Another eye watering performance on Saturday meant the Villa faithful’s anger grew louder and louder with anger. There were some awful performances on the pitch and there is no excuse fot them from either the players or the caretaker manager. It was good to see Toner making his debut and Grealish coming back into the frame, although what I’m more concerned about is the promising star that is Adama Traoré, a young man many of us have forgotten about.
Bought from FC Barcelona for a not inconsiderable sum, he has had one of the most difficult seasons of any of the Villa players. Getting two injuries that ruled him out for lengthy periods should tell us that he is either injury prone or one unlucky player. Regardless of this, we all know the qualities that this player has, even when he might be too greedy on the ball at times. He is still a young man and he will learn: nobody gets into the Barcelona youth team and earns a place in the senior squad without having serious potential. As fans, we must stick with this man and praise him. After reading the Aston Villa website yesterday, which featured an interview with Adama Traoré, I felt that he wants to fight for his place.
“I felt sad because I couldn’t help my team-mates. Over the past few months, overall, I have been working really hard. The stadium is incredible and it is just fantastic when everyone is happy and excited following a goal. I hope that is that is going to happen again soon – to get good vibes and see the team score.”
He has spent a lot of his time with the U21s, improving his fitness, and he, along with Grealish, has helped the U21s reach the Division 2 play-off final, which shows that we do have talent in our youth team and just need a manager who can utilise it. I do understand the reasons behind not playing more of the U21 players in the senior team, although if we had done this sooner, possibly back in January when we were struggling to sign players, we might not be in the position we are in today. Many of our young players have the fight, spirit and determination to do well and, like Adama Traoré, they are working as hard as they can to get to the top. Meanwhile, it seems that listless players like Bacuna, Richards and Lescott all think they deserve their places in the starting line-up. I think the team would benefit greatly from the addition of players who are hungry and who want to prove themselves. It’s a real shame that Traoré and Grealish are being kept out of the starting XI when they could be the future of this club. Will limited chances, pathetic performances and reported dresssing room disharmony spur them to move on this summer? I hope not.
I can’t imagine having a squad with Amavi, Traoré, Grealish and Green in it yet not using those who are fit even when their more experienced counterparts are floundering. I hope that our new manager, whoever he may be, uses the youth players for the club’s benefit because they could form the core of our team next season. Surely it is less expensive, and better for the squad, to promote players from the youth team rather than buy expensive ones from abroad. The new manager needs to put this situation right and money needs to be pumped into the academy to kick-start the rebuilding of the club.
Our next game is away against Watford and I would like to see Eric Black bringing more of the youth players in to indicate that he is working towards a brighter, more promising future for Aston Villa Football Club.
