Michael118

Gabby lacks discipline and motivation. It doesn’t surprise me that his best form was under a disciplined manager in Martin O’Neil. If he ends up at West Brom under Tony Pulis and got himself back into playing shape I could see him being a success there. Right now he’s a Villa player and we are in a relegation battle. I think that's enough reason to get him motivated. Would like to see him involved more in the 2nd half of the season.

Why not?

The problem is we have no midfielders who are confident enough to get forward and support the strikers and we have no one to play beside Kozak or Gestede. So it's Kozak or Gestede vs 3 or 4 defenders every time we attack. The ball goes in and straight back out. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. The midfield slowly lose confidence in what's ahead of them and start shooting from distance. We desperately need a partner for Kozak and an attacking midfielder willing to get forward as another option.

Guzan Richards Okore Clark Cissokho Sanchez Bacuna Gueye Gil Kozak Agbonlahor/Sellars

I would try and get Mile Jedinak and Dwight Gayle from Crystal Palace. Jedinak will have a point to prove and is a leader who will make us a lot more solid in midfield and in general. Gayle is dynamic, skillful & quick and an ideal partner for Libor Kozak. I can see them working well together. Both would be relatively cheap. Get Debuchy in on loan and Mirallas on loan and I'll put $100 on Villa to stay up.

Would be happy with that if it was Gabby from 5 years ago. I could see a fit Gabby and Kozak working well together. But Gabby at the moment looks overweight and not mobile enough. I still think he has a role to play though. He's got passion and still has the ability to step up at important times and make things happen. I would use him as a sub or as a starter but not for a full 90 mins. Don't think he's able to sustain it at the required level at the moment.

Lacking confidence. Would look a lot better with an intelligent quick striker playing alongside him.

Two goals for the U21's in midweek. Time to give him a chance beside Libor Kozak!

I'd have him before Lescott but not at the moment. Lescott's been playing well and deserves to hold onto his spot. Is very slow though and it will more thank likely cost us at some point. But until it does let him fight for his spot along with Guzan and maybe when they get their next chance they'll take it.

He scored 3 goals in pre season. That sounds ready enough to be given an opportunity at some point over the next 20 matches. Can't believe the comments from Tim Sherwood if they are correct. He would have seen Kozak most days in training and was managing when Kozak was scoring in pre season. Whatever was going on behind the scenes, if anything even was, it's up to Tim Sherwood as manager to explore all his options when the current ones were not performing. I also remember him being asked about Kozak not long before he left and he said he preferred other options.

He looks a completely different player this season compared to last. Last season he looked strong, confident and assured in most areas. I think he can get back to that but may take a while.

If we get Debuchy I think Bacuna can be that energetic midfielder that we're needing. If not I agree that's a position that needs strengthening second only to a striker who can play off Libor Kozak and score some goals. I wanted to see Jerell Sellars given an opportunity as he looks like the exact kind of player we need but doesn't look like that's going to happen.

When he is confident he is a really quality CB as we saw for the majority of last season. Hopefully he can slowly get some of that confidence back and we can see him in contention again for a regular first team position.

Sinclair is far from a complete player but he has suffered from playing in a formation which doesn't suit him or relied upon to be a main striker which he isn't. If he was played on the wing or as a wide forward behind an intelligent striker who created space for him to make runs into he would have had more opportunities and more goals. I would have liked to have seen him on one side with Traore on the other with Kozak as the main striker. Either of the below formations would have suited him a lot better and I'm sure we would have looked a lot more dangerous. Sanchez Traore Bacuna Gueye Sinclair Kozak -------------------------------------------------- Bacuna Gueye Traore Gil/Grealish Sinclair Kozak

Play Jerell Sellars please. Next to Libor Kozak with Carles Gil creating for them.

