El-Reacho

9 minutes ago, MrBlack said:

Agreed, there's a difference between that and being schooled though. Not that he was, but would that even have been a bad thing? Young was probably the most experienced wingback he faced and defies all logic regarding his pace and stamina for his age.

To struggle against Ashley Young is hardly a stick to beat him with.

Young was absolutely destroyed after that game. He definitely didn’t ‘school’ him. They scored the one time Gnonto got past him right?

1 hour ago, Kiwivillan said:

Why are Gnonto and Barnes even in the conversation? Lazy links from relegated clubs, easy to make up. Want to break the top 6 and looking at players not on top 6 radar other than maybe some more lazy links. Why did we bother with scouts and Monchi?

I guess it’s because there’s less risk with players that have performed in the premier league. There’s a very good chance the big money signings from abroad will be flops. Just look at Chelsea/Manure/Spurs and the money they’ve wasted on players from other leagues. They know what Barnes and Gnonto can do in the PL - they don’t with continental players.

1 hour ago, allani said:

I thought Young absolutely schooled Gnonto in the game against us and I am sure that Gnonto said later in the season that the player he struggled against most was our Ashley.  I'm not convinced - but wouldn't be averse to signing Torres and Gnonto and allowing Gnonto to have a couple of seasons to develop as a "super sub".  I think we'd easily make our money back even if he doesn't kick on loads.  But if we are looking for a starting player then Torres and Barnes would be way ahead in terms of preference at the moment.

Didn’t Gnonto beat Young to set up their goal? The battle between the two of them was superb that night - Young had him beaten every time except for the goal IIRC?

4 minutes ago, withes_shin said:

Putting to one side where McLeish came from and his style of football I think that he was very badly treated by nearly everyone from the Villa at the time.

With all the controversy surrounding his arrival, the protests etc, he must have known from the start it wouldn't end well when on his press unveiling not one representative from Villa was alongside him.  

It’s mad looking back - despite ruining his reputation with Small Heath, Villa fans protesting against his appointment, our best player leaving and minimal funds available to replace him, and ownership of the club almost invisible he still took the Villa job when he should’ve run a mile. Just shows you what a draw AVFC is.

2 hours ago, villarule123 said:

Controversial.. Deadly Doug with the aftermath of Lerner/Dr. Tony episode in mind? 

Lerner ended up out of his depth financially because the PL league expanded in terms of value massively in the 10 years he owned the club whereas his wealth seemed to contract. When he bought the club we were one the top spenders in the league for the first 3/4 years. By the back end of the Lambert years we were being outspent by championship clubs and he clearly hadn’t the money to put in.

Ellis never had any such excuse - he hamstrung us with petty penny pinching at every occasion when the opportunities were there to kick on to be one of the top clubs in England.

7 minutes ago, Delphinho123 said:

If we signed Ibanez, I'd be absolutely stunned. 

Yeah if we spend €60m on 2 centre halves it would indicate we’re going to spend a huge amount of money this summer otherwise our squad is going to be crazy lopsided.

3 hours ago, tomav84 said:

i actually think the opposite...at the time there was a lot sympathy felt towards him (seem to remember a song about him along the lines of "we would understand if you walked away from this mess" )

but in hindsight the guy was utterly useless

When you hear Agbonlahor talk about that period at Villa it’s clear that him, Lescott, Richards etc. we’re never going to let Remi Garde succeed as they’d have had to actually do some work. If the club had brought Garde in the summer after Sherwood kept us up he’d probably have worked well with Paddy Riley. Sherwood seemed to have created an utterly toxic bunch of players and sidelined all of the players that Riley brought in that ultimately became good players.

Houliier also identified Gabby as trouble and would’ve gotten rid of him that summer he’d stayed on.

25 minutes ago, AshVilla said:

Brentford already bid 30m for Johnson and been rejected so no chance he'd go for anything less than that.

If they gave up at £30m it’s not like we’re going to get him for £32m either. They’ll want £40-50m+ and rightly so.

If we did sign him it’d be a bit like O’Neill signing Young from Watford early in his tenure.

12 hours ago, mickjacobjr said:

Saying we are close to breaking ffp so negative on the podcast last night 

Doesn’t really add up when Emery/Monchi keep on referring to the ‘project’ they’ve taken on. They’re not going to be enticed here by the prospect of fishing about for free transfers.

Also as great a signing as Pau Torres is, there’s much more pressing needs in the attacking areas so if we’ve blown the whole kitty on him that’s not too clever. 

I reckon we’ll break the Buendia record twice this summer. Striker and winger.

Bodes well for the summer window that we’re spending this amount and acquiring this quality of player for a position that’s well down the priority list.

2 minutes ago, IrishVilla10 said:

 

This suggests that he's unable to challenge for headers - which is a bit of a blinspot for an elite level centre-half. Am I reading this wrong??

Is Lucas Hernandez not a left back and Torres a centre back? He doesn't seem a like for like replacement.

1 hour ago, RichW said:

Whilst he is probably "working" in the background, Villa said he starts in July when they announced him so in theory he hasn't even come in yet. I wouldn't be surprised if there is no further signings by the time they come back for pre-season especially if they are targeting ambitious players and them deals can take ages.

Villa signed Kamara and Carlos early last year and apart from making Olsen permanent and loaning a back-up left back, the club didn't make any more signings for like 2 months and even then it was for 2 squad players and one got sent back in January. 

People haven't learnt from the January window, Emery is not going to sign players for the sake of it. It is going to be quality over quantity.

In hindsight I reckon there may have been some reservations regarding SG last summer - hence the handbrake was left on to some extent.

32 minutes ago, bannedfromHandV said:

In the immortal words of Bjork; it’s oh so quiet 

Wait until the chorus kicks in - then we're in business

2 hours ago, paul514 said:

Total click bait and I’m dead against signing a striker but with one caveat.

if someone wants Ollie for like 50m and we could get ramos for say 65m  then I would totally do that

Crazy gamble that - if he’s that certain to be a 15+ goal a season premier league striker he’ll be going to City/PSG/RM.

The chances of us signing someone who outperforms Watkins is very small IMHO. It’d be a massive gamble to offload a striker we know will get us goals.

Any idea what sort of money we’re likely to be paying for him? Record signing territory?

On 10/06/2023 at 10:59, VillaJ100 said:

The Houllier season was a bit odd. It looked like he was trying to create a certain style and in the nick of time it all started to click and we did enough to stay up and finish 9th. It all come to a halt though as was to ill to carry on 

Could be a sliding doors moment worthy of another thread but you wonder what may have been if he’d be healthy enough to continue for a few seasons. He obviously identified the like of Gabby as being toxic and tried to change that negative culture in the club. I remember Henry Winter saying Villa were in for an exciting summer just before his health deteriorated. 

He’d be a good option as a player for the U23s whilst coaching the underage groups - bit like Paul McShane at manure.

Thought Tyler Adams was superb in his role off the pitch at the World Cup. Really mature and smart for someone his age in those press conferences. Don’t really know what level he’s at as a player though.

On 06/06/2023 at 21:05, Xela said:

Cruyff especially. He would have been nothing without CP

Pretty sure Johan himself actually referred to the move as the 'Purslow Pirouette'.

He's just using us to get a better deal with Barca. James Ward Prowse all over again.... We're better off without. 

Wonder who’d be managing us now if Martin O’Neill had been offered the England job before he came to us in 2006?

Edit - Double post.