82Villan

19 hours ago, JamesBCFC said:

DP.

82Villan *likes* this.....

37 minutes ago, rubberman said:

Seems legit - I just put a fiver on Reading to dull the pain so a win is almost assured.

What you have done there my friend is virtually guarantee a draw. Probably snatched from the jaws of victory...

I came away from the game yesterday feeling quite positive. The first-half formation and selection were clearly a mistake, but in the second half we were the better side - maybe not as much as Newcastle were better in the first half, until the last 20 minutes or so when it was pretty much one way traffic.

I don't think anyone in this thread has mentioned the crowd reactions yesterday but they tell a story....as the half-time whistle was about to blow I turned to my father-in-law beside me and said this is gonna be ugly, and unsurprisingly the players trudged off to a chorus of boos. An hour later and the players were cheered off by a crowd in full voice again. Even though it was only a point it felt like a momentum swing and if it can be carried into the next match, I really believe we'll start to see results.

The continued speculation as to why he was unused at the end of last season is understandable because it is quite difficult to to figure out. I for one am willing to accept Sherwood's explanation simply because we'll likely never find out if there's any other. And because his job was to keep us up, and he did so. But I have always thought football was a bit simpler, in that your best players win you matches, so your best players should be playing. But it's in the past now, and in the present it is starting to look like he is a very good player and one that is going to be given a lot of game time (if he stays fit) which for me is all positive. Now we just need to get some results...

Going through this thread it looks like about 12th is the average consensus. I think that's about right. And I think it would represent a tremendous job by Tim and his team, and a great foundation to push on next season with a much more settled side.

I am excited about a lot of the newbies. I genuinely think Richards and Lescott as centre halves gives us a solidity we haven't had for years. Amavi is already absolute class and he's still too young to be in the 25! Gana is pretty much our best player already (so far at least) and Veretout is going to be top notch.

All that said, it doesn't surprise me in the least that Traore is topping the poll. And got my vote as well. Because when we're talking about excitement, what's more exciting than a player who is explosive from a standing start, can leave defenders in his dust and just looks like he's born to create and score goals. Awesome signing.

Sinclair up top with Grealish, Gil and Traore behind, if all fit, we should be able to create plenty and hopefully finish enough of those to get us the points. Lescott coming in makes me feel a little more confident we won't need at least 3 goals for this to happen.

good window overall and a number of exciting players working their way into the team....

my only comment on all that has been said here and elsewhere in the site is that while benteke is a huge loss, the simple fact is that last season he scored 13 for us in the league and 10 the season before...

its not impossible to think that we've got that many goals in our new striker signings, Sinclair, gestede, ayew and kozak, to the extent he's like a new signing.... gestede and Sinclair have scored three in the first four games...

This is such an excellent point that I think gets overlooked a lot in the worry about adequately replacing Benteke. For all that he was the main man and our main (read: only) goal threat, for how unplayable he looked at times, and for those goal-a-game spells he had, we must remember that he didn't actually score that many goals. It's hardly a stretch to see the new attacking players, between them, surpassing those totals. And even if we use his injury spells as mitigation, the fact the goalscoring burden is spread over more players now should reduce the impact of anyone having a lengthy period out. Time will tell but I think Tim's gone about it the right way.

I was holding out hope we'd go for Charlie Austin -- I feel nervous about all the unfamiliar faces. Could be a disaster or a triumph, but middling somehow feels unlikely.

We'll treat those two imposters just the same.

I'm delighted with the business we've done in this window. Broadly speaking, I don't really care about the players we've lost because of players we've brought in. Part of that might be down to quantity, with so many coming in we've been treated to the high of a new signing regularly enough to mitigate the disappointments. But I also think we've brought in some real quality and I can't wait to see more of them.

More specifically, I may have been in the minority but I didn't think we needed a new keeper and I'm quite happy with Guzan as number 1 still. The defence will be much stronger with whatever the first choice combination winds up being and also has enough depth now that it won't be shattered by a couple of injuries. Same for the midfield, we now have options and strength in depth when needed.

Bringing in a superstar up front to replace Benteke would have taken the excitement to another level I suppose but I think the money has been better used by strengthening the squad as a whole. Because we needed a hell of a lot of strengthening.

His position will be (should be) as a central striker with others behind and out wide creating chances. He will get a run in that position I'm sure and I hope he does well. And I hope to begin with we all give him a chance too, and remember that his success, to a degree, will depend on the form of the other attacking players in the side charged with creating chances.

That goal against Leicester last season was a peach, great technique on the header.

I'm sure one of the ones against Chelsea (maybe our 4th?) was not dissimilar.

