Alex Berwick

Big day for Duran. Different role starting the game to coming on with 30 to go.

I get the need for changes. Lot of games. But big one this. Have to get a result today. #avfc

I hope so!

Played from the left though. Much better there.

Oh and McGinn 10. Rogers left. Team looks better balanced. #avfc

Mings was absolutely superb. Proper defending. And a real leader. We manage the carnage better with him.

Would love to get him in the team on a regular basis. #avfc

Better. Need to be better still (pretty wobbly for 20 mins after their goal), but it’s a step in the right direction.

Should have won by more, and some positive signs. But result was king tonight and we got it.

Need to back it up Saturday now. #avfc

Well that was great (from about 10 mins in). Grinning from ear to ear.

Brentford have been chaos. But #avfc played the half well.

Delighted for Rogers.

Lovely to have Ty back.

They do at home. They get a bit muddled away. Didn’t really press at all at Fulham which was last time I saw them for 90.

I’d imagine Brentford will sit in a mid/low block, try not to press until the ball goes into the tens, then hound them & leave Schade, Wissa, Mbuemo high for turnovers.

Obviously delighted to see Mings. But I’m sceptical that team fixes our current issues.

Youri & Rogers look gassed. And the big thing about no Torres (understand why he’s ‘rested’) is that Youri will have to be exceptional in build up.

Let’s see. Feels a bit like ‘just play better’ to me.

I’d like Villa to go back to the 3-2 for now. Makes us more secure in the centre and means we take less risks when getting Torres wider to receive the ball (which is what we’re doing now).

How we make that shape is the tricky part. Not sure who the right midfield two are.

But no real other way of playing, because can’t stretch down the left (no pace), can’t play through the centre (too congested) and no one running beyond Watkins.

Villa just haven’t found the right combination of players, I don’t think.

Torres btw is higher & wider (Villa gravitating left again) because teams are wise to us trying to get the ball into the 10’s between the lines. So the centre is becoming more congested. Trying to get him on the ball in space. Means our rest defence is more out of sync than it was.

Digne has been brilliant for Villa. But never gets to the byline. So, again it’s predicable / slow. Allows defences to get set as he’s going to cross from deep or pass back.

But then if you take Digne out, Torres is exposed (& not great 1 v 1 defensively).

Also causes Bailey a problem. Because Rogers, Watkins, Ramsey, the high left back. Villa gravitate left. So Bailey finds himself on the ball with no one in the same postcode (& no one running beyond).

So he either has to beat his man or go back.

All becomes predictable.

Villa’s problem - increasingly - is finding combinations that bring out the best in other players.

I like Rogers. But I know he’s going to come deep and try and turn. So that’s easy to play against now. And causes Watkins a problem, because defences know no one is running beyond him.

Not a criticism as such. I think Kamara is a good passer. And clearly working to get better. But it’s just that extra touch can be critical when trying to move teams around etc.

Youri can play like Luiz. Super passer. But also think he’s a tiny bit lightweight sometimes out of possession.

What Luiz’s big skill was moving the ball quickly with purpose. He could change the pace of a possession.

Kamara is secure in possession. Less risky in some ways. But often needs a touch that Luiz wouldn’t have taken. So can slow the game down.

We don’t have a creative number 10 though, aside from Buendia.

I’d like this, yes.

It’s this idea that McGinn is somehow a problem for us at the moment that I can’t get my head around. People seem obsessed with him.

He gets in this team every week right now. And when the time comes that he doesn’t, we’ll be an amazing side.

Don’t disagree at all. There’s more too, thought Youri (who’s been brilliant) looked a shell yesterday.

Bad performances everywhere. But McGinn has been one of our ‘least bad’ performers of recent weeks. And team has played better with him as the 10.

A big, big issue with us at the moment is that you defend from the front. Whether that’s holding the ball to relieve pressure or putting defenders playing out under pressure, or bringing others into play, or whatever.

Some contribute even when playing poorly. Some don’t.

I think you have to separate the ‘what we are doing in front of goal’ from ‘how the team works with those players in it’

Agree most of the attacking players aren’t playing well enough. But for some, they still serve a function for the team when they aren’t taking their chances.

The ball not sticking with the forward players is a big part of our defensive issues. No doubt about it.

Think it’s really quite weird that people are choosing this week to single out McGinn btw.

Not been at his best for a good while now. But always contributes. Always involved. 7 or 8 way below his level yesterday.

I think soon, we might move beyond him. Now, we really need him.

Probably. But doesn’t help that the team seems disjointed because the guy we are playing in the main playmaking role is using the ball appallingly.

He’ll come good. He’s so young. He’s come so far so quick. But no way he’s a better option than McGinn right now.

Rogers could definitely do it, in time. But his use of the ball at the moment is really really poor.

We swapped them back yesterday and looked lost again.

In our best performances last season - Bailey right, McGinn central, Tielemans left.

I don’t think McGinn is perfect by any stretch. But Rogers / Bailey don’t keep hold of the ball well enough to play there.

Juve was our least chaotic performance for 6 weeks. Big reason why is McGinn central.

Be interesting to know where we shoot from.

Are we trying to walk it in?