juanpablosaliceband

I think it would be absolutely ideal that this thread become relevant as soon as possible!

I think the fanbase is perfectly patient. Most predicted a mid table finish this season and considered Europe out of reach. And most seemed fine with that. Slow progress and all that. But we seem to be regressing badly under Gerrard. And we have bombed out players who have cost us a lot of money. Clubs with our revenue can’t afford to do that. Signing Sarr just feels like we are burning the original signings and throwing more cash at the problem.

Fans sing his name at games. I get the impression Gerrard and the media think Villa fans love him. We do love him for what he’s done but he’s not the present or the future.

So this will leave us spendings another 25 million on a position we have already blown almost 60 million on with little to show for it. El ghazi and Traore frozen out and value eroding, Trez sold at a loss, Bailey looking like a flop. We are throwing good money after bad.

True. I’d just be happy with slow and steady progress, with some sense of confidence that we look like we know what we are doing! 2020-2021 was a fun season for the most part and we finished 11th.

It’s difficult but not impossible. 15 years ago it seemed impossible to break into the top four. City and spurs then joined the club. The traditional 6 talk in the media is just a myth. There’s nothing traditional about it. FFP has made it harder but a club like Villa has the infrastructure to slowly get there. Our current problem is we are hiring the wrong managers and signing too many flop players.

I can’t even listen to him to be honest. No idea what he said in the interview.

I was reading the Gerrard in / out poll this morning and was surprised to see 66% of our fans want him to stay. That was before this latest debacle. What more do we need to see to realise we are being managed by a complete charlatan. This is only going to get worse the longer he stays. This result and performance was utterly predictable; same midfield starting, get dominated in midfield, concede several goals to trail heavily, refuse to change the midfield until the game is lost. As predictable as night follows day. We are totally clueless and inept in so many ways, all over the pitch. That has to be on the manager. We need Gerrard out now before we are stuck in a real relegation scrap. Luiz is so much better than McGinn.

This is probably the biggest pile of rubbish I’ve ever read on this forum. The difference between these two sides is in the management and coaching. Nothing about what we are seeing is acceptable.

Nilis, Laursen, Okore, Amavi, Wesley, Sanson…..

It’s frustrating that we’ve had to endure the likes of Trezeguet and Nakamba but we can’t give this guy a run of even 3-4 games when fit to see if he can do anything. We have spent a lot of money on him. I can’t believe he’s that bad in training.

Exactly. We finished 11th in O’Neill’s first season but it almost felt like a certainty that better times were coming.

I was open minded about the Gerrard appointment. I was dubious when he was first linked but by the time his first game came around, I was excited about the future and felt this might be one of those masterstroke gambles that pays off. In spite of his good start, performances on the pitch left me with little confidence by the end of last season that he was the man to take us forward. But I was hopeful that with a full pre season with the team and the opportunity to make new signings, he would come good. I know today is only one game and my sentiments may be premature but I’ve now lost all confidence in Gerrard. Today looked as hopeless as any performance last season and it begs the question what they’ve been doing in pre season. It was so bad that I can’t even see how he can possibly make any meaningful level of improvement. Appointing McGinn, who should be a squad player, as his captain was already a warning sign. His comments around inheriting Mings as captain, as if he was some sort of bad smell, were unfair in my opinion and his assertion that he needed to seemingly appoint his own captain just for the sake of it smack of narcissism to me. Would he need to change captain if Franz Beckenbauer was the incumbent? His comments after today’s game also reflect some cluelessness, suggesting Bournemouth never opened us opened when they clearly opened us up enough to score four or five goals. My biggest concern is that Gerrard is Purslow’s man and could be the hill Purslow is willing to die on, translating to anything more than 18th would be enough to keep Gerrard in situ. I can see us languishing in the bottom half and keeping Gerrard, wasting yet another season when we do have some talented players a good manager could work with.

Watching our games, it’s hard to see much difference from the likes of Bruce and Lambert. And Gerrard has much better players at his disposal. At least Bruce could set us up defensively!

I’m convinced that he doesn’t!

This is why I find the whole situation bizarre. If he had signed another say three year contract in summer 2021, as appears to have been a possibility, he would likely have increased his salary significantly and the club would have been fully invested in his future and his development. If he still wanted to leave come summer 2023, the club could cash in with a year left on his contract or he could leave for free in summer 2024. He only turns 21 in October 2024. Instead, he appears to prefer to blow two years of an improved salary to leave on a free in summer 2023. It now appears that he could spend the final one of those two years on the naughty step, which would be a huge waste for him and could hamper his future prospects. I am glad the club has taken this action as we have been sleep walking towards him leaving on a free. The longer he goes and has gone without signing, the less likely he is to sign. Us continuing to involve him this season, without signing a new contract, would have perfectly suited any plan for him to agree a deal with a new club this January. This way, the club are bringing matters to a head. Very interesting to see what happens next. I can’t see him wanting to spend 12 months being frozen out. Will the club involve him again if he doesn’t sign? Seems unlikely. Will he recognise that the best solution may be to sign a new contract and get on with life? He may feel some resentment but it wouldn’t be unprecedented for some muscle from a club working to get their way. On a side note, I don’t agree with the similarities around Douglas Luiz being treated differently with one year left on his contract. Whatever people’s opinion on him, Doug has been almost ever present in our first 11 and is an important player for us. It would weaken us to leave him out. Plus we are paying him a big salary. We will either sell him or play him and let him leave on a free. We have to pay his wages so it would be daft to leave him aside.

I can see them going for a 3D lion.

If we get anything close to £15,000,000 for Targett, it’s a phenomenal deal for Villa and we should be doing cartwheels. He’s a decent player but nothing more. Selling a player at break even or a small profit after three years of service is the perfect business model, particularly if the player is now surplus to requirements. We are normally stuck trying to give these types of players away.

Are we actually signing this guy? No update since Thursday.

Thanks.

What would this guy have been worth if he had say two years left on his contract?

I think sales are equally important to new signings this summer. We have too many players on our books, and too many we don’t use. We need to start recycling more cash through player sales and stop endless loans out until contracts run out. We should be able to generate some good cash and free up wages by selling the following (I know some will be released): El Ghazi, Hourihane, Trezeguet, Traore, Sanson, Young, Nakamba, Kalinic, Guilbert, Wesley, Targett and Steer. I would prefer keep Traore and Sanson but if we are never going to use them, we should try to get some money back. Bailey could be another but we would take a serious haircut after the season he’s had. Plus maybe he’s worth a punt for another season.

We waved the white flag taking off Coutinho for Nakamba. We needed someone like Coutinho to get small spells of possession to break the siege. We barely touched the ball after he went off. And Nakamba offered nothing defensively. McGinn pretty anonymous today. Digne excellent I thought. Our strikers’ finishing is a disaster. The reaction of Luiz versus De Bruyne to the loose ball for the third goal tells you everything about a winning mentality and luck thereof.

Nakamba is championship standard. Terrible substitution.

Disgraceful from Luiz.