For once it was the opponent left ruing missed chances and Villa who grabbed a late equalizer as the Lions battled back to earn a 1-1 draw with visiting Newcastle. Which never seemed like happening.
Indeed, for 65 minutes or so, it was one of the most dispiriting performances I’ve seen from Villa. And that’s saying something. Newcastle were clearly the better side, bossing the game, creating chances, looking much more assured and aggressive. Cause for optimism seemed suddenly nonexistent, with Villa looking impotent and chasing shadows. The grand makeover looked to be completely unraveling before our eyes.
Then Jedinak scored. Or didn’t. But it gave the side and supporters a lift, and Villa finally were in the game.
Ayew came alive, showing what a good player he can be, and was unlucky again not to have scored. But his curling strike off the woodwork cemented the tone, and down the stretch, it seemed impossible that Villa wouldn’t score. And they almost didn’t. But they did.
However improbably, it then seemed as though Villa were going to go on and grab all three points. From an incoherent bundle of nerves to a menacing side on the prowl, just like that.
Jenny wrote about the mental side of the game very well, and you could clearly see what she was talking about on the day. Ultimately Villa found themselves with a positive goal in front of them, and instead of being wobbly and under siege trying not to lose a lead, they stopped thinking, started trying to salvage a result and finished the better side looking to win.
Turning point? I’d be hard-pressed to call a draw that. But it might well be regardless, because Villa showed character, and found a reason to believe they can change things. If you can look that poor and really have no reason to be in the game and then be hunting for a winner when the final whistle blows, the team ought to have found out something good about itself.
Given there was almost too much to criticize in the first half to even know where to begin, I don’t know that I’ll bother much. There was the formation. There was the lack of bite in midfield. The lack of hunger and confidence. A team looking like they’d just met each other at the park. An own goal, and another blunder that should have made it 2-0. Never mind what Newcastle did on their own.
In the end, though, Villa found a way to turn an abject performance into something positive, and I think that’s what they’ll be taking away from the match. Kodjia, Gestede and Ayew present such different challenges that they should threaten any side any week. Tshibola got a chance to show that he does have something in his locker. Amavi showed the pace and attacking intent we saw only too briefly at the start of last season. Gollini got to make a crucial stop. Baker, a game-saving intervention.
Me, I didn’t have my weekend ruined before it even got started. Yes, it was only a draw, but it could’ve been much worse. And it was a draw that finally felt like a win. We’ll have to follow this up with actual wins because we desperately need them. But calamity was avoided and maybe, just maybe, Villa can put the all terrible aspects of the performance out of their minds and instead focus on the positives.
The Author
John Clark
John is co-owner of AVL, and has followed the Villa since the '70s. A journalist by trade, he is, by most accounts, a very nice person. You can follow me on Twitter @JClarkKohoutek. It's an astonishing experience. Or a complete waste of time.Comments 238
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Pheeeew a late goal for us! They feel amazing! Rdm is on thin ice. Needs wins now to build on that else it aint going to happen this season for us.
Awful 1st half, killed me. Tisch was fantastic and changed the game. Just the midfielder we have been begging for. Stay fit till jan please. Need to play 3 in middle. Westy should Be shot. Amavi slowly getting back to speed. What a bloody player he is going to be. No wonder klippity klopp keen. Kodjia may turn out to be one of my fav players. Elphic was horrendous. Bacuna waste of time. 9 played, 9 points 9 goals scored 9 conceded. Balanced! Our season is going to go one way in the next month or so.
Kudos to goalino for keeping us in the game too. If it was 2 points for a win we would be ok!
Still so up in the air what formation players to pick. Jack and ross to come back. Liked look of adomah. Rdm needs to know his best team sharpish
And ayew was best player on pitch imo. The boy has all the talent in the world. Just need him to turn up more often. Think kodjia and adomah will have a goid effect on him.
Never want to see 532 or whatever it was again
Andrew,
Yes, Ayew did show what he can do when he wants to today. But I’m thinking that in Codger we have another flower in the making.
The first half and first 10 of the second we were beyond dreadful. It was men v boys, Newcastle were extremely organised, there passing was crisp, there movement and covering left us for dead and they should have been 3/4 -0 up and the game dead. Westwood was atrocious, Elphick shaky at best , we were un balanced , disorganised and fucking woeful. But what a come back in the last 25/30 and we could have won it, we had pace ,purpose, skill and real have a go attitude, the Geordies were hanging in, but why did it take so long and a disallowed goal??? We need two away wins this week to boost us and keep us in contention for the play offs, Barnsley and Preston are winnable even for a team that hasn’t won away for 14 months!!!!
John,
Surely the turning point was the change of team shape after h-t. In fact I discerned a change in which the match was going as early as 50 minutes, though I totally agree it was about 65 minutes when we really picked up momentum. And after the escape we had with Diami’s miss, which was their sole venture onto goal to speak of s-h I think.
Though I think the ‘mental issue’ does come into it (as Jenny rightly elaborated) the change of shape and new players made a huge difference i.m.o.
B62,
Yep … I think the next two matches are very winnable and should put the Villa players heads the right way round.
We could be 6 games without defeat after next week! 😉
Change of shape helped, indeed. They really didn’t look like they knew what they were trying to do. At the same time, they were also playing terribly as individuals, whatever the formation.
Two sides of the same coin, I guess.
And like others, I’m still uncertain as to what’s our best side. Maybe the take-away is that we actually have options up top. We’re a different team with Gestede in, yet you’ve got Ayew, McCormack, Kodjia. A number of different ways to put them together.
Andrew-
Agreed. Ayew can be very very good. Was just 25 mins, but Ayew, Kodjia and Tshibola looked like they could be right for each other.
Tshibola added a completely different dimension. And Kodjia’s power, directness, control…He gets going, he really puts a defense under pressure.
one win from 9 games in, despite what rdm says, a joke league is pathetic, he’s just making excuses, i doubt if the epl is in the top five in europe never mind the championship. not good enough and showing it by the week.
Thanks for the leader John and for your kind comments re my article .
I agree with your analysis completely.
The first half saw players fearful and cautious . We were knocked off the ball easily , passing was awful and seemed overwhelmed by the toons . A combination of different personel , system and a goal (all be itdisallowed) not only gave them belief but they went up two gears . Did anyone notice how much more energy there was from AV second half . It was like “oh it’s possible to score let’s go for it ” rather than “this is Newcastle , we don’t stand a chance ”
The second half was excellent and Newcastle who are apparently promotion contenders were floored . My concern is that we only get the energy burst and desire to press when we are a goal down ie when we have to . We need to play like this from the start .
I am not an expert in combinations so will throw this out to those that are . I would start the same team that came off the pitch today . They proved They couid work together and as a combination dominated a decent Newcastle team. Whilst we did the win, it felt like we did . Why change a winning combination as they say ?
Should have said *whilst we didn’t win it felt like we did
I’m with you, Jenny. Unless there’s fatigue or knocks, I say roll with the same squad as second half. They’ve got to get some continuity.
Maybe it’s a question whether Gestede starts or comes off the bench, but when he is out there with Kodjia and Ayew, it just seems to give teams too many problems to handle. Course, it also dictates a certain style of play. But I think Villa have to go all out for a couple wins.
Like many others, I have my doubts about RDM, but have to give him some credit for yesterday.
One of the main criticisms is that he doesn’t know how to change a game. Well yesterday his substitutions changed the course of the game.
The first one changed the formation and was made early. Bringing on Hepburn-Murphy was a confident, ‘go for it’ substitution too.
Let’s not forget that before RDM was brought in, the fan’s overwhelming favourites for the job were Pearson and Moyes!
John: “Change of shape helped, indeed. … They really didn’t look like they knew what they were trying to do. At the same time, they were also playing terribly as individuals, whatever the formation.”
Well, John, I would say that the change of formation was *everything*.
And the reason why I say that is because after half-time Newcastle didn’t – couldn’t – find a way through apart from the Diame miss.
For me I would say that as the formation change made that big difference it then gave confidence to the Villa so that they then took the game to Newcastle over the last half-an-hour.
Why RdiM didn’t start with that formation is a big puzzle to me … but maybe he’s learnt now.
Jenny: ” It was like “oh it’s possible to score let’s go for it ” rather than “this is Newcastle , we don’t stand a chance ””
I think that sums it up rather nicely! 🙂 … But the formation change was the basis for that i.m.o.
Dr Tony Xia’s post match thoughts
“1,good2see everyone fighting throughout but yet playing as a team;2,our lads r top class in this league;3,mentality issue is false as I said”
Dr Tony hasn’t experienced the inconsistency that AV fans over the last five seasons – which has always added to the frustrations . Witnessing good halves and even good games here and there has been the the AV script and it has led to our relegation.
Yesterday was no different . It was more promising because we had the good after the bad half and credit to RDM for changing the team and formation . It worked . We have the individual players to be top of this league. Until we can put two good halves together and see back to back wins then we are a team vastly underperforming .
I’m glad you agree with me John : let’s see the lads who came off the pitch at FT start next game . They did well in that formation and most importantly from my pint of view , will have taken confidence from being able to out perform the toon playing together . If you change it then that confidence will be diluted .
If it doesn’t work then as the old saying goes
“When the student is ready the teacher will appear “.
I have the same memory prob as Mark – I can’t remember who said it !
John L , I agree that combination change will have contributed more confident players , maybe because it felt more familiar to be playing that way for them . They did get a boost when the disallowed goal went in too. But RDM did make the change to spark this off .
Tish has gained several needless bookings and a sending off which means he misses the Wolves game, someone should have a word because he’s a key player and his offences are just stupid.
Must admit i’m not impressed with the season so far, one out of ten for me, i can’t understand anyone being happy with these results.
I honestly don’t think RdM has a clue, instead of rectifying the situation, (usually too late), why can’t he just get it right first time occasionally, virtually every game there’s been long spells of chaos.
Please explain why Rudi was put on and Adoma, his supplier, taken off.
How many dummies to we have to employ before we get a decent manager ?
steamer
definitely in your camp,the start to season is nothing short of a disgrace especially when you put luton game with it
10 games in rdm has no style or formation
he has persisted with wastewood for 10 games with nothing zilch return from a player who played 4 years in pl, bacuna has played rb cm rw and similar outcome to wastewood surely now delaet is out some youth player can play rb
our bench has had mutton richards and cissko most matches 3 poor full backs whereare green leyden and until yesterday heburnmurphy
rdm has to get it right from tues we need wins
Steamer and JG. Maybe Dr Tony is right “our lads are top class in this league ” as he stated . So he must see they are underperforming because 9 games 9 points isn’t top class. If they can perform well for a half but not for two then there is something wrong . Have we had a game where we have had two good halves ?
