Woody1000

On the one hand I would like him to be given time, we've had quite a few injuries - I don't think the fact that he has never been able to choose from a fully-fit squad should go unnoticed. But on the other hand he just looks completely clueless at times, I think I've yet to see us win a league game under him that we've gone behind in. His substitutions (or sometimes lack of them) are baffling. The big question is will he improve?

He is becoming a terrific player. I can admit that I didn't believe the hype at first, but this boy is special. If he can add a few more goals to his game, then I can see home being the best player we've had for a long, long time.

Don't know about starting him, but I agree that he should be ahead of Gestede at the moment.

The worrying thing about the mistake last week was that it was from coming for a cross, something that I think most of us would agree is one of Brad's 'strong' points. As a goalkeeper myself, it just looks to me like his confidence is shot. His distribution has always been average at best, but when you see Brad making mistakes in areas he normally excels in then you get the impression that something is up.

Westwood is neat and tidy with the ball, but I feel that is biggest weakness is his positional sense - he just seems to completely lose his man at times. Definitely not our worst player yesterday by any means, but a disappointing game for him none the less.

My thoughts? He is giving me a boner, but I just can't see the song catching on.

Thought I'd give this thread a bump as I would imagine that with Gana's hamstring injury he'll be coming back into the side. Hopefully he will pick up where he left off against Notts County where I would say while not spectacular, it was his best performance in a Villa shirt so far.

Benteke started slowly? Your memory must be off thunderball, he was great from the off. He's started off slowly for Liverpool though I'd say 2 goals in his first 10 games is starting pretty slowly, especially when you consider that he averaged nearly a goal a game in his time at VP. Ayew needs some time, and I think football fans (myself included) are much too quick to judge a player nowadays. I think we need to give all the new foreign signings until May before we cast our judgement, they are taking on a new league and a new way of life, and I think they deserve until then. I can admit that I've not been impressed by what I've seen so far in claret and blue, but he scored a nice goal for Ghana the other day (the matchwinner I believe) so at least we know he has it in his locker. There's plenty of time for him to improve.

Nice to see a loan deal that doesn't only benefit the parent club. Looks like a decent ball playing defender, surprised he's never had a sniff with Liverpool to be honest.

Him and Lescott in tomorrow and I think we can all agree that this has been a pretty decent window.

Solid signing, especially for the fee reported. Got to be honest, a back 4 of Hutton, Richards, Lescott and Amavi is pretty decent defensively imo.

Seems similar to his stats last season, so obviously they are his strong points. Really enjoying watching this lad develop, I have no problem with us being a 'finishing school' for these sort of players - it's a joy to watch them.

If Carlos can play to his strengths i.e Win ball and give it to someone more creative, then he will be a very important player for us.

I feel that he's being shoehorned into the team off the back of popping up with an assist. In a lot of ways, Bacuna is a prime example of why stats aren't always the best way of judging a player - sometimes you watch a player and just know he's a good player, you don't need to read any numbers. I'm not saying he's a bad player, but for me he's 2nd choice RB in our current squad and no more.

I don't think we can be too upset with Sherwood about the team he put out yesterday. His hand was forced somewhat by the sickness bug (which incidentally I hope isn't becoming an annual thing after Arsenal last season as well), and the team that he did put out had 21 shots. We did enough to win the game yesterday. As Trent said, blame the players for the failure to take 3 points.

I think I just need to stay out of this thread as it just makes me angry. Brad Guzan is officially the Aston Villa Scapegoat for 2015/16 season.

I kind of get the impression with Sinclair that he's the sort of player who runs hot and cold. The key is knowing when to play him and when to bench him, and imo he is in form and needs to be in the starting 11 tomorrow.

I'm sorry to single you out, but I think this is an awful post. It's opinions like this that make me think that that rather than Gabby, the club would be better off without fans like you!

This is as bad as the Guzan thread - a load of people chiming in when it seems clear they don't have the first clue about how to play in goal.

Amavi - Lescott - Okore - Richards That would be a top defence (I'm not keen on Richards at centre back) Okore is absolutely shit. Well he doesn't rate you too highly either...

I really feel for Gary Gardner. He had so much potential as an 18 year old, easily as much as Jack Grealish has now even, but injuries have robbed him of valuable years of his footballing development, and while I feel that he will still go on to have a decent career (with us or elsewhere), it will never hit the heights that it should have.

I feel that if we want Austin, then we'll have to pay for him this summer. If we wait to get him on a 'free', I feel we are allowing a club in a better position than us like Liverpool or Spurs to steal him. It's only my opinion, but I think that if you add Austin to what we've already got, and a few of our new signings hit good form, then you've potentially got a Top 10 side there. Is that worth an extra £15m?

#senderboss

Was very poor last night, how Sinclair got hooked off instead of him left me baffled. I'm not writing him off, but he needs to improve quickly or he's going to get lost in the shuffle with Gil, Grealish and Adama to come in.

I thought he got the substitution horribly wrong. Sinclair was looking our most dangerous player in the second half, while Ayew was struggling. We seemed to be building some momentum at the time, and then it just went flat.