Let me start by saying I like McCormack. He’s a class player, at least at Championship level, that much is obvious.
He has good vision and a deft touch, that has led to him setting up a fair few goals as well as actually scoring them through his positioning and reading of the game.
In his previous history.
The trouble is, he apparently does better playing off a front man, as has been suggested in some of the replies previously.
But if he can’t do that because we have too many central strikers or other players like Grealish and Ayew, who all need to get playing time, where does that leave him?
I personally think he was bought to play off Gestede, but he isn’t getting a game is he?
So what was the point, apart from a very expensive option who’s only being played because of what he cost?
McCormack can still contribute something for us in my opinion, as he can go deep and has the experience to help out for corners and set pieces when we’re struggling.
But that’s not really what we bought him for, is it?
We got him in to score goals and sadly, I believe he’s been a poor, disjointed signing. Not because he isn’t good enough, but because he just doesn’t fit.
Of course, it may be that we bought him to cover us while we have other strikers playing in the African nations.
But at the money we paid? I doubt it.
My personal guess is McCormack and the club will probably end up coming to some agreement, where he’ll leave.
Not immediately. But it will happen, in my opinion.
Unless he can’t get an equivalent deal, which means we have another massively paid player who’ll be sat doing nothing.
I don’t know.
Am I seeing a problem that isn’t really there?
I just see him as a poor fit, I’m afraid.
Sod’s law of Football being what it is, if you buy a pair of compatible strikers and bolster your midfield and defence, both strikers get injured. If instead you buy two pairs of strikers so as to be covered when one pair gets injured, they are all bullet-proof. Part B is where we are, thankfully.
I remember McCormack playing as a lone striker and making his own openings for Fulham, so although he looks physically like another Gary Shaw, he does not need to be up there with a Big Man. On the other hand Gestede isn’t capable of playing as a lone striker and does need a sidekick to take the knock downs. If one of the four is a spare p***k at a wedding I think it is Ayew who looks like a glory hunter not a team player.
Well, that’s one viewpoint, OLL.
I refer back to a Fulham fan’s opinion, that says he thrives best with someone to play off. An opinion that seems better than what we’ve seen up to now, imo.
As for Ayew. that’s another interesting one, which I might bring up further down the line.
But cutting to the quick, I’d actually put him up front.
He’s the sharpest tool in the box, imo.
A Gabby, but better, if you like.
And wasted out wide.
Which is the dilemma.
We have too many strikers and not enough mids.
I have no doubt any sensible manager (Bruce) will adress this.
And yet Ayew’s still our best player.
As for Badger, you’re right, we have a lot of strikers, but getting rid of McCormack isn’t the right idea. Gestede should be the first to go, well after Gabby but he won’t leave. Especially as we’re looking for yet another one.
We’ll definitely need a midfielder or two, attacking mid is a big one, an actual attacking mid.
The weight of opinion is that McCormack plays best off the shoulder of an ‘old fashioned’ cf that plays predominantly down the middle. Gestede is the obvious foil but I’m not convinced he’s got the all round game required.
In many ways Ayew and McCormack play the same role. From what I’ve seen to date I would sell Ayew – we would get good money and I believe in the long term McCormack will contribute more.
Now we come to the $1m question – can Gabby really contribute consistently as a cf – if he can then I would also sell Gestede leaving us with Gabby, Kodjia and McCormack as a front three.
Develop Rushburn -Murphy and look to buy another striker in January that fits into the team and how it will play.
No doubt I will be shot down in flames by those more knowledgable than me 🙂
There is some speculation in the press (Mirror to be precise) that SB might be interested in signing Barton. Now that would be the ultimate marmite decision.
For me – probably no but I do understand why SB might be interested in (say) an 18 month deal. Massive gamble but there again…………..
Barton? More likely to don a prison uniform than a Villa shirt. Lives in his own dream world where he is a good player. But in my world he is a vicious short-tempered wanker.
