gatecrasha

Imagine Barkley- Super Jack and Traore all in the same starting 11. Offensively we will at times be unplayable. Make this happen!!

Conor will be a useful squad player. As a fanbase we need to realise that every player cannot be a nailed on starter- we are not yet Man City or Liverpool. So Conor, Trez and el Ghazi will become our 2nd string 11 and squad players. They can all do a job. 

Westwood and Enda Stevens despised on the forums are still performing for teams that placed higher than Villa last season. Connor is better than Westwood

29 minutes ago, M_Afro said:

I agree. We need some steel in there

Abdoulaye Docoure would have been perfect. Everton got a bargain at 22 million 

Does our scouting network extend to Bournemouth and Brentford?

On a positive spin- The Cherries fan forum rate him much better than Wilson. If it wasn't for him being in the last year of his contract a much higher price. They don't want another Fraser situation 

1 hour ago, ciggiesnbeer said:

Agree, or he needs to play in a different position, arguably he would make a better midfielder,, maybe. I suspect it will be a loan somewhere next season. 

We absolutely should explore whether there are other positions better suited to Keinan. I don't think he is a striker- but he could possibly be a left back/ left CD.

Pep has apparently told Nathan Ake he wants to utilise Ake as a holding defensive midfielder.  We  have in the past played Dublin and Jedinak in CD. Even Matty Cash is a converted midfielder.  Therefore perhaps we should explore Keinan's options. There is a footballer in there.

1 minute ago, joshharris12 said:

Beaten by Newcastle how embarrassing 

Or a blessing in disguise. 

I want him to choose Newcastle. Wilson has many limitations. 

12 minutes ago, JAMAICAN-VILLAN said:

This would be one step forward and 1 step back for me

Exactly this.

Freddy- and Cash will both potentially being able to play right side midfield - silly to sell --unless the money being paid is ridiculous.

However, I cannot see any French team apart from PSG paying 20 million plus for a RB

If we have indeed bid 21 million- this is getting silly. Walk away if 21million doesn't seal the deal.  28 year with dodgy injury record- not worth a penny more. 

24 minutes ago, villa89 said:

Of all the fans in the world united fans are the ones I'd trust the least when it comes to judging a player. Dont know why that is but it's what think.

I agree wholeheartedly- United fans i. general seem the least knowledgeable I have come across.

2 minutes ago, KenjiOgiwara said:

Spot on. I'd question the leadership at the club for the first time at that point. 

Yep very true. 

First of all he isn't for sale - let's stop the small club mentality. If he is for sale price is 100 million 

80 million with adds ons to a 100.  

Even Brentford can play hardball. Benrahma case in point last year. If that was some of our fan base we would have bent over. 

Whilst it is frustrating- think we all need to remind ourselves the window shuts on October 5th and actually October 16th for transfers from Championship clubs( we can still do business with Brentford for example until October16th!

In any normal season that would be considered loads of time. Appreciate we all want new players in for the start of the season but the start of the season this year is like no other that has ever gone before.

The evidence does not point to Villa being short of cash- vibrant academy. New coaches coming in- improvements at Bodymoor- not selling to buy. Alan Nixon however you rate or dont rate saying we will be spenders. 

I have us pinned down to spend 100 million minimum 

28 minutes ago, Philosopher said:

OK so the Grealish left or centre argument is a simple one really.

In a team not seeing a lot of possession with no threat out wide, Jack has to play left. However if the team has quality on the wings without Jack playing left, and if that team gets a lot of possession you want Jack in the middle.

If you are ambitious the you sign 2 quality widemen and move Jack to the centre.  If you lack ambition you keep Jack left and pray no one decides to offer close to the asking price, because lets be serious here; Jack will not want to be here if we fail to show ambition and even more so if he can't play his favourite position.

We don't really have a choice.  Buy a quality front 3 and have Jack in the 8 / 10 role.

The Rachica link makes a lot of sense we definitely want him, he is perfect for our left. Particularly if you see Watkins and Wesley as our Centre forwards. It was mentioned in his thread that Rachica like to drift inside, run the inside left channel and break the offside trap. When you have a guy doing that they feed well of a link / Target man. When you factor the lack of pace our front line currently has, and how much we need a wide men like that it makes more sense. Then if you add in the fact Jack tends to drift left when played centrally you can see a lovely synergy on the left and centre attacking areas. If you factor in Watkins can play play on either wing as well as up front the movement and unpredictability of such an attacking forward line becomes apparent.

