on to the ball at all. There were so many sloppy passes”, “Thank God it was not a league game. Can you imagine the reaction?” A strong Swansea selection made the perfect start when Courtney Baker-Richardson bundled in the opener from close range inside two minutes and Nathan Dyer added a second for the visitors shortly after the interval. Jay Fulton tapped in a third on 78 to ensure a safe passage into the fourth round. KalinicBreeElphickHuttonTaylorWhelanMcGinnO'HareEl GhaziHoganAdomah
Smith rotated his squad for this game (above) with Chester, Hourihane and the unavailable Abraham replaced by fringe players James Bree, Callum O’Hare and Scott Hogan. It was a disorganised display with Swansea playing on the counter. “Let’s hope we pick ourselves up for Wigan next Saturday.” Goalkeepers and Defenders“What the hell were we doing spending all that money on Lovre Kalinic?” The 28-year-old Croatia international keeper arrived from Gent at the start of January. “He has been spilling every shot no matter how weak and kicking every time either to opposition players or straight out into touch.”  Lovre Kalinic (Croatia)“It’s difficult for new keepers, especially with that defence playing is in front of him”, “I don’t feel so nervous with Kalinic in goal. He has a strong character which could galvanise our defence”, “He looks like a commanding keeper. His distribution is suspect, but the defence must drop back to help him.” “We have to play Alan Hutton. He’s not the best defender in the world but at least he is more attack-minded than most of the team.” The 34-year-old ex-Spurs right-back “seems more like an attacking midfielder than a right-back nowadays”, “If his final ball wasn’t so poor he might be halfway decent.” “Hutton lost his man and casually jogged back for one of Hull’s goals”, “He can’t bomb forward like a 22-year-old these days”, “Then he shouldn’t bomb forward at all”, “He will make an 80-yard forward run and make a big show of it for no reason, thus completely exposing the right side of our defence.”  Alan Hutton (Aston Villa)“Ahmed Elmohamady has made too many errors this season.” The 31-year-old right-sided former Hull man “looked solid last season but now is someone whose positioning and decision-making are appalling”, “He needs to be quicker on the ball and firmer in the challenge. He’s scared to tackle.” “James Bree failed to make an impact at Wigan. He isn’t the answer to our right-back problem.” The 21-year-old former Barnsley man “makes no glaring errors, but he makes so many speculative cross-field balls which no nowhere near our players”, “He’s solid but offers little going forward right now.” “Bree has the energy and physicality to do a job for Dean Smith. He will be an asset in a team playing on the front foot”, “With more games and confidence he will get more involved with our attacking play”, “His passing is iffy and I can’t remember one decent cross he put over in the Wigan game.” “Wigan targeted Neil Taylor.” The 29-year-old former Swansea left-back “needs to never play again. He is a pathetic excuse for a footballer”, “He gets rinsed by wingers and does nothing to get back. He passes backwards, refuses to carry the ball forward and he loses possession 90 per cent of the time.” “Don’t bust a gut running back, will you?”, “Taylor went for a walk for the second Wigan goal and he hasn’t been seen since”, “He has space to attack and passing options but hoofs it instead. He stands off players and lets them get in threatening positions”, “Attacks tend to die when he puts a cross in.” “Kortney Hause looks very rusty.” The 23-year-old January loanee from Wolves made a substitute appearance against Wigan but lacked match fitness. “It was a debut to forget”, “He’s big, strong and quick. He is good physically but he lacks the technical ability to bring the ball out with any comfort.” “Tommy Elphick will suit Smith’s style of football. He looks comfortable in possession, pinging good balls upfield and out wide.” The 31-year-old former Bournemouth centre-back played on loan at Hull for the first half of the season. “He will be good cover but is not a physically domineering defender.” “Elphick’s issue is confidence. It leads to sloppy mistakes, giving the ball away in poor positions and getting caught on the ball too much”, “He lacks pace but is comfortable on the ball. He’s brave and wins his fair share in the air. Given his success at Bournemouth, he should confidently blend in now.” James Chester“Chester has been poor this season as a whole.” The 29-year-old former West Brom man “is so weak with the long ball over the top. He always is caught ball-watching with no idea of where his man is. He scores goals from set pieces but not as many as he is at fault for conceding. He is getting worse.”  