GeordieVillan

Would love to see us play 5 at the back with Amavi and Hutton/Bacuna as genuine wing backs (basically how Liverpool set up against us). I think it would take some of the burden off our poor-defensively-defensive-midfielders and we'd only need to play 1 player in there (Sanchez/Westwood?). We could then play Gil and Grealish in a more inside forward type role as the width would come from overlapping wing backs. But it doesn't look like this will ever happen I would play 3 at the back, but only if we use Adama as the right wing back - I don't think we rely on Hutton or Bacuna to provide all of our width down the right. I think you would still need both Gana and Sanchez in the middle, but then you could have 2 from Gil / Grealish / Sinclair / Ayew / Gabby playing with Gestede.

Westwood and Veretout can sit alongside each other and I think they'd need to (neither are destructive players) but that's absolutely fine. Gueye is the main midfield "force" now and he looks a good player (despite crap performance against Liverpool - but that was understandable). Agreed they are the 3 we should be playing but Westwood and Veretout need to protect the back 4. Let Gueye break and give the ball to Grealish/Gil/Traore/Gabby/Sinclair/Gestede (I'm sure I've missed someone here) or whichever combination of those lot that we play as "attacking". I think a midfield 3 of any combination of Gana/Westwood/Veretout/Sanchez is just too negative against most teams in the league - there is no goals in any of those midfieders - certainly not in Westwood and Sanchez, but hopefully Gana and Veretout might start chipping in moving forward. If Tim wants to play 3 tight across midfield, then he somehow needs to give Gil/Grealish/Sinclair/Adama that role with more responsibility, and get them to be the main attacking player of the 3. I personally would have Grealish playing just in front of Gana and Sanchez, with license to roam. A bit of no.10 but with more defensive responsibility.

I'm still behind Tim and I would give him until Xmas to see if he can gel the squad together. The points return has been poor so far, but in every game we have at demonstrated that we have something about us, and we've been "in" pretty much every game until the final whistle. I would also say that in pockets of nearly every game, we have played some very good football. He's definitely a step up from Lambert, and I have a feeling that the points will come soon. He still hasn't figured out his best team, but he is getting there. I think he's now resolved that Gestede is going to have to play every game, as he gives us a genuine goal threat when we give him the right service - this is a massive thing for us. He still hasn't worked out how to set us up in central midfield, and who to select, and quite honestly I think the only thing that all the fans agree on is that Gana has to play. I would currently be playing Gana and Sanchez as a two in most games, and bring Westwood or Veretout if we need to keep it tight. If you play Gana and Sanchez as a two, I think it gives you the ability to play both Gil and Grealish. If Westwood is part of the 2, we are just too lightweight with him, Gil and Grealish. Grealish also seems to be a cert to start, so then we are looking at any 2 from Gil, Adama, Sinclair, Gabby and Ayew. I have a feeling that Gil has done enough to start when fit. We've got some tough games now, but if we can get through his batch of fixtures and not be cut adrift, then I think we will be ok. It is disappointing as I was really hoping for a big improvement this year, but it seems we will happy if we are safe come April, rather than a May survival drama!

As usual we only start playing when we are already behind. Why not try to attack when its 0-0? Why stand off them when we are losing? We scored 2 goals against the run of play (although good goals) - otherwise we were very very poor. We have got to play 2 up front, or at least a no.10 close to Gestede, and we have got to play with at least 1 wide man to cross the ball. The goals today came from the rare occasions that the full backs were able to cross from a decent position. We should be playing 2 in central midfield, Gana plus Veretout/Westwood/Sanchez. And then we have a no.10 who plays from inside left/right position. We are not going to win any games playing 3 tight central midfielders, none of who are ever going to score or create a goal. Gestede scored 2 goals today from 4 chances - which is very decent. We need to give him service.

I actually empathise with Sherwood as his options seem quite limited. We lack a striker (or strikers) to build our team around, so the only thing we can do is hope for goals from midfield. To do this, we have to play at least 3 of Sinclair, Gil, Grealish and Adama - which based on the last 3 games leaves us very light and very easily overrun. Prior to this, with 3 central midfielders, we seemed to lack a spark of creativity and we didn't look like scoring from anywhere. Catch 22. My view now is that we have to go 3 at the back and hope this reinvigorates the team through wing backs. I would play Amavi and Adama as wing backs (yes, Adama). The reason for this is that we know that Amavi is attacking and pretty good at it from left back, but from right back I just don't think Hutton offers enough going forward, and Bacuna has been terrible so far. I would then have Gana plus Westwood/Sanchez/Veretout/Gardner in midfield. We cannot persist with Sanchez and Westwood as a pair, they are like schoolgirls playing the Japanese Rugby Team. We then need to play both Grealish and Gil as no.10s supporting one of Gabby / Gestede / Sinclair / Ayew. Slim pickings up front right now. I know it sounds crazy but its genuinely what I would do, starting on Tuesday.

