I think about this game and struggle to stop myself from laughing.
It’s really not funny, but if I don’t laugh about it, the possibilities of what could happen are just too depressing to think about.
I said before the Arsenal game that I was actually more worried about that one than the City game, although I also said that it wouldn’t surprise me if we managed to keep the score reasonable, which we did.
I’d like to think we can do the same in at least limiting the goals against City, but I just don’t see it happening.
Which leads me to the headline, where I can see Emi getting a real workout in picking the ball out of the net.
Given that our defence has more holes in it than a fishing net, I find myself wondering if Gerrard will try and tighten us up by playing a more defensive setup. Maybe he will, maybe he won’t, but I’m not sure it will make any difference as I fail to see past Man City beating us convincingly.
Straight into squad news and only Diego Carlos is injured for the Villa.
City have Aymeric Laporte out for a few weeks, but Kalvin Phillips, Nathan Ake and a certain Jack Grealish are all available, as is new signing Manuel Akanji.
Oh, that we had similar options to the Citizens, eh?
But we haven’t. Instead, we have a load of players who are either badly out of form, or more likely just totally demoralised by a manager that seems out of his depth at a club where the fans are seriously worried for the future because the super transfer window we thought we were going to get failed to materialise, leaving us with major inadequacies still to be remedied.
And I’m sorry, but while there is nothing intrinsically wrong with players such as Bednarek or Dendoncker, they ought to be just backup squad players if we’re supposed to be pushing on the way we thought we were.
The point has been made that top six Prem clubs have spent lots of money and indeed we apparently had the 13th highest gross spend of £63 million, with a net spend of £25 million. It’s a good point and we all know we’re not going to be competing with anybody, let alone the top six, at this rate.
I’ve previously said that perhaps because the hierarchy doesn’t trust Gerrard anymore.
If that isn’t the case, we need to be seriously concerned.
So we go with what we have and frankly hope for the best, which is at least a half decent performance.
Worryingly, I can see a red card today, particularly if McGinn and Ramsey both play and if we do get one, you can see things getting really nasty if you’re a Villa fan.
There’s been quite a bit of talk about Haaland being rested for this game, as he won’t be needed.
You’d normally think that’s crazy, seeing as he’s on target for three hat-tricks in a row, a feat that’s never been achieved in any major league anywhere in the world.
But Pep doesn’t do sentiment does he?
If he thinks the player needs to be rested, he will be.
Regardless, I see that as the ultimat insult to the Villa, yet it says it all about us currently as a team.
I’m going for 0-3, which given our current level probably wouldn’t be classed as a disaster, or at least is no worse than we’re all expecting.
But it’s the fans’ reaction that I’m more interested in.
It seems pretty unanimous that Gerrard needs to go if you read anywhere on the internet, but it’s the fans at the match who are the ones I take the most notice of.
If I had some hatches, I’d be battoning them down.
Don’t look like it Bum Bum , think they’re all throwing themselves in the cut ..
One up!!! Jacob Ramsey!
Think we should ring Badger? Our Hitch both gone awall..
Probably both have realised it’s a non event! Or sensibly down Balsall Heath having a curry…
I’m watching not very exciting though.
Bailey bad and good mostly bad young playing well again though. Last pass not there again though very annoying
What does McGinn have to do to be taken off?
Apart from the goal it’s been as dull as dishwater. Shouting shoot for a Luiz corner was amusing. I think Bailey needs to up his game or he will be replaced.
I can’t stop thinking about curry now…
Who Edwina Curry ?
I am NOT John Major.
We are poor. No cohesion. No pattern of play. Disappointing but is sacking Gerrard the answer? Only if we choose better but would we?
Can it get much worse?
Hi Guys – still here 🙂 Been away and now have friends staying from Canada.
Actually didn’t think we were that bad – although it helped that Southampton were worse 🙂
Badger been really busy at work.
Hitch, no swearing on here , Work ? Not done for 17 years . We was bad Hitch no creation just physical we must not lose attitude but a win is a win .
3 points, but that is one of the worst games I’ve seen in a long time.
There’s definitely something wrong at the club at present.
I watched it, but god, it was hard work.
I’m sorry, but I’m finding it really difficult to even be interested lately.
We’re just terrible to watch.
Thought we were OK.
Seems I’m in the minority of one 🙂
Make that 2 Hitchens. Villa were OK against one of the ugliest teams in the Prem. Saints specialise in break up play tactics: man-marking and arriving with the ball when opponents pass. That isn’t a criticism, it is what works best for their limited team on a limited budget whose goal is to survive in the EPL – nothing more.
Villa are most effective when sitting back and counter-attacking because then our forwards have more room, and have pace. We still lack players who can shoot accurately, most lash the ball and miss the goal.
