M_Afro

Where’s your evidence? They’re good players in your opinion and yet collectively they have never shown it. Deano was the man who built that squad and he paid the price for it. Gerrard has shown that he can sign top players. I am sure he will redress the balance of the side and we will be much the better for it next season. Until then it will be up and down. Getting Marvelous back will help as it brings better balance to the side but I suspect that Gerrard does not see him as the long term solution.

Why do you think it’s a good squad? Where’s your evidence for that? Whenever Grealish has been unavailable are ppg in the Premiership has been relegation battle form.

I think he could be decent playing as a 9. Has anyone seen him play as a 9 in Germany?

Over the past few seasons, we have tried various different formations and tactics to try and get the best out of these players when Grealish was not available and absolutely nothing has worked. Nothing! Perhaps the players are not quite up to the job?! The three big issues we have are the imbalance of the squad (too many attacking players), the lack of players who perform close to their best consistently and a general lack of football intelligence throughout the team. The only way to address any of these things is to move some players out and move some new players in. We have players who are very saleable who we could and hopefully some will move on (Targett, Konsa, Luis, McGinn, Cash, Sanson, Bert, Ings, Watkins, Bailey). If we sell 4/5 of those and then get more suitable replacements in, we can really start to judge Gerrard fairly. If he still can’t get the team to work effectively then, we can seriously start to question whether he is the problem. Until then he deserves time, patience and support.

I thought we were really unlucky in both Utd games. We were also unlucky against Leeds where all of their goals had an element of luck. Brentford scored a worldie that they will never score again and then punished a late mistake when we should have been well ahead. Ings goal against Utd that was ruled out. Ollies goal against Newcastle that was ruled out. We have had a few penalty shouts in those games too which have all been ignored including the one yesterday. Look, I don’t think we are playing well by any stretch but it seems at the moment that every mistake gets punished and we are losing close games as a result. If we get and score that early penalty yesterday, we likely go on to win the game comfortably. We didn’t and Gerrard lost his head a bit with the changes and we lost the game. Had he not changed things we likely would have ended up with a draw but everyone would have gone mad as he hadn’t changed things! I really believe that Gerrard will turn it around and if he doesn’t then he will get sacked but people need to give him a chance. He has inherited a woefully unbalanced squad that needs to be rebalanced. Grealish carried us for the last two seasons and we lost him In the summer. The players we signed in the summer have not yet worked out. I have seen people writing off the players that we have just signed which is mind blowing. We are nowhere near a relegation scrap and we won’t be come the end of the season. We need some luck to go our way and we need some out of form players to regain their mojo. Once we do we will be fine. We can then focus on rebalancing our squad and then we will see what Gerrard can do. Until then we need to get behind the team.

Hilarious. No chance we go down. Delighted to put my neck on the line and bet you whatever you like. Ridiculous over reaction to an admittedly poor but somewhat unlucky spell. I believe Man City are looking for fans. Chance your arm there maybe?

Why does Sanson deserve a shot? If he had earned a shot don’t you think that maybe Smith or Gerrard would have given him one? What make’s you think that Gerrard thinks we’re doing well in midfield? When he first took over he played Nakamba in his team every week. Then, he spent January trying to sign a new central midfielder. Both of those would suggest the exact opposite of your assumption. Maybe he just thinks that our midfield is not great but it’s the best we’ve got for now.

I look at our midfield three and think to myself, that’s not good enough. I then look at the options to replace them and think to myself, they’re not good enough either! Caught between a rock and a hard place. Sanson is obviously not good enough and the youngsters aren’t ready yet. Gerrard had very little choice to be fair.

Take a look at our performances before he took over. We made Southampton and Arsenal look like prime Ronaldinho Barcelona. If Dean had stayed in charge, despite my love for the man, I’m certain we would have been fully engaged in a relegation battle. Our performances of late haven’t been that bad, Newcastle aside. We have been badly let down by individual errors and some pretty bad luck.

I think Ollie needs to come out of the team for a bit. I would keep our normal formation but with Ings in for Ollie. Maybe freshen up the midfield too.

I think we’ll win today. We are due some luck and a decent performance. Watford are low on form and confidence. 2-0 Villa. COYVB. UTV.