This is the first game I havn't seen this season, so I can't really give any ratings. However, in terms of a reaction, I think this caps off a very poor start to the season, and I am now quite worried. Our first 6 games were actually quite kind of paper, and we have totally fluffed our lines. We now have a very difficult set of fixtures, where conceivably we might not pick up a single point. Even more worryingly, I actually empathise with Sherwood as his options seem quite limited. We lack a striker (or strikers) to build our team around, so the only thing we can do is hope for goals from midfield. To do this, we have to play at least 3 of Sinclair, Gil, Grealish and Adama - which based on the last 3 games leaves us very light and very easily overrun. Prior to this, with 3 central midfielders, we seemed to lack a spark of creativity and we didn't look like scoring from anywhere. My view now is that we have to go 3 at the back and hope this reinvigorates the team through wing backs. I would play Amavi and Adama as wing backs (yes, Adama). The reason for this is that we know that Amavi is attacking and pretty good at it from left back, but from right back I just don't think Hutton offers enough going forward, and Bacuna has been terrible so far. I would then have Gana plus Westwood/Sanchez/Veretout/Gardner in midfield. We cannot persist with Sanchez and Westwood as a pair, they are like schoolgirls playing the Japanese Rugby Team. We then need to play both Grealish and Gil as no.10s supporting one of Gabby / Gestede / Sinclair / Ayew. Slim pickings up front right now. I know it sounds crazy but its genuinely what I would do, starting on Tuesday.

Should have been booked for a stupid foul on the half way line 15-20mins in, numerous mistakes throughout.... anyone who thinks he's gonna solve our defensive issues should have that knocked right out of their head after today. Are you kidding? Its his first game for us! We looked very solid and composed first half, and second half the whole thing just went to pot. Its very early to be writing him off. I think he is an improvement on Clark, although I suspect Clark would have cleared his lines prior to the first goal.

I think you've got rose tinted specs on mate. They were both fouls, and a yellow card was fair. If he had got a second yellow, I would have agreed with you. I would also say that Mahrez moved more central, but still came up against Amavi quite a bit in the second and did him a few times, but then Mahrez looks a bit special to be honest.

Need a bit more leadership from the captain, but its still a very new team. We got run ragged in the second half - and it was probably a combination poor organisation on the pitch and on the sidelines.

Looked great for 65 minutes but then looked very tired and quite slow (like most of our players). I'm sure he will settle in fine and he will form a good partnership with Richards.

Him and Westwood were outnumbered and over-ran in the second half - I don't think that is down to them as individuals. I would also point out that Bacuna played a suicidal crossfield pass to him for the one he gave away to Mahrez - can't blame him for that one either. I'm sure if we have had him, Gana and Westwood on the field for the last 20 minutes we would have closed out the game.

Our need for a goalkeeper seems as much as our need for a striker. Worrying.

Think he has cemented his starting place. Although he looked knackered second half, lacking match fitness.

This. Totally agree. You can't write him off already. Lets assume he's not going to give us anything this season and only bring him on as a sub in games we are winning 2-0....oh wait a minute.....

Looks very good going forward, and 90% of the time comfortable defensively when he has some cover and support. When he's isolated 1-on-1, he looks weak, dare I say it as weak as Bacuna. However, I think the coaching staff are aware of this and they try to get him the cover he needs - first half he had it from Sanchez and Westwood, second half it was a non-existant and he had problems. I said this last week against Sunderland - if we are going to embrace his attacking skills, we are going to have to accept his weaknesses defensively, and the fact he often loses the ball in places he shouldn't by trying to take players on. He's young, so hopefully he will learn. I wouldn't say he was any better than Bacuna today though, however unfashionable it may be to think that!

The interviewer didn't even know what to ask at one point!

But you've got to have a balance. A team with Gil, Grealish and Traore in midfield would probably get completely overrun. I'm not sure. Sinclair had one of his off games today. If you put Traore into the the team in place of him (or Gabby), I don't think we lose anything from the first half performance. Second half - you guess is as good as mine.

To be fair, the previous manager gave us some pretty incredible lows and left the first team squad in a real mess before Sherwood took over. Subsequently, he has then sold our best 2 players (arguably) and re-built the whole team. I don't disagree that those 3 games have been lows, but given the circumstances, I think he deserves a bit more time to get the team to gel and hopefully instil a bit of mental strength into the team.

