peterw

56 minutes ago, hippo said:

I think a lot depends on the transfer funds made available. Are we going for the £15m* likes of Sansom, Traroe and hoping they cut it in the prem ?  - Or are we going to be buying £30 40m* players to make a real impact at first team level

*Usual disclaimers I know bigger fees don't guarantee a better performer on the pitch. 

I think it has been generally accepted that we recruited brilliantly last summer so there's no reason to think that the 15m+ disclaimers amount won't be sufficient this time around to push further up the table. We suffered from strength in depth rather than not having a marquee or two. Not that the latter wouldn't be nice. I just don't think we need that to make a big difference for next season.

I think we'll be top half but just not good enough for top 6 yet. So 7th or 8th for me.

9 minutes ago, Tommo_b said:

He swapped Milan Baros for John Carew... doesn’t get much better than that! 

and effectively swapped Cahill for Zat Knight

Page 1979 and it feels like Villa are in 1979 in terms of development. A couple of decent mid table finished whilst we build the team. In a couple of years I fully expect us to be challenging for top 4 and Cups.

No need to sell and although he needs to be replaced eventually i don't think he is one of the first names that need to go. I didn't think he would have any part to play in this season but to be fair in some games he has looked sharp and worth the shirt. Sadly, not a player who will be a threat for 90 minutes but that's why he's not starting. That said, i can't remember the last villa penalty taker (Barry?) we had where i had absolutely not doubt that he'd score.

top 4. At worst I think we'll be in the 3rd-7th bracket. We'll also win a Cup.

Not sure I fully believe that. We wouldn't just be hanging around like the lonely person in the club waiting for the good looking people to be snapped up before you get your chance. We'd walk away if we know he's looking for something else.

I'm not saying I would want him back. But if the conversation is about getting a back-up forward in, then I think a loan deal is most likely for a prem forward rather than shelling out what's left of our budget on someone to sit on the bench for a large part of the season.

I wouldn't be surprised to see benteke on loan.

2 minutes ago, Jareth said:

This makes me very nervous. Watkins gets injured before Xmas and it's Davis up front = not many goals. Put Traore up front and it's AEG starting on the wing = wasted chances. Not getting another striker in will weaken us. 

Well it will  only weaken us if we get the injuries that we had last season and that's not a guarantee. It would of course it would be nice to get another forward in but there is a limit to what we can spend. I'd prefer to see c/m and c/b shored up.

6 minutes ago, Kiwivillan said:

Who is the wide midfielder. Elmo played RB and CB the 2 games mentioned and has almost played exclusively for us at RB. Not understanding the counterpoint you're trying to make

He is a wide midfielder so his passing range is naturally better as you would expect for a midfielder. he was only moved back when at hull - and largely unsuccessfully as Hull fans thought he was a useless wing-back. His passing range  (albeit against a league One team, and a Championship reserve team) has been excellent as highlighted but I would be more appalled if his passing wasn't better than an out and out defender.

I wouldn't be looking for another forward unless one falls into our lap as it were. We have two competent forwards and the back-up should be ready in 3 months. If we are that unlucky that Watkins and Davis get inured then Traore can do a job until wesley is back. Given where we are with our squad there are more important areas to fill like centre-mid - although ramsey is putting up a good shout for consideration for the matchday 18.

The other thing is that Elmo is only ever going to be in and out of the squad. but what an in-and-out upgrade he is on Hutton, who in years to come will only be remembered for one goal and his 'legendary' status because of it will be diminshed the more we see competent right-backs and the 'cover' players.

10 hours ago, Kiwivillan said:

Just checked stats and he did 14 out of 16 accurate long balls. That's mental. 

Then I check Burton game and again Elmo 14 of 16 Acc LBs

Mings in Burton 10 of 19 for context

I know what you're saying and they are excellent stats. However, what is the point of your Mings 'context'? One is a wide midfielder now playing at the back the other is a centre-half who has occasionally filled in at left-back. That's like saying Watkins has scored 2 in 3, Mings however has 0 for context.

6 minutes ago, villalad21 said:

We were hardly an attacking threat because Dean chose to set us up defensively.

because he had no choice. We were losing, leaking goals, Wesley injured, Samatta and Davis getting little service and not scoring. So, to try and change things we were set up defensively. I don't remember exactly but 6 games after the restart we were W0 D2 L4 having scored 1 goal in that time. maybe 2 goals - I can't recall now. Defensively we were better but only because we had to give up being an attacking threat. We're now addressing the attacking but defensively we're light in quality.

