Philosopher

He is a good crosser, be we rely on our fullback to cross the ball, but I guess we could convert him to a left back.

Going from the Premier league matches last season, Chambers looks like he can be got at (even though he quite well). Defensively Chambers is our weakest centre IMO. Preseason means very little. People are saying that Leeds friendly was competitive, but in a competitive game Leeds aren't going to give us as much time as they gave us in that friendly. But Chambers ball playing ability is probably the best. pace and power will leave him floundering. Hause defensively solid, beast in the air, quite quick, but fragile, and poor ball playing, lacks composure when playing the ball and when defending. Konsa, when one on one is our best defender, but, makes mistakes when asked to be a ball player, doesn't take only any responsibility beyond his own specific requirement to defend the goal. Needs to show more before he can be considered a quality centre back. For me.Mings takes on too much, but he hasn't had the choice. Now we have Carlos he finally has a partner that can take some of the weight off his shoulders and provide proper support.

Mings is at least our second best centre back (only Carlos can be consider better and that's unproven). Selling him would be silly. Last season he was constantly trying to cover for everyones mistakes. Yes he makes mistakes, but he takes on most of the responsibilty in that defense. He is the ball player and the stopper (both roles which necessitate taking more risk). He also somehow manges to almost always be the last man as well. He is second only in speed to Bailey in the whole squad. He is the captian, he is vocal and organises the defense. He gives his all for the team, and does more than any other player for the team, and takes on the hardest jobs a centre back can take. Out of all the players i have seen in a Villa shirt in my 41 years, this man is one of the few that truely deserve respect and admiration for being a real man, and a real leader, never hiding, always giving his all, and always take responsibility. Mings gets far too much disrespect on here! McGinn, I agree with, not because i don't like him or think he is shit, I just think he lacks a little in terms of technique and intelligence to play the football we are trying to play, and also want to see.

I don't know his character, or what people are telling him. I only know the figures reported are nuts. How can a 19 year old who has even proved himself capable in men's football. Ask for even 1k per week let alone 100k?!?!? Even if you look at the current state of things 100k is just ridiculous. The money is ridiculous. But put that aside even then he isn't worth that. 40k maybe! 100k no way.

This is spot on. Taking my Villa hat off and looking at it objectively, the most important thing for Carney is to play a high level of football on a regular basis. When you are 19 and have his talent, money will come so long as you stay fit, and play regularly. He also has to think about which league he wants to play in. Because those young English lads playing Germany, have to make a big transition when they come back to England (look at Sancho). The same applies to Spain. Carney ideally needs to be getting regular football in the Premier league. If not the PL, then in Ligue 1, even in the championship he would learn a lot. Going to a bigger club and being sent on loan would be good for him if the loan club was right for him. But we can do that here. In fact I think he could thrive here at Villa, in the Premier league. Regardless the money he makes on his next contract sets him up for life, 40k over 4 or 5 years is still 8 million minimum. But the next two contracts is where the really big dough is!

If he is playing as an 8 he has more leeway if he does give the ball away. Usually Doug gives the ball away because he is trying to retain possession instead of giving the ball away. In a DM role this is problematic when it happens. When it happens is key. As when he retains possession in these situations, conversely we benefit. And in actuality we have benefited a lot from his ability to retain possession and play out. When he didn't play last season our control of the ball was poor, and we were lucky to see 40 percent possession. For me having a b2b player give the ball away because he is trying not give the ball straight back to opposition is fine, as these events are rare occurances anyway. Mcginn however gives the ball away because of lax short passing, going for overly ambitious direct balls, or just plain hoofing without even looking up. I know which I prefer. Going forward Mcginn acts like a 10 when he isn't good enough to play 10. He should focus more on keep the ball, and keeping it moving. Doug will do this. Doug is also good a fouling! He is very good at disrupting opponents with fouls that don't get himself booked. This actually alieviates a lot of pressure and stops dangerous moments. He has that dirtiest in his game. He will protect our defense much better than Mcginn, because he can tackle too. He tends to come a cropper when trying to stop bigger, stronger, and faster players but thats the same for most midfielders. As an 8 he can be a more defense oriented and allow JJ or even Mcginn to play as offensive 8's. He will be a very important player for us if he stays, which I expect. Mings on the ther hand has been playing as both a stopper and a covering defender at the same time as doing all the ball playing. Now we have Carlos we can spread some of the risk out between them, and Mings will be all the better for it I'm sure.

Everyone has their favourites. I always felt Tammy was good, and too good for the championship, but had his weaknesses. Nothing has changed in a season, apart from confidence levels. Sentimentality, in regards to Tammy, and anxiousness in regards to Ollie cloud people's judgement.

Yes one is 6 foot the other is 10mm under six foot.

I agree. I'm less convinced by their addressing of weaknesses than ours though. A goalscorer was their problem, Jesus is a solid replacement for Lacasette, but they still need that top striker IMO. Is Zinchenko good enough as a midfielder? I am very confident about Kamara and Carlos. I think they are made for.premier league football. The rest of the signings are squad players. Their squad is still deeper than ours.

Two seasons back Tammy and Ollie had almost the exact same goal contributions, but one played for Chelsea, and the other played every game. For me they are at a similar level, Tammy a better goalscorer, Ollie better at linking and pressing.

Arsenal have had a good summer window. Added real quality. Still think they lack a lethal goalscorer, but they now have no notable weaknesses. They will have a good crack at 4th place. I do think our goalie, back four and probably DM are better than theirs. If we add that midfielder then the midfield will be at least as good. However their creative assets are superior IMO. But that could turn on its head. To many unknowns about our attack still for me. Bailey and Buendia, how good are they really? Coutinho, can he be consistent? Watkins and Ings, do they have the qualities to shine in this set up? For me this summer was always about re-inforcing the foundation and spine (back four and quality in those central areas). Next summer the focus should be the attack.

