VillanousOne

are we the home team?

Weimann has been **** awful and so as our defence

utter defensive wankery.

it's like the second half of the season didn't happen

do we actually pratice set pieces?

does KEA Think he plays for Newcastle?

I know we've improved but this whole 'the opposition will always gain a one goal lead' really fecks me off

Pardew said that? Excellent. 'He’s a handful. We dealt with him last time, and we’ll have to do that again.' says failed Charlton and West Ham manager Alan Pardew on Christian Benteke.

we need to improve our crossing and set pieces to make the most of playing both Tekkers and Kozak but having read Pards smug assertion that his defenders can deal with Benteke - i'd like to see them deal with both Tekkers and Kozak at the same time!

22 players at least

he's the most uninspiring manager England have had in decades and he has a bunch of ageing old pros and incredibly overrated players that he is picking from.

so Hutton is whinging that we had three options to loan him to Spanish clubs and didn't agree a deal. so that translates to a Spanish club saying 'hey we'll have your player but will pay only 20% of his wages' and us saying 'erm **** no'. If Hutton wants to play so bad he could agree to take a pay cut or cancel his contract by mutual consent, but is he going to give up his lovely big wages for that '**** no'

if he can just stop flying into tackles/blocks/interceptions that he can't recover from - then he would be fine. It's heroic to commit if it comes off but is pretty terrible if it doesn't.

I remember no-one at all rated Benteke when we signed him, even the Genk fans dribbled on about how he wasn't ready for the Premiership and they were surprised we signed him. that basis alone gives me hope that Kozak will be a real find. was just thinking though if we played 442 do we have anyone particulalry good player who can play on the right wing? Presuming Albrighton is unlikely to get a look in?

horrible luck with Injury and lack of confidence have ruined him, rather than lack of talent but i agree he won't get the run of games he needs here. bottom line is any player can have a good run of form and games and then never find that form again, would love Marc to find his mojo with us but doubt it will happen.

he has had some of his best spells in a Villa shirt under Lambert, the main reason he has been dropped is that at times he was our biggest attacking threat but sometimes this unbalanced the team when we were playing poorly defensively. I think if our defence and midfield are more solid, there is room for him as a starter at home or an impact sub. he is probably the only player we have that we KNOW can take a decent set piece

I like the sound of this signing but I have to admit I was expecting one big tasty 6-12 mil midfield signing. But if we get quality for less, who cares?

For me the main thing that is missing in this team is a bit of composure on the ball, especially against the teams in the top half. I think we have players with the right skill sets and the potential, but too often we just fall apart in midfield in certain situations, no-one is able to just keep possession long enough to pick out a decent forward ball - unless we are playing kick and rush on the break. Often we panic and give the ball away very easily and then end up spending large spells of the game defending like headless chickens - getting the ball back - then giving it straight back to the opposition. We have the same issue with free kicks and set pieces, we just lack that little bit of quality. And yes if we had that it would make a hell of a difference - but we probably already have the players that can do it, maybe Tonev or Helenius or Gardener or Grealish, even Delph. But it would be great to have a ready made player capable of doing that. If we don't sign one we just have to be patient with the players we have.

Whilst money doesn't buy success and a series or poor judgements and financial mis-managements has led us down a dark path - it is still jarring to see how far adrift we are in terms of spending these days. I loathe Spurs and the fact that even before selling Bale they would have easilty spanked 50 mil up the wall in a heart beat. I remember excitedly thinking when we signed Stan Collymore we were a 'big' club and for a brief moment when we signed Bent. There was a time on this and other forums we didn't spend all our time posting the same stuff over and over and over again about wages, poor transfers and getting dead wood off the books. I'm fed up of obsessing over the crap we can't sell rather than what we can realistically buy.

Someone got a photo of Benteke in the ground before he signed. I think it's 10 mil euros for Finnborgson not pounds.

if that means we can't rule out signing someone or NOT signing someone then yes agreed. I think the only signing there was a little smoke around so far was Okore, the rest came utterly out of the blue. We know for a fact we enquired about Kiyouate and possibly Belhanda, even if we never bid for either. It would seem probable that we are at least looking to sign someone of that nature, whether or not we find anyone at the price/wages we want to pay is another matter.

lots of people seem utterly convinced we won't buy anyone despite no comments from the club ruling that out, go figure?

We were awful in the Liverpool game. But the other two games we looked to have improved. I think the shitty decisions vs Chelsea really affected the team. I agree some of more established players have not shown up yet.

So far not a great deal looks to have changed. Defensively we improved towards the end of last season, we're still making mistakes but looking a little more composed. Set-pieces - nothing has changed, we still suck at taking them............ i think we managed to start defending them a bit better last season. Possession - we're not great at keeping the ball, especially against the top teams. Playing for an entire 90 mins - erm nope Attacking on the break - excellent as ever Guzan and Benteke still awesome with Delph approaching that accolade It looks like Okore could be great, but I haven't seen anything of the other signings so far including pre-season to make me think they will radically change us. Luna looks more consistent than Bennett, but in many ways similar - in that he can attack but not defend, ok maybe he can still defend better than Bennett. The litmus test will be against teams in the middle of the Prem - whom we lost or drew with last season, if we can actually beat Southampton, Everton, Swansea, Newcastle then i will be convinced we have improved.

If he is a flying machine..... Does that mean fabulous men ride in him?