HKP90

If the financial stuff is true, then it’s pretty damning. I must admit that I was wondering if some of the vitriol against Xia was over the top, but borrowing against the parachute payments and leveraging our assets for a one off run at the big time is an unsustainable s**tstain worthy of our sponsors.

Just now, villan-scott said:

Yes. 

 

Woohoo!!

17 minutes ago, Tony said:

Danny rose. 29 in a few weeks. High fee, high wages. Dropping down from champions league club with likely last big contract, motivation therefore questionable. Very unlikely to even be considered. 

I want to see what El Ghazi can do with a decent left back behind him! Could be a proper weapon.

Have I missed anything? Has this been announced by the club yet?

11 hours ago, Made In Aston said:

He sounds like he is that 'false 9' for of striker. That in between of an attacking midfielder and CF. 

If that’s the case, I reckon we’re gonna be in for a goal scoring wide forward this window. It also allows Jack & John to tear defences a new A-hole.

Now we’re linked in the press with loads of players again, after years where no-one gave a toss, I guess it’s time for someone to say: ITSOTP

2 minutes ago, mjmooney said:

He seems to prefer wearing 7. 

That has to go to McGinnho though right?

No. 9 for me is special, and more recently has not been given to players anywhere near worthy of it. Big Wes at No. 9. He’ll be a freaking hero.

Cripes. Ambitious. Our record transfer fee casually laid out on a rainy thursday afternoon. Who saw this coming?

(nb if true )

Sorry I just saw that Darren Bent was 18 rising to 24M so maybe not quite record.

16 minutes ago, Rob182 said:

I don't want to come across as one of these 'We NeEd tO siGN BalLotTeLi anD BaLe' people, but I do have concerns about multiple Championship targets.

Adding one or two as squad players seems fine to me, but when there is rumour-talk of potentially bringing in 3-4 to be first team players (Maupay, Benrahma, Phillips etc), this is when I start to get worried.

We're already hoping that McGinn and Grealish will be able to sufficiently contribute, and they're the only two names that are stapled into our starting eleven. Adding El Ghazi, and potentially Mings, means that's two more players that we're hoping will cut it.

I see where people are coming from, when they say that the Championship is still a league of good enough quality to make the step up to the Premier League. But I feel that we could be going into the season hoping that two thirds of our squad make the step-up to a new level that they've never played at. I do feel that it's less of a risk to get players from the French, Spanish, German or Italian leagues - with the added bonus that there is more often a bargain. Yes, there are a lot of crap teams in those leagues too, but also, the top half of all of those leagues will be pretty-much Premier League quality. I'd rather our team had a mix of players that we hope will make the step-up, and also have players that have consistently played at a higher level.

Honestly I thought quite a lot of the football in the championship was absolute trash, but I appreciate that that does not mean that there are no decent players there.

That said, I think you have made a good point. What I would say, though is that as a newly promoted team, I would go for a cohesive unit of unknown players over a team with a couple of worldies every time.

24 minutes ago, AvfcRigo82 said:

I think we're more than capable of surviving if we sign the right personnel to compliment our existing players.

From how Purslow and co. are talking I don't think we will be building a team just to avoid relegation imo.

Hope so, certainly. It’s just very difficult to tell what the assembled team will look like at this stage, and how it will perform. I’d be delighted if we managed a mid table finish, but for me this would be a bonus. Over and above what I expect given the rebuild job we’re having to do. Exciting times tho’. God knows who we’ll sign by the end of the window!

1 hour ago, AvfcRigo82 said:

We need to ensure we build a decent team.

If we can conquer between 8th-14th on our first season back then I won't grumble.

I’d stockpile the valium, man, cos I have a feeling you’re gonna have a disappointing year.

For myself I would take survival as a stepping stone to allow a squad rebuild. 

I’m not sure I understand why Tyrone playing for us next year would mean any change in living conditions or circumstances for him and his family. He’s had to deal all of this since he joined us in January. 

If he doesn’t join us, i’d be very surprised if not wanting to leave the south coast is the reason. 

17 minutes ago, villan-scott said:

Whatever happens it can’t be worse than this...

Our last Premier League match day squad

Holy crap.

5 minutes ago, Rob182 said:

Maybe these owners (plus Suso and Dean) would consider it an investment? A risk worth taking? Add £20m onto the transfer pot, on the assumption that we will own a player that has the potential to double in value?

A different situation entirely, but I always think back to the Lambert season when Lerner wouldn't stump up the £6m for Aaron Cresswell. So instead we bought Joe Bennett for £3m, who needed replacing with Antonio Luna for £2m, who needed replacing with Aly Cissokho for £1.5m.... who ended up being replaced by Kieran Richardson and then Amavi for £8m  

Absolutely bang on. It has to be about value added. We cannot just spunk this transfer window away. Most important in a long time. For once we have the salary capacity, forward thinking manager /owners and money to spend. We've got a real opportunity to put together something special here. I  

40 minutes ago, TheMelvillan said:

Ah the good old transfer window, where I can go from never having heard of a player to believing he is the second coming in one page of vt comments

Guilty

2 hours ago, NurembergVillan said:

 

Where’s the wooden pallet? 

