It has been a while since October, but due to a busy November and exam I have been unable to post this earlier. But I always feel as though International Breaks are the best time for such articles. October was a very poor month for Aston Villa, Villa lost all 4 games and only scored 2 goals while conceding 7. Still, I believe there were a few players who stood out, and without them, the results could’ve been way worse. Normally, I’d do a top 5, but I believe that Villa were so poor, that it wouldn’t be fair to name 5 players. So I ended up naming just 3.
1. Idrissa Gueye (Gana)
Gana was injured for most of September, but did come back in October and played very well. He has loads of energy and whenever he has played, played the full 90 minutes. Gana has a good rating on Whoscored boasting good passing success rate (86.4%), the top tackle rate (3.7), 3.3 interceptions and most fouls (2.7). But what I really like about Gana is that the likes to drive the ball into the attack. He isn’t afraid to take a shot and likes to get involved in both the attack and defense. He is yet to score for Villa, or provide an assist but I reckon he will soon grab his first goal for Villa because he likes to get involved. Gana has definitely been one of our better signings and as he plays more football (and hopefully avoids further injury) he will definitely end up being one of our better players this season.
2. Jordan Ayew
I’ll admit, his first few games of October weren’t great, but Ayew has definitely been getting better and better. I’m not sure what has changed with Ayew, but he is very determined, creative and energetic. In October Ayew got his first goal for the club, in the game against Swansea and has played well on the right-hand side of attack. Ayew has also been climbing the Whoscored table recently, in September he was ranked 17th, and in October climbed to 15th. That might not sound brilliant, but it shows that Ayew is improving considerably and Villa fans will hope that he continues that growth.
3. Micah Richards
Richards has been fantastic since coming to Villa. I wasn’t sure if he could play at centre-back, but so far he has done well. I’d admit, no clean sheets makes you wonder why he’s selected. But out of all our centre-backs, Richards has always been there. No matter who he plays alongside, he has done well and played with his heart out. He wants to win with Villa and I like to see that. Richards makes a lot of interceptions (2.8 per game), 7.1 clearances, and 0.9 blocks per game.
The only players who are really playing without any fear. Hopefully Gil can get through 90mins regularly and Traore gets into his stride soon. If that group can tick us over until Christmas, then hopefully invest in a proper goal scorer and right back, we could be back in business.
And perhaps a quality ‘keeper?
That would be nice, are there any loan options out there? Valdes or Vorm maybe? Failing that I hope we get Jed Steer back to offer a viable alternative.
Valdez I could handle, Vorm’s absolutely awful. Doubt there’s much else going for loans though.
Oliver Bauman he’s ok ain’t he??
Very solid keeper, but then again most German keepers are.
I really like Gana. Bear in mind how long Delph took to settle in, he has adapted much quicker to that role at Villa. Perfect replacement for him.
I also think Ayew will be a very good player for us. He has a nice touch and obviously knows how to finish. I still think we should get another striker in Jan to compete with him, as Gabby is simply not good enough and as far as I can see, Gestede is only really a squad player, maybe useful for last 30 minsIf we have the money, I think either Austin or the lad from Wolves would make the most sense.
Richards has been great too.We really need to find him a settled partner (either Clark or Okore) and get them a run of games together.
I have a good feeling about the Everton game, I think we may just get a result.
Let’s not all get too carried away. I’m very impressed with Garde from what I’ve seen and heard so far. Extremely calm and clearly looks to be implementing a long called ‘strategy’. We haven’t had a footballing identity at Villa for an age and it’s refreshing to have a man in charge with a modern philosophy on the game. Watching Everton games, building a house from the ground up and repetition repetition are few things I’ve read this week and it all looks very positive.
However, I personally feel Everton will beat us. I highly expect to see a completely new look villa in terms of style this weekend but do remember Garde has had one game and a week without 7 first team players. It’s a process and I think we’ll really start the ideas embedded in a few more weeks.
As I said very impressed with Garde so far but let’s not forget we’re up against a solid Everton with an in form lukaku.
@C&B If I’m being realistic I kind of agree.
But hey if I was that realistic I’d have probably thrown myself under a train by now so I’m going to say that we nick a fluky draw!
UTV
Let’s face it, Everton away is always a tough match. But as you say, from what we’ve seen so far, it’s positive progression. I’m just hoping we look stronger every week, then the wins will come.
lol PAT57 I know how you feel pal. I’m just seeing a lot of overly optimistic (immedaite results) comment the interweb. Unless Garde is some sort of miracle worker the evidence still suggests that we’re a team very low on confidence and who haven’t spent a great deal of time working on the new strategy. Of course I hope I’m completely wrong and we go and thump Everton this weekend.
It’ll be tough Holtender! Never like us going to goodison!
If we lose this one then that’s us down. We may get three points against a battling Watford, but then Saints away and Arse at home!!! We could have less than ten points on the board at Christmas.
If we pull this off, it’ll be a bigger miracle than the impossible task Pearson performed last year.
Too little too late… 🙁
Then Newcastle away. West Ham home. Norwich away.
Does anyone really think we’ll escape the drop this year? (Discussion point)… I think its entirety inevitable now. I really thought we’d be around tenth at the start of this season by now. How wrong was I!
It seems Bum Bum some fans don’t like the truth, two dislikes and your talking sense.for your comment I’ll give you a like,
I obviously don’t want us to go down but I think we’re f*****. We’ve flirted with the drop for too long.
Thanks Bill! I always give you a thumbs down cus I thought you wanted the record low! Lol!!! 🙂
Cheers Bum Bum, up till now I’m first with 95 and close behind me is Andrew with 94, Lohan unbelievably is last with 1 dislike. I do believe the winner gets to see us go down.
Who the f,.,k is Lohan? Should have been Oohah. ………,
No, I don’t think we’ll go down. Either people are underestimating what Garde can do, or overestimating how “good” the teams just above us are. Despite how bad Sherwood did, we’re only 5 points back. That’s definitely doable when the teams above us are Sunderland, Bournemouth, Newcastle (Chelsea) and Norwich. Who all had their “decent” start (bar Chelsea again) and will likely fall backwards.
And on good news, Garde’s ruled out Round coming in as his assistant as he’s happy with what he has currently.
Well said Andrew and I think it’s more the latter of your two examples. I would suggest that there are 4-5 teams worse than us this season and all of them aren’t going to win all there games. I don’t know enough abour Garde yet to say whether to estimate how he can do but I do have a lot of confidence in his approach so far.
I hope they do focus on that five points and not look at the averages we have to achieve per game.
we have a decent GD for a team rootwd to the bottom and that may work in our favour.
No Everton preview LADS????
Presumably the new ‘game’ is to dislike everyone’s comments!
If we stay up from here we will probably have created a new PL record somewhere along the way – maybe 10 wins in a row 🙂