Philosopher

I bet the first thing Mings did at training today was look Gerrard in the eye and say 'I'm ready to play!'

The players he's brought in are quality. Did well in his first 7 or 8 games. Not impressed otherwise.

Gerrard is getting the big calls wrong! This leads to managers getting sacked. He makes the player we should be trying to find an upgrade for captain, takes the captaincy of the best leader in the squad, and drops said defender when he's easily the second best defender in the team. We all saw this coming just not in the first game of the season.

Moore terrorised Konsa today!

I have this guy muted. Seriously not worth anyone's time.

We missed his aerial presence, and leadership today.

Gerrard's big calls exploded in his face. McGinn didn't provide the leadership we needed. We got destroyed on set pieces and crosses, when a real aerial presence would have certainly helped (Mings). Same problems of conceding early, and lacking the patience and speed of moving the ball to break defensive opposition down. S till vulnerable on the counter.

Yep! The Liverpool move destroyed his confidence. Never been the same. Was a lazy bugger though! Also Andy Gray's son is full of shit, just like his dad!

So Tammy, Tomori, Mount and James, were all brought through by Lampard, who couldn't buy anyone for a season. Also Lampard have Hudson-Odoi more of a chance than the previous manager. Apart from that you probably have to go back to John Terry to name a Chelsea youngster that broke through at Chelsea. So many good young players came through their youth system as well. They even bought Matic back for a lot of money from Benfica. They have a terrible record of blooding young players, Lampard was an anomaly. Good luck to Carney, I don't care if he succeeds or fails, it's no longer worth my concern. But I never wish bad for him.or anyone else. 20m for an untested 18 year old is good business. My only complaint is that I feel either Carney and /or his representatives have been a little disrespectful to Villa. He could have been a legend here. Sangare isn't good enough technically for the Premier league. He will get found out. I hope we don't buy him. Connor Gallagher is a young McGinn, and I think we should sell McGinn (once we have bought a quality replacement). Big Tim looks ready to be Kamara's understudy, and a capable one too. Would focus on signing a midfielder that can control the tempo, has a good passing range, and rarely gives the ball away. Archer and Big Tim could save us tens of millions this season. I really think Archer has the qualities that we need in a striker, it's just whether he has those qualities at at the required level. Big Tim is a top DM in the making. Aggressive, strong, tall, a good passing range, the only question marks are desire, and footballing IQ (and that because he is unproven).

He was still average. He a had 3 or good games all season. The rest was mediocre. The other thing to mention with the stats is sub appearances, being subbed, negatively affect the stats. McGinn didn't have one sub app and I'm sure he was subbed less than any other midfielder. Stats come with many caveats, which why I prefer to go by what is see, even though they can be a useful tool.

Things will be interesting this season. With Luiz likely to get more minutes as an 8, and Kamara coming in, with JJ having a full season under his belt, and big Tim expected to feature more.

Clearances is also known as hoofing (sometimes hoofing is necessary others times it's giving the ball away). Ramsey scored more goals. The DM has to hold his position which means his tackles will be less than a box 2 box, or ball winning midfielder. Also the most important stat for a central midfielder is passing. What are his passing stats like while your at it? Comparing to Luiz, apart from tackles, fouls, and clearances their stats are very similar. Luiz fouls a.little less and his clearances are a little less, but clearances is a shit stat imo, especially in this case as Doug always tries to pass out first. This is backed by the passing which doug make a significant amount more passes (43 to 36 in Luiz' favour) and significant passing success rate (87 to 80 in luiz' favour). Goals and assists is 3 assists to 4 in favour of Mcginn, and 2 goals to 3 in favour of Mcginn, with Mcginn having played 372 minutes more football. Defensively Mcginn has more tackles but when a DM is expected to hold position whereas a B2B is expected to close down so this is expected. Defensively there is little to separate them. Passing is a clear winner, but Mcginn is playing higher up and going for risker passes as a result, so while Doug still have the edge, it's not a big as the stats suggest. However in a possession based system this syat has increased weight. Something about the defending that is interesting is both Mcginn and Luiz get dribbled past a good bit more than Ramsey. The story of our midfield is far more complex than x is the best. Ramsey for example scored 6 goals, 3 more that mcginn when he had only 1 shot per game average and over 600 minuted less game time, when Mcginn average 3 shots per game (those stupid long shots). Mcginn has easily the worst passing stats. The stats only tell half the story though.

He and Ty are very good with the fans. I like that Mings is vocal about matters far more important than football. We can disagree with his opinions, but I respect that he is man enough to speak his mind. Ali became the greatest not just because he was a great boxer, but because he transcended boxing, and it was his political activism that facilitated that. Of course we can judge. I've watched McGinn in a Villa shirt for 5 seasons, and under 3 managers (way more than Gerrard), So I'm more than entitledto have an opinion. Of course I don't know what's goes on in the dressing room though., and that gives me a little hope that my analysis is wrong.

He does track back, he's not shit. He is a funny man. But he isn’t a good decision maker on the pitch. Doesn’t play the situation well. Positionally ill-disciplined.

As was pointed out, Robertson is Scotland captain. They lost to a bang average Ukraine team. I don’t care about who scored. BTW if I wasn't and England fan, I'd support Scotland. I love the Scots, I have a little Scottish blood in me also. McGinn I love, but don't rate him beyond average Premier league player. Everytime I watch Villa I struggle to understand the hype. He was brilliant when we were in the Championship. Since we became a premier league team, he's been average. His poor positional discipline, constant hoof the ball out without looking. Playing direct balls forward and giving the ball away when we have been under pressure for ages and need to just slow things down. The list goes on. He isn't that good. I haven't seen a leader in him, ever! I haven't seen good management from Gerrard either. He is a draw, and handles the media expertly. But the actual playing football stuff leaves a lot to be desired. You can have your opinion, and I can have mine. We look at it from different perspectives.

He captains a shit Scotland team, well liked as the dressing room joker, all action that has been rather ineffective since we got promoted, and leads from the front by continuously abandoning his position and having opponents exploit the space that leaves! I guess it's a matter of perspective.

Prove it.

I don't believe Mings is responsible for a losing mentality. The same defence kept 15 clean sheets the previous season and had a fantastic record of seeing out games. Mings may not have been captain then, but he was the real leader. I would say that's more a reflection on the management. However Mings tries to do too much sometimes, so not being captain may help him.

Those poor performances were mostly under Smith. McGinn was average all season. Did very little to write home about. McGinn is not anywhere near being our best, or most undroppable player, or a natural leader, he is just a well liked guy that puts himself about. I don't mind appointing a new captain if he would be a better captain, but I don’t see it. My problem with this is purely McGinn isn't a leader and shouldn't even be a starter if everyone is fit. I actually think we should be cashing in on him.

The captain is there to lead and inspire on the pitch, not a spokesperson, otherwise any idiot could do the job.

I reckon Mings has spoken up against Gerrard or his team on something. This makes no sense otherwise.

I do love him though!

Lack of leaders is a problem with this team. Carlos and Kamara both strike me as leaders, (so will be a big help) as do Mings,Ings and Martinez. McGinn is the dressing room joker, not a leader!

There is nothing about this guy that suggests he's a leader. Bad decision.

Yeah and I can't see Gerrard being manager for long.