Aston Villa Back on Track After Amex

Before the Brighton game at the weekend, Aston Villa supporters would have been forgiven for giving the League table a nervous once over to double check on the relegation picture.

After Villa’s single win in their past seven league games, Burnley’s sudden resurgence certainly had added a bit of anxiety to the season’s prospects. Luckily, in the short-term, the declining fortunes of both Leeds United and Everton had been offering Villa a buffer from the relegation zone.

The win over Brighton, though, swiftly eased both nerves and recent disgruntlement with the team. The victory saw a defence tighten with the return of Ezri Konsa, and a recalibrated attack – that included both Danny Ings and Ollie Watkins – take care of business in a more efficient manner than in recent weeks.

There’s still concerns in the midfield area. But while Brighton managed to break through on the flanks earlier on in the game, the likes of McGinn and Ramsey managed to close down the spaces and contribute well going forward. Luiz was having a decent game until two criminally needless sloppy passes led to him being hooked again by Steven Gerrard in the second half. Question marks still remain over the Brazilian.

If Villa continue their improvement and cut out the unforced errors, they shouldn’t have to worry about worst-case scenarios and should gain a comfortable mid-table position. There’s plenty of worse teams than Villa in the league, but based on the results of recent weeks, Villa need to learn the habit of beating them.

Ultimately, the rest of the season should act like a sandbox for Steven Gerrard to work out both his best formation and the players he can rely on.

In the latest My Old Man Said podcast we look at what was happening in terms of both the Villa attack and midfield. We also look closer at the Douglas Luiz situation, as well as going through the week’s Villa news.

In the Three Points section, we look at the impact of the invasion of the Ukraine on football, North Korea’s request to Sven-Göran Eriksson to fix their World Cup draw, and finally, a new contender to Scott Hogan, when it comes to the Touch Count.

Enjoy!

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Credits: 

David Michael – @oldmansaid 

Chris Budd – @BUDD_music

Phillip Shaw – @prsgame