jackbauer24

Don't get me wrong, I don't think Kozak is great, he's probably not good enough. But he's still better than Gestede!

I think most people would agree it wouldn't be much of a competition. In almost every way, Kozak is better than Gestede!

I don't believe we are the only club in the league who can not spend a penny unless we make player sales. We would have been well within FFP remits to have spent another £20m easy. Taking out the top net spenders (Man City) and the bottom spenders for fairness I added up the spends of each club (according to skysports) and divided by 18 - the average spend was £18m on top of any sales each club made. We spent less than half that. What do I want from a Chairman - one who is willing to compete. Not blow billions but keep up with the modern game. If you can only spend what you earn in player sales then fair enough but that's not the case - every other club makes money from tickets, merchandise and most crucially TV and yet we're the only club who are somehow 'short' all the time. Lerner is a bloody magician for making some fans see this as 'out of his hands'.

This is really simple. Either you believe the following equation is right or you recognise the reality; Poor team - best players + worse players = better results It really is that simple. Forget net spends, forget managers tactics. Last season, and for quite a few seasons, we had a very bad squad. This season most sane people will recognise we have, at best, lost our three best players and replaced the rest like for like. So we are worse than last season, where we finished 17th... It's really not that hard! Bunn* < Given (Given was No.1 when he finished, Bunn isn't) Gana* < Delph (hatred aside, a better player so far, nothing to suggest otherwise) Veretout* < Cleverley (again, not even a contest as it stands) Gestede = Helenius (both not worthy of starting place, Gestede gets one because no competition in that area) Amavi > Luna (Yay, a victory for the current squad and by some distance!) Ayew* = Weimann (might shade towards Ayew but not by much if it does) Lescott < Vlaar (a broken Vlaar is better than a fixed Lescott) Crespo* < Lowton (imagine Lowton will end up having had more of an impact on first XI than Crespo ever will) Ilori < Tonev (ok, taking the mick now! But we can't even make fun of Ilori so that's boring!) Benteke - not replaced. Which leaves Traore and Richards as the improvements to our squad who didn't come in to replace a player. Bent and Herd not bothered being replaced but another significant wage saving in Bent. *also almost certainly considerably lower wages than replacement

Unfortunately I agree with you 100% (despite not being alive in the 60s!) but this is the most pessimistic I've been about Villa since being born in 1980! I would love to be proved wrong, but even a Guardiola, Klopp and Mourinho working in tandem couldn't keep this squad in the division. Sherwood may have made a load of mistakes but frankly the quality just isn't there. Amavi is an improvement on what we had, the rest of the new signings are either average or below that. Gana has been ok but still not at the standards of Delph or Cleverly (putting aside our hatred for a second). Richards is perhaps a slight improvement too actually, unfortunately Lescott is a lot worse! Putting aside the tactics, even individually I have not seen any composure or quality, maybe Traore in spurts aside, but Gestede, Crespo, Veretout, and Ayew have been simply poor. Lescott has been awful. Bunn, Ilori and Sarkic don't look like we even intended on playing them this season. Then there is the original players; Okore, Clark (And Baker) seem to have developed a permanent case of sicknoteitus, Guzan was replaced as No.1 then put back in as we sold Given, Grealish is promising but far too overhyped and offers very little so far, Gabby has never been a potent striker, Hutton, Bacuna, Westwood and Sanchez are all average at best. Then there's a few hundred midfield players who struggle to make a 90minute impact. Swansea had at least four or five players who would walk in to our team on Saturday. Newcastle have a better squad. Sunderland arguably do. Take off the Claret and Blue glasses, this squad is AWFUL. That's what happens when year on year you reduce the quality of the squad. When you reduce the wages. When you don't realise losing the best players in the squad means you need to invest MORE to balance it out. There are a load of people who think because we spent £50m in the summer that it means we've invested - we didn't, we sold our Ferraris and have spent the money on a load of engine parts that may or may not work well individually, never mind be compatible together. And wages tie very closely to ability and once again that's been slashed this year. Yet people still expect us to compete?! We're screwed, I'd love to be more optimistic but reality gets in the way! in relation to FFP, I'm sure we could have spent another £50-60m and still been well within the remit, not that I'd expect that but we should have spent closer to £70m and on less players (too many midfielders, too few strikers) Good luck Garde, or whoever it ends up being, but you have ZERO chance of keeping this club up unless Lerner sells asap and we have funds in January. If/ when we get relegated then the manager will be blamed again as most people can't see past crap team = crap manager. Unless you genuinely believe that Houllier, McLeish, Lambert and Sherwood are all useless... look at the cause, not the symptom. So p*ssed off at Lerner/Villa hierarchy at moment. Don't care Sherwood's gone, the damage is done every day Lerner is here. And Tom Fox is losing any credibility whatsoever, he's just a smarmy buzzword speaking business man who doesn't have a clue about football. We're fun by a group of idiots who know nothing about football, nothing about passion, nothing about fans and are so convinced that they have a secret maths formula for running the club and squad that they can't see how wrong they are getting it. THEY DESERVE relegation. We don't.

