I said in the replies midweek that I had no faith in the Villa as a team at the moment.
After a few days nothing has changed and even though West Ham are rooted to the bottom of the table on no points and not even having scored a goal, it means nothing to me.
We all know that if you’re a club that’s seriously out of form, Aston Villa will accomodate you and hand you all the points with minimal effort.
In fact it happens with such alarming regularity, that it’s probably the one thing that really annoys me about the club. Well, that and always losing to Man Utd, that is.
I have to be honest, I hardly care which side we put out, hence the squad matters very little.
That’s what Gerrard’s football has done to me I’m afraid.
When, oh when will we get a genuinely good manager, that can manage our great club, genuinely improve players in the way Pep and Klopp do and get us consistently challenging for things?
Apologies, I’m just thinking out loud, but I’ll bet it’s something we’ve all done at some time or another. It’s just so annoying isn’t it?
So we have to go with what we have and it’s the totally uninspiring Gerrard picking god knows who.
We don’t have any new issues and neither do West Ham as far as I can see.
This is a short preview, simply because I don’t really know what to say.
If we scrape a win, it’s probably the minimum we should have got against a team that’s obviously out of sorts, not scored a goal and conceded five in three games.
And if we lose, will it really be a big surprise?
Not for me and the only thing it would see is Gerrard closer to the exit door which contrary to what you may think, is definitely something I don’t want to see, because it means we’ll be slipping down the table with really tough games coming up.
In fact when you look at the next couple of fixtures, this game should probably be classed as the equivalent of a behind closed doors friendly.
I don’t want to predict a defeat, so I’m going to sit on the fence and go for a 1-1 draw.
Actually, I’d put a bet on it, but it turns out my Bet365 account has been audited (after several weeks) and they’ve decided to close my account and give me my money back. I think it’s something to do with the fact that the money can’t be proved as safe under the money laundering laws.
All £90 of it. You have to laugh, I suppose.
Yet again it’s a torrid time to be a Villa fan.
I was actually wondering the other day, which Birmingham club has really got that Gypsy curse.
I’ve just heard on WM that Bednarek hasn’t started today. Expect to see him in, in the next couple of days.
Yet we still have the pundits saying he should be given more time.
How much is enough?
The really worrying thing is you just know he will be given weeks and probably months.
By which time, it could well be too late.
He won’t get months mate no chance.
Looking into my crystal ball I predict should we pick up anything less than four points by the Leeds game he’ll be out the door.
Looking on the bright side at least Phil is injured so emi might get in the team now.
Otherwise it’s a relegation battle ahead.
Why can’t the owners see that there’s no idea or improvements in the team.
Or are they now just happy to remain as a premier League club and like the glaziers will get their money by just staying in the league.
Can’t see now we ever going to get into the champions League.
Time for the white sheets 😃
Whatever way you look at it, one thing is undeniable;
3 wins in 15.
Badger, if they cannot see the woods from the tree’s then f**k them, you see things like today, Archer 2 minutes Bailey was needed early in the game, we don’t have a clue in identifying the need to change, classic was Watking and Inng , hes not using his brain in seeing they don’t work together. I think we have unrest in the team , Gerrard has to go and very quickly he’s inept in knowing what to do.
It’s time for the fans to make their views unequivocally clear to the owners.
Get rid of Gerrard- we don’t want him here.
Initially we had to put up with the ‘stepping stone to Liverpool’ crap and now we have to listen to pundits backing him with excuses. It’s disrespectful to our club.
Go now for pity’s sake.
Pundits saying that he needs a year must be mental. We’d be in the Championship by then. I agree he’s lost the dressing room.
Why would Potter leave Brighton to come to us? Poch is the only answer if our owners are serious.
SG was a gamble that hasn’t paid off for either party unfortunately.
Warrior here I stated around Xmas last year that SG wasn’t anywhere good enough for AV and I was told by a few people don’t say that and to give him a chance because it wasn’t his team he inherited from DS so let’s talk about HIS team who in their right mind would bring a 20-year-old on in the 92nd minute it’s alright for him if he gets the sack which should be tomorrow the morning he still gets paid his wages in full like some managers have made a living out of it Jose Mourino comes to mind so get rid of him and get Potter from Brighton don’t care how much compensation we have to pay for once we have owners who have splashed the cash and made us join in their vision for where we should be aiming for so please please please get rid of SG and his management entourage a very grumpy Warrior and it was a very long drive back to Wiltshire, UTV. VTID
I turned up at VP today expecting us to lose…at home to bloody West Ham for heaven’s sake.
We are miles off where we need to be, devoid of creativity and so slow in possession, we don’t look like we’re going to score. So the moment the opposition gets one, we’re done for.
4 games into a new season, relegation fight on our hands, zero prospect of picking up any points against Arse and Citeh so entrenched in the bottom 3 in early Sep.
