allani

You tell your grandkids about trophies. You tell the wife and your dad about money. The whole city tells you, your parents, your children, your grandchildren, your aunts/uncles/nephews/neices, your friends, your neighbours, your dog-sitter, your baker, your butcher and everyone else they know about the day they cried when you retired. THAT is the difference and like you say for a few people that is everything. Very few players get to win titles but even fewer ever have the opportunity to do this. Hopefully, Jack can do both at Villa.

Sorry - I know I posted this in the Transfer Window thread too. But this is what the club should be showing Jack every day.

Interestingly when the Italian media interviewed Jack the other day - they mentioned that he was compared here with Totti (style, ability to take people on, killer passes, supreme touch, and of course the "one club" legend). The more people that tell him that he can have that status for life (which is something that almost none of his contemporaries will have) the better.

I still can't get past the 3rd minute before I am in tears too. I was at the Stadio Olympico last week for the Switzerland game when the giant TV screen zoomed in on Totti sitting in the crowd. The place erupted with noise. It was incredible - even with only 25% of capacity in. He and his family will always be treated like royalty in the city.

But can they offer him this? Skip the first minute. But this happens to very few players.

It's Thursday. Why haven't we announced a new signing yet? Sack the board!

Says who? I've been promised a transfer every Thursday.

I like the sound of that. My only slight concern is how one-footed Traore is and the danger is that we end up with too many players drifting to the left side of the pitch. But certainly worth a shout and it could be superb to watch. Kind of like when Ross first arrived but on steroids because now we've got Buendia as well. Exciting...

But surely our aim is to be a Top 8 team? In which case, he needs a big season to prove that he should be more than a squad player. I think he'd be great coming off the bench for the last 30 minutes when his energy and pressing against tiring opposition could be invaluable. But he's not good enough defensively to play the role he was asked to this season and his distribution is so-so - far too many floated passes that are either easy to intercept or give the defender plenty of time to position themselves to tackle / challenge the recipient. He showed glimpses of what he can do in the last few games (mainly in the opposition half) but also ran out of steam in all of them, wafted a leg in the vague direction of the attacker in the Spurs game which led to their opener (when any good defensive midfielder would have brought the guy down and taken the yellow card). He has been brilliant for us in the past and I genuinely think that he could be a superb sub and a great character to keep around the place. But I don't see him walking into the starting XI of any of our supposed rivals next season.

With Jack and Buendia maybe we'll play them more as wide attacking midfielders rather than wingers? Potential that we may lose some width that way - but I see both of them as cutting in to try and create chances rather than trying to beat their man on the outside and trying to whip in a cross for the centre forward.

True. I assume that Traore will become more of a super-sub next season. But it will be nice to have some real options and to close the gap between the quality of the first XI and the bench. One (maybe two if I am being greedy) more signings that go straight into the starting line-up and I genuinely think we are as close to being a serious challenger as we have been since the mid-90s. At a time when several of the teams above us seem to be really struggling to maintain their positions. Exciting times for sure. Particularly when we are only probably 2-3 seasons away from our academy really beginning to pay off!

OK first off, this is a general comment about our midfield and yours just happened to be the one I picked to respond to. I think we are probably all agreed that the target for next season seems to be to challenge for the Top 8. So we need to consider whether our current team / squad is of that quality. Goalkeeper - Yes Right Back - Not sure. I don't see Cashy being a target for any of the teams that finished above us. But I do like him and think that he got exposed last season because Traore isn't great defensively. I certainly don't see him as a major issue. Centre Backs - I would say we are OK (assuming no injuries). Still unsure about Mings but for his (too frequent) moments of madness I think he is a good organiser and motivator. Left Back - Yes, wasn't sold before but this season I think Targett has been right up there. Centre Midfield - no. I just don't think that any the teams above us (apart from maybe Leeds) would be interested in buying Nakamba, Luiz, Sanson, Ramsay or McGinn and putting them straight into their starting line-up. As a trio I don't think any combination of those players is as good as those that the other teams we are challenging are. There is potential there but we lost a lot of points last season because we lost the midfield battle and / or left our defence too exposed. Attacking Midfield - OMG yes. With Jack and Buendia I think we will be one of the most threatening teams in the league in that position. Probably not far behind Man City and Liverpool. Striker - I think yes. So for me - we have quantity in midfield but not enough quality. A really good central midfielder would probably allow us to use Luiz and McGinn / Sanson more effectively than we did last season. Ramsay needs to go out on loan and prove himself for a season and should be replaced in the squad by Carney. Nakamba will probably have a role to play in certain matches. I really do think that this is the one position that we really need to nail this summer because if we get that right I think we have every chance of mounting a serious challenge this summer and finishing ahead of (at least some of) Leeds, West Ham, Everton and one of two of Spurs (especially if Kane goes), Arsenal and maybe Leicester. I don't think that we need to offload players to do so (we'd have 5 players fighting for 3 places {depending on formation} - plus Carney getting sub appearances here and there - unless he steps up almost immediately and commands a more regular role in which case we hit gold - because he could become one of the best players in the league in my opinion, the only question is how long it will take him to get there). With suspensions, ability to rest / rotate and having different options to suit different opposition that does not seem too many.