Britt Assombalonga (Middlesbrough) v James Chester“Chester never looks comfortable on the ball and is prone to losing possession. He gets turned too easily and end up facing his own goal”, “We are playing a more progressive style of football which is exposing him. For all his faults, he has been one of our best goalscoring defenders in recent years.” Central Midfielders“Callum O’Hare clearly isn’t ready yet to start games.” The 20-year-old youth product has shown he can play the Grealish role but is not there yet”, “He has good ideas but his touch lets him down and physically he’s a little underwhelming, but he makes up for this with his tracking and good pressing.” “It was nice to see Henri Lansbury passing the ball around with greater accuracy than anyone else.” The 28-year-old ex-Forest man has been absent with a hamstring injury but impressed fans in the FA Cup defeat to Swansea. “He might be the player we have been missing once he regains his fitness.” “When Whelan plays, we operate at a snail’s pace.” The 35-year-old former Stoke man “is far too negative. He’s too poor on the ball to be an outlet from the defence to build up play”, “He has no legs. He still knows what to do in his head but his body is letting him down”, “A yesteryear man.” “Whelan’s protection of the back four seems to amount to making sure no pass enters the D of our penalty area and not much more”, “He’s the most experienced player out there but still hoofs the ball at the first sign of pressure”, “Smith likes to press, but Whelan is slow and just can’t do this.” “Conor Hourihane never seems to have an impact on the game.” The 27-year-old ex-Barnsley and one-time Town midfielder “is too soft. He has the strength of a small, decaying twig”, “He will always make the simple cowardly pass back rather than attempt to move the ball forward. He has been so poor.”  Hourihane opens the scoring for Aston Villa“Hourihane really needs to up his game. He does a lot of simple things well but he’s far too passive and casual. He won’t make himself available for the centre-halves. When he has possession, he gives it back to them pointing where they should lump it”, “His set pieces are his one useful contribution.” “Seeing Birkir Bjarnason in the team makes me sad.” The 30-year-old ex-Basel man “is a very limited player. He has no desire or fight. He’s slow at getting up on the second man when the ball breaks in midfield and he gives opponents too much time on the ball”, “I never see him sprinting anywhere.” “Bjarnason never really wants the ball and is always just a little late to close a player down or make a tackle”, “If he wasn’t so sloppy in possession, he wouldn’t make so many careless fouls”, “He’s useful in that he has lots of energy and can pressure people but he’s less effective when creating anything.” John McGinn“Can we sign eight more McGinns please?” The 24-year-old ex-Hibernian man “is an absolute ball of energy who picks up the entire midfield work”, “He’s the only player who plays with enthusiasm and effort. He works hard enough to compensate for odd bits of overexcitement or naivety on the ball.”  John McGinn“John, you have been doing the work of three men for the last month. If you can step up and do the work of five, I would be very grateful”, “He occasionally holds on to the ball for too long and is overly ambitious with his shooting but he carries the whole team. He plays every game as if it is his last.” Wingers and Wide Midfielders“Anwar El Ghazi blows hot and cold.” The 23-year-old August loan acquisition from Lille “cannot be relied on for consistency. He makes some good runs but he also gives the ball away stupidly”, “He seems to be good running with the ball, but his uncompleted pass rate must be incredibly high.” “El Ghazi is frustrating at times but he’s certainly capable of magic”, “He attempts too much at times but he’s often the only real threat of anything happening”, “He has been hit and miss, but he just needs to improve his decision making and his all-round game. It’s easy to overlook how young he is.” “Andre Green is bright but raw, but he came on against Hull and showed some spark.” The 20-year-old youth product returned from a loan spell at Portsmouth last week and appeared off the bench against Hull. “He has less of an X-factor than the other wingers but he’s more reliable and effective.” “Green has good technique and a sweet left foot, an intelligent winger, not a kick-and-rush type with wider awareness and who can fit into a system”, “He has pace and quick feet. He also has a decent shot and his crossing is okay. He must work on his positioning and his habit of drifting out of games.” Albert Adomah“I fear that Adomah’s form will never return.” The 31-year-old ex-Boro winger “has no pace and he won’t take a defender on. He can’t cross and shoots wildly at the wrong time. In short, he doesn’t do anything”, “He has the look of a man trying to wind his career down, going through the motions.”  