It appears though as Tim Sherwood will stick with Brad Guzan as he is set to start the crucial game against Swansea. Guzan made the howler that led to Costa’s goal in Villa’s 2-0 defeat over the Premier League weekend. Last season, during Guzan’s error that gifted Aguero a goal, Guzan was dropped for Shay Given. The same won’t be happening this weekend.
Guzan has no performed well at all this season, often showing a lack of confidence between the posts and his distribution has been poor. But this decision does make sense. Unlike last season, Villa don’t have a top keeper on the sidelines. Mark Bunn has been brought in this season from Norwich on a free transfer, but he is not the same calibre as Guzan. In fact, Bunn didn’t even start the League Cup match against Birmingham City last month. That shows that Sherwood, perhaps doesn’t have too much confidence in Bunn either. Bunn has never really been a first team keeper in any team, minus his few appearances for Norwich during their previous Premier League campaigns.
Villa do boast a large selection of young keepers, but a young keeper will never replace Guzan. The only keeper that has had some kind of Premier League experience is Jed Steer. But he is out on loan at the moment, and one Premier League appearance doesn’t really count for much. If Sherwood does stay as boss, I’m fairly certain that this will be Guzan’s last season with Aston Villa, and his performances have dipped significantly. In place, I have a suspicion that Steer will become Villa’s new number 1. Sherwood highly rates him, he has been offered a new contract, and will be playing Championship football on loan this year. He’ll get experience under his belt and looks like a good, up and coming keeper.
Back to Guzan, I think it’s the right decision overall. Dropping him would only destroy Guzan’s confidence even further. Something Villa and Sherwood cannot afford without a top keeper on the sidelines. Hopefully Guzan will put that mistake to bed and help Villa keep a clean sheet, or at least have a decent performance in our crucial game against Swansea.
I bet bunns thinking what’s it going to take for me to get between the posts I wouldn’t blame him.if guzan fucks up yet again not only he’ll get it both barrels but Sherwood for picking him. Knocking his confidence bollox we’re losing games fuck his feelings.
So he’s made one mistake, a howler ye but still.
He’s 6th in the saves stats table with many of them being vital. Shots on goal against 45 with 31 saves. His kicking isn’t great but every single Villa player has a flaw.
We aren’t losing games because of him at all, we’d have lost to Chelsea regardless.
Yes you could say that if they had scored more than the gift & the own goal but they didn’t so you can’t say they’d beat us anyway.
Only because he has nobody better at the club. Bunn played once and conceded 3 against Notts County!
Probably guzan feels his got no competition which is totally wrong.atleast with given he kept looking over his shoulder.
Guzan our best keeper, no else their to replace him. Bunn is not a Prem league keeper, saying that either is Guzan
Guzan is still a good keeper, but goalkeeping is all about confidence. I agree that part of his poor form is due to lack of competition, and if rumors are to believed the club is already looking for a replacement/alternative, but I also think Guzan’s form is also a sign of things going on behind the scenes. With rumors of bust ups on the training ground, I have to believe the mood in the dressing room has been rotten for a while and Guzan’s lack of focus/concentration is no surprise.
This is the point I made the other night, in that as much as Sherwood doesn’t rate Guzan, he obviously doesn’t rate Bunn either.
This obviously includes Tony Parks’ thinking too.
As for Guzan, I think his interceptions and catching in the box have improved (even though he did make the one howler on Saturday). Remember a certain Semi against Blackburn a while back?
But his distribution is poor, as is his decision-making at free kicks.
And yes Adam, Steer is probably going to be a no1, but not for a while. It’s why Sherwood wanted Begovic, surely?
That said, I agree, dropping Guzan will destroy his confidence. And it seems we have plenty of those problems as it is.
Tony Parks as in QPR Tony Parks? If so he was a top keeper and if he thinks Guzan ain’t up to it then I wouldn’t disagree.
Not the same fella, BWS, but he is our goalie coach;
https://uk.search.yahoo.com/search?p=Tony+parks+villa&ei=UTF-8&fr=moz35
Top right in the pics that come up.
The one who sits next to Sherwood, which I’ve always felt is quite strange.
Surely this should be Wilkins?
I wonder if the pair don’t get on, come to think of it?
Maybe another appointment that Sherwood didn’t want and possibly yet another source of conflict?
God, I really hope not, but it would explain a few things.
A 5ft 10 keeper that played for Oxford United, Gillingham, Brentford, Fulham, West Ham United, Stoke City, Doncaster Rovers, Scarborough and Halifax Town, and in Scotland for Falkirk 9 (some quality there???).