I'm really surprised that the media / other fans aren't looking at the JWP rumours and saying "So Villa have the most fouled player in English football and are trying to sign the best free-kick taker in the country. Wow that is some ambition." As opposed to "Villa are about to sell the most fouled player in English football and to compensate are looking to replace him with someone who takes a mean free-kick." Again surely the JWP rumour ONLY makes sense if Jack is staying....

I think JWP is a very good midfielder anyway - it's almost a dis-service to him that he is flagged as a free-kick specialist. But seriously with Jack and Emi running havoc around the opposition penalty area - just how many goals could JWP score for us. I see him as an upgrade on McGinn anyway and he'll score us at least 10 free-kicks season to boot. I think with JWP, Bertie, Jack, Buendia and Targett we could have some amazing set-piece routines next season.

I think it was the defensive stats that surprised me the most. I mean to be topping the assist stats, key passes stats and tackling stats is just unreal! I'd be happy if we did that with 3 different players not just 1 player!!!!! My excitement level has just gone through the roof.

OK so 2 out of 6 for us and Brentford. I hope he's doing some practice with Emi over the summer! Whilst AEG has some faults - I genuinely can't remember the last time I felt so confident about a Villa player taking a penalty. I just expect him to score and trot back to the half-way line looking like he's done nothing in particular!

Wow.

Didn't he have a dreadful conversion rate for Brentford? I thought he'd only scored 2 in 7 or something like that (but could well be wrong - my memory isn't what it used to be!)?

Cheers. Much appreciated. Almost everyone on this forum agreed that last year we only had a Plan A - which, when it worked well, was great but when it didn't we seemed to have no Plan B. Unfortunately if you try and propose a potential Plan B then you get a whole load of replies saying "Smith doesn't play that formation", "he doesn't fit our system", etc. As you say, having a viable alternative is what can make the difference between finishing 6th and finishing 13th.

There's a reason Ollie doesn't take penalties! But yes if you give him the goals he scored that should have been allowed it would have been a different story. Definitely 2, maybe 3, and I am sure that had they stood he would have scored others too - because he had a run of games without scoring which seemed to play on his mind a little. At least one of those disallowed goals was in that run (in my head there were two - plus a couple where he hit the bar / post having beaten the keeper) and so he'd not have had that confidence drop. Like I say I fully expect him to score more this season.

Thanks! I think he needs a season in a lower league but for me he kind of came out of nowhere last season. Hadn't really heard anything about him until probably the quarter finals. But he looked like he might be someone who could get better and better. Whether he's Premier League quality I don't know but I can see a scenario where he has a couple of really good seasons in the lower divisions and kind of does a Vardy (but at a much earlier age!).

In the initial poll I said 11th - 14th. But Buendia changes that massively. I think we have 2 more similar level signings in the pipeline and so am going for 6th or 7th.

Why did you have Buendia on your shirt before? Any other player names you've had on your shirt that we haven't signed yet? If so can you let me know so that I can sneak down to the bookies and lay a little wager!

Haha. Yeah I knew that someone would come back at me with that! And it is a very fair point. Ollie's value is definitely not all about the goals he scores and it is no coincidence that our attacking midfielders have (I am almost certain but haven't checked the stats for definitive proof!) scored more than any players in those roles for us have for many a season. However, my point really is that Ollie's position should not be guaranteed - he needs to be challenged and he needs to have the option to be rested so that he can play at his intense level. As we have found with Jack, when you only have 1 option then it becomes harder for them to play every minute of every game without getting injured and if they are out for a while you can massively struggle. Buendia takes a huge load of pressure off Jack (and vice-versa). I am convinced Ollie will score more goals next season too (even if he doesn't play as many minutes) but we need to be able to give him a break every now and again!!

I think I would prefer Sanson or McGinn playing in the Barkley role next season rather than where McGinn played last season. I just don't think that McGinn is imposing enough to play in a deeper role - his best pressing last season was done high up the pitch (Spurs springs to mind?).