The Aston Villa Courier
Player ratings23 Nov 2026
Leon Goretzka goes up and wins it — 7.83
A defender on the scoresheet, which happens rarely enough that everybody in the ground remembers who took the corner. 1 for him, and a mark of 7.83 for the rest of it.
Match21 Nov 2026
Nobody wants to play Aston Villa right now
3 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
Squad23 Nov 2026
A falling-out at Aston Villa
Leon Goretzka and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match21 Nov 2026
Aston Villa find a way past Sunderland
Sunderland made Aston Villa work for it, but the scoreboard read 2‑1 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Player ratings23 Nov 2026
A masterclass from Alejandro Garnacho
Marked 8.25 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
The manager makes an example of Victor Lindelöf
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
A satisfied Harry Graham
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 2‑1, Harry Graham could afford to be generous.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
Radamel Falcao dropped after a run of poor form
The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Words at Aston Villa training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Fletcher Boyd is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
In brief
- Squad Leon Goretzka scores his first for Aston Villa
- Market The Nicolas Jackson talk will not go away
- The dugout Johan Manzambi has become a man the manager trusts