Chicken Field

When Klopp introduces new attacking players, he often starts by using them more defensively first, like he's currently doing with Harvey Elliott, this is so they learn the less exciting side of football first. It appears that we are doing this with Ramsey too. I have been pleasently surprised with him so far this season. He has a lot of improving to do, but has undeniable talent. I also really like that he seems to have that nasty/ugly trait that most top players have, for instance, the yellow he got on saturday, although it was much to early on in the game, it still shows a mentality that he is willing to bend the rules, when he needs to. I was not convinced of him last season, but I am starting to believe now, very exciting.

Double post..

I cannot agree with most people on this thread, especially about recalling him already. it's unrealistic to expect all players to develop at the same rate, especially at Rooney's, Owen's etc rate. Compared to our other strikers, you could argue that Barry might even be further forward than them at the same age. Watkins was loaned out to the conference south aged 19-20 years old. He was 21 by the time he properly broke into Exeter's first team, in league two. Ings was also loaned out to the conference south aged 18-19 years old. Becoming a regular at league one level in the second half of that season. Also, Louie Barry has already featured in three out of 7 games Ipswich have played this season, which is fine. He, like most others, does not walk in to a starting XI, they must first adapt and learn the system. Nothing wrong with slowly introducing him as well. give it time.

I am really looking forward for this season to start, we are the premier league wildcard this season! I can see us getting top 6 and Europe, but I can also see us failing and be in a relegation scrap, like we showed in our without grealish form last season. I think it is quite evident from our signings that Smith wants to set us up differently, every single player we have bought (except maybe Bailey?) is strong in their pressing game, a skill that our side has lacked these past few seasons, denying us the opportunity to control games. We have a lot of dribblers in our team, which is brilliant in counter attacks, but I see us retaining possession becoming an issue this season. I believe that it is very likely that Dean Smith reverts back to his favored 4-3-3 formation, with a strongest line up being something like Martinez Cash - Konsa - Mings - Targett Luiz Sanson - McGinn Bailey - Watkins - Buendia This team is very liverpool'ish, 2 midfielders and three attackers that will run all day and hound the opposition. The best thing about our new signings is that we have options, you could easily take a midfielder out of the team and bring on Ings or Traore, for the first time, we get to see Dean Smith have an opportunity to change stuff tactically throughout the season and games. Very exciting season coming up, I have no idea what to except but am totally ready for the ride !!

no no no no, he's defo having a medical at Villa. The injury is, of course, just a cover up

Interesting that he is not included in Southamptons squad tonight either. Feel a double swoop from southampton

I believe that Villa have handled this situation beautifully. We have negotiated an amazing price for Grealish, but also, if we are to buy younger players and develop them, with the ambition we have, we must not be viewed as a club that keeps players as hostages, but that we actually allow them to move on, but that we control negotiations. We have shown the world with Grealish, that if the player wants to leave, he can, but that we have got the best price possible for him. Similar to what Dortmund do, hence the willingness of super talents to sign for them. Well done Villa

I've been worrying about Grealish leaving for months, I have now reached the conclusion that we are actually in a win-win situation. 100m is a ridiculously high price, if Bailey and Buendia have not been signed for Grealish money, we will be able to add 3 more 30m players around the pitch, we will defo have a stronger overall team. Keep Grealish and we keep one of the best players in the world and we will have a ridiculously good attack this season.

I do respect and cannot blame Jack if he leaves but it would break my heart... What is the last premier league player to have carried his side up the leagues, like he has? when was the last time a club could say they went from mid champtionship to good premier league, thanks to a wonderful local player? Villa have ambition but it is unrealistic to think that we will be challenging for the same titles City do in the near future, but it does make me wonder what I would choose, 100k more in wages and winning titles for a plastic team, where he'll be remembered as a great player, or potentially carrying a team from the depths of the premier league to challenge for titles, where he'll be remembered as a legend (I'm thinking statue + legend statue). I choose to believe that winning the play-offs with Villa will be more meaningful to him, than winning the Premier league with City I hope that Grealish chooses Villa, it's where he belong but I can't blame him if he leaves.. Him, Buendia and Bailey would absolutely terrify the opposition, also the Villa status would rise ridiculously high if he chose us over City. I hope you chose to stay Jack, I can't fault you if you chose to leave, but you have a legend status awaiting for you here and will be remembered amongst the best ever if you chose to stay with potentially a statue and be remembered and respected as the likes of Totti etc.

