What a difference sacking a useless manager makes, eh?
While of course I’m chuffed with that result, I think it leaves me with lots of questions about the players.
The game first and how refreshing was that to see?
MOTM and it’s difficult, because Luiz, Buendia, Bailey and Mings all had good games, I thought.
If I’m pushed, I’ll give it to Luiz, who mopped everything up and just ran the game, so much so that I thought Brentford were awful, which I know they they’re not.
Ah sod it, I’m finding it impossible to say anything without making the Steven Gerrard comparison.
First off we played with much more pace and actually looked like we could pass the ball to each other.
Then we played with width, which for some bizarre reason Gerrard totally refused to do.
The players looked like they were playing for each other, putting tackles and overall effort in.
So what’s changed? Is Danks some sort of tactical genius?
Obviously not, but it struck me we set up with some sort of plan and it worked.
Our Blitkkrieg start didn’t help Brentford at all, but we just looked far too good for them and I found myself genuinely shocked.
Which is where I have to put a bit of a dampener on things and question the motivation of our players.
I can quite easily accept that Gerrard was a shockingly bad manager, who lacks any idea of man management.
But at the same time, I have to wonder how many players were more interested in doing the manager down, rather than playing for the club?
I have no doubt many of you will be thinking I should just gloss over this and concentrate on a glorious victory. And you’re probably right.
But it concerns me that we seem to be in a situation where the players seem to be choosing the manager and if they don’t like him, they just down tools.
The reality is that it’s probably indicative of today’s players in general and maybe we don’t need to appoint a manager at all.
Leave the players in the dark, because there’s noone they can get sacked, perhaps?
I much prefer to think that it was the case that the lads just couldn’t possibly play under such a poor manager in Gerrard, but we’ll see.
Play like we did today and safety is easily ours. And maybe even more.
But if that was just an indication of the players demonstrating their power, we need a serious clearout, with more kids coming in.
A great score, regardless of my concerns 🙂
Wow, what a difference a sacking and a few days make. Our closing down was as good as I have seen it. Luiz was excellent today as was the majority of the players.
The question is will they be able to maintain that level going forward. It was also a different formation which was refreshing after Gerrard’s rigid 4-3-3. Watkins did well out wide and I have to credit Bailey who did more in that game than all of his previous.
Will NWSE bring in someone quickly or will they wait patiently for the right man?
How ignorant of me Aaron danks is a local lad so no doubt we will all be behind him however long he lasts
Aye, but he’s a Bluenose so let’s club together and send him a dodgy pizza with pineapple on! Lol!
I loved his post match interview on the BBC.
Danke Dank!!!!! We all owe u a pint or three!!!!!! 😁😁😁😁
Great game, great energy, and great result. What worries me is that we continue to pass backwards and sideways a lot, with Luiz mostly responsible for that. There was definite improvement, with AY’s pass setting up an incredible goal. I think what worked today was the forward formation – the defence was exactly the same as we’ve seen the last few games, and shows me that our midfield wasn’t protecting the back four sufficiently, and that going forward we were numb. I can only hope that this balance shown today is part of the formation we need to at least not lose games so horrifyingly easy. Despite Ollie’s goal – he took 3 tries to get that thing in and may need to be dropped a while too, although that will have done wonders for his confidence.
Today has definitely given me food for who the next manager should be, and I actually think a “big” appointment probably isn’t the way to go. A Sean Dyche could get a better tune alongside Danks than a Poch.
Badger, I understand your points about the players but I’m not sure I agree.
In business generally poor management leads to poor performance even from the best workers. There’s a well verified theory that workers watch what managers are doing and will make decisions based on what they see – so poor treatment of well respected colleagues has a massive negative effect. So sacking Mings and then throwing him under the bus will have resulted in a number of players feeling that there efforts would not be appreciated. Gerrard then continued to push players to the wrong end of the performance spectrum by his general comments.
The proof now will be in the next three games but win or lose I think we’ll see a generally happier workforce.
Gotta agree with H here. If u work in a team and your new boss is a twat, it’s only natural to down tools.
This squad did NOT like Gerrard.
I don’t believe that players ‘downed tools’ or tried to get any manager fired.
As I said elsewhere, I think that SG and his cohort probably just completely did their heads in with management-psycho-babble during training that they gave up trying to understand what he wanted from them for his ‘project’.
Certainly, Danks at least let wide players play wide and attacking midfielders attack. Probably not ‘tactical genius’ – just common sense!
It was ridiculous how many backroom staff we had at the club with all of Gerrard’s cronies adding to the ones already there. ‘Too many cooks’ comes to mind.
Absolutely!
