GREAT_BEARD_OF_ZEUS

Felix went to Atletico for 126m euros, I think if I got to that level, transferring to a club in the Conference League might be a tough pill to swallow too.

Take the Villa specs off for a second and it's a very reasonable position to take.

Ignoring attacking midfielders, I would class the forward positions as being: (1) Out and out centre forward, (2) Shadow / second striker, (3) Left winger and (4) Right winger.  Ideally you want two players for each of those positions. So let's have a look...

Centre forward:  Watkins / Archer

SS: Buendia? Bailey?

Left winger: Bailey / Coutinho

Right Winger: Diaby / Traore

Massive question marks over everyone there, apart from Watkins and our soon to be new right winger.  I would argue that, for us to have had a good window, Buendia and Bailey need to end up being cover options, Coutinho and Traore will be gone, and (pushing it maybe) Archer will be third option upfront.

So optimistically, I would hope for at least a starting Left winger and second striker to be brought in on top of what we have.

17 hours ago, imavillan said:

Whatever we end up with, I'm glad that the 'new' badge is going to be sacked off as quick as it arrived.

It looks absolutely awful in monochrome and totally lost and quite frankly a mess.

If ever a picture shows why we need something better and something more simple that stands out then surely this is it.

I'm thankful that the club or whoever the Heck as decided it's not good enough and that we are going to get a new one.

Happy days for the silent majority

Absolutely agree, it looks bloody awful and whoever created that version should be shot.

1 hour ago, Teale's 'tache said:

I was a little surprised when I saw the new badge in monochrome because I'd done a monochrome version for a kit mock-up, without really giving it any thought, and it seems they went a completely different way with it.

Not sure if my way makes it look any better, just interesting how two different designers can see things differently.

 

 

I mean this version looks a thousand times better.  Just tells me that they don't have the right people or expertise looking at this.

If it's still in the hands of the agency, then they need to be sacked (if they've not been already) - worry is, it's been passed to some design intern at Villa, because that's what it looks like.

David O’Leary… we are fickle ffs

51 minutes ago, Delphinho123 said:

I must admit, for whatever reason, of all the players we’ve been linked to, this one doesn’t excite or bother me at all.

 

Yeah I'm weirdly in the same boat. He doesn't excite me that much either.

I think it's because he reminds me of Coutinho a little bit and I feel like we've got enough small, lightweight players like that already.

It's partly why I was keen on Nico Williams (until he seemingly said no). Never seen him play, but liked the idea of having a more physical / athletic player in that area of the pitch.

6 minutes ago, Kiwivillan said:

So could Kamara

Very true. 

So we've got cover for Kamara and Mings. And people say we're paying too much!

I think Torres could play in the same way Stones did for City last season.  He looks to have all the skills needed for that hybrid defender /midfielder role.

Don't have these guys down as the type to do ITK bullsh*t.

Favourite interpretation is Harvey Barnes (as in Barn Owl )

The change of badge/branding should have been celebrated. I had heard that there were big plans for the last game of season to do this, but obviously that never transpired.

But knowing that was the plan, and that plan was scrapped, we know this has clearly been under review for a while now. I'm therefore disappointed that yesterday was such a sh*t show.

They had time to work out how best to communicate this change of thinking - and it should have been better than the short, ambiguous note they put out.

They know fans are going to be scrutinising every detail. It's about getting ahead of that and they didn't.

Sweet baby Jesus, WTF is that abomination of a shirt!

It's like the unwanted love child of Sports Direct and Burnley FC.  Tired and unimaginative design, awful sponsor (both who they are and the logo) and Lions going in opposite directions front and back. 

The debacle of the badge just tops it all off.

32 minutes ago, supermon said:

It's HAPPENING 

 

Ah man the following reply is correction....it's not official 

13 minutes ago, MrBlack said:

I'm saying we'll confirm the signing of Nico Williams today.

Is a poorly kept secret that we tried to sign him in January. We don't do leaks.  The increase in news today suggests something might be very close.

It's the kind of thing that only happens when we actually are close. 

So I'm thinking Nico Williams is signing today. 

Loving the positive thinking. I’m gonna go with it

Re him 'downing tools' unfortunately that's par for the course in today's game.

Benteke went on strike to move to Villa.

I remember watching Idrissa Gueye 'lightly jogging' back when Man City broke against us at Villa Park and the guy sitting next to me going nuts about it.

Anyone remember Dwight's last game?

Slightly concerning that he's seemingly done this for so long but you never know what's happened behind the scenes. Sounds like he wanted a move for a while but the club wouldn't let him. Might have been playing with an injury, who knows.

One question I would have is that, if he was angling for a big move, would you have perhaps not chosen Milan over us now? Instead it's been said he's preferred to stay in the area. Might mean priorities have changed and he wants to keep his family settled and therefore cement a new home with us rather than keep jumping to the next stepping stone.

Monchi, the guy who signed Robin Olsen whilst at Roma for €12m 

I wouldn't judge Felix based on 4 months at Chelsea, for the following reasons...

• The club was/is in an absolute mess.
• He was being managed by an unqualified manager in Lampard.
• Was used in a very unsettled line-up, with lots of new players trying to adjust at the same time.
• First experience in English football - we all know it takes time to settle in and adjust to the PL.

I'm in the camp with who believe Unai would get the best out of him.

8 minutes ago, Tommo_b said:

Just scrolled Romanos twitter, nothing on there.

Ornstein there is, sadly, how reliable is Ornstein?

Usually bang on, sadly

So based on that, it doesn't matter because either way we're unseeded?

Ever been to Dortmund? No? Don’t worry you’re not missing much, but they seem to do ok attracting talent.

Thing is, forget the city itself, I don’t think players don’t care that much anymore. Unless it’s London which seems to have its own draw - perhaps because it’s so big and there’s so much going on, you can be fairly anonymous in amongst it all.

I think these days though, as long as the club has an area close by which is fairly affluent and pretty looking, where they can buy a nice big house and live it up with the family and kids, then they’re happy.

Look at Emi Martinez for example, he’s not going large in the city like Big John Carew used to, he’s got the South American contingent round at his having BBQs instead. 

Changes in social culture and added professionalism have removed the need for ‘big city lights’ to an extent, not to mention the want for privacy in a world governed by social media. 

5 minutes ago, HeyAnty said:

Boy did he back the wrong horse in January 

Yep, him and Chuk 

So long suckers!!! 

5 minutes ago, PaulMcGrath_5 said:

By next week?

They knows he's going, it's just a matter of who they can rinse the most cash from.

That said, they'll need to spend most of it on a replacement for him, not another DM.

39 minutes ago, thabucks said:

Not advocating we sign martial but if available on loan with an option not obligation it does make a bit of sense IMO IF  Emery wanted him. He’s a class player on his day, which are few and and far between recently admittedly, but signing someone like him on loan for next season as we build under Emery means next summer we may be in a better position to buy a truly elite level proven forward…

I would agree if he wasn't such a sick note.  Seems to pick up an injury every other game these days, his body just can't hack it.