If it means getting Clark out the side then by all means. Hope it's only a year deal we need to be focusing more on the future this is a short term soli

solution

We're focusing so much on the future we need to take care of the here and now = Lescott.

Clark, Baker Okore are all future.

Agree with the first part, don't agree with the second part -I hope Clark and Baker are not the future of Aston Villa

IMO Clark > Okore.

IMO Clark < Okore.

IMO Clark <3 Okore.

Not ITK.

...I would add that the type of ball that Traore will send into the box would be the type that Sinclair would thrive on as they seem to be on the floor, rather than in the air.

Exciting prospect isn't it

For now Sinclair needs to lead the line. I would stick him up front. Play a midfield of Grealish, Traore and Gil with Sanchez (or Westwood), Gana in the centre.

This is exactly what I would do. On form Sinclair deserves to be first choice up top - no point going on about competition for places if someone steps up and then isn't rewarded for it. With the new Holy Trinity behind and really any two of our 4 central midfielders (although Gana like Sinclair has earned the first choice spot atm) we should create shedloads of chances for him to get on the end of.

For a villa fan (supposedly apparently) he didn't half love celebrating scoring against us.

That aside, he is a very good centre half and for £1million its a good signing

For a villa fan (supposedly apparently) he didn't half love celebrating scoring against us.

That aside, he is a very good centre half and for £1million its a good signing

You can say that again

Seriously though, nothing wrong with celebrating a goal, shows passion

Totally agree...sorry it's a little off topic but this whole current trend of not celebrating goals against former clubs or whatever really winds me up, if you've helped your current club towards points you should celebrate (just don't take the piss a la Adebayor against Arsenal)

Slightly more on topic, looking back I love seeing him celebrate that last minute equaliser against us at Goodison in '08, made what happened next so much sweeter

Good signing, will challenge for a starting place and means we can rotate or cover an injury without weakening the defence. His experience will help with the younger players too.

He's been a loyal servant to Villa over the years and nobody can take that away from him but based on his form of the last few seasons (playing out of position, or not) he's just not good enough. If an offer came in that suited him and his family to go and start a fresh challenge then I genuinely think it would be in everybody's interest now.

I think you an simplify that a bit mate, if an offer came in that suited Aston Villa, it would be best for him to go. If he's truly loyal and Tim was to say to him look I could really use that 4 million quid from Brighton to strenthen "other areas" then it would be the right thing for him to do to move on.

If however the club deems him more valuable than what anyone is willing to pay for him, which seems to be the situation at present, then I have no problem with him staying. I do have a problem with him starting on recent form, but he has scored some big big goals for us over the years and if he regains some form he can still be an asset to the squad.

3-1-6

Sherwood 3-16 says I just whooped your ass...

(Premature?)

If that team can't score goals, we really are f****d this season...

But they will score goals, so all smiles

I'm really sorry guys, Saturday is all my fault and I take full responsibility. After his impressive start, I put Amavi in my fantasy team. In place of Scott Dann.

If it helps, I am now bottom of the fantasy league.

Lawro on the BBC (about Palace): "If they are going to be the team myself and a lot of other people think they will be and finish in the top half of the league this season, then this is a game they need to win."

With my claret and blue glasses on, I would say exactly the same thing about us (maybe changing "think" to "hope") - Palace are a decent side and so it'll be a difficult game, and I can understand why we're underdogs given the recent history of the side, but we should definitely be targeting 3 points from this.

Sinclair, Gestede, Grealish,

Westwood, Sanchez, Gueye

Amavi, Clark, Richards, Bacuna

Guzman

Troare for Sinclair

Gil for Westwood

Kozak for Gestede

2-0 win for us.

I'd have no complaints with that. Expect Gabby to start front and centre again, especially with us being away from home. Toss up between Ayew and Sinclair, but think Ayew might get the nod. Veretout sitting this one out seems logical though, due partly to his match fitness and partly due to Sanchez being well suited to the typical away team/underdog setup.

Hmm...debating Sherwood fit v Barca fit is all just a bit speculative isn't it? On the one hand Barca play more games and at a higher standard, on the other hand the Premier League is renowned for being faster paced than its European counterparts, so who knows... What we must surely all agree on is that if Sherwood is worth his salt as a manager he'll make it a priority, seeing how many points we've dropped over the past few seasons in the last 10 or 15 minutes. He must also see, especially from Veretout's travails in the first two games, that he's not going to get the best out of these boys until they're fully match fit.

Must agree with AE on Gary Neville, he analysed the whole of Monday nights game as if it were just Man U against this week's fodder, whenever we had a spell of possession it was simply down to them letting us off the hook. Really annoyed me.

On Traore, can't wait to see him play