Well, the good news is that we’ve officially signed Samatta (yay!).
The bad news is that he won’t be able to play tomorrow (boooo!)
Which means unless we start Vassilev, which I really don’t see happening, we go strikerless again.
The reason I don’t see it, is because I doubt he’d have the stamina to last the 90 minutes, which means he’ll probably get minutes later on.
I suppose you could make a case for starting the lad, in the hope of us going all out early on and then subbing him off when he tires, but I just don’t see it.
Better to play him when Watford’s defence are tiring, in my opinion.
Which again makes me wonder where the goals are going to come from?
We can’t keep expecting Jack Grealish to keep doing it all on his own, can we?
That said, I do have a sneaky feeling that we might get the required result here and actually take the points.
Which defies logic really as Watford are second in the current form table over the last six games.
We sit 15th, which surprises me slightly, but at least that means there are five teams below us.
Squad news and there’s nothing new on our part.
As for Watford, Ismaila Sarr has been ruled out after doing his hamstring and Danny Welbeck is close, but it’s too soon.
Don’t ask me what to think, as I frankly don’t have a clue again.
I have to be honest and say that I am not convinced that we’re good enough to win this one.
We just look too gutless and can’t get the basics right, for my liking.
But that’s simply the realist in me.
But being a footy fan quite often has nothing to do with reality.
We definitely have players who can produce something against the run of play and I think that’s exactly what might happen in this one.
The truth is I’m hoping my team can come good, for what is a massive game.
I just feel that if we can’t get something from this one, we probably deserve to go down.
Villa to win, 2-1
Oh, a heads up.
There is a program that you can download for your Android phone and it’s called “Wow sports”
I can pretty much guarantee you that if the game is available anywhere in the world, it will be available on that app and in excellent quality too, although it’s equally prone to stoppages, just like any other type of stream.
You must go to the link I’ve just given you, as it’s not available on Google play store.
Hit the “download 5.5” part of the page and you should be good to go.
If you have a new fangled phone and telly, you can then cast the picture to the telly and it’s happy days.
If not, you’ll still get excellent quality, albeit on your titchy phone screen (it’s better than nothing!)
You can also do this on your computer, but it does take a bit of knowledge and unless you’re a real computer whizz, it’s not going to happen quickly.
You can download Bluestacks here .
It’s basically an android emulator, which will then enable you to install the Wow sports app (via the previous link).
You’ll need a pretty nifty computer to run it though and as I suggest, it’s not straightforward.
It’s how I watch and the qualty impresses me every time.
Probably just easier to go with the phone to be honest.
Must win, simple as that, for me.
I hope the “wow sports” thing helps someone, but sorry guys, I won’t be able to help if you run into problems with it.
I just don’t have time.
Holte 66 its showing Bein Sports channel 11, don’t know if you can pick it up. I also get it on Rush. TV. Try them tonight.
Not in the UK it isn’t. The match kicks off at 19:30 at Villa Park
While it isn’t televised in the UK, Villa vs Watford can be found on NBC Sports Gold in the United States and DAZN in Canada.
Thanks Bill, I will give it a try later before regretting it when the games over! 😔 Might be a better idea to drink some alcohol and crash out!
On my way Holte. 🍺🍻
DS – a couple of sources (MOMS being one) that we are awaiting international clearance and the ‘formality’ of a work permit but ‘Villa are confident enough (of getting both) to announce the signing’.
Whatever he should be available for the Leicester second leg and as long as he’s registered in time is eligible to play.
Watford have gone 6 games unbeaten – their longest ever unbeaten run in the EPL. Can they keep it up?
I have to go for a Villa win tonight even though that’s probably the ‘kiss of death’! We just can’t afford to lose touch with the teams immediately above us. Defeat tonight and a win for Bournemouth would put us right in the mire.
Will Smith start with Vassilev? I think it’s unlikely so Trez, JG and El Ghazi with EG as a false 9.
Thanks for the streaming info Badger.
Do we really think a young lad can’t keep up through a full 90 min game? If anything I’d have said at that age they should be more able to keep their fitness levels up than a 30 year old. But I agree that his impact may be more suited to later in the game.
It’s a sad day when we are worrying about beating the likes of Watford but that’s the reality we’re in. When you look at how we were playing earlier in the season – playing well but not picking up the results, we weren’t questioning Engels, Targett or Marvellous… It’s curious to what has gone wrong. I think it’s confidence. We played well but weren’t getting the results for a while and then injury hit SJM and that seems to have coincided with that fall in form.
I think the key to getting back to form is the midfield and we’re just struggling to maintain possession. I really don’t know what to do to fix the issue. We were never dominating possession but we were definitely holding our own earlier in the season. I think we need to forget 3 at the back for now as it’s just not particularly working.
McGinn an irreplaceable loss. His injury may yet prove to be the defining moment of our season.
Still rumours linking us with a loan move for Nzonzi, we could certainly do with someone of his experience in the middle of the park.
I know – his grit is what makes him such an attractive prospect to other teams. I think Jack has it too but uses it differently. It also explains his loss of form before the injury as he was playing with a niggle injury for a few weeks before and you just can’t sustain that level of intensity while injured.