If you want to make a proper comparison, then just look at Lukaku. Went to Inter looked like one of the best in the world. Came back to Chelsea looked like the same Lukaku at Man U. Lukaku is a good striker, but not world class. At inter he looked world class. The reality is the Premier league is a level above Serie A right now. Also Serie A isn't the uber defensive league it used to be. It's still somewhat defensive, but that plays into the hands of bigger, stronger forwards, as it means deeper defensive lines. Also in the Premier league almost all centre backs are 6 foot plus, and muscular. In Italy there are some smaller ones. I'm very interested in how Martinez is going to do at Man U. I worry about Ten Hag as it looks to me like he thinks he can get by on the formula he used at Ajax. I fear he is in for a rude awakening. Martinez and DeJong are very good players, but they will need a lot of protection, which Man U don't really have.

O'Neill didn’t want him. He loved Gabby, who at the time was a real hard worker. Mon played a front 2. Bent fit Houillier because we played 3 Attacking mids, and we just needed a finisher. Bent scored 9 goals in half a season (but contributed nothing else in those 6 months). After that the supply line did indeed dry up alot, the much heralded N'Zogbia was a total flop, and Bent who scored goals at an average at best Charlton team saw his goal return gradually dry. Up.

The Sangare hype train reminds of the summer before we signed Darren Bent. Everyone was mentioning him, saying how he was a great goalscorer which was exactly what we lacked. But when we got him, we found out his workrate and link up play was trash. His finishing was good, but not great, then he got injured came back fat and was never the same again. All those youtube highlights of Sangare on the ball he has the time to take 2 or 3 touches to get the ball under control. You don't get that time in the prem. I can see an expensive flop for any prem team that signs him. He would do better in Italy or Spain.

I know, but they have called a number of things before anyone else also. They were the first to call Jack to citeh, first to say Smith was under pressure and before the bad form even started. Everyone thought that was bs but the statement after his sacking pretty much confirmed this. First to say Gerrard was taking over.

https://www.footballinsider247.com/aston-villa-sensation-sources/ Apparently asking for 100k per week. Madness!!!!

Soucek is 50m at the most. Now Rice is 100m. I expect Bouba to be in a similar class to Rice in a couple seasons. McGinn and Luiz are 40m players with 2 or 3 years left on their contracts. Then JJ is worth at least 30m. We have more depth in CM.

I didn't know Luiz fellipe declared for Italy, the traitor! Naldo was very much around in previous years keeping Carlos out. Also previously his ball playing was in doubt, although last season or two he has shown considerable improvement in that area.

Luis Fellipe is a big up and and comer. Then there is also Naldo.

Triple post

Triple post

He has also improved a lot over the last 3 seasons and been instrumental in a Europa league winning defense. At international level he has been behind Thiago Silva and Marqinihos, as well as several other quality centre backs. Brazil has a lot of talent at cb. Also I said top class, not world class. God was the best in the world.

But what you pointed out is the case for most midtable teams. If they can get their first 11 out and fully fit, they are a threat to any team, but 2 or 3 injuries to key players and a relegation scrap is on the horizon.

I think Mings is borderline top class. I can't wait to see how he fares with a genuine top class CB, alongside him. I suspect he will look good. I tried to make a Conservative estimate, and was trying to avoid a Mings debate, as well as a Luiz, Mcginn, Ings, and Watkins debate. I think it's fair to set a baseline of good prem players for them.

Actually we signed 12 players not a whole squad. We already had Grealish, and McGinn, and we added a top half prem CB (Mings), 2 decent prem CB'S (Konsa and Hause), one decent prem LB (Targett), a good prem midfielder (Luiz), and a decent prem DM (Nakamba). So we got 6 prem players 2 good enough to still be first teamers, we already had two quality prem players. The business was generally good. We built on that really well with Cash, Martinez, and Watkins. A world class keeper and two top half prem players. We also added a midtable RW in Traore. At this point we had a midtable first team. We were a midtable team in terms of playing staff two summer windows ago. We will have had 2 more summer transfer window since to make that a top half of the prem team, with only one major outgoing in Jack. At this point we have added a top half striker (Ings) two midtable at the worst, but probably better creative players ( Buendia and Bailey). A top class creative player (Coutinho), and we have added a top class LB (Digne), and a solid back up keeper. Now we have to see how our 3 unseen signings (in a Villa shirt) will fair, but we all believe two of them are also top class. So to say we should be aiming for 7th or 8th is very realistic IMO. Last seasons 14th place was down to many factors, most of which could have similar effects on at least 14 teams in this league. Injury crisis at the start along with losing our only established quality creative player. Change of manager, changing tactical direction, bedding in a new attack. Last seasons 14th simply wasn't a true reflection of the squads capabilities. I would say the team that finished last season would with stability get 10th comfortably. I would say our squad is on West Ham, Wolves, and Leicester's level now. If we managed to poach Tielimans for example we'd have the best midfield outside the top 6, along with IMO the best defense outside the top 6, while weakening a direct competitor. A conservative estimate of first team quality: GK - world class CB's - Top Class, Good Prem Player. RB - Good prem player. LB - Top class DM - Top class. CM - 3 good prem players Creators - Top class, 2 good prem players. Striker - Two good prem players Even all the squad players now are premier league level. Add to that some precocious talent as well, we are in a good place. It can always be better, but we have come a long way. The balance is looking good too. Like everyone else I believe a top class CM that will blend in well with what we have would really set us up nicely. And a top class attacker would be the icing on the cake. But as we are now is good.