You're right, I am a big fan of Tim, and I can't stick up for his subs today. He hasn't been able to respond to opposition half time changes in the last 3 games (Palace, Sunderland, Leicester), and this has cost us points. He has said some of the right things in his post match interview - there were unforced individual errors, every player was guilty of them - but he hasn't recognised that we were thoroughly dominated in midfield for the entire second half. I'm slightly concerned, as I thought he would learn from the Palace and Sunderland games, but it doesn't seem like he has. If we don't win the next 2 games, I think he's under big pressure, and I think the fans might start turn. I personally think he can still come good - 1) He has bought some very good players and assembled the best Villa team/squad since MON, and thats not including Veretout, Ayew and Gestede, who all may need need time to settle. 2) He has shown that he can set up us up very well tactically form the start of games, and he usually picks a starting 11 that most people would agree with. Even with people complaining about Gabby, he is the best option at the moment. 3) At times we are playing some of the best football we've played since MON. We look creative, we can retain the ball, and we seem to now have the ability to impose ourselves and dictate the game to the opposition. I would that in most games this season, we have been able to control the game at least 50% of the time, whereas previously it may have been only 25% of the time. 4) He seems to have assembled a very good back-room staff, although I'm not sure they are helping him during games. On the flip-side - a) So far, his substitutions and in-game changes are the worst of any Villa manager in my recollection. I don't believe this is an exaggeration - and the reason for this is that I think anyone watching the game can see what is needed and he is either not doing it, or doing something totally different. Today he was right to take off Gil, and he actually did it early enough for the change to be effective, but he should have been replaced with Clark or Veretout. Against Palace and Sunderland - the same thing - he didn't recognise that the opposition were massively in control of the game until it was too late. b)he has so far not solved the problem that plagued Villa since Brian Little and John Gregory were manager. Many of our players go missing in games for long periods, and we allow the opposition to find their way back into games when it seems inconceivable. Results like today do happen to all teams, even to the the best teams. However, today wasn't a case of us losing by the odd goal in 5, it was very much a collapse by a team that showed themselves to be significantly weaker than the opposition both mentally and physically. The Palace and Sunderland results were less concerning to me, as these were individual errors in games where we held our own. Tim is going to need to start learning fast. He's lucky at the minute that other teams in the league have had even poorer starts, but I don't think that will last. I'm still behind him though.

If there is a positive, its that the first half the link up play between Gil and Grealish was fantastic. We finally have some proper footballers, and at times they looked a different class to everything else on the pitch, exemplified by their goals. But both tired in the second half. If we can get these 2 playing with Traore, we will certainly score plenty of goals from midfield. Which is useful, because I don't see out strikers scoring many.

Niall Quinn just made a great point - this game is one where we needed leaders to wrestle back control in the second hald - and this is what you would expect from Richards and Lescott.

Thats bollox mate. Today we lost the game because at 2-0 we took off the right man (Gil was knackered), and brought on the wrong man - Ayew. It should have been Clark, Veretout or Richardson and we should have suffocated the midfield and stopped the supply to Mahrez.

Thats bollox mate. Today we lost the game because at 2-0 we took off the right man (Gil was knackered), and brought on the wrong man - Ayew. It should have been Clark, Veretout or Richardson and we should have suffocated the midfield and stopped the supply to Mahrez.

We got away with murder to be 2-0 up at 60 minutes, Leicester bullied us for the first 15 minutes of the second half, but we got a good goal on the break. But then at 2-0, we should have brought on either Clark or Veretout for Gil. And then when Grealish got tired, which was at about 65 minutes, he should have come off as well. Don't know how Grealish stayed on the whole game. As a team, we looked massivley unfit compared to Leicester, and our players look alot more tired than theirs. While we previously would expect that because we have been poor at retaining the ball, in the first half we had plenty of possession. Bacuna was poor second half, but Lescott was at fault for the second goal - he should have just cleared his lines. Their third goal was a joke. He's **** 5 foot tall. We lost the game in midfield - Sanchez and Westwood protected the back 4 in the first half, but second half they were overrun and run ragged. In summary, first half we were the better footballing team, second hald we got bullied - men V boys, and that is not an exaggeration. Very disappointed with Tim's subs today, and I normally think he does the right thing. I'm struggling today.

We look good. Just need to make sure we don't overplay at the back. We do love to get ourselves in trouble. Our out ball needs to be Gabby or Sinclair in the channels. Keep it going boys. A clean sheet here would be a great start for Lescott and Richards.