villabromsgrove

5 minutes ago, CVByrne said:

Percy saying he's been a long term target for Villa. From before Jack was even sold. So I can imagine there's a lot of time gone into if he's the right player for us or not.

I'd love to know why we are after a wide forward though. Hopefully it becomes clear soon. 

Three scenario' spring to mind:

1)  Gerrard has had a "road to Damascus" epiphany, and is changing to a 4-4-1-1.

2) Gerrard has been told to retire to his office, and front the club with the media side of things, while Critchley does the coaching and tactics.

3) There's a new manager search underway.

3 minutes ago, Davkaus said:

Out of interest, do people who've seen him play much think he's a noticeable upgrade on Traore? 

He's much quicker and sharper in the box than Traore. The number of  rebound and loose balls that he's first to with both feet ,are totally different from the mazy runs that prefaced a Traore strike.

Sarr looks more of a team player with two good feet. I was envious of Watford  having such a good speedy player when I watched him regularly a couple of seasons ago in the Premier League.

2 minutes ago, jacketspuds said:

I agree that we shouldn’t criticise a signing because of the manager.

What I would say though is that some of the criticism is because we don’t actually need him as much as other areas of the team. Most notably a CM and possibly a CB.

However, I’d much rather have Sarr in the squad than not as he can cause problems that most of our other players can’t.

"Useless" posted earlier that he expected us to sign a top CM in the next few days and I agree with him. All we need then is a dominant RCB and we've got a squad that any incoming manager can work with.

6 minutes ago, WallisFrizz said:

I feel sorry for the lad. It’s a big move for him and everyone’s just so underwhelmed and on a complete downer. I hope the fans get behind him.

Not everyone WF, my jug of Old Rosie and I welcome him unconditionally.

Just now, Davkaus said:

It's good shit but I'm surprised that you can still type

Just about!

I'm strangely relieved now that Percy has spoken.

It's not all about Ismaila though .... I asked my daughter to get me something alcoholic from Iceland when she went freezer shopping earlier, and she came back with a large jug of "Old Rosie"!

I can recommend it to all of you out there who are feeling 'Villa stress' !!!!!! UTV

Was the 'medical beginning" thing just click bait? I've warmed to the Saar transfer .... clutching at straws that it means Gerrard has seen the light and is going to ditch his nonsensical 'tactics'.

He said that Villa was the first club that he supported and that most of his friends were Villa fans. I think the fact that he played for the Blues made it difficult for him to swear Villa allegiance, because he's a decent guy and didn't want to  upset anyone.

This is the first time I've posted in this thread. I've now accepted that Gerrard is out of his depth and does not have the tactical ability to get the best out of our players.

When Gerrard was appointed I was a big advocate of Graham Potter because I respected his coaching ability, man management and motivational skills.

When SG was close to being appointed I recognised that his name and reputation as a player would raise our profile considerably and this excited me.

Now we're at the stage where we can attract a manager/coach with both Tactical ability and a decent profile. I still think Potter is the best coach out there for where our squad is currently at. He would get every ounce of ability out of this group.

He's seems a loyal guy though so I don't think he would leave Brighton right now (which is what we need). If the right sales pitch was made and the financial plan going forward was sufficiently compelling, he just might want to be part of a once in a lifetime opportunity for a great manager and genuine Villa fan.

Having initially been astounded that we weren't concentrating all our available funds on a really good CM and a commanding RCB, I'm warming to this signing because we have to make a tactical change to get the best out of his undoubted talents.

I'm going to jump the gun and say "Welcome Ismaila"!

I was interested to watch how Vieira nullified Kamara yesterday. He put Doucore on him as a man marker. That's the same player that a lot of us wanted to sign as a CM last season. Vieira obviously did his homework on our most effective player against Everton.

Doucore and Kamara would have been a great CM partnership. Cheap as well.

Just now, DCJonah said:

Like who?

That's what NSWE pay good wages to the data base research guys for.

Let's look at Gerrard's position positively for a moment.

When SG was appointed as head coach the hope was that his appointment would raise the profile of AVFC. We also hoped that he would be able to attract a higher level of players to the club.

He's been a successful appointment if we apply just those two criteria. We also hoped that by bringing in his full coaching staff he would hit the ground running and relearn the Premier League necessities quickly.

However, after an initial new manager bounce, Gerrard's coaching and tactical ability has come under the microscope and he has so far come up short of what is required.

