First Team Review
- James
- Oct 22, 2022
- 10 min read
Given where the club is at we thought it would be useful and interesting to pool opinions on who and who should not remain with Villa under any new boss.
What has proved insightful is that the squad seems to be split into three, albeit with some notable exceptions:
Signed by Dean Smith and essential to the future
Signed by Smith's successor and not of sufficient quality
Signed by Smith, and ostracised by his successor.
Needless to say the former regime's player judgement does not come out well.
GK Emiliano Martínez | 🇦🇷 |
A superb ‘keeper, perhaps Villa’s best since Bosnich. A revealing and honest mind but also one of the players in the spine most affected by the former manager’s approach. We hope he sees out his best years with Villa but he will be the guy that decides that. Losing him doesn’t bear thinking about despite his loss of form at times this season.
👍👍👍 Keep at all costs.
GK Robin Olsen | 🇸🇪 |
One of the former manager’s first signings, initially on loan, looked poor on his only appearance to date, just as in his spell at Goodison. Unfortunately subsequently signed permanently but there is no way into the first team, he will either, like Kalinic, stay on the books to run down his contract outside of the first team or, like Moreira, be shipped out at the earliest opportunity.
❌ One of the first out the door.
GK Jed Steer | 🏴 |
Just for sentiment and hope Jed deserves to stay, a significantly better ‘keeper than Olsen, if he gets a break from bad luck he’ll hopefully be with us for years to come.
👍 Keep whilst he remains a realistic option but those injuries are worrying.
CB Diego Carlos | 🇧🇷 |
Helpless against Bournemouth, a colossus against Everton. Potentially a Laursen / Mellbert in the making IF he recovers from injury the player he was.
👍👍👍 Keep and hope his injury isn’t Wesley-esque
CB Tyrone Mings | 🏴 |
Not the first, but possibly the most abjectly abused player by the former manager. His being stripped of the captaincy wasn’t just a mistake, it was an outrage. Entirely done to feed red meat to the haters. Mings though had other ideas and wouldn’t let it stop him recover his form. Mistakes have crept back into his game in recent weeks but like so many players in the squad he deserves a fresh start under competent management.
👍👍👍 Keep, far better than his detractors claim, must be captain again.
CB Ezri Konsa | 🏴 |
After Matt Targett, Konsa was the first player the former manager went after, as a result the mid 2021-22 Konsa saw his form collapse due to the manager’s carping unconstructive criticism. Like his centre back partner however his strength of mind has enabled him to recover his form and again looks like he should remain a long term fixture in this Villa squad.
👍👍👍 The long term future of Villa and England’s defence was almost destroyed by the former manager, he is back on track now and will benefit more than most from a new regime.
CB Jan Bednarek | 🇵🇱 |
An oil tanker amid America’s Cup yachts. Not for nothing were Southampton keen to shift him on. That Villa were linked was embarrassing enough, that they followed through on his signing sums the last 12 months up. His first 45’ was poor, his second 45’ was terminal. Expect him to be returned from whence he came as soon as the loan clause allows. Unlikely to ever play for the club again.
❌ Tripping over Olsen and Augustinsson as they’re hurried to the exit.
CB Calum Chambers | 🏴 |
A great signing in a great deal, like Hause before him though, under the previous regime he was never given a chance despite having never let the club or team down. Any new manager coming into the club will make proper use of him and we will have a new defensive talent on our hands, almost like a new signing.
👍👍👍 Chambers will excel from here on in now he will be given a chance.
LB Lucas Digne | 🇫🇷 |
Big money, big wage signing from the former manager, Digne started poorly, was often injured, mostly with niggles, but improved and started providing assists at the end of 2021-22. 2022-23 saw his form collapse having been asked to fulfil the same impossible role as Cash before falling victim to another innocuous seeming longer term injury. It goes without saying that the former manager’s first victim Matt Targett shouldn’t have left the club, and in truth on a like for like basis Digne and his wage bill shouldn’t have come… but there is a player in there. The issue for the new manager will be taking into account injury proneness, form, and importantly his influence on the dressing room.
👍 Keep for now, there is a player there, but a watchful eye is needed.