We should be doing better
RDM has enough talent to do very well in this league
watching the game it struck me that it took too long to change the shape and Newcastle should have been out of sight first half
once he made the changes we took almost complete control of the game
It always worries me when a manager doesn’t have a consistent system of play that they know will get results but chop and change and end up not getting the best of of there players
I really hope RDM has learnt that if he just sets up like the 2nd half and goes for it with these lads he won’t fall far short
Ayew, for all his wastefulness in front of the goal, looks like a man among boys when he turns it on. His ability to twist defenders into pretzels as he jets around them is genuinely amazing … too bad there’s been precious little to show for it on the scoresheet.
We’re desperately missing Ross’s link-up play, as we’ve no one else who’s shown an ability to do it as he does; I truly believe that if RM had played the last two weeks, we would’ve been enjoying back-to-back wins.
As it is, if it wasn’t for Captain Tommy’s unfortunate slice today we’d have back-to-back clean sheets in the book. Speaking of unfortunate slices, how ironic it is that much of the discussion on here earlier was about golfing problems!
r0bb0: “Let’s not forget that before RDM was brought in, the fan’s overwhelming favourites for the job were Pearson and Moyes!”
I keep thinking the same thing: many on the blogs were campaigning hard for Pearson, but the Rams are as bereft of victories as we are! And the Black Cats season so far is shambolic under Moyes (whom myself and others had been wanting ever since he came back from Spain). It just goes to show you that no manager has a magic wand — perhaps RdM needs more time or perhaps he needs firing, I don’t know. What I do know is that if he is let go I will have no greater degree of confidence in his replacement.
Not certain but i don’t think Moyes and Pearson have spent much money certainly not 60m, maybe wrong though. Unfortunately i think Sunderland will depart this season, shame as they have a good bunch of supporters, Stork look ropey too considering the class they have. Leicester should stay up and Boggies will be saved by Pulis again.
And Swanseeee to drop too.
Whatever you may think of Holloway he has made an interesting observation about our starting formation yesterday.
He reckons that it’s a difficult formation to implement well and it may be asking a bit much of our players at this stage.
RDM has his reasons for wanting us to play that way but maybe he’ll now see that without a pre-season with this squad, it’s too much to ask the players to learn how to play it effectively ‘during’ the season.
If we’re to start the next game with the 11 who finished yesterday’s game then where would Jack fit back in . . . . who’s plCe would he take and what role would he play?
robbo
grealish needs to take a hard look at himself. does he want to go like collymore hendrie or be like gareth barry still playing at 35/36
and i would leave him out till international break he has showed next to nothing this season at lower level
John
Thanks for the article. It certainly was good to see improvement after playing poorly for much of the match. The club has good enough players to do a job this year. I expect them to win the next two games, though. Like you said, we need wins.
Regarding Grealish, perhaps he thinks he’s already the finished product. He’s talented, but replaceable at no great loss to the team. It is up to him. I think he will learn this time. He needs better friends around.
It will be good to see RM back.
The problem with our 3 at the back is we were unable to stop Richie and yedlin getting forward, also Elphick was left isolated against Gayle. Ayew wasn’t at the races first half and yedlin waltzed forward. Second half we switched to 4 at the back and I assume 3 in midfield or at least we had 3 in midfield, Tishbola showed us what RDMs 4231 has been missing an athletic box to box player, not westwoods forte, maybe its time to blood Lyden in that position or give GG a run with Jedinak both are more forward looking than westy and we need more than just Tish until Jan. we ended the match in a 4231 with Murphy acquitting himself well I thought.
If you think about it Rafa had no answer once we got a head of steam up, first half RDM played into his hands and they should of been out of sight much like most of our season, second half they had no answer to a simple switch, there failing was finishing which has plagued us even when we haven’t looked organised we still should of scored more.
Murphy is a real talent.
Steamer I agree and so are green and Lyden, shame RDM does not give them a go more often
In all honesty we got away with one yesterday, Newcastle will be ruling not putting that game to bed, they should have been 4-0 up before we awoke. We played without cohesion, purpose or idea ,as if they had never met ,devoid of even the basics.
We had no option but to go full tilt and it paid off as nearly won it 2-1, which would have been just the miracle we needed. Those last 25/30 mins cannot paper over the cracks though, as others have pointed out our start has been pretty shite and unless we have a complete u turn , it looks to have blown any chance of automatic promotion and vastly reduced any chance of the play offs. We have fallen behind by not winning games we should have, throwing away valuable points against very mediocre opposition and having been thoroughly embarrassed in the cup by lowly Luton town. 6 pts from Barnsley and Preston is a must and will go some way to restoring faith and optimism for this season, we would all have taken 7 pts from these 3 games this week, we now need to break our hoodoo at not winning away twice this week.
B62-
We did get away with one yesterday, same as we’ve let a number of teams off ourselves. So I think we were due, and turned things around pretty emphatically. We’ve not been impressive so far, but I do think there’s upside to this team, and I’ll still maintain that with a bit of luck things wouldn’t seem so bad. Of course, luck doesn’t count, etc., but basic point is that I don’t think the points tally is really reflective of the talent.
They should get much better. If they don’t, then we’ll likely have to look at RDM. Have we fallen too far behind already? Dunno.
B62,
I totally agree with your view of the first half vs the Barcodes, but whether it might have been 4-0 at h-t if they took their chances is a bit wide of the mark in my view. If you had said it could have been 4-2 at h-t then that might have reflected the reality if (and only if) all the chances had gone in. Let’s face it, their two of their three best chances first-half were down to Villa errors (including the goal).
I thoughtNewcastle (in reality) should have been 2-up at h-t. It’s very rare that teams score from all chances that are provided.
On the other hand you could have said that Villa should have won the second half 3-1. In which case it might have ended a 3-3 draw. I emphasise “might”. But it ended a draw anyway.
But “might have beens” are the story of football. And riding their luck to make them come back the way they did could act as the trigger to change their entire season. Would Leicester have won the league last season if they had beaten Villa at their ground? They came back from 0-2 down to push Villa downwards and to help develop their remarkable season.
As has been said here already, the way Villa played in the last 30 minutes vs Newcastle gives hope, particularly that they could well get all points in the next two matches. In fact it says a lot for the fitness of the players that they were pushing until the end of the match – perhaps their adrenalin was pumping so much they couldn’t stop!
Correction: “Would Leicester have won the league last season if they had not beaten Villa at their ground?”
It looks as if RDM is running out of ideas as he again shuffles his system in the hope that he will get a result, playing three centre backs very rarely works because you need three like minded players who all know what their jobs are and it helps if they have consistently played in that formation before, you also need two wing backs who can easily play that role, in Amavi I believe this is his best position but Adomah is not a wing back so the system starts to fail at step one.
One win in nine is nowhere good enough with the amount of money invested in the team and there can be no excuses lots of teams in the championship have had similar changes in personnel and are doing considerably better than AVFC, so the manager is rightly under scrutiny he picks the team and selects the formation, these are his players so ultimately he will pay the price for under achieving.
Preston will not be a walk in the park and ironically they have a player in Daniel Johnson who looks like a proper midfield player lots of energy with a goal in him always looking to get forward as opposed to Westwood who is looking like a player out of his depth and really short of confidence.
SWV
Brexit
For those interested in the detail of this subject, this report is worth reading i.m.o….
http://www.cer.org.uk/publications/archive/policy-brief/2016/brexit-britain-poor-man-western-europe (Note: Click on Download the PDF for the full article)
Including this key statement:
The Conservatives will provide some fiscal stimulus to counter the weakening of growth caused by Brexit, but will not make the long-term investments in infrastructure and skills needed by the UK. They have few MPs in the poorer regions that would benefit most from such spending, while the resulting higher borrowing and/or taxation would be unpopular with their core vote in England’s wealthy South.
In other words, it’s possible that the south-east will look after itself and blow the rest of the country.
SWV,
“Preston will not be a walk in the park” – is that why they’re lower than Villa? 😉
OK, same number of points but it appears their defence is not that strong.
No, agreed, no team should be regarded as a pushover, but I think what we’re saying is that given the way the team came back the other evening there is room for optimism.
The thing about RdM that strikes me is that he;s signed a lot of players and played them out of position, Adoma is a winger not a WB, Codger is a CF not a winger RossM is not a MF and Wastewood is not a footballer (sorry). What is Ayews best position ? Get a balanced team and it’ll fall into place.
I think the Newcastle game may be the turning point, not in terms of result although a welcome draw from a losing position but it may be the eureka moment for RDM in that he sees that 433 switching to 442 depending on where we are in the game is the way to go.
He also got closer to his first 11. Hopefully El Fick has got that game out of his system, Jedinak still needs to step up and impose himself on a game but Newcastle midfield was a game too far for him which was worrying. I don’t recall seeing Westwood or even the commentators mentioning his name, proof enough for me that he’s just back up and sold in either Jan or end of season.
Well done Gollini, kept us in the game when required, Ayew looked menacing but like Steamer no idea what his best forward position is, too selfish for a number 10 role, wasted on the wings but Kodija and Gestede is my ideal two up top. May be RDMs problem in finding a system to accomodate all our forwards. Grealish being sooo naughty may have helped RDM decide.
Happy to see RDM given every opportunity to get our club ticking, but if DR.T did get a rush of the Dougs, then Holloway is more and more my choice in terms of the sense he talks about the game.
Danny Simpson complaining that Leicester are suffering because of the grappling crackdown, heaven forbid that they have to play by the rules, Robert Huth is better suited to wrestling.
John,
Preston have won their last two home games without conceding a goal and will be a very difficult team to beat on their own patch, lets be honest we are the draw kings at the moment, it is great to be positive but we need to start winning games.
We are nearly a quarter of the way through the season with so far one win to our name having spent the best part of £60m, RDM will lucky to be in a job after the next international break if he does not pick up two wins in the next two games, the good Doctor will only have so much patience, with all the talk about promotion at the first attempt and seeing that slip away with every passing week Tony may be tempted to pull the trigger with Steve Bruce waiting in the wings.
SWV
haha I saw that steamer. The number of times morgan and huth chucked opponents out the way last season un punished was a joke. Dinasours like those 2 will struggle in the game now.
The players we have bought are all good players. Types of players we needed/wanted and we got the squad overhaul we demanded.
