El-Reacho

38 minutes ago, Indigo said:

Not so sure about this. Especially as the seasons have gone on he isn't a particularly attacking full back, and often times would be the more reserved of himself and Cancelo for City. I'd actually say his skillset is pretty well suited to being a more defensive full back where the other player bombs on.

He seems more suited to the right hand side of a back 3 at this stage. I think he’s ideal for the RB position in Emery’s current set up.

9 hours ago, paul514 said:

I can list off  whole series of names but it depends on what the manager wants from his centre forward.

https://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/folarin-balogun/profil/spieler/503770
https://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/jonathan-david/profil/spieler/533738
https://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/elye-wahi/leistungsdatendetails/spieler/659542
https://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/hugo-ekitike/profil/spieler/709726
https://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/goncalo-ramos/profil/spieler/550550
https://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/enes-unal/leistungsdatendetails/spieler/251106

I'd have the stats team and scouts looking at them.

All I am saying is 60m is silly money for him considering that only about 40 players have ever been sold for that figure or more.

He is in fantastic form right now, but

He is still the same man that was just a decent top half striker before that
He still turns 28 in December, he isn't old but his resale value is effected from then on
He would turn a very large FFP profit allowing us to spend far more than the profit amount when you consider amortisation.
It shows players we are willing to sell when the big offer comes in, this is something people don't consider enough....... everyone wants to get the massive wages, play in the CL etc. We want to attract people on there way to being etc best.

It’d be crazy to start next season with an unproven PL striker regardless of what their stats are. Some of the best strikers in the world have come to the premier league and flopped. There’s no way we’ll be selling a proven PL scorer to replace him with an unknown.

It’ll be May on Monday and we’re in fifth. Unbelievable.

21 minutes ago, Delphinho123 said:

Guendouzi makes a lot of sense.

Can play either on the left side of midfield or in a central position. That means he'll be pushing Ramsey for a place and can also fill in if Kamara/Luiz can't play centrally. I've also heard £20m mooted, not sure if that's correct or not. 

I'd hazard a guess we'll bring in Guendouzi, two forward players (Lee Kang-In and Williams?) and a right back (Foyth?).

 

Guendouzi's a no-brainer at that sort of money. Seems crazy cheap though.

I reckon we'll go all out for an elite level right winger to take Bailey's place - break transfer record to get whoever it is. It's clear we need to invest in a No.2 goal-keeper who might be a cup goal keeper or play the European games if we make it. Wonder will they pick-up an experienced keeper from Spain with a similar age and value profile to Moreno.

Is Guendouzi still likely to be an option given that McGinn has that particular position nailed down, is club captain, and in form of his life? If he's going to cost £50-60m he'd need to be starting. Who's position would he take?

5 minutes ago, The Other Mat said:

 

 

Out of interest when would this photo have been taken? Did he show the VP crowd his medal back in January? 

11 hours ago, 6065_Villa said:

This guy is a one man attacking machine, he never stops. He made trippier who's having a great season look average.

Not only that but his decision making when he gets in and around the box is superb. Would love Unai to get a similar player for the right side next season with Ash as back up for another year.

Would be surprised if he does. I think an attacking full back on one side and a defensive one on the other is pretty much Emery's hallmark at this stage. I think the big signing this summer will be a right winger. Whoever plays at right back will be defensive minded as opposed to a right sided version of Moreno.

20 minutes ago, wishywashy said:

Purslow is an odd one. It's a definitive fact that we are one of the best run clubs in the country in many departments: Villa are obviously extremely professional in how they go about doing deals with other clubs, the way they've gone about the redevelopment of Villa Park, even leaders in communicating with fans, etc. And yet, when it comes to football decisions, there always seem to be very avoidable mistakes that can be traced to him. The Gerrard appointment was doomed to fail from the start, and that's not just hindsight talking: even at the time its baffling that we appointed a manager who, already clearly reliant on his assistant to do all of the work, still only won 1 out of 9 trophies available to him in a one-horse league: Celtic had dropped off massively that year. It just seemed like a weird infatuation with an ex-Liverpool legend. Although the blame cannot be solely put on him: he's not the sole decision-maker, after all. NSWE were perfectly happy with it, and it was pretty well recorded that it was a decision made between NSWE, Purslow and Lange. Regardless, bad managerial appointments just happen in football. At least we've seemingly gotten the next managerial appointment right.

