Godders

3 minutes ago, blandy said:

That's just not true, sadly, as it stands, Godders. 

Really? I'm pretty sure our new owners have said no one needs to be sold, or did I dream that? 

The maths are very simple here. No one has to be sold, despite FFP. 

If Spurs are willing to pay us £60mill+ then we can let him go. 

If Spurs aren't willing to meet our valuation, we don't have to sell him and he remains a Villa player. 

I can't see Spurs forking out for him personally. 

1 hour ago, villa89 said:

I'm not sure how you can be so certain of this. It would be very surprising to me if he was still here this season. For £30m he's an absolute bargain in today's market. The top clubs in the premier league should be queuing up for him at that price plus the fact that he's English so would count as a homegrown player. Also as soon as he starts playing in the premier league he'll be in the England squad which would double his value straight away.

Really? You think he's worth £30mill? 

If not, why should we bother selling him for £30mill?

19 minutes ago, hippo said:

JG has a glittering career ahead but he is also one bad tackle away from it being all over...... 

That injury can happen regardless of whatever club he's playing for, so why not us? 

Fact is he's still a young player learning his trade. The only way he can do that is on the pitch. He needs to be getting minutes right now, not warming a bench, and I bet I know what will happen at Spurs. 

It really annoys me when young players move to big clubs on big money to sit on the bench. Young players can only improve through playing football at the highest level they can. If that is guaranteed minutes in the championship or a relegation battling Premier league club, then thats the best option in my view. 

Admittedly this is through claret and blue tinted glasses, but I reckon It's best for his career to stay with us right now. Next summer is when to look at it again, or possibly Jan if he sets the league alight in the next few months. Right now though, he's not a champions league standard midfielder. 

34 minutes ago, TheStagMan said:

on what basis? Genuinely interested to know what you think will be different this coming season and why Bruce would be able to achieve promotion this year?

VP was a fortress last season. I thought We were well in the mix for 2nd after the Cardiff and Wolves games at the back end of the season, despite a pretty poor start to the campaign for a team of our calibre. On fact, the gap was (I think) 6 points after the wolves game? That wasn't massively insurmountable. 

We lost 6 points straight after the wolves game though which ended our hopes. The way I look at it though, that was a squad, manager and style that could have gotten automatic promotion. 

We've lost a few players, but if we keep the likes of Chester and Grealish, I can't see that we've been weakened to such an extent that playoffs wouldn't be a viable outcome this year under Bruce. 

29 minutes ago, mrbluesky said:

But the prem has been dominated in the past by managers who were not top players: Ferguson, Wenger and Mourinho. It’s time to realise the quality of a player has very little bearing on the their quality as a manager.

I agree. I think there would be a huge meltdown though if we employed some unkown Belgian 2nd division coach though who never played professionally.

5 minutes ago, supermon said:

Ok permission to get excited 

Richest Arab in the world? Man City are owned by Arabs. Does that mean we're now richer than Man City? 

19 minutes ago, hippo said:

If he looses the first 3 or 4 games thats a style Id rather not see implemented.

I don't know why people get themselves in such a tangle - a good manager wins games a poor one doesn't. Remi Garde and Houllier were both implementing a style but they could rarely win a game between them.

It does take time though. To build a brand new style of play, the new manager needs to explain to the players where he wants them to be in certain situations, what their roles are etc. These instructions will, invariably, be different to what SB has told them. So, the players need to practice until it's second nature. This is what takes time. For the first few games, the players need to consciously think about what they're supposed to be doing in situations they find themselves in on the pitch. This means play will appear, on occasion, slow and laboured, and players will be caught out of position. 

Eventually it should settle down as the players become used to the new style and what they're expected to do in any situation becomes second nature. The transition to a brand new style of play, or philosophy though, could very well be painful. 

6 hours ago, lexicon said:

Not exactly given much of a chance and sometimes a club is not the right fit. Have you read the independent article about his time at Palace? Doomed from the start. 

Thing is De Boer needs time to implement his style. Do you really think he'll get that here? I can't see the fans putting up with another 3 or 4 losses in the first few games under a new manager.

1 minute ago, JAMAICAN-VILLAN said:

Doing well would have been sticking with a winning formula and playing players in their correct positions.

Fixing a non sensical f*ck up is not "doing well" in my view.

I meant changing it pretty **** swiftly when it was clear it wasn't working. A lot is made on here of the fact he takes too long to react. Was a pretty quick reaction tonight, even if the original decision was questionable. 

3 minutes ago, midian said:

Bjarnasson is awful aswell

Hmm. I thought he was solid when he came on. Was on the end of everything, didn't give away possession. Almost crafted something at the end but for a horrible offside decision. 

If you'd have said Taylor instead of Bjarnasson I may have agreed with you.. 

SB did well to change it when it was clear 3 at the back wasn't working. Davies is on fire at the moment. Ref was one of the worst I've seen. Good spirit shown to come back from a goal down, and never really looking like losing. 

