VillaFaninLondon

11 minutes ago, MWARLEY2 said:

Dean Smith used to say his objective was to finish first.  Its a big ask but also a reasonable one. You should always have big ambition. 

They want to finish ahead of West Ham , Newcastle Brighton Palace and the rest. 

Not unreasonable with the quality players in the squad. If Gerrard can get them to gel. 

The reality is that they all seem to have an effective way of playing and can get their team to show decent consistency. We have not as yet. 

Thats why we have bought players like Carlos and Kamara. They are used to operating at the high end of the table  . They by definition are consistent players. And they should on paper give us that consistency.  

I think even if we performed to absolute optimum level (which is rarely the case with Villa anyhow, we usually underperform), then 8th is the maximum we can achieve. I note Phil McNulty at the BBC has us finishing 8th which is very generous of him, but that's the absolute maximum IMO this squad of players can achieve and eI think even 8th is a tad optimistic. 

Top 10 is certainly possible and certainly anything less than that would be a bad season. But I just think 8th-10th is the best we are going to get this season unless they get the cheque book out for another signing. 

7 minutes ago, Peter Griffin said:

Are u sure, do u have a link? At the dinner in Australian Purslow is quoted as saying the following. 

That doesn't sound like the objective is to finish 7th this season

 

https://www.birminghammail.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/aston-villa-man-utd-purslow-24558331

Well that link does actually confirm it: Purslow outlined how he hopes Aston Villa will make a statement next season and push for European qualification; The head coach wants Villa to really upset the top six, push for a European place and to improve the club’s home form.

That to me says they want to push West Ham all the way to get 7th. Now, as I said in my previous post, West Ham already finished 11 points ahead of us and have had a better summer window. So not sure how they expect to achieve their objectives as outlined above. 

I cannot get Purslow's exact quotes as the dinner was not recorded, but from what I understand he bluntly outlined that 7th is the objective this season. Gerrard was then asked about that a couple of days later and dampened down a bit by saying top half has to be the minimum.

I think top half is achievable, but top 7 no way at all currently. So I just wish they would stop coming out with these statements unless they are prepared to fund a top 7 challenge, because if we don't improve our first 11 further top 7 simply ain't happening.

26 minutes ago, Peter Griffin said:

They say they want to get into Europe but they don't say it has to happen at the end of next season. We spent early so we could get our players into the Villa setup and get full preseasons and give them time to relocate etc. Other clubs have not caught up with this as they missed the boat by not signing when we did. That was obviously our strategy from the start and they delivered on it. I expect to see one more signing but that may require a departure first. I am fairly confident that the summer transfer window is exactly to plan. 

Purslow said in Australia it was the objective to finish 7th this season.

The problem is, whilst we had a great start to the window, other teams that we will be hoping to compete with have now caught us up. West Ham have signed 3 players now for big money who all look like they could really improve them (and they were already finishing 7th), Newcastle throwing bids at Maddison and will surely make another 1-2 big signings before the window closes. I really thought we would have a window like Spurs have had, with 3-4 potential first team players coming in, instead it's only 2 (Kamara and Carlos), and Spurs achieved their objectives last season whilst we fell well short.

I don't need to say what a great job our owners have done so far, but net spend recently has been really light. We made a surplus last summer, so far this summer we have spent around 5m net, and given we play in such a strong league where everyone is spending and we want to finish 7th I really thought we would be investing more. I know we want to move more players on, but that hasn't stopped other teams investing despite having players on their books they don't want. 

I will be really disappointed if we don't sign another player for the first team. As we stand now we've had a decent window and probably the 8th or 9th best out of all PL teams, but I feel the top 6 and West Ham have done better and Newcastle will (once they confirm another couple of top signings which I am expecting to happen). And based on that it's very hard to say we'll finish much higher than 9th or 10th. If they want to continue saying we want to finish top 7 and get this club back into Europe, fine, but actually back that up by investing in the areas that need strengthening.

