Not nearly as bad as Lescott but similar in terms of his legs being gone. His beard and decent attitude are his only saving graces but it has been a disastrous signing.
KEA wasn't appalling, a bit lightweight yeah but he pressed well, moved the ball quickly and generally took the right option. Westwood even looked relatively decent beside him and Delph.
Johnson and Robinson have turned into quality players and it won't be too long before they are playing in the premier league. Simon Grayson has put together a very good young team on a budget that is only a fraction of what Villa have spent on rubbish in the summer. Can't see us keeping a clean sheet and can't see us scoring more than 1 goal here. Unless of course proper signings are made and in the team.
I'm not going to backtrack much more but after a tough game against Preston next week (a much better team than Villa at the moment) the fixtures are Bristol, Brentford, Forest and Ipswich. Failure to pick up a couple of wins there will leave us in a tough situation. Maybe the thread should be closed until then,
It could be down to the lack of options but the taking 2 or 3 touches and passing sidewards reminds me of what Sylla used to do. Sylla is doing ok for himself still and played a big part in helping us stay up after being signed so I don't mean it as an insult moreso an observation.
You can see that he has potential, if the midfield signings come through and the team starts being able to get a foothold in games he could end up being useful this season while still being a prospect.
It may be a slight overreaction but the team just got outclassed by a poor Wolves team, and is in terrible form for a good while. If it wasn't for a few moments of brilliance from Kodjia and Grealish's goal against Wigan then they would have been a lot closer to the bottom. Very lucky win against Burton too, Villa aren't any better than the relegation candidates at the moment.
An 11 point cushion might be just enough if new signings don't materialise quickly.
I know there is an 11 point cushion but given how inept performances have been lately and the inability to secure signings I am slightly worried. If Kodjia gets injured at the AFCON then things might go south very quickly.
I'd be more worried by relegation given the standard of football played the past month. It is a common theme in Steve Bruce's career that his sides can go on some terrible runs.
Darryl Horgan who was a free transfer and who is only on £6k a week at Preston was supposedly excellent today. It is not as if he wasn't known about or linked to Villa before the window but is another example of ignoring value while vast sums are squandered on average players on massive wages.
Being stuck in the championship for a few seasons might teach the club about value for money.
Pretty much no hope now, shocking that no outfield player has been signed by the middle of January while Gestede as limited as he is was sold for about the only month he was needed so we are stuck with a striker who cannot score goals anymore. Shambolic and Lerneresque.
If a team manager in cycling was a known unrepentant doper then it would be safe to assume the team is doping. I don't see why things would be different in football.
On the team shape is there anything to be said for trying Adomah out at RB?
----------------------Johnstone
-----------Chester-----------------Baker
Adomah-------------Jedinak----------------Amavi
----------Lansbirry------------Hourihane
----------------------Grealish
--------------Ayew-------------Kodjia
The collection of pundits has always been pretty terrible on the BBC but a lot of it is down to the scripted/fake tone of the discussion set down by Lineker. Mark Chapman is a far superior host. That being said you will never get an interesting debate with the likes of Shearer and Jenas.
Kevin Kilbane is doing a fair bit of radio stuff over here (nightly sportshow) and is an affable character. As a pundit he isn't brilliant but he does offer some good anecdotes from his time as a player. Cesc Fabregas is the player he hates the most due to his gobby nature, the referee Chris Foy was training with Wigan one time and wore a pair of personalised boots with Foyboy wrote on them and Kevin Kilbane has an unhealthy fascination with player with hair transplants.