Rich192

I’ve never really liked any of our badges to be honest. I don’t mind the current one, but also happy for them to change it, I’m confident they’ll come up with something top quality. 

An assist in the 5th minute. 

Worst type of first game, promoted team away. By my reckoning, that’s the third time in six seasons we’ve had that? Bournemouth in 2015/6, Watford last year and now Bournemouth again. 

I managed to move my wife’s season ticket from two rows behind to next to me. It took about 90 minutes (fitting) in total. Pain in the arse, but it can be done. 

Was really hoping to have seen some plans by now. Don’t suppose any in the knows know when it could be?

Really like the Sergio Gomez links. Can’t say I’d ever heard of him, but his returns look great, and looking at a video of him he reminds me of a young, quicker Digne. Get it done. 

Can’t imagine Brighton are in a hurry to sell a player to the club that poached Ashworth. Would say it makes it far more unlikely that he goes there. 

With no data available on Fbref, don’t suppose there’s any other type of analytics floating around about him? Other than WhoScored. 
 

As backup left back, I think he interests me more than Hickey, not sure about as centre half though. 
 

Only seen him a few times, but he does seem to have something about him. I’m quite wary of buying from the SPL, which is pathetically snobby, I know. 

Can’t say I’ve seen much of him, but from what I’ve read, I’m not totally on board. 
 

Yes, that is me turning my nose up at a Brazilian centre half who’s played regular European football for a top 4 La Liga team. 

Soucek is not what we need at all. He makes McGinn look like Verratti with his passing. If he didn’t score so many goals from corners, and wasn’t alongside Rice, he’d be known as very average. 
 

Can’t see us being interested. I hope not, anyway. Headless chicken, when not injured. 

Not sure whether he’s attainable, but Barcelona want shot of Depay. Can’t say I’ve seen much of him in recent years, but he’d be a good signing, no?

Tom Collomosse is pretty reliable for us. That’s more than I was hoping for. 

I am warming to this more and more, to be honest. His defensive qualities were never in question, for me it was all about distribution. However, others saying that he was known as a ball player for Brentford, and perhaps even more importantly the signing of Kamara, who takes the ball from the defence regularly and consistently almost makes the ball playing centre half less important. 
 

I’d feel very comfortable with Mings and Tarkowski in defence, with Kamara and one of Bissouma/Phillips there too, who also take the ball from the defence often. 
 

If this also frees up funds to go huge on a striker, then I’m very keen. 

Please not Coady. Wonderful bloke, but definitely not what we need. 

Out of the ones we’ve been linked with so far, my preferences are:

CB: De Vrij (still feel this is unlikely), Lacroix (never seen him play, but like the look of him), Tarkowski (just because he’d be a safe bet)

CM: Bissouma (him alongside Kamara and Ramsey would offer us a lot of pace and quality), Sangare (like Bissouma, but more of a risk due to the league he’s in), Phillips (think he’s well overpriced, personally, but would still walk in to our midfield).

ST: Neither David or Suarez strike me as good enough to be our main striker. Ekitike sounds exciting, but again, bit of a gamble to have him as first choice. 
 

Already a great start to the summer though. 

I’m sure I’m not alone in not liking this formation, either the two 10s or the diamond. It seems like whichever one we play, we’re easy to play through, and without much attacking fluidity. We actually play better with the diamond, but that means dropping Buendia or Coutinho, and we must find a way to play them both. 
 

I’m also sure that we’ve all got an opinion on who to sign, who to retain in the first team, etc. Well here’s the formation and current players I’d be happy with for next season:

—————————Martinez————————

Cash———NEW————Mings*———Digne

——————NEW————NEW———————

Buendia—————Coutinho—————NEW

———————Ings/Watkins*———————
 

*If someone better is available on the market, then absolutely fine by me, bring them in, but I don’t see it as urgent for this window.

I think it was Delphinho who said they could see Ramsey in that AML role, and I agree, which would solve us finding a place for him in the team, and also not needing to find someone new there. 
 

The midfield two need to be players who can defend, and also pass. Two of Kamara, Bissouma, Sangare or Phillips would be great. I haven’t seen Kamara or Sangare, so one with Prem experience would probably be prudent, and my preference would be Kamara and Bissouma. 
 

It does show that we’re only a few players away from a good side. It’s also irrelevant, as McGinn will be in any midfield next season. 
 

That’s my tuppence, anyway, for what it’s worth. 

Keep seeing these links to De Vrij, and as someone who also supports Inter, it’s great and bad. He’s top class, and very good with the ball. I just can’t see there’s any way he’d ever sign for the Villa. He’s got Spurs and a Conte reunion written all over him. 

Thought he played really well when he came on. It’s more of what we’ve seen the last couple of years for the under 23s. 
 

Him signing a new contract would be great news, and anyone saying otherwise has either not seen enough of him, or just doesn’t want to get hurt again, understandably. 
 

I know it’s from a pretty small sample size (216 minutes), but he actually had the highest xG + xA per 90 minutes (0.64) in the league for us this season. He turned 18 during this season, I don’t think that’s appreciated quite enough. 

It would be huge for him to sign a new contract, and I hope he starts at least one more game this season to encourage him to do so. 

Another good performance today, following his man of the match performance last weekend. I liked seeing him on the left, his overlap of Digne for the third was lovely stuff, and would like to see him do it more often, especially if we can play Emi in midfield. Still a question mark over his distribution, but today was much better at 87%. You could argue that he played so well because of the opposition, but so be it. If he can keep putting in these performances then we’ll be a much better team, as rightly or wrongly he’ll be first choice again next season. 

Thought he was excellent again today. We’re really starting to see the ability that we knew he had. Took his goal brilliantly, he and Emi seem to have a good understanding. See no reason why he can’t score 15 goals or so next season if he gets regular minutes. 

Thought he was excellent today, probably his best game of the season, following on from a mostly positive performance last week. Really encouraging signs for his partnership with Ings, too. A lot of us had all but written them both off, but if they keep this up then we have ourselves a strike partnership that works. 
 

Hopefully he’s turned a corner, and keeps playing like this. Also, double digit league goals in successive seasons is a very good achievement for a club in our position. He still needs to work on his finishing, but if he keeps this work rate up, his occasional poor technique will be forgiven by the fans. 

Another very good performance from him today. Him and Cash have probably been our best players under Gerrard.

He does have the occasional brain fart, but he more than makes up for it in the rest of his game. Top guy, and a good defender to boot. We’ll need to replace him eventually, but I’d be happy if he was still first choice next season. 

Brilliant performance, and great to see he’s won everyone over. This was my favourite signing of all time when it happened (along with Collymore, but least said about that one the better). Took a bit longer than I expected to settle, but the quality was always there. The through ball for the first was straight out of his time at Norwich. Got a bit lucky with his goal, but he’s earned it. 3 goals and 6 assists is a good return for his first season, that’s a goal contribution every 187 minutes, which is very decent. 
 

We must find a way to play both him and Coutinho, and I said in a different thread earlier in the week that Emi can play in midfield. He’s good enough defensively, and having another player in midfield who can actually play would be hugely beneficial. Obviously we’re miles away from their level, but Man City play Bernardo Silva in midfield, and Emi’s defensive stats are far superior to his. Obviously this is an extreme example, but there you go. You might have to sacrifice Ramsey if you did this, which is a shame, however needs must. 
 

Decent first season, and don’t worry, he’s just getting started! He’ll go down as a Villa legend by the end of his time here, I’m convinced of it. 

Bring in Buendia for him. He can play in that CM role, and if not, let’s at least give it a go.