He's clearly not a moral-driven individual, but you'll be hard-pressed to find a CEO of a huge corporation that is. I entirely get *why* they've gone with the BK8 deal: the disgusting way FFP is set up in England at the expense of clubs like ours means every possible financially-benefitting option has to be taken if we are to continue competing, but it does still stink: especially considering it breaks prior promises he made at FCGs, etc. It's just odd how competent is sometimes and yet other times he makes the most baffling decisions. The football industry is weird like that, though. The typical rules of business are thrown out of the window.

It's Sawaris and Edens who should ultimately determine the moral compass of the club not the CEO. It's Purslow's job to get the best deals he can for the club. It's up to the owners to say the we're not going to advertise betting companies and for Purslow to adapt accordingly.

35 minutes ago, sidcow said:

 

He didn't hire Gerrard and he didn't let him spend the money. 

Supposedly he got Gerrard in to make his pitch to the owners who ultimately hired him. I guess it's impossible to know if he recommended him to Edens and Sawaris, but given he didn't get anyone else in to make a pitch for the job he does have to shoulder a big chunk of the blame. I think once you bring a manager in you have to back him so you can't really blame him for signing Digne and Coutinho. The Gerrard appointment excluded I think Purslow's been excellent for the club.

23 minutes ago, Demitri_C said:

Gerrrad really is a idiot

Lol - that was that moment of magic Stevie G was searching for…

Wonder will they bring Elmo in to have some involvement in this. He seems to have remained quite close to Villa since he retired.

2 hours ago, WHY said:

Whatever level of football you play at the goalkeeper should never play a straight ball in this position imo. You lose the ball they are straight in on goal. You have to go wide!

Teams are playing much higher risk passes from the back nowadays though. City have been picked off a few times recently with high risk passes when they’re being pressed. Pep’s (and maybe Emery’s) analysts will probably have worked out the risk of conceding versus the reward of beating a high press through the middle and reckon it’s worth it.

Quite similar to Liverpool game and both were after long spells without a game when Emery has had loads time to train with the players. I wonder has he been working on the more long term strategy in these longer periods without a game and the players are coming up short in the games so he’ll revert to a more short term fix again for next few games?

On 25/01/2023 at 12:34, Tom13 said:

Yes well remembered, against City wasn't it?

Also played Ramsey in the front three in that game and he was superb. Set up Bailey's goal IIRC. He never played him there again..... Bizarre manager.

1 hour ago, bobzy said:

Going to be the top ranking goalkeeper then I reckon?

Lloris at 76 is hilarious.

Maybe Donnarumma will be higher?

10 hours ago, Folski said:

Surprised nobody has mentioned Erik Bakke and Joey Gudjohnsson

I remember Gudjohnsson (possibly incorrectly) being decent enough for us no? GT Mk2 was when all of the other teams around us really started spending and Ellis tightened the purse strings even further so we were signing players for buttons at that stage.

He's been given the 22 shirt. Suggests he's not going anywhere on loan.

JPA was the first properly exotic signing we made. Big fee (at the time), striker, alice band, superb name, came from one of the biggest clubs in South America - he ticked every box. Was properly exciting when we got him.

It's class that he still has that affinity with the club. 

11 hours ago, paul514 said:

I'd sound out championship clubs for a loan if he cant get one I'd get rid.

Championship clubs aren't interested in loaning academy players. The likes of Mason Mount or Abraham or Tomori were premier league standard players when they went on loan. Even the Man United guy on loan at Sunderland is considered to be good enough for United's first team. MK Dons is as high a level a player like Barry will get a club to take him on loan.

