Re: Villa v Notts County 25th August: match thread

[Stratfordvilla]

Dan, hope it goes well, my mom had a stroke in October - if you want any advice please ask.


Last night we learnt that we have a squad
Bunn -a more indecisive Guzan with the same distribution.
Richardson-crap defender had 20 mins at start if second half when he looked ok. You know you're rubbish when Baker slags off your positioning.
Sanchez - not a defender and really poor distribution for a midfielder
Baker- a caveman but I like him as a back up
Hutton - solid

Vertout -anonymous until ET
Gil -ran the first 70 minutes -brilliant. Can you play him and Jack on the same side?
Grealish - if he could cross would be top four, played really well
Adama - brilliant -young / inexperienced so his decision making needs improving

Sinclair, much, much better through the middle than the wing
Ayew - still not impressed, but he did try running into space, just doesn't understand the offside rule!

[Dions_Bald_Head]

I'm reading slightly differing thoughts about players on here but what's most pleasing is to hear that Commander Adama's temperament is so good considering the amount of "attention" he was getting.

Note to Dan; hope your fiancée's family are ok.

[DomAVFC]

Hope you're all okay, Dan, sorry to hear of her passing.

Richardson, I thought, wasn't too bad last night. His defending was decent and of course he was fouled in the box for our penalty that ended up taking the game into ET at 3-3.

Hutton I thought was awful. He was at fault for the first goal of the game, pissing about too much on the ball and losing it, allowing County to loop it over Bunn. Baker was at fault for County's second, going too far forward and losing the ball, although Bunn backed out of the challenge when it was too late, thus conceding a penalty. He should never have come out of his goal like that IMO.

Sanchez, I thought, was our best CB last night. His heading was generally good and his defensive positioning was better than Baker's. I agree that he could be a useful backup.

What a surprise to see Bennett scoring! (Cue the Gordon Bennett jokes) it just goes to show that if you're going to play him, he's a better midfielder than defender!

I agree about Traore's temperament being great; despite being fouled constantly by County's LB, he never once said a cross word to him that I saw and just kept on going. Even when injured, he still tried running with the ball! Refs will need to give him more protection though.

[De Kuip]

Echo the sentiments Dan - all the best to you and yours.

Absolutely agree with many of the points by posters - we have a squad- almost. we've found out some useful things (and I wouldn't play them down because it was County - they saw off Huddersfield and were willing to throw everything at us - even some Prem teams won't try that at VP, so we had to deal with an onslaught for periods of the match).
Sanchez is a pleasing turn-up as a potential CB if we're in trouble - that's good - Hutton/Cole/Baker - meh.
Bunn sounded all shirts and trousers first half, improved later, Ayew - well he's a young kid and it's early days, but I wonder if he'll turn out to be the purchase that didn't make it for us - hope not.
So Sunderland on Saturday - glad we scored 5 so that gives them something to think about, and I know Exeter well (my local club) and they capitulate easily once their heads are down, I'd rather have played them than NC, so I don't think we should read too much into that result, I still think Sunderland are shite.

really hoping that Traore is not too bad, and that Hutton doesn't get picked.
I think the good times are coming back, I really do - it might be rollercoaster, but it'll be fun!!  

[Dgrizzle7]

Sorry to her the news Dan.

Condolences to you and your family.

[De Kuip]

like the banner Trotters - shirts & trousers in defence.........

[Trotters]

I thought you might. I used it at work today. Be interesting to see if it gets picked up on and used tomorrow :)

[Trotters]

Baker- a caveman but I like him as a back up

[FoxyAV]

I'm a bit late to this thread, only watched the highlights late last night. I like the 20-minute length, although obviously only when we win. And I only had to refresh the stream four times!

It was a team of two halves and from what I watched I think everyone forward of the defence covered themselves in glory, with the exception of Ayew, who only featured once on the highlights, crossing in from the left into the box.

I'm in two minds about RB. I like Bacuna but as a wing back. He's no Traore or Veretout and while his defending is ok it's not great. Hutton I think is edging it, even though he's not amazing going forward or in defence either. Traore with Veretout behind him with Hutton contributing every once in a while? Hutton plus Bacuna combined = a single Traore, so remove some of the impetus for going forward from RB.

Kozak offers so much more than any other forward at the moment, other than Gestede, who offers height and strength from set pieces.

I really wanted Bunn to work. He's a reserve keeper though, isn't he?

So after this match my guaranteed starters, based on what we currently have, are either in a 4-3-3:

??? - Richards - Clark - Amavi
Veretout - Westwood - Gueue
Traore - ??? - Grealish

Or in a 4-2-3-1:

??? - Richards - Clark - Amavi
Westwood - Gueue
Traore - ??? - Grealish
???

Should we have Kozak or Sinclair up front? Why not start Sinclair and bring on Kozak if it's not working or we need a little more muscle. Gestede if we need a lot more muscle or are playing particularly short opposition.

Gil I like a lot but I can't see him starting ahead of Traore or Grealish, who for me are rock solid guaranteed what-we've-been-waiting-for-for-ages-and-then-like-busses-two-come-along-at-once starters. But is Gil the right player in the middle? I think he's made a strong case for it in terms of skill and agility but he's not that strong. But then I'm liking the look of Veretout and reckon he could be a big player for us. Again, a situation where we could start one and substitute him with the other.

The other sub I'd make is the one I keep banging on about, bring Sanchez on at 60 or 70 minutes to take on and possibly break the opposition's fresh attacking legs. He has played well so far (last season he started well too but faded) but Westwood and Gueye work well together.

Bear in mind a) I haven't included a goalie because I don't think we have one good enough yet (as much as I like Guzan, his decisions and kicking - of any kind - are terrible), b) we don't have to make all three subs, I think Sherwood likes to keep one just in case of injury and c) Kozak is good and a team player but he's not a guaranteed goal scorer. Hopefully he will be if he's given a chance, he's looked so much better than the other three picked ahead of him so far.

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