18 minutes ago, CVByrne said:

Net spend is meaningless. It's not a thing. Counting part of a transfer in the fee paid to another club for the players registration and then netting these off is ridiculous.

It ignores wage and the fact the fee appears the same way wages do in the accounts over the period of the contract. 

Transfers with fee's are just two things. Annual wages to the player and the annual fee to the club we bought player off. Both are over the life of the contract. That's how it's accounted for in our accounts Wages + Fee Amortisation, they're both just annual costs

Maybe you should apply to be the Aston Villa Chief Finance Officer.

4 hours ago, CVByrne said:

I disagree with everything you've you've said. It's just typical football fan stamping of feet demanding new players. Yes I'd like us to replace Sanson with a top midfield 8 who will push us on but that's not easy to do.

If we went out and signed a £30-35m new no8. What will that result in? If we don't have a buyer for Sanson lined up we're writing off most of what we paid for him. Luiz will not sign a new deal and leaves on a free. Is that a better outcome than convincing Luiz to stay by playing him. Giving Sanson a chance now he's had a pre season and hopefully is injury free like Bailey?

We've a stacked midfield atm. We've 3 players for no6 and 4 players for 8. It has to be a player out before we sign another one otherwise it's bad squad management

No surprise there then. 
 

On the no. 6 position, I’m not sure I agree. We have 2 senior players there and an Academy player who has 3 PL games to his name. We do have four no 8s yes, but Gerrard doesn’t trust Sanson and he seems to be backup and not in the plans, regardless of his situation we still have the same CM options as last season despite every man and his dog knowing we still can’t control games or keep possession well enough even against the average sides let alone the top ones.

We’ve just made a 20m profit on an Academy player who was part of the squad last season, there should be scope to bring in a like for like replacement and potentially someone good enough to come straight into the 11. Of course we need to manage the squad but we also need to be strong enough to have a good season and that position has needed fixing for a while now.

6 hours ago, jackbauer24 said:

This has draw written all over it for me.

Away, newly promoted team, Villa still unsure of lineup with debutants as well.

The optimistic will claim progress as we lost to Watford last season, they'll point to it being early in the season and that xyz looked good and will only get better when they 'gel/ get up to speed' and that we're only a player short of being top 8.

The negative will claim stagnation, they'll point to largely uninspiring pre-season performances and that xyz looked poor and have shown no signs of improvement from last season or coping with the Premier League and we're only a player or two from getting injuries that will see us fight relegation.

The truth probably being somewhere slap bang in the middle with average performances leading to average results leading to an average league position - 10th!

I’d be very negative if we drew. Probably the best fixture we could get of any opening day game (at least on paper). 

Bournemouth are certainly the weakest of the promoted teams, particularly with lack of investment and adding no one of real quality this summer, and anything other than a win will be poor. We need to hit the ground running this season and be aiming to win our first 2 games as a minimum (if not our first three), but first let’s focus on winning the first one. 
 

Solanke has never done well in the PL but was very good in the Champ last season so needs to be marked well. Billing also scored a few andAntony is a talent. But we are better in every area of the pitch, if we match them for effort and don’t get tactically outwitted we will be fine.

The team needs to remember what happened at Watford 12 months ago (although most of the team that played that day won’t be starting on Saturday thankfully) and ensure it doesn’t happen again. We have had a solid albeit unspectacular preseason and look harder to beat which is handy. I fancy us to not f*** up for a change and win here, maybe 2-0 or 3-1. 

36 minutes ago, CVByrne said:

I just don't see a midfielder we can sign who is a clear upgrade on Luiz, Sanson, McGinn, JJ. 

Sangare would be one but would he really come here instead of a Champions League club? Also that means we'd play two more defensive minded players and we don't play a double pivot and Sangare is used to playing in one. Sanson leaving and Sangare coming in would be a good trade.

I just think we will struggle to sign players better than Luiz/McGinn/JJ and the only reason we should sign another player is if they are like Kamara/Carlos and are better than the incumbent players.

