Villa: From The Dumps To The Brink Of Greatness

August Report

From Gerrards Point Of View

Errrr from the first minute I walked through the doors at Villa Park I new I had a side that would work there socks off and give everything for the cause. I had made a fair few signings here since I came in and the six I have made, I am very pleased with.

Kevin (Nolan) will have to be played when I need him as he has fitness issues but can still do a great job for the football club. I was delighted to pick up Tom Carroll on loan because he is a very, very industrious midfielder who is going to do a great job for the club this season.

I used to always hate playing against Dwight (Gayle) when I was at Liverpool because he has really good skill and knows how to score a goal too. When I was at Liverpool, Martin (Skrtel) and Jamie (Carragher) hated playing against him too so when I signed him I was completely delighted.


Amavi seems to be one of the favourites for manager Steven Gerrard

I also decided to take a punt and sign Ashley Cole, I have had the privledge of playing in the same England team as this man and when he is on form, he is unstoppable but with Jordan Amavi hee too, I see him as a role model for the Frenchman as well as challenging for the first team starting spot with him.

Finally the last two signings I have made are Walter Hahn and Leander Dondecker. This goalkeeper comes highly recommended by Tony McAndrew and when he recommends you have to take notice. I do like what I have seen too but he only had his debut against Liverpool along with Leander so more on that later.

The first match of the month was away to Watford, which was my first competitive match in charge at Aston Villa. I went for a 4-2-4 formation with the wingers having to track back. I opted to drop Brad Guzan and gave Mark Bunn his chance and paired Lescott and Richards up in defence. We have loads of midfielders so went for Carroll and Veretout as the central midfielders, I see Veretout as a great holding midfielder which then allowed Carroll to roam a bit more.

I then went for Adama Traore on the wing with Jack Grealish on the other side, it meant that they could swap a lot to give the defence the run around. I then went for a Target man and a Complete Forward. So I opted for Rudy Gestede and Jordan Ayew to terrorise the Watford defence and terrorise them they did.



It was Watford who took the lead on the 26th minute when former Villa schoolboy striker Troy Deeney broke the offside trap to slide the ball home to the delight of the Watford fans. Villa though, and especially Gestede, who won Villa a penalty on the 40th minute, in which Jordan Ayew despatched and that started a crazy seven minute spell either side of half time for The Villans as Ayew scored just before the break with a wonderful crisp left shot after Traore put him through and then Ayew turned provider for Gestede to head home, although Deeney got Watford a second goal in the 87th minute, Villa won 3-2.

Up next was Villa's first home match of the season against Champions Chelsea. This time Kozak for Gestede was the only change for Villa and they started the brighter of the two sides with Carroll and Traore going close, but with Costa injured, his replacement Loic Remy opened up the scoring for the Champions after Richards and Ilori got confused allowing Remy to slot past Bunn.

Villa were behind for just two minutes as in the 14th minute Jordan Ayew made it 3 goals in 2 matches with a header from a Traore corner, Villa then dominated proceedings, testing Courtois on several occasions before half time.

In the second half Villa got there reward for there dominance when Adama Traore raced onto a through ball by Veretout and rounded the keeper to lot home and Chelsea were not at the races at all. Just when Villa thought they had won the match, another mistake by Micah Richards allowed Remy to score a second to save a point for the Londoners.


Sinclair started against Bradford City

Villa played Bradford City in the Capital One Cup after losing 3-0 to Man Utd and they were nervous because in Bradford you have a squad that can beat higher level opposition, Gerrard still made a raft of changes though with Sinclair, Nolan and Hutton getting chances to start and it JUST worked out with a Libor Kozak goal the difference between the sides.

Then with new signings Dendecker and Hahn starting the match against Liverpool, Villa were the underdogs but produced one of the bet performances for some time to defeat Klopp's men. Liverpool had not lost in the Premier League since the start of the season but had drew two of the three matches that they took part in, Villa were looking to bounce back from there defeat against Manchester United so Hahn and Dendecker were named in the starting 11 and starts were given to Bacuna at right back, Grealish on the wing and Gayle instead of Ayew.

Villa were the better side throughout and when the impressive Traore ran onto a ball from Veretout there was only going to be one outcome as the Spaniard drilled the ball home for 1-0. Villa should have gone two up just minutes later but Dwight Gayle, who is still trying to regain match sharpness wasted the chance.

Liverpool did threaten slightly but with Benteke only on the bench, Danny Ings did could not get his shots on target. Aston Villa were so dominant that the Liverpool fans even started sarcastically cheering when they did get the ball, so lateon in the match when Benteke hit the bar Villa ran down the other end and Jordan Ayew, who had replaced Gayle struck in injury time to give Villa comfortable 2-0 victory and kept there first clean sheet of the season.

Young Player Of The Month

Is it really any surprise that Adama Traore claimed the Barclays Young Player Of The Month Award. He scored 2 goals and assisted in 3 goals this month too, Traore finished with a average rating of 7.26 for the month too.