So here's the positive part .... SG has raised our profile, he's attracted better players to sign for Villa, and has made other players aware of us as a possible destination in the near future .... so that part of his role has been successful.

If our owners share our concerns about Gerrard's apparent inability to get the best out of our players tactically then we are currently in a strong position to upgrade him. Taking over the reins from a big footballing name is more attractive than replacing a lesser known failing manager.

If the right calibre of manager/head coach is identified and available then this would be another positive change and a progressive step in the business plan.

The last thing NSWE need is to lose the large gain that has been recently attained in raising our media profile, by persevering with very mediocre football and poor results. Gerrard needs an immediate run of wins and draws against some very good teams in the next few weeks, or a positive change will be made.

Konsa just isn't good enough for the Premier League. Admittedly he's being made to look worse by Gerrard's bizarre system which leaves our CB's out of position a lot of the time with little or no initial support.

However, even in a balanced system he would still be a very weak link.

I think the reason why SG seems to like him is because he watches him star in small sided training games where physical tenacity and positional play aren't so important. Match days are nothing like that and Ezri often looks like a Sunday League player.

Saar has been available all summer, so our late interest in him might be the first indication that Gerrard has finally realised that he can't continue playing his favoured narrow system with overlapping wing backs.

If he has decided to change to a system that actually allows pacy wingers to operate in front of holding full backs then signing Saar makes sense.

We still desperately need to sign a classy and physical CM partner for Kamara, and a big strong RCB to replace the woeful Konsa, but we also desperately need to change our tactical set up otherwise we're throwing money away by buying these players if SG isn't willing to change.

52 minutes ago, CVByrne said:

I think it's easy to say we don't have a good enough Midfield three. When it's a huge amount about the system and the massive burden placed on the midfield with the system. The ultra attacking full backs leaves the two 8s covering for them and with a proper 6 in Kamara he's sitting deep. This leaves a gaping hole in front of him. 

When we play a diamond that hole is covered by our 10. Which makes Gerrards use of a 4 3 3 twice this season with wide forwards so baffling. He's trying to have us create more chances but he's gone from having two 10s covering the midfield to nobody.

The only solution to our Midfield problem is to play a Midfield diamond or to change the way the full backs play so one of them has to stay back if the other has got forward. 

I can only assume signing of Sarr while we have Bailey is to have them be the flanks of a 4 3 3 with Watkins up top at times and the fullbacks not providing the width. We could play a 4 2 3 1 quite easily or a 4 3 3 if the fullbacks changed the way they play to the steering wheel system of one goes forward the other stays back. 

I was just typing basically the same thing when you posted this. We have to stop using our full backs as out of position attackers and allow wide midfielders to do their job. Our interest in Saar may indicate that Gerrard has realised this.

I hope Gerrard has taken a few minutes to read Vieira's comments about how easy it was to set up to play against Villa.  Cash and Digne predictably bomb up the touchlines and are stranded as soon as we give the ball away, so Vieira doubled up on whoever was trying to cover the space behind them. Zaha and Eze were able to run riot around Konsa because we try and defend with  just two separated CB's plus Kamara covering a huge vacated central area.

The reason that there is a huge empty hole in midfield (except for an isolated Kamara) is also visibly simple. McGinn drops into the touchline space behind Cash as he bombs forward, and Ramsey does the same for Digne, both as high cover for the out of position wing backs, and to receive the backwards pass that is usually the outcome as MC and LD are closed down.

The average 90 minute positions graph points this out very clearly.

Contrast that with Palace .... Schlupp and Ayew on their right and Eze and Zaha on their left double teamed our one isolated defender down either side by getting the ball forward quickly into the space behind the high and often ineffective cover of Ramsey and McGinn. There was acres of space for Palace to exploit whenever we pushed up.

Another glaring contrast was the fact that Viera used his skilful midfielders to run us ragged in the space between the halfway line and our goal while Gerrard insisted on using wing backs as our main option to progress the ball from half way to corner flag. 

We were lucky to only lose 3-1 yesterday as we could (and probably should) have conceded 5 or 6 goals.

I must admit even from my usual positive point of view, it is mystifying that fans can see the reasons for another poor Villa performance but SG/NC /GM don't appear to see the need to change this failing system.

Whether Emi starts or comes on as a sub he will do a good job for us. We need sixteen fit players that we can say the same about and then we can start hoovering up the points. Starting elevens are only part of the equation.

27 minutes ago, WallisFrizz said:

Maybe he just doesn’t want to announce his lineup for tomorrow…

This makes a lot of sense.

