OxfordVillan

This is another game where Barkley is ponderous in possession, losing it often very cheaply. I’m not sure how much longer we can carry him through games. Getting overrun in the middle has become a regular thing.

I do think having Barkley in the starting 11 takes away from the total team performance. Yes he can produce the occasional Hollywood moment, but for me the team performance was better all round when he was injured. I’d be giving Sanson some starts now to get him acclimatised to the Premier League.

As I mentioned in the pre-match thread.......we have to earn the right to play our football. There have undoubtedly been games where we’ve rocked up expecting to just play our pretty football and score goals. We all know which games these have been. And I have to say that this mindset must be down to the coaching staff and tactics rather than the players. There’s a fine line between confidence and arrogance. There are undoubtedly occasions when we need to alter our set up to get a grip in midfield, to get the dirty work done. We can’t be comprehensively tied to one formation/style, we need to be flexible, pragmatic.

To sum up; Barkley has to go to the bench. Doesn’t work hard enough, won’t work hard enough. Makes us essentially a player light in an already light midfield. The coaching staff have to take some responsibility, I wasn’t the only one concerned that we could get overrun in midfield, and so it proved........for nearly the entirety of the game. Not good enough. McGinn and Luiz out of form, they seem to have retreated 15yds back in games? We essentially are ending up with a back 6, and a huge open space in the centre of the pitch with not a Villa player in sight, and so the opposition are mopping up the possession and the ball just keeps coming back. This has to be addressed.

Poor. As I alluded to in the pre-match thread, Barkley is neither in the game going forwards, or backwards. When he gets it he gets hustled off it or gives it away, he has to be taken off at halftime, with McGinn going into his position and Nakamba slotting back at DM. We’ve been completely outnumbered in the middle of the pitch, again as I worried we might be in the prematch thread. We have to push Luiz a bit further into midfield and trust Nakamba to sweep up with his energy. Maybe bring on Ramsey for Barkley and keep McGinn a bit further back as an alternative. But a change has to be made, can’t afford to carry Barkley any longer I’m afraid.

I agree that if unbelievable offers are submitted then certain players MIGHT become available, but I honestly don’t envisage those sort of offers being made, save for Grealish. And I’m sure he’s not for sale to another English club. I think Dean Smith will have the ultimate final say on who can leave, I think he’s earned that trust with last summers purchases, the owners have seen that he knows what’s best on the pitch. Mings is currently an integral part of the team, and unless Maguire type £s are put on the table, and Dean Smith has secured what he views as a more than adequate replacement, then Mings stays. I think our owners overriding ambition is to get the club successful on the pitch, everything else falls into place thereafter. And I think they’ve seen that selling your best players doesn’t get you success, just a lot of money to speculate on other players. You should only sell from a position of strength and success, really. If at all. I think we’re well placed to succeed with our current squad, we’ve a few players that other clubs would love to have, and they’re at a good age to be at Villa for 3 or 4 seasons and still command good fees if they are moved on (Grealish 25, Cash 23, Konsa 23, Targett 25, Mings 27, McGinn 26, Luiz 22, Watkins 25). Behind those we have some exciting prospects in and around 18/19yrs old who are beginning to break through. I’d say we’re in a better position for the years ahead than someone like, say, an Everton, whose mainstays are that bit older and from overseas, players like Allan and Rodriguez who cost a lot but will likely have little to no resale value. They’re also committed to building a new stadium which will suck funds away in the short term. Villa are suddenly in a good place. If we stay smart and don’t make any big fock ups, then our trajectory should be exciting for a few seasons ahead.

This summer is going to be epic, we’re really going to see the ambition of the club. We’re going to see the so-called big clubs come in for our players, we’re a threat again! Of course Utd will come calling for Mings et al, as will City. The last time we got close to the top 4 we shat ourselves and folded, Lerner let the Manchester clubs rape us and walk away with the family silver. We lost Yorke to Utd when we got close, then we allowed the Manchester clubs to relieve us of Barry, Milner, Young, and Delph. Then we got relegated. So we need to stand strong this summer, and I have absolute confidence in our owners to do just that. Where we finish this season can obviously make that easier or more difficult. I don’t see Mings going anywhere. Or anyone else for that matter. We’ll be adding to the squad, not taking away. The Manchester clubs can take their £s and shove it up their Arsenal, Villa have a pair of Vegas level poker players that’ll see them and raise the stakes. UTV

..........................Martinez.......................... Cash..........Konsa........Mings........Targett .............Nakamba............Luiz................... Traore...............McGinn................Grealish ..........................Watkins.............................

