My predictions haven’t been going very well lately, which just goes to show, you can’t take any game for granted.
I think if Duncan Ferguson hadn’t taken temporary control over Everton after Rafa the Gaffa’s sacking, us beating them would have been a universal prediction amongst Villa fans.
Even so, I’m not convinced Ferguson is anything special and he hasn’t achieved much when he’s taken charge of them previously.
What he is good at though is firing players up so you know they’re going to give their all.
Actually it’s probably more like he scares players to death with his natural agressiveness.
And the fact that they’ve got anyone apart from Rafa in charge probably means we’ll see some sort of bounce from them.
Of course, the good news is that we’ve signed at least one of their best, if not the best player in Lucas Digne.
His signing, or more accurately, Everton releasing him has me somewhat confused. Why would you sanction that sale if there was even the slightest inkling that the manager might be sacked?
Still, it’s to our benefit that we’ve got him and by all accounts he’s better going forward than Matt Targett is.
I’ve read that Digne isn’t a very good defender, which concerns me as left back is such an easy area to target, but I’ll gloss over that and assume that Stevie G knows best.
Squad news then and we’re in very decent shape. Possibly the biggest news is that John McGinn will be back after his suspension.
Ezri Konsa is very doubtful, but the manager said he’ll be checked out at the last minute to see if he can make it.
He’s a miss if he doesn’t, but I wouldn’t like to see him rushed back.
Kortney Hause seems to be on a high after signing a very nice (and probably very lucrative) contract extension, so you’d expect him to come in and do a very decent job in covering. It would seem his agent has played a blinder in spreading the rumour that West Ham were interested in the player and you have to admit that if that’s what has happened, at least he’s earned his money.
Then again, I like Hause as cover and in the scheme of things he’s probably not that costly, wages-wise.
Konsa’s injury shows how thin we are at centre back and you’d have to expect we’ll get another one in after losing Tuanzebe, but Gerrard has quite rightly said he won’t be held to ransom and will wait until the next window if needs be.
Otherwise, nothing has changed and everyone else is fit.
As for Everton, Alex Iwobi is at the ACON, Tom Davies is out with a thigh injury and Allan and Fabian Delph are both ill. Salomon Rondon (who I heard Everton fans calling a shocking player just the other night) and Andros Townsend could make it back into the side depending on if they’d also fallen out with Benitez and how Ferguson views them.
As you’d expect, Anwar El Ghazi, who’s gone on loan to the Toffees (again, who made that decision for Everton?) won’t be available.
There are a couple of obvious questions about which Villa side starts for this game. The word is Coutinho may well start, so the question there is does Danny Ings miss out? I personally don’t think so, because my bet is that Coutinho won’t be able to last a full game. Then again, there’s probably merit in letting the magician do his thing for an hour and then bringing Ings on to run the Everton defence ragged for the last thirty.
I guess that depends on how the manager sees things and I guess he will be keen to get Coutinho involved as much as possible, as soon as possible.
The other question is if McGinn comes straight back in and you have to think he will, who misses out in the middle? I think Sanson, although that would be a bit of a shame, seeing as I thought he actually played pretty well before his dopey backpass. I can ignore his water bottle strop as purely disappointment in himself, but his being dropped after performing okay surely won’t do much for his confidence.
It’s another tough call for the manager, but what strikes me is how quickly we seem to swing from having no options at all and really scraping the barrel, to having really difficult decisions as to who plays. The latter situation is much more desirable, of course.
I’m almost scared to predict this game, because I invariably get it wrong.
A draw seems favourite, but I’m not convinced that will be good enough, as Everton really are not a very good side lately. Losing at Norwich proves that, but of course we all know what a team and it’s manager not working out can do to a side.
Still, I struggle to see us leaving Goodison without at least something in the bag and if I have to stick my neck out, I’m going to go for the win. Again.
And to add to that, I’m going to say we’ll get two goals.
Villa to win 2-1.
UTV! and it’s about time I got one right!
Well done the lads ,,,
Hard fought win but concerned that it was another tale of two halves.
Defence played well second half though.
Well played overall – didn’t mean to sound negative.
Whilst it’s hard to watch I’m pleased that we didn’t fold under the pressure. A good 3 points and nice to get back to winning. It’s been a while
Yeasts great win woo hooo up the mighty Villa
Considering that Ferguson obviously sent his team out to try and out-muscle Villa (which a good few teams have managed over the last year or so-) I thought we coped very well.
was a time not long ago when we’d simply have caved-in under the bombardment they mounted in the 2nd half, especially since while the referee was card-happy he seemed to miss most of the nastier stuff that went on.
Buendia was simply superb, IMO, and if he can add a few goals to his game then he will be a genuine super-star. As for Mings, yes, he has his usual tendency to make a couple of mistakes, but led superbly today none the less.
A gritty performance overall without any real quality. I thought it was one of Watkins worst games for a while in terms of hold up play which certainly affected our second half performance. Coutinho was mostly quiet too with only Buendia offering any offensive play. A win nonetheless and 3 points which is all that matters.
Showed the grit and determination that we had recently lost.
Buendia starting to show why we paid £38m for him
We now have a winnable run of games – mustn’t miss the opportunity to be ruthless.
Happy days.
Aston Villa have made an approach for Juventus midfielder Rodrigo Bentancur according to the Daily Mail.
Anyone know him???
Will he stop us shipping goals?
He’s my third cousin, Bum Bum… 😉
🙂 🙂
Lol!! Sounds like he would be a great addition!
The PL table is fascinating. Wolves are in tremendous form and are eight points ahead of us in eighth. IF we hadn’t given them three points at VP last autumn, we’d be only two points off them, despite their great form and our indifferent. This shows that every single game is critical and can make a huge difference. Gerrard knows this. Nevertheless, top 8 is still doable and I still think top 6 is possible if Stevie can get these players to string a run of 5-6 wins together. The last third of the season is going to be a good one, me thinks.
Excellent win today. Stevie knew it would be a war and prepared his boys accordingly. Well done to all concerned!
UTV
Can’t argue with your summation BFR
Cavani not offside for Manure’s winner but Wolves’ third was off. OK lads, whatever you say. Bent tossers.
Oh and well done to Dean Smith, btw. It’ll be some achievement if he keeps them up.
Shearer states all four (him and his colleagues) in the studio at 5 Live thought Cavani was offside when the image was frozen. Even Stevie Wonder would say it’s clearly offside. But goal given. Who’d have thought, eh? Stone the flaming crows as Djokovic might have been saying a week ago. And how long did they check it for? A few seconds. As bent as Julian Clary riding the helter-skelter. But they continue to get away with it because West Ham won’t do anything, just like Villa’s board didn’t. What are they afraid of? Manure up to 4th with a little help from their friends.
BFR – every fan knows VAR is bent (unless you support Manure of course) and until they appoint completely independent assessors so it will stay bent.
Football is degenerating into a farce – rather like Formula 1.