Aston Villa Team Talk/Gossip/Rumours/Champions League Thread 2024/25

CSF

Feels like teams are allowing Cash space out on that side now, knowing that he’s a fast route to an attack ending.

If Atletico want to pay decent money for him I’d be driving him there, in spite of him being good defensively.

matrim

Very poor again. Midfield isn’t working at all and something needs to change.

I don’t see the point of bringing on Chuckwuemeka for 10 minutes to try change things when we are chasing a game. He hasn’t shown much when he does come on. You can tell there is talent there but he’s not ready. The only reason I can see is to try get him to sign a contact because he isn’t going to win us the game.

Martinez has been poor enough the last couple of games too. He’s made at least one big mistake each game and even his kicking has been off.

sc86

Terrible game on so many levels.

What has hause done to now be 4th choice cb behind chambers?

Our 2 strikers badly need a goal , they look visually depressed during games now

pavb2

Agree about our midfield Newcastle pressed us quite high up the pitch meaning Coutinho, Ramsey and Buendia couldn’t get on the ball, drive forward and create much around their penalty area I think the last three results and inconsistency of performance are indicative of where we are at the moment which is a mid table team. More changes needed in the summer I think.

SG says he’ll make changes for Watford but I don’t see wholesale changes maybe one or other of Sanson, Ings or Bailey to start.

LeBash

Bailey won't be starting. He's played about 100 mins this season.

SG was obviously a big part of getting Coutinho in but other than the initial bounce, we have been poor.

remoteboy

Back 5 is set in stone. Luiz and Watkins under most immediate threat I’d imagine. Wonder will he try Chambers at DM.

artanevilla

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118625439#Comment_118625439

I think this space was due to Saint-Maximan not tracking back.

CSF

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118628921#Comment_118628921

Yeah, that happened in the 2nd half. But I’d noticed it in the first half and the Leeds game. Teams seem to be actively defending the wide areas out on Digne’s side, but they seem to be letting Cash have it and making sure our danger men in the middle don’t get any space.

matrim

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118628163#Comment_118628163

Might be a case where Gerard wanted a right footer so our CB changes would be Konza -> Chambers and Mings -> Hause

yourdeadwright

I think Villa are suffering form Gerrard coming in mid season, the first bounce worked but i think your now looking tired and a bit jaded,

I reckon Gerrard needs pre-season and two new CB's

Easy Rod

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118630680#Comment_118630680

The issues are tactical and whether or not we have the right players to play this system - full backs pushing high and two CMs becoming ‘false’ fullbacks. It’s designed to get us moving through the lines and creating space for the two no 10s but it’s just not working.

It worked very well in SPL with Rangers dominating most games but very different situation in more competitive EPL.

I’m slightly worried that we’ll end up spunking loads of money on players to ‘fit’ the system, only to find out the system was the problem all along.

Esse85

Sanson and Ings have to be given a start tomorrow.

pavb2

After Newcastle it’s a good opportunity to get a win at home against a team fighting relegation.

SG was quite scathing about the players last week be interesting to see what he does or if this was just an emotional reaction to the loss.

if the players have anything about them I see nothing but a win today.

Esse85

Ings in for Watkins, that's the only change to the line up.

remoteboy

Gotta say I was expecting more changes. Surprised to see Luiz keeping his place.

matrim

At least one of the midfielders should have been dropped. Sanson must be awful in training to not be getting a look in

CSF

Also expected more changes.

sc86

is this not on tv?

sc86

can see why chambers was available free

CSF

If Gerrard was hoping for a reaction from the players that he decided against dropping he hasn’t got it. Watford have absolutely brought Villa down to their level.

sc86

sanson on at ht please

DBIreland

How is Ings playing

CSF

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118659039#Comment_118659039

Has been involved in some moments but not amazing. I know Watkins has been off form of late but he is a level above Ings and it shows. The energy of the team is completely off without Watkins' running up there.

Esse85

To play with your FBs as the highest players up the pitch, you need them both to be excellent attacking players, fair enough Digne was brought in, Cash simply isn't good enough to play this role.

Secondly you need a Fabinho type that will mop up and cover for the FBs when they are caught high up the pitch, we don't have this and haven't had this player in years yet Gerrard insists on trying to put square pegs in round holes. We don't have the personell to play the system he wants.

Thirdly, Buendia, Coutinho and Ings lack the pace required to get in behind a defence.

If Watford nick a goal and win this you could see Villa Park turning toxic.

Panrich

We're a very frustrating team to support and particular players failings keep repeating week after week.

remoteboy

I miss Deano

sc86

if this happened under smith fans would be looking for his head.

terrible stuff

Patser

What is going wrong? Things are just not clicking, while all the pieces seem to be there

remoteboy

New manager bounce well and truly gone. All I’m seeing now is a celebrity manager with no plan B.

sc86

no shots on target for first half at home again watford, no excuse for that

Esse85

This system is just exposing the players.

Cash, McGinn, Luis all really poor under Gerrard, our CBs get no protection at all.

Ramsey the only improvement under Gerrard. We are so easy to play against.