It works both ways. Some will say the new manager didn't stand a chance with the mess Sherwood left them if he fails to turn it around. Ultimately ifs, buts and maybes can be used to support which ever side of the fence you are as regards the blame game. I'm almost beyond caring. Regardless of each manager's positives, negatives and idiosyncrasies I don't think they have had a chance of meeting their potential through choices made above them. Some managers we've had may have been capable of managing us to 4th, others may only be able to manage us to 12th... unfortunately all managers have only been supported enough to get us 17th which is all Lerner wants. It's basically irrelevant. I hope I don't like the next manager because I'm confident we'll all be back here in another 8 to 18 months time talking about their replacement. This is absolutely not a support of Sherwood but I think whoever comes in will not succeed at this club and relegation beckons regardless. I feel sorry for whoever takes it.

Amavi will be dropped to bench according to reports/ Sherwood. With Gabby back I wonder if Gestede will start. Clark is fit but he prob won't drop Lescott. Expecting another loss regardless of line up, can't see an XI I'd be confident in.

Is there anyone on here who, at time of them being hired, didn't approve of at least one of Houllier, McLeish, Lambert or Sherwood? Please identify yourself as I'm genuinely interested if such a person exists! I say this because they are, by and large, four very different managers in both style and character. If you accept that you approved of at least one of them (at the time) then I struggle to understand why people can not see past "crap team = crap manager". Ths isn't in support of Sherwood particularly, but I really think the importance of the manager is over-estimated to genie like proportions where we expect them to make diamonds out of mud and accuse them of being useless if they don't. That's not to say each manager hasn't made mistakes, every manager does, but what can we really expect with such player purchases?! One signing this summer was proven Prem quality, Richards. We've taken a rubbish team, stripped it of it's best players, removed any Premier experience and had a huge influx of foreign, often inferior league, cheap, unproven potential players. What do people really expect?! If we were lucky it might have worked but the chances were always slim. It was impossible to replace Benteke, we got pittance for Delph and nothing for Cleverly's resurgence. We lost experienced heads in Vlaar and Given (I'm sure them being high earners was just a coincidence) and seem to have placed our hopes on player recruitment on a rookie manager (especially considering size of overhaul) and two business men with potential profit seemingly outweighing instant impact. When we've had such an overhaul, do we have the luxury of time to develop Ilori, Traore and Ayew in particular? Considering the starting point for each manager, the funds and wage constraints they were given, some have done better than others. But it is not them who have failed to get us 'where we belong', it's Lerner. I said this on September 1st, it doesn't matter who the manager is, with the level of investment (especially considering the departures) the absolute best we can hope for this season is 17th and standing still. Anyone asking for anymore than that is frankly deluded. If Sherwood is failing to keep us in division by all means sack him, but don't suddenly expect midtable safety whoever the next manager is. Every year will be a slog until we start at least matching our opponents spends, partially in transfers but definitely in wages. Money doesn't guarantee success but it's a pretty accurate guideline. Personally I think the damage has been done now, Sherwood or whoever, we won't survive unless we significant invest in January. The situation isn't a surprise to me at all, the fact it seems to have come as a shock to a lot of people is. Really, what were people expecting?

You know it is quite likely that Sherwood isn't good enough AND our players aren't too! People seem to think changing the manager will make everything better, I highly doubt it. Amavi is in improvement on last year's XI, as is Richards probably. Everyone else either was already here (Gil, Sinclair and Grealish), has had injury issues (Traore and Gana), struggled to settle (Ayew), isn't as good as what they're supposed to replace (Veretout & Gestede) or simply squad fillers or downright worse (Bunn, Ilori, Crespo and Lescott). Ultimately, regardless of the manager I think it's just a case this squad isn't good enough. We've tried cheap gambles and it hasn't paid off. The squad isn't stronger, the quality is just more evenly spread so small improvements in some positions are used to paper up cracks caused by significant regression in other areas. Sherwood or someone else, this team is going down without investment in January. The fact is we came 17th last season and, personal issues aside, we'd kill to still have Cleverly, Delph and Benteke in our team. None of them have been improved on. Sherwood prefered Given too, so in his eyes we must have made ourselves weaker there as well. I'd prefer an over the hill, downward spiral highly paid Vlaar to Lescott too!