Training please: by the ugliest set of coaches in the Prem. What do they do for the money? Send Mcallister and McPhee back to Central Casting at Hammer Films.
Southampton are hardly Stoke or Wimbledon?
Can we have Dean Smith back please? Norwich are doing great.
What a poor game but a win is all that matters. Thankfully Southampton were awful. Defensively we were decent but so many stray passes and did Dendoncker actually kick the ball when he came on? Got to love Martinez time wasting antics.
Holte, Dendoncker got a mark of 7 from the Times for his performance. Surely that was more than 1 point per touch? Perhaps you get 4 points for being ready with your shirt on, pads in and laces tied when called off the bench? Sterling used to start with 1.
Witnessed the game from the Trinity Road stand this evening. Desperately poor. We’ve been saying it for months – why is there no speed and intensity to our play? After 25 minutes, not a single chance had been created – that’s a quarter of the match wasted. Under Rodgers, Gerrard experienced and played a part in high intensity football that pummeled teams in the first 10 minutes, often scoring at least one goal.His Villa team are the opposite to this.
Other points:
If you’re going to play out from the back, surely in training they should be practising how to get from one end of the field to the other, ideally finishing with an attempt at goal. But there is no plan. No idea. Sideways, backwards. And repeat. Eventually lumping it forward for Watkins to chase.
Ramsey wasn’t in the game. Why not? Because we bypass the midfield and lump it forward. See previous point.
McGinn tried to set the tone early with some crunching tackles – good to see. Very combative throughout.
Good players know what they will do with the ball before they receive it. Villa players have no clue what to do with it when they get it.
Coutinho and Bailey still flattering to deceive. Buendia was given MOM on the BBC site and only played half an hour. So surprises there.
Cameron Archer can’t get a sniff, yet Watkins’ control around the box is poor and we can’t see where his next goal is coming from.
McPhee gesticulating from the touchline when Villa have a set piece is interesting. I think the interpretation is ‘please make it look like I’ve taught you something.’
Very pleased with the 3 points but it was Southampton at home – 3 points should be a given when we play Southampton at home.
Gerrard says the prettier stuff will come. I’m not convinced but for now we’re stuck with him. Get Poch in before it’s too late.
But we don’t play out from the back, we play across the back four and then across the back four, then (YAWN) across the back four. It’s boring and we ain’t no Man city.
A little more direct football world be a breath of fresh air.
Jimmy Hogan – Ajax – Johan Cruyff – Dutch – Barcelona you’ve got a lot to answer for!
This Total football bullshit bores me shiteless.
Sometimes you have to win ugly and boy oh boy did last night’s performance hit every branch of the ugly tree!
I can’t believe how Ashley Young can keep up that level of performance at 37.
I hope Kamara is ok. If he is out for a bit, then there go both out big signing of the summer. By definition the club would be going backwards.
The elephant in the room is John McGinn. All I could see last night was him consistently misplace passes and foul the opposite every opportunity. He is no longer worthy as a place in the starting 11. He should be dropped.
But the problem is SG. He came in and was determined to strip Mings of the captaincy. It could be argued that Mings is more focused and playing better as a result. He made McGinn captain and he is just not up to it. Martinez should be captain.
SG wanted cover in depth, yet he keeps playing players out of form. I would argue that:
Digne
McGinn
Coutinho
Bailey
are all out of form.Yet at least 3/4 will be picked match in match out.
If Kamara is fit next match, I’d like to see the midfield 3 of him, Ramsey and Dendoncker. I reckon that would give us a solid base to play a more attacking style.
Sid, I almost always agree with all of your points. I think you’re being a bit harsh on McGinn, though, based on last night. From what I saw, he tried to set a bit of tempo from the very start, was tigerish in the tackle, often winning it back and getting the crowd going – none of Villa’s actual football could do that. McGinn is good at setting up goals and scoring goals as a midfielder. No really, he is. It’s just that the way Aston Villa play, he can’t do any of those things. The same applies to Ramsey, who was more non-existent than McGinn last night, and Luiz. All are superb footballers, but since Gerrard has the team playing worse football than ‘Bruce ball’, they can’t do what they’re exceptionally good at.
While I’m on the midfield, Buendia not starting every game is a disgrace, and I reinforce that we should never have signed Coutinho – pretty touches, flicks, turns etc is all well and good – Cantona used to do that, but he also used to win games, and league titles almost single handedly, because week in, week-out, there was end product. Where is the end product with Coutinho? A player of his immense talent should be single-highhandedly dismantling shite teams like Saints, especially at home.
Utter garbage. Three points were desperately needed, but keep playing like that, and we’ll get beat by the likes of Brentford, Brighton, Newcastle, Leeds and Forest. That’s relegation form.
If anyone has Pochettino’s number, please send it to Mr Purslow ASAP.
love goals off the crossbar me though
What’s the best goal we’ve seen at VP off the crossbar, guys? I can think of two blockbusters off the top of my head…any offers?