The trouble I think we have is the players were all bought fairly rapidly and all bought without a plan of formation or how we are going to play. RDM is trying to find out his best team/formation on the hop whilst playing twice a week, getting injuries etc. Yes other clubs have bought a few players but I don’t recall any club having such a big transition as ours. New owner/whole new management team, then they have to deal with the worst squad in prem history. It’s pretty mental. Christ we still had players making there home debut on sat. Gabby/Richards and hutton have been dropped, massive tick. Amavi is back in over cissokho, tick. The only negative is westy still playing but hopefully with tisch back he will be gone.
We have only lost twice and if we saw out a few games we would all positive.
It would amaze me if this team does not get better with time.
What would we be getting that’s anyway different by employing Bruce, I don’t see the need to pull the trigger unless the two year plan has been thrown out with the dish water along with any patience required in rebuilding a team and that’s the process that should be getting the focus.
We’d end up with Bruce or a.n.other not being happy with the squad until January, a period of time where the team have to re-adjust to another system/formation. Bruce being under pressure because there wasn’t an immediate pick up in results and still at best mid-table.
Not much good getting promoted if we end up doing more bouncing than the boing boings. Much prefer stability and continuous progression and seeing real foundations being built for Dr.T’s Champions League dream.
Well, have now watched the match on tv, having already been at the game.
Very poor first half, and lucky to escape at half time, only one goal down, and when you look at some of the problems, a lot are from the back, with players when they are in possession, not taking the ball forward into space, before they pass it, instead it is just pushed from one to another, and the Toons were able to close players down quickly, putting them into trouble, as Ian Holloway said, they need to keep it simple.
Ciaran Clark made MOM was correct, and disappointing to hear Villa fans booing him. Westwood did participate in the match, and without checking his statistics, his passing was near 100%, including some excellent long passes out to the wings. He may not be the best or the most skilful. but does he really deserve all the flack he gets. It is the same with Bacuna, who works tremendously hard, and keeps running. Elphick had a bad day at the office, but still kept it going.
The improvements that came as the second half grew, and this is with some players on the pitch together for the first time, and I have no worries now that we will see a huge improvement over the coming games, as they start to gel.
Nice to see Gollini growing with every game. He should become a first class keeper.
I mean Christ we are going to have kodgia/McCormack/ayew/adomah/grealish going forward. There is no way on gods green earth those lot wont tear it up once settled.
We need McCormack or grealish in that final 3rd bit to link mid and attack. It wasn’t until Tisch came on we started to do that on sat. Id play jack as a number 8. My team tomoz
Goalini
Bacuna Elphick Chester Amavi
Jedi
Tiscbola Grealish
Kodjia McCormack Ayew
or adomah on right and codger up top if ross out.
Hello everyone. It’s been a while. Hope you are all well.
I decided to keep my season ticket and am very impressed with our new signings.
Unfortunately I think the manager is tactically inept and is consistently making the wrong calls in this regard. He doesn’t know whether to play 5-3-2, 4-3-3 or 4-4-2.
Starting the match against Newcastle 5-3-2 was clearly nonsense (again) but at least he changed things around.
The amount of winning positions we have cocked up due to Di Matteo’s tactical ineptitude has been really annoying. Not winning the match against Forest was the most criminal in my view. 2-1 up and he kept 4 strikers on the pitch. Dreadful.
Anyway we should still be aiming for the play offs with a team that has so much ability at this level.
We are missing McCormack at the moment. Ayew and Kodija are absolute class at this level and I think we shall progress up the table in the coming weeks. Some away wins are needed to do this.
Paul,
Glad to see your +ve comment about Westy. He didn’t come close to controlling the match, but that engine of his was put to good use … quite cleverly sometimes and one excellent through ball.
SWV,
Please don’t make the game lost before we’ve started! 😉 Preston have not impressed overall, but it’s not likely to be a total pushover, agreed.
Darren: “Not much good getting promoted if we end up doing more bouncing than the boing boings. Much prefer stability and continuous progression and seeing real foundations being built for Dr.T’s Champions League dream.”
I’m with you 100% — I really, really hope we don’t turn in to a yo-yo club!
For me, when all are healthy I like Andrew’s setup … except dropping Grealish from the starting lineup and using him as an impact sub instead:
Gollini
Bacuna Elphick Chester Amavi
Jedinak
Tshibola McCormack
Adomah Kodjia Ayew
Three players that I believe are beginning to round into the form which we all thought they were capable of from the start:
Gollini — looks like he’s starting to calm down and be less rushed in his play, which is leading to fewer mistakes.
Amavi — looks like he’s beginning to forget about his injury and trust his leg again.
Jedinak — looks like he’s getting into full match fitness and starting to become the midfield boss that he’s been for years.
rdm will sort his shit out soon. I know its frustrating when we don’t win…I loose it as much as anyone but surly1 of the most importnant things we need is stabilility.
Jackie Sewell and 1957
Jackie has recently died aged 89, one of our ’57 Cup Final team.
https://www.clubcall.com/notts-county/former-aston-villa-and-england-striker-jackie-sewell-dies-ag-1826460.html?
I think that leaves only Nigel Sims and Peter Mac as the only survivors from that momentous match.
Sewell (continued)
Interesting that Villa’s manager then, Eric Houghton, signed both Jackie Sewell and Ron Wylie for Notts County when manager there 1947-53 or thereabouts, and later brought both to Villa. Sewell for Christmas 1955 and Wylie in late 1958.
Sewell was a useful player but lost form from 1958 onwards when getting into his 30s.
About the 1953 match against Hungary, Sewell noted the big difference between the English old-fashioned heavy kit and the light kit used by the Hungarians. That was when British kit changed its style to the “Continental” type.
Guardian and telegraph reporting rdm job on line next two games.
Can’t see why Allardice’s job should be in danger at all he only told the truth.
1-2 to the Villa tonight, tough game but we have more firepower up front. Lose and he’s got to go.
Big game tonight, large away following as ( around 4.5k) as we as nearly 5,700 going away to Preston on Saturday , means the pressure is well and truly on, especially if you believe the media reports RDM has these next 2 games to pretty much save his job. We have spent a fortune for this level and have some decent firepower, the owner/board won’t keeping wearing poor performance s and results week after week against opposition( bar Newcastle) who are built on a shoestring without our resources. 1 win in 10 against bang average opposition is very poor and not what anyone hoped or expected given our transfer window. Dr T and co will be looking at the table in despair thinking Automatic promotion looks already gone barring a miracle turn around, and if we aren’t careful and don’t start winning the play offs could soon be out of our reach also.
FWIW I think we will beat both Barnsley and Preston( we simply have to or RDM is getting sacked) and I would have snapped your hand off for 7 pts from this weeks 3 fixtures.
I’m not going tonight but I’m going sat and stopping over in Blackpool on a beano, it’s gonna be a long day on the lash!!
Thing is now not only are we a team trying to gel but the players will see the headlines about rdm having 2 games to save his job and the pressure could go either way. They will play out there skins tonight or buckle
B62: “RDM has these next 2 games to pretty much save his job”
Yep, perhaps – and I expect him to do so.
If he can’t then he must surely be seen to be a dud … I’m not sure why we’re worried, though. The way the Villa forwards were dribbling through Newcastle’s ranks in the last 20 minutes was a joy to watch – surely they’ll not forget how to do it at Preston? 😉
But the key thing is actually to get the ball into the net, and despite how good Ayew looks at times he’s scored none. The responsibility really is with the players – they’re good enough.
JL
Your right going forward we do look great( in periods) but still aren’t exactly free scoring. My biggest worry is what goes on in midfield and at the back, we looked awful for 70 mins in sat and are yet to control a whole 90mins or even put a whole match performance in yet this season. We looked like the keystone cops at the back and just let the opposition have as much time and space as they wanted, we never picked up a runner and Elphicks mistake was s schoolboy error in which the keeper averted a certain disaster if Gayle had put that away( which he should have done TBF). RDM has to select a balanced team and stop shoehorning players into unnatural positions .
B62,
Yep … but you are 99% talking of what happened before h-t. Then the team was re-fashioned and created the basis for the recovery. At least cred to RdiM for putting the matter right that way.
On that matter, it was once upon a time a captain’s job to reform the team on the pitch when matters were not going right. The captain does not have that right these days, but if he had that right we might have seen a lot of improvement before h-t.
Midfield is the biggest problem helping protect a lead and helping the strikers.
Pray tisch can do it cause he was the only one linking the mid with attack when he come on…hence the improved display.
Jedi and tisch are the key
I hope rushden murphy is on the bench again. deserves it.
JL
RDM does deserve credit for changing it up, just like he deserves stick for being tactically inept in previous matches, costing us valuable points. I agree RHM deserves at least a shot on the bench, I’d also drop Westwood , he is poor he was lucky to the 5 given him on sat in the paper. Whilst he is in the team we cannot progress he stunts the play, constantly turning in or passing backwards/sideways. He can’t tackle and doesn’t create, surely he has to be replaced in January for good. I’d go with Tiahibola and Jedinak as the centre pairing
RDM has been forced into change basically because everything else he tried was not working, and here is a good question how long do we give it before we stop saying the teams needs to gel.
We think the players will pull their fingers out tonight because RDM is under the cosh but what if some of those players do not have any respect for him and would like a change, something we must consider it would be foolish to think he commands respect from every single squad player.
This will be a tricky game tonight, Barnsley are top scorers in the division for good reason, in Hourihane and Hammill they have two very creative forward thinking midfield players, add to that Sam Winnall up front who scores goals with Bradshaw on the bench ready to step in, there will be no easy games in this league and Barnsley will be loving having the mighty Aston Villa on their own patch.
I go draw again tonight, I just wished I still did the pools.
SWV
At some point in time, under di Matteo’s watch or under someone else’s, with the amount of talent in this squad we’re bound to go on a real honest-to-God winning streak the likes of which we haven’t seen since the days of MO’N.
Boy am I eager for that time to get here!
SWV: ” Barnsley will be loving having the mighty Aston Villa on their own patch”
Yes, but that’s been a truism every time Villa have been relegated. The first time downstairs (in 1936) Fred Rinder said that every game would be fought like a cup final … and he was mostly right. It#’s been like that ever since.
Ha! 😉
Dr. Tonix has twittered that he knows not about the rumour of RdiM having 2 games left …
http://www.birminghammail.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/dr-tony-xia-comments-future-11945342?
Might have guessed that the rumour-mongers have taken over the sports pages.