This isn't for the Sherwood thread but I disagree with you very much on Lerner. I'll concede that he may well not be aware he is tightening the funds to such a degree that relegation is almost inevitable regardless of the manager but he is still doing it! He has reduced investment to a point he thinks we can just about survive on and that's the height of his ambition. Unfortunately a lot of people are waking up to the fact the investment he is putting in is BELOW the required amount to survive. There is no other explantion for failing to even attempt to replace such key departures, there's no explanation for reducing the wages again. Of course he wants to survive but he has finally pushed the limits too far and the only thing that will save us is cash, not a change in manager. I can't say I'm overly fussed one way or the other on Sherwood, I see both potential and problems but above all else I think it's kind of irrelevant whilst Lerner operates in the way he is. I also don't understand anyone who is convinced we have a better squad this year, where the hell is the evidence for this? Not through performance here certainly, not through being greats at other clubs. At best our squad is full of a lot of POTENTIAL for the first time in years, but the problem with that is often in football (not just Villa) potential is never realised and we have taken a hell of a gamble on so much potential. Having a foreign name, being signed from a foreign team and being young doesn't mean they're good! Currently I'd prefer to still see Cleverley and Delph in our midfield! In fact, most of our better players this season have been players who were here before Sherwood. I'd bet last years XI would beat our current XI, if only because of Benteke!

People will always blame the manager, especially the more casual fan. And when I mean casual, I don't mean they're not passionate, just the sort of fan who believes a good work ethic and a good team is still all you need. Times have changed, you need to look deeper than that these days but still few do. Arguably most managers are inconsequential to the teams success, working within a window of maybe five places in the league. The real difference between teams is investment and wages, and we severely lack in both departments. Adovocaat is a massive name, but he was never going to turn Sunderland in to title contenders, a manager will always be constrained by the ambition and funds of the club. And currently we have zero ambition and evidently zero funds. No manager we can get will mean we won't find relegation year on year. I firmly believe that. Get Mourinho in and we'd still figh relegation. That doesn't mean it makes no impact, some managers would relegate us, others would keep us up but all will face this fight until Lerner invests or leaves.

I understand your logic, but thats what we keep doing and it is taking us nowhere. How can anyone be sure, that if the other problems are removed, Tim Sherwood might not be one. How many managers do we crash and burn?..... we are getting through them like kamikaze pilots. Quite. Theview of every single pundit and football journalist is the same.....is every one of them Sherwoods mate ? Us, Sunderland, Newcastle, are going round in circles with fans attacking manager after manager, whilst in each case the owners remain the same. It's a great shame that each Manager since O Neill has had certain clear faults ( although crucially all different faults to each other) and therefore each time had enough people against them to make them the target. There is one place and one place only the fans should target, and that is the owner, and the method of attack should be, simply, to stop going. The only thing money understands is money. No great loss to stop going anyway ! Agree, other than the not going part - I'll always go. But you're one of the few people that recognise continually blaming a hand tied manager isn't the solution. It's an easy target and Lerner loves knowing he's avoiding all the stick by placing his newest sacrificial lamb in charge. Nothing will change until he invests or sells. But I take a little solace in the fact that at least this time Sherwood won't go quietly. Lerner's made a mistake there - Sherwood will turn the focus on the board as will all his mates in the media. That reason alone is almost enough to hope he gets sacked! I've always maintained changing managers is kind of pointless when you're just looking to survive, the quality needed is much of a muchness and depends more on the quality of the players. I don't judge Sherwood, we'll probably never know what he's capable of here. But sack him, like people screamed for Lambert's head, and you'll appease the masses for another 6 to 12 months before we're all back here again bemoaning the 'rubbish' manager who's in the same situation.

