Another missed opportunity for Aston Villa of valuable three points. A three points to spark confidence, claw back the gap to safety and give Aston Villa supporters some hope for survival going into 2016.
Villa certainly gave it some huff and puff at Villa Park against a Hammers team missing some key players, but improved performances count for little now, as the club needs the cold stone currency of points to avoid one of its darkest hours.
With six more points available over the Christmas period, here’s five reasons to be cheerful as Aston Villa fans in the meantime…
4. A Goal Scorer
In a good Villa team, Jordan Ayew wouldn’t be your main striker up front, but the Ghanaian has stood out in recent weeks as: a) Villa’s main man up top and b) the Villa player who is battling the most for the shirt he wears. Five goals in his last 10 appearances is a decent return and the way he took responsibility for the penalty was good to see too.
We need more players like this. Get another two or three in and there may be a faint hope of Villa getting themselves out of this mess.
What kind of striker would you play alongside him? Is Rudy Gestede the way to go? It was certainly an improved performance from him against West Ham. A proper fox-in-the-box finisher might be the best solution though.
The WHU game was the best I have seen Villa play this season, but the bar was very low to begin with. Ayew is an example of the type of player we need right now. Gives his heart out there. Gil coming on really did weaken the front line, we didn’t press as hard. Struggling to see what the fuss is about with him right now. Also the team was slow to adapt to the 4-3-3 after the change. Gestede, why does working harder mean he can’t head the ball anymore. Should have done better with his chances. Also tired of Hutton getting a lot of credit for running up the pitch and delivering a terrible cross, Vertout needs to work a bit on that as well, and yes he hustled more but was played in his favored hole position. Lescott as captain is interesting as he is a Villa fan, and would he want to be the captain that brought them down. Think he is getting past it, but like the psychology of Garde. 3 points it has to be today. Here’s hoping.
Ah yes, I liked something the manager did. So he had to drop him. And Gestede. Ayew has already said he needs Gestede to help him, so we put on Sinclair for the Norwich game.
Ah now Gestede has been subbed on, so for the last 21 minutes we will no longer be pass, pass, pass, lose possession, it will be hoof, lose possession.