LB Ludwig Augustinsson | 🇸🇪 |
A pointless loan signing, nowhere near the quality needed and nowhere near the quality already in the club, his debut was woeful for all sorts of reasons. Will never play for the club again and be gone, like Bednarek, as soon as the loan clause allows.
❌ Tripping over Olsen and Bednarek as they’re hurried to the exit.
RB Matty Cash | 🇵🇱 |
Asked to do the impossible by the former manager and failed to do it. Cash though is still raw at 25, but that probably happens when you have 12 months without any sentient coaching. Cash however is a great player. Like Mings he will have a new lease of life under new management.
👍👍👍 First name on the team sheet after Martínez and the captain.
RB Frédéric Guilbert | 🇫🇷 |
During the insipid 11 months under the former manager he managed to fall out with just about every player, Konsa, Mings, Cash, Chambers, Luiz, Sanson, Nakamba, McGinn, Ramsey, Dendoncker, Buendía, Bailey, Watkins, Ings, Archer, Hause, El Ghazi, Chukwuemeka… but none come close to his treatment, entirely personally motivated, of Frédéric Guilbert. Even arch Bomb Squadders Houllier and Lambert managed to fall out with a relatively small fraction of their squads. Gerrard’s ability to destroy any semblance of a relationship however was breathtaking. It will be a happy, positive day when Guilbert features in another Villa squad.
👍 Far more deserving of a squad place than many of those who sat on the bench under Gerrard, it might be too late to rehabilitate Guilbert but it’s worth a try.
LB Ashley Young | 🏴 |
When Young re-signed for Villa few thought he was here for anything but a few nostalgic cameos and some dressing room reinforcement. That he has been our best player so far in 2022-23 speaks volumes about the man. We’ve said before that age is no barrier until it is but Young is defying nature. We just hope his closeness to the former manager doesn’t undermine his contribution going forward. To make one start at 37 is notable, to practically be a guaranteed starter at 37 is stunning.
👍👍 It will naturally end soon but let’s hope it ends happily.
M Philippe Coutinho | 🇧🇷 |
The poster boy for the former manager’s failings, we were told only he could attract players of the calibre of Coutinho. We say thank god, because now he’s gone we won’t be lumbered with this ‘calibre’ of player again. In truth Coutinho has had one good substitute appearance and two good games in his time with Villa - even Leon Bailey has managed that. He has been simply woeful all to often in claret and blue. All the skill in the World is irrelevant if you cannot look up, see the game and compete. The new manager will try his best to extract a game from Coutinho but the Brazilian is already gone.
❌ Needs to be gone in January, huge salary, no impact, an exorcising of the failures just like after 2015-16 is needed.
M Douglas Luiz | 🇧🇷 |
Two shocks occurred with Luiz this last week, one he had begun to pass forward again under the former manager and two, he signed a new contract. Properly used, Luiz will be a real asset. 120 games for the club however and still he is being asked to fulfil a role he’s not built for.
👍👍👍 Get the tactics and line up right and Luiz’s next 120 games for the club could be spectacular.
M Morgan Sanson | 🇫🇷 |
A couple of things to get straight here, Dean Smith didn’t have a downer on Sanson, Gerrard did have a downer on Sanson. Under Smith, Sanson was both acclimatising to a new environment and continually struck down by injury. Although we didn’t agree with his decision, when Sanson was available for selection under Smith it coincided with poor runs of form and Smith was reluctant to experiment. That falls on Smith, not the player. The attitude of Smith’s replacement however was something else entirely and although that wasn’t limited to Sanson his treatment of the Frenchman was the most self defeating example. A squad player in 2020-21, 2021-22 and 2022-23, we still have no idea whether Sanson is any good. It will be good to find out.
👍 Give him ten games and judge then, little risk given he’ll be out of contract anyway soon.
M Marvelous Nakamba | 🇿🇼 |
One of the more perplexing moves by the former manager was to play Marvelous, stumble on the perfect way to use him (something Dean Smith didn’t), laud him as the missing link before jettisoning the player and informing him he would never play for the club again. If that wasn’t odd enough, the former manager then, due to his decimation of the squad in the last transfer window, was forced to recall the player and reintegrate him into the squad. Not the most footballing of footballers but asked to do a disciplined narrow job and he excels. Quite how it came to his ostracism is a mystery. A new manager will either value Marvelous or quickly acquire an upgrade.
