WooJung

Hopefully Bacuna will improve defensively, he's still learning his trade as a full back, I have high hopes for him.

If he keeps those silly mistakes he used to make last season out of his game I think he is much better than Westwood.

According to Italian newspapers it's going to be a loan

I see him more as a potential box to box midfielder than as a proper DM, as a full back he should be used to running up and down the pitch, and his attacking attributes seem to be much better than his defensive ones.

He always had a good left foot, but I'd say he's pretty much lacking in all the other parts of the game. Not sure he will have a future at Villa. Not that Richardson is a much safer option...

FA Cup final And look how that turned out. Gabby IN! Not sure if serious... Do you really think he would've made a difference? We could've had Ronaldo in that team and still get thrashed.

FA Cup final

Behave, Zog is a poor man's Gabby and that's saying something I guess we'll have to agree to disagree, then. The only player I trust less than Gabby is Tonev

He is an excellent player when he isn't making silly mistakes. If he can perform like yesterday consistently I can't see him being dropped.

I wouldn' mind seeing him as a striker, depending on the opposition. Similair to Gabby, only much better. If only he had come through the ranks and were a Villa fan...

Just came back from an injury, he was magnificent in the first half. Should've been subbed off in the second, he was clearly tired.

This is probably the only part of your post I disagree with - the bench would be too good for him. I'd much rather have Ayew, Sinclair Kozak, or even Robinson ahead of him. On a personal level I obviously wish him no ill, but if Sherwood keeps starting him then an injury really is what would be best for Villa. And arguments in his defence remind me of the arguments some (few) people used in defence of Heskey: "He doesn't score much but his contribution bla bla bla..." Enough of this. Please. Oh, and by the way, thank you Paul Lambert for giving him a 4 year deal last season. Just another of your brilliant ideas, eh?

How he keeps kicking the ball for throw-ins from goal kicks is beyond me. He did that a couple of times against Bournemouth as well.

Embarrassing, clownish mistake. I hope it will teach him a lesson. YOU DO NOT TRY TO DRIBBLE PAST PLAYERS IN THAT POSITION!

He was poor today, needs to play much better than this.

You are allowed 3 subs in the premier league and things obviously weren't working. Either Sherwood failed to notice this, or he neglected to do anything to try and make things better. Useless. AND STOP PLAYING GABBY

As much as I don't want him here I'd still probably have him rather than Gabby

I am a fan of his but he's been poor today. Did nothing going forward, was exposed at the back, got himself booked for no good reason and game away the corner which led to the second goal way too softly. And his haircut is awful.

I'd like to know if Sanchez's English is significantly better than Gil's

I'm not trying to "sell" any line really, just trying to provide some perspective to the constant refrain on here that Gil was our best player under Lambert, saviour of the team, etc. He may have looked good but unfortunately it was amongst a demoralised and directionless team playing absolutely dire football and heading for the premier league exit door. Maybe Harry Redknapp's missus would have looked good in that shower. For the record, Gil's transformational effect on the team was to help us to a league sequence of 0-2,0-5,1-2, 0-2, 1-2. Sherwood is trying to get the team to play an entirely different form of progressive, attacking football, instilling the team with the will and belief to win matches and Gil hasn't cut it in that format yet. Maybe he will, maybe he won't. But I would be pretty sure that Sherwood has a more serious reason for excluding him from the team than just not fancying him, as you are suggesting. He didn't look good because the other players were dire, he looked good because he was running past players, making good passes, creating a goal that had been missing for god knows how long and scoring a brilliant goal in the cup (yes, it was against Bournemouth, but he still managed to put it in the top corner, I'm not sure many other Villa players would've managed that). His contribution to that run of games was exactly the same as every other player's who played in those games, but as you say, he looked better than everyone else, so I assume that by that logic every other player should've been dropped? Yes, we lost all of those games - are you suggesting that since we haven't won any games through his efforts he isn't good enough? Or that he is to blame for those defeats? Unless the previous two are the case, I really don't see what your point is. Let's not pretend he isn't good enough, there must obviously be another explanaiton.

Stevo; please has it really? come on be fair how would you describe the last 3 games then? sorry i just don't follow. Well it's hard to really define form. he's only been out of the team for 3 games, one of which we lost. So if you're only using 3 games as your measure, then our best 3 game spell under Sherwood was 3 wins in a row, in which Gabby played every minute. Regardless, with him in the team we won 5 and drew 1 of the previous 9 games. It's wrong to only look at the end result of a game - you have to look at the opposition and at how the game itself has developed. We dominated Liverpool from start to finish, we pretty muched bossed the team that had won the league the previous year, scoring twice against them, and only losing the game because of individual errors at the back, and also dominated against a very decent Everton side who had one five in their previous 6. The level of the opposition has been much higher in the last three games, and yet we have always clearly been the better side. I'm not saying Gabby shouldn't play, I'm just saying that playing him would mean we would have to change our system, and I hope you can see why I'd be reluctant to do so.

I keep hearing this so take it as red that I'm not picking on you, but how? When? Well when was the last time a team loses 12 in a row? I don't think it's ever happened in the Premier League, so history would suggest they'll get a result soon. If you toss a coin 999 times and get heads all 999, the odds that the next coin toss will be heads are exactly the same as they were for the first toss. I know you can't really compare the two situations because Football isn't only about chance, there are many other aspects involved, but you get the point...

I'd like to keep him, I'd rather get rid of Cole and Gil Why would you want to get rid of Gil?

May I remind you he is our current Player Of The Season (2013/2014) should win it this season too. He has been consistently good for years now. But yes he has looked even more immense since Sherwood came in. In the pre-match thread I stated we would be 2 or 3 nill up early because they won't be able to handle Delph. He has an invaluable skill of being able to take out complete midfields either by skills or a searing burst of pace. Some of the stuff he was doing on Saturday was mind-boggling. We just need to find a song for him now. As good as he was last season he was still inconsistent and he was still the best of a bad bunch. Until Sherwood arrived I think he was quite poor this season. Now he is out of this world, by far our best midfielder since Milner, maybe better. If he improves his shooting from outside the box and starts scoring those 3-4 extra goals a season he would be out of this world.

Don't think that's likely. He is a very handy player to keep in the squad (might even be good enough to start, I need to see more from him under a proper manager). I don't think any club bigger than us would come and bid for him yet, and I can't see him move "sideways" to another club in the Prem. I also don't see him moving to a smaller club (one promoted from the Championship) even if promised regular football. I'm sure he feels for this Club and will want to fight for his place in the starting 11. If, come the end of next season he doesn't get much game time, this might change. All this is assuming we don't get relegated, of course.