FourFourTwo UK – September 2019

FFTVERDICT

FourFourTwo Season Preview 2019-20 7

JOHNMcGINN

“We’vegotMcGinn,SuperJohnMcGinn,I just

don’tthinkyouunderstand,”chanttheVilla

fansabouttheScottishinternationalmidfielder.

McGinn’s quality,physicalityandtempo-setting

energywonhimtwoplayeroftheyeargongs.

KEY PLAYER

16

TH

Replace Abraham’s goals

and survival is realistic,

with Grealish standing out.

VIEW FROM THE STAn DS

JAMIE CUTTERIDGE @JAMIECUTTERIDGE

The big talking point among the

fans is are we actually back? We

all see Villa’s potential, but the

squad needed a huge turnover.

This season will be different

because we’ll lose way more

matches, and we’re excited by

the prospect. Funny old game.

Our most underrated player is

James Chester. Often our only

available centre-back, he played

on through injuries to hold the

backline together.

Look out for 21-year-old Keinan

Davis, a powerful striker.

The best away ground is Spurs’

new stadium, where we go on the

opening weekend of the season.

The best away fans are Man

United’s. I hate to say it.

The player I’d happily drive to

another club is Henri Lansbury.

He needs a fresh start, bless him.

The opposition player I secretly

admire is the Sheffield United XI.

The pantomime villain will be

Jack Grealish. He’ll be accused

of diving, for which he wasn’t

punished once despite being the

second tier’s most fouled player.

The fans’ opinion of the gaffer is

that we love him. A lifelong Villa

fan, playing the best football

we’ve seen here in decades.

If he left, he should be replaced

by John Terry. He’s done a great

job of staying in the background.

He’s impressed enough to get it.

Save the date for Man United at

home. We haven’t beaten them

at ours in the league since the

‘You’ll never with anything with

kids’ game back in August 1995.

This season we’ll finish 14th,

and we’d bite your hand off for it.

FIVE-POIn T PLAn

1

WES THE GOALS

COMING FROM?

Chelsea loanee Tammy Abraham
smashed 25 Championship goals
last season – almost a third of Villa’s
total of 82. With a Tammy-shaped hole
in Smith’s forward line, the burden will
now fall across the broad shoulders of
record buy Wesley Moraes, the Brazilian
who scored 10 goals for Club Brugge
in the Belgian First Division last term.

2

HARNESS THE HOLTE END

With record season ticket sales
and the Wembley feelgood factor
still very much in full swing, the
Villa Park faithful can be a powerful,
positive force of nature if last season’s
mutual appreciation society stays
strong through good times and bad.

3

HIRE BUT DON’T FIRE

Having entered the close season
with around 17 senior players,
Villa were always going to recruit
heavily and quickly. This has raised the
spectre of Fulham’s summer splurge,
but Villa’s hires have been much less
scattershot, including former loanees
Kortney Hause, Anwar El Ghazi and
Tyrone Mings. The big lesson from the
Cottagers is not to change the starting
XI each week: give them time to settle.

4

KNOW WHO’S BOSS

John Terry, to his credit, faded into
the background along with fellow
first-team coach Richard O’Kelly,
as Smith let it be known who’s boss.
When Smith remarked on day one that
an excited Terry had turned up with his
pencil case, it was quite clear who was
master and who was apprentice. The
rest of the football world would do well
to remember that, rather than making
it all about Terry on the Premier League
legend’s top-flight return on August 10.

5

STRIKE A BALANCE

Villa fans love Smith’s will to win
(down to 10 men and throwing on
a striker at Rotherham was a big
winning moment in their promotion
charge), and it was a welcome antidote
to the stodgy style of his predecessor.
However, despite his promise to go toe
to toe with the big boys, the 48-year-old
knows that a pragmatic approach will
sometimes be needed for a team that
conceded 61 league goals last season.

SEASOn PREVIEW

TheWittonArms

is closest but can

charge for entry.

Villa Park is five

minutes by train

from New Street,

so many drink in

the city centre.

Level-headedand

objective views

often come from

@7500toHolte

across the pond.

Mixes news with

well-written and

thoughtful opinion.

Backin 1887,Villa’s

Archie Hunter was

the first to score

in every FA Cup

round. Nine men

have done it since.

Baltipie,chips,currysauce.

Culinary perfection in five

short words. If it ain’t broke,

don’t fix it. So eat it. Lots of it.

A civilisedpre-matchstrollaround

17th-centuryJacobeanhouse

Aston Hall and Park is pleasant

for the culturally-minded fan.

MATCHDAY PACK

AWAY PUB

SIGn ATURE DISH WHILE YOU’RE HERE...

DID YOU MUST FOLLOW

K nOW...?

AUGUST

10 Tottenham (a)

17 Bournemouth (h)

23 Everton (h)

31 Crystal Palace (a)

SEPTEMBER

16 West Ham (h)

22 Arsenal (a)

28 Burnley (h)

OCTOBER

5 Norwich (a)

19 Brighton (h)

26 Man City (a)

NOVEMBER

2 Liverpool (h)

9 Wolves (a)

23 Newcastle (h)

DECEMBER

1 Man United (a)

4 Chelsea (a)

7 Leicester (h)

14 Sheffield United (a)

21 Southampton (h)

26 Norwich (h)

28 Watford (a)

JANUARY

1 Burnley (a)

11 Man City (h)

18 Brighton (a)

21 Watford (h)

FEBRUARY

1 Bournemouth (a)

8 Tottenham (h)

22 Southampton (a)

29 Sheffield United (h)

MARCH

7 Leicester (a)

14 Chelsea (h)

21 Newcastle (a)

APRIL

4 Wolves (h)

11 Liverpool (a)

18 Man United (h)

25 Crystal Palace (h)

MAY

2 Everton (a)

9 Arsenal (h)

17 West Ham (a)

FIXTURES