OxfordVillan

30 minutes ago, Jareth said:

I'd take £150 mill. 

And buy what? Who will you attract to the club once you’ve sold the one player who everyone across Europe is now aware of and rates as world class? A player that the worlds very top managers such as Pep and Mourinho talk about as exceptional. A player who has almost single handedly gotten Villa to where they are now. Do you want to catch the teams above Villa, or do want to be known as the club that received a record fee and has a nice looking bank balance? Because I can tell you now that any club that sells their very best players to teams above them will never catch them. It’s very simple scenario.

19 minutes ago, MaVilla said:

lets hope not!

but, the way he talks about Grealish, shows just what a superstar he is developing in to.

I pray we can continue to develop and give Grealish the European football we will need to have a chance of keeping him long term.

 

These type of media shows make no difference. It’s basically a fan of one of the self appointed “elite” clubs telling other clubs fans, “well done, you’ve got a good player, but he’s so good he can’t possibly stay with you and must move to one of us self appointed elite clubs”. These guys are so poorly informed, they display almost complete ignorance in regard to Villa. They probably couldn’t tell you who owns Aston Villa, let alone their value and stated ambition. When Dean Smith and Christian Purslow go public and tell us they’ve received an offer for Jack Grealish that it is simply too good to turn down, well then I’ll take it seriously. But unless there’s a buy-out clause in Grealish’s contract that we don’t know about, then I’d imagine the “too good to turn down” offer would simply have to be in excess of £150m. I’d be really surprised and disappointed if Villa sold Grealish this summer, it would send all the wrong signals, regardless of the offer on the table. If you want to put yourself amongst the very best teams in the league, then you don’t sell your very best players to them. A very simple fact.

25 minutes ago, The Rosk said:

I've got no idea.  I am not a random ITK pusher, look at any of my posts.  I hate dwads that do that.  I just need to bloody share the pain I had when my mate messaged me (!)

To be clear: for me, Jack is the best and most important player we've had down the Villa in my lifetime supporting the club - and that includes McGrath, Yorke, Merson, Milner, Young etc.  I don't want to lose him - the thought of him and Buendia on either flank supporting Ollie is breathtaking.

But this guy knows his shit and has an actual career in football data.  It would be a bit odd if he named the company working for Spurs on their current managerial scouting if they weren't people to be in the know.  Feels odd that they would just throw mistruths around.  

I also have been a tad concerned by the betting markets having Grealish to City at 8/15 at a few places for several weeks now, and the nearest rival (Chelsea) at 7/1 for some time.

Premier League football is a swamp of mistruths, it’s the currency that most folk in the game trade on. 

1 hour ago, Tom13 said:

I mean is there any need for this shit?

There's plenty of evidence that people have posted about the Southgate/Jack theory. I'd say the people that choose to plainly ignore it must be very naive.

Here’s the only actual evidence that matters; England 1-0 Croatia 

On that particular day the England manager got it right. He didn’t luck out, Croatia weren’t unfortunate to lose. Anyone arguing anything else is, well, a bit naive! 

14 minutes ago, KenjiOgiwara said:

He's 36 though. And Juventus almost lost out on the CL slot last season. So the man has a point. Juventus literally won the league 9 times in a row, brought in a 35 year + player and proceeded to finish fourth place.

Actually the facts are that in Ronaldos first two seasons at Juventus they won two Serie A titles and, I think, two Supercoppa’s. The season just finished could be viewed as a bit of a blip. I don’t think you can link juventus signing Ronaldo as the start of a decline!

I wonder what some here might say if/when Grealish is selected and England don’t win or lose a game?! I have to assume that a number of folk posting here are pre pubescent, as some of the things being said about the England manager/Jack Grealish is the stuff of the school playground. It’s embarrassing to even just read it. 

1 minute ago, Delphinho123 said:

It really wasn't and we'll suffer later in the tournament because of this selection. 
We should be able to beat Croatia by playing a third XI. 

