Indigo

Vibes at the moment.

I think you can appreciate that Targett has done great for Villa and in cases such as last season risen above any expectations there were for him initially while still believing that Digne is a noticable and probably necessary upgrade in this system. Just at a basic level he has better end product and how often they get dribbled past is night and day, which is particularly key at full back where you're going to get faced up 1-v-1 more than other positions and leave the defense vulnerable if you're beaten. On top of that there's the experience factor, from the international caps to being a consistently good performer for several teams that have all been better than Villa at that point in time. And with all that said it still doesn't close the door on Targett completely, just offers him stiff competition for a position where he doesn't really have any, especially given that Gerrard doesn't seem to primarily see Young as a full back since he came in. Would be all for this signing tbh.

Not sure if you've misread as I'm not suggesting I don't want ambitious plans to come to fruition. I was just poking fun at how there's always several "nah he's too old, remember what Pursow said" posts, tweets etc every time we're linked to a well-known player above the age of 23 or indeed actually sign one (Young, Ings, Coutinho etc). It's quite clear from our activity since that interview that Purslow didn't literally mean the club would be exclusively signing players within those parameters, and I don't think there's anything wrong with that either. It's good to supplement those "project" signings with high-level, experienced players that they can learn from. Especially when there's an element of short-termism in the sense of how quickly the owners want to get into the European places.

His defensive stats are generally quite good. Rarely gets dribbled past, good in the air, minimal amounts of errors leading to shots or goals etc.

9 subs mate. Would be doing well to leave him out even disregarding injuries.

Enjoyable.

I take personal offence to the notion that 28 can be considered old.

Christ man I was being light-hearted and including myself in it. Sorry!

Digne has better aerial stats than him FWIW.

I do enjoy how fickle we can all be with this stuff. Sky say we're not nailed on for Coutinho and they're a load of chances blagging a living, then they say we're in for Digne and it's break out itshappening.gif.

Has he been? Can't profess to have watch an enormous amount of him or Everton, but I've an Everton-supporting mate who didn't suggest so and most of the stats suggests he's generally been about the standard he's usually been.

I would like to sign Digne just so there's further evidence to the contrary that Villa are only interested in signing young players because of an interview Purslow gave several years ago.

For sure, I just mean in terms of those "next level" signings. We've done well with what we've signed to get us to this point, but in terms of kicking on further it's going to be tough to do it if you're spending time getting priced out of moves for the likes of JWP and Bissouma, who'll probably take up most of not all of your budget to improve in just one area of the starting XI even if they happen. Not my money mind so I'm not complaining if those level of signings happen, but you could hypothetically sign say Sangare and Hickey or something like that for the same amount as Bissouma and improved more overall.

Some curious attitudes to sexual assault in here. Anyway, think Bissouma is great and all but the idea of paying £50 million for him just shows that Villa have to get better at finding these kind of players before they're in the Premier League and come at such a premium. He's not that unique a player that there aren't many others around Europe you could get for cheaper that would do an equal or better job than him.

If you had told me a few years ago when folk on VT were telling me Bacuna and Hutton were perfectly fine Premier players that in the not too distant future people would be turning their noses up at signing Coutinho I'd have...probably believed you because this is the twilight zone. On one hand I absolutely understand and borderline agree with anyone that thinks this just feels like one of those destined to not work out (mostly powered by years of Villa-induced pessimism), but at the same time you are absolutely joyless if you're not willing to find out. Drink it in lads.

I could only see Coutinho not working out in the event he signed...but also who cares, it'd be fun like.

...what?

Yep. The stat is definitely less impressive when put into further context.

We're 5th in the league for goals from set pieces.

Beautiful assist, the kind of quality we were all excited to see when he signed. The weight on some of these passes are inch perfect. Love how he's always dropping in and looking to take responsibility for creating something, a more dynamic left back than Targett to offer an outlet and we'll be seeing even more quality from him I reckon.

Hard to call between him and Watkins really as what they offer most generally differs. He's a better footballer though and you could see flashes of it today, there were quite a few moments of quality from him where he was subsequently let down by quite a rusty Traore.

Might wanna tell more or less every coach he's had in that case.

Didn't think we were that bad at all really, outside of some individual performances. Certainly didn't deserve to lose the game on the balance of play but it worryingly felt typically Villa that it happened.

Every time he doesn't play seems to be a reminder of why he's so important to this team.

The absolute state of this fella.