Then all we need is Buendia to play on the right, and we have a potentially top 6 standard attacking unit. You have 2 goal threats with a pace and power combination, and both technically proficient. 2 creators, one the most fouled player in the league that can dictate and control a game. The other adept at set pieces that has a chance creation record almost as good as Jacks and plays in our problem position. 

Plus all that for around 75m sounds like a plan!

sounds very very decent. Nothing that you could disagree with there. With the remaining 25mill a physically imposing holding brute of a midfielder such as Doucoure. 

Would also love Sarr on the left instead of Rachica

Sarr - Grealish - Buendia

8 minutes ago, MotoMkali said:

He said no loans for young players without the option to buy. Not no loans. He is fine if we are loaning an already made player not a ayer we would be developing. 

We only have to look at Dean Henderson as an example as to why we shouldn't discount any loans. He was never going to stay at Sheff Utd but helped them immensely this year, as well as pushing his own claims/profile. Arsenal took loans. Until we truly establish ourselves back in the top tier, we shouldn't shoot ourselves in the foot or be too snobby and say no loans. Try before you buy- whats not to like? if the buy option isn't there, as long as the player has contributed, again it helps.

14 minutes ago, Silent_Bob said:

I see people seem to think the amount of money we spend on a striker is a meassurement of the ambition level. I disagree.

Wesley made his debut for Brazil in November and players that get into that team should also make it into our team. Just because he didn't hit the ground running doesn't mean he won't make it here. 

Traore (now Wolves), Ayew (now Crystal Palace), Amavi (now Marseille), Veretout (now AS Roma) and Gueye (now PSG) didn't hit the ground running in our relegation season, but they have proved they are good players since then. Similar things might happen, not only with Wesley, but with quite a few of our players. 

What we need now is to upgrade a few positions, and add much needed quality to the squad rather than spending most of the money on just a striker. 

But that doesn't mean the owners aren't ambitious. It's just that the club need to reach a certain plateau before it's ready to move to the next one. The next one is mid table, and we reach that by adding more players that are decent, but not spectacular. It's not Wesley that need a replacement, it's Taylor, Lansbury, Hourihane, Jota, Nyland and so on. It's a squad game, and even more now, when it's five subs. Where we are now It's better to replace Watkins with Eze at half time, than Edouard with Keinan Davis.

I hope we buy players on their way up, from the Championship and elsewhere, rather than rejects from top teams. 

Absolutely this. Young, energetic, hungry for success players. In turn if they are successful with a much higher ceiling if it goes well.  

58 minutes ago, KentVillan said:

Only a problem for the front 3 really. Fine with a slow-ish technical player further back if they know what they're doing. Never stopped Gareth Barry from being a top player.

For me, pace is a requisite necessity in the modern game. Tis the reason why Matty Targett gets caught out. Full backs with pace and a pacy centre-back gets you out of trouble, whilst making you harder to play against.  No doubting Barry's qualities though. But he is an exception not the norm.

Any player who lacks serious pace. As a team we are too slow.

No English managers - chap at Fulham all day long for me

Same excuses- should have done better- 12 months now with the same old crap. 

All the other teams had to manage with internationals and players away. 

Pay to take the Fulham manager. He has a plan and plays fast attacking football

Complete begins with a C and ends in a T

A suggestion taken off twitter about a week ago. The song what a night with adapted lyrics/ easy to put in a set og lyrics that works for us

Oh what a night

Late in May in 1982

PeterWithe made our dreams come true

What a feelingWhat a night

As an emergency fill in for Jedi should he get injured between now and the end of the season. How about Alan Hutton, defensive, hard man, shocking passing ability, breaks up play. Easy this football manager lark

Lerner and Fox, really were A grade Sh 1 ts  , at everything, finances, recruitment , PR ...............

chelsea and spurs both effectively have 2 holding mids-both teams damn difficult to beat

Chelsea in a 3 5 2 - Kante and Matic

spuds- wanyama and dembele- 4 2 3 1 formation 

For me 451 or what I call the spurs model

 4-2-3-1

bree chester baker taylor

bjarnason jedi

adomah lansbury hourihane

hogan

This would pack the midfield, make.us damn hard to beat. It would  allow lansbury and hourihane to play in danger areas. 

On the bench -you have Kodjia, green, amavi, gardner,  rhm , hutton