Yesterday, the Evening Mail came out with a handy little tool that allows you to build your team and share it.
Hence I’ve nicked it and it’s as you see above.
It includes Elphick in defence, as it seemed at the time that Nathan Baker wasn’t going to make it. It now seems that he might be fit though and if he is, you’d expect him to start.
Rumour has it the young Andre Green might feature for this one and if he does, I’d put him straight in as he crossed a lot more than we’d seen earlier in the game.
There could be an argument for going with Grealish and bringing Green on later I suppose, but no, I’d put him in from the off.
I’ve gone for Tshibola in the middle, as I think he’s looked the liveliest, but you could go with Gardner, who’s worked well previously with Henri Lansbury, our great new hope.
Lansbury is a great signing and at somewhere between £2.8 and £3.5 million, a very good piece of business as hopefully we’ll see a bit more dynamism better linking with the attack
But we have to be realistic I think, as the player hasn’t actually played since early December, which means he might not be quite match-fit. Hence I’m not going to set my expectations too high.
How good would it be to see him get a goal on his debut, though?
The only other debatable position is Gabby upfront.
That’s not something I’d choose, of course, but it’s what I suspect Steve Bruce might go with.
I’ve said before that I think there’s something not right about McCormack, where the player’s not happy or Bruce just doesn’t rate him.
Not that it makes much difference as we’ve hardly had any shots on target in the last few games.
Now I’ve said that, watch Bruce decide to go with a two up front, although I don’t see who makes way.
Preston are doing nicely thank you and are in ninth place with three points more.
They have a good away record and haven’t lost away in 8 games.
Which should be interesting, as we haven’t lost at home at all this season, so one of those runs could end today.
So how do I see it all going?
Preston don’t tend to have much possession and when we do, we don’t have a clue what to do with it.
It’s got to be a draw for me and probably 0-0.
That’s a bit under-ambitious, I know, but it’s better than the sneaky feeling I have that says we’re going to get beat.
I just don’t see where the goals are going to come from and if you’re not scoring, you’re putting yourself under the cosh before you start.
That said, with Lansbury playing, we might actually see some movement and link-up play to get the sriker(s) involved a bit more.
Fingers crossed.
Preston’s player to watch?
Well it’s got to be Callum Robinson hasn’t it?
Their top scorer and we gave him away for £50k. Another brilliant piece of Villa business, eh?
2 points thrown away today Deffo we must start seeing games off
Been saying that all season look at all the leads we’ve lost this season it’s a joke. No dufferet under Bruce than under RDM he’s done nothing to improve up. Potato 🥔 head out
Such a rational and thoughtful post Oohah
Hitch, he’s back it might have been JV , our reporter Oohah speaks as he see, ain’t that right Oohah.
The natural order of the universe clicks back into place.
Really really really looking forward to Oohaah’s and JV’s considered reflections on today’s game….
…not!
😁 I’m hiding under the blankets
One things for certain if we got promoted with this team and this manager we would go straight back down no doubt about it
Away from the disappointment of today’s result according to Pat Murphy’s private twitter account, Bree and Houlihane are set to join Villa this week.
Also the Mail is suggesting McCormack is going back to Fulham on loan for the rest of the season suggesting Bruce has a striker lined up to come in.
I disagree with Oohah that we should abandon this season and not bother with any further transfers. I also disagree that Bruce is no better than RDM. I was never confident we could secure promotion this season but hope springs eternal! RDM was a disaster transfer ruse and we need to start rebuilding the team now with a view to a strong end to the season and securing promotion next season.
‘Transfer wise’
If RDM was still here we would of lost today & most of our previous games, we’d have a relegation battle on our hands
Disagree give it take a few points we would be about the same
Not bother with transfers?!?*
I’d guess that panic buying in the Jan window to try and scrape a top 6 finish is not a good idea but if there are players out there who can contribute to next season and they’re available now why wouldn’t you buy them?
SB seems to be targeting younger players and I can only applaud that. We need 10 more points to be sure we won’t get relegated and if we get that and I can see real progress I’d settle for that. Top 6 would be a bonus
Ten days til the next fixture hopefully some new faces, I’d say we’ll be in the same league next year.i don’t know about anyone else but it feels like a loss to me
barnsley on tv lets get scouting lol
Lol 😁 saves on petrol
Great point Nath, Giddy but have to go to my daughters where hubby will be in mourning as a Liverpool fan 🙂
H60 Courtesy of Google translate ‘Football is a funny old game’ in Welsh –
pêl-droed yn gêm ddoniol hen
Say that and I’m sure your son-in-law will see the funny side 🙂
LOL