Pundit Don Goodman has given a damning view on Aston Villa.
Aston Villa’s Mile Jedinak looks dejected
Pundit Don Goodman has told Sky Sports’ EFL Weekly podcast that he thinks Aston Villa have an almost insurmountable gap to the automatic promotion places even at such an early stage.
Villa drew for the fifth game in a row as they played out a 1-1 draw with Barnsley in midweek, piling the pressure on manager Roberto Di Matteo.
It’s now 11 points dropped from winning positions this season, and six goals conceded in the last ten minutes of games as Villa have collapsed on a regular basis so far this season.
General view of Villa Park
Today, Villa travel to Deepdale to take on Preston North End, with Lilywhites boss and ex-Villa defender Simon Grayson no doubt keen to pile the misery on Di Matteo.
Viewed as a pre-season promotion contender having splashed the cash on the likes of Pierluigi Gollini, Ritchie De Laet, Tommy Elphick, James Chester, Mile Jedinak, Aaron Tshibola, Albert Adomah, Ross McCormack and Jonathan Kodjia, Villa have been a major disappointment so far this term.
General view before the game – Villa Park
Already, Villa lie ten points off automatic promotion already, and 12 points behind league leaders Newcastle United as dreams of a top two finish are quickly drifting away.
Ahead of today’s game at Deepdale, pundit Don Goodman has told Sky Sports’ EFL Weekly podcast that he thinks Villa’s games have all been tight this season having scored ten goals and conceded ten goals in ten games.
Goodman added that he thinks there could be some hangover from last season’s relegation despite the turnover of players, and thinks the gap to the top two may already be insurmountable for Villa, and a top six battle is now the best Di Matteo’s men can hope for.
Aston Villa Manager Roberto Di Matteo applauds their fans
“They’re involved in tight games, first and foremost,” said Goodman. “In the ten games that they’ve played, they’ve scored and they’ve conceded ten, so with the exception of the Rotherham game – which was their only win of the season, winning 3-0 – the rest of their games have been very, very tight affairs.”
“Nerves can kick in, you drop deeper, you’ll invite the opposition on, and I noticed that Barnsley’s goal came from a set piece, and you’ve got to defend those. There may still be a tiny hangover from last season, although half the team at least is new, so you wouldn’t have thought that would have affected them.”
“Clearly, the way they keep throwing points away has to stop. They’ve already given the top two a big gap – I would possibly say almost an insurmountable gap, even at this early stage. That means that they’re now scrapping and fighting to get in the top six, and they’re seven points off that. Something has got to change very, very quickly for Aston Villa because, ten games in, you can’t really make the argument that they’re still bedding players in,” he added.
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