As one sorry chapter in Villa’s history has come to an end, so another one begins and hopefully it’ll be better.
Today’s game then, is against a Brentford side that are managed by Thomas Frank, who has been touted as a possible target for us.
Why he’d want to come to the Villa, I’m really not sure and I doubt we’ll be looking at him, to be honest. Does that mean I wouldn’t welcome him? Not at all. We could do worse.
For now though we’re being run by Aaron Danks, who I have doubts about. His experience is just too much academia based and short of actual physical experience in the game proper, as far as I can see. No doubt he’s Purslow’s choice.
Still, we have to try and get behind him because a result today would help to relieve the pressure the team must be under, having suffered awful form and being a solitary place above the relegation zone.
At least we know the atmosphere won’t be anything like as toxic as it would have been if Gerrard hadn’t been sacked.
Squad news and there’s not much change.
Luiz has had his red card rescinded, meaning he’s not banned for three games and is available.
The other news is that Lucas Digne is on the verge of a return and he could feature, although it’s more likely that he’ll be given another week or so.
For Brentford, Christian Norgaard is back in training, but it’s probably too soon for a return. Pontus Jansson, Aaron Hickey and Thomas Strakosha are all out until after the World Cup.
What to think then?
Brentford sit tenth in the league and it’s important to note that they, along with most teams this season, are very inconsistent. In fact I’d recommend that people have a good look at the table to see how poor the Premier league is this year.
Fortunately, that means that any team that can string a couple of wins together can quickly climb the table.
Do I think that team might be us then?
Unfortunately not. Not straight away, anyway.
While we might experience some sort of new manager bounce, Danks isn’t going to be in charge for long, so I’m not sure how much urgency the players are going to feel.
Add in that the players look totally bereft of any confidence and I feel that a draw might be a decent result today.
How we’ll set up is anyone’s guess and there has been talk that McGinn and Ramsey might be “rested”. I’m not convinced that would be a good move, as we already look way to lightweight, but maybe a clean sweep, where we clear out a few long non-performing players for at least a while, is exactly what we need and it could be a chance for some sidelined players to get a chance to stake a claim for a prolonged run in the side?
I’m thinking particularly Sanson, who has looked okay in any brief stints he’s had and Nakamba, who to my mind has done next to nothing wrong, one poor game apart.
If Danks instructs the players to play forward, instead of back when they have options, that would be a good first move.
So I’m not expecting much today and of course I want the win, but of more interest to me today is the attitude of the players.
Will we see some extra fight?
Or will it be the same old, same old, which could indicate that it’s more about the players themselves and not managerial problems where we need to look closer?
If it does turn out to be down to the players, that’s going to be really disappointing, as it will mean we’ve been set back years and will literally have to go again.
I’m going to be optimistic and say we’ll dig in and get a draw.
That’s not very ambitious, I know, but I’m convinced we’d have lost if Gerrard was still in charge.
1-1 then, with the strong hope that we see some improvement.
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