One off the post comes to mind
One off the wrist comes to mind the way we’re playing.
McGinn against Sheffield Wednesday in the Championship was probably one of the best goals ever at VP.
That’s one I was thinking, Holte. The other is Collymore exploding one off the bar against Atletico.
I also remembered this one from Staunton – not sure if it’s post or bar though: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bojZTVSgQf0
Any more answers on a postcard…
Villa have put the exact same post up for Kamara as they did for Carlos. Extremely worrying. Gerrard has also stated that it is worrying.
Don’t worry, Iroegbunam is excellent back-up. Oh wait…
Rachel Daly scores two on her debut and helps the women beat ManCity 4-3 at VP.
Well done ladies.
Hitch, I turned it off at 2-3! 😖
Meh, try as I might, I care even less about the women than I do the men and that takes some doing at the moment!
BFR, I agree about McGinn. I thought he did well and at least tried to make it happen with his tough, but not totally out of hand tackling.
I don’t think anyone can doubt his commitment, even if his passing has been terrible this season.
It all boils down to the fact that we have many players who look decidedly worse than we know they can be and I can only blame the whole management setup for that.
All these coaches and “experts” etc and it seems they’ve ruined half the players.
It almost makes me wish for the good old days of manager, assistant, a coach, a trainer with his ice cold bucket of water and magic sponge (get on your feet or you’re getting the sponge! 🙂 ) and a doctor (if you were lucky), jumpers for goalposts… oh, hang on.
Sir Ron and his famous nip of brandy for the players.
Oh for yesteryear away from this sanitised, Americanised football product of today.
Oh for the mavericks the Little’s, Best’s, Weller”s, Worthington, Bowles and the likes.
God modern football sucks.
Here’s an interesting one;
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-11227587/Man-United-overpaid-new-signings-whopping-210MILLION-Juventus-PSG-stung.html
We apparently wasted more money than Real!
‘With their market assessments calculated by their own scientific methods’.
So subjective at best – yet another click bait non story.
That’s not to say there aren’t question marks over some of Villa’s recent transfer activity.
The villa injury curse continues…. Digne has a stress fracture to his ankle. When will it end? At least we might get to see our new left back from Sevilla. Never know, may be a revelation.
No update given on Kamala’s injury which doesn’t bode well.
Doesn’t that prove how gullible we are then Badger, having idiots throwing good money after bad when we are sitting on youth winning cups and league and sitting on the bench unused.it boils down to managers frightened and only wanting to keep their jobs playing has been players chasing £sd. One day we might get a manger believing in talented home grown players. Yes that game against Southampton was the worst game I’ve seen for the last few weeks and last year. I would put more faith in a young player wanting to be a footballer than some player who was once a good player and now lost it. We will never learn will we.
That manager is Mauricio Pochettino, Bill. He would do with Archer what he did with Kane. Not to mention all the others he brought through. He turned Harry Winks, an average player, into an England international and a CL finalist. When Poch signs for another club, I’ll be absolutely gutted – a massive missed opportunity.
Sounds like a really savvy organisation, all four of them. Currently they rate the best Villa player as Jan Bednarek at number 626 based on current form. I may reserve my opinion of them.
Another Scotland goal for McGinn, I see. Note his position when he receives the ball and scores. Wasted by Villa.
The strange thing is everyone apart from the management knows it, BFR.
Unless playing him where we do is just to accomodate certain other players.
If so, that’s just plain wrong and not in the interests of the team or the club.
This is what confuses me. We haven’t even tried starting Mcginn in his best position. He’s scored 3 goals for Scotland since his last goal for us. Not only that, he put in 2 perfect crosses in the space of 2 minutes, both resulted in goal scoring chances for Che Adams. Worked his arse off for the team, closing down etc. He is very effective in that position. For us, it’s like starting with 10 men because he very rarely gets involved. Such a waste of a good player.
Exactly, Adam. F****** ridiculous and I’m sick of it. I was at his home debut vs Wigan in the Championship when nobody knew anything about him. Straight away you could see the quality and accuracy of his long passing and crossing. Then he scores the worldie against Sheffield – no fluke. Smith arrived and more goals came. In the first season back in the PL, he was also very effective, scoring a few before COVID hit. How do they manage to take good players and make them worse instead of harnessing and enhancing their skills and talents?
Similar complaint with Luiz – his goals against Bournemouth (home debut)) and Norwich away in the first couple of months of his debut season were magnificent, accurate long-range strikes. Three years on and we haven’t see another. The poor guy’s resorted to shooting from corners to showcase his skills.
Sort it out Gerrard, FFS!
We’ve all been saying it for a couple of years now, Badger. Imagine what Poch could do with him…