Lerner says he wants to sell, maybe he even does to some degree, but currently he is all talk. It's easy to say he wants to sell the club but we have little evidence that this is a serious statement. It's well noted that clubs aren't selling easily but simply saying he wants to sell isn't good enough for me to give him a free ride because he said he wants to go. He might be asking too much, he might be adding too much debt, he might be adding all sorts of caveats. I'm not sure he's a motivated seller at all, but saying he's happy to sell is an easy way of preventing 'Lerner Out' protests - it just needs rewording. My main issue with Lerner isn't what he HAS done, it's what he IS doing. I accept mistakes will happen but it is the intention behind them. I can accept bad choices for CEO or managers or players, that happens. What I can not accept is the continual strangulation of support and finances. I firmly believe that Lerner is not only not investing any further but now using the money the club earns to lessen his own losses. I can't believe we are the only club so badly run that we still have to struggle to find funds for purchases outside player sales and that the wages have beeded cutting again. If we are not healthly in profit this season then I'd be shocked. Other than debts (of Lerner's making) we have an incredibly cheap starting XI transfer fee wise and an incredibly cheap wage structure now - I suspect a few of our new contracts to Baker, Clark etc have seen them take wage cuts too. Where is all the money going now? How can other teams (like WBA) be outspending us on fees and wages still? It's been years since the significant overspend of MON. I think Lerner is getting a really easy time of it and I'm not sure why. Being absent and saying you want to sell is not enough to excuse him! Regardless of what people think of him, Collymore is right to put the spotlight on the board rather than the revolving door that is becoming our 'failed' managers. It amazes me that people can't see a little bit deeper than the easy targets of players and managers to see that they are just a symptom of the real problems at this club. It's not Westwood's fault he's a mediocre player, it's a symtom of buying cheap from low divisions and paying cheap wages. It's not Ayew's fault he's taking a while to settle, it's a symptom of buying lots of cheap foreign players as a gamble. It's not Gabby's fault he's still first choice striker, it's a symptom of not investing modern amounts in decent strikers. They're all trying their best. Fundamentally we don't have the funds to replace them with better players. It's also not Houllier, McLeish, Lambert or Sherwood's fault they are given such ever restrictive budgets and parameters to work within. I'm sure some are better than others but really, with the investment that is coming from Lerner, the truth of the matter is our ceiling is about 15th at a push. It's not a surprise that the worst team in the division to survive last year is struggling again after losing their best players, investing very little net to replace them, chancing their arm on foreign gambles and once again reducing the wages. I'm amazed we're not bottom. Lerner just wants survival. That's not good enough.

I'd never want Villa to lose a match BUT occasionally I can see the benefit of getting a kicking rather than a narrow defeat... So, whilst I personally have no strong desire to see Sherwood sacked, I could prefer to lose 6-0 than just 1-0 if it caused a change for the 'greater good'. So I'm somewhere in the middle of the voting options. No to wanting to lose but yes to losing really badly rather than marginally.

I still believe there will be no changes in manager until at least February. Firstly that would mean Sherwood would have survived nearly a year (still short for a Villa manager on average) and overseen approximately 40 games (still amongst lowest we've ever had from a manager) but, most crucially, it'll mean any new manager would not be able to ask for cash as transfer window would be closed.

Exactly this. Ultimately every decision is based purely on money above any other considersation. We would not consider sacking Sherwood if he could guarantee 17th, that's all Lerner wants. I believe we largely got Sherwood because he was unattached and therefore cheaper than the like of Moyes. If Lerner believes a change needs to be made to secure our Premier League status then he will go with the cheapest choice rather than the best choice, of that I'm sure. So he'll find the list of unattached coaches and try to find the best of that lot. Even if Klopp or Mourinho had a £1m release fee Lerner wouldn't be interested.

Exactly this. Ultimately every decision is based purely on money above any other considersation. We would not consider sacking Sherwood if he could guarantee 17th, that's all Lerner wants. I believe we largely got Sherwood because he was unattached and therefore cheaper than the like of Moyes. If Lerner believes a change needs to be made to secure our Premier League status then he will go with the cheapest choice rather than the best choice, of that I'm sure. So he'll find the list of unattached coaches and try to find the best of that lot. Even if Klopp or Mourinho had a £1m release fee Lerner wouldn't be interested.

Forgetting whether he should or shouldn't go, which I've made my feelings clear on, there is basically ZERO chance of him being sacked anytime soon. Nothing more complex behind this reasoning than his time in the job. In Aston Villa's history, the lowest number of competitive games a manager has overseen has been 36 and this was because Houllier had to resign due to ill health. After this the next lowest is the amazing Billy McNeill with 41 games in the season we were relegated. So Sherwood's 26 games is likely to mean he's got at LEAST another 10 games before this is a serious question for Tom Fox, and more likely another 20. He's going nowhere. Aston Villa managers on average last slightly over two years, the league average is just over a year. So come Feb/ March is satistically the most likely time we'll see any changes as he'd have done over a year by then and had around 40 games.

