GeordieVillan

Can't fault Tim's team selection - its exactly the team I would have picked based on who is available. I suspect it will be Gabby up top with Gil right and Sinclair left, with Jack roaming. Wouldn't be surprised to see Jack on the left, or to see all 3 of these rotating though when we are attacking. I expect to us to be quite fluid and to have the ball for long periods. I think we might nick this 1-0 or 2-1, with Gabby to score 1 at least. Tim has said he's been working on his 1-on-1 finishing in training, so hopefully we see some of that today!

I think he's a had a decent start, certainly not poor, but like Benteke did - he will need time. What can't be understated is the impact he has when he plays, even when he's not playing well. He occupies at least 2 defenders in the box because he is such an aerial threat, and this automatically frees up space for our midfielders. This is one of the reasons why Sinclair has been finding space, and also why Adama will find it easier to isolate his full back. Hopefully Grealish can start exploiting the space and get into the box more as well.

I had as feeling he would score some goals this year, but have to admit that I thought he would drop out of the team when our flair players came back to fitness. If we play 4-4-2, I assumed the strikers would be 2 from Gabby, Ayew, Rudy and Kozak, and Sinclair would be competing with Grealish for left wing, and there is only one winner there (or is there....) However, given the last week, and the fact he scored plenty of goals in pre-season, I just don't see how we can leave him out of the team. I think his form is the reason why we won't see Grealish, Gil and Adama all playing together, because the left wing/forward spot is now Sinclair's to lose. I can't see us playing Sinclair up front, as the reason he is finding space is that the main striker e.g. Gestede is keeping the centre backs busy. Next game will be Sinclair, Grealish and Adama behind Gestede I think.

I think its been great, Some of the new players seem to have settled in immediately (Gana, Amavi, Richards, Sinclair, Traore), others will need more time. I predict an entertaining season where we finish somewhere between 10th - 15th, but without us being in any danger of relegation.

Very unlucky today I thought, but I would much rather draw a game like that i.e. by playing some good football, trying to take the game to opposition and looking like the better team. In the past we have drawn home games when we have played poorly, and either not scored or been lucky to get a goal and then not looking like scoring again ever. The fact that Sunderland were trying to waste time and hang on for point says it all - we were piling the pressure on to them. My observations in no particular order - Guzan - didn't do anything wrong, and kicking was better. Richards / Clark - thought both were ok, Clark obviously got done on the second goal, but other than that he was very dominant in the air. Amavi - looked good going forward again. We are going to have to get used to him being exposed and our left back area being a vacant space sometimes - this is the price you pay when you have a full back that attacks like him. At some stage our central midfielders will learn that they have to cover him. Hutton - had a lot of space but didn't do much with it , solid otherwise though. Bacuna - look decent in the free hole in the first half, without ever really creating much. Sinclair - we have got to find a space for him the team. He has goals in him, even when he is not playing well, and he has a good habit of getting into dangerous positions. Gana - looks very good, he must play every game. Sanchez - very good first half, second half not so much. The Sunderland sub sat on him for the first 15 minutes of the second half and it prevented us from getting anything going. It was only when Gana dropped deeper that we got control of the game again. Westwood - showed he is versatile, beyond what I ever expected. Looked like he could pose an attacking threat when not playing as the holding midfielder. Gestede - poor in the first half, but his hold up play in the second half was much better. He reminds me of Benteke in his first season - he's very Jekyll and Hyde. Not sure he will become as effective as Benteke (I suspect not), but it might be a bit much to expect him to score all of our goals this year. I think we need Adebayor. Or at the very least give Kozak a chance. Gil - looked great, don't think he gave the ball away once. The dive came from the fact he mis-controlled the ball when running into the box, if he had kept the ball close to him then he shirley would have scored. Sherwood - don't think he did much wrong today. On another day we would have won comfortably. Gabby - he can't play in this team now, it has outgrown him. Grealish, Adama, Gil - we will be fine if we play at least 2 of these, maybe all 3 of these in our home games. Overall - plenty of positives.