If Buendia starts tomorrow it will set Palace a different set of problems to the ones Bailey will set them.

I've been very impressed with Buendia when he comes on as a sub as his skill and non stop aggressive style must be a real pain for tiring defenders.

With five subs this season there's a case for using 30 minute specialists against tiring defences, and I think Emi and Leon may be more dangerous in the last thirty minutes of a game than the first sixty.

Buendia and Bailey are both terrific players and I have no problem with them starting, but I honestly think we may collect more points by strategising our use of them. 

19 minutes ago, Zatman said:

only available on loan though and played for Chelsea at the weekend

Selective posting to make a point (as usual?) He played for 5 minutes against Spurs and I minute against Everton.  Both times he came on as a defensive midfield sub for Knee. Happy? Probably not.

Gerrard said some time ago that he was only after quality 'A' list targets .... nailed on first eleven starters.

I believe we tried to sign Bissouma to play alongside Kamara but he wanted to play for a London club, so that's the kind of quality that he is looking for.

The money is ready and available for the right player/s, but SG has made it clear that he will be patient if that player isn't available this window.

He rightly doesn't want 'B' list players.

Just commenting on a suggestion I made yesterday on Nat Phillips being a good CB loan option. Thanks to Klopp I got a good look at NP last night as a starter for Liverpool. He looked a bit rusty but did some of his work simply and effectively as he started to settle into the game, until he was totally shown up for a woeful lack of pace when caught on the halfway line by Zaha, who left him for dead and scored on that breakaway.

I still think he's an option for a team that plays a low block and leaves their defence protecting the defensive third, but he would be an accident waiting to happen for us in a high back line due to his total lack of pace. I hold my hands up, I was totally wrong about his suitability for us.

One more thought .... I was struck by the similarity with Liverpool's tactics and our own last night. They seem to have curtailed the passing approach through midfield and favoured the long over the top aerial balls to Salah and Diaz on either wing, or the swinging touchline crosses from 25 metres out from TAA. Is that a reaction to losing Mane? If it is then it demonstrates the importance of identifying exactly the right players for our key positions, whether it be this transfer window or the next couple. Patience may well be a virtue. 

My opinion on Ezri's time with us is:

A couple of seasons ago he looked like a player who was playing confidently and hoping for the best.

Last season he began looking like he hoped for the best but feared the worst. By the middle of last season any optimism had gone and he feared the worst every time the ball came near him, then he got a bad injury..

He's back fit but he doesn't look ready to go in match play at all, which is disappointing as he's evidently often good in training. I don't see a future for him here at Villa, but I wish him well as he seems a decent guy.

28 minutes ago, VillaParkAvenue said:

Gallagher is great but wouldn’t be happy in a double pivot, he’s an attacking 8.

I agree with you in principle as I see Gallagher as an attacking midfield who likes to roam, but Tuchel has decided that he's a DM and has used him as a very brief substitute for Kante.

If he has the discipline to adapt he could become a real upgrade, due to his physicality, attitude, energy and skill levels. He is also about the same height as Kamara. Two 6ft central midfielders with energy to burn, and the skill to distribute accurately would be a real improvement.

Nat Philips is as brave as a lion, never ducks a tackle, wins his aerial 50/50's, and keeps it simple. He hasn't played more at Liverpool because he was back up for Virgil Van Dijk one of the world's best CB's, and more recently Matip and Gomez are ahead of him as CB cover. 

He would be a cheap loan and an option when we play teams that rely on set pieces to win games. Chambers and NP could rotate depending on the style of the opposition.

Regardless of how good we think Carlos could be, sadly he's history for this season so we need options. Konsa worries me every time he plays, and Chambers (who I rate) is not a current Gerrard  starter choice. Hause is nearly back from injury and may be another stop gap option, but I think a loan is more likely for him.

Caleta Car, the Croatian who plays for Marseilles could be another cheapish option. We were linked with him earlier this year. Marseille are rumoured to want £8.5 million for him.

19 minutes ago, Sam-AVFC said:

What is it you see in Nat Phillips? He's barely played any games and the few times I've watched him he looked championship standard.

15 minutes ago, Peter Griffin said:

Which would be better from a team perspective? Getting another CM to help Kamara or replacing Carlos. Long term, probably another player to kelp Kamara but for this season I think a replacement for Carlos 

I'd prefer signing Conor Gallagher to play alongside Kamara, and a full season loan for Nat Phillips. 

More midfield control and supply, and far less defensive set piece concessions.