Coutinho does my head in, Digne, McGinn and Ings are way off it, and we’re poised to bring in the marquee signings of Bednarek and Dawson! This has all the hallmarks of 2015/16 with our bunch of expensive misfits, I mean who’s worse than us other than Bournemouth?
We are so easy to play against and no one in the PL as it stands will be worried about AVFC either home or away.
SG has 4 games to save his job and, whilst Rome burns, Purslow and the owners are investing in a 50,000 capacity stadium….which will only be half full next season when we’re playing Huddersfield, Preston and Bristol City.
“So the moment the opposition gets one, we’re done for.”
And
“we’re poised to bring in the marquee signings of Bednarek and Dawson!”
This sums it up for me. Everybody knows Gerrard is already finished at the Villa.
It’s just a matter of time before the right person accepts it.
Unfortunately, Purslow is so NOT the right person because of his serious bias.
With our confidence so low and no game plan, I’m seriously worried about our GD after the next 2 games. Bournemouth are -14 already. If Arse and Citeh scent blood we could be worse than that.
I’m furious about SG letting Hause and Targett go. F***##g idiot Gerrard. Starting Coutinho again!!!!!!!!! The man has to go.
I’ve thought about it and I wouldn’t want a new manager to come in before Arsenal and City games. Definitely sack Gerrard in the morning yes but let’s try to create the new manager bounce after City game because whoever is in charge, we are going to pick up zero points in the next two games.
Hopefully we can get someone in to nurture the likes of Ramsey, Archer and Iroegbunam. Maybe we can get someone who has a style of play which is exciting to watch rather than the tedious dross we currently get. Someone who can make a substitution before we go a goal down. Someone who picks players on form rather than his mates from previous. Perhaps someone who doesn’t offload players like Hause because they aren’t their signings and leave us with two fit CB’s. Ideally someone where the press won’t be talking about their next step in management before proving they are capable of succeeding at Villa.
I would like to see Purslow gone too but he will wriggle out of the clubs failure to improve on Dean Smith and have in fact gone backwards since.
All the Gerrard lovers will say look at Arsenal and what would have happened if they had sacked Arteta, but the fact is Gerrard is clueless whereas Arteta did his apprenticeship under Guardiola and has kept faith with the younger lads and mixing with experience.
I have a feeling we will not only lose the next two games but also see us being humiliated.
It feels like 2015 all over again with the next managerial decision being critical. As SteveP1874 said, we will have a fantastic stadium in the championship.
Apparently, if we lose our next two games, Gerrard is statistically the worst manager in our history.
As in EVER!
Pretty conclusive, I’d say, if that is really true.
Let’s not get at the owners eh apart from the shit players and manager they must be tearing their hair out just like us they have done great things for Villa
Badger and friends
I know I have been vociferous in the last couple of weeks to dismiss Gerrard. Today I thought I would defer to older and wiser heads. We had a family gathering and it gave me chance to catch up with my uncles and dad who have watched Villa since the early 1950s. All three were adamant that Gerrard must go. My one uncle was pulling out his phone every5 minutes during the meal to check on our progress. These men have seen it all before. The conclusion was:
1: NSWE best owners we have ever had.
2: Gerrard out of depth and needs to be dismissed.
3: Purslow has the wrong priorities as he is too close to Gerrard.
Dear Owners
You have shown you want Villa to succeed. We believe in you, we do not believe in Gerrard. Dismiss him and get in Pochettino bleaknesses. A far greater manager.
Fully agree.
On a side note, it sounds a great meal, what did you all have to eat??? 😁
Fully agree Sid. Get him out before he completely burns down 3 years of hard work. Smith must be aghast watching from the East coast.
Talking of meals, I’d love to be around Gerrard at a swanky restaurant. “It’s on me…”
Oh cheers Stevie, in that case I’ll add a couple of bottles of Dom Perignon to the order!
Nah – Cristal is the champagne of the rich and famous 🙂
AEG gone to PSV. Another option gone.
Gutted. He’ll thrive there. I’m staggered that the board are standing back and allowing Gerrard to destroy what they built up over three tough years.
Fear not chaps – Micah Richards is confident Gerrard will turn it around – so that’s OK then isn’t it ? 🙂 🙂 – hysterical laughter! 🙂
I’ve just watched the same thing. Never have a go at one of their own do they, even when the writing is on the wall.
Gerrard yesterday saying the fans were right to boo the players…They weren’t booing the players, they were booing you Gerrard. Arrogant knob.
I actually have a sinking feeling that we could easily get relegated this season. We need to sign some top players this week or we are stuffed if Gerrard stays. It’s turning toxic and that just breeds defeats and so on its a vicious circle. Why not go for someone like Mitrovic if we are so focused on crossing the ball from all angles to 2 strikers who can’t really head the ball. That felt like our only tactic yesterday and we didn’t even clear the first man on 90% of those. Shocking game.
