Delphinho123

Nah, can’t see it either.

This x 1000. Its why I keep saying, I think people are in for a shock this season. We’ll concede far more goals and lose more matches. No combination of the midfielders at the club in a 3, is good enough to protect our defence and control games. Ownership/net spend and everything else aside, we still haven’t actually replaced Grealish with a like for like left sided attacker and we haven’t addressed the glaring deficiencies in our midfield. That’s how I see it anyway. I’d bite your hand off if you offered me a 12th place finish right now - Smith will struggle this season (IMO).

Tough draw! What kind of side do they put out for this comp? Do they have a weak team?

It’s a farce this gets dragged out so long. It takes two minutes ffs. (Kenneth Williams GIF)

Is it time for… Sanson?!??

Me too, and it’s not inconceivable that we improve without Grealish but I’m not sure we’ve done quite enough for that to happen. I’m still positive Buendia was brought in to play alongside Grealish so it seems odd that we weren’t looking to buy a central midfielder if Jack had stayed. Now, with all that money, it seems even stranger!

I’d find it bizarre if we were done in the market. We’ve lost Grealish and replaced him with two right sided forwards and a striker? Strange goings on. Just points to a tough season but one where we consolidate I guess. Just got to make sure we get to 40 points as quickly as possible. If Bailey and Buendia don’t impress, we could get dragged into a dogfight.

I think he’s the best of the lot. Will become a big player for us.

The only way we can Buendia as a 10 is if we sign at least one defensive midfielder, and even then I think we’d be overrun through the middle. If we sign Doucoure and McKennie, I could see Buendia as the 10. Then you could use Bailey and either Traore/JPB/Watkins on the wings. I sound like a broken record and I’m annoying myself now but we really need to sort out the midfield. We’d get Doucoure and McKennie for about £35m combined leaving us with a net spend of about £25m. If only we could move a few players on..

Looked shaky last night in all honesty. Never easy when teams are hoofing it long but still, hopefully he performs better if he plays in the Prem for us.

Agree with most of this. The most important upgrade is that player that sits in the base. Luiz and Nakamba are not good enough. We’re pretty stacked in the no.8 position but again, I actually think we need better than McGinn to move forward. This position isn’t that urgent though.

Honestly, I wouldn’t bat an eyelid if we sold Luiz and Nakamba. Both of the frustrate me massively and there is only so long we can wait for Luiz to come good. If we sold both and signed perhaps Doucoure and McKennie (or 2 others I’ve not heard of) I’d be over the moon. We’re not very good at selling players. Purslow and Smith have always said that we don’t want to stockpile players and when the time is right, we need to move players on if the fee is right. We’ve got the best out of Nakamba and el Ghazi, they’re not going to get any better so let’s move them on and back our scouts to find better. Luiz is a little different because he is young, but again, we need better so let’s try and level up. We have all that Grealish money and a negative net spend this window. I’m not saying we should blow it on players for spendings sake but there must be players out there that can improve us and it’s a good time for a complete shake up.

How quick is he? Genuine question. Couldn’t tell really from last night.

I’m quite unrelenting on my view of our midfield. I really like the team we’ve put together but I don’t think the 3 in midfield has any balance or real quality. Yes, it will work in some games but in the majority, teams cut through us too easily and we’re caught on the break a lot. Looking at the side/options: Martinez Young Targett Konsa Mings Cash Traore Bailey Buendia Watkins Ings If we put 3 better central midfielders into that side, we’d challenge for Europe. Each one of McGinn, Luiz, and Nakamba has their individual qualities but they can be so poor for long stretches of the season. I’d argue Luiz hasn’t been great since project restart, Nakamba struggles in any game where we’re not bombarded and McGinn gives the ball away a lot and seems to struggle with fitness. I’m really hoping Sanson and Ramsey come good this season because that would really help us push on but Sanson has this weird injury where he can train but absolutely can never play a competitive match for us and Ramsey is still quite young. If we can move both Hourihane and Nakamba on in this window, I’d be tempted to bring 2 midfielders in but understand this is difficult. Ultimately, I think we’re a couple of good midfielders away from a very good side, it’s just whether we can do the business in this window and address the issue. Right now, I don’t see us finishing any higher than last season as our team is a little unbalanced.

This is fair. I was never the biggest fan of Wes. I thought he was very poor in most aspects of his game. But, he may have improved given more time and it's a fair assessment that Burnley was his best game in a Villa shirt so who knows. I don't think we'll see him in a Villa shirt again.

Something will happen today, I can feel it in my bones.

Great performance! Slightly worrying he only got 3 goals on loan at Moors though? Get him a loan to a league 1 side this year and see how he does. Boy can certainly finish.

He’s so quick on the turn. He’s a special player, for sure. Might even be the best of the lot at 21/22.

I’d really like to see Chuk and JPB out on loan this season. They need minutes. They look the part but getting a few minutes and cup matches here and there surely isn’t as good as 40 games? Either way, good stuff tonight.

Yeh, that made me laugh.

Has Wesley just slipped even further down the pecking order?

We should drop Ings for Archer too.

I don’t buy into that…yet. But it is odd that his best performances are when nobody is allowed to watch!

This game is a bit dull now. Do something Villa, otherwise I’ll be heading over to the El Ghazi thread instead to ruffle a few feathers.