We won, we played some of the new lads and some players who needed game time, and the crowd was entertained. Yes, it would have been better if we had won 5-0 rather 5-3, but if someone has offered you 5-3 before the game then I'm sure you would have took it. I thought it was refreshing that we showed a little bit of arrogance for once in a cup competition and just picked a team to score goals and entertain. It was very much a "we will score more goals than you" approach. I'm happy with the result and with the draw for the next round. I would be amazed if Tim doesn't pick his strongest team (or very near to it) for derby game.

I've said this a few times now - at some point, if we want to start controlling games and having a real attacking threat - we need to stop playing 3 central midfielders, and start playing 2 central midfielders with a no.10. That means that only 2 of Westwood, Sanchez, Gana and Veretout can play (unless Veretout is pushed on and played as a no.10 when he gets up to speed). Yesterday we played with Westwood, Sanchez and Gana - all had a decent game, but in all honesty, none of these are going to do anything going forward, at best maybe Gana might chip in with the odd goal - but they are basically 2 holding midfielders and a box to box midfielder. We can play this way against the better teams perhaps, but not against Palace. We need to play either Gil or Grealish as the no.10, and then in wide positions play Sinclair/Adama/Gil/Grealish/Gabby/Ayew, with one of Gestede/Ayew/Gabby up front. If we try to play every game as we have in the first 3 games, I think its going to be a long season, and we might struggle to score goals, again.

Unlucky really, but we are still lacking going forward. The main reason for this is that we persist with 3 central midfielders without any of them being a number 10. Eventually we are going to have to play a left midfielder, a right midfielder and someone behind the front man. Until Gil is fit, I would just play Grealish as the no.10 and Sinclair on the left and Traore on the right, with either Gabby, Rudy or Ayew. up front Gestede and Gabby both poor - I'm really concerned about our striker situation - not sure why Tim didn't take either of them off today, they weren't doing anything. Other than that - most of them were ok, noone had a shocker. A win against Sunderland and this is a decent start to the season. Adama looks talented but very raw - l would start him, Grealish and Gil against Sunderland if they are all fit.

With regard to shape - this game is perfect example of what frustrates me about our set-up - we can only play 2 of Sanchez, Westwood and Gana, otherwise we just don't have enough going forward. For me, Sanchez and Gana have both looked good, I would take off Westwood and bring on Sinclair or Adama, and just get Gabby to drop in and make the extra man in midfield when we need it. Palace don't look anything special to me - we should go after them.

Very big game today for us, and for Tim as well. Both of our performances so far this season have been slightly underwhelming, but they show we look solid and the Bournemouth result was good. If we can put in a decent performance and get a good result today, I think it sets us up for the next few games, and 6 points from 9 looks quite healthy. If we lose and play badly, 3 points from 9 doesn't look great, our young team will have lost 2 games in a row and it might just knock our confidence a bit. Feeling nervous on a Saturday again - all of the apathy has gone!

I still remember a couple of years ago when he played against Newcastle at St.James (possibly came on as a second half sub) - and he looked excellent, a real all-round midfield player. What struck me was that the actually provided a goal threat - he took a shots when he had the chance, he got himself into good positions, and he even attacked a couple of crosses in the box. I remember saying to one of the lads, we havn't had a player like this since Ian Taylor. I still don't we have one now other than him. I hope he gets a chance and stays at the club. He could easily be a squad player at the very least, and its good to have guys like him, Clark, and Baker - its sends a good message to the next crop of youngsters coming through...

I don't see us buying another right back. I think Tim is happy with Bacuna and Hutton. I expect Bacuna to be first choice this season, and next year Hutton will leave and we will bring someone better in and make Bacuna back up. Unless of course Bacuna continues to develop in which case he may keep his place. I just think that Tim really likes Bacuna, and he probably thinks they can coach him to be a better defender.