Hitch, you make valid points, which I agree with.
Many years ago, I came across the management philosophy of KISS. Keep It Simple Stupid. Danks did exactly this today.
1: Square pegs in square holes.
2: Clear tactics
3: Empowering players to make decisions
Gerrard failed on all these points. I am fed up with pundits saying our players stopped playing for him. It really was down to inflexible tactics that were flawed. Players consistently playing in the wrong position. Players out of form being consistently picked over those who were in form.
So what next? Danks for manager! I would suggest the result today means NSWE may now have extra time to sort out the right managerial appointment. Moreover, statistically will Danks get the ‘new manager bounce’ before a new manager is appointed for a second new manager bounce!
With regards Danks, I’ve read up on his pedigree. He has an impressive background leading up to his first leading role. We have nothing to loose between now and the World Cup giving him his head. Tough matches are coming up. If he achieves some miracle results in this period of time, then there will be some tough decisions to make.
Just 28 more pints to go!
28 more pints – that’s exactly my thinking Sid 🙂
Sid, I recall John Gregory’s assistant, Steve Harrison, a great character who players loved to work with, referring explicitly to ‘KISS’ when Villa were flying high under them in the late 90s. Gerrard didn’t keep it simple, did he? So what does that make him?
Talking of Gregory, Villa were hovering above the relegation places when he too over in FEBRUARY (not November). A string of wins secured a UEFA cup spot. There’s a long way to go. There are some fantastic players in that squad.
Badger, I don’t think we need a clear-out at all. We need to go back to the original plan – keep adding more quality every window, and keep buying players at the right age, under 25. Of course, Archer and others need to be bedded in. But Gerrard’s departure means Villa can get back on track, as he didn’t have enough time to destroy everything Smith built. I’d go as far as to say get Traore and Trez back, as they supplied plenty of goals from the attacking areas and would have loved it today. Too late for El Ghazi, which is a shame.
UTV
Harrison the top of locker plastic cup trick.
I’ll leave the rest to your imagination 😁
Just read Rid Liddle’s column in The Times.
Yet another Gerrard sycophant who thinks Villa will be worse off without him. Did he actually watch any of the 30 odd games he was in charge?
When someone says ‘I am not attempting to belittle Villa’ you know they mean the opposite specifically when they go on to tell you that Villa are mediocre no hopers who will fight relegation on a regular basis having not achieved anything significant since the conclusion of the Russo – Japanese war. Then he makes an apologetic statement about us winning the European Cup as if it’s of no real merit.
No doubt this guy grovels around beneath the mighty feet of Middle Eastern sovereign wealth.
Now, I realise that I might be a tiny bit biased but this smacks more of Villa dislike than a balanced journalistic piece.
No doubt he’ll soon be touting Gerrard for England manager.
.
Hitch driving home from work listening to talkshite radio and guess what?
Well apparently we ( Villa) would have won the game against Brentford 4-0 if the (can do no wrong) SG was still at the helm.
There is some serious media love in with guy, even given all the statistics that would prove to the contrary they (the media) will have no Ill said of this fella.
RSS – your opening few words described it well – ‘listening to talkshite radio’ – I rest my case 🙂
So Danks did nothing other than:
Ditching Gerrard’s game plan, changing the formation, playing with wide players, providing a simple game plan (his words, not mine) and being brave enough to leave McGinn and Ramsey on the bench.
He also started Buendia, Ings and Bailey together for the first time since they all joined the club!
As I keep saying this sycophant worship of Gerrard by the media and all his punditry pals is sickening.
SG would have made some of those changes at about 75 minutes, while we were 1-0 down, just as he did in so many games.
I guess we’ll have to wait until he fails in his next job before any of his mates even begin to question his ability.
Apparently all of what you point out is incorrect & may I add that Newcastle’s victory went under the radar to but Spurs loss was a talking point.
I’ve been saying it for months were getting more and more retired footballers being pundits ,like refs lean towards being one eyed so called pundits. Gerrard couldn’t see no further than his nose in knowing who’s who in the game, he had one idea and thats one tap pass.Yes a wonderful player but sorry to say never make a top manager that’s for sure. You’ll get pundits sticking up for him and ex players but proof is before your eyes , he failed badly and its not our players fault, we don’t know what’s gone on behind closed doors we can only surmise you can bet your money on it , Gerrard was the problem at Villa.
“Definition of Insanity Is Doing the Same Thing Over and Over Again and Expecting Different Results.”
Well 4-0 was the result of not doing the same thing again?Hence to keep him (SG) by that yardstick would have been act of insanity?
I was ranting at this media led Gerrard love-in last post.