Albert Adomah v Town“Adomah is not very good, is he?”, “He lacks pace, rarely beats his man and his final ball is dodgy at best”, “He will do the hard work tracking and closing down which we have missed, but he does little with the ball”, “He had one major purple patch but there’s no room for him if we are to progress.” Strikers“Scott Hogan is so limited and struggles on his own up front.” The 26-year-old ex-Brentford man “is dangerous coming off the bench but he had a terrible game against Swansea in the FA Cup, his touch turned to rubbish and he lost possession so easily”, “He tries hard but makes errors at crucial times.”  Keinan Davis (L) and Scott Hogan“Hogan runs the channels and gets no chances”, “He’s supposed to be a live-wire playing off the last man but he’s slow of feet and mind. When he does get chances, he doesn’t finish them”, “He can’t hold the ball up as he’s just not that kind of player”, “He is about as threatening as Timmy Mallett.” “Jonathan Kodjia is a player who is immense but only when the system is designed to accommodate him.” The 29-year-old ex-Bristol City striker “is a player who can change a game. He does likes to run at defenders and he’s decent in the box. He’s frustrating but at least there’s an end product at times.” “Kodjia is technically good but his work rate and urgency are questionable. He doesn’t get stuck in physically and he plays for himself”, “He dribbles too much instead of playing it simply and attacking the right spaces”, “He lacks Abraham’s wider attacking game and doesn’t press defenders urgently.”  Jonathan Kodjia makes it 0-1“When Keinan Davis plays, we have a chance of the ball sticking up front and getting players around him.” The 20-year-old youth product “may not score many goals but he can hold the ball and bring Abraham into play”, “He can lead the line but he’s not able to, and he won’t score enough goals.” “I’m all for playing Davis up front, bringing others into play but I wonder who it will be to actually put the ball in the net”, “We don’t have another forward like him. He’s strong and holds the ball up. He brings others into the game and creates space intelligently. He beats defenders with skill and pace.” Tammy Abraham“I love Tammy. Why he has stayed I don’t know or care. All I know is that he’s scoring goals.” The 21-year-old Chelsea loanee “is such a class act”, “His movement and all-round play means that he finds plenty of chances. He won’t single-handedly pull a rabbit out of a hat but he’s an effective finisher.”  Tammy Abraham“Tammy is the best striker in the division. He has an eye for goal, he’s great at holding the ball up, he can play wide and does his defensive work”, “For his young age, he has been a real leader in the side giving pep talks and instructions to colleagues”, “He is a shining light in a pretty shocking season.” Claret and Blues’ Views on ITFC and the Game“Next up, the mighty Tractor Boys!”, “This is a brilliant chance for Dean Smith to get back to winning ways”, “If we can't beat Ipswich at home we may as well just call it a day”, “Quite frankly if we don't win this, we definitely aren't getting in the top six this season”, “Hard to believe we won't win this.” “As for the game then it’s a bit of a must-win, purely because Ipswich are terrible.” The vast majority of Claret and Blues expect nothing other than a routine home win. “A win isn't enough. A statement will be needed to give fans encouragement and players confidence, a big fat 3-0 or 4-1 statement.” “If we can’t beat Ipswich then we are done for the season really. I have no animosity to Paul Lambert and hope he is given a polite welcome, but his team is made is League One players and third-rate Championship players. If he can beat us with that lot or get a draw against us, then shame on us.” “Lambert will want to get one over on us as well. It will be interesting to see what sort of reception he gets at Villa Park”, “In principle, this one should be a win and that makes me nervous all on its own”, “After nearly getting properly mauled by the Tigers, we risk getting ploughed by the Tractors.” One Villa fan reflected on distant days… “I would have struggled to believe that our visitors would be bottom of this league and we would be in the bottom half of it 38 years after we did battle with each other to be champions of England. We were really the two best teams in England back then. “Although Ipswich fans have always had difficulty in accepting it, we were the best of the two teams having won the Championship trophy by four clear points.” WebsitesThe are a number of active and well-informed Villa message boards. Villa Talk is one of the most active with plenty of insightful contributors and it easy to navigate. Aston Villa highlights are available on the Multimedia menu as well as Ipswich Town and for the whole of the Championship and other EFL leagues.
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