Dr_Pangloss

1 hour ago, villa4europe said:

he's a striker so he's already better than what we've got

whether or not he'll be any good I honestly haven't got a clue, he wont be worse than Hogan or McCormack but he's not haaland, anywhere in between

I do think the same as Wesley, the team has goals in it, judging him purely on his scoring as he starts out is harsh, the attack as a unit has to be better and he's a big part of it obviously

Like I say, I'm waiting to see what he does on the pitch for us. He has a pretty good record but at a lesser level, I'm personally not going to get excited, if others want to then that's perfectly fine. 

Very bizarre disappearance. 

Just now, KenjiOgiwara said:

That's actually not the video I saw, but I still think he looks bang average. And that's bang average in a league where Hogan would score 40 goals. 

 

He is average. Like I say, this is the sort of signing I'd expect in the Championship.

10 minutes ago, dont_do_it_doug. said:

There is literally hours and hours of footage. Worth a look. 

It's biased footage, no one is going to make a balanced montage. I'm just going to wait and see what he does for us before judging or getting remotely excited.

Genuinely have no idea about this signing. Doesn't at all fill me with difference, no idea how he's going to shape up. Fingers crossed.

Taremi is the kind of player I'd expect us to sign if we were in the Championship. I hope this isn't true.

5 minutes ago, Tomaszk said:

These nicknames always make me laugh. This is maybe the best one I've seen.

Perhaps the Tanzanian Rivaldo can sort us out.

Well we've already had the Togolese Zidane

On 19/01/2020 at 15:57, StefanAVFC said:

Unbelievable. Teams beating us (Chelsea/Leicester) and losing to our rivals. Hate this league.

Lampard is getting rave reviews but he's doing a shit job IMO

44 minutes ago, AVFCDAN said:

The thing is, a lot of people do.

Some of these men and women are very well paid mega stars, nobody is being forced to compete or watch.

Pretty much where I net out. There's a market for it and no one is forced into it. Fighting shouldn't be banned.

11 minutes ago, villa4europe said:

and horses enjoy running! boxing and martial arts isn't going anywhere and I think martial arts in particular is a great activity for kids and should be encouraged, the problem being a $65 PPV to see how can do the best taekwondo patterns is never going to happen, im actually hopeful it ends up more like tekken! more defined martial arts bases less of the mixed, id love to see a proper taekwondo fighter go up against a proper thai kickboxer and you can see the clash of styles

im more hopeful that formula one gets banned for environmental reasons (not because im an environmentalist just because I have no interest in F1 and think the fallout from it would be incredible)

Isn't this pretty much how UFC started? And then people quickly realised that sort of hybrid of Jiu Jitsu, Wrestling and Muy Thai was optimal in that sort of setting?

From what I've seen of Vassilev there's little to suggest that he's ready to start.

4 minutes ago, lapal_fan said:

I hope you are too Tro. 

I don't think you can't call Hourihane "not a leader" tbh.  He was Barnsley captain.  Is he a good player for the Premier League?  Not in the system we are playing at the moment, no.  If we had a better midfield, I actually think he could do a good job as second striker where he wouldn't have to defend as much, because he has no pace and little physicality.  But he is good technically.

Muscle doesn't come cheap.  Sissoko has been much derided over the last few years for his lack of technique, his shitty passing, his embarrassing shooting - but he's strong isn't he? That's a £30m player 4 years ago, on over £100k a week - That is not the sort of money we're looking at. 

Or were you looking at Kante?  Because who wouldn't - right?  Are we looking before he went to Chelsea for £32m?  Ok then, well let me show you someone who plays similarly, stature wise and play wise - Nakamba.  Is he as good?  Nope, did we really think we'd find another Kante?  Nope.  *Whisper* "Kante's not that strong either.." 

Everyone knew 1 striker wasn't enough - but we had Kodjia, who a lot of people thought would be good (for some reason) and Davies in reserve.  Did we all imagine Davies would get an injury for 6 months and Kodjia would have been absolutely toilet?  Nope. 

For everyone moaning about the summer, I ask - what would you have done better - as a guarantee?  Who would you have signed (who wanted to come and would have been available)? 

We're doing as well as I expected considering ALL OF THE STORY. 

You make a lot of good points but I really just don't see this. Whilst it's true he was a captain at Barnsley and we can't speak for whatever influence he may have off the pitch I think football is just about levels, and set pieces aside Hourihane is not premier league standard. As a result he goes missing, rarely gets on and demands the ball, doesn't even particularly get stuck in. For me he shows absolutely no leadership on the pitch at this level so for me he's just not a leader.

1 hour ago, bobzy said:

Not saying he won't be good (he's pretty damn good ), but I actually like the look of Amaral the best.  Might just be my save, but you can pretty reliably find a great striker, yet great full backs (particularly left-side, oddly) are harder to come by!