Watching all these clips, his style reminds me alot of Keith Gillespie when he used to play Newcastle - very quick, goes past players like they are not even there, almost looks as though he is going to fall over alot of the time but then somehow carries on, and - unfortunately - possibly not the best finished product but still looks like a decent crosser. Based on that video alone though, I would start him and Grealish on Saturday with one of Gabby / Ayew / Gestede as the main striker.

Interesting comments from Tim about Westwood. I always thought Westwood would be the odd man out if we start playing 2 central midfielders (I had them as Gana and Veretout) and a no.10 in the form of Gil or Grealish. However, maybe Tim recognises that for this year at least, we need Westwood in the team as Veretout may take some time to adjust to the pace of the league, and Gana is very new to the league as well. Conversely, maybe we will persevere with 3 central midfielders (against stronger opposition at least) and Westwood will play every week, but then I don't see how we will score enough goals.

I'd personally like to see him given a chance to be a squad player at least. I don't think he's done anything to deserve being part of the new "bomb squad". And I don't understand how any fan could hate him based on what he's done so far. Quite frankly, he hasn't played enough games in a row at Villa for anyone to know just how effective he can be. As opposed to someone like Nzogbia who had plenty of game time and is now universally recognised as a waste of space (for us). The fact he seems to have a knack for scoring goals (although its not for certain) suggests to me that he could an effective sub - dare I say in the mould of Tore Andre Flo or Solskaer - not first choice by any means, but a useful player to have around. And I think he would probably be quite happy with that role. Realistically, if we don't sign another striker and Gestede picks up an injury - who is going to lead our line or get on the end of crosses? Like someone else said though, if he doesn't get a chance in the next few games, the writing is probably on the wall for him.

A guy called Charlie Austin meets all those requirements. Proven premiership goalscorer who will guarantee goals. In before the VT hipsters who have never even seen these players play other then on football manager name Embolo, etc. I would take Charlie Austin for £15m. The going rate is Connor Wickham for £9m, I don't think we are interested in him though. We need a signing similar to when Southampton bought Pelle....

I honestly think the squad looks ok now. I think Bacuna and Hutton are fine for right back at the moment, and we have 4 decent centre-halves. If we have say £15-20m left, I would love us go make a marquee signing. We've bought alot of players who will potentially be great, but it would be fantastic to buy someone who is already the finished article, who can be the figurehead for the team and push us to the next level. Ideally we need a striker who will score us 15 goals in the league...

You reckon? I think its utter garbage. His entire argument is based on the 2 players making the same run for one Amavi cross - thats nothing to do with Tim's formation or approach. He also states that Gana shouldn't have been dropping deep to collect the ball - well given Man Utd were pressing us so high up the pitch and our centre backs weren't able to bring the ball out, surely he was correct to ask one of the midfielders to drop in there and get the ball? How else would we get the ball forward, lumping it forward to the 2 strikers which he said can't hold the ball up? Our only other option was Gestede, but it seems he's not quite ready to start yet. Who else would be realistic up front rather than those two? We had plenty of the ball, but struggled to play an incisive pass because none of our creative players were available against a very well organised and efficient Man Utd team. I feel sorry for Tim sometimes - he has been cast as some kind of tactical simpleton, because I think when we has at Spurs he used the resources at his disposal and set up with a very aggressive and expansive 4-4-2, rather than playing a number 10 behind a lone striker - he is somehow mocked for this despite it actually working quite well at Spurs. The article also seems to suggest Tim doesn't have an identity because he varies our system and tries different things. Again, I think this is rubbish - if Martinez or some other flavour of the month did that they would be praised for having different ideas and using a different approach to suit the opposition (to be fair, at least he recognises Tim set us up effectively in the Cup Semi Final).

