Adbo9

Hes weak as piss and slow as ****. How this equates to being a quality fullback ill never know.......... massively overpaid for him. Will probably be OK in the championship, which begs the question "Why buy him for the Premier League?"

Yes to Dwight Gayle Need a proven goalscorer who will fire us up........ ive no confidence in the options weve got to do such a thing Once were back up with be a decent squad option for a season

I was going to say exactly the same...…. I don't see whats amazing about this HT team talk at all...…….its just "get stuck in, work harder, fight more" If this was a video of steve bruce saying the same hed probably get petrol bombed right after being labelled a "dinosaur" load of bollocks

I stick to my guns we need to bring a pragmatic manager with the personality to handle the crowd and club at Villa, theyre the guys who do the best work here...….. Big Ron, GT, BL & JG, MON Its not ideal, its not fantastically pretty for all the purists who want us to play like Brazil 1970, but its the only thing that works for us...….. And don't start with the "the games moved on"...………………. it really hasn't, last I saw it was still 11 v 11 with one ball...………… take Chelsea for example, id say the general concencus is they play "good football" but if you watch them, they play across the back 4 to the full back and launch 80 yard balls into the corner for the widemen to get onto...……….……. its all MON was doing 15 years ago...…… not that much has changed, it just sounds good to say it has to keep shit pundits shoving the sky narrative that the product theyre actually pedalling is any good, when in truth the game is **** shit now...……… I only watch out of pure habit, as there is little to no enjoyment from the modern game these days

I feel, certainly in my lifetime...…. the best managers Villa get are the most pragmatic ones, the bigger personality who can handle the club and the crowd...……… Im taking Ron Atkinson, GT, Little/Gregory and ONeill I feel we need this kind of personality as they "Fit" If we go down, I wouldn't be against ONeill coming back or a Big Sam if we stay up...……….. might not be the most glamorous, but think they could handle the club

Gerrard if we stay up - Bring the top class Gary Mc with him...……….. Dunno why, think that would be a good fit...…………

Fully aggreed…….. but Smith has to take his share of the blame for signing those players, as he will have signed off on them

Im not reading it that way myself to be honest

I cant disagree with most of what youre saying but for example, id say Smith was a major component in signing Mings, Targett, Konsa, Hause and Engels as theyre players he knew, played for him previously or wanted to sign previously...…………. that's best part of £60M on defenders - and the sum total of it all is theyre the worst defence in the country...……. That isn't all Suso Smith needs to take a massive share of the criticism for me...……………

what frustrates me is people back Smith and say "recruitment has killed him, theyre not his players" which personally I feel is a right cop out as he more than once confirmed he is involved at every step on who comes in if he cant be criticized when its going bad then surely the flipside is he cant be praised for when it goes well...…….. it doesn't work one way for me Smith Out I say

if you need a left back, you don't spunk £15M on a bloke who cant get a game at Southampton. If you need to dominate a midfield in the premier league you don't sign two relatively unheard of players whove never kicked a ball in the league And if you spend best part of £70M on defenders, you don't expect them to be the worst defence in the league...……. If you want a quality centre forward you don't blow your beans on a bloke with one leg shorter than the other When you need help uptop in January, you get someone in who has had more than one good season in the last 7 When you struggling to sort out between the sticks you don't spunk 7M on a keeper and never play him, then have to replace him 3 months later In a nutshell, the rectruitment team have royally **** it up, and all respect to Dean Smith for getting us up, but hes also royally **** it up signing off on a right load of wank

For me, don't know why, I'd go and try and get Steven Gerrard out of Rangers. I also like the fact hes got Gary Mc with him as No2 think we could build something with a bloke like Gerrard at the Helm.

I say this with a tin hat on, but we blow Mings out of all proportion on here as well Hes been decidedly average this season, just shows how shit England are off for centre backs that he gets a gig for them

I totally aggree Delphinho123 Our recruitment since promotion has been piss poor, and I think it will cost us with relegation.

Its all hindsight...……… it really is; as at the time no one was really complaining apart from us not signing a 2nd striker...……….. But I do aggree - we could have spent wiser...…….. there were some good players available in the summer who could have done us a solid job, kept us up, and worst case given us the best team in the championship should we have gone down I think Pontus Jansson as mentioned above...….. I also really liked Hegazi at Albion - they could have made a good pairing at probably less than £10M - also up until July last year Kieran Gibbs had a £3m release clause at Albion. He would have been a far better and proven bet than Targett. The best player I saw play against us in the championship last season was Joe Allen at Stoke. Id have taken him in our squad as well. Then we could have spent some proper money on the wingers and strikers and I think wed have stayed up without being in serious danger...……… and built from there...……… Could we have coped with our three goalkeepers for the season?? Steer, Nyland, the other international we spent £8M notes on and never played as for wingers and strikers, id have looked at Ryan Kent, Harry Wilson, I read In summer Viktor Fischer wanted another crack at the premier league as he felt he moved here too young a few years back...………. Strikers erm….. Mitrovic maybe, Giroud before he got back in favour, Im sure a lot of people would turn there noses up at those names, but theyd have been solid pro's for us to stabilise us in the premier...……. and probably for nowhere hear as much cash outlay