The way I look at it is that Croatia barely had an attempt at goal, literally nothing. No sustained pressure, no part of the game that they remotely looked like being able to beat that England team yesterday. That’s a decent opening game, I’ll be looking to see a building momentum in the next two games. But in tournament football you give yourself a better platform by making sure you win your opening game. Anything less and you’re under pressure going into your next game. Let’s wait and see what England do in the next two games before writing them off 

17 minutes ago, Delphinho123 said:

I disagree I'm afraid. Yes, we need to win, but we also need to build momentum by playing our best players and those players need to gain an understanding on the pitch so that when we face the better teams in the latter stages, we've given ourselves the best chance to win.

We should be able to beat Croatia with the players that didn't even make the final 26 man squad, that's how much depth we have. Beating them and only having 2 shots on target is not an achievement. It's literally the least i'd expect. 

We have Kyle Walker playing ahead of Reece James. We have a right back playing left back. We are playing two defensive midfielders when there is only a need to play one and our best player is on the bench.

Like we do with every tournament, we're going to roll out the same old cliche's...
'Best to get the bad game out of the way first',
'You can only beat what is put in front of you',
'3 points is all that matters',
'We'll grow into the tournament'. 

It's all nonsense. We'll come up against a decent side at some point and we'll be knocked out. At the last World Cup, we played three tough matches. Belgium twice and Croatia and we lost all three and people are sat there scratching their head asking the question, 'well how on earth did that happen, we beat Panama 6-0?'. 

We're going nowhere with Southgate. When is the last time we outplayed a good team? F*** me, we finished third in our Nations League group for christ sake behind Belgium and Denmark. 

Apologies if I'm not more optimistic but we're wasting an opportunity to win a big tournament with this failed man in charge. 

You disagree that the England manager has to win games? That’d be odd. I’ve no special feeling for Southgate but his selection yesterday was vindicated by the result. That really is all that matters in tournament football. As I said, Southgate will be judged on the tournament in its entirety, with bigger challenges laying ahead. But let’s wait to see if Southgate gets it right over the next few games, it’s not a good look when a set of fans seemingly turn on England because they think a Villa player should be getting selected every game. If England go out early and drearily then Southgate will get buckets poured on him, but give the England team a chance ffs! 

8 minutes ago, Thug said:

So, so, so wrong.

The remit is to win tournaments.

 

Well, yes. But I don’t think it takes too much of a stretch of the imagination to conclude that if you win your games you win tournaments! 

3 hours ago, KenjiOgiwara said:

I actually think as a national team coach the job IS to pick the 11 most in form players. That's the concept in it's very essence. Otherwise you are picking just on reputation, club bias and habit. 

Konsa should definitely be in this squad, and I think the exclusion of Konsa and Watkins is arguably more strange than not playing Jack - after all Jack has been injured for a while. 

But not playing Jack as well is very very strange, cause when you looked at the match yesterday, all though I've just watched some of it, England struggled massively with creativity and carrying the ball forward. It was hoofball, hit and run, and after taking the lead they were desperate to get some time on the ball and free kicks. Literally every single aspect of Jack's game would have suited the game yesterday. 

And before Sterling fluked a deflected goal into the net, he looked absolute turd. I just don't get the point of both Sterling and Foden. They offer much the same stuff. You would be far better off having Jack wide on the left.

I also think England would look a lot better with a player like Watkins than Kane. Not that Kane isn't a good player, but England desperately needs mobility up top. You'd look so much better with a more mobile striker. 

The England managers remit is to win games. That’s it. Yesterday the England team won, and never looked like losing. Job done. Professional and efficient, though not spectacular. I think Southgate missed a trick by not taking Watkins, as Ollie is fantastic at hassling the backline with his endless energy, not to mention he does also score goals. I also don’t particularly rate Calvert-Lewin as highly as others do, I think he’s quite one dimensional in that he’s good in the air. But with just the one game played, Southgate got it right. Tougher tests to come.