Barton would be poison to the squad more damage off field which we don’t want the same of.he’s a mouthpiece not a footballer aswell as being a total wanker
If that idiot thug plays for us I will never support the club again.
Barton would be a complete waste of time/money: we’d get maybe 6 games out of him before he landed-up with either a long ban for some offence or other, or before the club fined/exiled him for an internal bust-up.
McCormack played just behind Dembele last season in the number 10 role, this is where he plays at his best, the difference being that Dembele is a far less selfish centre forward than Kodjia and they had a good partnership.
Really don’t have a clue about how we can accommodate all the strikers we have. Still not a bad problem to have as it should make sure there’s always competition for places.
What could get us into the play offs is our subs. Having Ayew, Gestede and Gabby as impact subs could well win us some games. Gestede gives us something different and, although I know some fans don’t rate him, when we get teams who come and park the bus he could come in very handy.
Anyway happy to leave it to SB to sort this one out and try and keep everyone happy but I wouldn’t be surprised to see one or two strikers go in January. Personally I’d gratefully swap two of our attackers for one reasonable creative mid-fielder.
having forward options like we do, is a far better problem than the opposite to having no options. SB will have his ideas, which will differ to RDM, we’ll have to wait and see which players he likes and dislikes. mccormack is a decent player and is well capable, SB will get the best out of him i have no doubt,
we all recall RDM playing too many forwards in his unbalanced teams, SB is still working on his best team and formations. just look at the players we’ll lose around the new year.this is why he rightly getting gabby ready. i cant see SB wanting to lose mccormack he will get his chance soon.
Would agree with all of that.
Better too many ‘choices’ [or at least that’s how it might look at the moment] than too few.
Just let’s not forget that this is a long season….
All fair comments, but I specifically wouldn’t get rid of Gestede, because he does give us a real option, in being specifically good in the air.
Tbh, I was mostly thinking out loud when I asked the question.
In an ideal world Gabby would be the one going, but I don’t see that happening for some reason.
I don’t know, I just wonder what all these strikers are costing us and suspect we’ll have to trim in this area, especially if we want new players in (although there’s probably a couple of mids who can go).
All that said, I still think Ayew and McCormack are too similar and the former has more legs in him for us, with him being younger, as much as many don’t like him.
And yes, it’s definitely better to have too many as opposed to not enough.
PS, I just thought of Kozak.
Now that’s where my money would be. Sadly he’s contributed nothing.
Is Kozak still there?
Must admit that I’d forgotten him – assumed he’d been shipped-out sometime during the summer!
Ayew is talented, no doubt; although I don’t quite see why Andrew thinks him our ‘best player’. But whenever I watch him play I keep getting the nagging feeling that he’s just going to sulk-off somewhere one of these days -soon; don’t think I’ve ever seen a player who looked less-happy to be playing in a team.
[The rest of us would love to have the talent to play for a real Villa team and would even enjoy doing it for nothing…]
Ardent,
Yep, still got Kozak.
I admit Ayew seems a mardy git, but I look beyond that.
Fwiw, I wonder if he looks so miserable because he just wants better?
Stats from the OS, which are undeniable;
Top Players
Minutes Played Goalscorers Assists
J Chester 1,350 J Kodjia 6 J Ayew 4
J Kodjia 1,330 R Hepburn-Murphy 4 A Adomah 2
P Gollini 1,305 J Ayew 3 M Jedinak 2
Think Kozak is injured – again.
We do need to keep hold of Gestede – he offers us something different and is a proven goal scorer in the Championship.
Bollox, I can’t get the format right.
Regardless, hopefully it’s obvious.
Ayew, 4 assists and 3 goals, which is better than anyone else overall at the club, I’d suggest.
Hmm. Stats…
Suppose I can’t argue with them.
I just find much of what Ayew seems to do as having ‘no end product’; he’ll do something very promising for half the length of the pitch but then insist on trying to go all the way himself, only to lose it near the end.
