MotoMkali

No we don't do loans without an option to buy. They were very clear on that. They won't develop another clubs player if they can't buy them for a previously agreed fee. There is a big difference. If we had agreed to buy mings for 7 or 8 million before we loaned him we would have saved ourselves 15 million. That is the key difference. Edit: I apologise I thought you were talking about villa sorry.

Unless we can magically fix his injuries he has lost his pace and can no longer play. His game was built on the fact that he was both stronger and quicker than everyone so now that he is only stronger he can't create space for himself.

Half the time it has just become an echo chamber of Wesley is crap. I just went on the wesley thread and someone was like JK should start because wesley can't do anything. JK may be good enough to start but they shouldn't be acting like a guy with 4 goals an assist (1 disallowed) and who has delivered excellent link up play does nothing.

He definitely isn't an instant fix. He has all the attributes of a good winger or striker it is just he had a lot of injuries that really hurt his confidence so now he is quite hesitant to try and beat his man. I think if you are getting him he is definitely one for next season where your training staff can help him get his feet back under him. However I do think he is good enough as a player in the championship but he would need an extended run if games to get going.

Yeah but he didn't offer an alternative. He was essentially saying your opinions are so stupid I don't have to deign myself to state mine and justify them which is what I did.

Very funny mate. I was just suggesting things that might reduce the issues I have seen. They are unlikely to fix everything or maybe anything. Everyone knows we have been struggling with our midfield for a while now and I thought I would say my thoughts on it.

I know but I'm stating the problems I currently see and these are the reason we have been losing (although 6 of the 9 were against the top 6) it doesn't change the fact that in those games our midfield was our problem we were overran and it seemed like our midfield capitulated and never really tried to keep the ball. When we did we actually strung some nice passing maneuvers around and created lots of good chances so why weren't we doing the whole pass and move thing all the time.

Marvelous can break up play but we need someone who can rough up a midfielder and win stiff in the air. Against Newcastle I was worried when Carol came on because every long ball he won and against other teams we need a midfielder who can compete with a big striker and it would certainly help us cover our weaknesses from set pieces.

Yeah he won promotion with us and finished in the play-offs with us and for Brentford he built about 3 different top half squads because ehis best players kept getting poached and they remained successful. And the only 2 cups he could have entered are only ever won by prem teams I don't think there has been a non-prem team win a cup in my life time.

Over our last run of games extending back to the Brighton game is that our midfield hasn't been impacting the game enough. Certainly they have not been doing a good enough job at keeping the ball and linking the defence with attack as well as Generally letting teams walk through them with nary a challenge. The issues: 1) Positioning seems to be very poor with single men losing shape when we are defending. 2) Movement off the ball is terrible and if mings or engels wins the ball back they generally only have the defensive midfielder to pass too and they only have engels and mings. I think this is the biggest issue and affects our entire game. 3) Composure in the middle seems to be a massive problem. When our players get under pressure they resort to playing hospital balls and putting other players under pressure. No one comes to help see option 2) and we lose the ball again. 4) Decisiveness with our final balls is terrible especially Mcginn. When our players get the ball especially on the break el ghazi is usually on the shoulder of the last man where is the through ball. Against newcastle there were probably about 5 times where el ghazi would have been clean through in goal had either the right ball been played or come half a second earlier. 5) Exhaustion seems to occur at about 60 minutes and we slip in games. I also think the intensity straight after half surprises our players and they need to come out fighting every game. I think mcginn has been the main culprit lately especially with his rumoured injury but he has seemed very sluggish and he has been putting in a lot of risky challenges. The fixes: 1) Change our tactics mcginn needs to be sitting deeper and if we are playing Conor or Lansbury they need to be our attacking midfielder if we are playing both Luiz and Nakamba I would still be tempted to play Luiz as the attacking midfielder sort of as a bounce man. I think mcginn has been playing out of position and it has been hurting us defensively and offensively where half the time he is level with wesley and nakamba still has the ball. 2) The players: We have been rotating our players and in some games different combos of players have looked great and then the next game they have looked terrible. The only combo we haven't really tried is nakamba, Luiz and hourihane but that would leave mcginn out which would hurt us as we would lose a big talent although it may help the team at least until he is rested and raring to go. 3) Super Jack plays back in the middle with trez coming to play as a winger. We haven't played a game with Jack targett and 2 other wingers and it could certainly see different results than with Taylor. Honestly I am concerned a lot of our problems are stemming from mcginn and his atypical game. It makes it harder to build a midfield around him as he rarely comes short for an easy pass it definitely makes the job harder for the other 2. He is obviously a talent but I think without Jack doing the key stuff like collecting the ball it shows mcginn really struggles without him. Hopefully moving him deeper would sort the problem but I'm not convinced with him it is hard to know what your midfield needs but right now I think it needs a big physical presence but they would have to come at the cost of one of mcginn, DM, and attacking midfielder and 2 of the roles are clearly defined.

