Jordan Ayew among Five players key to Aston Villa and Remi Garde’s survival hopes

Published on: 20 November 2015
Jordan Ayew among Five players key to Aston Villa and Remi Garde’s survival hopes
Jordan Ayew

Remi Garde didn’t give much away with his steely, unyielding gaze at White Hart Lane on the day he was announced as Aston Villa boss, but it wasn’t hard to imagine what he was thinking about – most probably the size of the job on his hands.

Villa played some decent stuff over the 90 minutes – they have at times this season – but that was inevitably interspersed by too many moments of bewildering ineptitude.

A fine example was the first Spurs goal, where Ciaran Clark seemed more bothered about grappling with Mousa Dembele rather than getting goal-side of him and putting a tackle in.

Villa went on to lose the game 3-1. They currently sit bottom after one win in 12, five points from safety. They don’t look like scoring most of the time, and aren’t particularly adept at keeping the ball out their own net either.

In the last four seasons they’ve finished 16th, 15th, 15th and 17th. A poisoned chalice can’t be measured scientifically, but the Villa job has come perhaps as close to defining it as any other job in recent years.

However, Garde must’ve seen something in the challenge that made him want to take it. Other clubs may not be swarming around him, but he’s got a decent enough CV to suggest that Villa aren’t the only ones in recent times to offer him a job.

Here are five players that could prove to be key for him…

Micah Richards: 

More pertinent given that Villa’s other defender who hasn’t been too bad this season, left-back Jordan Amavi, looks like he may be out for a long time after suffering a sickening injury on duty for France U21s.

At the age of 27, Richards seems to have lost his way a bit. A player who won the Premier League title with the club of his youth in 2011, he only started nine league games in his last two seasons at Manchester City.

AdTech AdLast year he moved to Fiorentina on-loan – a bold move given the steadfast reluctance of English players to move abroad – but made just 10 Serie A appearances there. Now he’s back in the city of his birth, captaining a fallen giant.

It still feels like Richards has got a lot to give, and he will need to show it in the coming months. He’s won 70 duels so far this season; only Amavi out of the defence has won more.

Jack Grealish

There isn’t much doubt that Grealish is Aston Villa’s most promising talent at the moment, but things haven’t quite clicked into gear yet like they did at the end of last term.

He’s only scored one goal and is yet to register an assist this season in the league. However it’s unfair to burden a 20-year-old who’s just made 14 Premier League starts with the task of taking control of games, given what’s going on around him.

But he can be that good.

Grealish has completed 19 take ons this season.

Only Amavi has completed more take-ons than Grealish for Villa this term, and it’s that ability to ceaselessly drift past players that makes him beguiling to watch. The socks rolled down to the ankles only enhance the feeling that he’s an old school player in the modern day.

He will have his off days, but his performance against Liverpool in the FA Cup semi-final last term and his goal against Leicester this season simply show the depth of potential.

Tim Sherwood’s main success was integrating him into the first-team.

Jordan Ayew

Arriving from Lorient in the summer, Jordan Ayew hasn’t hit the same heights in the Premier League as his brother Andre has at Swansea City yet.

But with Jordan in recent weeks, there’s a feeling that his talent and ability to affect games is just starting to bubble to the surface.

It was evident in the Ayew derby – the day before Sherwood got the sack – although his goal against the Swans at Villa Park didn’t prove to be enough to stop yet another defeat.

His performance against Spurs was even better. Coming on as a substitute towards the end of half-time, he scored a goal (albeit deflected), created a chance and attempted eight take-ons. He exuded energy and confidence, giving Villa a hint of purpose going forward.

He’s the one most likely to provide that purpose going forward this season.

Adama Traore

You can’t pin all your hopes on a 20-year-old Jack Grealish, and you can’t pin all your hopes on a 19-year-old Adama Traore either. Especially when you consider the latter is yet to start a Premier League game.

Traore signed for Villa in the summer for a reported fee of £7 million (as per BBC Sport), from Barcelona no less. Almost all of his appearances were for their B side, but the fact that he’s been used in La Liga once and the Champions League once (from the bench) shows Traore possesses talent.

It was Traore who made Villa’s goal away at Crystal Palace, a devastating run down the right-hand side past Jason Puncheon, followed by a cross that was turned into his own net by Pape Souare. It was the sort of class that’s in short supply at Villa Park.

Upon signing him, Sherwood said (as per BBC Sport): ”He makes his mind up when he gets the ball and those players are rare – there aren’t many players in the Premier League that can do that.”

The goal he made against Palace was the perfect example of this. He may not start many, but he should be utilised when possible.

 

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