12 minutes ago, DaveAV1 said:

And the regimes either side of Lerner. Which were mostly even worse! 

I think that’s a little unfair on Doug Ellis. Say what you will about Doug but he had Villa running through his veins, tried his best with Villa whilst never risking the club financially. He also recognised when he wouldn’t be able to keep the club competing and sold up to Lerner, who, let’s not forget, started very well at Villa. Had it not been for Abu Dhabi buying Man City at that time, things might well have turned out very differently for Villa under Lerner. But that will never excuse how Lerner then simply lost interest in Villa to the point he ran the club into the ground before relegating us. If that wasn’t bad enough, Lerner then sold up to Xia who very nearly made us extinct within a couple of years. 

Doug Ellis may well have had flaws, but he certainly never willingly risked the clubs existence. The two owners after him were reckless with the club in different ways.

19 minutes ago, Mr_Dogg said:

I think he will easily get a PL team. Too many managers love a good set piece.

19 minutes ago, Mr_Dogg said:

I think he will easily get a PL team. Too many managers love a good set piece.

I’m not so sure, he wasn’t getting into the Swansea starting 11 at the end of the season and so I’d imagine a loan again to a championship club beckons for next season…….or Villa may allow him to leave on a free. I think we’d be doing remarkably well to find a buyer in the championship who could pay both a fee and his salary after the last 18months of lost revenue. I really don’t see a Premier League club coming in for him, it’s just a level too high for him now. 

4 hours ago, KangarooVillan said:

If we keep improving, something tells me Emi might be reticent to accept anything but the #1 position at a huge club. Unlikely Real Madrid or equivalent will be able to offer him that.

Question for us will be, do we want the cash or do we want Emi Martinez?

Football is an ever changing landscape. It can also change quickly. What can look a perfect relationship this month can suddenly look a whole lot different next month, due to any amount of external factors. We have in Martinez a GK who I would think can now be classed as in the top 10 GKs in world football, and as such that’s going to mean there’ll be interest in him from football clubs with a considerably bigger standing in football than Aston Villa at the present time. As long as Emi is really happy at Villa and his form and fitness remain then it’s a no brainer to retain a GK of his undoubted quality over the money. But……it only takes a slight change to the dynamics to change this. If somebody like a Real Madrid or a Barcelona showed real interest then it wouldn’t be a surprise for that to interest Martinez, as we must remember that his time in the limelight has come late to him at 28yrs old and he’d likely want to maximise his remaining years to create memories and win silverware. Lets not forget that a little over a 18months ago he was not on anyone’s radar as he was throwing himself around in a Reading FC shirt! 
And then there’s the possibility that Villa unearth a young GK in the coming season or so who easily looks like he could be the No.1 for the next decade, at which point offers above £30-35m and above begin to look like really good, sensible business! So many possibilities in football. 
All that said, at this moment in time there’s not an offer coming that would tempt me to sell what is a top class Goalkeeper. 

If the price is cheap enough and it represents really good value, then why not if our budget allows it? Everybody wanted him 12 months ago! 

I generally like to wait until the transfer window is closed before mulling over expectations, you just never know who might yet walk in through the Villa gate,  or who might walk out of the gates! However we’ve started the summer window in very positive fashion, and all the noises seem to indicate further quality incomings. Should we finish the window with new signings Buendia, JWP, and a-n-other CDM of similar ilk….as well as retaining Grealish…..then we should probably target 5th-7th. IF we have an even better summer window then we could think about nicking 4th with a fair wind behind us. I think we’ll be better next season and one or two teams above us are stagnating, and one or two might not fair as well as they did this season. We can realistically target finishing above Arsenal & Spurs, two clubs in a bit of disarray. I also don’t see Everton fairing any better with Ancellotti leaving, and no way are West Ham having another season like they just had. Leeds I don’t expect to have the necessary funds to kick on much further, and I’m sure teams will have worked them out better for next season. 
So that’s five clubs I’ve mentioned that we can realistically target to finish above. I think we should start the season targeting 20 wins, which is four more than we managed this season. I also think that’s realistic. 

