Aston Villa vs Everton Post-Match Thread

[peter w]

Two things. i wonder how 'luuvie'ish we're becoming over the non-going because we're not performing in the top glight as we would like? I bet there are many fans of many clubs who would just see us as Premier league fannies. We're not struggling in league one or two but not doing splendidly in the Premier League.

Also, I've said for years but withdrawing our monetary support means feck-all to the club because we are there for atmosphere alone. Yes, we'll bring a few quid in but losing us or losing TV money is a simple one. We were chucked overboard many years ago and little bits of bait in terms of a nice stadium, a nice player or two, and a coach trip here and there, nice words or a pub is just to keep us interested financially. There's a core that will always go so why do the club need to listen?

They will if all they hear is abuse from the stands as that affects their 'product' and they don't want that. Especially one that is, or isn't, trying to be sold.

[Ads]

Two things. i wonder how 'luuvie'ish we're becoming over the non-going because we're not performing in the top glight as we would like? I bet there are many fans of many clubs who would just see us as Premier league fannies. We're not struggling in league one or two but not doing splendidly in the Premier League.

Very much this Peter.

After a defeat or a run of defeats, there is always a queue of people who want to come onto a post-match thread and instead of talking about football, bore us with tales of all the tedious things they get up to instead of bothering to watch the Villa. “Look at me,  I don’t go and it’s because I can’t be bothered to go!” – usually accompanied by some self aggrandising spiel about how many centuries of support they’ve but in prior to listening to Polish folk music at 3pm on a Saturday.

You didn't get this a few years ago when we were 6th and in semi-finals, and last time I checked, the game was just as rigged and as expensive then as it is now.

Everybody knows what the sport is and has become and nobody is happy that we cannot compete in it anymore. Nobody is happy when we lose either, but having discussion specifically set to discuss football at its fundamental level hi-jacked is boring.

[PeterWithesShin]

The clubs that really suffer in the premier league are those like us who have traditions of winning stuff from time to time but now find themselves priced out of competing or playing in the champions league.

You have the top four or five, then the teams just glad to be here - Hull, Swansea, Burnley, there are lots of these, then the likes of us, who in the past have been competitive but now find things like winning the league unthinkable.

Dare I mention the Everton example again.  It is true what you say, but it is possible to at least be competitive if you are well run club with a decent manager.  There are absolutely no excuses for us to be happy with 4th from bottom every year.  I think people would settle these days with what Chris is referring to above if it could be seen we were having a right good go at teams in the process, something we almost never do anymore.

This myth about just being well-run should be put to bed. they have also been spending money.

It's not much of a myth when for the previous 5 years they've made a profit each year on transfers for a total of almost exactly what they spent this summer.

[django]

Fair enough Ads this is probably the wrong thread for some of my posts. Take Peters point about moaning Premier League fannies too.

It does seem a bit rich moaning about the inequalities in the League as a Villa fan rather than say a supporter of Huddersfield or Shrewsbury. But I do think there's a stark difference, clubs that are established in the Premier league, better than average crowds and facilities (a rich owner, despite his other issues) would previously have been competitive and now they are not.

Clubs who have long been adrift in the lower leagues have always known they couldn't compete, but would hope that by putting the crowds, facilities and a decent team together could get to a stage where they could. Maybe because the hopes of promotion to the premier league are so remote for so many clubs they don't consider the fates of teams in the premier league as worthy of their concern. Fair enough. But there are record numbers of clubs going into administration, of clubs being crippled financially and their existence put in doubt, it's another aspect of the same problem.

It's also not a big worry for fans of the top 5 clubs, so little attention is paid to anyone else I'd be surprised if they give other teams a second thought, but left unaddressed this decline in interest/competitiveness will eventually bite them in the arse too.

Anyway, back to the on pitch side of things...

I think we will have enough to stay up more comfortably this season... Against Everton, almost every cross from Cissokho was a shocker, whereas that's been a strength so far...I thought Richardson had a day where nothing came off and Nzogbia I feel is someone who will contribute I some games but is inconsistent. All 3 having off days, gabby too and Benteke being rusty meant we didn't take advantage of the better spells we had. Obviously the biggest problem is our default sitting back.

