Luton Town V Aston Villa: Wednesday 10th August 19:45

by **Sandie** on Tue Aug 09, 2016 1:13 pm

So now thoughts turn to the league cup and a tie against Luton Town of League Two. What do we expect? Should we play a full strength or reserve side?

by **villabromsgrove** on Tue Aug 09, 2016 1:43 pm

We need the confidence that a win of any kind will bring .... or to put it another way, losing will destroy any confidence that we have collectively.

We need to play a strong team with some of our youngsters mixed in imo. McCormack needs another 70 minutes at least, and so does Gestede to try and get him off the mark.

Tshibola, Gardner and Veretout should be involved as well as Amavi, Okore and Toner. RHM and Green as subs and a full 90 minutes for Grealish. Gollini needs to play as does Baker. It would be good to see Traore play some part as a sub if he's fit enough.

by **villabromsgrove** on Wed Aug 10, 2016 9:25 am

We're on TV again tonight. Let's hope we can see some sign that Clarke has sorted out covering players for when our Wing Backs charge up the pitch!

by **Sandie** on Wed Aug 10, 2016 12:33 pm

We're on TV more often after relegation than we were before it.

I agree with your recipe for the side. A strong XI is required not only to guarantee that win that will create confidence but to continue to develop understandings across the park. Baker and Elphick seem to be our main centre half pairing so I'd pick both as they need playing time together. Gollini also might want playing to get used to those centre halves. I can also see Tshibola and Gardner playing together a lot and obviously McCormack needs game time with his new teammates. With three or four new players in, some with very little experience working with their new colleagues we have an opportunity to let them gel in a competitive (but lower standard) game.

There's also the chance to give some of the young players a go. I'd definitely look at giving RHM a spell on the pitch as he seems to be on a hot run from pre-season.

by **Sandie** on Wed Aug 10, 2016 5:11 pm

Di Matteo has said to expect changes so that's leading me to think we'll feed a below-strength eleven. Might be good to see a few different faces though hopefully none of the new bomb squad will be playing (I'd think not lest they get cup-tied.)

by **villabromsgrove** on Wed Aug 10, 2016 5:28 pm

We might see Richards, but if that means no Hutton that's okay. Westwood has to be 'rested'.

by **villabromsgrove** on Wed Aug 10, 2016 6:50 pm

https://twitter.com/AVFCOfficial

Here's the team for tonights game .... I've just copied Villa's twitter, I hope that's all right for you guys.

by **villabromsgrove** on Wed Aug 10, 2016 7:08 pm

Apart from the keeper .... I would rather have seen Steer get some time with the team in Gollini's absence .... A strong and adventurous team. I hope they show some discipline in keeping their shape, because I would love to see more of this team selection in the future, so they need to win and impress with a mature performance.

by **villabromsgrove** on Wed Aug 10, 2016 8:05 pm

Good battling goal by Ayew.

by Chris Harte on Wed Aug 10, 2016 9:49 pm

I'm numb to these kind of defeats now. We didn't look likely to trouble their keeper after the third.

Positives? Well, we dented their woodwork a few times. Di Matteo has a better idea of who is a bottler and who at the club has ability.

by **villabromsgrove** on Wed Aug 10, 2016 9:55 pm

How can a team who played so brightly for the first twenty minutes turn into a bunch of Gutless no hopers. Luton looked better organised, better coached with more heart and determination. How can this be from a team that were in the Conference three years ago. Their team cost pennies, but they had infinitely bigger balls than our wilting violets!

I'm not going to name names because all of our players let themselves and the fans down.

by **Sandie** on Thu Aug 11, 2016 12:17 am

Chris Harte wrote:I'm numb to these kind of defeats now

It's getting to be a tradition.

The good doctor was shown during the TV coverage and had the "What the fuck have I let myself in for expression?" one often sees on the faces of people who have just become associated with Aston Villa and observed the depth of this club's stinking mentality. Poor sod's probably put on his phone post final whistle to find he's in the Guinness Book of Records for number of Twitter notifications/mentions.

As for the game itself, I still don't understand why Richards was moved from right back (where he had been reasonable) to centre half (where he's been proven to be utterly useless time after time) or WHAT ON EARTH Okore was thinking. Still, at least those two were noticeable frankly, the only reason for Gardner lasting ninety minutes without the hook was that he did so little that RDM must have forgot he was playing (I know I did) whilst Gestede managed even less. Roll on some new signings.

by **villabromsgrove** on Thu Aug 11, 2016 10:54 am

If you lack skill you can try harder to make up for it.

If you lack the will or the guts then you're stuffed.

by **villabromsgrove** on Thu Aug 11, 2016 12:18 pm

When questioned after the match RDM said that he had no idea why the work ethic suddenly disappeared in the second half.

The fact that exactly the same thing is happening this season as in previous seasons makes it obvious .... the same players have been given a second chance. Hutton came on and Richards moved to centre back .... does that ring a bell? The removal of Baker and the arrival of Hutton destroyed our defensive shape. We knew it would happen as soon as we saw the change .... Di Matteo didn't!

We have to be ruthless now and buy in some experienced players with character and balls by the bucket load. Otherwise our decent young players are going to be ruined very quickly. The old tainted players must be removed from the squad.

by **Sandie** on Thu Aug 11, 2016 1:18 pm

villabromsgrove wrote:The fact that exactly the same thing is happening this season as in previous seasons makes it obvious .... the same players have been given a second chance. Hutton came on and Richards moved to centre back .... does that ring a bell? The removal of Baker and the arrival of Hutton destroyed our defensive shape. We knew it would happen as soon as we saw the change .... Di Matteo didn't!

The worst thing is that to everybody else it came as no surprise. I'm not sure we can turn this club around if we keep on lurching to the same old mistakes and creating new humiliations. I haven't seen us put together a really good 90 minutes for over a year and even before then they were isolated occurrences. We only seem to play well for one half or more often even less. If we score we then drop back and concede before heads drop and we concede again. New players only seem to get reduced to the same level.

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