The Seagulls Reminded Me Of Something That Cantona Said...

A win, of course, is very welcome. And to see nearly 50% of our shots go on target is a double welcome after last week's mere 5%. But can we draw much from this match that we haven't seen before? Not a lot except the extra effort in Villa's play was welcome to see. How much that was to do with the Brighton players appearing to lack confidence upfront, I'm not too sure.

One of the first questions I asked myself when I saw the team was "Why is Luiz still playing (in that role)?", and having seen him play two ridiculous passes straight to the opposition in midfield, I asked the question some more. I was actually pleased when he was taken off, but less pleased to see the Villa manager give him a warm embrace as he went off the field. He likes Luiz but not Sanson? That's not what he said a few weeks ago. Well, at least Sanson got some minutes on the pitch today.

Yes, sloppiness was still evident, including an occasion when Ramsey attempted to dribble across the edge of his own penalty area and nearly gave away an opportunity but for swift covering by the defenders. Yes, the defensive work was pretty good today, but Brighton were off-colour I feel. Eric Cantona might have elaborated about 'seagulls' if he'd seen that performance of theirs.

I played, today, with selecting my own team, which was:

Gerrard was not going to pick this team to please me, of course - let alone the 4-4-2 formation that I prefer. But this is the ideal one I would really like to see play, as a 4-4-2, in the absence of Archer.

I said last time that playing all three of Coutinho, Ramsey and Buendia was too much, and at least Gerrard decided that was the case and left Buendia out, as I had done. I agree with Gerrard that Coutinho can always come up with the unexpected, and therefore difficult to leave out, but for me he's not doing quite enough these last 3 games. Seeing what I saw today I am now thinking that Buendia is more capable - at least he's provided Ings with a lot of chances this season. Of course, some of them occurred before Gerrard arrived and therefore would not be aware. That's a pity, for if Gerrard had seen those missed chances by Ings he might be less inclined to play him (Ings).

Well, a win is a win, but I am not at all sure what will happen in the rest of the season. Next Saturday should help us to see the immediate future a bit more clearly. Perhaps.

UTV!

Leeds Led Us Astray

Seeing that Leeds were beaten 6-0 at Liverpool last night, I quickly recalled that Leeds shipped four against Man U in the previous match  (4-2 result) and lost 3-0 at Everton before that, following our 3-3 draw. Neither Man U nor Everton can be said to playing well of late. 

On top of all that, Watford was walloped at home last night by Crystal Palace.

How do we view these results against our recent opposition in terms of Aston Villa's team issues?

Well, firstly, we all know that we threw away a 3-1 lead against Leeds having demonstrated how vulnerable their defence was and how we briefly demonstrated a real talent in our more forward players, but we then spent the rest of the match showing our own propensity to be both vulnerable and easily suppressed in the attack. That latter 'quality' re-emerged in the following two matches, most recently vs. Watford. 

It looks to me as though we have simply become predictable. The opposition coaches can see how to play us as we just do not have a proper cutting edge to our game, despite all the hype about Coutinho, Ramsey and Buendia, who actually has been unduly criticised by Gabby, i.m.o., for his apparent lack of contribution. Gabby says that Buendia has only scored 2 goals and provided 1 assist, yet I can clearly recall that Ings has passed up at least 3 gilt-edged chances provided by Buendia in the season to date. If the strike force is not performing, you cannot knock the provider.

Having said all that, Villa's midfield does not cut through enough, so there is an issue there. All-in-all, we mostly look ponderous in attack, and that includes the two very expensive strikers. So, the first area for my attention would be the strikers; I just cannot help but think that Cameron Archer in partnership with Watkins could be a really deadly combo. Further, we should only play two out of Coutinho, Ramsey and Buendia, with one acting as a sub for another when appropriate. And - somewhere - a place for a properly energised Bailey.

Problem is, Archer is probably not recallable right now. How he was let go is something I cannot fathom, particularly in the light of how he shone against Chelsea in the League Cup - and scored, too.