Villa Player Of The Month

This has to go to Jordan Ayew, who scored 4 goals in 3 matches this month and assisted with 2 goals too. The forward has been strong and powerfult his month.

League Table

Man City are top of the league with the neighbours United in second place. Then we have four teams on 7 points, Arsenal, Leicester, Chelsea and Aston Villa.

Stoke City are still yet to pick up a point this season with Sunderland, Newcastle and Bournemouth (who has played a game less) propping up the table.

Next update: Transfer Deadline Day Timeline

Villa: From The Dumps To The Brink Of Greatness

Transfer Deadline Day: As it happened

Aston Villa had an interesting deadline day today as they tried to sell the deadwood and allow Steven Gerrard to try to do some business and there were moves both in and out of the club, which we will find out about now.

Date: September 1st 2015

9am


Aston Villa receive five loan offers for promising striker Rushian Hepburn-Murphy from Stevenage, Morecambe, York, Northampton and Newport, which gave the young 17 year old a big choice. Stevenage have former England striker Teddy Sheringham in charge and the youngster decided to go for Stevenage because of Sheringham.

11.08am

Brighton launched a bid to sign left back Kieran Richardson for £575,000. He would be dropping down a division but would also get more first team football with a side who has a chance of winning promotion. With the defender knowing he will not get first team football, he jumped in his car and started travelling down to Brighton.

12.23pm

19 year old Dutch midfielder Stijn Lamers signs for Villa for free. The Dutchman signs for free from FC Eindhoven and manager Steven Gerrard believes he has bagged Villa a star of the future. This player has been watched in each of his three appearances and we decided to move straight away for him. He is going to be producing big things in three to four season's time.

2.33pm

Logan signs forVilla but will spend rest of season at MK Dons

Villa then went to MK Dons and bought 16 year old Hugo Logan for £250,000 plus numerous add-ons but loaned him straight back to MK Dons. The midfielder, who is thought to have a great career in football ahead of him but also has a lot of work ahead of him too.

3.45pm

Harry McKirdy has also been sent out on loan today with York winning his signature. The 18 year old is looking to get game time to improve his development and he is really looking forward to the challenge.

4pm

Richardson moves to Brighton

Richardson has decided to move away from Aston Villa, by agreeing terms with Brighton on a 3 year deal and a transfer fee believed to be £575,000 the player who played just 22 times last season after moving for free will start pastures new in the Championship.

5pm

With only four hours of the window remaining, Leicester City have come in with a £3,500,000 for Carlos Sanchez, Villa accept the bid and word is given to Sanchez to make his way to Leicester to talk contract but will it go through in time?

5.30pm

Gareth Barry could be on his way back to play for Villa

Aston Villa launch £3,200,000 for Everton's Gareth Barry but Everton want time to think it over so Villa manager Steven Gerrard also bids for £2,600,000 for AZ's Norwegian defensive midfielder Markus Henriksen.

6.15pm

Carlos Sanchez refuses first contract offered by Leicester and describes it as grossly unfair but Leicester say they will sit down with him again and revisit the contract on offer.

6.30pm

Due to the on going talks with Sanchez and Leicester, the move Gareth Barry has been pulled with Barry half way from Liverpool to Villa to discuss terms so he will be staying put.

8pm

Carlos Sanchez agrees to a 4 year deal worth £32,500 a week and Villa secure £3,500,000 for there troubles.

8.30pm (30 minutes until window closes)

Henriksen arrives for talks over a £2,600,000 move. It is understood that Villa know this will be touch and go whether he signs or not.

8.52pm

Markus Henriksen agrees a deal to sign for Villa, but the secretary forgets to process the information.

8.59pm

The transfer details are processed with one minute to spare, but Villa get news that they are too late so have missed out on signing Henriksen and Barry on what was a very frustrating transfer deadline day.

Well ultimately a very disappointing day for Villa manager Stevie G as he only landed Lamer and Logan. The failed bid for former captain Gareth Barry can be seen as unfortunate but the missed signing of Henriksen is there own fault. Villa have signed well this window though so let see how they do.

Villa: From The Dumps To The Brink Of Greatness

Gerrard On How Villa Are Working

With the next match against Tottenham nine days away, manager Steven Gerrard today talks about his squad, there strengths and what the need to do to improve.

Over the last couple of matches against Bradford and more against Liverpool, he seemed to have got the defence sorted whilst being a lot more clinical in front of goal.

When I first came into the club there was mayhem, no one new what role they were playing and it was up to me first to get each player playing in the position that they needed to be covering. For me it was making sure I got the defenders actually defending. It was improtant for players like Micah (Richards) and Joleon (Lescott) to show the younger players the right way to defend.


Ayew has performed well this season

As for the strikers they just needed a confidence boost and to be shown that they are believed in because if they can not score, then we do not win but luckily for us that hasn't happened as Jordan (Ayew), Libor (Kozak) and Rudy (Gestede) have all got on the score-sheet this season already and I hope they will in the future too.