Villa: From The Dumps To The Brink Of Greatness

Shocking Villa!

Aston Villa had what can only be described as a shocking month in which they failed to win one single game. The first match was the killer for the Villans this month when Villa took on Spursat White Hart Lane, they set out defensively to soak up the pressure and hit Spurs on the break.



In the 37th minute Adama Traore shot clear to score a fantastic counter attack goal and make it 1-0. Now you would think that Spurs would throw everything at The Villans but this did not happen and Villa looked comfortable towards the end of the first half and beginning of the second half. Richards and Dendocker were immense at the back and Villa had it under control until the 4th added minute of the 3 minutes added on when midfielder Christian Erikssen went over very easily in the box and shockingly a penalty was given. The Villa defenders surrounded Jon Moss to remonstrate but the decision stood and Korean Son Heung-Min slotted away the penalty,which turned into the last kick of the match to give Spurs, what is a lucky 1-1 draw.


Erikssen went down way to easily

Then Villa, who must have had a hangover because of that result against Spurs because they then played a Sunderland side who were inept of any confidence but completely crumbled and on the stroke of half time an own goal from Micah Richards gave Sunderland the lead and it is understood that Steven Gerrard went mad in the changing room.

Things did not improve however and Sunderland, through Jermain Defoe peppered Hahn's goal and if it was not for him,Defoe would have had five goals. Seb Larssen got the winner for Sunderland to give Villa manager Steven Gerrard a big headache.

Next up was a Capital One Cup clash with Welsh side Cardiff City and this was a drab, dire match with little or no chances at all. Cardiff worked there socks off for there manager Russell Slade and only 9,045 people turned up as the match went to penalties.

Fabio missed the first penalty for Cardiff with Jordan Ayew scoring for Villa, then penalties from Malone, Manga, Dikgacoi, Mason and Gunnarson then scored for Cardiff with Carroll, Gil, Traore and Dendoncker with Richards missing his penalty. So up stepped Vertout, who smashed the ball home to put the pressure on Ameobi to keep Cardiff in the match, but he missed and Villa went sailing through.

Finally was the West Ham match this month, a match that Villa should have really won too. They started brightly enough but it was West Ham who struck first with Victor Moses striking a quite brilliant free kick. Aston Villa though did not crumble this time, and when Scott Sinclair found himself one on one he was took down and won a penalty in which he converted himself.

Villa though were only level for a grand total of seven minutes when a mistake from Veretout allowed Diafra Sakho to score West Ham's second goal of the game with a simple finish. Aston Villa and referee's got worseafter half time when Jack Grealish crossed into the box for Gayle to put away but the goal was deemed offside even though replays show he was at least 2 yards on side.


Moses grabbed a goal on the way to a 3-1 victory for West Ham

To compound Villa's misery, West Ham got a third in time added on to make it West Ham 3 - 1 Aston Villa and I for sure would not have wanted to be Gerrard's Villa side.

Gerrard's Thoughts

I am so pissed off with my team at the moment, it has been a disaster month for us but atleast we defeated Cardiff in the cup. There have been a few bright sparks this month, but not many and I have also read them all the riot act after each game this month. I feel that Jordan Veretout and Jordan Ayew have come out of this month with a lot of respect and credit. But the rest of my squad need to book there bloody ideas up before they get sold!

League Table

Man City are still top with United in second place, Bournemouth are the shock side early on this season, lying in 6th place with Southampton and Leicester just behind them. Stoke are still yet to score a point, with Palace and Swansea in the bottom three too. Then there are just two points covering 6th place to 17th place in the table.

Based on the poor performance this month there are no Villa player of the month awards.

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Villa: From The Dumps To The Brink Of Greatness

Villa Do Not Improve

Aston Villa's form has continued to nose dive this month, which included a quite embarrassing loss in the Capital One Cup. Villa, who played five matches this month had an absolute disaster in all but one of them matches.

Only two players came out of the month with any sort of credit and none of them were the defenders that is for sure. Jordan Vertout and Adama Traore are the two players. Traore's trickery caused problems for the defence and he chipped in with two goals also.



Vertout, though was the stand out performer for The Villans and scored two goals too. The Frenchman though was dreadfully let down by his teammates, especially his defenders. they performed dreadfully and looked two paces short of there opposition.


