Leon Bailey (out on loan to AS Roma)

[Rigadon]

Games for Villa = 28.  Games where he's taken on a defender = 0

[The Edge]

It could be that my angry mood is making me irrational but I think that was one of the worst performances I've ever seen in a Villa shirt and I was there for the debut of the one and only Djemba-Djemba. Absolutely everything he did was shambolic. His attempted "shot" in the first half was laughable. He capped his evening with a booking before being hooked. I wouldn't want to let him go as I do think he's very talented on his day but it sure doesn't look like Gerrard is the man to bring out the best in him.

[Toronto Villa]

I get the impression he is very much a confidence player and his confidence and belief is absolutely shot. I can imagine training right now at Bodymoor with Gerrard is fucking miserable. Think about it. In the span of a few months he has destroyed the belief in Bailey and Coutinho. Ramsey looks like hates it. Every one of these players needs to up their game, but every one of them would be so much better off with Gerrard gone.

[frank black]

He was just awful

[Risso]

Disgraced himself tonight.

He was a disgrace in Smith's last match as well. He should be shipped out in January, he's a wrong 'un.

[brontebilly]

Let's be honest here, he was a joke under Smith too. His performance at Southampton that night was equally as disgusting as tonight. Going gets tough and he doesn't want to know.

[LukeJames]

I get that the players need to take some of the blame but how many times do we play to their strengths? Ings thrived at Southampton on being played quickly in behind, Watkins scored goals for Brentford and us from many cut backs, Leverkusen worked on getting the ball out fast to Bailey to isolate the full back against him, Ramsey had success last season driving and breaking from deep into the box. Etc etc

We are playing a god awful system that doesn't get anything out of these players.

[LeeB]

The pelters I took on here months ago for calling out this CNZ tribute act .

That's flattering him

[aj2k77]

It's no secret that I think he's a total fanny and shouldn't be anywhere near the first team. He's got no commitment and is weaker than Stuart Downing. He can fuck off with his Dad in the Summer.

[Matt C]

Held a lot of hope for this guy but this is another major transfer post-Grealish that we’ve got horribly wrong.

[Risso]

It's no secret that I think he's a total fanny and shouldn't be anywhere near the first team. He's got no commitment and is weaker than Stuart Downing. He can fuck off with his Dad in the Summer.

And when he's fucked off, he can fuck off some more.

[cdbearsfan]

It hasn't "gone wrong" yet. Clean slate for everyone now, IMO. A few wins, a bit of confidence, and a vaguely competent manager with a basic grasp of how formations work, and who knows.

[Risso]

It hasn't "gone wrong" yet. Clean slate for everyone now, IMO. A few wins, a bit of confidence, and a vaguely competent manager with a basic grasp of how formations work, and who knows.

The priority this season now has to be to stay up. Personally I don't see Guardiola or Klopp getting anything much out of this team. Hopefully Kamara coming back to fitness after the World Cup will help, but we've got some seriously bad players. Bailey was crap under Smith and still crap a year later.

[cdbearsfan]

We have to pick eleven players plus subs, mate. I know you think that about 80% of them are "shit" even though the vast majority have shown otherwise many times before being managed by Gerrard (and, sometimes, even under Gerrard). So, it's probably best to hope that some of our underperforming players improve rather than just giving up on them all when we can't sign any replacements until January at the earliest anyway.

[Risso]

We have to pick eleven players plus subs, mate. I know you think that about 80% of them are "shit" even though the vast majority have shown otherwise many times before being managed by Gerrard (and, sometimes, even under Gerrard). So, it's probably best to hope that some of our underperforming players improve rather than just giving up on them all when we can't sign any replacements until January at the earliest anyway.

Well thankfully we've got the World Cup making it only 6 league games until the transfer window opens. Hopefully enough time for the new guy to suss the wasters and plan how to spend his £300m.