I've actually found quality right backs extremely hard to find.

Sarr is a massive loss for them if true.

One thing I hate about this fixture is that Deeney more often than not, seems to turn into Drogba. We need to hurt him early.

1 minute ago, bobzy said:

He does, but you’ll get that over time. He’s not a defensive midfielder (or shouldn’t be!), but he times the interception for the goal really well too. However, he’s been caught when going backwards too often. 
In a central mid role, and looking forwards, I think he’ll be a player. Not “top tier” but a level or two above where we are right now.

Yes I do think there's been a struggle to find the best position for him. At Girona I believe he was protecting the defence and even played in defence at times. Here he has been in front of defence and then as more of a conventional midfielder. It doesn't help development and consistency if you don't really know 100% what your position is.

Delighted to be honest. His ability and application at this level fell radically short of the standard required.

At £15m I'd say he has been a 'decent' signing overall. Excellent first season and was crucial in helping to stabilising us. 9 goals last season was a decent return and at times he made important contributions which helped us in our promotion.

Smith never rated him at this level and is 100% justified, the fact that we got a fee for him is terrific.

I haven't really seen enough to think he'll be a 'top tier' player to be honest. I think he'll mature into a good top flight player, he has some good qualities but lacks consistency and at times, really lacks awareness of what is going on around him.

5 minutes ago, lapal_fan said:

Apart from a bit of muscle in CM and another striker, last summer was as close to perfect as it could have been.  

We've got leaders - we've got Jack & Mings who jump out, then you've got McGinn and Hourihane (who was captain of Barnsley), Heaton who is an older head and even Neil Taylor who's been round the block (experience wise). 

If we hadn't have had to buy 10 players last summer, and only had to buy 5, I imagine the quality of player we'd have bought would be much higher than we were able to, what with the FFP and time restrictions we had on us.  

I for one am glad we didn't spend a further £20m on Maupay.  Do I think he would have been a good player for us?  Yea I do.  I'd have also liked Benhrama too, but we don't/didn't have the money for them.  If we'd have bought them as well as who we've already bought and still found ourselves going down - we'd have been in the shit financially - again. 

Is it frustrating to me and the other punters that watch Villa that we don't have that extra bit of quality?  Yea - but I'd rather be frustrated and annoyed we'd been relegated again than not have a club to go watch. 

I just don't see it this way I'm afraid, that isn't enough in the way of leaders and Hourihane basically specialises in going missing at this level and is categorically not a leader on the pitch. There's consistency issues among likes of El Ghazi, Trezeguet, Luiz and Nakamba and for me better players were out there. 

In terms of the spend on others, well the club deemed that funds were there to go after another forward but didn't do enough. To go into the season with Wesley as the main man was quite a big error and having a Maupay or other decent option around would have IMO, put us in a much better place. We'd be in a very bad place should we go down regardless so another £17m or so wouldn't make all that much of a difference with the flipside being giving us a better chance of staying up. Besides, we're spending around this much this window anyway on Sammata and loan fees...

The strategy is wrong, individually there's some talent there, but signing them as a collective hasn't really worked, you're helicopter dropping players who either lack experience or lack confidence and consistency at this stage of their careers into a tough standard of football and into a side fighting to survive. On top of that there's a lack of quality and leaders among the players we have retained from last seasons squad.

It's a very hard job to get right but for me it the execution hasn't been quite right this season.

The best data point is how the policies shape up when taken as a collective, that for me is the most salient factor in this.

39 minutes ago, lapal_fan said:

Yea I agree.

I do think Boxing is the lesser of two evils though, I think it's because it's hands only, the rules are very strict (no punching the back of the head etc) and the gloves are much more padded.  I still wouldn't like to try it though.

But MMA.. it's absolutely barbaric and I don't know how they get away with putting it on TV.  The gloves are tiny, you can stand and smash a guy lying on the ground, barely able to protect himself until he's out cold or the ref decides to stop it.  

The amount of broken bones and blood on the canvas is nasty.  It's like a snuff sport to me.  I get absolutely no pleasure watching people maim each other. 

From a head trauma perspective boxing is probably worse given you're getting constantly hit in the head with 8-14oz gloves is worse than the lighter gloves in MMA, and especially given MMA gives you more options than punches to the head.

But there's definitely the sense that boxing is more of a 'gentleman's' sport than MMA. Looks less brutal, more rules, generally less blood etc. I'm a massive boxing fan but rarely engage with MMA.

Dortmund is the perfect club for him, would be well advised to spend the next 3-4 years there. A move to a Madrid anytime soon could potentially ruin him IMO.

12 minutes ago, LondonLax said:

Would he go to the national team? Surely managing national teams is for older semi retired managers or struggling club team managers.

A manager in his prime, at the top of the game, would want the week in week out work of winning titles. 

Some managers see managing the national side as the biggest honour they can have, not sure what Klopp's position is on it though.