100%. This is most definitely a game where we’ll have to earn the right to play, and regrettably I don’t think we can carry Barkley from the start at this moment in time. I think he’d be a hell of an option off the bench if required later in the game if Brighton are committing more players further forward. I think McGinn does have the ability to press from the front and get closer to Watkins, and with Brightons 3 at the back that should prove useful

This will be a good test. Brighton don’t really score many goals, but they’re also not really conceding many either. They play a certain way/philosophy in which I don’t envisage they’ll go out of their way to double up on our better players, ie I don’t think they’ll change their way of playing to try and counter what we have. This is the 1st game for quite some time where we’ve had a full week to prepare, so it’ll be interesting to see our starting lineup and how we then play. I’d think we’re going to revert to the starting 11 we’ve generally come to accept as our best, so I expect to see Douglas Luiz back. We mustn’t allow ourselves to be outnumbered too heavily in midfield, Brighton go with 3 at the back which could allow them to overload in midfield, so I think McGinniesta has to be prepared to move further forward. I am concerned about having Barkley in the starting lineup at the moment, I worry he might not have the work rate required against this Brighton team in midfield. I’d seriously be considering starting Nakamba and pushing McGinn into Barkleys position.

Now there’s a player I hope we’re watching closely.......Loftus-Cheek. He’s playing himself in nicely at Fulham, earning some decent reviews. I think he could thrive further at Villa Park. 25yrs old, coming back from injury, struggles for game time at Chelsea. Ticks a lot of boxes for AVFC

It’s possible that Barkley is trying too hard to make an impression, and just needs to try and get his head sorted. Relax. He’s desperate to play and has stated his desire to try and make the England squad for this summer. Between the player and the coaching staff they probably need to find a way to just play football, forget about England right now, just concentrate on relaxing and enjoying the games. Do that and the rest will follow.

I think Nakamba has proved that he’s a perfectly adequate player to do some good work off the bench, or indeed from the start. I think a few ppl, myself included, were especially critical after the Burnley game. That was a game that was crying out for Barkley to be replaced with Nakamba the moment we took a 2-1 lead, and probably Trezeguet on for Traore at the same time. I’m certain that those two changes at 2-1 would have helped us see the game out. It’s actually since that game that we’ve seen one or two more earlier substitutions.

I’m very much on the same page as you with regard to Barkley. I think opposition teams have worked Villa out a bit with regard to our attacking potency, and they hustle around Barkley in particular, who doesn’t really have the work rate/tenacity to mix it with them. He’s beginning to look quite a frustrated player, unable to really create much going forward at the moment. Fortunes can change quickly, of course, but as things stand I don’t envisage a permanent move. The rest of the team were fantastic in terms of tenacity, that was another dug out win rather than a champagne show. Thankfully we have a full week before our next game, and then another 8 day gap after that. We need it.

I’m beginning to get annoyed with our lack of use of substitutes

Let’s have a better opening 10-15mins of a 2nd half than we have over the last few matches

Barkley and Nakamba to be replaced at halftime. Nakamba because he’s on a yellow, Barkley because this is another game passing him by. Luiz and Sanson the replacements

I think we’d be doing exceptionally well to get something from this game. Our usual starting 11 look like the COVID outbreak at the club and subsequent cluster of games might have caught up with them, over the last 2-3 games the energy and concentration levels have been noticeably down. I don’t see those levels returning without some sort of break and refresh for the players, they need a few days away from matches/training/covid to break the monotony of the current daily grind. We are still quite limited with the changes we can realistically make if we still want to compete. We’ve no CBs to come in and give Mings or Konsa a bit of a breather, and definitely no CF to give Watkins a break.......thankfully Watkins is one of the few who seems like he doesn’t need a break. It’s going to be midfield and the wide players where we can try to find that bit of extra freshness and energy, without losing too much quality. Unfortunately, ElGhazi’s showing in that 1st half against West Ham should rule him out as a starter for the Arsenal game, it was so bad that you just can’t select the player the next game. I think Grealish has to start on the left to give Saka and Bellerin something to worry about other than going forward, and I’d be tempted to start Trezeguet on the right to give Cash a bit more help up against a lively Pepe, who we don’t want to give any encouragement to. I’d definitely have a bench with a good selection of midfield players on it, it’s realistically the only area that we can try to inject some added energy if it’s needed. All that said, I don’t expect to see any changes from the manager. I think it’s obvious that the coaching staff are using the “no excuses” approach to the psychology of the players, and only time will tell if that proves successful, but I do understand that approach when there’s a sizeable drop off in the quality to the players you can use to give others a break. So I think Traore will come into the starting 11 for ElGhazi, and the rest of the starting 11 remains the same. Our 5 across the middle when out of possession will be crucial, and so we should have a good selection of replacements on our bench who can fulfill those positions. We must utilise the likes of Nakamba, Sanson, Ramsey, Trezeguet etc at the right moments and not be shy in hooking Barkley, McGinn or Luiz if we’re dropping off. For me it’s been noticeable that we’ve been getting pinned back more since Barkleys return to the team. That could be because he’s still not fully match fit, so we’re taking a little step back for a few games before he hits his stride and we take two steps forward again. Let’s hope so. But I think arsenal’s middle 5 of Partey, Xhaka, ESR, Pepe, and Saka might prove a bit too young and energetic (with the quality to match) for where we currently find ourselves. I think we could be on the wrong end of a 2-0 today.