Shrewd business, this. Both sides of the equation. Damn I’m looking forward to next season already, knowing that we’ve just started with the rebuilding and we’ve got some decent decision makers at the club.

5 hours ago, wilko154 said:

So I want to give a bit of perspective on Tammy Abraham.

I've seen a lot mentioned around his poor finishing, missing too many chances, wouldn't be prolific enough for us in the Premier League. Here are the stats:

 

Tammy Abraham 

2018/19 (Aston Villa) - 40 apps - 26 goals - 2.9 shots per game - scored 22.41% of shots

2017/18 (Swansea) - 16 apps - 5 goals - 1.4 shots per game - scored 22.32% of shots

2016/17 (Bristol C) - 41 apps - 23 goals - 2.7 shots per game - scored 20.78% of shots

 

Now % wise this doesn't look that great, so lets compare against some other strikers.

 

Mo Salah

2018/19 (Liverpool) - 38 apps - 22 goals - 3.6 shots per game - scored 16.08% of shots

Sergio Aguero

2018/19 (Man City) - 33 apps - 21 goals - 3.6 shots per game - scored 17.68% of shots

Harry Kane

2018/19 (Spurs) - 28 apps - 17 goals - 3.6 shots per game - scored 16.87% if shots

 

Now let's compare it to his closest competition in the Championship this season.

 

Teemu Pukki

2018/19 (Norwich) - 43 apps - 29 goals - 3.3 shots per game - scored 20.44% of shots

Neal Maupay

2018/19 (Brentford) - 43 apps - 25 goals - 3.3 shots per game - scored 17.62% of shots

 

What does this tell us? Well three main things for me:

1) The main importance for all of these strikers has been the amount of chances their teams have created for them. In our case we are creating an average of 2.9 chances per game for Abraham. If we can increase that to 3.6 chances/shots per game as the Premier League strikers are getting then Tammy would (in a stats world) score 32 goals in the same amount of appearances.

2) Year on year Tammy Abraham is becoming a better striker

3) The fact that Abraham misses too many chances is a myth.

 

 

Top post. Colour me convinced. Just gotta somehow create the chances. No pressure lads.

48 minutes ago, tomav84 said:

dont think maupay is a villa player to be honest. the guy is 5ft 7...that's quite wee. we need another tammy and i can see deano looking at someone of his stature otherwise our set pieces become much less threatening

Agreed. That's why Tammy is a bit of a find. Tall, strong, can hold it up, but is also not slow. Don't get me wrong I think he still needs work. He needs far too many chances to score for a Prem player, but if he gets that in his locker he will be immense. I'd be happy to get him in again on loan tbh, and in the meantime blood an existing young'un or get a young, hungry backup who we can bring on through the seasopn with a view to being the main man next year. I appreciate this goes against what I said before about experience, but I think we could make an exception for Tammy.   

Definitely not Gayle. Also not sure I'd go for Maupay, as much as I think he could be decent. It's a matter of risk for me. It's one of the only positions where I think decent prem experience will tell, which is why they go for the big bucks I suppose.

There have been plenty of decent footballing sides come up from the championship, but just don't score enough. Even more of an issue when you play with one up and need someone to hold it up to bring our wide men in, and score stacks of goals. 

I think someone on VT earlier this year said that the difference between prem and championship strikers (and other positions) was that whilst championhship players can do one or two things well, prem players have a broader skillset.

That's why I worry about recruiting a championship striker. I'm sure DS will have done his due diligence though.  

Not sure if there has been any reputable link with him yet, but Phillips pls. Ta.  

Well done Boys!! Battling 100% effort performance to shut up the critics. It's gonna be like a graveyard on here tomorrow, with nothing to complain about.

UP THE VILLA!!!!! COME ON!!

Game, not games. You can't use the plural. 29% of the fans want MON out after one game.

And you can't use the end of last year as reasoning either, because we all looked at the table at the end of the season and were happy with our position, and that takes into account the whole season not just the bits we want to remember to illustrate our point. Last year is gone. Over. If you want to get your red pens and clipboards out and start shouting 'WRONG', then at least be consistent.

In fact, why stop at one game, why not ask for MON's head after the first half of the first game, or after the first bad pass?

I will entertain this discussion at Christmas, not before. I've never known such impatient whiners in my life.

EDIT.

OK... 25%

Show's fickleness IMO!

It shows that people love the Villa and want the best for it. Wanting one underperforming clun employee sacked isn't being fickle. Going off to support another team would be fickle.

You call booing at half time when 1 down support?

I don't believe they were booing due to the score. I believe it was the horrible football that was being played by the home side.

And we played better after all the booing, Yes?