Villarcana

For me thats the way you play against Brighton, you know they are going to play it side to side and sneak forward, you have to be compact, discplined and focussed , otherwise that possession turns into chances. Its not great for the neutral as it is frustrating to watch if you want high tempo end to end football. Thought we played it well, Nakamba looked like a footballer too!. position wise hes brilliant, if only he could pass quicker and didn't have the first touch of a sunday league player he would be awesome. Ollie on the left cutting in was great to see, maybe we can put to bed the Ollie , Ings conundrum and Ollie can be a weapon from the wing. Front three much more narrow today. A few great signs of a system forming. Great to get the win UTV

Nakambas done well , if he was just a bit sharper on the pass and could improve his first touch , he'd be a great player, positionally he's awesome

It was looking like that and Archer, Ramsey has been great, just recently though when things were getting a bit stale, I was starting to get frustrated with seeing the more 'experienced but not good enough' players come on rather than the youngsters when we clearly needed a bit of spark and energy. Probably thought experience was needed as we were in a bit of a slump. Maybe with a fresh start SG may be more inclined to go with developing the youth in terms of some good minutes this season over Nakamba , Young and El Ghazi. But then again Smith was working daily with them so if they arent quite making the grade yet then its not always wise to throw them in (confidence etc). Many ways to look at it. Anyway its going to be really strange not having Dean in the dugout and seeing Steven Gerrard, it just all happened so quick.

Wouldnt be at all surprised if we start seeing much more of the likes of Chuky and JPB instead of Nakamba and El ghazi (both I expect to move in January, maybe loans). It was really frustrating seeing Smith play these players clearly not of the grade instead of giving our exciting prospects a fair crack of it. Id assume this was heavily talked about in Gerrards remit. In the Grealish interview about the replacements from the board the emphasis was also on the exciting youngsters coming through. Gerrard will be expected to get them blooded in i'd have thought. So im expecting more substitute appearances from the youth on the bench. Hopfully this starts against Brighton, would be a great statement of intent from SG for the young players if a couple can get on.

I am happy with this, the man is a winner, he has the experience as a top level player and was a leader as a player, he will command respect. First things first Steven, get the players fit, get some discipline back in the squad and give us an identifiable pattern of play. Could be a great appointment, He's learnt from some great coaches in his time. Also Morelos!..... have wanted him for years at the Villa

Im a Villa fan, favourite ever player, for novelty it was probably Ginola, for actually being a good player for us i'd have to go Mellberg, Yorke First villa memory, 2-1vs liverpool, a young fowler for them , Yorke 2 for us Next game liverpool at home again the following year, Yorke 2 again, 2 nil i think Then we won the cup in 93 . used to go away during the MON years and witnessed the record run, always travelled alot in life and kept in touch with the boys from afar no matter the time difference. Some very dissapointing 4 am kick offs and some awesome ones!!! Up the villa