Nzonzi would definitely be a good short-term measure but I’ve seen quotes saying he wants to be playing European football and so I think it unlikely. I personally think we have the personnel for now to see us through in the middle and think we just need to find the right set up. I’m more worried about our flanks where we just seem completely toothless.
Perhaps we should get Whelan back for the rest of the season – he’s available for nothing 🙂
I’ve seen that suggested elsewhere too. You could be onto something. Low risk!
Tex, it’s not just about physical fitness. There’s also the mental side of things too.
And that’s before we make the comparison of “fit” and Premier league “match fit.
The U23’s are about the equivalent of a training game and there’s no grit in them whatsoever.
Just my opinion 🙂
It will be a difficult task to beat Watford tonight. Grealish will get kicked all over the park. I’ll go for a draw, but that’s heart over head. I think they will be too physical for us.
On the positive side i went for a loss at Brighton and was wrong, so hopefully we do better than I expect.
Maybe they’ll get another couple of defenders sent off. They’re certainly racking up the red cards!
Cavani hands in transfer request at PSG.
Suso has made a cheeky bid and Cavani is keen to join the Villa – giants of the game – and to work with our outstanding young coach. 🙂 🙂
Meanwhile pms in other news, we’re pursuing an unknown 27 year old striker playing in the third tier in Portugal. 🙂
Midweek games under lights favour the home side c/w daylight games. I’m not sure if the familiarity with the stadium is the factor favouring the home team, or whether it could be coach travel through the peak rush hour traffic that wearies the away team.
I would play the kid, he must be buzzing after his debut away and could surely put in an hour in his home debut.
villa players should remember the lengths or depths watford went to win at their place. i agree that we should keep calm, but this game needs to be a cup final game for the villa players. we are the underdog and we need a giant killing attitude. watford are a decent collection of players and pearson as just unified them. but we are not that inferior. thor we lost last game 3 nil we wasn’t outplayed. we just got bullied, we also showed our naivety and lack of experience.
red this morning pearson saying that the blue nose will relish getting stick from vp fans. that is oldest trick in the book. he loves getting shit of the fans but i will tell you nobody really likes being the villain. deep down it will affect him like it would anybody with the thickest skin. villa fans who go should make the night like a 80’s night in a middle eastern european cup, welcome to hell like in Istanbul days
i am still ultra confident 2 nil
i wanted villa to blood the kid vassilev but he wouldn’t be able to play the full 90, i think its best to bring him on some stage. i hope it will be grealish up front. but i guess smith will go with el ghazi. hope he has learned something over the games he has played up front. cause he is doing stuff which the defenders like and not what they hate. he needs to show more movement and try to drop deeper he has the speed to make that ground back, also i would like us to occasionally put the ball in the channels or over the top for him to run on too, that is how you get the best of el ghazi. he is often standing still waiting for the play to come to him and so easy to mark. he needs to move lots to always give the villa players option
Need some big performances tonight. Home advantage may be enough to win this one, but we need to be tough all over the field. We must not replicate that pathetic performance at Vicarage Road. Having said that, we did start that game with Jota and Lansbury, who were the wrong players against that Watford team.
Same team that started Brighton game. Midfield looks woefully weak. Watford will do a Jonah Lomu over us just like they did at Vicarage Road. Without McGinn, we need some steel and unfortunately we haven’t got anyone. Hopefully the Nzonzi rumour will end up being true although I think a better club will come in for him.
teams out formation is going to be 3 4 3 tonight no major surprises, we have go to speed up our tempo get the front three on the ball in the opposition half. got to drag the cb of watford in areas where they will not like. bare in mind watford can break on the counter
beat watford and we are out of bottom three tonight. but more important we beat a current top form team and we drag other teams closer to us. three points in a must. it will not be the end of the world a draw but we will allow others to slip further away
Pepe Reina;
Ezri Konsa,
Tyrone Mings,
Kortney Hause;
Frederic Guilbert,
Danny Drinkwater,
Marvelous Nakamba,
Matt Targett; Trezeguet,
Jack Grealish;
Anwar El Ghazi.
Substitutes:
Douglas Luiz,
Ahmed Elmohamady,
Conor Hourihane,
Orjan Nyland,
Henri Lansbury,
Indiana Vassilev,
James Chester.
Er, we look ok and are at least working them.
I’m encouraged.
Really good period for us, We’re passing nicely.
Now get the goal.
Se what I mean with Guilbert. Gives the ball away and slow.
Where’s Targett’s superb crossing?
Dogshit up to now, imo.
Lots of energy but final pass?
Loads more passes, with loads more accuracy than Watford, who ain’t getting a look in according to the stats.
But nothing in the final third.
Pathetic.
Deeney again.
Fuc***g Deeney
Final third ball – all the difference
Utterly shit defending.
How are we not winning this?
Because we’re shit, Badger. Shit at defending. And shit at attacking.
I hope Chelsea come in for Terry soon, because not only has he done nothing for the defence, none of his leadership and courage seem to have rubbed off either.
On Vasilev, I recall Darius Vassell’s debut when we were in the shit in the UEFA Cup. He came on, turned it around and we won 3-2. Here’s hoping ‘Indiana’ can ride to the rescue and bang a few heads together, crack the whip, that kind of thing…