I think we should keep Tim Iroegbunam around the squad like Archer and get him some time in cups and off the bench. We can assess the midfield next summer. 

Well we won’t achieve our key objective - top 7 - if we don’t upgrade on them that is for sure.

With respect I think you’re talking rubbish about us being incapable of upgrading on any of them. The Kamara signing proves we can bring better than what we have in but obviously these type of players want big wages.

I can think of numerous top midfielders who have gone to midtable, newly promoted, relegation-battling or even ambitious Championship teams - e.g. Tielemans to Leicester, Palhinha to Fulham, Soucek to West Ham, Guimaeres to Newcastle, and Neves to Wolves. 
 

I cannot stress enough, we NEED an upgrade in CM even more so than we need a striker. If we don’t we will continue to flounder in midtable. Luiz, Ramsey and McGinn are all great squad players and I think one of them can nail down a first team spot (probably Ramsey or Luiz rather than McGinn) but we need someone top class to bring the best out of one of them. Yes we need to move on a couple like Sanson and Nakamba but if we can’t sell then send them out on loan and invest, we’ve just brought in 40m in sales this summer FFS. Gerrard should know we need this more than anyone given he was a top CM himself.

We should reinvest that £20m into a £30-40m+ CM who is better than McGinn, Luiz or Ramsey and might give us a chance of finishing 7th.

We won't of course. 

1 hour ago, HalfTimePost said:

And then the next few we're going back a long time and then suddenly we're at Watkins. Buying a striker is bloody tough.

Berbatov £34 (Utd) - Hit

Torres £34m (Liverpool) - Hit

Dzeko £33m (City) - Hit

Rooney £33m (Utd) - Hit

Scamacca £32m (West Ham) - TBC

Lukaku £32m (Chelsea) - Miss?

Watkins £30m (Aston Villa) - Alleged Miss.

I'm not having it. I think he's been a very good buy for us. He's not going to win us the league and probably not get us to Top 6. Inthe comparisons to signings 17-15 years ago here. Yea not great value. But to the ones happening now, he's been more of a hit than a miss and decent value.

If we were to sell I reckon we’d get back roughly what we paid for him. I’d say he’s not a hit or a miss, for where we were at the time he’s been a decent signing (although we definitely overpaid) but for where we want to get to he isn’t good enough.

1 minute ago, TRO said:

I think shifting players at the right price, is a concern......but I think also, its a hangover, from the Championship.

It should improve as we progress.

I guess we coulld point to Jacks transfer and say......When we have quality goods to sell, we don;t do too bad.

When we have signed iffy standard of player, is it any wonder prospective buyers see it the same.....its down to progress, and attracting good quality, then its easier to sell.

Grealish is one example where we have sold well, although we greatly suffered after his sale. Targett wasn't a bad sale either, although I felt given it was Newcastle we could have asked more than that (especially after they paid 25m for Chris Wood). 

I'm still not sure how we managed to shift Trez, but can't seem to move on AEG and Traore who I would consider better than Trez. I don't think putting Traore to train with the U23s is a good move either and I'd rather we utilise him in the squad if we can't sell him at the right price. Davis, Hause, Guilbert I can understand to a degree not being able to move them on. Sanson will probably stick around this season but you'd feel he'd have suitors for the 5-10m price range. I feel we're asking too much for Carney.

11 hours ago, Villaphan04 said:

I think we are going to spend big on a new striker next summer (maybe in Jan if things with Watkins & Ings aren't going to plan)

 

We don't really have squad space if we can't shift some of the fringe guys this year (El Ghazi, Hause, Nakamba, Traore, Sanson-- idk if I would put him here though) where we would be able to buy a few more players).

Newcastle have exactly the same squad size as us (29) and are putting in bids for Maddison and Werner. 

It's clear we're terrible at shifting players but it's just one of a number of excuses we use for not strengthening the team. 