Perhaps it could be Watkins and Bailey, therefore, supported by two out of Coutinho, Ramsey and Buendia.

In the defensive area, surely Luiz has to drop out and be replaced (I would have hoped) by Sanson, but I see that Gerrard appears to be considering playing Chambers in that role in front of the defence with Konsa now available, and it just might work.

Unless something radical in attack and in front of defence is put in place, then I do not know what might happen. This upcoming match against Brighton will be tough as they will surely have felt really stung by last week's home defeat at the hands of Burnley - who we have still to meet!

It's a case of "Wake Up!" and then "Up The Villa!"

Sell The Lot And Bring In The Youth Team!

Replace the first team with 11 youngsters? Well, I don't think they would do that much worse than this lot, though wisdom tells me it would be folly to take that route. But I do think that if the performances of the last two matches are the best this team of expensive hangers-on can do, then why not play 6 or 7 youngsters with (say) 4 'old heads' to keep them together?

We very nearly had such a situation at Villa once - they were called "Mercer's Minors" - and it nearly paid off. But that's another story and about another era.

Today's situation is strange, is it not? Two successive 0-1 defeats against sides managed by the likes of the wily Howe and Hodgson and both their sides fighting for top tier survival. Villa, on the other hand, look on paper to be full of enterprise and sparkling capability (which we have occasionally seen), yet are made to look stodgy by comparison.

For the first time I am asking what is the matter with Gerrard after impressing me when he first came in. For me I'm beginning to find him thoroughly inconsistent in what he says and does. Firstly he replaces Targett with Digne, ostensibly for the reason that he wants attacking full-backs. But I am yet to see quite how much Digne is better than Targett, even with Targett not playing as well as he was last season.

Then we have the matter of Sanson, of whom Gerrard said he rated as a really good player who would be an important part of the team this season. Well, if Sanson was needed to keep the bench warm, he's certainly done that. Just what has he done wrong, especially as last week Gerrard said "there would be changes" after the previous lack of performance. There was one change today - Ings for Watkins, and at the start I thought he was showing that his greater directness might pay off, but then any chemistry petered out. But Luiz, who I don't think touched the ball in the first 10 minutes, looked (as last week) mostly out of sorts. 

Why did he start if there were to be "changes"? And why was Sanson still left on the bench when Luiz was pulled off?

Was Young an improvement on Cash? I don't think so. I felt sorry for Cash as passes intended for him were sent astray in point of fact.

The one player who left us with such a startling impression against Everton (Bailey) seems also not to be in favour. Yet it was that kind of performance from someone - anyone - that was needed to break through Watford today. Instead, we were left with misplaced passes, too much tippy-tappy - much of it along the halfway line - and centres that did not reach their target. And 20 "shots" and only one of those on target. Even that hardly tested the keeper.

Fed up of Hodge Hill. But UTV nevertheless!

I Had To Get Some Fresh Oxygen After All That!

Having just recovered from what was mainly a gripping and incredible match against Leeds, one certain fact sits firmly in my mind: the two teams seem, still, to carry on the traditions of two old players that loom large in the history of the two clubs - both named Hunter!

In the case of the Villa, the old player referred to is Archie Hunter, while in the case of Leeds the far more recent name is Norman Hunter, the one of the crunching tackle and a bit more bite to go with it.

Those are the two personalities that for me seem to represent the style of the two clubs. Do not get me wrong, the Don Revie Leeds team of which Norman Hunter was a cog had a lot of great players and a lot of skill, but their dominant figure for me was Norman Hunter, closely followed by Billy Bremner, who had that extra 'edge' in their game that was not at all popular with the opposition. The battles between 'Chopper' Harris of Chelsea and Norman/Bremner, Dave McKay of Spurs vs. Bremner and Keegan of Liverpool vs Bremner will long be remembered - for the wrong reasons.

And so, for me, it is still the situation. I saw some play from Leeds last night that was purely cynical. Not designed to be truly dangerous, but enough to stop fluid football in its tracks. Luckily - in the first half at least - we had players who still managed to outwit the caveman style of the Leeds players I refer to.