On a getting it wrong scale of 100 I was about 99.
Phil Parkes played for QPR didn’t know a Tony did.
That’s the fella Giddy, mind you thinking about it logically he’d be about 60 odd now and putting his feet up.
65 MATE probably still do a better job than calamity at that age.
Tony Parks was goalkeeping coach at Spurs from around the same time as Sherwood joined them as first team coach, so if they worked together for 5 or 6 years it’s not too suprising that they might be very close mates.
On paper Wilikins has all the credentials to be a useful assistant, although whether he ‘fits’ with the rest of the backroom staff, or can actually work with Sherwood looks like a different question – so far I can’t say I’m impressed by whatever he’s supposed to have brought to the table.
What’s a 5ft 10’s keepers take on coming for crosses?
Yeah supposedly guzan is the 6th best shot stopper in the prem on paper, but in reality we’re 19th in the prem.
There’s probably a compute game out there somewhere, using ‘real’ stats, where we’re currently knocking on the door of a CL place….
You realize it’s because we get attacked more often than most teams, so he has too, right? He’s always been a great shot stopper, it’s the stupid mistakes he can’t stop making that makes him weak in most fans eyes.
Yep, from his early days under MON I remember him being particularly good at saving penalties apart from anything else.
Unfortunately a goalkeeper who only stops shots is only doing half or two-thirds of what the role calls for: organising defence at set-pieces, bringing the ball out for counter-attacks, and just inspiring confidence in his back four all come to mind, and IMO Guzan doesn’t seem to have developed his skills in those areas.
He’s not an awful keeper by any means, but I’d suggest that he’s quite a way off ‘top quality’ as far as the premier league is concerned.
It’s true, I think he needs replacing as well myself. But he’s not as bad as people make out. A few mistakes and all of a sudden his entire game, instead of his big problem being distribution that’s he had since he’s arrived, is awful apparently. Still decent in the air, catching. Confidence is lacking though.
In fairness Andrew, it’s the stupid mistakes that have cost us valuable points, isn’t it?
And in my eyes, mistakes that most importantly, have not really been forced upon him.
It’s the difference, simple as.
But, yes, we do get attacked a lot.
It’s very true though, it’s all down to his distribution too. Or for the most part. How a goal keeping coach has kept his job not teaching him how to bloody kick is the scariest part.
Ah, the coaching is another question entirely.
There have been quite a few wondering what goes on in this sense, for a long while.
Just has to be questioned. Back when Friedel was here, he clearly got Guzan in incredible shape, but no one, and I mean no one was working on his placement? His kicking? It’s not like he played so what the hell were they doing with him?
Another dodgy home defeat for Villa on Saturday if they keep playing the Ray Wilkins QPR 1995-96 way and it will be curtains and it will be time to either bring in Juande Ramos-still a free agent in Spain and won 2 UEFA cups for Sevilla or Moyesie.
Bring in a guy who’s been a failure since leaving Everton? Can’t get Sociedad playing at all? His style’s weak, and would be an awful choice for us because we can’t do the sit back, counter attack way. We have to be the attacking side or we’ll get crushed. Shouldn’t even be mentioned as an option.
Juande Ramos is an interesting shout. He’s had a lot of ups and downs, did really well with Sevilla, had a great run with Madrid until their huge loss to Barcelona, sucked in Russia but did pretty well in the Ukraine.
If Guzan is still between the sticks at New Year he is taking us into the Championship where he belongs. Find 3 worse keepers in the EPL – Pantelemon, Boruc, and then you are struggling – Krul and Ruddy seem to be marginally better. So if Guzan is our best keeper, and you may be right, our goose is cooked. We have to try the wonderkid.
Apart form his distribution which is awful, his lack of anticipation is a killer. Villa let in a lot of goals – how many are real crackers and how many too cheap?
We have only 4 points errors by Guzan has cost us 6 points, 2 against Sunderland, 1 each against Palace, Leicester Liverpool and Chelsea.
OLL,
I get it, as I’m sure most of us do.
You hate Guzan
But he’s what we’ve got, unless you think Bunn is better?
If so, please expand.
Fwiw, I think Sherwood is looking to replace Guzan asap, but until then surely it’s better to support him?
He’s the only realistic option we’ve got, surely?
Otherwise, Bunn would have come in?