Low crosses are the single most dangerous ball in football. A high cross and you have to hope that the first Cb doesn't clear it and it doesn't go over your players head and it is very easy to over or under hit it. A low cross though. Even if the ball can't reach the striker there is still a good chance that a defender taps it in to the wrong location and concedes an own goal or a corner or a keeper fumbles the ball. And if the striker does get to the ball he only needs to direct it which is much easier with your feet than with your head.

For me the number one priority remains the midfield. We need someone big and physical with some skill. Against teams like Sheffield, Burnley and West ham we need someone who is bigger an stronger than their lads to outfight them in the centre of the park. We also have very poor movement off the ball and hopefully a new signing could help sort that out.

I would like us to do an African tour so fans like them can see villa live. Start building connections provide places to watch games etc.

**** right off with your criticisms of Wesley. We had a couple of alright positions but we **** it up when the midfield strolled up the pitch and Wesley got surrounded. He did nothing wrong today and the criticism of him is just a refuge to a avoid facing reality. It isn't the lack of a striker that is killing us it is the lack of a midfield especially mcginn. If he isn't dropped for at least the southhampton game you know that some people are undroppable.

Smith needs to absolutely ream the lads out. Tell them they haven't been good enough the last 3 weeks. It isn't about the quality of the opposition it is about leaving everything on the pitch week in week out and of you can't do that then you don't deserve to play for villa.

To be fair it could have been in a match thread which I wouldn't know. But Firminho is the top level comparison to wesley and is reasonable. It would be like comparing Grealish to iniesta or Zidane. He isn't as good as them but that is who we would top out as if he reaches his potential.

If it was 2017/18 we could have had 'Do you want to unibet against us?'

To be fair he couldn't have done worse than gestede.

For Me I would go: ---heaton--- Guilbert---engels---Hause---Targett (if healthy Hause if injured) ------------------------Luiz------------------------ ------Hourihane---------Grealish--------- ---El Ghazi-------Wes---------Trez------ Couple of controversial decisions: McGinn dropped so he is fully fit for the next 3. Wesley is still playing because they have overlapp Cbs and kodjia won't track them. I also think we may have a lot of possession and I think that plays well with wesley. El ghazi and Trez too attack in behind and take advantage of their big Cbs. Grealish back in midfield hopefully with morr passing options than last time we saw him there. I think 2-1 Villa with a goal from Grealish and Ghazi.

If you click the show vote options beneath the results I think you can change your vote.

Brighton may have also played against the top 6 but did maupay play 90 minutes in every one of those games but Liverpool. And again they have also played Watford and Southhampton who have 30 and 35 goals respectively which along with Norwich are the 3 easiest games to score in and Brighton have played all 3 of them

In case you hadn't noticed: 1)wesley doesn't really get to rest so he likely isn't 100% every game 2) We have just come of the most difficult stretch of our schedule so his goals to minute ratio are inflated the same way it would be if instead of playing all of the top 6 we played the bottom 6. Which is the key thing. What you are currently comparing wesley to is like if you said Maupay would only score 13 goals in the championship because that is how many he is on track for in the prem it is a different standard of opposition. 3)Maupay is currently in a better team which is designed to give him chances to score and has taken the 2nd most shots in the league but has only scored 6 goals. Only a 12% conversion rate to Wesley's 15.4%.

We have a team to stay up not a team to finish top 6

It is. Ceilings are based off of intangibles and athleticism. Because skill is something that can be improved whereas you can't make yourself taller or faster and stronger (obviously you can but generally it is limited by your frame) to a point. Wesley has good vision, great strength, good height and a good top speed. The rest of it is putting together the skills which whilst easier said than done is still possible especially when you consider wesley won't reach his technical peak till likely his late 20s when most players reach it at about 25 until they start losing athleticism.

Likely because Smith decided that a 5'7" player with an attitude problem would not be a good influence on our team and isn't worth the cost of 25 million. I don't see maupay getting any better as he already knows how to maximise his size speed and strength. The only way he can improve is by improving his finishing. Wesley on the other hand has 4 goals (to maupay 6 and Wesley has played the top 6 in a 7 game period which makes it difficult to score) but can still improve him positioning, skill and utilisation of his athleticism. Wesley's ceiling is one of the top strikers in the world (based on physical attributes) and maupay is a (shorter, slower, weaker and less skilled aguero)