Monsieur Hazdazler

I jumped back in to my rideshare arrangement to get to work this morning after a month off (first child, yay). One of the guys I share with is a big Arsenal fan, but to be honest has what I would describe as having a fairly casual understanding of the wider world of football. I have some good conversations with him about football but he's the kind of guy who wanted Viera or Henry to take over from Wenger to bring back the glory days of the invincibles.

Anyway, first day back today and we're having a big football catch up, we talk about Arsenal and then slide on to Villa. The first thing he says is 'well you could end up like Fulham', and then follows it up with. 'But don't you think you'd have been better off signing 3 or 4 quality premier league players? The ones you have signed all look like gambles to me'. I calmly broke down our squad at the end of last season, the loans and players we released and what we were left with and why. Noting the players we released, their ages and relative quality. He's a friend so I didn't lose my shit. 

I nearly lost my shit.

1 minute ago, mjmooney said:

You want loons detached from reality, you want the Villa Facebook pages. 

Or Leeds fans on twitter

5 minutes ago, Villarocker said:

I think it's fair to think that we will sign either a front man that can play any of the front three positions or two players h a wide attacker and a striker. 

One player to cover both areas would be ideal but gotta be a limited pool of players who could do that effectively. 

I wonder if we will see Davis, Bree, O'Hare leave tomorrow. I can see O'Hare ending up in League One again so could happen later this month, Davis and Bree need Championship loans if we don't need them for depth!

29 minutes ago, KenjiOgiwara said:

Statistically speaking we probably have a lot more of them than you. Fwiw I quite like that Brentford forum. Lots of interesting discussions. 

I swear I saw someone on here in June or early July saying we should sign Robertson from Liverpool... that's about as detached from reality as it gets 

1 minute ago, DCJonah said:

I'm starting to worry a little about a striker. 

I would have thought a name would have appeared by now. Unlikely that a big money move is going to appear out of no where tomorrow. 

Hopefully we have someone. 

The fact Davis hasn't gone on loan yet says to me we're definitely not certain on getting anyone. Green going on loan makes me more confident a winger is more likely. I think we'll end up with Benrahma and that'll be that.

Heaton
Guilbert Engels Mings Targett
Hourihane
McGinn Grealish
Jota Wesley El Ghazi

I know it's boring, but I've not seen enough of Douglas (seen some highlight clips from his time at Girona during last season but don't really remember), Trezeguet has only had flashes so far and I've never seen Nakamba play. If I could see them train I might answer differently, but I couldn't put a player in the side on excitement/youtube alone. Once we're a few games in and they've been on the pitch I'd consider it. 

I think Engels has looked decent alongside Mings, Konsa against lower league opposition looked a touch raw to me, but clear quality so would ease him in. Targett somewhat underwhelming so far but I don't rate Taylor. Guilbert over Elmo for me and Heaton over Steer without question.

3 minutes ago, MaVilla said:

If a player is good enough they will play.

Look at any of the Thursday afternoon signings of other teams, I am sure they will play in the coming Saturday or certainly the following week.

I hope douglas is good enough to just walk straight in to that DM slot.

No chance for this weekend. He’s just flown in from brazil apparently, it’ll take roughly 3-4 days to recover from the time difference and he’s unlikely to be fully training immediately for that reason, then he would have to dive straight in to our first premier league game with what, a max of two days with the squad at the most realistically? 

I just can’t see it

15 minutes ago, jackbauer24 said:

View/feelings based on nothing but pre-season, highlight videos and the way Villa generally play and our current standing in the league (survival vs title race)

Gems;

Guilbert*, Engels, Mings, Heaton 

Good season;

El Ghazi (consistency), Trezeguet (settle)

Average season;

Wesley (chances), Jota (strength), Luiz (expectancy)

Poor season;

Targett (ability), Konsa (experience), Hause (ability)

But all based on very little! Hope they're all gems even if that is highly unrealistic!

I don't think Hause or Konsa are starters anyway and I hope I'm wrong about Targett. Think we're weak on our left in general.

Also feel as though it's going to be easier to stand out as a defender this season as we'll be on the back foot a fair bit. Can't see Wesley having many opportunities for a while as the team get used to the league and playing together.

Get outta here with your damn realism

1 minute ago, pintpotvilla said:

Gregg Evans saying Villa have no serious interest in Diagne

Matt Maher putting the same line out there as well now

best video I’ve found. Seems like he moved mid season and then only scored penalties?

His YouTube compilation videos are probably as weird as his Instagram. This whole thing is just weird. 

On 03/08/2019 at 09:56, KentVillan said:

Villa are shit and doing a Fulham but also: Villa have really strengthened their squad and should be investigated Villa under FFP rules. Covering all bases there.

I wish Wolves Twitter would stop giving me such a throbbing boner.

Wolves fans should probably look at the questionable, favourable transfer dealing through their agent connection before worrying about us.

2 hours ago, AvfcRigo82 said:

I don't know how anyone can read either of those social media platforms with some of the crap that's spouted.

It's beyond any cringing, stomach churning feeling.

Twitter is an awful platform, I use it a fair bit for football purposes and most of the people are just trolling or lack brain cells - maybe the character limit appeals to them as it's easier with less words. I like forums like this one and Reddit for actual discussion...twitter is good for news and speculation but that's about it

2 hours ago, AvfcRigo82 said:

Some interesting comments being dropped in this thread..