But apart from all that, both teams were able to produce such a remarkable first half because of the weaknesses in both defences. In the Villa's case,  they failed to clear their lines three times - not just the two in the first half - and in Leeds case, they allowed themselves to be opened up dramatically while taking nothing away from the likes of Coutinho and Ramsey - the main players who made it all happen for Villa in such glorious fashion.

Villa disappointed us in the second half, their main two playmakers having been worn down, I suspect, by the Leeds' players attrition. Neither did the second half regain the spark and spontaneity of the first period, a half by which this match will be remembered.

One other matter to mention is Ollie Watkins. I continue to like his play but sometimes it seemed to lack the intensity of the others, and it made me wonder if Cameron Archer might have gobbled up the two great passes across the box that Watkins did not get near to. I suspect Archer might be the real answer to Villa's striker needs taking into account the playmakers we now have at VP.

Anyhow, as a fellow Villa supporter said to me, it doesn't bode too well for Villa that they now have to go and face a resurgent Newcastle, particularly as Villa will be without Konsa following his second red card of the season. Anyone would think he's a Norman Hunter by looking at that record! 

I now expect a similar match at Newcastle to the one we saw last night. That's a warning - please take care of your blood pressure!

UTV!

A Winter Break To Keep Us Warm!

So, we are now more than halfway through a kind of winter break before battle re-commences with a match against Leeds in a week's time. But for me this has been a break of a different kind - it seems to me that the break has brought around a distinct evolution into the Stephen Gerrard era and away from the Dean Smith era. There are specific points to make me think that way.

1. ... is almost an unnoticed issue about Trezeguet. When he came on last season and turned the game around with his two goals before going off injured, I was looking forward to his return after the long injury lay-off. But when he did come back a few weeks ago as a substitute he produced the most ludicrous penalty area dive that we could expect to see. It actually deserved a yellow card. Now we understand that he must surely be on his way on loan for the rest of the season, and probably will go during the summer.  Sad in some ways, because he did have some energy to offer and he scored some vital goals for the Villa. But Gerrard is clearly no sentimentalist.
2. ... is another outward-going loan, last season's Villa player of the year, Matt Targett. There were excuses about him carrying a pre-season injury, but he's never quite recaptured his form of last season and seemed to miss his left-sided pal, one Jack Grealish. His early window replacement by Digne seemed to make a statement about what Gerrard was feeling about his commitment, and I felt that he expected Targett to fight for his place. But no, on going up to Newcastle he almost made it sound as though he always really wanted to play for Newcastle and that, by implication, Villa was a stepping stone. Well, maybe he had to say something to keep the Geordie fans happy, but it's no respect to offer the Villa. He will go in the summer, surely.
3.  ... the retention of Douglas Luiz despite considerable attempts by two London clubs to get him; one in particular. Gerrard sees a Brazilian plan for him and Coutinho together, I'm sure ... once he's got the defensive midfielder situation sorted out ... and that is an interesting issue.
4. ... not stumping up all that lolly for Bissouma infers that some considerable wisdom exists at VP.  Firstly, the Villa may well get him much cheaply in the summer, but there's also the situation that one of the cleverest signings of the 'window' - Calum Chambers - may, just possibly, fill that slot. Chambers has said that signing for Villa was a 'no-brainer', so he must clearly feel that there's a chance for a regular spot in the team despite having to compete for the full-back and centre-back positions. 

So, there's clearly some good re-structuring of the squad taking place, and when next week arrives it might almost feel as though we have a new team in place, although parts of it were inserted early in January. And we have Bailey (still a 'new' player, really) and Nakamba to return from injury, as well as Traore.

But new players need effective practise with their new team, so what also makes me feel that time is being effectively used is the fact that Villa have made good use of the break with a match already played behind closed doors against Brentford, and another coming up this week-end against a Norwegian side.

It all makes the cockles of my heart start to warm in anticipation. This could be a very meaningful finish to the season.

UTV!