Ty Bracey: ‘Baffling’ that Cameron Archer is not getting Aston Villa chances
We’re delighted to welcome Villa View host Ty Bracey as our exclusive Aston Villa columnist each week he’ll be giving his views on the biggest talking points at the club…
Cameron Archer should be given minutes for Aston Villa and it makes no sense that he isn’t getting a chance, Ty Bracey feels.
The youngster has barely had a sniff so far this season with just 18 minutes across three brief substitute appearances in all competitions, which is certainly not enough to show what he can do in any meaningful way, let alone build up a rhythm.
So with Ollie Watkins struggling for form, and the club lacking goals in general, Bracey would like to see the 20-year-old given the chance to impress, at least as an impact substitute.
“We need to keep him [in the squad] as an absolute bare minimum,” he said, speaking exclusively to Villa News.
“I want to see him get some minutes, and with the five sub rule only having two strikers [available] would be a disaster.
“We need him there unless we’re going to do some business in January.
“There’s absolutely no harm when it’s 0-0 in the 70th minute or 60th minute and it’s not working, just to make that change, that impact sub.
“We’ve got to be a bit better about our subs. I’m not massively fond of our substitutions. We leave everything a little bit late.
“I’d be happy to see Archer get some minutes late on, especially when we’re playing against 10-man Leeds (2 October).
“Put two up top. If Ollie’s not firing, take him off, put Archer on. It doesn’t hurt.
“Again, it’s another one of those things that’s baffling.”
If Watkins was banging goals in every week and Danny Ings was getting the relief time there might be an argument that Archer just has to bide his time.
But with the senior pair scoring three times in all competitions between them so far this year, and Watkins goalless in over six weeks but still playing every minute since, logical explanations for Steven Gerrard’s refusal to give the youngster a chance are pretty hard to come by.
At this stage of his development it benefits nobody to have him sitting on the bench watching teammates fail to find the net, and leaving him there is becoming one of the biggest questions hanging over the manager during this disappointing start to the campaign.
In other Aston Villa news, Darren Bent says Watkins has no chance of going to the World Cup on current form.