I am sitting here wondering what makes you better at planning pre-seasons friendlies than the experts? They are obviously spreading a threadbare squad because everyone needs to play, that is what friendlies are for. What good does it do for fitness to have players sitting on the bench, they obviously need 90minutes. You cannot not play friendlies, as you are scared of getting injuries, that makes no sense. The meltdown comment wasn't solely aimed at you (even though I only quoted you), it was merely a response to an over reaction on here, to how we are lining up in two friendlies. ´

RELAAAX, I an pretty sure they know what they are doing, it's not like we are playing for points, it's purely to get fitness levels up. Never seen such meltdown caused by team selections in a pre-season friendly before

Declan Rice is a fan

I genuinely struggle to remember any mistakes from Mings that directly led to goals, bar the City one, which was an odd incident. Would you provide examples where Mings made a mistake (farted around with the ball) that cost us a few goals ?

This guy joined us when we were midtable in the championship, was arguably our second most influential player in getting us promoted that season. Then he helped keep us up last season and was without a doubt our best defender that season. This season he has again helped us reach a new level, helped us keep the second most clean sheets in the league and has been an absolute tank. Still fans seem to criticize every little mistake he makes, where as others do not receive the same level of criticism.. Did people see how many headers and the vital blocks he had today? I think fans that are questioning his "risky" style are missing the point, his risky style helps us keep possession, where most defenders would hoof it, this means that we get to attack instead of defend more. His risky style helps start the majority of our attacks. We would not be as good without his risky style, even if we concede a few goals over the season because of it or a few chances, it is worth it. He has been so passionate about Villa and is without a doubt the leader at the back, constantly talking and directing the other defenders. There is no way Targett would have developed into the player he is today without the support of his left sided partner Mings, who, especially last year, Mings has bailed Targett out on countless occasions (especially last season). Is he perfect, no, but he is an absolute machine who deserves much more respect from the Villa fans. We just always have to have a scapegoat. P.S Thought I'd leave with this, compared to Konsa, Mings has had more successful passes (the most in our team), more blocks, clearances, areal dual won, recovered balls and has a higher average rating on transfermarkt. He's literally only been dispossessed one more time than Konsa, which is respectable given his style of play. His mistakes are just more visible as he is much more involved and some Villa fans are looking for them.

So the fact that we kept a clean sheet in 50 mins without Mings means he has to be dropped? does the fact that we were keeping a clean sheet with him on, or the fact that he played in the previous 3 cleans sheets in 3 games, or the fact that he has played every minute for the second best defense in the league and helped kept the most clean sheets in the league count for nothing? Keep in mind we were playing an awful Palace today... If fans are getting on his back, then they need to f### of, he helped us get promoted, helped us stay up, and has now been an integral part in one the best defenses in the league, it's beyond ridicules to start attacking him. I'm embarrassed by how negative our fanbase is.. its not normal. Mings has been nothing else than incredible for us, he might be rash every now and again, but that is also what at times makes him so good.

I actually thought it was between Mings and Martinez for motm yesterday.. surprised by the negative comments, but guess that is just the villa fan base way. There is always a scapegoat. What Mings has done and is still doing for us is immense, think people's expectations of him has just exceeded reality

I kind of like that Southgate is making it hard for Grealish, I like that he is challenging him and annoying him. There is no question that he has further stepped up his game since. Every player needs to be challenged, there is a chance that the player will start disliking that figure, rather it be the manager of England than the manager of Villa. As much as I dislike Southgate, there is no question that Grealish has really upped his game, it can be discussed if its because of Southgate or not, but it certainly hasn't hurt Villa. Every player needs that motivation and kick, this motivation can be money related, transfer related or proving people wrong, etc. I feel like it was getting a bit to easy for Grealish at Villa, he could do no wrong here. This saga certainly hasn't harmed his overall game.