Mitrovic is the perfect number 9 for Villa. Harks back to the likes of Withe, Gray and McInally. Proper centre forward. I’d prefer him and Archer and to cash in on Ings and Watkins. We can dream.
It is the midfield that fails – for me. Take this typical play from page 1 of the Villa playbook. Long ball upfield well wide of Watkins so he can beat the defender in the sprint to the pass, we play this down the left and right. It is very common even without Mings, the leading exponent. Ings is up there with Watkins but tightly marked. If Ings makes a run he takes the defender with him, which might be useful if anyone was coming up from midfield. They are miles behind. It is so basic one wonders what they coach at BMH. A midfield player needs to be on the sprint upfield at the instant the passer shapes to make the pass to Watkins. Our current midfield on Sunday waited until Watkins got to the pass before moving. Too late.
The irony is that a midfield player famous for making driving runs when the opposition turned the ball over, and scoring goals from the move, is SG.
I can’t believe he has not asked for it so I must believe Douglas Luis, Coutinho and McGinn haven’t got the legs or lungs to make the run.
OLL I believe they have both the legs and lungs. It’s the appetite to bust their lungs for Gerrard which is not there. Ramsey (you didn’t mention) is the man for this role. He was supposed to moulded into Gerrard’s clone not so long back. They’re not playing for the manager because they don’t believe in him, don’t trust him and don’t like him. The midfielders at VP are top to players capable of way more. I think Poch is the man because his temperament is the opposite to SG. His players like him and believe in him.
P.s. you should send your CV to VP. I’m sure you’ll fare better than Nanny
If you are right BFR, then that throws up an interesting question, back the manager and sack the players? Or the other way round? A couple of high profile players at Citeh decided they no longer liked the manager this Summer – and were sold.
I think I would rather sell McGinn and Douglas Luiz and try to buy mid-field players who want to receive the ball in the middle of the pitch, who want to make runs forward when our player on the ball needs options of players who can shoot accurately.
Another reason I think our midfield is the problem is the amount of time Villa’s wide players are trying to sneak the ball forward up the touchline. Why? perhaps they know if they play into the middle Villa will lose possession.
I’m not sure OLL. McGinn, Luiz, Coutinho, Buendia. There’s some serious talent there that is performing shockingly below par, consistently. That’s not to mention the defensive mids. These guys can run, pass and shoot with the best in the league. I honestly believe that. So where is it? Their failure to perform? Gerrard? “It’s on me.” Yes. It is.
Traore and El Ghazi are also seriously talented players who should have made a very tidy profit for the club if they were actually surplus. So what happened?Something is badly wrong. Ditching Hourihane for Sanson was equivalent to dumping Kelly Brook for Katie Price.
The list of horrible decisions is getting longer and they are now having the inevitable cumulative negative impact. Serious question marks on Purslow. No leg to stand on for Gerrard. Pochettino in.
While I’m ranting, 5-0 Arsenal coming up, followed by worse against City. It’s about to get messy. Gerrard out before it’s too late.
The midfield is definitely the problem.
I’ve been saying that for longer than I can remember.
The trouble is we’ve now got a midfield where every single one of them looks worse than last season.
We know they’re capable of better and it’s surely more than coincidence that they’re all incredibly poor at the same time?
I can only concur with BFR.
The players are not playing for the manager.
We can’t sell the players because knowing us we’d only get £50 million for the lot of them and McGinn was worth that on his own!
AEG for £2.5 million is just so typical of us.
He was worth more than that, except he wasn’t being given a game.
At a time when we were apparently after Sarr. Yes, a winger.
I wouldn’t mind so much, but at least AEG was one of those who might create something.
You couldn’t make this shit up and I feel like I’m just waiting for a bad dream to end.
I really liked AEG as a player – at least he always tried – and he could shoot and wasn’t afraid to have a go. I wish him well.
£2.5m for him – another master stroke by our club.
I really do despair.
Birmingham Live / The Telegraph are reporting that Gerrard is not under any current danger of the sack because of ‘off field’ issues including:
The exclusion of Morgan Sanson and
A group of fringe players being forced to train on their own.
If true then who’s responsible – surely it’s Gerrard?
Was BFR that likened Gerrard to Lambert?
Badger, don’t fans deserve to know why El Ghazi, Traore, Gilbert and Sanson were banished???
I’ve said that I think Gerrard will be here for weeks or months.
There are just too many “experts” and pundits saying he needs time and Purslow will be using those comments to reinforce his own thoughts, imo.
My guess is he won’t be sacked until the WC period.
Apparently 9 backroom staff sacked today…
Including a physio, kit assistant and a doctor. That’s it, blame the players socks for the poor performances then.
Jokes aside, I bet it was on suspicion of leaking lineups, heard that’s been happening a lot, recently.