1 hour ago, Lord Willard said:

Him being so good at free kicks takes away how good his all round game is. He is probably the 5th best English midfielder and people are unsure? If it's around 50-60m we won't be interested but if it's around 30-35 I think we'll be all over it 

I’d think the figures would be somewhere between the two sets you mention, something around £40-45m. 

58 minutes ago, Lord Willard said:

From a selfish point of view I’m not too disappointed that Ollie gets to have a decent rest this summer, it’ll serve Villa better going into the start of next season. Ollie comes away from the England squad with good reviews, an enhanced reputation, and the knowledge he belongs and is capable at international level. When you add into the equation that he’ll not be associated with what I now predict will likely be another underwhelming tournament for England then it’s all good for Villa and Ollie. Southgate will **** the tournament up, for sure.

9 minutes ago, useless said:

To be honest i think he might be two footed, but uses his left a lot cutting inside as he usually plays on the right. It's hard to tell because not only does he shoot and pass with both feet but also controls and dribbles with both feet.

I’ve just watched his 20/21 YouTube highlights and he took a penalty right footed, however it also shows him scoring from distance with both feet. 
Ive seen hardly anything of him before watching the highlights reel, and he strikes me as being in the middle a fair bit, rather than looking like a right sided forward. Looks to me like he could play behind Watkins as a No10, but also on the right. It’s not my money but £40m+ would seem to me to be £10m over the top, I’d put him in the same bracket as Watkins last summer. I’ve said before we’ll likely have to pay over the odds for one or two players, so maybe this is one that the club want to secure? If it’s good enough for the recruitment team, it’s plenty good enough for me. UTV

1 minute ago, DCJonah said:

I didn't say I know you. I said the more you post the more you reveal. You keep assuming I've said something I haven't. 

I think it's very hypocritical that you've responded to some on here with the sarcastic "you won't change hearts and minds with that approach" yet have no issue with people booing others in public. 

How does that succeed to change hearts and minds? 

You’re entitled to your view. UTV

2 minutes ago, ml1dch said:

Presumably then you'd also defend the rights of the people on this thread to call them massive dickbags then? 

Whatever floats your boat, my friend. UTV

35 minutes ago, Stratvillan said:

Thought Mings played well yesterday.  (thought I'd bring it back to topic). Think he'll be in the England squad?

 

He should absolutely be in the England squad. It would be a bit farcical if he wasn’t. He’s been very good for the vast majority of the season. Excellent at times. 

7 minutes ago, DCJonah said:

But you think booing people in public will. 

The more you post, the more you reveal yourself. 

I think you think you have more insight than you actually do. I don’t boo, never have done never will. Except at panto. But I defend people’s right to boo, to have a different opinion. If you read back to one of my earlier posts on this topic you will see that I wrote that I hoped the authorities and the players could come together over summer and put together a new initiative against racism that could pull EVERYONE along with it. By that I mean completely sever links with BLM so that people cannot use it as an excuse to boo, criticise, or whatever. By doing so you would leave the real racists with nowhere to hide. 
The reality is that you don’t know me at all, it’s somewhat naive to think you do by reading a few words on a forum. The single thing we know we have in common here is AVFC. Anything else is just misguided guesswork. UTV

6 minutes ago, wilko154 said:

I'm not sure about the Buendia links.

If we were going to buy him then surely we would have taken him last summer after Norwich's relegation; his value will now have increased with their promotion and there willingness to sell decreased.

I honestly don’t know enough about Buendia as I don’t watch him week in week out. But I trust our recruitment enough that whoever they deem to sign is good enough for me.