I don’t agree entirely that RDM has been forced into change because its not working, We have been very unlucky with injuries some have happened to players before they have kicked a ball. we beat Rotherham 3-0 then lose Tishbola against Huddersfield maybe that game would of been different had he stayed on? (OR if we had scored more a Recurring theme) very next game Kosak makes non-appearance after we lose Getstede who’s scored 2 up till then 0-0 draw. next game up should of been 2-0 up lose to Bristol no centre froward and new RB in the mix covered by Bacuna. Next up Jedinak injured on international duty should of battered Forest no midfield allows them to draw. next up next up Brentford and we have Kodjia available and Getstede still no Tishbola we lose McCormack and De laet to injury de laet for the season go one up could of been more we draw again as not good enough in midfield. Newcastle and we all saw what happened there, lest hope Tishblola stays fit because although we have some real quality we are thin on the ground squad wise. forgot Baker off injured twice this season.
Add all that to poor and unlucky finishing and you get 9 points, How many times did we hit the woodwork all last season? I bet its not the 8 we have managed this year in 9 games. All said and done we have had some bad luck with scoring and stupid errors through nerves late on and a lot of disruptive injuries when RDM is trying find his best 11 let alone tactics, that can’t of been good, so if he gets the chop I think its harsh all considered.
We have to win the next few because we simply have to,
the worrying thing re RDM is firstly he doesn’t yet have the correct cover in midfield so if we get injuries in that area , even one it weakens us
also the shuffling from one formation to the other is not helping us
when i saw us start with 5 at the back at home with players out of position i thought have we got a lambert all over again
hoping RDM is about to slap the doubters down big time as of tonight
COYVB
Any links guys ?
Possibilities opening up, Big Sam or Pearson ?
radio feed on the official site or west mid radio but thats not on line
cheers mark
Well done Daniel Johnson.
why did rdm not sign midfielders , every match we go 2 mid v 3 mid and we go under the cosh,
where is the lad leyten ,heburn murphy not even on bench
rdm is making lambert look good
Well that first half was wank…FFS Villa wake up we are sleepwalking into another relegation battle. RDM doesn’t really have s fucking clue what he is doing. The noses in the pub are very chipper, even tho they are at home tonight and yet again no cunt has gone
Well one up, need to go for the jugular now.
Canada,
Yep … at least a high proportion of Villa’s attempts are on target, which is re-assuring.
A win here will give that needed fillip… no matter how it’s obtained.
Scraping a win against Barnsley. 12 pts from 10 games is not good enough given the money spent and the poor standard in this division.
No club with serious ambition would accept this.
PW: “poor standard in this division”
What? 😉
You think this is a division of good football then John?
PW,
There’s a lot more ability down in this mire than people thinks i.m.o.
But it goes without saying you’re not going to find PL standard – simply as it’s not the PL!
Useless fucks
Well there you go Mr Lerwill…1-1 against Barnsley.
I thought it had been a poor start to the season until you pointed out what a division of top class teams this is.
And there you go, fucking shite FFS
so predictable, get him out.
Maybe you’ll enjoy League 2 where Villa might be competitive
plays for draws and thats what he gets. how can you have forwards like these an not score plenty.
Oh dear!
UTV
John…explain how Huddersfield have spent next to nothing, along with many others in this league, and are top of the table?
Oh, I know, we’re going on a 10-win run soon
PW: “Well there you go Mr Lerwill…1-1 against Barnsley.”
Aw, shucks! And only with their second attempt on goal the entire match.
But I like the way you shout before the match has finished! 😉
same number of points as burton, not so long ago i was watching them in non-league, no excuses please, just go.
PW,
Two issues:
1. The hangover from last season.
2. We’re only now beginning to play a settled team consisting of the best available.
We’ve still lost less games than Newcastle!
come on doc get him rdm out and send wastewood with him last 2 matches gain 1 point after he goes off lose 2 points when he comes on its not rocket science he is shite drags the rest of team down to his level, and as for rdm last 3mins adoamh injured he puts on rudi what an ass shore up the team not a centre forward that can t hold up the ball
RDM OUT
Westwood needs kicking to submission , let’s get Dean Smith in
john l
they had 2 shots on target we had 7
they had 9 corners we had 5
no more excuses rdm spent 50 m he is more clueless than the black garde sherwood lambert and mcknob put together
4 points of bottom
Oh, dear! I can some are not going to sleep well tonight.
No, another draw is still not what’s desired, but it will come.
In 1987/88, Graham Taylor’s team lost 3 matches in the first 7, and still got promotion.
Didn’t you feel it?
As soon as we scored you started feeling the pressure building. . . feeling it was only a matter of time.
That seems to be how the players are feeling too and they need to break out of it soon.
Easier said than done mind you after the last 4 years.
It’s the manager’s fault of course . . . he should have put on a defender . . . . oh, except it would then have been his fault for sitting back
Tish may be a decent player but he’s obviously stupid, is it compulsory to get booked or sent off every game you play ? never mind this season, this time next year we could be launching a promotion bid from league one. Big Sam in tomorrow.
If hear hangover from last season, time to gel, we are going to hammer a team soon..etc I am going to lose it. This is not the same twM/owner/manager/players etc that got relegated, so no hangover it’s a fresh sweep, or are we saying the tea lady is still making crap brews like last year??? This team should be doing better! We are playing poor opposition week in week out bar a few select teams, we have spent more than pretty much e dry team yet are getting embarassed by real shite. People need to stop making excuses
robbo
we where under the cosh at mighty barnsley,newcastle battered us for 75mins, brentford battered us,ipswich we never had a shot
rdm has spent 50m yet our midfield sub is wastewood ,same for defence subs are mutton and richards
no other club bar newcastle spent money yet 11 matches in bar rotheram and forest we have been shambolic no system one 442 next 352 and maybe 424 he rdm is clueless
steamer
with you on big sam ,would have picked last year after sherwood too
Sounded like another very poor showing……listening to Gary Thomson again on West Mid/AVTV, he should be coaching this team, because he is spot on once more…..he knows how the game should be played. First half, he kept saying that Jack should be further forward to assist Codger, or else Ayew should have swapped places with him, no good one man alone up front, and always being on the back foot.
It’s not excuses, it’s just a statement of the bleedin obvious.
You just have to listen to yourselves. . . . you ‘expect’ us to lose. . . . . every game.
You expect us to be ‘fighting in division one.
Why?
Because you’ve all been ground down by the last four years. The club still has that air of defeat about it. . . you lot have the air of defeat about you.
Once you’ve taught yourselves to be positive then maybe you can start to expect it from everyone else.
Of concern
11 points lost from winning positions
Conceding on 85, 86, 87, 88, 89 minutes .
Gary Thomson commentating said “villa players are half asleep “. This was on 25 mins play. And at 0-0 “they aren’t pushing or pressing , it’s limp, defensive play ” , “no purpose no energy no confidence , they are mentally frail ” when asked why they conceded late on .
Disappointing particularly considering where AV were this time last year and where Barnsley were . Gary Thomson said there was nothing between them .
If RdM gets the boot, I agree with the others on here — I’d much prefer Big Sam over Steve Bruce any day.
Oh, and with Bacuna picking up his fifth yellow card, we get to see Hutton next game — or will it be Richards?
The reason we expect defeat is because of the way are playing, this season, the last few seasons play only a small part in the despair at this shower. As the owner pointed out, conceding a late goal once or twice can be unlucky, but to continue to do it regularly is simply poor play and organisation, which obviously hasn’t been worked on during training. I think in the main we have been positive as fans this season, but the dross being served up is wearing us down, we have swapped a relegation battle in the top flight for one in the lower leagues.
RDM and the players need to take responsibility for throwing away so many points. This side is devoid of a game plan, identity and now confidence. The season has unraveled already with the manager looking like a dead man walking, anything but an emphatic win against Preston and I expect him to go. All the early season optimism has evaporated as we have been thoroughly out played by footballing giants like Huddersfield, Barnsley, Bristol city, Brentford, Ipswich , Luton etc
In short this season has been appalling. The fans are already turning and crap performances like last night aren’t going to change that.
Jenny: “Of concern … Conceding on 85, 86, 87, 88, 89 minutes .”
Yep, but I’m thinking I’m more concerned that we’re not scoring more. If you’re 2-up or more with 5 mins to go and you concede one in the last 5 then obviously it doesn’t matter as much…
For me that should be the emphasis – a +ve focus in getting another goal. Attack is better than defence.
Yes, it’s not working the way it should right now, but I said at the start that it would take until October before we should expect much to happen. I think DO’R concurred or something similar. At least we’re not losing!
I think it’s already time for Xia to pull the trigger. The football has been very rigid, boring and his subs are mind blowing.
I hope hes gone by Saturday. I’m going to Preston hope to be there when we finally win an away game
I’d take Bruce now. The best we could do probably and that hurts.
Just scanned the blogs, the overwhelming majority want RDM sacked, but it’s a complete Bunn fight over who to replace him with. I’m out of ideas, No to Allardyce( he will be out the game for a while I imagine), no to Bruce , no to Pearson ( who is a fucking nut job) Dean Smith a good shout, doing ok at Brentford and a villa fan to boot, otherwise Rowett has done well on a real tight budget at the vermin. It’s a disgrace it’s come to this already, but it’s obvious that we are going nowhere but backwards under RDM who hasn’t got a clue what he is doing. Even if you take out yet another late goal being conceded , we were second best to Barnsley for at least an hour. I give up , it’s shit being a Villa fan I feel we are cursed
We were confident enough at the start of the season, the team was full of new signings who weren’t affected by last seasons disasters, so whats happened ? another second rate managerial appointment who lasts a season on average in his previous jobs. The results are pitiful and if RDM remains then i fully expect a relegation situation. Dr X fortunately doesn’t seem the type to accept total failure so i would expect him to react before Crimbo because results won’t improve enough to get back into the promotion pack under this knob. RdM, Clarke and Bond have quite a few sackings between them haven’t they ? wonder why.
Why Sam, surely he’ll have a lot of crap coming his way over the investigation, we don’t need that distracting from the job at hand and that is to stabilise the club and build the foundations for promotion and future success.
You guys are on a real downer, it’s truly depressing coming on here. We haven’t been Premier League standard for 5 years and suddenly with all the crap that relegated us either gone or not heavily involved, you expect what is essentially a new team to still walk this PERCEIVED poor relation of the English football world. There are only 18 teams allowed at the top of the pyramid, it changes by 3 each season, it certainly doesn’t mean that the 24 teams below are completely cut adrift of playing good football and just hoof it.
