Villa haven’t beaten Brentford in a while. Actually over 60 years to be precise. Billy Grant caught up with Ryan Pitcher from Heart Of  The Holte Aston Villa Blog (@HeartOfThe Holte) to chat overspending Villa. Is Steve Bruce really the man to take them up? And playing pub teams like Brentford. 

Villa Are Back. How true is this statement? 

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There’s no truth in it at all! Until such a time when we are back playing Premier League football then this statement means diddly squat. I’d even go as far as saying that we wouldn’t just need to be plying our trade in the top flight but we’d have to be at least somewhat competitive too, three or four consecutive seasons in the top half. That for me would constitute as Villa being back and creating a bit of noise. 

Putting everything into perspective and casting an envious eye over the Prem’ right now and 11 clubs immediately spring to the fore and I’m left bewildered at how we’re now ‘looking up’ standings wise to the likes of Bournemouth, Brighton, Burnley, Cardiff, Crystal Palace, Fulham, Huddersfield, Leicester, Southampton, Watford and Wolves. 

Look – nobody has a divine right to play at ‘x’ level based on whatever credentials that you or I believe trumps another clubs’ i.e stadia and training facilities, trophy cabinet and fan base etc.  

We outdo all of those clubs in every aforementioned department and yet here we are in the Championship. This for me only goes to highlight just how poor our football club has been ran for most of the past decade. 

Lets not beat around the bush here. You tried to spend your way out of this league the last two seasons and it didn’t work. Is this last chance saloon for Villa? 

I know that this is something we touched upon during pre-season when I gave you my predictions for the seasons. As far as I’m concerned you could give Bruce as much cash as you like and rack up a huge weekly wage bill like we currently have and we still won’t get promoted. The proof is in the football that is played week-in-week-out. 

Unfortunately I believe that we’re going to learn the hard way. Stick with Bruce for this whole season and we will not be going up and then it really could end up being a catastrophe. 

Another summer whereby we’d be sweating on whether or not we keep our talismanic Jack Grealish for another season. If we don’t go up this season I can’t see him staying put yet again. 

No more parachute money and with a lofty wage bill there is a potential for FFP implications – regardless of the wealth of our new majority shareholders. 

By the time someone in authority actually realises that this dinosaur is actually stunting our potential as oppose to moving us forward, then I fear it’ll be far too late. Gamble and we give ourselves a chance. 

It’s clear from our past discussions and what you’ve said above that you are not a fan of Steve Bruce. Were you excited about the Theirry Henry to Villa umours? Who would you like to be in charge at your club? 

I was excited in a sense that it looked likely that Bruce’s time was up. I know that many pointed to the Frenchman’s lack of experience but had the rumour come to fruition and played out as reported then he would’ve had Steve Bould as his assistant. That would have served as the balancer in this hypothetical scenario.

 
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You can reel off as many statistics as you like, our home form under Bruce being one of the favourites that the ‘stability brigade’ like to shove down your throat but like I’ve always said – and it’s something that I’ve discussed with Beesotted before – because of the calibre of player we have at our disposal then we will see off most teams at this level. This has nothing to do with Bruce’s ability (or lack of) to set-up an XI that can play expansive free-flowing attacking football. 

I ask Villa fans all the time: from a tactical perspective what improvements have you seen since Bruce came in? What’s noticeably different each week? Can you tell me what you think they’ve worked on the training ground this week? 

They look at me in utter bewilderment.

The fact is if Villa didn’t have the unsustainable budget that it operates from and the individual player quality that this enables us to have then Bruce would be out on his arse because we’d be nowhere. 

This is a manager who’ll play one up top against the likes of Wigan’ at home. If we’re up against a team with four in the middle and we’ve got 5 – you wouldn’t ever be able to notice. It’s things like this that truly baffles me. 

His insistence on playing Jedi as a centre-half when we have at least two other candidates that would better occupy. Playing out from the back? Not a chance. Continuously watching a team punt it 60 yards to Kodjia who has nobody in claret and blue within 30 yards if him or worst still we carry on when wee Hepburn-Murphy comes on. It just doesn’t make sense.

The best trait in a manager is one that gets the best out of what he has and the budget he operates from. Take your man Dean Smith, I’d have him in at Villa in a heartbeat. He’s working off of peanuts in comparison to what we’ve got and working miracles in doing so. 

Not only does he encourage his team to play football, work it quickly and the like but he sets up differently dependent on the strengths and weaknesses of your opponent. He gets the best out of what he’s got to work with. To think what he could do here with the talented (and expensive) bunch that we have here at Villa. 

Whatever anyone may say, you have a strong side on paper. Jack Grealish is still with Villa and looks like he will stay at least until January as he won’t move in this dodgy loan window unless he goes to Barcelona or Real Madrid as no-one in The Championship can afford his wages.  Who are you excited about this season? 

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Well in the pre-season write-up I did for you I tipped Andre Green as the man to watch. He’s played a bit and he just looks a little green at the moment, possibly a bit too eager to impress and make up for lost time (in the treatment room). He undoubtedly possesses the quality but just needs to calm it down a touch. I also pin-pointed the young Irish lad Jake Doyle-Hayes but sense his game time will be restricted what with our several other central midfield options. 

John McGinn has come in from Hibs and looks an absolute baller. He’s only played two games but has three assists already. His graft and guile in the middle of the park is something pretty special. 

We actually as fans LOVED Villa fans (started by the infamous Simon Chateley) calling us a #PubTeam. The problem is Aston Villa haven’t beaten this Pub Team in the league since the year we were relegated from the top flight in 1947. Do you fear playing The Bees? How do you think the game will pan out? 

I fear playing anyone that has more quality than us and/or has a manager at the helm with a bit of savvy about him. Despite the past results against Brentford I still don’t think you possess more quality than us but in Dean Smith you have someone who knows what it takes to beat us. A man that can think outside of the box a little rather than being lulled into individual battles all over the park. Smith really does get you ticking as a unit.

Both teams are going into the game unbeaten, but from a Villa perspective it hasn’t been comfortable viewing in any of them. We got away with one against Wigan, likewise versus Yeovil in the cup and then on Saturday we couldn’t break the resolve of 10-man Ipswich. This is the first match I go into it thinking that we might have real problems and could quite easily get played off the park – just as you did in January 2017 and you don’t half like to remind me of it! 

In terms of individuals, it looks like Neal Maupay (a player I always bought on Championship Manager 2016) is starting to find his scoring boots and so we’ll have to keep close tabs on him. 

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The ‘ginger Pirlo’ Ryan Woods always causes us problems, literally everything goes through him and we haven’t got near him in any of our previous encounters. Hopefully the Stoke links are a bit off-putting and he just has a day off! (He’ll probably be on the bench again on Wednesday. He’s played zero league minutes so far this season due to transfer nonsense – Ed). That or Bruce actually realises that if we cut the supply pipe then it gives us a chance of gaining maximum points.

Give us a score prediction 

I’ll go with an optimistic 1-1 but you’re a bogey side of ours it would appear and so it wouldn’t surprise me if you nick it 2-1. Let’s hope I’m proved wrong though!

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