Martin O'Neill - (investment from Lerner) - best manager, he's brilliant, good times Martin O'Neill - (investment ceases, he quits) - useless manager, spent poorly Gerard Houllier - (limited investment other than relegation fear Bent signing) - past it, useless manager Alex McLeish - (limited investment but higher wage players still being bought) - rubbish manager, relegation guaranteed Paul Lambert - (miniscule investment, wage reductions in place) - useless manager, too conservative Tim Sherwood - (miniscule investment, wage reductions continue) - useless manager, too adventurous The point I'm getting at is despite the wildly varying abilities, qualities, styles and personalities of the above managers the only pattern that is irrefutable is that lack of investment equals the view we have a rubbish manager! That's why I see no point in calling for Sherwood's head. Is he better or worse than any of the other names on the list, makes so little difference. I personally maintain the best manager on that list is Lambert, that's not to say he was successful, clearly he wasn't, but I still say that is more down to circumstance than ability. He needed to go to freshen things up, but we are settling back to our 'true' position - the position of a team that only spends what it earns from player sales, who reduce wages year on year and absolute best ambition is to survive on lowest spend. Allardyce apparently wants assurances from Sunderland he'll have a healthy budget in January to sort them out. Does anyone really believe he'd get that here? Like when Lambert was here, I see very little point changing the manager until further investment is guaranteed. Small boost is the absolute best we can hope for, like when Sherwood arrived, until we sink again. Personally I don't think Sherwood is great at all. I think his team and tactics and overall style leaves a lot to be desired, but he's not taking us down. Lerner is. We bought from abroad because that's all we could 'afford' and it's a gamble that looks unlikely to pay off.

We should start some form of sweepstakes, guessing where the players will go once we're inevitably relegated. And yes, for me, it is inevitable this year. Grealish feels like a Spurs signing, Gil back abroad, Traore maybe Palace, Richards a newly promoted side, Gana off to Everton. Amavi could head to a decent Spanish team as a guess. We're stuck with Lescott, Hutton, Gestede, Gabby. Guzan, Westwood and Clark will give it a year to see if we come back at first attempt but then head to newly promoted sides if/when we don't. Bacuna, Ayew, Veretout probably all go abroad. Sherwood is now a pundit and Wilkins leaves football after failing to keep us up after taking over for last ten games. Worryingly, take away Gil, Grealish, Traore and Gana from our squad and I wouldn't be confident we wouldn't be fighting a reegation battle in the Championship.

I wonder what Tim Sherwood is on wages wise. Not something that's ever discussed really, but I imagine being a inexperienced manager, young and widely considered a gamble that's it's not a great amount as far as managers go. Much like Lambert probably. I somehow doubt we could afford experienced managers, and when I say afford I just mean that in the language of Lerner. Personally I don't care if Sherwood is sacked or not. I said exactly the same thing 6 months ago when everyone was screaming for Lambert's head. When will people learn, about 95% of our success is down, like it or not, to investment. How do people not recognise that if everything from the players, to the management, to the coaches to the Chief Exec has changed that the only constant in this failure is Lerner? So who's the next manager without funds for transfers or more importantly wages? Houllier - experienced old head. FAILED McLeish - Local knowledge stupid gamble FAILED Lambert - One years Prem experience, young grafting manager FAILED Sherwood - mouthy young energetic chancer with no experience FAILING It makes practically no difference who the manager is, a couple of places in the league maybe but Lerner has reduced the expenditure to such an extent that I genuinely believe that whoever the manager is now that we're fighting for 18th to 20th. Last year we were fighting for 17th to 19th. The year before that maybe 16th to 18th. We've been going one way for five years. And with such a obvious trajectory who realy thinks our wage bill hasn't gone down again this year? Yes this is a white flag post. We aren't being relegated by Sherwood, we aren't being relegated by these first eight games, we're being relegated by systematic failures from Lerner. Chronic underinvestment has lead to this and it is now basically too late to do anything. Sherwood had to gamble abroad for cheap players, either transfers and/ or wages but it was always a gamble. Finally Lerner's luck has run out.

