Gerrard

The news of Diego Carlos's injury is devastating. He may be out for six months and Gerrard must be feeling that it is an awful blow to his plans only two games into the season.

Thinking back over the years I can think of other big name signings who were totally lost to Villa within a few weeks or months of their first game - Pejic, Fashanu, Nilis to name three - but, hopefully, Carlos will come back.

Nevertheless, this situation causes me to raise the niggle that's been in my mind these past few weeks, especially after the Bournemouth fiasco. And that is that while I am able to understand the need to strengthen the team to make headway in the success stakes, I have so far failed to see why Villa's defence has been tampered with so much. 

Yes, to pass the captaincy to someone else in the team is understandable given Mings's quite blatant gaffs at times, and I am glad to see him back on the pitch putting in such a strong performance on Saturday. However, the continued omission of Chambers as a first-choice c-b worries me. What more does he have to do to get that recognition? And in the absence of Carlos I would have thought Chambers would be the clear-cut replacement, but we hear that Gerrard is out looking for another signing.

With Konsa also a good contender, how many centre-backs do we need? Hause will soon be back and was given a new contract last season with Gerrard speaking highly of him. For me, four good centre-backs is enough, especially as at least two of them are some of England's best. [Addendum Aug 16, pm: Hause now appears to be leaving for Watford, the reason seeming to be the progress of Feeney.]

What I am alluding to is that Gerrard is perhaps too keen on playing his team rather than looking more closely at existing talent. What happened to Targett is a case in point. As a respondent told me, "A player does not become a bad one overnight". As a defender, I thought Targett was well on the way to making his name, apart from a dodgy start to last season (perhaps due to lack of fitness initially), he subsequently quickly proved himself at Newcastle. What has Digne brought that is so much above Targett's contribution?

Then we have an issue with Coutinho. Yes, you can see talent being there, but how often has he contributed something solid to the team in his last 10 games or more, barring the last match of last season, at Man City. Even in the pre-season games, he failed to impress me very much. 

Similarly, Jacob Ramsey seems to be favoured, yet I feel that he does not yet have the maturity to help Villa take the next step, though he clearly promises much. I do suspect that Villa is looking for some more punch in that role, however, so perhaps a further signing is on the cards.

Archer (to me) is a different kind of youngster. He plays with alertness and speed and is always capable of coming up with a goal, which is exactly what we needed at Bournemouth. Why bring him on so late? Will he ever get enough minutes on the pitch, I wonder.

In summary, I do not feel our manager has sufficient clarity - he certainly lacks experience as a manager, in the PL at least. One of the factors he observed after his part season in charge was what he called Villa's "lack of consistency". However, has he bothered to consider that the result of a match also depends on how the opposition is set up? Surely after all his playing experience, he should be able to understand that principle and his match strategy seems strange at times.

Bournemouth was very much a case in point - they knew they did not possess a real talent to compete with one or two of Villa's ball players and therefore came out with a plan in mind based on solidity and spirit. Theirs was a team performance and that is what Villa has to learn from.

Man City certainly knew how to play Bournemouth on Saturday!

With a stats record not too dissimilar in the PL to Dean Smith, is Gerrard really the answer to Villa's needs? Perhaps I am doing him a discourtesy; a certain Alex Ferguson nearly got the boot early on at Man U, though they did give him time to assert himself along the lines of the club's objectives.

A big thumbs-up to Gerrard and Villa for obtaining Kamara, however! Now there is a freebie to savour, and I honestly think that Chambers is of a similar category.

At the moment, however, I am uncertain of the man in the hot seat at VP, but we have no option but to sit, look and wait to see how it will pan out. I was mildly enthused during the Everton match but considering their situation we do not have much real data to work on to figure out how Villa will finish this season.

UTV!