Vile stuff written by vile people.
Big up to Canadian Pete!!!!! An hour to go to motd2!!!!!
Aaron Danks with Vincent Kompany and James Shan as assistants should do it!
The Irish Times ran a headline – ‘What Gerrard failed to realise is that it was not about him but Aston Villa’ – which encapsulates brilliantly the last eleven months.
I couldn’t read the whole article (without subscription) but it starts with reference to the ‘Peter Principle’. At last a journo who wasn’t pulling any punches – I nearly paid the £1 to read the rest of the article.
Then I read Preece’s post match report and was struck by the lack of ‘I’ or ‘me’ in Danks post match comments and his more empathetic approach to the players.
If Gerrard is as intelligent as they say then he needs to listen and learn – but is he humble enough?
The Media SG love in continues…
Jamie O’Hara
“The mentality within the group, because you’ve obviously showed that you downed tools for Gerrard and his coaching staff, and that’s not right. Gerrard did everything he could to try and get results and when you look at it, nothing much changed massively, it was just the effort changed.”
Somebody PLEASE tell these arse-lickers that SG turned a very talented squad into a bunch of no-hoper’s in less than 12 months with his ‘project’.
All Danks has let the players do is play in their right positions and without fear, and left those who’ve over-played or lost form under SG sit on the bench for a while, instead of starting yet another game where they were expected to go through the same motions that weren’t working yet again.
This isn’t mine but still…
In 59 minutes yesterday Aston Villa scored as many goals (4) as they managed in 614 minutes under SG.
(Put that in your pipe and smoke it Mr O’Hara)
‘Nothing changed’ – just shows what a dipstick this bloke is.
Nobody cares what Jamie O’Hara thinks.
Absolute bang average footballer in his day, less than infact.
Looks like Emery is going to be our next manager.. we will see where this goes then!
Where did you get that from Bradley? Seems the BBC are backing Amorim
Look at the odds and look at what sources are saying. Been like it since this morning, only last few hours sources such as Fabrizio Romano and the Telegraph have come out with it though.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m6AEE1bM3sQ
In think the players felt they had a point to prove. There was no sitting back on 2-0. Instead a determination to give somebody – it happened to be Brentford – a hiding. Next up Newcastle who I still think are fragile if they go behind early, but are capable of battering us if they score first.
Significant that Aaron was not a subscriber to the view that McGinn was an acceptable skipper, or that Coutinho should start ahead of Buendia. Removing those 2 highlighted what Gerrard did wrong. He had boxed himself into a corner. .Villa need 11 players on-form on the pitch, we aren’t capable of carrying passengers. Gerrard failed to drop them because he was not prepared to admit his errors in making them key players.
Newcastle will be a big test; I don’t think they’ve become invincible all of a sudden (haven’t had time to spend much of the Saudi oil/blood money yet), but Howe has turned them into a decent team, which is probably over-achieving somewhat at the moment.
If we can get off to a good start there, and are capable of avoiding going behind in the first 5-20 minutes, then we should be capable of getting a point. But if yesterday was just a flash-in-the-pan, then we could easily get pulverised before hal-time.
Big test of the players, and of whatever tactical nous Danks might have.
Looks like something is going on – Emery’s odds have dropped dramatically in the last couple of hours; B’ham Live claiming 1/6
The bookies seem to know something.
7 trophies at PSG…Will wait and see…A big name with lots of experience. Why did he have a bad time at Arsenal?
Followed Wenger QED
I vaguely remember that they expected him to put them straight back up into the CL places, preferably without spending much.
He got off to a slow start and realised that they needed more of a re-build…
Newcastle are in a false position at the moment and I’d fancy us to beat them as long as we don’t concede early.
Looks like Alfie could be right;
“Villarreal sources feel Unai Emery will leave the club in the next hours. He’s expected to accept Aston Villa job. 🚨🟣🔵 #AVFC
Talks are at final stages with Aston Villa prepared to pay €6m release clause.”
https://twitter.com/FabrizioRomano
How do we feel about Emerai?
Probably about as good as we could realistically expect.
Good manager, with boatloads of experience and a proven winner.
In terms of coaches playing in regular Euro competitions, from countries where there’s some genuine internal competition to qualify (i.e. not Scotland, Portugal or Turkey…) it’s difficult to find another one who doesn’t think that he’s too good to work at anywhere outside the current CL clubs
Fair play Alfie; BBC now switched allegiance 🙂
One report I read said that Emery favoured a 4-2-3-1 formation, which Danks played on Sunday, and utilised this successfully both at Arsenal & Villarreal – just a coincidence?
I wonder.