Well just over 8 days to go until the transfer window closes and whilst it appears we are close to signing up Warnock, even I am a little worried at the centre back issue. I don’t think any Villa fan can quite understand why we sold Knight with no immediate replacement and then we see Davies really struggle with his shoulder injury with no reason why he did not have it operated on at the end of May.

So we come to tomorrow’s game at Liverpool with Davies very unlikely to play, team morale at apparently rock bottom and a large number of unresolved issues in the team formation and style. Never mind the uncertainty over the future of John Carew (toe and a virus in a week, really ?) and of course Nicky Shorey.

Can I really take any guess over the team and the formation we will play, frankly I have no fecking idea what MON will do, I just hope if Davies is injured we keep Beye at RB and play a proper centreback which of course is Clark.

In midfield I hope that NRC plays with Sidwell and Petrov and I hope that Young is allowed free to roam with Carew (despite great reservations over him) up front and if not Carew then Gabby.
This game will not decide MO’s future we all expect a defeat and in some quarters a heavy one but the standard of performance is vital we have to see an improvement for morale sakes alone.
This is MON’s toughest ever period in management I back him to come through it but the decline has to be stopped tomorrow in the performance and any result is a bonus.