It’d probably be more, in all seriousness. Leicester paid £16m for a 20yr old Ndidi 4yrs ago, whose value is now circa £40m+. If you wanted a Kalvin Phillips type (just an example) I think you’d be looking at figures around £50m. The remainder of the season will have a significant bearing on what we can shop around for. If we get European football then we can look forward to shopping for “the finished article” type player. If we miss out on that then we’re probably back in the territory of scrapping with other clubs for the next best prospects.

Summer transfers, you say? Well let me think; (1) Ross Barkley. I’m really not sold on Barkley. Maybe if the fee was around £10m, and the player was content with a salary around £50kpw. I don’t see either of those happening. And he pretty much misses a third of every season with injuries. I think he returns to Chelsea. (2) Douglas Luiz. Will City come back in for him? I don’t see City seriously coming back in for him, even to sell on at a profit. I think it’d cost around £30m to take him back, and I don’t see his value being significantly in excess of that fee. City are now well stocked in Luiz’s position. I think Luiz remains at Villa. (3) We need another CB. I think Engels will move on, and Hause is quite injury prone. I can see us recruiting from the EFL for a good prospect that would be happy to be back up for a season or so. (4) CF. I don’t see any significant money being spent on a CF. Watkins is the chosen one, and any other CF would have to be content as a back up. In addition to that we have Wesley coming back. (5) LW. I think we need a good LW. An alternative to Grealish that would allow Jack to play the No.10 or No.8 position a lot more. If Grealish moves to the No10/No.8 position, that solves the Barkley problem. And improves it. (6) DM. I could envisage significant money being spent here. McGinn isn’t a natural “sitter”. If we could get a specialist DM then that would allow us more rotation of players, and flexibility with players. McGinn or Luiz can play further up (No.8s) if the situation calls for it. (7) Back up FBs. Taylor and Elmo both have contracts ending this summer, neither should be extended. It also seems that the manager isn’t sold on Guilbert, and so you’d expect he’ll also move on. So we need a pair of FBs. The way things have progressed this season you can’t see past Targett & Cash being 1st choices into next season, and so we’re definitely looking for FBs content to be backup for the season. Maybe we’ll see someone from within move to 1st team squad to fill that backup role? So for me the significant spending has to go on a CB, LW, DM. Those 3 positions bring the rest of the squad a lot of flexibility. Over to the recruitment team to make my dreams come true!

Hourihanes contract is until summer 2022.

Getting Wesley back to full fitness will take as long as it takes. I can’t comprehend the type of person slating him, the idiocy of that type of person. Moronic. I’d love to see the guy back playing some minutes this season, but if it needs longer and it’s next season then so be it. Back your players, especially when they’ve suffered a career threatening injury.

Unfortunately he looks well off the levels we’d want, and the worrying bit is that it can’t possibly be fatigue because he was absent with injury for 2 months. He seems to be slowing our play down, when he isn’t giving the ball away, seemingly always checking backwards with the ball......then try’s to do too much, running into 3 or 4 opposition players. For me it’s clear that there are certain types of opposition where Barkley is a liability, and we’ve seen it.....teams that work hard. Leeds, Southampton, West Ham....even Burnley, perhaps. When the going is tough and intense I think it proves too much for Barkley, he just can’t get to the physical and concentration intensity levels needed..... and ends up disappearing as any sort of effective performer. At 27/28yrs old i don’t see that changing, unfortunately. Against teams that, perhaps, expect to beat Villa he is afforded that bit more time and space to showcase his ability, but that doesn’t happen very often now. I think we have to start Sanson against Arsenal and let Ross have a look at the game from the bench, a bit of a reality check and time to reflect. He wasn’t the only player off of it last night, far from it, but Villa have to have an eye on the future months/seasons, and he’s not our player and Sanson is.

We look like we’ve been drugged or something, dreadful. Misplaced passes, miss kicks. Just awful thus far