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!
Comments
44 responses to “Everton – Villa; Should I dare suggest another win?”
The law of averages says I have to get one right eventually.
Yeah like we have to win against United at VP eventually 🙂
Decent summation as always. I do think the crowd will be on a high now Benitez has left the room so we need to quieten them early doors.
I don’t think Coutinho will start – it seems managers prefer to bring players on later in the game if they’re not fully match fit. I suspect Konsa will be missing which, as you say, will be a big loss.
Ings enjoys scoring against Everton – he’s scored more against them than any other side in the Prem – so I think he’ll start. Same team for me except McGinn in for Sanson and possibly Hause for Konsa.
Can Martinez celebrate his new contract with a clean sheet?
I’m going for a draw – again. I’m such a coward 🙂
Ferguson was nicknamed “Duncan Disorderly” by the Everton fans. He has a bit of a temper.
We should win this regardless but we have conceded soft goals too often, and been outfought in games we should really win to take it for granted.
We do need to start picking up 3 points on a regular basis if we are going to make headway. This would be a good time to start. We should be at least a top 8 team with the money spent. NSWE will continue to invest but they will expect to see real progress. My head says a win (we are better man for man) but my gut says we will mess up.
If Benitez was still in charge, I would definitely fancy us to win. With Ferguson now in temporary charge suddenly the atmosphere is completely different. Calvert-Lewin and Richarlison will probably start together for the first time in a while. They will be motivated to get one over Gerrard, Digne and Coutinho for obvious reasons.
I agree with Hitch and predict a 1-1 draw although I wouldn’t be surprised if we lose. One thing Villa are exceptional at is changing a club’s fortunes.
We need to start stringing a few more wins together again before we get sucked back into the relegation zone. We need to start well tomorrow and quieten the crowd.
For all of the caveats concerning the management change at Everton, I think that Gerrard and his coaches will have spent all week drilling it into Villa’s squad that this really is the sort of game that they must win – no excuses.
The arrival of new faces straight into the match-day squad should be sending a clear message to every single player that the club are going to replace anyone who either can’t or won’t produce the performance levels needed to get us finally away from watching the relegation places and actually up towards the top 7/8 in the next few weeks.
I’m not an optimist, but will stick my neck out (for once) and agree with Badger that we should beat them 1-2
Coutinho starts with Ings on the bench.
McGinn back in and Sanson dropped.
All pretty predictable.
And Konsa fit to play
Arguably our best side at present
This is on paper our best team IMO. We need to be strong and resilient from the start otherwise we could get spanked if we allow Everton to get their tails up.
Agreed.
On paper that side is good enough to beat Everton.
It’s a shame the game isn’t played on paper! 🙂
Everton have spent half a billion quid on this squad apparently. Wow.
And we think we’ve spent big?
TBF there is very little difference in net spend between our clubs over the last 5/6 years. It’s just that Everton have recouped almost twice as much in sales of players as we have, even including Grealish.
Villa
Martinez; Cash, Konsa, Mings, Digne; McGinn, Douglas Luiz, J.Ramsey; Buendia, Coutinho; Watkins.
Subs: Olsen, Kesler-Hayden, Hause, Targett, A.Young, Iroegbunam, Sanson, Chukwuemeka, Ings.
Let’s hope that was Mings’ only sloppy pass today.
I’m sorry but Luiz don’t doesn’t it for me, he lacks urgency to the ball and distribution, we are up against a team to show Ferguson they care. It’s not going to be what some who predicted. Far from it .
Two mid table sides playing mid table football!
Mines is dreadful sometimes
Minns, worries me DS, ok nice goal second half to come , I’m still hitting the whisky J B , glad when the season ends I need to dry out.
*Mings
Fat fingers😂
Best time to score – good goal. Buendia heads well for a small guy.
I think we’ve looked better than mid table this half. Cut out mings lazy passing and it was almost faultless. What a beautiful header by Buendia, he’s really starting to come good now and this formation/team selection is working too, basically just Ollie up top and that extra midfielder means we close the gaps a lot quicker and can get in behind the lines better too. Come on boys let’s get the 3 points. No daft mistakes.
Woo hoo come on the lads
Mings saves the day so far ,..
Everton looking more likely since Gordon came on for Townsend.
Hard to see this staying 1-0. Time to change things
Why is Buendia marking Mina?
right , to me two players that need m.o.m. Mings, Buendia, lets seee.
What!! Cash m.o.m. ? Ok what do I know..
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.