Be really interesting to see who we look at for January. A lot of rumours point to Karius for a while, then we started scouting in Spain. Rumours dried up a bit on players, bar the recent Adebayor ones again.
Badger, just to clarify I don’t hate Guzan as a person, I don’t know him and he might be a great bloke. I just think he isn’t very good as a goalkeeper. By what standard? By the standards set by the other 19 keepers in the EPL, which is what matters.
I cannot write Bunn off yet, he was shaky against Notts Co but behind a team which had several second-string players. And lower league they were, but two of their goals were absolute top class strikes. He deserves a short run so a valid assessment can be made. Frankly though I am more interested I the wonderkid we bought. He may be 18 but he was not bought for the youth team, his previous employers expected him to reach the top. Throw him in I say. Spink, Bosnich – some of them proved they could handle it.
“In place, I have a suspicion that Steer will become Villa’s new number 1. Sherwood highly rates him, he has been offered a new contract, and will be playing Championship football on loan this year.”
And at this rate, he’ll be playing Championship football next year as well.
With Villa.
Guzan is a liability. The defenders know this and it makes them jittery. Every goalie makes mistakes but Guzan specialises in mistakes that cost us 3 points in games we should have won (e.g. Man City away last season).
Put the young lad Sarkic in and see how he does. IMHO he couldn’t do much worse. Make it clear that if he does f*** up then no-one will blame him. At least defenders will be able to pass the ball back to him without fear.
As for Juande Ramos, why not? Still I have the strange feeling whatever happens it will be akin to re-arranging the deck chairs on the Titanic.
UTV
Has there been alot of posts deleted lastnite?????re guzan
Our goalkeeper coach Tony Parks won the UEFA Cup for Spurs in the 80s – can’t he go in goal for us?
Sherwood confidently saying all the right things today, it is a shame he didn’t stick to that script.
I’m assuming we’ll have a new post for the upcoming game, but I predict we win this game – Sherwood will get a vote of confidence from the board and we will sadly prolong this escapade until December.
Mistakes at the back are not all down to Guzan – Amavi, Hutton and Lescott have all made mistakes that have cost us goals. We also need to look at the other end of the pitch – four games at home and we’ve only managed to score in one of those. You can’t win a football match scoring zero however well the defence play and lack of goals I argue is more confidence sapping that whether or not we have the best goalkeeper.
Someone will put me right but I think it’s about 35 games since we last came from behind to win a game in the Prem – compare that with Leicester and it just about sums up everything that is wrong.
Final observation – TS seemed to back ‘on form’ at the press conference. Let’s hope he can get the team playing on Saturday. UTV
Yes, and Richards twice and Clark twice. Villa have been poor at home against teams sitting back – in the first hour when everyone is lively. When opposing defenders tire in the last 30 minutes it seems to be all our attacking players, Grealish, Gabby, Westwood, Amavi do not seem to last 90 mins. You are right to point out the contrast with Leicester – if we are behind in the last 30 mins we have given up, Leicester are getting going. Fitness or attitude?
So the biggest news I’ve heard today is that both Gabby and Clark are fit. It will be interesting to see who gets the start up front. Sherwood has already come out and said we will see his best team tomorrow, so for better or worse he is really risking it all on getting this one right.
Hope Clarke starts over Lescott he’s shit
Anyone but Lescott, he has been part of or caused ever goal against us of late – hell, I would even prefer Sanchez over Lescott.
If shabby starts tomorrow that’s it for me.
I’m going to be a Birmingham City fan.,
BILL I’d rather be struck down with a terminal illness than support that SHITE MATE.
Sorry Giddy but its driving me stupid mate, I don’t know whether I’m coming or going.?I might feel better at 4-45 tomorrow.
MATE I’ll be well sozzled by 3 pm let alone the final whistle.it’s the only way to be whilst the VILLA are on the field it seems to numb the pain.
Ps I still think we’ll be bottom come Sunday evening,at least we won’t have to keep an eye on teams below us.
Sherwood reporting fully fit aquad, Jores Okore anyone!
If Clark and Okore are both fit I can’t see how Lescott can start. It looks like Richardson will start over Amavi, think that’s risky, but Sherwood’s the boss. I think we’re playing Swansea at the right time, they seem to have hit a bad patch as bad as ours. I’m going for Villa to win 2-0, with Gabby on the score sheet. That should put Giddy in an awkward position!!
Well, well, and you want that man to keep sending us down by not saying get him out? Abonglahor, Lescott, Hutton, no Gil, no, Grealish, its over lads.