45 minutes ago, Delphinho123 said:

I know we don’t play this formation, but this is starting to come together…

————————Watkins————————
Ramsey——————————————New
————Guendozi————Luiz—————
—————————Kamara———————
Moreno——Mings——Carlos——Young
————————Martinez————————

I know Emery is very fluid in his set up but I think he’s building up to something like the above. Not sure. Future is bright though!

(If we sign Guendouzi)!

I think Ramsay is most effective in that front three. He was superb when he played there against City under Gerrard. He didn't keep him there though.

11 hours ago, useless said:

I wouldn't be surprised to see us sign another young Colombian, or a player that Duran has played with previously, as that's something we seem to do a lot. Gulbert and Sanson, Wesley and Luiz, Buendia and Martinez. Ings and Chambers, Kamara and Digne, possibly Guendouzi as well, probably other examples. I guess if you sign players that have already played together, or even just from the same country, can help them settle better and gel better as a team, wouldn't be surprised to see us bring in someone to do similar with Duran, of course we have to rate that player though.

A Wim Jonk to Dennis Bergkamp or Abel Balbo to Gabriel Batistuta? Does make a bit of sense. When we signed Angel we invested a (then) fortune in him but did nothing to protect or enhance the investment. We expected him to just show up and start scoring goals, despite the fact he had no English and no one to help him do basic things like open a bank account or rent a house. I think it was only when Lerner bought the club that we recruited a player liaison officer. Suspect it's very different these days.

Thought we'd be able to get more than £15m for Ings. He's a much better player and will get more goals than Chris Wood who went to Newcastle for £25m this time last year and would've been a similar age. I guess Ings' high wages account for the difference. WHU will have to pay him something similar for the next 2-3 years.

Bound to have someone coming in. Watkins' knock against Leeds will be a reminder to the hierarchy that we'd be in trouble if we let Ings go without a proper replacement. Duran won't be available for a few weeks right? 

1 hour ago, allani said:

Chelsea have also spent a staggering amount of money on high profile players that they have sold for a massive loss or players they have sold for a fraction of their subsequent value.

Yeah grass is always greener isn't it. I don't think our transfer business is any better or worse than any other side. Brighton and Brentford are the outliers - we're the same as most other PL clubs. Have our successes in Martinez, McGinn, Cash, Watkins, Kamara, Luiz etc., and have our flops. Almost every other club in the league have expensive players that haven't performed as they'd hoped. The money United, Everton etc have wasted is obscene compared to us.  

20 hours ago, DaveAV1 said:

I agree that Lerner’s tenure was eventually much worse. The reasons  being largely that he ran out of interest, not that he ever had much really anyway and he ran out of money.

My beef with SG is that everything was set up to succeed, as he, said no excuses. To be honest I don’t blame him for taking the job, it wasn’t his fault that he hadn’t got the experience or skill set to do the job. He made lots of mistakes and of course failed badly. The person I blame is the man who appointed him, gave him a free range and kept him on regardless of the unfolding disaster around him.

Purslow treated the club like it was his own personal plaything. Larry Limelight couldn’t resist appointing a huge superstar and continued the vanity project for as long as possible, pouring petrol on to the flames with the permanent signing of Coutinho when it clearly wasn’t working. Could be the next one out of the door. Hopefully. 

He did indeed make lots of mistakes, but I don't think you can absolve him because he was offered a job he shouldn't have been offered. Gerrard's ego (built by being a great footballer not a great manager) prevented him from developing in any way as a manager whilst he was here. The only tiny glimpse of self-reflection he ever showed was the interview after the Fulham game the night he was sacked, when it was blatantly obvious to even the most blind of his fans that he was a million miles out of his depth. He never once learned from his mistakes and kept repeating them over and over out of sheer stubbornness and refusal to accept he was in the wrong. That's what winds me up so much about Gerrard over all of the other failed managers we've had - and that's on him rather than those that put him there.