Steven Gerrard has raised the whole club since he walked through the door. He has raised our profile simply by being Steven Gerrard. He has raised the standards expected of the players every day as stated by several of the team. He has raised the quality of our signings significantly (we signed Coutinho ffs). He has also improved the quality of our performances (his ppg is higher than our ppg achieved earlier in the season under Dean). The quality of his post match and pre match interviews is also a massive step up. No excuses. No smoke and mirrors. Just hard facts and expectations. It will take him time to get us where we all want to be because the one thing that he can’t change overnight is the balance of our squad which is woefully out of kilter. I expect a high turnover in the summer and given time a much higher quality of performance and a higher league position. This is not instantly achievable and any short term success that new managers bring to clubs like ours is unsustainable. Sustainable success takes time to achieve. It’s all about having the right leadership to achieve our goals. In NSWE, Purslow and Gerrard we have that. The biggest threat to that is the lack of foresight and impatience of our fan base. If we stick with the plan and get behind it then we have every right to be very excited by the future of our club. Not just the next season but the next few decades. I know that most Villa fans can see that and are excited by the prospects. I certainly am. Let’s start with three points today. UTV.

Just watched it. He twice said that this is a tough place to come! WTF! They had only won twice all season before we rolled over. Sorry Matty but if you think that’s a tough place to go then you must be terrified of going anywhere. Ridiculous comment.

First game was the 1982 European Cup QF against Kiev. Seen some wonderful midfielders play for our club. Cowans, Mortimer, Houghton, Townsend, Draper, Boateng, Milner, Barry, Grayson (te he). Luis is miles off on a bad day but much closer on a good day. Sadly the good days are few and far between. I have always wanted him to succeed and believed that he could but my patience has just about eroded. He is a fairly valuable asset as we stand and he could of course go on to great things elsewhere but I just don’t see it happening for him here. I am firmly in the flog him and move on camp now.

You’re not looking hard enough. Re-watch the Newcastle or Leeds games. That should help.

At his best Luis has been really good for us and is easily good enough for a top 10 PL team. Unfortunately, similar to lots of our players, his form is unbelievably inconsistent. He is 20% brilliant, 50% average and 30% absolutely awful. We should be able to get a decent amount for him in the summer and we should sell him.

He always strikes me as a bit of a village idiot. I’ve got nothing against him but I’m glad we have upgraded our left back position. Hopefully we can screw Newcastle for a King’s ransom for him in the summer.

We are close but have too many attack minded players. All the best teams have balance. If you want to play attacking full backs plus Phil, Emi and JJ, then you need 2 proper physical and disciplined DM’s. I think Gerrard is trying to bed in the system so that the players are used to it. He will get the missing links in the summer and we will be much better next season.

I suppose the thinking is that in his two and a half years at the club, there have been loads of times that Targett had been really poor. Yet the club and the vast majority of the fans stuck with him. He had an easy ride as he did not really have any competition. The moment it got a bit competitive for him, he just gave up despite the backing he had previously received. I can see it from his point of view but I am still a bit disappointed by it. Having said that I always thought that he lacked any kind of strength of character and this just pretty much confirms it and thus we are better off without him. He is not alone either. We have been a soft touch for years.

Spot on mate. Each window that passes without us sorting our midfield out makes me wonder what is happening. I do trust the board and think we have been unlucky in our pursuits but it is frustrating. I think that SJM, Luis, Ramsey and Sanson are all probably of PL quality but there is not a balance there that ever looks like a half decent midfield combination. We lack pace and power all over the pitch too. All of our players have similar attributes. All of the best teams need balance. The good thing is that our players are saleable assets. Gerrard will get rid of the right ones and replace them with players that offer a better overall balance. We also lack courage and leadership. We have been so intent on signing the right characters that we are a right soft touch. Next season will be much better. I am certain of that. We really aren’t far away and Gerrard will get it right. This season is basically an audition for our existing players. On current form, not many are doing themselves any favours!

I do think that there is something in the lack of celebration argument. He does congratulate other players when they score and I do believe that he means it but his celebrations are very stunted. He doesn’t seem to celebrate with wild abandon anymore. I think that this is totally out of character for him and thus I wouldn’t be surprised if something was bothering him. Who knows what that is but I hope it’s not too serious. I would give him a couple of weeks off to get himself together or to at least give him some time out of the spotlight. He is easily the most suited villa striker to our style of play but his form is miles off. He seems to lack the effort and intensity of last season too. Give him time off and then hopefully he will come back refreshed.

Most of his good performances come when he plays high up the pitch. Most of his poor performances come when he plays a deeper role. He either needs to win a place as a 10 which is unlikely or he should be dropped. I love SJM but I would be happy to sell him in the summer and replace him with somebody better suited to our formation. I think the same could be said for Luis too to be honest.

Maybe but I’m prepared for us to take the risk. He doesn’t do enough in our team to justify his place.

I though that too and was hoping to see it today. Hopefully it will be Watford now. Gerrard has said he is going to change it and to be honest, Luis, SJM and Ollie do not deserve to be picked.

Bad time to play them. Conversely it’s a good time to play us. We are really missing the balance that Marvelous brings and we will also be missing Emi tomorrow. Comfortable victory for them probably but it’s still exciting times for us and with little Phil in the team, anything is possible.