The reality if you need reminding is we have been utter shit for a long time. We now have a owner and board who are investing in the club at all levels. And a team that most of you say should be banging in the goals. Well it doesn’t work that way because we don’t play ourselves we are playing long established Championship teams who know how to fight for 46 games plus cups. WE DON’T. We are learning what it is to be in this league, our players don’t know many of the teams or what they are capable as opposed to 5/10 seasons of playing Manu and you know what to expect.
Please give up this idea that we are going straight back up or into the play offs spots. It’s not me being negative but realistic to see that we can’t remove this malaise overnight and immediate promotion/play-offs shouldn’t be part of the fans agenda.
I get it, it’s had to take a draw from the jaws of a win but we are playing at a level that Villa are currently more comfortable at because we aren’t getting beaten week in, week out. I sure would love a few wins, it’s soul destroying praying for Villa to hang on against Barnsley and even more frustrating is my only source is listening to Tony Gale on Sky Sports News as I’m told we are going over to hear news of a goal, which way has it gone blah blah blah.
It is complete and utter bullshit if you think sacking RDM now and whoever comes in will have an immediate impact on results. The reality of appointing a new manager will mean a further adjustment period for the players into whatever new system and by then it will be Christmas.
You need to be patient however difficult it is with how the club is performing, the focus needs to be on building for the future, we are nowhere near prepared for immediate promotion and Dr.T who undoubtedly would bankroll the club another 100m if promoted is prevented by FFP anyway.
It’s my opinion on where we stand, quite happy if you disagree with it. We’ve a truckload of Midlands derbies to get into now, let see what happens.
I agree John and that is what I said in my article . After the first goal they should use this as a platform to score more . If they don’t , a team with a one goal lead is always at risk of losing it at any time thereafter . Obviously the pressure is raised the last 5 mins because a losing team will throw everything on the attack as they have nothing to lose. But more than any other team in the League(s) AV are losing it in the last 5 mins.
Each time AV concede in the last five mins and the 85,86,87,88,89 stat is dramatic , it adds to the pressure . It is similar to England’s poor penalty taking performance . The more you lose the more it plays on the mind . As Alan Shearer said on England ‘s penalty nightmares “the longer we go on without winnnng , the harder it is as it becomes a mental problem”. As Gary Thomson said last night , to concede once in the last five is a shame , twice is bad luck, more than that it is mental frailty . What I’m saying is the more we lose in the last five mins the bigger the perceived 85th minute danger zone is .
Of the English bosses i’d agree with B62 and say Sam and Dean Smith. We haven’t a single quality English manager so it looks like a foreigner, i think Marcelo Bielsa is available if he could be persuaded which i doubt and the Jeerman at Huddersfield seems competent but i don’t think Villa could attract anyone of note now so the aim must be to select someone who isn’t a dummy like most of our recent appointments.
Darren : good points as always.
I don’t want RDM sacked as it would destabilise a newly put together team . To RDMs credit , the squad now has good individual players but they are under performing as a team and he has, also to his credit admitted this . The concern is that ten games in and we have only won one game and aren’t able to perform for the full 90 mins. We are not the first club to introduce a batch of new players , Watford introduced more than us last season and started and finished well . Hopefully RDM has solutions to the weaknesses in our performances and we can start winning .
Can Sam recover mentally from the scandal ? Is he going to be emotionally robust enough to stand on the touch line under the media spotlight so soon after the Allerdycegate. I don’t think so . This is going to knock the stuffing out of him and as thick skinned as he may be, he wd be better off taking a break from football and the media attention .
Good positive comments from DO’R (down to earth, as always) and Jenny.
No one is really happy with the results, and wanting a manager change just is not on i.m.o. Let’s get some stability in place first … if there’s no sign of the desired play within a few months, then maybe we do have to think again, but at least give it *some* time.
JL
No one is hounding RDM out, but rightly so questions are being asked about his ability to do the job he is being paid handsomely to do, his tactics, team selection, substitutions, game and man management and his training methods are major contributing factors into this disaster of a promotion push. He continues to make the same mistakes, the keeper is young and has a ricket in him, yet we haven’t bought anyone in to challenge him or allow him to be withdrawn out of the firing line, the midfield has been over run in every game this season yet he doesn’t address it. He hasn’t worked out how to get the best out of our expensive forward line so plays them all, some out of position in the hope something will happen. It’s all become a bit of a shambles culminating in being out of the race for promotion and the cup before October
Fans won’t get RdM sacked the results and lack of quality play will. The blokes had every advantage going and has produced NOTHING, were a much as shambles as we were last season.
Sam wants another job. i know where there may be a vacancy soon.
Pardew & Bruce in the running for England job, laughable.
when we have played is it preston on saturday that will be one quarter of season gone if you take 46 league games and 2 cup christ luton shamed us so i don t see any other games in f a cup so best case if we beat preston it would be 2 wins 7draws and 3 defeats other it could be 1 8 3 or 1 7 4
rdm has spent a bucket load of money on a squad similar to qpr a few seasons ago seasoned pros on big wages not doing it
for having signed so many experienced players at this level how are we conceding so many late goals, spent a fortune on strikers who suddenly can t score codja 1 in 4,ayew 2 in 11,rudi 2 in 10 mcormack 1 in 11 ,spent on fortune on squad why have we wastewood hutton richards as subs no proper winger in squad far too many questions,its not like rdm wasn t here early enough
Until i see a forward thinking manager at villa – hopefully that plays the pressing game which is the formula that seems to be pulling up trees everywhere
For me when you have a manager that doesn’t have a particular system of play / philosophy that they stick to it becomes much harder to get continuity and harder for players to express themselves as you jump from one formation or game plan to another
Dr x has done a fantastic job in bringing the overall structure of the club out of the dark ages – the only thing left to do now is to have progressive management
I always thought football was a results business, we have one win in ten games equalled only by bottom club Rotherham, how can you have so many talented offensive players probably the best in this league and not be able to mould and fit them into a side to make sure you win games and not draw them, it beggars belief the talent at our disposal and we are sitting near the foot of the table.
So exactly where does the buck stop who makes the important decisions regarding our football team, who selects the team week in week out, who selects the system/formation, who decides what changes to make during the game when things do not go to plan ( what plan some will ask), and finally who selected the players to bring to this club, any guesses.
Managers have to make all these big choices and pay the consequence if they get it wrong.
At what point do we say enough is enough he just is not up to the job, draw or lose on Saturday and we have one win in eleven, is that really acceptable for any team never mind a team who were in the premier last season and have spent the best part of £60m.
SWV
Well inthink steve round will be having a busy time as its his job to know about our style of play and how we are run as a club whoever is in charge. So he will prob have main say who next manager is. Id like dean smith, be great having a villa man in charge
the buying players side was defiantly a rush as it had to be and the balance of the squad isn’t right yet – so i can’t be too harch on rdm for that — only criticism re rdm’s spending of 50 million is he has no balance
Can’t blame Paddy Riley this time.
last season we dragged our heels with first sherwood then missing big sam but we can blame fox and riley for that ,i hope the dc does not work like them as most have seen we are a quarter way into season with maybe only one win not good enough ever ,one win in 11 , 12 if count cup game
but what gets me most watching games players not really trying walking pace every commentators has picked up on this,
RDM has had 12 games to show us yes results are not right but we have a style of play players are familar with not changing it from match to match ,the newcastle match we seemed to start 352 half time we went 433 then took wastwood of went 424 3 formations in 90mins
Forget to say big up jc for an excellent leader
RDM has only had what 3/4 games since the transfer window closed, the team is unrecognisable from the last game of last season. We’re unbeaten since the window closed. I’m not discounting the previous games/results but RDM wasn’t working with a finished squad and finding out who was going to work for him and what were their strengths.
As you are playing the ‘blame game’, it begins now because he’s started to work regularly with this team for a month, please keep this in mind when you launch into how shit Villa are under RDM since the summer.
One month in and you’re prepared to rip it all up and start again because your expectation levels are still we’re a PL side having to be in the company of all these lesser teams, they should roll over and let us win.
We have to earn our wins like everyone else and right now we aren’t. What’s the problem, the pressure of expectation on the players being transmitted by the fans home and away that we have to win in this piss poor league we find ourselves in.
What’s the solution, stop with the blame game, stop with the negativity, embrace we are part of the championship, full of great historical sides and free of most of the sky media crap, revel in the new grounds we can visit, celebrate that we have the likes of Amavi, Grealish, Ayew, Kodija in the squad and look beyond the immediacy of today and towards the brighter future we all want for Villa.
I’m sure you’re thinking I’m talking shite, I maybe but at least I’m not caught up in the merry go round that requires me to be constantly angry at something that happens at Villa I’ve no control over. I’ve invested 40+ years with Villa 20+ of those travelling regularly back and forth from Dublin, I’d love to see a winning team but I’m seeing a team that isn’t that far away and any manager change now could set us back further.
Who of the managers that are available or unavailable would Villa convince to come to a team 17th in this really crap league and take the same abuse when within one second of a game a result changes from a win to a draw.
Questions to those who think RDM should stay…
Do you think the performances have been good enough given the outlay of money in the summer? Do Villa look like they’re in charge of any game/opposition in this division? When do you think it’s acceptable that performance and results show a significant improvement.?
The performances have been what they are, good enough to get draws but not scoring enough to protect 1 nil leads. Outlay of money doesn’t come into, as it is an arbitrary valuation of a player based on what we are prepared to pay vs. what the selling team are prepared to let a player go for. It’s a team game the sum of its part make up the team not the sum of how much we have spent.
We are dealing with humans, who can make mistakes as much as they can make the right decisions to prevent or score goals, there is no monetary value in that, the question is irrelevant.
You could say do you think the performances have been good enough based on the number of times we’ve been on TV. If you mean are we happy with the performances vs. results who is going to say yes but should that be correlated with sacking RDM or should we presevere with him because we aren’t being beaten.
Why have you this expectation that we should be in charge of games, why not have an expectation that there will be periods were we won’t be.
When do I think its acceptable that performance and results show a significant improvement, haven’t we got their already, we won 3 times last season.
RDM happens to be the manager, my point is that whoever is in charge needs to remain for stability and long term progression, not this short, sharp, impatient, change the manager I don’t like drawing games crap.
But football is a results game and the results are poor compared to some very average teams.
In the end this is a pointless argument, and it boils down to the fact that if you’re satisfied being 15 places lower than Huddersfield, then fill your boots
I don’t agree with your point that transfer fees are irrelevant. The club is not a bottomless pit of money and Xia is unlikely to provide 50 more million in January to repair the summer dealings.
And as I said before, if the majority of teams in the division can do better on significantly less then Villa are simply badly managed.