Just now, villalad21 said:

How is it broken when we played so well after the break?

We defended better and as for the games we won, we were lucky to not be one down at home v Palace and everyone else were on their holidays. But we were hardly an attacking threat as we decided clearly to try and nick goals mostly through set-pieces, whilst holding deeper but better shapes defensively. Pre-lockdown it was the opposite way around, we tried to attack and once found out we were opened up so often and too easily. We haven't yet worked out how to be effective at both aspects.

As for broken, that is something that happened years ago, under Lerner, and something we are slowly building back from.

18 minutes ago, villalad21 said:

If it ain't broke don't fix it.

Jack has played his best stuff on the left.

But it very much is broken and its still only being mended. With Jack on the left we have little to no threat anywhere else. Moving him inside whilst getting to wide players - whether in a 4-3-3 or 4-5-1 is crucial to both Jack as well as the team. We need to rely on him less otherwise it'll make any future separation very difficult to recover from. 

1 hour ago, Villarocker said:

Last summer we bought a whole new forward line - Trezeguet, Wesley, ElGhazi. This summer it looks like we are doing it again - Rashica, Watkins, Traore. 

We got what we wanted plus a new attacking right back and a younger, international goalkeeper thrown in. 

Are we happy? I am. 

Truth be told I'd still like an experienced centre-half and a holding midfielder. I think we are still relatively weak in those two positions and last season showed us that we aren't yet able to be a threat and solid. The signings and links thus far seem designed to make us a threat, but without better solidity it appears that we are still an either or team.

Shay Given played less than 40 games for us in a 4-year stint. He was at the club for a while, but not necessarily in the team. \he was even farmed out on loan to Boro whilst with us. He was just our Cup keeper in the end so hardly someone who stood out with stellar performances later in his Villa career. In all, as I said, just a *meh* keeper we signed on a 5 year deal on stupid wages that was just a pointless signing.

34 minutes ago, NurembergVillan said:

Shot stopping is usually a given, but how many keepers have we been through since Shay Given's decline?

Shay Given? I count him as one of the many *meh* keepers we've had since maybe Friedel, but definitely Bosnich (James wasn't too bad but he will never get a free pass since 2000).

11 minutes ago, one_ian_taylor said:

Pretty sure I remember the Iylo building in Croydon being marketed overseas as being half an hour from Central London. Which I suppose it is, if you walk really really fast, and Southern trains are on time. But...

 

... it's on a roundabout. Literally in the middle of a roundabout, not even a good one. So ridiculous that when construction stopped during the crash, the building even had its own Twitter account

Edit: I should add that I feel about people knocking Croydon as I do about them knocking Birmingham. That is, give it a go and you'll like it (are you reading this Milot?). Friend of mine once described Croydon as "really nice - just like Birmingham before they ruined it with the new Bull Ring"

Just to be a pedant but it's 18 minutes from east croydon to London Victoria, slightly longer to London Bridge, so half-an hour is if anything doing itself a disservice.

as for croydon the place is okay - people don't tend to realise how big it is, roughly the size of Leicester, so they'll be good and bad. Some of it is green and leafy. other parts are total dumps.

2 minutes ago, Zatman said:

He be a decent back up to Trezeguet

fair point but the plan is to get him working with Jota so he can learn about playing wide and cutting in. My ITK said the club are worried that selling Jota will upset Messi so lansbury is on a Spanish speakers crash course to keep him onside. Not in a football sense ha ha ha ha.

1 minute ago, Jbvilla909 said:

Would this make him only the second Argentinian to play for us?

Third, because the surprise signing of Messi should still rock up at B6 before him. 100% fact and ITK, by the way.

if the market dictates his value then there's little point in ill educated opinionated one-eyed football fans saying how much they'd prefer to pay. I think 20m is too high too, but market forces in England set the price - that's where the negotiations come in. Don't forget Arsenal also don't want to sell, which also sets the price slightly higher because that is his value to them. Also, if you look at the cost of other goalkeepers that go from one English club to another than from the ill-informed looking from the outside it kind of sits at where a goalkeeper of his apparent ability should be.