Villa play at Selhurst Park

The month started with a trip to Selhurst Park to play Crystal Palace, when Bolasie made it 1-0 to palace with a bullet header things were not looking great for Villa, they had already seen Palace spurn several chances and Gerrard looked like a man with the weight of the world on his shoulders.

That seemed to change when Jordan Vertout scored an unlikely equaliser, it was great play by Ayew, who released Vertout and with a clinical finish made it 1-1.


Bamford hit the third goal in a Palace rout over Villa

That, though was a one off and Palace through first Bamford and then Cabaye and Bolasie all went close before Bolasie finally made it 2-1 to Palace with a fantastic curling effort into the top right hand corner and it was no less that Palace deserved.

Now you think Gerrard would have gave them a bollocking at half time but it did not work as Palace carried on peppering the goal of Werner Hahn and it paid off eventually with Palace's 18th shot of the match and Patrick Bamford was the man to get the third goal of the match and Villa were most definitely in trouble. Traore had a rare burst down the line and it ended in a waste and then Palace finished off the job in the 69th minute through striker Bakary Sako compounded Villa's misery, although not that there were any Villa fans left in Selhurst Park by then!

Villa then had a home match against Stoke with manager Steven Gerrard demanding an improvement, but he got a lackluster performance but a lucky victory, thanks to the ever impressive Jordan Vertout, he was yet again all over the park but this match will hardly be remembered as there was only a handful of shots on target in the whole match.

Aston Villa then went to Norwich to try and repair the damage from there last away match at Crystal Palace and they did to an extent but still there defence were as leaky as a broken tap. So when Adama Traore scored the first goal in just the second minute, Villa looked like a team again. Villa hit a couple of shot off but it was Norwich who hit back through Congolese striker Dieumerci Mbokani, who hit the net with a scruffy goal but they all count.


Traore's goal was not enough to help Villa to a win

Norwich then hit a second through experienced winger Matt Jarvis, with a impeccable free kick that Hahn stood no chance at all. Norwich had the bit between there teeth now with Mbokani and Hoolahan going close but it was Villa to strike with almost the last kick of the half and make it 2-2. Tom Carroll, on loan from Spurs hit a shot from around 12 yards out to make it 2-2 just before the break. Norwich were obviously given a dressing down at half time and it took just 10 minutes for Matt Jarvis to give The Canaries a slender lead and was well deserved. But this Villa side was not going to give up for there manager today and in the first minute of added on time Jordan Ayew burst through to save a point for Villa.

On the highs of the Norwich match, Villa went to Molineux for a midlands derby against Wolves and fans were optimistic of a good result, Wolves however were going well in the Championship, occupying a play off spot but Villa should still win.

Villa though, were not expecting the performance that Wolves put in. They were literally all over the pitch, competing for every ball, it was a close match in the first half where both Grealish and Carroll went close but the chances fell more for the hosts, with Le Fondre and Coady going close.


The Hattrick hero

In the second half however, we were treated to a masterclass, but the masterclass was from Wolves. Icelandic striker Bjorn Sigurosen scored the first goal from a corner and Wolves were on there way, Villa fans were already booing at this point and there was even plaques saying Gerrard out!

Ojo then scored two goals in four minute for the hosts and Villa were dead and buried by the time Icelandic striker Bjorn Sigurosen score the 4th and 5th goals, Villa had lost 5-0 and there was going to be ramifications about the match that was for sure.

Villa then finished the month off with yet another defeat, at the hands of Swansea City. Traore got the ball rolling in the 16th minute and then in the second half Swansea got the two goals thy needed to register another victory for the welsh side and it was goals through Bafetimbi Gomes.

Gerrards View

It is awful isn't it! There is something about this side that tells me they could well be great but we must get the team to work together more! Our defence has been just awful, we can not tackle, we can not even really do much at the moment and it is something that I must get sorted quickly as we do not want a relegation fight now do we!

Rest assured I will get this sorted out as soon as I can and we will be back to winning ways. I would also like to say sorry to our fans for our SHIT display against Wolves and I am personally refunding every villa fan who bought a ticket.

Premier League Table

Bournemouth are still flying high in 6th places and at the moment are just 7 points behind leaders Manchester United, who are one point ahead of Manchester City with Chelsea a point further back in third.

Stoke are bottom with one point, Leicester are 10 point clear of Stoke in 19th place and Villa, West Brom, Watford and Everton all on 12 points.

Villa Player Of The Month

Jordan Vertout has been the stand out player and hopefully the other players will see how he puts his body on the line for his side's cause in future.

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