Football is about results but at what level of expectation, you seem to expect us to walk the league because we spent 50m. It doesn’t work that way clearly, it’s about building a team and a pattern of play that Huddersfield have. We are not there yet.
Also you say are results are poor compared with some very average teams, teams who’ve been built up over a few seasons and have for the most part managers longer than 12 games.
Being satisfied is all to do with expectation, if you believe we’re the greatest football team the world has ever seen’ then you must have cryed yourself to sleep since 1982. If like me you are satisfied with material progression under new ownership being designed for long term gain over short term pain then yeh I’m satisfied. Would I like to see us win 3/4 nil and destroy team and be hated by everyone because we win all the time, sure but I’m prepared to let us build up to that.
I don’t expect Dr.T to spend another 50m, the squad doesn’t need that, it does need options in midfield and defence (with de Laet gone) but nowhere near 50m worth.
Warren Feeney sacked as Newport manager after winning 1 in 9.
Darren,
You offer the voice of reason which is very commendable but where is your cut off point, I have read some blogs and they say give RDM 20 games to get it right, that equates to half a season when we may be so far behind any thought of promotion/play off will be laughable, in fact we may be caught in a full on relegation battle.
So we are ten games in eleven if you count our cup exit, so at what point do we call a halt and say enough is enough, in fact I would be very surprised if Steve Round is not already sounding out possible replacements as we prepare for a visit to Preston, we cannot afford to wait weeks if the good doctor loses patience with RDM.
SWV
Probably not even the voice of reason, possibly the voice of patience. I’d give RDM up to Christmas on the basis that if a new manager was a necessity given we aren’t a huge number of points off the play-offs or relegation for that matter at this point.
But any new manager deserves a transfer window to put their own stamp on trying to turn things around.
The way the league is panning out is that anyone can beat anyone apart from us which suggests a run of wins will progress us quickly but also we’ll never be too far from the top points wise as we bounce along drawing every game and maybe getting the odd win between now and Christmas.
DO’R: “I’m not caught up in the merry go round that requires me to be constantly angry at something that happens at Villa I’ve no control over. “
You know summat? Reading what Darren has to say I can just curl up and go to sleep – there’s nothing else for me to say, except:
1. negativity generates negativity.
2. you may not realise how much damage you do to yourselves when you get worked up about these matters. Y ou may all have lost a year or two of your lifespan over the last 5 years! I used to think there’s a place for anger, and perhaps there is … but not about sport.
I think fitness is a problem too, has been for three seasons.
When you look at what we spent £50 odd mil on nearly half of that was on 2 players and another £8m on a defender Thats about £33m of the spend. We started off the summer with over 30 players in the squad a mighty 17 of those no longer play at Villa. Of the all conquering Relegation side We have Bacuna Richards Gestede Westwood Bunn Grealish Ayew Mutton not everyone’s favourite players still here, Granted a few are on loan like Gil but are they likely to return? I doubt it. So nine new players arriving as late as the end on Aug to Complement Those 8 plus a few kids and Bakers and GG .
Its not a bad squad but all conquering? Our strength Lies in the attacking players and as yet they have not clicked in front of goal, No we have not looked organised overall but when RM is available we do create a lot, That I have noticed, in the games he has missed the chances have dried up a little. I cannot see what RDM is trying to do myself but I do see the umpteen chances not taken and our very shallow midfield, I think we missed a few in the window especially loans that didn’t materialise as the midfield is unbalanced.
Would I be bothered if he goes? not particularly as he was not on my radar when he came but you have to think it will be him and all his new staff that will go and don’t forget Sid and others have already gone. When the international window arrives people are expecting a new manager and at least 5-6 new staff to turn up and immediately fit in at Villa in a place that has barely settled since the last lot walked in, It might just be very ugly for a while IMO
Fitness steamer under 5 managers? I cannot see that myself, and now 9 new players are unfit?
Sam would not be the worse choice either if it happens but he’s now comes with a dodgy background Don’t think The Doc would wear that? he does keep up with modern methods so might be more inclined to sort their heads out. Sad when we are moving into a new Era with Round changing our philosophy and systems for it to fail in two months.
Mark, We had a boss a few years ago with the nickname ‘Mr 10%’ some still idolise the knob. I think we can guess one of the eight suspects, but who are the other seven ?
Even Sherwood said his own players were unfit and this lot look like they’re playing in slo-mo.
If RDM does stay i don;t think he’ll take us up next season either, just a crepe manager. Wonder if Pep would come ?
Don’t understand why Baker was omitted, better than the other two.
Steamer just seems mad mate that it continues to happen to us, what did we do wrong, better not answer that 😉
Wasn’t our fitness coach ex Juventus or something?
great comments from all re the pro’s and cons of a new manager and expectations from all
for my 2p worth villa are a sleeping giant that has grossly under achieved for far too long – as always pointed out by fans and media
the reasons for the past failings have mainly been due to poor ownership and direction imo
think we can almost to a person agree that it looks like the ownership part is now sorted
the backroom structure of the club looks superb also
so it leaves management and direct and to me this is were we look a bit short
for me it’s not just rdm’s results that worry me but also how we play or what it looks like we are working towards
there is no clear philosophy which imo is a vital ingredient for dr x’s vision of the club punching it’s weight and beyond
if w turn a corner it will be more down to individual form than formula or design
most successful clubs have a formula that s remains no matter who the manager is , I was watching the swans recently and admired so much how they play and think they could become great with major investment
I hope RDM smashes it from here but i keep saying that after each disappointment — feels a bit lke groundhog day though — think we have been here before
if a manager is just unlucky but it is clear to the fans what he is trying to do and how he is trying to play he won’t have too many fans on his back as most people are not fools and overstand the basic principles of the game
on the flip side most villains know a sub standard manager when they see one as they of great experience in this area
utv
I have to smile to myself : listening to Fransie on radio WM footie phone in , now the baggies , wolves and villa fans are fighting over big Sam . Four years ago none of the fans wanted him because of his kick and hope style . Ok we are in chumps but baggies are in prem . How times change .
Tony Xia isn’t just a good communicator , his opening the doors for fans to contact him via Twitter has provided the best account on Twitter . Villa fans may feel hard done by but they’ve got a great sense of humour . Like this tweet
@Dr_TonyXia With your power, can you change Championship rules to rugby union, so then we’d only have to play 80 minutes #avfc
Watched a clip of our 89 minute concession : yes Gollini flapped and he left himself vulnerable : but what were the rest of the defenders doing ? Why did he feel the need to come right out to punch the ball . He’s a 21 year old : and I wouldn’t blame him for one minute – conceding the late minute goals is a collective problem – but he’s the one with the most pressure on his shoulders these last ten mins . When you consider he’s new to Prem and his age , it’s not a great place to be in. He is the one some ppl blame , the keepers get a rough time of it . I would imagine that when the clock gets to 80 , he may be thinking “oh no “.
RDM hasn’t pulled up any trees but I just wonder if it is really fair to sack a manager after he’s only had 10 games .
Steamer: “I think fitness is a problem too, has been for three seasons.”
Is that now likely? From what I saw in the Geordies match it was Villa that were running harder in the last 20 mins. For me it’s more of an attitude/confidence matter. Players need to be spoken to by Jenny! Period.
Runtings: You make some interesting observations.
Agree about Goalini and our CD’s are midgets which doesn’t help, Baker is our best CD, imo, but Rdm didn’t sign him did he ?
Bloke on TVB reckons Sams having a weeks holiday and will be appointed Villa manager on Wednesday.
Runtings:
I think the fans only mostly know what they want for themselves, and if the biggest speaking fans were given a chance you’d have a potential 10,000 managers shouting at one another! 😉
You can only have one captain (manager) of the ship and once appointed he has to be just let to get on with it until the results clearly indicate that it’s not the way.
We’re not there yet – to think about removing the manager.
JL,
For me it’s more of an attitude/confidence matter.
A few weeks ago folk were saying “they haven’t gelled yet” then it was “we didn’t sign them early enough”
If excuses won leagues we’d be champs every year, simples – Crepe manager who signed mainly crepe players and bought crepe coaches.
over recent years we have had
spink bosnich friedal in goals
god southgate laursen and mellborg at centre half
its sad looking what we had to put up with last 5/6 years
Steamer,
Why call them “excuses”? To me it’s visible they are not often giving their all, and that’s often in the first half – can’t be fitness.
As demonstrated in the last quarter of the Newcastle match, Villa can turn on the heat – if they were led well enough. Maybe Elphick isn’t up to that level of responsibility.
Heard a good one today, Pearson’s row was because Derby caught him on the phone to someone at Villa, dunno about that but i’d sooner have him as boss than RdM.
Having looked ar the league table, I’m not sure some of the excuses/reasons of why we are at the foot of the table stand up to scrutiny. Of the 16 teams above us, only Newcastle have spent anything like the Kings ransom we have, in fact in most cases the teams have spent a mere fraction we have. The amount of players brought in needing time to gel, well Newcastle and Huddersfield have bought in similar amounts or more and don’t seem to have a problem, other teams have rejuvenated their squads with new additions, only not of the quality we have bought in. The vast majority of the teams do not have our resources, set up , fanbase. In short we have everything in place for a real promotion push, but are making a real pigs ear of it, I’d go as far to say as our challenge is over before it ever began and we will be lucky to make mid table mediocrity. RDM is rightly under pressure and a poor result at Preston could see the end of his short tenure, resulting in more turmoil. Ideally RDM will turn it around starting Saturday, but I’m not sure I have any faith in him, as we are unable to compete with footballing powerhouses like Brentford, Barnsley, Huddersfield , Bristol City, Blues, Ipswich etc etc I fully expected Norwich, Newcastle, Brighton and a couple of others to be ahead of us but the poor teams that are miles ahead are showing just how poor we have been under RDM
Steamer
That’s got to be bollox, I’ve heard it was the chairman questioning results, training methods etc etc and not for the first time Pearson has gone off at the deep end at him. I wouldn’t touch Pearson with a barge pole, he is a loon who is struggling without his back room staff.
B62: “I’m not sure some of the excuses/reasons of why we are at the foot of the table stand up to scrutiny.”
Yes, it’s a total puzzle I agree, but the fact that Villa were relegated in such a poor fashion after 5 years of mismanagement from the top could not have made the club attractive to the kind of players we’d prefer to have. I think RdiM had a difficult job to get any players that might come close to the standard needed, and some of those he’s bought have been ott price-wise.
