Delphinho123

We still need to replace Grealish.

Lol, came here to post something similar. You’ll know when he’s 6 weeks away from returning because he’ll be ‘back out on the grass’. Sanson took a knock a while back and may never play again.

--------------------------Ings---------------------------- Watkins------------------------------------Buendia ------------------Chukwuemeka-------------------- --------------McGinn--------Nakamba------------ -------------------------------------------------------------- Targett--------Mings----Konsa-----------Cash ------------------------Martinez------------------------ I don't want El Ghazi anywhere near the side tbh. He's been poor in pre-season and is largely poor whenever he plays. If Watkins is out, I'd play Young on the left. Failing that, JPB.

There is also massive risk that comes with not improving and that is the likes of Martinez, Konsa etc. leaving to chase success and trophies. We need to improve quickly if we don't want the 'bigger' clubs sniffing around.

It's a fair point and my viewpoint is very crude. Of course you can have a negative net spend and improve if one player goes for 100m. I'm just saying, the general rule of thumb is, you need to spend to improve. And as things stand, I think we need two more bodies and the youngsters need to go out on loan.

Yep, it's a 5/10 transfer window for me atm. We haven't gone forwards (because of Grealish) and we haven't gone backwards. We've done enough to stand still, perhaps finish 1 or 2 places higher but what's the difference in finishing 11th-->9th? Bugger all really. Either the board and management team know what we have isn't enough and we'll bring in two more players. Or.. They think what we have is enough to challenge for Europe. If it's the latter, they're in for a rude awakening. It's VERY difficult to progress when you have a negative net spend.

Staggering to think he's still anywhere near the first XI considering we've spent £250m since being promoted or whatever it is. I expect very little when he starts.

Yeh, that is kind of where I'm at.

Perhaps ‘no chance’ is a tad strong but no, I don’t think we’re quite there yet tbh. We’re very close, I’ll just be very confused if we don’t add another 2 starters to this side, especially as we’re currently in net profit this Summer. I don’t rate players like El Ghazi or Traore so mentioning them as squad players is fine but they’re both largely poor in most of the games they play.

Bidace and Chuk should really be out on loan for me. No need to rush them through. Hopefully I’m completely wrong and they’re both ready now!

I think the league has changed slightly and the gap between the top and bottom has widened. Teams like Watford, Newcastle, Norwich, Brentford, Southampton, Burnley will all struggle this season and therefore teams will take more points from them. I don’t see us getting anywhere near Europe with our current side tbh. Hopefully I’m proven wrong!

If Bailey doesn’t come in and play very well from the off, we’ll be very reliant on Buendia, just like we were with Grealish. I just don’t buy into the idea that we’ve improved all that much. We’ve probably done enough to replace Grealish’ output but how much have we actually improved? We still need a couple more players - DMC and AMC with Sanson and McGinn fighting it out to play as the 8. That’s the way I see it anyway.

The club have probably done enough to stand still and perhaps finish 1 or 2 places higher than last season with the transfer business we’ve done to date. No chance we challenge for Europe with this squad and I have a feeling the Grealish loss and the failure to improve on last seasons team will hit home around 5pm tomorrow. There are still three weeks of the window left so plenty of time to sign a couple more players. Will reserve judgement until then.

that’s only because he couldn’t be bothered to track back!

Danny Ings is a striker, not a no.10

Surely Al Hilal are interested.

This guy has been right about a few things previously..

The only player that prefers playing on the left in all those players you mention is el Ghazi and he’s crap. We still could do with another left sided player/attacking midfielder.

That is odd and on the face of it, seems very worrying.

I'd watch the interview. Either his demeanour is usually quite negative or he's not convinced JWP is staying. Those quotes out of context suggest he is staying at the club but like I say, if you watch the interview, it doesn't sound that convincing to me!

They're protected tweets.

Exactly. And that isn't a dig at Southampton as a club or at its fans. They may well do this to us in a few years time. This is just a sign of the times. At present, they have owners that aren't willing to invest into the club and have issues getting money out of China. They're happy to just stay in the league and a player as good as JWP (who I don't think is a world beater by any stretch) needs to decide whether, like you say, he wants to play out the best years of his career in a side who's only ambition is to perform well enough to receive the TV money every year or move on. In a perfect world, you'd like to think JWP would stay at Southampton as that's the club that have made him into the player he is today. Without Southampton, JPW might be flipping burgers at Mcdonalds right about now. But that isn't the way it goes, as we found out so painfully with Grealish. Players generally want to play at clubs that match their ambition and right now, I think Villa are a project that JWP may look at and think, 'I want to be a part of this with my mate Danny and Matt'. Transfers/Loyalty/Agents/Wages. It's all one big melting pot of greed and ambition. You've just got to hope you have owners who are ambitious as ours.

Nail. Head. We need to actively be looking to move El Ghazi, Wesley, Trezeguet and Nakamba on in the next 12 months. Nobody on here can tell me they're good enough for what we're trying to achieve. Nakamba, arguably, still has a role to play should we not bring in a Doucoure/JWP signing in this window. If we get decent offers for any of those players this Summer then we sell them, thank them for passing the ball to Grealish in the season we stayed up and get them off our wage bill.

This is actually true. Long gone are the days when even defenders head the ball all that much apart from when crosses come into the box. In the good old days, the defender would pass the ball back to the keeper who would immediately pick the ball up and kick it as far upfield as he could. Nowadays, most teams play it out from the back. I'm not saying height isn't a good advantage to have, especially if you're a defender, but the idea you need tall midfielders is just nonsense. Give me 5ft8 ballers over 6ft4 destroyers any day of the week. You don't need to head the ball in midfield if the other team don't have it.