I totally aggree with all of the above I also really hate the term "they're OK for where we are at the moment" ……………… If you strive to be competing we shouldn't be "making do" in my opinion...….. if we were in a transitional period and needed some bodies, especially at full back cos I personally don't rate the two we've signed at all, with Targett being a big money purchase well over £10M if I remember. If we we weren't in a position to sign and attract the fullbacks to push us up the league, we should have bought a couple of older heads, or steady options cheaper for a season of consolidation. Maybe someone like Kieran Gibbs at £3M would have been better value for us than Targett for a season until we can attract the quality fullbacks we need. Instead I think we've personally chucked best part of £15M on Targett who was a reserve at Southampton - didn't make sense to me at all. We could have held back over £10M and either spent elsewhere on better quality, or kept it in the bank...……… This isn't a Targett/Guilbert witch hunt either, I think it goes for our whole summer transfer policy...……………. I aggree we had to sign a lot of players and spread the cash, so I just think a few players in the mould of Kieran Gibbs (past there best, but wouldn't let you down and give 7/10 performances weekly) would have been better short term bets...……… then also, if you do go down, chances are youll have the best side in the championship without the need to asset strip. Got my tin hat on, but if I was manager I would have signed Pontus Jansson, Kieran Gibbs rather than Targett and Engels - and wed have saved £15M and I don't think wed be any worse off football wise, maybe wed be better off - who knows...…………… the same goes for Nakamba and Luiz...……… wed have all loved Kalvin Phillips, but the ££ was a pisstake if you believe the media - but there were some decent cheaper options out there we could have got...………. then again, I suppose its not as easy from behind a keyboard...……

I think if we stay up we need a right back, centre half and a left back...…… a quality midfield player and a at least one quality wide option...……. guilbert, engels, targett, jota, trezeguet just aren't good enough as first team players - they'll be decent if we got down...…….

The transfer window is shit ! The only way to get it back to entertaining proportions and all the bollocks for the last 30 days is just have a 24 hour window. Everything done in one day.

I dunno, Fowler, McManaman ,Owen, Gerrard...………… Liverpool have bought through some of the best players the premier has ever seen - up there with Man United I think a lot of the top flight sides do bring through good players, who go onto to have good professional careers, but it seems in the Prem era Liverpool/Man U have monopolised on bringing through top level legendary club players...……….. Id say Villa are one of the more successful clubs at bringing through good quality players who go onto have good careers, if not at Villa...…….. but we have yet to bring through an Owen/Fowler/Gerrard/Scholes/Becks level player - maybe Jack one day, but don't think hell hit there heights

I think well sign, this is judging by players weve had serious interest in previously if you believe what you read ........... Nathaniel Chalobah Isaac Hayden Ezri Konsa Dunno why - i just think these are the sort well sign

Best players ive seen this season............. Benrahma at Brentford, Tom Bayliss at Cov

Thats the way it is, if villa have told him to stay away, then hes not in breach of contract. As long as he turns up when Villa ask, and does as Villa ask then hes not in any breach of contract......... Only when he doesn't do as the club ask, is he in breach of contract Im sure the club will have gone through the legal wranglings to attempt to find a way out of it, if they cant, then its cheaper and easier on the cash flow to just let him see out his deal and not show his face. A pay - off still means were paying him, as hell want his contract payed up in full to walk away, so were not saving anything - well just be paying him it all now upfront, rather than monthly.......... the club wont do that unless he would negotiate down a lot.......... but who would do that when you're legally entitled.............

Unfortunately there are two parties in a contract, and unless he is doing something thats a sackable offence then hes entitled to sit on it.............. the fact is, why would he take a pay off now, as if he waits a week, it might be a completely different pay off if we win the golden egg on monday

We apparantley were extremely keen to get Chalobah from Watford in January............ I think if promoted hell be the kind of guy we get to replace Whelo Dont rule out Ryan Woods as well if we go up

I think we can all aggree - whatever the outcome of this season, next seasons squad is going to be much change............... I think very few of the out of contract lads will get kept on, in the championship we wont afford them with no parachute payments and in the premier they wont be good enough. The loan players - who knows? My gut feel is if we go up well sign El Ghazi, Hause and Mings as they wont cost massive money in prem terms...... its the rebuild from there on in...................... You'd like to think wed have a great shout of getting Abraham on loan again for a year if we go up........... After that we need at least - one centre back, one left back, two wide players and a couple of midfield players and another forward............. who?? my view is go and get some of the best younger players we can, that have a chance of staying up in prem, if we cant, at least we go back down with 3 years of parachute payments and a squad of lads we probably wont have to sell and can go championsip promotion ready eg; Maupay, Bowen, Hayden, Sawyers etc..................