Mark Albrighton

Fantastic news, hope he keeps on improving. Would love to see him get past ten years with the senior team.

He wouldn't have been my first choice (possibly third or fourth choice for me), but it's academic now.

I suppose whoever is the most vocal in the changing room should be captain. We can only guess who that might be, so if Sherwood thinks it's Richards, so be it.

It does seem to further cement his place in the starting eleven. Will be interesting when Okore comes back.

Lead them, Micah!!!

One thing that has been lacking in the last few weeks (as far as I've seen) is the number of videos of the new signings doing their initiation karaoke. Richards & Bunn, fair enough.

As we've got the right numbers and to save time, I suggest Sinclair, Gueye, Amavi, Gestede, Ayew, Veretout & Crespo to perform "Reach" by S Club 7.

The subsequent recording to be played as the team walks onto the pitch.

I won't believe this is confirmed until SSTUOASF.

(Scuba Steve turns up on a Stoke forum)

Sometimes, when I don't have any milk, I'll eat my cereal with water.

Hot, cold or lukewarm water? Tap or bottled?

For God's sake man, we need to know these things.

Yep, and what sort of cereal? Could be crucial.

If we win against Man Utd, it's on.

Sorry, messed up the quote. Heading to the things that piss you off thread....

---------------Guzan----------------Hutton---Richards-----Clark-----AmaviGueye----Westwood ----Veretout------Ayew-------------Sinclair--------------------Gestede--------------

Yep, agree with this too. It feels like the starting line up against Bournemouth will be this.

When does his contract run out?

Haha! Likewise, I'm glad it isn't just me. Four seasons in a row now! I must have been relatively relaxed for Houllier's season for some reason.

Yeah this is totally off topic, but I couldn't bring myself to put Lowton in that team. His sunderland performance alone puts him above those players.

Back on topic, I think Guzan, Richards, Clark, Amavi, Westwood, Gueye and Veretout are amongst the definite starters. After that I'm struggling, too many options. Love it.

Any thoughts on how much more the club is likely to spend this window? £5m-£10m?

To be fair, I think, I kind of understand what momo is saying.

 

It's a bit like saying 'What's in a name?' A lot of fans will have a bond with players and in a normal transfer window even if your favourite player leaves you move on to your second favourite etc. Normally a team evolves over seasons so the transition between squads is minimal. Now if you sell every player in that team a lot of fans may feel 'lost' to some degree as they have no attachment to any of the players. The likelihood is this will only last six months though before new bonds are formed.

 

Whether the overall effect on the teams performance is good or bad is almost irrelevant in this discussion, it's about emotional attachments. Like many I didn't particularly care about Benteke but liked Delph, Weimann and Lowton - it doesn't have to be based on ability, it's just players you have a soft spot for regardless of reasoning. With all of them gone, if my nephews ask who is my favourite player I'd need to think... it's a most a basic question but difficult to answer when all the players are new to Villa.

 

Were the mass changes needed? Of course they were. But I can understand the element of coldness towards a squad we don't really yet have any attachments to. The comparison with City, I think, was meant to highlight the sheer number of changes.

 

As for those who say why should we have emotion/ loyalty towards players who were getting us relegated - isn't this very much what an ambitious player would think? Whilst I think he's a pr*ck of the highest degree, surely this is Delph's view point - why should I have loyalty to a team who continually don't invest and struggle every year? So, for me, I do have loyalty towards some players both current and former as I think that's what strengthens bonds between fans and Villa.

 

Evolution is an easier emotional transition. Revolution is a better performance transition. As it stands, I think the need for Revolution outweighed the prefered Evolution route.

Excellent post.

Cilla's gone, aged 72.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/celebritynews/11778819/Cilla-Black-dies-aged-72.html

It's been said elsewhere but i love that these team selections are so varied, particularly the front line.

I wouldn't have thought I'd see a team selection that had neither Gil or Grealish in it and would (just about) be ok with it.

Late goals again too. Really can't get this monkey off our back.

Didn't watch the game, were we better defensively in the first or second half?

Based on what we currently have, barring injuries it's clark & okore as first choice CBs for me. Amavi obviously LB then Hutton, Richards and Bacuna fighting it out for RB. Unless we tried a back three.

Not seen the game, but I thought he looked decent after the wolves game, eager to get the ball, thought he linked up well with Amavi in the first half. As just mentioned, the biggest gripe he seemed to cause amongst a few of us was his performance against Swansea. Easily forgiven, he won't be the last player to try too hard to get one over his old team.

I don't know how often he should/could start, but for me, he's ahead of Gabby for one of the wide-striker roles. Just re-watched the goal against baggies in the cup, so much composure.

£2.5m is a bargain.

For me, he's ahead of Sanchez to play in that holding role. Sanchez seems to be more capable of producing MOTM performances (eg Sunderland, home) but then is more likely to be all over the place (eg arsenal, home & away etc).

I think Westwood, being the more consistent player, is the better option while we've got so many new players in the starting eleven.

Late to the party here too, but welcome Jordan!

Honestly had not even heard of this lad before 48 hours ago, but judging by the reaction him signing has provoked, I can't wait to see how he does.

 

Ha it might just be a chain reaction!

 

Still, I'm looking forward to seeing him play!

Ha! Yeah quite possibly. I'm taking some reassurances in the ITK's glowing praise of him and the Leicester City fans rating him too. I was expecting Amavi (another player of whom I know little of, other than his whoscored stats) to be our "wow can't believe we got him" signing, but this guy has won the VT positive reaction trophy for me!

Late to the party here too, but welcome Jordan!

Honestly had not even heard of this lad before 48 hours ago, but judging by the reaction him signing has provoked, I can't wait to see how he does.

Late to the party here, but welcome Rudy!

Having watched last season's goals it's clear he knows how to use his noggin. Some great headers last season. Seems a really good price for him too.

I think he'll start as our main forward and we'll go from there.

One for Tim (and all you Herman's Hermits fans).

Woke up this morning feeling fine,

Had something special on my mind,

The Villa's winning again, cos of Tim Sherwood, (oh yeah)

Something tells me I'm into something good.

Really happy with the business done so far, feels like the best window we've had in years (at the moment anyway, time will tell).

Am I right in thinking if we sign Veretout for around £8m and Gestede for £6m that we've roughly broken even net spend wise?

Sounds about right.

Nice. I know the whole net spend thing can annoy, but it's nice to think that maybe there's a stash of £10m or so which we haven't touched yet (ignoring any future exits, baker etc).