We've really not invested very much this summer at all. Around 45m spent and we've brought in 20m in sales so a net spend of 25m. We spent 25m in January but then had a surplus of 10m last summer so we have spent 40m net since the end of the 20/21 season. Even Southampton have spent more than that this summer alone. 

It's clear that Ings and Watkins will continue to frustrate again this season going on their preseason form. We still don't have any b2b midfielder that has any consistency and the decision to appoint McGinn captain is a ridiculous one because he isn't a leader and he doesn't lead by example either given he's not shown any level of consistency apart from his first season in the Champ. 

I just find it strange how Purslow talks about how getting into Europe this season is the goal when investment has been limited and we have Gerrard as manager who as of up to now hasn't proven himself as a top or dare I say even average PL manager. Surely when you make such bold statements you back it up with some bold moves but other than the early business we did we haven't really done that. If Gerrard is such a pull for players, surely we'd be looking to use that to upgrade on the likes of McGinn and Watkins who are never going to be top players at this level. 

I'm trying to lower my expectations as a result of that but at the same time I'll be very angry and disappointed if we go another year without even breaking into the top 10 which I'm sure wouldn't be far off the longest we've gone without doing that.

1 minute ago, AV82 said:

Bailey is another El Ghazi. Offers **** all besides a goal here and there.

What on Earth is this. Probably been our best player again. Certainly the most threatening.

McGinn nearly gifts them a goal and loses it again. How he is captain I have no idea.

6 minutes ago, Peter Griffin said:

How do u know this?

I give up. 

I just have no idea how the season is going to go. Part of me thinks we have enough quality players to get 7th or 8th but that would require everything to click and every player playing to peak performance. And for that to happen we need a top manager and I don't think Gerrard is one. 

It's also disappointing that transfers have gone so quiet, I suspect the owners and Purslow will see how the first 2-3 games goes and if not well they may splash out on someone but I don't like this idea because that is buying from a position of weakness rather than strength. It's also clear we have a big squad with many players not part of the plans but we can't seem to shift any of them.

I think we've got too many good players to be embroiled in a relegation scrap but equally I have a horrible feeling we might not be much better than last season and Gerrard's stubbornness with weird systems, narrow formations and shoehorning Ings and Watkins in will hold us back. 

I reckon we may end up somewhere pretty rubbish like 12th and I suspect Gerrard would not survive that. I really hope we start the season with a couple of wins so I can at least feel optimistic of a good season even if it doesn't last long. 

2 hours ago, Peter Griffin said:

I think we would have heard something from the club to suggest our transfer business was over if they didn't intend getting another player in. I believe we are open to another player but only if it is the right player and at the right price. We look to have finally got smart at transfers and get specific targets in for specific positions, the hit and hope approach is no longer. Gerrard is probably happy with the squad he has for the coming season but imo the club will move for the right player if the opportunity presents itself and I believe that Lange et al are looking for those opportunities

I don't think they'd come out and tell us necessarily, they didn't last summer when we failed to buy a CM and had 100m in our pockets from selling Grealish. 

I don't just want any nothing player coming in, it has to be the right quality, but someone like Palhinha would have been a great signing for us and we let him go to Fulham. There are still players out there who could drastically improve us being branded about (e.g. Matheus Nunes) but we're not going for them.

It all smells like we're done, but I want to be wrong on this one. 

Just now, HKP90 said:

Good point. Not the point I was making, but...

I'll leave you to your despair now.

FWIW that doesn't mean I think next season is going to go the same way of that one 

10 minutes ago, Peter Griffin said:

That probably means he is nailed on to join us . Have u not noticed that Villa's transfers tend to conducted outside of the media and are be a bit of a surprise when they happen, we only ever see credible links to players that we purchase about 2 or 3 days prior to announcing the player as ours.

We do keep things very quiet but I just don't get any sign that we are going to be any more active in this window, especially with McGinn taking the captaincy when in reality he should be worrying about his starting place next season.

31 minutes ago, HKP90 said:

Again, you are assuming he will be. 