Also he’s not been able to buy enough good players in the midfield area . And it’s there that we have had a problem. Perhaps when Tish and Jedi settle down we may get the needed drive, but there’s not much cover for those two.
So … let’s just wait to see how the mystery unfolds! What else to do?
B62,
You make a good point of teams who have re-structured their teams but still get results.
I had a freebie for Bristol City v Leeds on Tuesday, BC have made a lot of changes and also lost their No1 striker Kodija who scored 20 goals last term, we all know where he went.
They replaced him with a 18 year old kid called Tammy Abrahams on a season loan from Chelsea, now this kid is going to be a very good player and is already the top goal scorer in this division, he is 6ft 3 in and can head and play with both feet, which got me around to thinking about our own youngsters and why they have not been given a chance when players currently in the first team are not performing.
Leeds were a big powerful side who tried to bully their way to a point but BC were strong and matched them up, but more importantly with BC 1-0 up Leeds threw the kitchen sink at them for the last ten minutes and to their credit the whole team defended as a complete unit and came away with the three points, I sat there thinking would Villa have buckled under similar pressure and my conclusion was that we would have crumbled very much like we have done so many times this season.
We now have an Achilles heel which is holding on to a lead in the dying minutes and opposing managers are going to abuse that weakness, I am predicting another draw against Preston and I think the good doctor and Steve Round may call time on RDMs reign, it would make sense as it would give us a two week window to get someone else in place.
Forget new players, forget gelling, forget he needs time, there comes a stage when you hold your hands up and say it is just not working, our season is slipping away with every game we draw.
SWV
Things that have happened since Villa last won an away match…
http://www.birminghammail.co.uk/spor…-away-11951976
Some of the things from the video for those who can’t be bothered to click and watch:
All other 71 English league teams have won on the road.
Tim Peak has been to space and back.
Sam Allardyce was appointed manager of Sunderland.
Sam Allardyce left Sunderland.
Sam Allardyce became England manager.
Sam Allardyce was sacked as England manager.
The UK left the European Union.
Water has been found on Mars.
To be honest other teams have re-structured their teams and still get results. I doubt very much that they were as poor as we were at the time of a restructuring and and attempting/achieving immediate promotion at the same time. the likes of Leicester, Swansea, Southampton all took their time before they made a march on the prem. The one major factor this season has been lack of time to install any kind of platform/system before buying a new team. Round has been given that Job only now, he is to give us an on pitch Identity as lets face it we have certainly lost it where as the likes of spurs have retained there principles. He’s also charged with making transition from player to player and manager to manager a smooth one.
This is not going to go down well but we would be better off relaxing the push for promotion this season and concentrate on getting the club right, that more relaxed atmosphere may well transfer onto the pitch and get them playing better and achieving what we want sooner, maybe even this season if the pressures off, at the moment it seems to much for the team but not by a lot.
great point mark – maybe lower our exceptions and sit around in the championship until we get things as they should be — hard to swallow but maybe the sensible thing
its hard to except as we are not used to being out the prem and quite frankly it is a crime that we are
i see OOH aarr McGrath tweeted dr x saying sort it out and now
Runtings- yes it sticks in the craw but needs must. Yes god also said he likes Tony so It was a Plea that might mean now, might mean just sort it ASAP. As I said Maybe backing off the intensity and a little humility might push us on quicker, I might also be talking Shite 😉
not at all mark i think we are all scratching our heads as now that we have some good players for the lge but just can’t seem to get over the line
i’ll go with rdm’s revolution to truly begin this weekend
runtings- I thought it might on Tues and looking at the chances yet again we really should have put the game to bed. Yes Barnsley did well but 2 shots on goal one saved compared to Our 6 on target 5 saved says we need to be clinical or create more clear cut chances, the keepers in this league can’t all be Gordon banks can they mate 🙂
Allardyce
You may have seen by now, but at the papers stand this morning at Tesco the Daily Star greeted me with the words… “Sam off to the Villa” … or something like that!
“What!” I inwardly cried. Of course, the article was talking about Big Sam’s Villa … in Spain!
I will join with Runtings and say RDM’s revolution will begin this weekend. To me, the season is still in the balance. It could still go up or down.
I want Jedinak to prove himself at Villa. He told Aussie fans he has nothing to prove. He still needs to prove himself at Villa.
I think Villa will improve because there is quality there. That midfield needs to shape up, though.
COYVB
John
Haha. Big Sam can still retire a very wealthy man.
Collymore wants Pearson at Villa, jeez and I thought for all his personal problems he actually liked the Villa, I don’t see any advantage in getting Pearson in, given his own moments of madness and what appears to be success based on backroom staff rather than any particular skills himself.
Still trusting RDM to come good with his strongest 11, a simple 433 or 442 system and getting over the hump of all those draws.
Agree 100% with Mark about taking the pressure off the players with promotion, something I’ve been saying for some time.
Good to see some sensible comments and a structured debate I have been looking at other blogs recently and to be fair it is totally embarrassing some posters fighting like little girls because they cannot see other points of view.
Mark makes a good point about the expectation levels but unfortunately Tony has set the bar very high from day one and expects us to go back up at the first attempt, he feels he has put the manager in place and also spent sufficient funds to really give it a go but so far that has not worked out due to a lot of factors most of which we have covered over the last three articles.
The major problem is a club like the Villa must set out to gain promotion at the first time of asking you imagine the fans reaction if the club came out and said ” I tell you what people we won”t go for promotion this season but just consolidate and have a real go next season”, I think their would be mass rioting outside VP.
The problem you have is that you see what happens to clubs like Leeds, Sheffield Weds, Derby etc when they get stuck in this division season after season because with every year that goes by it becomes increasing more difficult to gain promotion, you start to lose your better players and it becomes harder to attract them.
I think we have to try and stick with the original plan and try to sneak into the play offs and then anything can happen although that seems a million miles from where we are at the moment, RDM needs to find a way to get Kodija, Ayew and RM into the side in a way where they will terrorise the opposition, Neil Warnock love him or hate him says RM is the best player in this division by a country mile but you need to find the perfect system and a position for him to thrive, and to be fair I cannot agree more I think he is the key to our success but RDM must find a way to get the most out of his talent.
Still go draw tomorrow do not see us turning the corner anytime soon.
SWV
Runtings: “Things that have happened since Villa last won an away match…”
I hoped to see that Steamer had re-paid that £20 … but, no, it’s not on the list! 😉
The Italian told BBC WM: “I believe that this team will be in the top six at the end of the season. That is the confidence I have, that the team has, that we will be up there.
“Who knows where, but we will be up in the top six.”
There you go Mark talk about managing expectations.
SWV
I could be wrong but didn’t Dr.T talk about a 2 year plan for promotion and a 5 year plan for Champions League. I get that you can’t announce what is effectively saying we’re happy being relegated and we want to stay in the second tier. But it’s all to do with how plans are communicated.
If Dr.T announced that we are rebuilding the foundations of the football club with a view to promotion without setting a time limit and asking fans to buy into the fact that we need to rebuild as opposed to getting back straight away then you may pacify the rioters.
I suppose as there is such a disconnect between the club and it’s fans that if you are paying for a season ticket then you’d want the club to meet your aspirations for it. Dr.T has gone along way thru Twitter to close the gap but it should be a two way street, sure challenge mgmt on how you perceive the club is doing but as fans we should be very aware of where we have come from, what has happened that led us to be relegated and embrace that we have new ownership and things while not clicking on field are very much better than they were and we’re not being hockeyed every week.
SWV- yep and lets face it he has to, even as Ranierri did last season with his get to 40 points script, I can’t see that screaming win win win at them can help at this point. Of course they can’t become comatose but they need to start enjoying this and putting those chances away. Keep going the way we are and it will get worse, a lot worse. At the moment we are able to defend for 85, track back and get our blocks in, come 85 its lets all stand off and crowd our own keeper. If we are not carelful that may spread tp much earlier in the game as RDM seeks solutions to the defence due to pressure instead of ways of putting us out of sight at the other end, you can see its going that way since the Ipswich game. I’m hoping RM back in the side will kickstart things along with Kodjia Abomah and our new goal hero Ayew.
Dor – yes Xia did say within two years but they would try this season
JL,
Times is ‘ard mate.
I really can’t see how Sam qualifies for a 1m pay off unless our pathetic FA are actually condoning his behaviour.
Enjoyed singing along to The Red Flag after the LPC, all that was missing was the bayonets.
B62
our train gets into Preston around 11am , if you fancy a pint text or ring me 07957613492 , can meet up and bring that £20 with you ,
Frem are you going mate ,
the week lv had l need this blow-out ,
draw methinks .
well have a great weekend all .
Jenny xxxxx brilliant texts , its made some of us realise a thing or two , xxxxx
oh hum . off shopping with steamer , cheeky fuck uses my trolley as well , then takes it back and keeps the quid And!!! he gets all our morrissons points , the sly fuck
thanks st75 xxx enjoy the shopping : what’s happened to the pet pigeon ??
i was shocked to read the Stan Collymore in the Mirror – quote
Speaking in our sister paper, The Mirror, Collymore said: “I’ll gladly drive round to Nigel Pearson ’s house this minute, pick him up and deliver him from East to West Midlands. Specifically, to the B6 postcode in which Villa Park sits.”
I would ask Stan :
1. Why try and make RDMs job more difficult by suggesting managers , he is still in situ !
2. Why unsettle a newly assembled teamof players and it IS unsettling having speculation on your boss’s sacking regardless of whether they ‘should’ be able to cope with the pressure as one twitter user pointed out to me today .
3 Why add to the pressure of the Preston game by hailing it as the game RDM could lose his job.
4. Why Nigel Pearson : a low confidence newly assembled team does not need an explosive , hot headed loose cannon like NP.
Dr Tony Xia has done exactly the right thing by having the insight to take the pressure off his manager and players . None of this silence which the last crop of AV managers had to endure when they were on the ropes but a reassuring and decisive statement .
Thank you Dr Tony .
As for the Allerdyce gate : whether it’s surprising or not (we all know it isn’t ) what amazes me is how stupid and lacking in integrity they are . Big Sam has taken his financial adviser , his Lawyer to meet with a stranger to discuss how to get avoid the rules of the FA. Yes the rules of the body who are paying him 3 million a year . All for a 400k bung . In normal employment land , this act of advising parties how to break your employers rules is grounds for summary dismissal . Yet we have the TS commentators like Cundy saying “I’d rather have a bent manager like Sam than a straight one like Hosgson ” if he could. Get us to the World Cup final. What planet are they on . Then McLaren saying “poor Sam : there fur the grace of God go any of us “. No Steve , only the stupid , greedy ones lacking in moral fibre which presumably you are given your ridiculous statement .
