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When Jack Grealish left for Manchester City, the Aston Villa recruitment team identified what he did well and zeroed in on three players to fill that role. Those players were Danny Ings, Leon Bailey and Emi Buendia. Fast forward five months, Aston Villa are realizing how tall of a task replacing Grealish is.
Sitting 13th in the table, Villa moved on from Dean Smith in November and appointed Liverpool legend Steven Gerrard as boss. On Friday, they announced the addition of Brazilian Barcelona outcast Philippe Coutinho on loan with an option to secure a permanent deal for his services if things work out. Villa might not be done making moves as they are expected to spend on a left back. But with regards to Coutinho loan, was this move an admission that the plan to replace Grealish did not work out, or are they bolstering the squad to truly compete for silverware next season?
Since Gerrard has taken charge, Villa has mainly played a 4-3-3 with Buendia on one of the wings. He has gotten creative with formations, using Buendia in the middle behind two forwards when Danny Ings is healthy. As Coutinho, who has ties to Gerrard dating back to their Anfield days, prefers the left wing, the expected setup would probably be a front three of Coutinho, Ollie Watkins and Buendia.
This isn’t something that Ings and Bailey would like to hear, but as they’ve spent significant time on the treatment table, Gerrard could have come to terms that they’re best used from the bench or as rotational options. With Bailey in particular, who has one goal and two assists from the bench this season, there could be some merit to this thought process as well.
If this is a vision that Gerrard is able to sell to the team, things could go quite well if Coutinho can stay healthy and contribute. But that’s where things get tricky. Since the 2017-18 season, during which he scored 15 goals and assisted 11 more for both…
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Source : cbssports