I do like aspects that have been proposed, don't mind the league going down to 18 teams, leaving out clubs already playing in Europe in the Carabao, sharing more money with lower league teams etc. But the power aspect is seriously dangerous and the first step into creating a super league, the changing the league to 18 and having 9 teams sharing the power is no coincidence, this means that 6 teams will have to vote in order to be successful, meaning the "sky 6", the other three teams I believe are pretty non-important and they have just made up some stupid rule to make it "make sense". It is also a way to win more votes for the implementation of this proposal. I am scared of learning the rule changes that the top 6 would implement, probably stricter FFP that is more in their favor, b-teams etc. Talking about B-teams, the 15 player loan system is just another way of getting B teams in the league system i suspect.

I think every Villa fan, manager, coach and everyone else could see we were short of players in attack. The problem was that we had already spent £120m with no incoming fees. It's not fair saying we should have bought maupay instead of Samatta, Maupay went to brighton because we bought Wesley and (probably wrongly so) hoped we had enough strikers Samatta was clearly a panic buy because of the injury to Wesley and because of how terrible Kodija was. (It's always more expensive to sign players in january and Samatta still only cost around half of what Maupay cost)

Double post

Agreed, would loved to have seen us sign someone. But I disagree about signing "band aid" types, the last thing we need to do is fill our squad with players we aren't going to use in the long term and end up in a "bomb squad" with no resale. Samatta and Wesley should be good enough for the bench. Sturridge is a decent shout, but with his reputation and his injury record, he would never sign for anyone for a pay as you play contract, and as reports are suggesting, "free transfers" are often more expensive than buying strikers, as they require huge wages and signing on fees. There is a good reason no one has signed him yet. Keep in mind that Sturridge has scored 7 goals in his last 53 premier league appearances, injuries ruined him

Was Maupay actually that good this season? I mean 10 goals isn't that impressive. Him and Wesley were at around the same rate when Wesley got injured. And if reports are to be believed, there was defo something weird going on with Maupay price, where it seemed like they wanted more from us than Brighton (according to rumours) Benrahma would have cost twice what Trez would and we had to fill the squad. Besides, easy claims with hindsight. pinching pennies is not something you could say about us last season... we had one of the biggest net spends in the world...

Well, if you look at it this way. Crystal Palace, Sheffield United, West Ham, Newcastle and Brighton all did not have a striker score more than 10 goals. I'm pretty sure they are all desperate (except maybe Brighton) for a striker. I just think it's not that easy, options are limited and you just can't pay 40m for an average striker like Newcastle did. It's a unrealistic way of running the club. Options being limited is also why we bought Samatta and not someone else. I think top strikers are a rarity at the moment and everyone wants them. Even Man Utd haven't been able to replace Lukaku with a proper striker since he left. It just isn't that easy, or all teams would have a 15+ striker in their club Edit: even 2 of the promoted sides don't have good strikers. Leeds are reliant on Bamford and West brom topscorer was Charlie Austin who scored 11 goals

Since we bought Benteke, these are the strikers we've signed (probably missing some?) Helenius £2m Kozak £6m Gestede £8m Ayew £10m Hogan £10m Kodija £12m (Had one good season) McCormack £12m Wesley £22m (Could still come good) Samatta £9m (Could still come good, though I seriously doubt so) What a depressing list that is.. surely sooner or later we hit the jackpot again and find a decent striker! Another depressing list: Hutton Jedinak Gabby Richards N'Zogbia McCormack Could even include; Kieran Richardson Joleon Lescott Which is players that have retired, or more or less retired at our clubs at relatively young ages since 2016. I don't think you'll find other clubs with similar lists and just goes to show the rotten mentality or lack o interest in football, that players we've had our club had. Hopefully this stops now.

* Double post I haven't seen much of Watkins, but would happily give him a chance. Signing a proved striker at this level is basically impossible these days. To find a striker that we can actually afford and is good, we need to gamble a bit.