Agree with a lot of what you say about Stevie....but I'm not sure they have a bottom half level side. Martinez is a good keeper. Cash, Konsa, Targett, Mings and Hause are all decent PL defenders (to difference extents). Luiz and McGinn in particular are good midfielders and then they've got a good range attackers in Watkins, Ings, Buendia, Bailey, El Ghazi, Trezeguet and Traore. Its why I thought it was a smart move by him.
And absolutely nothing wrong whatsoever with a manager using tactics best suited to his players to get the best results. AGAIN its people having this idea that he's auditioning for the Liverpool job.
I get what you're saying, but that same defense you mentioned was leaking goals left, right and center before Stevie went there. They are all limited on the ball and there was not one leader in that defense who could stabilize their defense when they were struggling, nor could they organize themselves. Not being good on the ball and still defending like that doesn't make them good players. They're looking okay now, because Stevie has come in and organized them.
I like McGinn, who has a good left foot, but Luiz isn't that good. Defensively he has done okay at times, but he has been slow on the ball often.
As for the attackers you mentioned, we all know about Ings' injury record. He is currently injured. Bailey is injured as well and has had a stop start at Villa. He is yet to settle, and has had work rate issues in his previous club, so who knows if he would settle at all? Buendia has not at all clicked for them and in the few games I watched, he tried to hold on to the ball too long and dribbled into blind alleys. Villa fans are extremely disappointed with him. He may or may not make it. Maybe Stevie can improve him, but so far, he's been poor. I agree with Traore, but he has been injured for about 2-3 months now. Trezeguet is just being back training after a serious injury and frankly, he is not even that good. I've liked El Ghazi, but for some reason he isn't starting recently. So, it's a bunch of so and so players with an iffy injury record. Watkins is the standout one.
If we're comparing teams, us, City and Chelsea are on a whole different league. Then there are Man United, Spurs and Arsenal, who clearly have better teams. West Ham and Leicester are much better too. That makes it 8 teams who are clearly better than Villa. For me, Wolves are a more settled and a better side as well. They finished 7th twice before last season and even though they finished below Villa last season, they have regrouped, have only conceded 13 goals this season so far. Players like Jimenez, Traore (however frustrating he is), Neves, Ait Nouri, Dendoncker, Neto, Podence, Semedo are all better than most of Villa's players. I consider Brighton better too. The likes of Lallana, Bissouma, Lamptey and Trossard are a level above anything Villa have got in outfield. There are many other decent footballers with them. They just lack a good finisher. Otherwise, they'd be up in the table with the chances they create. That makes it 10 sides who are better than Villa at the moment and with better teams.
Villa is in that bracket along with Everton, Palace, Southampton and Leeds, so it's not a far-fetched idea to think that their team has the talents of a bottom-half side. Only Brentford (who are over-achieving), Norwich and Burnley have clearly inferior sides than them. Newcastle are under-achieving, and Watford have a decent attack, they need to fix their defense which is horrible.
In short, they are in that bracket between the Top 10 sides and 3-4 poor sides in the league.