I don't see how we can play Adama, Gil and Grealish all at the same time. I think it leaves us light defensively, and also I'm not sure how many goals they have in them. I suspect most of the time we will see one of either Sinclair or Ayew playing as we know Sinclair can score goals from wide areas and I suspect Ayew will be the same once he finds his feet. That then leaves 2 slots (one number 10 role and one wide) for Adama, Gil and Grealish, with one of them on the bench. That leaves one striker up front - who would be Gestede, with Gabby as back up, and Ayew at a push can do the role. That all assumes though we start only playing 2 in centre midfield, which would be two from - Westwood, Sanchez, Veretout and Gana. Based on the first 2 games, I think one of these has to be Gana, so that leaves one spot for the other 3. The back 4 and Guzan picks itself at the minute, which is good, as its better to have a settled defence. So, if fit, against Palace I think Tim might go with - Guzan Bacuna Richards Clark Amavi Westwood Gana Traore Gil Sinclair Gestede I just have a feeling that he might take Veretout and Ayew out of the pressure cooker for the minute and give them more time to settle if we have other options becoming available.

He glides past opposition players like Bale did when he was a left back. Not that I think he has the quality to be the next Bale, he's just very very good. He's also very enjoyable to watch and you expect something from him when he has the ball at his feet, and its been a while since we've had players like that at Villa. The only other ones at the moment are Gil and Grealish. And dare I say Adama could be the same. But to have it in a left back is fantastic. We will do very well to get 2 seasons out of him. Success in our new era might be regarded as getting 1-2 good years out him and selling him on for £20m+.

Richards and Clark look like a very good combination to me at the moment. I don't Okore getting back in the team. And I also think that Tim might be re-considering bringing in another centre half, as we already have Okore, Baker and Crespo as back up. Not ITK, just what I think Tim is thinking.

He's definitely going to play a part. I don't see how we can accommodate both him and Grealish in the same team, so I suspect it will be one or the other most of time, unless we start playing the two no.10s formation again. But then that doesn't leave room for wide players (Sinclair, Adama, Ayew) to supply Gestede..... If he's fit, I think he will start against Palace.

Based on the first 2 games, I don't see how Tim has really done anything wrong. If we were lucky to win at Bournemouth with a goal from a set piece, we were unlucky to lose a deflected goal on Friday. Swings and roundabouts - either way - its better we won one and lost one rather than drawing both 0-0. Tim's assessment of the current position is also hard to disagree with - we look decent at the back (not great, but decent) considering Richards and Amavi are new to the club. We havn't quite clicked going forward, but we are missing all 3 of our flair players, one of whom we have only just signed. Nothing to see here yet folks, keep your powder dry on Sherwood for now at least!

Tough game this. A draw would be a very decent result. I expect Gestede to start this one, and at least one of Grealish or Gil to play. Adama maybe aswell. The defence will be unchanged. From our previous starting lineups, I would expect Westwood and Gana to keep their places, so if you add Gestede and Grealish/Gil to that, only 2 spots are left. Not sure where everyone else will fit in - Gabby, Ayew, Sinclair, Veretout, Adama - means at least 3 of these will be on the bench... I think Sherwood likes Sanchez as well, but think he will still be on the bench. Interesting times!

We did ok, certainly not out-fought or outclassed. Its not a game where you would say we were lucky to lose only 1-0, it was a game between 2 teams that was decided by a scrappy goal. I would go as far as saying that if you had just landed on earth and didn't know which team was the most successful in the Premier League era, and which team has battled relegation for the last 5 years - you might struggle to decide on the basis on last night's game. Obviously we lacked cutting edge, and I think this is because we didn't have either of no.10s playing. I would expect either Grealish or Gil or both to play every week when fit. Also, we clearly are going to need Gestede up front as a target man, as we currently aren't really playing with anyone carrying a goal threat. I thought all the new guys did ok, but like most others, Amavi and Gana were the pick of the bunch. Veretout just needs sharpness, and then I think we are going to see him controlling games. Ayew I thought looked better when Gestede came on, as there was a focal point to the attacks. Disappointed by the result, but still optimistic. Tim's comments after the game said it all - "we need to dampen supporters expectations".