[supertom]

I'd like us to chuck in Grealish for the next three games ahead of Zogbia. The lad is always so calm on the ball. Seeing Barkley flourishing yesterday at only 20 years of age must have been an absolute delight for Everton. There was also a maturity to his performance which has come from being put in the side at 18.
It seems we're frankly wasting time playing Zogbia and Bent, neither of whom seem to have much hunger (I'm not talking pie hunger, which they have in abundance) or desire left.
Get Grealish in. Rotate him a little with Joe Cole, who at least in the ten minutes looked like he wanted to calm things down a bit on the ball.
We've got four difficult games coming up. QPR is a 6 pointer. Neither wants to lose it, both feel it's must win. Then Spurs is normally a side we succumb to easily of late. West Ham and Southampton will be be difficult to.

But I think it's ideal testing time for Grealish. These shouldn't be 10 men behind the ball matches like City, Chelsea and Arsenal. They really shouldn't. We should be looking to try and attack in the games, and having someone with a bit of nous in his game and composure, like Grealish might be beneficial. If it's not going right for the lad in a match, bring on Joe Cole, who can't play 90 minutes any more and is an impact player now.

Will Grealish be as good as Barkley? Who knows but it's time we put him in, gave him a run and played a player who lives and breathes Villa. Someone who'll play with enthusiasm and more importantly, someone who the fans can get behind. Local boy Gabby has coasted for too long and has lost a lot of his fans. We need a new local lad who can brighten up shit like we've been sitting through. Too much pressure? Nonsense. If he can't take the pressure he's got no business being a Premiership footballer. But I think he can cope. In fact in his brief cameos this season he's often looked the most composed player in our side, whilst others run around like headless chickens.

It's Grealish time baby!

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I agree and I have said elsewhere about Grealish; tip of the diamond is where I think he should be playing. If you have him out wide, then he isn't going to see enough of the ball to influence the game as we'd like.

He is different from a lot of our midfielders, as is Sanchez. I would start them both against QPR at the top and base of the diamond respectively. Having Westwood and his range of passing 10-15 yards higher up the pitch will be a benefit too.

[ChicagoLion]

After that performance Gabby and Nzogbia should be dropped.

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They were both poor, but if you drop both, then you lose a lot of pace.

[JUAN PABLO]

I'm with starting with jack

Sánchez not so sure . but McGrath , we need some creativity

[django]

Can Grealish be better than Barkley? Probably not. To be fair, from what I see of Barkley he looks better than any of our players in the past 20 years.

Can Grealish be better than we have? Worth trying him to find out. Not too much of a gamble if we're honest.

[ChicagoLion]

They were both poor, but if you drop both, then you lose a lot of pace.

Not sure Nzog has any pace any more, he looks like a busted flush.
I did not see one situation on Saturday where Gabby used his pace. Unless you play him as a centre forward and tell him to run the channels then I am at a loss to see how he contributes.

[Chico Hamilton III]

Can Grealish be better than we have? Worth trying him to find out. Not too much of a gamble if we're honest.

I'm a bit worried that, if it goes tits up next week at QPR and the fans turn on the team/manager/owner/ unbalanced, bearded lunatic coach...) that it will do Grealish's confidence no good. Very negative of me, I know.

[supertom]

I agree and I have said elsewhere about Grealish; tip of the diamond is where I think he should be playing. If you have him out wide, then he isn't going to see enough of the ball to influence the game as we'd like.

He is different from a lot of our midfielders, as is Sanchez. I would start them both against QPR at the top and base of the diamond respectively. Having Westwood and his range of passing 10-15 yards higher up the pitch will be a benefit too.

I'd go along with this too. Lambert is never going to play with width from wide men. I think putting two up top and playing the diamond is the way to go. More and more clubs also seem to be adopting that now. Two up top is coming back into fashioned somewhat. It also will provide more support for Benteke. The Beast also likes to drop off, or pull wide, so it wouldn't, by any means by a rigid 2 up top.
I'd play Weimann alongside Benteke as they've linked effectively on occasions in previous seasons and Andi's workrate up through the middle could be put to good use. He's also much better through the middle than being played wide. He'd played hopelessly for a run of games playing as a defensive wide-man, having started the season brightly playing a little more centrally.

[supertom]

They were both poor, but if you drop both, then you lose a lot of pace.

Not sure Nzog has any pace any more, he looks like a busted flush.
I did not see one situation on Saturday where Gabby used his pace. Unless you play him as a centre forward and tell him to run the channels then I am at a loss to see how he contributes.

If it were to encourage us to be more thoughtful with the ball, then I'd be all for taking Gabby and Zogbia out. Everton aren't a side loaded with pace. They looked quicker than us, but largely down to speed of thought and crisp passing.

[Chico Hamilton III]

What are the chances of Richard Dunne scoring the winner for us next week? It'll be something like the 11th own goal of his career