I can't link this because it was all online through an email, but I was just doing the annual Premier League fan survey and the questions are very similar year on year; how far do you live from ground, who do you take, what do you spend, do you want televised football blah blah blah but then at the end there were four very unusual/ tailored questions. Choose which Aston Villa badge you like (from four from our history) Do you think the lion should have claws? Why? What does the word 'Prepared' mean to you? How strongly do you feel the word 'Prepared' should be included in the badge? So have the club asked for this information? Is another badge change/tweak in the offing? Personally I wish they'd just leave it alone now and focus on more important things, teams should change badges once every 50/100 years not with each new kit...

Nice in theory. But if that's really the case then we should play Ayew, Gestede, Gabby, Sinclair, Traore, Gil, Grealish, Veretout, Amavi, Bacuna...oh and Guzan! Obviously it's ridiculous line up, but it's all about blend and I don't think we can afford three luxury type players. Players that are unlikely all to be firing on the same day, which means nine times out of ten you'll effectively be playing with nine men. Obviously that one time they are all firing will be great but scant consolation for finding ourselves with three points from every thirty available! At the moment, with where we are in the pecking order, we need graft over luxury. We need the essentials done first and the sparkle added later. As Sherwood stated last season, you can have too many icing on the cake players and in Traore, Gil and Grealish we have that if playing at the same time.

I think it's too early to be calling for the manager's head, despite being worryingly convinced we're getting relegated. However, I've said it a million times - the manager situation is kind of irrelevant whist we have Lerner refusing to invest in transfers or wages. I strongly suspect the current wage bill is considerably less than even Lambert's time in charge and wages hold an even stronger correlation to quality than transfer fees do. But back to Sherwood. On one hand he's had the misfortune to lose key players but on the other he's at least had the chance to create his own team. Lambert never got the luxury of spending any decent player sales figures so always had to scrape and gamble (Benteke being proof he got it right sometimes) where as Sherwood has had that luxury but I suspect could only pursue players on smaller wages. Both have been given almost crippling hands to play. So far both are having similar success... For Sherwood; well he's definitely entertaining! He deserves praise for keeping us up and he deserves praise for getting us to the final. It's still early but his transfer dealings seem about average, with Gana, Traore and Amavi looking good, Richards and Veretout looking ok, Lescott, Gestede and Ayew not really doing it yet and then Llori, Crespo and Bunn being squad fillers. And before anyone says, I'm judging Gestede on his whole play so despite being very pleased with his goal return I actually still think he's a one trick pony who'll quickly be nullified as the league gets to know him. Against Sherwood; well I suppose the transfers could go in here too! Was it wise to have such a big turnover? Why is he largely using players that were already here if he's convinced these players are improvements - Gabby is no.1 striker still, acceptable after having spent a third of funds on forward players? What the hell is going on with substitutions? Are there any tactics/ game plans or is it, as it sometimes feels like, just a ten year old boy playing manager and trying a team with ten attacking players and no defenders? Have we played well since FA Cup QF? Does he really believe what he says in interviews or is it just playing with the media? I'm worried 'banter' is more important than practice at Bodymoor Heath. But, like I've said, it's all irrelevant. With Sherwood, without Sherwood, this team is being stripped down to the absolute bare essentiallys to survive in the Premier League. There is no ambition to do anything more. And if you keep pushing the limits you inevitably fall at some point. We're now in the relegation zone, I'll be surprised if we get out of it whatever happens with Marmite Tactics Nice But Dim Tim...

We have three, what I would call, luxury players at the moment in Traore, Gil and Grealish. Three players with bags of talent but limited graft. These players are hard to find but even the best teams struggle to accommodate them individually, never mind all three. The problem with these players is it's like playing with ten men for a majority of the match and hoping that, if they feel like it today, they may spark to life for 15mins and singlehandly swing the game in our favour. That's fine if you can go toe to toe with the opposition whilst they amble around uninterested but a big problem if every game is a battle to hold on like we have at the moment. There's definitely an argument to play one of them. Grealish has the most scope to add graft to his game so is probably the obvious starter. Traore is probably the most talented but will never add graft due to that arrogant side that makes him lively, so unfortunately he has to be a sub until Villa improve. It's a very annoying set of circumstances, but I fear that we have Traore at the wrong time. Have him during the MON years and we could afford to develop and witness his genius, but having him now is a luxury we can't afford - this season, at absolute best, is going to be about scraping and fighting for points and we can't afford any passengers. Traore is basically too good for us and knows it. We'd all love to see all three playing but realistically it makes us far too lightweight, far too gungho, and in this division you'll be slaughtered nine times out of ten for such 'bravery'.