Gabby was club captain for most of the 2015/2016 season and played in 15 games, a number of which were as substitute. 

And again, you have no idea what he brings to that dressing room, none of us do. 

You also have no idea how he will adapt to the role because he's not played it yet. 

How about giving people a chance before utterly writing them off? 

If someone has a time machine and has gone into the future and seen that we are bottom, McGinn flops horribly, Stevie has been sacked by October, and it's all hopeless, etc etc, then I wish they would tell me what next week's lottery numbers are (I would start doing the lottery).  

And what a great season that was....not.

27 minutes ago, HKP90 said:

With respect, unless you are in the know, regardless of what you say, you have no idea whether we are signing anyone else for the first team. You have made an assumption based on SJM getting the captaincy. That's assumption No. 1. Assumption No. 2 is that because he is  club captain he will be playing every game, and won't be dropped due to form, which is possible, but not by all means certain. The third assumption is that he will be poor in the role. 

I'm not just getting at you here, but getting mad at this stage when all we have is assumptions is an over-reaction. If we're 5 games in, we've not bought anyone and McGinn has been poor, then it is rational, and I will agree with you. Until then, it just seems like a lot of folk are trying desperately to get angry about something. 

I think it's more just seeing the same things over and over with this club, we always take one step forward and two steps back. 

We did brilliantly to secure Carlos and Kamara so early in the window, as well as Coutinho on a perm a few weeks prior, then since then despite needing more reinforcements we haven't done anything and other teams have caught us up with their transfer dealings (Newcastle, West Ham, Palace). We're lucky that Leicester and Wolves have done nothing so far but they already finished 6-7 points ahead of us last season and in Leicester's case that was playing in Europe which they won't have next season. 

I was really p*ssed off that we finished 14th last season and expected us to go really deep in this transfer window much like Spurs have done, we are already at a disadvantage with Gerrard in charge given the results in the second half of last season. We needed a CM last summer and didn't get one, at last we have finally got a DM but I just don't think that will be enough to control matches enough, I hope I am wrong. 

It's also disappointing the contract situations at the club, Carney's is obviously unfortunate because of how he is behaving but I cannot understand what is going on with Luiz. For me he'd be ahead of Ramsey and McGinn in the pecking order for the no 8 position and be tied down to a new deal but as ever we just don't know what is going on. 

17 minutes ago, Mic09 said:

We shall see - maybe its a good decision. We just can't tell yet. 

Why is this? Henderson doesn't play every game? 

Why is this? Just because we took an armband off one person and gave it to another does that mean we magically have filled a void in midfield?

Why? Just because we took an armband off one person and gave it to another does that mean we can't sign anyone else?

Why? Just because we took an armband off one person and gave it to another does that mean we can't speculate on potential Villa related transfer?

 

I'm sorry to single you out, but there is waaaaay too much over reaction on here. Let's see what the next few weeks/months bring before we get all crazy. 

I'm 99% sure we aren't signing another first team player this summer, maybe at best we'll sign a squad filler, although if Luiz goes that position may change. We've already been waiting weeks/months to strengthen the first 11 and nothing has changed, the Sangare stuff is also a pipe dream too given there are no credible links to him whatsoever, I've felt we were pretty much done since mid-June and it seems like I was accurate. 

Henderson has only not played for Liverpool when he's been injured, he mostly plays, captains tend to that's why Maguire was never dropped last season despite his shaky form. McGinn will sadly play every game for us next season just like he has the last three Prem seasons, again I'm very confident about that. 

It's not overreaction, it's giving an honest opinion about something that I believe will backfire. Let's see.

4 minutes ago, Dante_Lockhart said:

I assume this means we're going to be persisting with the Ings/Watkins combo.

If it does then Gerrard only has himself to blame if he ends up out of a job. 

7 hours ago, supermon said:

He's captained Scotland hasn't he, when you strip it all back McGinn is actually the obvious choice...on the proviso that it ain't best to have your GK as captain 

Lloris is captain for Spurs and they seem to cope OK.