👍 One for the new boss but we think there is value in keeping Marvelous if the tactics demand.
M John McGinn | 🏴 |
A (presumably) inadvertent victim of the political games played by the former manager. Handed a captaincy that wasn’t for him, caught in a maelstrom not of his own making, then to boot having the tedious Villa boo boys turn on him. Inevitably McGinn’s form collapsed, his demeanour sank and a spiral followed. But never, ever has McGinn been anything other than a true Villain. A comedic and happy character, to watch worry wash over him was awful. McGinn, like Cash and Ollie will have a new lease of life now. Watch them go.
👍👍👍 Simply embarrassing to see John McGinn as anything other than essential to Aston Villa on and off the pitch.
M Boubacar Kamara | 🇫🇷 |
We’ve said before that the former manager had no redeeming features whatsoever, and he didn’t. Yet Villa did at least sign Kamara on his watch. Kamara is potentially a huge player for Villa over the coming years. The club need to do everything they can to tie him down.
👍👍👍 A superstar in the making.
M Jacob Ramsey | 🏴 |
Like Matty Cash, Jacob began life under the former manager as his pet pupil, like Cash he also started to lose favour - being dubbed as “not an attacking player” earlier this season was a troubling sign. But there’s no doubt that the last four months have seen Ramsey’s development plateau. He’s still only 21 but in truth should already be influencing games far more than he is.
👍👍 Time is on his side, as is being a local boy, perseverance is due but not blind perseverance. We need to see Jacob drive the team forward in the way that his undoubted talent allows.
M Leander Dendoncker | 🇧🇪 |
On a deeply underwhelming deadline day - when is it not - Dendoncker’s arrival was said to be the cure for the “much needed height” in midfield. Only for the former manager to barely play him, something that was a recurrent theme with his acquisitions of “winners”. We are genuinely none the wiser whether Dendoncker is an asset or another transfer mistake from the previous regime.
👍 As with Sanson, give him 10 games, see what he can offer.
W Emiliano Buendía | 🇦🇷 |
The polar opposite of Coutinho. A player who positively impacts games, a player who is utterly committed to the cause, a player who is hardly provided with an opportunity to build momentum, a player who is constantly dropped. Buendía is within his rights to want out, the man he is however means he won’t.
👍👍👍 A player that deserves so much more than the club has currently given him.
W Leon Bailey | 🇯🇲 |
Anwar El Ghazi didn’t survive the former manager’s cull, yet although many had their issues with the Dutchman he created and scored goals. Leon Bailey if we’re honest does neither and the overt arrogance from his ‘team’ hardly helps his cause. We think it is very unlikely we will see Bailey become the player we are told he will be, mostly by his entourage, it’s almost Bacuna-esque.
❌ Sadly unless there is a major attitude change on and off the pitch Bailey is likely to be one we could comfortably let go with little regret.
CF Ollie Watkins | 🏴 |
Like Cash, asked to do the impossible by the former manager: hold up the ball, create chances, score goals, play in midfield, stay in the box, cross from the wings. Madness. Like McGinn the Villa boo boys just love to criticise, but we’d love to see any striker in world football do what Watkins has been asked to. No wonder when he gets a chance he’s too demoralised and exhausted to pounce.
👍👍👍 Woefully treated by manager and fans alike, Ollie will have the last laugh, we just hope he does it in claret and blue.
CF Danny Ings | 🏴 |
A huge wage, a panic Purslow signing in the shadow of Grealish’s exit, a curious lethargy in his play from the first day, Ings doesn’t and hasn’t ever looked a Villa player. It just doesn’t look like a move he wanted or is enjoying. A great strike in his first season against Newcastle, a great strike against Everton earlier this campaign but in truth very little else.
❌ Needed for the rest of the season but a shuffle out in the Summer is inevitable.
CF Cameron Archer | 🏴 |
Villa’s most natural goalscorer, now in his fourth season in and around the first team and still not given a chance. At least he was retained at the club this season and not shipped out on loan like his Villa Youth mates. Cam will shine under a footballing competent.
👍👍👍 Archer has to be our post World Cup first choice centre forward. Period.
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