Like John I had a panic when I saw the “Allerdyce to Villa” headline . Men who put their own personal needs in front of their club/ employer will not be the right manager . “Oh yes – let’s pick x player cos I’ve got a 500k back handed rather than X player whose better but I can only get 100k out of .
Sorry for typos – on phone
Interesting that Koeman had no sympathy for SA . There are some men of principles in football after all . It speaks volumes for those that did . Now where’s that list !
Jenny – late to the party but re your comments about Gollini. I used to play semi–pro in goal and I can tell you, as if you didn’t already know, dodgy keepers generate dodgy defenders and vice versa.
I would suggest playing Bunn for a few games until the new defensive partnership develops and gains assurance; then wean in Gollini so he no longer feels he has to race out to gather/punch/kick balls that are the responsibility of his defence. It follows that the defence will then be comfortable knowing their ‘back-stop’ is on the ball (sic).
I have said before that there is no way this re-built team will bounce straight back up but the potential is there to create a promotion side. In the reasonably near future Villa has to decide which players are worth investing for that long-term future and get them on longer term contracts without buy-out clauses – we have lost a few half-decent players due to this lack of foresight.
Incidentally, I note a man-of-the-match performance from Scott Sinclair in Celtic’s 3-3 draw with Man City this week.
Well said Jenny,the conduct of A££erdyce expresses much about the culture in which we live.Grab all you can,the end justifies the means,mediocrity is promoted and lauded at our expense.The chorus of suport for him is distasteful.Well said Koeman.I do find it astonishing that he received a huge pay off.
Regarding the Villa,changing the manager will achieve little IMO.Going down the road of more change hasn’t worked for us has it.Let’s continue the good work in restructuring the club behind the scenes.When the foundations are stronger maybe we can change the manager.For now,I would stick with RDM,yes some of his subs baffle me,but I blame the players for the late goals conceded.It’s been in our DNA for the last thirty years.The midfield worries me,this is where our problems lie.Have a great weekend all.
Clive- I agree nothing like a player not at the races to give you the Jitters, Gollini is young and like most continentals not happy collecting the ball, he’s had several moments where he has slapped to ball away, smacks of low confidence in coming for the ball. I don’t think Bunn is great but he was thrown to the wolves at Luton with a poor defence in front of him. it may sound daft but I’d give Steer a go, had a good season away from Villa and what do we have to lose? who did he play for last season? Huddersfield
From last season
Jed Steer is targeting another man-of-the-match display for Huddersfield Town – and this time a three-point haul.
The on-loan Aston Villa keeper insists Chris Powell’s side can upset the odds by winning at Burnley on Saturday.
Skybet have Sean Dyche’s Clarets, third in the Championship and chasing an immediate return to the Premier League, at 4/5 for victory.
Town, 15th after their 2-1 home defeat by Derby County, when Steer made a string of impressive saves , are 41/10 with the draw 11/4.
The 23-year-old, who is set for a ninth Town appearance at Turf Moor, faced Burnley on the final day of last season in one of his four Villa outings.
The Birmingham side, where he is contracted until 2019, were beaten 1-0.
Former Norwich City player Steer is seeking revenge in the form of a third clean sheet in four Town games.
B6 Brazil – the most stupid comment of all from Cundy was last night “the FA should have stood by Sam, they let him down ” Unbelievable Geoff.
Clive , I agree with you. Imagine who is feeling the most pressure in the team right now and it’s Gollini. It’s one for RdM to decide whether it’s right to give Golini a rest to take him out of the spotlight , making very clear that his resting isn’t a punishment to give him a breather or whether he feels he is resilient enough to work his way through it. It really depends on how G is feeling . The catch 22 is the best way to get your confidence back is to weather the storm and get some successes under your belt but if it is so shot that it’s affecting your game, producing another poor performance can make it worse . I guess if Golini feels strong enough then he should play him . I remember de Gea had a poor patch when he joined Man U .
Also, Guzan was our best player three seasons ago and he was dropped by Sherwood after making mistakes (bad ones admittedly) with clearances and positioning . He never recovered after being pulled out . I know he acted stupidly but I always felt it was a shame that he never repeated his fine start at AV .
Jen,
Afraid the pigeon has joined the deceased parrot in the great avery in the sky.
As the season goes on i’ve found it impossible to be optimistic about this team, in fact i’d say that last years team was better. Lescott was better than either of our current CD’s, Clark too.
While we have good players i don’t see any two who compliment each other. Having listened to all this bs about ‘warriors’, ‘leaders’ etc i have to say its crepe, what we need is good players not parks players. Now, i understand that we’re not going to attract elite EPL but surely we can do better with loans or good quality reserves. As it stands virtually every of RdM’s signings will have to be replaced if we win promotion this season, if we don’t then most will have to be replaced in order to return to the EPL the following season, to be blunt, with the odd exception, we’ve signed a bunch of turkey’s.
Di Matteo has never built a team and he hasn’t at VP, all he’s done is sign individuals, put them on the pitch and hope they can produce a result , this is what happens when you get a show pony when you need a dray horse.
IMO this is the only bollock dropped by our leaders, it’s not too late to change gaffers and save our season, personally i’d enjoy seeing the team play for the entire 90 minutes for the first time in years.
0-0 today, Di Matteo is getting even more negative as the season goes on.
What was the cry last season, “don’t mind being relegated, at least we’ll win a few games.” will we though ?
Morning all : match day !
We will beat Preston : by 3-1.
RdM has said we need to beware of their set pieces and long balls in . Not sure whether he’s playing mind games and double bluff here but whichever way you look at it , we know there strengths and we will have practised to stifle them .
RdM has also stated that the weakness lies in not taking our chances rather than the defence. That’s good : we should see a more positive attacking performance and he’s taking pressure off those who are feeling it most Ie the keeper and defence by not criticising them publicly and ignoring the “last five minute nightmare time”.
I also think that playing away will help us today . At VP the atmosphere , particularly last ten is electric with fear (understandably for the fans )
Even if we lose God Forbid : please let us concede before the hoodoo . If we don’t , that one goal concession takes on mammoth proportions psychologically for the team and fir the supporters .
RdM should be telling the team this is just another game : 3 points no more . The last thing they want to be hearing is “this is a cup final or RdMs sack deciding game “.
Hi steamer
Sorry to hear about the pigeon . I’ve got two doves who’ve been in my garden fur two years . They don’t even bother migrating now as their duet of sunflower sees chez moi is too good to leave 🙂
I agree it’s been a shock start of the season . We did think “at lease we will win more “. But I think we do have a better team fir the Championship unlike the last season where the team wasn’t premier league standard .
Aviary.
Just seen the team, what is this nutter doing ? Tish out Wimpwood in, RM sub, WTF.
So can this be true? A starting lineup featuring Westwood but not McCormack, and Cissokho instead of Amavi?
And Hutton of course, because of our tendency to be profligate with yellow cards!
All-in-all … I think we’ll be lucky to return from Deepdale with a battling draw.
steamer
can not believe that team if no win today sack rdm
1-0 down, why wait till after the game.
rdm was appointed june 2nd ,4 months to turn this team round ,spent 60m and made it worse
We’ve had some jokers as managers over the past few seasons but this clown is taking the P. I think he knows he’s not up to the job and hopes he’s getting a pay-off.
That B4 is scary, Probably the worst i’ve ever seen at Villa.
What has the Preston manager told his players . . . . the guy is clueless.
He’s got his tactics all wrong!
Doesn’t he know that scoring first against Villa is completely the wrong approach
No, no chaps…you’re too impatient and unrealistic in your expectations. RDM needs another 10 or 15 games before a win can be expected…ask Messrrs Lerwill and O’Rourke
Lol, lol, lol,lol…I hope Preston score 6
paul whiting
reading sky text we are getting mullered by preston,heburn murphy gave it his all last week how is he repaid dropped from squad
bunn hutton wastewood are crap in every sense
ayew and grealish can not play in a team shored up by wastewood
One of the big problems is that the Rsoles who pick our managers actually know sod all about footy, Lerner, Faulkner, Fox and now Dr X.
2-0 down now…don’t be impatient
In fairness though Steamer the fans aren’t much better. Pearson, Moyes. . . . how’re they doing these days?
Pitiful, pathetic, clueless crepe.
Robbo
They haven’t had 60m to spend though have they ?
Sorry,
Spend = Waste.
Now Preston really are storing some trouble up for themselves in the second half!
Bizarre line up.
RDM lostmy support with that today.
We just don’t do comebacks.
Poor showing. £100M in 12 months gets you FOUR is it? wins.
why wastewood and mutton keep getting picked i will never know,the 2 of them booked as well
oh dear Lord!
UTV
Sounds like a complete shambles on the radio.
The apologists are conspicuously absent this afternoon 🙂 🙂
three bookings in 6 minutes, don’t need to ask who.
Paul,
These are the happy clappers who cheered McKnob and the other crepe and are now chirping that RDM hasn’t had time and anyone who wants him out is stupid, unfortunately we have more of these than most, they do my gasket.
Same scenario as in 1960’s’we’ll walk promotion’ and we end up in Div 3.
we finished very strong v newcastle and this clown rdm changes something which was working for this shambles
grealish got straight back in team why ?
amavi dropped why?
sack him now doc
2 points off 2nd bottom
15 points off top
Agreed Steamer…I should leave the forum really as it just frustrates me.
As i said earlier, i think RdM wants out but wants his pay off. Think he’ll depart over the weekend.
The vermin will batter these gutless clowns.
I would say RdM has about 20 minutes to save his job. Lose today, and it looks like it. I think he’ll be gone.
He had my support, but one win in eleven isn’t bad luck its incompetence. Sorry Roberto, times up.
Everyone at the club should hang their heads at their contribution to this shambles.
RdM doesn’t even pick the players who have had good games yet he selects Elphick who is pathetic.
He said yesterday that we’ll finish top 6 at least ………. arf, arf.
one shot on target.
a well i suppose an improvement we didnt concede in last 5/10 mins
So Steamer who would you like to see in the hot seat because I think this bloke will be gone monday morning if not before.
BBC reporter said “very shaky defence and no quality going forward”.
Is that okay then Happy Clappers?
what about midfield how did they rate wastewood and over the hill jedi [cpalace laughing all way to bank]
arch.
tony pulis.
steamer,
I think they’ll go for someone who’s unemployed……….Moyes:-)
Seriously, Pulis, why not, should of had him two years ago
New post up.