The Villans
Despite huge debts and a rather threadbare squad Villa are blessed with "Superb" youth facilities and "Top" training facilities. Not a bad place to start.
View attachment 423754So this is my starting tactic, yet to be used so we will see how it goes. I have so far never had any success with tactics that don't operate with wide men but i'm hoping this will be the changing of the tide. I have been a bit risky going for a possession tactic with a side like Aston Villa but seeing as we will have an awful lot of midfielders on the pitch at one time, as well as overlapping wing backs i see no reason why it can't work. Of course this is all in theory. I will probably know whether it is working or not by November.
The Squad
Well, it is very one dimensional:
Keepers:
View attachment 423753
Brad Guzan will be my starter with Jed Steer getting game time in cup matches and late on in the season (if we are hovering aimlessly in mid table, which is what i hope for now). As for Shay Given, he is way past it and the only way i can see him any first team action is if both keepers get injured somehow.
Defenders: View attachment 423752A very nice set of wing backs in the form of Matt Lowton and Antonio Luna, especially Luna who can still develop has very handy stats. Joe Bennett, currently injured, will inject pace late on hopefully (all 18 of it) and Alan Hutton i will be looking to let go of next season and bring someone new in (disabled first season transfer budgets to make it more realistic).
View attachment 423750Nice set of centre backs, nothing really to talk about here as i haven't yet decided who will be my starting pairing and who will be warming the bench. The first set of games will decide that.
Midfielders:
View attachment 423747
My midfielders seem to fit in pretty well to my tactic (which was not made to suit their preferred roles and duties). I have already put Yacuba Sylla on a training regime to play DM. Due to my liking of Fabian Delph IRL he will be my starting DLP along with El Ahmedi and Bacuna supporting him in the midfield trio. Westwood will also be getting game time while Herd will just be sitting in my squad not doing much at all really.
Attackers:
View attachment 423740
Well 5 injuries all more than 3 weeks leaves me with literally no options early on, though when people slowly come back to fitness my favoured starting pairing would be Benteke and Weimann. I choose Weimann over Agbonlahor due to his superior technical and attacking stats but Agbonlahor in the latter stages of the half with his pace should have a great effect. One to watch for the future is Jordan Graham, 18, who has got great pace and 16 crossing.
So there's my first post in what i hope will be a long and successful Aston Villa career.
Next update will be a transfer round up (i can already tell you that there won't be much action), and a round up of pre season results. From there i will continue to do monthly updates.
View attachment 423754So this is my starting tactic, yet to be used so we will see how it goes. I have so far never had any success with tactics that don't operate with wide men but i'm hoping this will be the changing of the tide. I have been a bit risky going for a possession tactic with a side like Aston Villa but seeing as we will have an awful lot of midfielders on the pitch at one time, as well as overlapping wing backs i see no reason why it can't work. Of course this is all in theory. I will probably know whether it is working or not by November.
The Squad
Well, it is very one dimensional:
Keepers:
View attachment 423753
Brad Guzan will be my starter with Jed Steer getting game time in cup matches and late on in the season (if we are hovering aimlessly in mid table, which is what i hope for now). As for Shay Given, he is way past it and the only way i can see him any first team action is if both keepers get injured somehow.
Defenders: View attachment 423752A very nice set of wing backs in the form of Matt Lowton and Antonio Luna, especially Luna who can still develop has very handy stats. Joe Bennett, currently injured, will inject pace late on hopefully (all 18 of it) and Alan Hutton i will be looking to let go of next season and bring someone new in (disabled first season transfer budgets to make it more realistic).
View attachment 423750Nice set of centre backs, nothing really to talk about here as i haven't yet decided who will be my starting pairing and who will be warming the bench. The first set of games will decide that.
Midfielders:
View attachment 423747
My midfielders seem to fit in pretty well to my tactic (which was not made to suit their preferred roles and duties). I have already put Yacuba Sylla on a training regime to play DM. Due to my liking of Fabian Delph IRL he will be my starting DLP along with El Ahmedi and Bacuna supporting him in the midfield trio. Westwood will also be getting game time while Herd will just be sitting in my squad not doing much at all really.
Attackers:
View attachment 423740
Well 5 injuries all more than 3 weeks leaves me with literally no options early on, though when people slowly come back to fitness my favoured starting pairing would be Benteke and Weimann. I choose Weimann over Agbonlahor due to his superior technical and attacking stats but Agbonlahor in the latter stages of the half with his pace should have a great effect. One to watch for the future is Jordan Graham, 18, who has got great pace and 16 crossing.
So there's my first post in what i hope will be a long and successful Aston Villa career.
Next update will be a transfer round up (i can already tell you that there won't be much action), and a round up of pre season results. From there i will continue to do monthly updates.
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! Once again a close game but once again Benteke proves to be the differance. One a header the other a cool finish after a one on one.