Others on here have called him ‘selfish’ more than once: some see that as a sign of ‘quality’; personally I just wish he’d trust his team mates a bit more and -FFS – Smile once in a while!!
Spot on Ardent
Well, I’m not a fan of stats either, Ardent.
Westwood looks brilliant if you look at passes completed, for example.
But in this case they’re important ones, so they have a bit of weight.
Ayew is talented but a rubbish finisher and holds onto the ball too long. McCormack will come good if we play to his strengths. Kodjia is fantastic and will be missed when he goes to African Nations.
Gabby is nowhere near good enough. His finishing is woeful. If you see him one on one v the keeper you know he will miss.
Gestede would need the right service and the team doesn’t look to have the ability or setup to get the best out of him.
We need more creativity from midfield and the right formation. i think Bruce will see this and sort it. Will it be enough this season? Debatable but we will get to to the play offs.
Is it that Ayew is selfish or is it that he just doesn’t possess a ‘footballing brain’ – an accusation that has been levelled at Gabby in the past?
Ayew is talented – no doubt and when he does release the ball he creates chances but by hanging onto it too long on too many occasions how many opportunities in front of goal are being lost?
I’m beginning to see him as a ‘luxury’ player which doesn’t really work that well in the Championship.
As most posters seem to recognise the similarity in their games, can we afford to keep both McCormack and Ayew? And if not which of them would you sell?
Just trying to think who has scored more than 3 goals in a game, Gabby, York, Savo, Saunders, Nicholl, when it comes down to finding one in today’s game ,no chance. We defiantly lack a killer striker, maybe it’s lack of wing crossing or midfield domination. I like Ayew but needs to give the ball more, he does collect and tackle needs to find players in a game.
Nicholl? I was there when he scored all 4 goals in the Leicester v Villa game, but it was a 2-2 draw so I am not sure he qualifies.
Me too OLL – had forgotten that Nicholl scored all four.
Gabby played in the U 23s last night missed a penalty and missed a golden opportunity to score . SB forget about him.
Dave67, you forgot to say they lost 3 -0 to Celtic. and we had senior players in the team .
Sorry Bill I was giving out about Gabby I forgot about everything else lol.
Interestingly, Pat Murphy understands we won’t be spending much money in the winter window, because we’re on the FFP limit.
If that’s true, Bruce’s going to have to ship some out to get them in (well, we knew that anyway).
Then, is when we’ll see how good a manager he is.
I never taught about the FFP rules , this leads back to your post where do we see Mc Cormack, Ayew and Gabby come the transfer window. Bruce has a good head on his shoulders I hope he can work some magic during the window with players out and players in.
Yep.
And if he does want to spend that means someone we paid a lot for might have to go to fund it.
Could be interesting times.
Unless of course, it’s all designed to make it look like we’re potless.
Clever, if so. But maybe I’m clutching at straws there.
Oh, he also says we’re not interested in Barton.
Thank FUCK for that
Never want to see Barton anywhere near VP – & especially not in a Villa shirt…
🙂
Again shit paper that runs more advertisements that you cannot read than getting facts right in sports news, No descent football club would have him on their books with his record. I just hope if Villa do move players its not up and coming young blood.
That’s the point Bill.
If Bruce wants serious money to spend, he’s going to have to get some in.
The only up and coming player who’s worth decent money would have to be Grealish, imo.
Then it comes down to our top players, who we’ve probably over-paid for anyway.
And who would want them anyway?
Very few Prem clubs.
Newcastle? Nah, imo, they’re fine for now.
As I suggested earlier, I would sell Ayew in January – we can’t afford the luxury of Ayew and McCormack and I still think the latter has more to offer in getting promotion back to the Prem.
FFP is an absolute joke designed to make the rich clubs richer.
The Fines for transgression are piffling so I think we can ignore it up to the one year transfer ban like Real.
So what’s it all about? Is it amount of players or money they spend, because have we spent the parashoot money then? We’ve players out on loan we don’t use surely we can trim the squad to get midfielder.