I think a lot of optimism about Marvelous and Douglas as the hot new things. In reality we've not seen them play yet and they will be given time to settle in and gel.

Conor might not be the most defensively solid DM, but he does do a good job in some areas and has a link with the others around him. Given the lack of time Nakamba and Douglas have had with the squad I'd be shocked if either started the first game. I wouldn't be surprised if we see Conor in that role until the international break. I don't think we'd have signed 2 DM's though if Smith expected Conor to hold that role down long term

14 hours ago, Dale said:

Slightly concerned about Dyche's comments about us out paying by far wages wise! In the learning lessons of past few years, I trust its more sustainable, or hopefully just a sign that Burnley are stingy! 

Likely he's saving face a little bit as well by saying that. 

Provided we have sensible relegation wage drop clauses, then with Premier League money and (in theory) our wage bill being somewhat low after years in the Championship, financially we should be well suited for the Premier League. I can't imagine with our current owners/management we would be paying crazy high wages to our new signings, unless we needed to do so in order to gain a work permit. Heaton has proven he's worth a solid wage from years of performances in the top tier, I don't think any of our other signings can really make the same case so are probably on less with heavy performance bonuses.

On 04/08/2019 at 14:56, Keyblade said:

Just like Jimenez for Wolves isn't there to score 20 goals, but to bring the others into it. Though he does get his fair share as well. 10-12 goals would be a great return for Wes as long as he keeps playing like this.

Wolves are a great example of the idea of a 20 goal a season striker for any clubs aside from the top 4-6 is kinda irrelevant. The team needs to score enough goals, if we do that from all areas of the pitch rather than mainly one source, then that's fine.

2 minutes ago, DaveAV1 said:

I’m Percy. 

No I'm Percy!

5 minutes ago, avfcDJ said:

There was a fake John Percy tweet going around not long before those 'ITK' accounts started claiming it was done. So... I guess they might have fallen in to the trap.

That would be hilarious

Dave Jenkins on twitter saying it is done, so I reckon it's gonna happen.....Not because the guy has a clue, but because he doesn't tweet anything until it's so far down the line the deal going through is very likely.

Surprised he's stuck his neck out and said it before Percy has tweeted it though, very unusual for Dave to stray from his usual 'sources' 

4 hours ago, hippo said:

I think you have highlighted a potential problem there...." Or Even Davis" ...ie a CF who doesn't get many goals. It's fine as long as the others chip in with goals - but if they don't the pressure goes onto the main striker.

The trick with Wesley will be how he links up - hopefully over time , he settles and feels the need to drop deep less ...we have other geniuses in midfield !!

You’re not wrong there, if the others are scoring then it’ll be fine, I’d like to see Kodjia at least given an opportunity, but in saying that if Wesley picked up a bad injury that has the potential to hurt us.

2 minutes ago, hippo said:

Clearly a talented player - but looks more of a goal maker than scorer - played really deep v Leipzi 

Yes definitely I agree with that. However I don't have any issues with us going with Wesley, Kodjia and Davis as our options up front if we brought in Benrahma for example to bolster the wide forward positions. I think it's pretty clear we are setting up this year to score our goals from all across the front 5. McGinn is getting forwards at every opportunity, Jack gets up there as well and the wide forwards are clearly designed to be a major goalscoring threat simply based on the players we have recruited - gone are the days of last season with Elmo and Adomah smashing in 50 crosses a game to Tammy's forehead. I think if we brought in a CF focused on goals, our overall play could break down (unless they were a top tier link up man as well, in which case we are paying top $$ which seems unlikely at this stage of the window). I'm certainly not saying we couldn't improve with a signing like that, but I'd be happy to go ahead with what we have and give Kodjia opportunities, or even Davis. While the latter doesn't have much of an eye for goal his link play is superb and we could function well as a unit with him in there.

I can see logic to the Wilson links although think it’s likely paper talk. Wilson and Jota competing on the right with El ghazi and Trezeguet on the other side is a clear intended style of play. Wilson, albeit differently to Jota likes to sit inside a little and allow the full back to overlap, he takes on defenders in the same kind of way. It’ll make total sense in terms of two players competing for a spot in the side, and would allow Green to go on loan 

13 minutes ago, Villarocker said:

I hear what you're saying about the quality outside of the top 6 in the Premier League but we don't really know how much quality our new signings possess.

Mings obviously looks like he can cut it in the top flight but I never considered that Jota or Hause could be Premier League quality. El Ghazi is untried but is promising. I had seen Targett play once or twice but wasn't wowed by him. The rest, I can honestly say I'd never heard of them prior to us being linked with them. 

I am more than happy with the way we've gone about our business and looking forward to seeing how the team performs in the Premier League. I'm hopeful of a good campaign and optimistic about us staying up. That'll do me and anything above 17th is a bonus for me. 

I feel very similar. We can stick the rose tinted glasses on of course but a bit of realism is healthy. Staying up in this league with so many news signings will be difficult. Hopefully they work out, but there’s a lot of risk. I have faith in Deano and Jesus

Just now, privateer said:

Isn't that loans? If so that's going to **** our strategy of buying half of Barca, Real and PSG next season.

Sounds like that's where I've got my wires crossed.

It would scupper our plans to sign Neymar, Cavani and Mbappe on deadline day