They are all good enough for a lower to mid table premier league team

The way I see it the biggest positive is a lot of the players in the squad who are being written off as 'not good enough for the premier league' actually have a lot of quality. I'm talking about Gueye, Bacuna, Cissokho, Westwood, Kozak, Clark, Guzan and Hutton. We also have some genuine stars of the future in Gil, Traore and Amavi. If we continue to play a team which makes sense and give the players who deserve it an opportunity I'm sure the morale will improve and so will the performances.

Guzan Richards Okore Senderos Cissokho Bacuna Westwood Gueye Gil Kozak Ayew I think this team can produce a victory. I went with Senderos at CB because he deserves a chance after his performances last season and with Clark a bit out of sorts and Sanchez out I think he can provide some stability. Also would like to see Jerrell Sellars given a spot on the bench and tried next to Kozak at some point. I think he has all the tools to be a very good striker so let's see if he's ready.

Gueye and Bacuna looked pretty good together as a duo in one game under Tim Sherwood. They are both workhorses and both good offensively as well as defensively. With Westwood included there is less pressure on them. They'll have more freedom to drive forward with Westwood as the supplier. That allows Gil more freedom and space to play his best suited role behind Kozak who is our most natural finisher. That is the blueprint to more goals with the squad we have.

I've watched every Villa match this season. Even though he has improved and done well in some matches I don't think his best is as good as the best our other midfielders can produce.

Where does he play and what does he offer? I can't put him in ahead of Gueye, Bacuna or Gil. I don't think he would be better than Westwood as a third midfiielder. Maybe there is a spot for him on the bench because we lack midfield cover. But I think the bench is fairly strong and would have to drop Sinclair or Grealish who can be really effective in the right setup.

To Remi Garde: Guzan Richards Okore Clark Cissokho Westwood Bacuna Gueye Gil Kozak Ayew Subs: Sellars, Agbonlahor, Senderos, Sanchez, Hutton, Sinclair or Grealish PLAY THIS TEAM FROM NOW ON PLEASE! This team is no worse and actually has a lot more talent and potential than anything Sunderland, West Brom, Norwich or Bornemouth can play. We have a squad comparable to Stoke and Swansea and should not be sitting on the bottom of the table with 1 win after half a season of football! Whatever is happening is inexcusable and Tim Sherwood and Remi Garde who have been responsible for picking the team and motivating these players have failed miserably in their jobs and there is no getting around it! This squad especially when Traore and Amavi were fit can be challenging teams like Crystal Palace and West Ham and player for player are no worse than Leicester who are playing out of their skins because of the influence of Claudio Ranieri. So why are we in the position we are in now? Because of the decisions of Tim Sherwood and Remi Garde. Their inability to recognize and play to the squad’s strengths and motivate this group of players. Okore and Clark were forming an awesome partnership at CB until Tim Sherwood decided to bring in Micah Richards to not only replace Clark but give him the captaincy over Clark who seemed the obvious choice. Guzan was a good keeper until one mistake against ManCity and was not seen again for the rest of the season in favour of a player who was clearly passed his best. No wonder they have lost all confidence. Cissokho and Richards are capable as full backs. And we have reasonable cover with Hutton and Bacuna. Our strengths are clearly the creativity of Carles Gil who needs to be playing in a creative role behind an intelligent striker like Libor Kozak. Gil needs a midfield behind him who can get stuck in and supply him and I think Gueye, Bacuna and Westwood are a reasonable trio who I can see working well together. With Bacuna we have a real threat too with his vision and ability to pick out passes. Traore is the other main threat we have in the squad. He is like no other player in the premier league and has the ability to cause any team problems. I cannot believe Sherwood and Garde have excluded him so many times considering the position we are in. Since Garde has arrived there have been some small signs of improvement but clearly he has failed to get the most out of what we have. He continues to persist with Gestede despite some extremely poor performances. We look toothless in attack and Garde looks clueless about how to solve things. Gil has not been used effectively and Traore used only sparingly. Kozak completely ignored. It’s not good enough and with a better manager we would not be in this position.

Aston Villa fan here from Australia. Been a fan since 2003 and a long time reader of Villa Talk. Looking forward to sharing my views with everybody on the forum.