WooJung

But even there I'd still have him behind all those who started today, as well as Ramsey and even Coutinho

Reminds me of Bruce sending Elphick out in loan because who needs centre backs when you've god Jedinak? Our attacking squad is so unbalanced it's scary, and the fact that Gerrard has been allowed to leave us in such an unhealthy position in terms of squad points to the fact that the incompetence goes way beyond the (former) manager. 1 winger. 2 number 10s. 3 strikers who don't complement each other. Yikes

If Dougie had gone to ground same as Mitrovic he'd have gotten nothing. When the game rewards you for faking injury something's wrong. And in this case , it's willingly allowed to be wrong. And we, Villa, are always on the receiving end of such BS and never take advantage of it (look no further than Chillwell's challenge on Sunday - much more of a red card than this ever was)

While I'm a fervent proponent of the double pivot, I'd probably rather have Dougie along Kamara for most games.

Go 4-2-3-1 and swap Sanson for Buendia and I'm all for it

I would say Terry worked, he brought leadership and quality to our team. Ultimately the season was a failure due to poor management and non existent attacking tactics, but he improved us when he came and weakened us when he left.

For all his faults, the energy he brought on that left wing is something we've been crying out for. His movement made us a much more dangerous proposition. Weather that works against low blocks remains to be seen. That shot that went out for a throw, though....

I'm one of the last to defend Gerrard and I do agree that the subs made us worse (the team was working fine and if subs were to be made, I only would've made them for fitness reasons), but I feel the drop was due to them scoring their second goal (completely against the run of play) and we wouldn't have recovered regardless. But yes, the subs didn't make much sense, especially bringing on Coutinho after he already brought on Buendia. I had absolutely no idea as to what the shape was supposed to be by then.

How Gerrard looked at him and thought "yep, captain material" is one the most baffling things I've seen under Gerrard. And there's a lot to pick from. Shambolic decision, he's getting worse and worse and at this point I feel sorry for him, any other player would get dropped, get relieved of all the pressure, get a clean slate to work hard and hopefully earn his place back. Nobody is benefitting from his unstoppableness. Other than Gerrard saving face after making him captain. Except he isn't saving face.

I doubt it, his technique just isn't there, nor is his decision making. At best, we'd get something similar to what Trez had to offer, lots of graft and dynamism, but that wouldn't solve our attacking issues.

Is it just me who thinks that, just like Grealish, he'd benefit from playing further up the field? He goes missing in crowded midfields, defending isn't his strongest attribute, and his biggest strength is running at and past players, which would be easier to do if you have one less line of players to run at. His finishing is also very good, and he'd certainly get more chances to do that. Come to think about it, start him up front ahead of Watkins

To think he only played because Kamara is injured. Enjoy him while we still have him, he deserves better than what we are offering him career-wise.

Buendia offers more not just defensively. He gets more involved than Coutinho and makes our play more fluid. He retains possession better than Coutinho. He has a much better vision than Coutinho. His passing is better. His pressing is better. If you remove Coutinho's first games for us, his numbers are better, even though he's played a lot less. And he is more consistent. Coutinho possibly gets into better scoring positions, but that doesn't amount to much, as he's only scored one goal in the last 6 months. Coutinho gets picked over him because he is Gerrard's mate, as well as his marquee signing, which Gerrard is desperate to showcase as a success.

Very much improved yesterday, I am hopeful he continues like this but doubtful that he will. I really wish he'd stop shooting every time he's outside the box though, he's almost as unlikely to score as Watkins is on a 1 on 1.

He definitely rushed it, poor focus. Shame, a goal would've done him a lot of good

Not sure what people are impressed by. Credit to him for making that run that won us the corner from which he scored. That's about it. A few fancy flicks that led to nothing. Ran into defenders a couple of times. End product isn't there. Doesn't offer an out ball. Isn't impactful in keeping possession. What does he actually do?

Even more baffling, that nobody else could, or would. He's definitely more than good enough for a bottom half top flight team in France, Italy or Germany, would've been cheap and by all accounts eager for a move. Wages might have been a slight issue coming from the premier League, but I doubt they're anything extraordinary...

He's hardly our most technical player though, is he?

I'm not sure I buy this. Granted, I don't know the dynamics, this is just my take on it and I could be completely wrong. But to me Tyrone looks like the kind of bloke who will do what captains do regardless of weather he wears the armband or not. He will still bark orders, put in heroic blocks, miss the target nearly every time when we have a corner and have his occasional blunder. Just like he did when Grealish was captain. And for where we are right now, I'll definitely take it!

If Hause does well I'm the championship he might gain value and we might sell him for a half decent price. Bednarek covers for that short term, might be a better player (haven't seen enough to tell), and come the summer we will be able to assess how he fits in and how Diego Carlo is doing fitness wise. I can see the logic. Hopefully it also works out.

The options aren't just "Cash in on him now" and "lose him for free in the summer". There is another transfer window before his contract runs up, and although we would get less than what we'd get now we would have time to look for an adequate replacement. Sure, there is the risk he might get injured, but that's less of a risk than going on through the season without one of our best two midfielders.

I want Gerrard out asap but he's arguably the only player (along with Ramsey) who has played his best football with us under Gerrard. Before that he was all energy, poor delivery, and a penalty waiting to happen. At least his end product has improved. Weather that was just a good run of form, time will tell. But he was abysmal for their second goal and should be dropped on principal for switching off like that.

The way he completely forgot about Martinelli for their second goal is inexcusable.

This is mostly the same squad that was 5th by Christmas 2 season ago... Digne for targett, Buendia for Grealish and Bailey for Traore... And while one definitely is a downgrade, you'd argue the others are upgrades .

Dreadful from Martinez but Ramsey completely lost his man. Gifted them a goal