Surely the first thing we must be, is difficult to play against. Does the manager still think he's in the SPL?

1 point from the last 4 games is disgraceful given the relegation fodder we've been up against.

CucaFace

Leon Bailey is just useless. What a complete waste of money

And also, Ramsey, his all round game for a CM just isnt nearly good enough yet for this level. None of our CMs have been good enough.

We aren't clear of a relegation battle...

fullstop

Atrocious result. Remind me again how bad Smith was...

sc86

if you take away the coutinho transfer and hype thats brought, and the draw again united , its been a very drab start again bang average teams

CSF

Gerrard needs to get his sh*t together and quickly. Awful.

Panrich

Gerrard panicked and left us wide open with the subs. Young at fault coupled with a poor effort to get back by McGinn. Bailey was miles off the pace. I wonder if we'll see some actual changes now for Brighton? I'm beginning to think that we can't afford both Buendia and Coutinho in the same team. Both are pushed off the ball too easily.

Patser

At least Smith had built up cred, he'd brought us up and kept us up. You could see his tactics in having wingers like Traore, Bailey, Trez, El Ghazi - hit wings at speed, Targett and Cash helping, Grealish the central link... not perfect, especially given standard or Trez and El Ghazi and of course losing Grealish, and often exposed but still a plan - and 7-2 vs Liverpool forever an incredible highlight

Gerrard has Buendia, Coutinho and Ramsey all trying to play in same position, Digne and Cash now the only wide options as we try to force it through the centre - you play relegation facing teams with packed defence looking to counter and it's bound to fail...... so where's plan b

Esse85

We will end up like Everton if we are not careful, spending loads of money, burning through managers and closer to relegation than mid-table.

You'd wonder has Gerrard lost the players?

CSF

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118659755#Comment_118659755

I dunno if there’s a lot to go with that. Given that Villa players have performed poorly for about 14 months now. It’s not as if we’ve suddenly downed tools.

Gerrard temporarily made things look a little bit better, but it didn’t last long and now we’re sh*t again.

Its on Gerrard to sort it out now. He’s going nowhere soon in reality.

sc86

I see some of our players who played today have already been told they can find new clubs in the summer. This cant be good or correct info?

Some outlets on twitter saying this

CSF

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118659991#Comment_118659991

Think there just random Twitter accounts waffling from what I’ve seen. Haven’t seen any actual journalists report it.

Esse85

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118659991#Comment_118659991

I'm not on twitter so who are these players mentioned? Cash, Luis, McGinn I wonder?

Could be Mings and Watkins another day.

CSF

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118660024#Comment_118660024

The tweets I saw didn’t mention any names. Basically what’s happened is there are people who did not want Smith to be sacked who appear to be revelling in this a little too much.

pavb2

Even without the starters today I think there will be a few going permanently in the Summer El Ghazi,Trezeguet, possibly Davies, I doubt we’ll see Guilbert or Targett back at Villa and surely there are question marks over the future of players like Sanson, Young and Traore.

Easy Rod

Edit

Easy Rod

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118659755#Comment_118659755

That’s exactly what I fear, I think Edens and Sawaris are in it for the long run but if they get seriously burned they could fall out of love and cut their losses like Lerner did - we all know how that went.

I don’t think he’s lost the players just yet… but it’s not far off. Brighton will be a very tough game against a tactically astute manager sore from a big loss today.

As others have said, Deano had a lot of goodwill in his locker and had at least proven he can get us out of a rut or go on a winning streak. Gerrard has none of that. Very worrying.

Esse85

Palace hammered Watford tonight, they were away.

We lost at home to Watford Saturday, just goes to show how poor a result that was.

With Burnley 18th and winning again, it means they are only 7 points behind Villa with a game in hand and similar goal difference.

If Villa don't get a win in the next 2 games, we are gonna be in the thick of this relegation fight to avoid 18th place I hate to say it.

pavb2

We still have to play Burnley twice but that safety points buffer is being eroded game by game.

SG needs to stop the rot though at this stage I’m not sure what the solution is. I know he’s gone but against Newcastle and Watford I felt we missed Jack and his ability to break down a defence and create something.

There were times on Saturday when a player had space in front of him and chose to pass rather than carry the ball forward, I wonder if this is SG’s instructions, The passing game is fine if executed properly but we’re too slow to get the ball out of defence allowing the opposition defence to reset. I also thought that instead of trying to go through the middle we should have gone to the byline and put crosses in to the box but again the quality of our crosses has been poor of late so maybe that wouldn’t have worked either

Not panicking just yet as there are other teams in freefall but I think we’re in for a nervous end to the season and can’t see us getting much from Brighton away or Southampton at home

Patser

Burnley just beat Spurs, and are now 7 points behind us with a game in hand - and are currently 18th and in relegation zone - so that's how close the relegation zone suddenly is. Ok Leeds and Everton are also currently stinking things up below us, but we need to switch on sooner rather than later.

Also jarring is Palace hammering Watford away - after our failure.

matrim

Watkins in for bundeia the only change. Making the same mistakes game after game. Gerrard looking well out of his depth now