Villa

[sickParrot]

"The three players who scored for Manchester City are worth more than my whole squad" 

Aguero £35m
Jesus £27m
Mahrez £60m 

Villa wasted £126m last summer 

[Derek Hardballs]

For all the talk of Villa needing a striker, it’s not goals they struggle with, it’s stopping them going in the other end, and that’s something Smith’s sides have always failed to stop.

Sheffield United have scored 4 less goals than Villa, but are in the top 6... crucially they’ve conceded less than half what Villa have. Even Southampton who got hit for 9 in one game have let in fewer goals.

If they are to stay up they need to tighten up at the back, not focus on sounding millions on some big name striker who may or may not get 5-6 goals between now and May.

This.

Its why I'm always amazed at some of the Smith supporters on here like Derek who go nuts about managers organising defences yet wanted Smith, who has always failed at it

I just wanted to get promotion and felt Smith was a better choice than DM and particularly when he employed Jones (which you know isn’t hindsight). I still maintain he did a good job at Walsall who have fallen away to the nether reaches of the League Two now and Brentford. I was aware of his defences were not great but I’m also aware Bilic’s West Ham were a shambles at the end of his tenure and I’m willing to support him and dampen the meltdowns despite preferring teams built on solid defence first. 

He’s lost his way / out of his depth it seems in the Prem and his silly comments towards us are twattish I accept. That said the irony of some on here calling him a gammon makes me smile

[Peachy]

Interesting reading the Smith Out thread on H&V. Lots of them make reference to the fact that they need to stay up as they don't have any money to spend and the owners will no longer speculate with fee's.

All are resigned to losing Mings, Grealish and McGinn if they drop and most seem to think none of that money would go on strengthening the side.

Maybe FFP is biting after all?

[SW4Baggie]

Interesting reading the Smith Out thread on H&V. Lots of them make reference to the fact that they need to stay up as they don't have any money to spend and the owners will no longer speculate with fee's.

All are resigned to losing Mings, Grealish and McGinn if they drop and most seem to think none of that money would go on strengthening the side.

Maybe FFP is biting after all?

Their owners have spent millions clearing up Xia's mess, bankrolling the club to the tune of £4m a month last season, buying the stadium and investing over £150m in the squad... 

It's fair to say they've probably invested close to £200m of their own money into the club in 12 months, as well as investing a large amount of the PL money. 

If after all that they wind up in same position they were in when they bought the club - in the Championship with a very expensive squad and the authorities sniffing around their books - you have to question their sanity if they believe throwing more money in is the right approach.

[Tom Joad]

Interesting reading the Smith Out thread on H&V. Lots of them make reference to the fact that they need to stay up as they don't have any money to spend and the owners will no longer speculate with fee's.

All are resigned to losing Mings, Grealish and McGinn if they drop and most seem to think none of that money would go on strengthening the side.

Maybe FFP is biting after all?

Some that come in my local were talking that FFP will bite them if they go down. It's genuinely the first time I've heard them speak realistically! Currently only Norwich are in worse shape. Bournemouth look poor, as do West Ham, but they have better players to utilise. I'd fancy Watford and Southampton to pull clear. For me, it's Norwich and villa to drop, plus one more.

[Malcolm Tucker]

Interesting reading the Smith Out thread on H&V. Lots of them make reference to the fact that they need to stay up as they don't have any money to spend and the owners will no longer speculate with fee's.

All are resigned to losing Mings, Grealish and McGinn if they drop and most seem to think none of that money would go on strengthening the side.

Maybe FFP is biting after all?

They shouldn't worry too much about losing Mings. He's fucking shite.

[MGalea]

Interesting reading the Smith Out thread on H&V. Lots of them make reference to the fact that they need to stay up as they don't have any money to spend and the owners will no longer speculate with fee's.

All are resigned to losing Mings, Grealish and McGinn if they drop and most seem to think none of that money would go on strengthening the side.

Maybe FFP is biting after all?

They shouldn't worry too much about losing Mings. He's fucking shite.

Top arfage!

[Malcolm Tucker]

Interesting reading the Smith Out thread on H&V. Lots of them make reference to the fact that they need to stay up as they don't have any money to spend and the owners will no longer speculate with fee's.

All are resigned to losing Mings, Grealish and McGinn if they drop and most seem to think none of that money would go on strengthening the side.

Maybe FFP is biting after all?

Some that come in my local were talking that FFP will bite them if they go down. It's genuinely the first time I've heard them speak realistically! Currently only Norwich are in worse shape. Bournemouth look poor, as do West Ham, but they have better players to utilise. I'd fancy Watford and Southampton to pull clear. For me, it's Norwich and villa to drop, plus one more.

After Watford turned United over I fancied it'd be the bottom three as it is now to drop. Bournemouth and Villa were both unbelievably bad yesterday.

The only other sides I could see getting involved would be Burnley and Newcastle. Burnley seem to stay up by going on a run of Champions League level form for a couple of months each season - which you'd think can't happen every season - while Newcastle have a shocking list of injuries, coupled with a lack of goals in the squad.

[SW4Baggie]

Interesting reading the Smith Out thread on H&V. Lots of them make reference to the fact that they need to stay up as they don't have any money to spend and the owners will no longer speculate with fee's.

All are resigned to losing Mings, Grealish and McGinn if they drop and most seem to think none of that money would go on strengthening the side.

Maybe FFP is biting after all?

Some that come in my local were talking that FFP will bite them if they go down. It's genuinely the first time I've heard them speak realistically! Currently only Norwich are in worse shape. Bournemouth look poor, as do West Ham, but they have better players to utilise. I'd fancy Watford and Southampton to pull clear. For me, it's Norwich and villa to drop, plus one more.

Wouldn’t rule out Burnley and/or Brighton being dragged in.

They should both just have enough but Burnley have been poor for weeks now and Dyche doesn’t have a lot to play with... their next 7-8 look horrible too.

[B36baggie]

"The three players who scored for Manchester City are worth more than my whole squad" 

Aguero £35m
Jesus £27m
Mahrez £60m 

Villa wasted £126m last summer 

Them three combined are probably worth more than Villas whole squad currently so he was kind of right even if that wasn’t his meaning.