42 minutes ago, villa4europe said:

thats not how bookies work...

i dont think its the draw on paper thats pissed people off, its the nature of it, the play well take the lead not take our chances start the 2nd half like its job done watch the opposition take control make no subs concede a soft goal make some daft subs have a big push during the death of the game, its a rinse and repeat of far too many games

hence why a draw was the likely outcome with the bookies on saturday, everyone can see it coming so thats where they put their money

I'm well aware how bookies work. OP was pointing to the fact that because the bookies have us as favourites for the title, taking less than all 3 points on Saturday wasn't acceptable. I was merely pointing out that the betting public thought a draw was a reasonably likely outcome on Saturday, yet still figure us to be favourites for an automatic spot. 

I get why people are disappointed with a draw. I myself am disappointed with a draw. I disagree to a certain extent though that the nature of the way we played was similar to the gripes people had around last season.

Last year the biggest issue folks had was that we look clueless going forward, and that without Kodja, we couldn't score. Well, on Saturday both Hogan and Gabby found themselves 1 on 1 with the keeper. Hogan had a shot narrowly miss the far post. Lansbury had a couple of decent half chances, Onomah had one where he could have tested the keeper and of course, Green missed the easiest chance he'll probably have all season. 

For me, we looked better going forward on Saturday than we have done for a while. Yes, we need to be finishing those chances regularly to be in the title mix, but that's a completely different issue than one where we're not scoring because we're not creating anything. 

And really, we were the only team that ever looked like winning on Saturday, despite our off period during the second half. 

5 minutes ago, Dr_Pangloss said:

Taking a £15m striker off with like 12 minutes to go when you're trying to win a football match is utterly horrific thinking. 

At that point, I think they'd settled for the draw. 

1 hour ago, Zatman said:

We are favourites for promotion by major bookmakers, not just fans who expect us to win every game

Wrong attitude to think we should be happy with draws at home

Those same bookmakers thought a draw on Saturday was a pretty likely outcome. And they still have us favourites for auto promotion along with Boro (who lost a game they were expected by most to win by the way). 

We're not going to win every game. A draw at home against Hull was not unexpected. 

15 hours ago, Stockport_Villain said:

I've had 24 hours to recover from the disappointment of drawing yesterday and had chance to watch the 3 min highlights. I'm amazed at how Green missed that chance but it was a cracking chance that was created and the lad from spurs had a good chance as well. 

Hogan had a couple of reasonable opportunities as well, as well as that pull back which should have been buried as well. Plus 1 or 2 for Lansbury. That's 1 gilt-edged certain goal, and 4 or 5 decent chances that we created. We should have won. 

I'm not totally on board with the "same shit, different season" mentality that seems to be permeating this thread. For Gabby's goal, we had three players in the box attacking the ball in. I can't remember the last time we had more than 2 players in the box attacking a cross. That's a clear change for me. 

5 minutes ago, av1 said:

Taylor looks uncharacteristically sloppy

Honestly, I wasn't impressed with him pre-season. I see him as a bit of a weak link in the team. 

2 minutes ago, Johnnyp said:

Think whelan has been decent enough apart from getting cocky before HT and nearly paying for it. He shows for the ball and moves it quickly.  

I dunno, I think that's more down to he and Elmo being new to each other. If he'd have been expecting it we'd have been in a great position pushing forward with the ball. 

1 minute ago, KHV said:

Hourihane has done nothing to warrant a start since he arrived either. He has been shit, I don't think he will feature much at all this season when Onomah is up to speed and Jedinak is fit. Hourihane is well down the pecking order IMO

Agree. Really can't see why folks are losing their shit over Bacuna starting. Hourihane has been wank generally pre-season. Bacuna marginally better imo. Grealish is injured and Onomah only joined yesterday. I can see why Bacuna is starting.

5 hours ago, bobzy said:

I wish we were more ruthless (perhaps like Sevilla) than we have been when dealing with transfers in the past.  How much last season, again?

I think the Dr is proving himself to be pretty ruthless by telling Sevilla now to f*ck off. Can't imagine the previous incumbent doing that. 

1 hour ago, Stevo985 said:

This kind of nonsense is why I stopped posting in this thread

I think I'll go back to that!

Only 4 weeks until the start of the season and we can finally put this to bed and get off this merry-go-round!

Unless Sky know something no one else does, he's not signing with us - best odds available currently look to be 16's. 

3 minutes ago, Eastie said:

Just got his biography on kindle - was surprised to see he and his dad and grandad were big united fans until he signed for Chelsea at 14 .

Delighted he is now a villa player. 

Fickle word removed. I don't want him anywhere near the club now! 

16 minutes ago, USA_Villa said:

Villa's lack of foresight just amazes me. We have bet our chance of getting out of this division last year and now this year on PROVEN experience.

So... You'd rather we bet our chances of getting out of this division on no experience?