Monkeypuzzle

In Out Out Olsen - £3m Kalinic - Free Nakamba - £8m Koulibaly/de Vrij - £30m Steer - £0.5m Sanson - £8m Bassey - £15m Guilbert - £5m El Ghazi - £8m Bissouma - £30m Hause - £5m Trezeguet - £5m Suarez - Free Targett - £15m Davis - £8m Total - £78m Total - £62.5m Net spend - £15.5m (+ £43m for Coutinho, Kamara & Diego Carlos) That gives us a decent squad if we can tie Douglas Luiz and Chukwuemeka down to new contracts and let Ashley Young go. GK - Martinez, Olsen RB - Cash, Kesler Hayden CB - Mings, Konsa, Chambers, Diego Carlos, Koulibaly/de Vrij LB - Digne, Bassey DM - Kamara, Bissouma CM - McGinn, Douglas Luiz, Ramsey, Chukwuemeka RW/AM - Buendia, Traore LW/AM - Coutinho, Bailey ST - Watkins, Ings, Suarez

Two holding midfielders with a rotation of three from Ramsey, McGinn, Bailey, Buendia and maybe Coutinho ahead of them. He'd do great in a midfield set up like one of these (holding midfielders based on rumours). Bailey Coutinho Buendia Bailey Ramsey Buendia Bailey McGinn Buendia Kamara Bissouma or Phillips Kondogbia or Nakamba Ndidi A solid defense behind him and teams not being able to double up on him due to the threats that the other two attacking midfielders pose would give him the freedom and lack of pressure to thrive and really show us what all of our midfielders can do without the pressure of trying to do a bit of everything due to a lack of defensive quality.

Hi guys, it's been a while since I posted anything but I thought I'd chip in, please feel free to ignore. I wish Gerrard would stop trying to get us to play through Premier League teams rather than going around them. It hasn't worked all season and the players aren't suited to it. I don't think any team other than Man City is capable of doing it consistently in the Premier League. A 4-2-3-1 formation would allow most players to play to their strengths. When he has brought in new players in the Summer he can try his preferred formation again. Watkins Watkins Bailey Coutinho Buendia Ramsey Coutinho McGinn Nakamba Douglas or Nakamba Douglas Digne Mings Konsa Cash Digne Mings Konsa Cash Martinez Martinez With the players that we have available (Digne may need replacing by someone, but please not Ashley Young, maybe try Chrisene) it provides the maximum amount of defensive cover with our talented attackers free to play without worrying if they lose the ball. This allows players like McGinn and Bailey, maybe even Buendia to do what they do best in games and hopefully produce better performances. Maybe a change in formation will do nothing but it can't make our results any worse. I don't know the stats but I feel like Gerrard's results are even worse and less consistent than the worst times under Dean Smith. I'm still not convinced by Gerrard and still think getting rid of Dean Smith was unjustified.

Bloody hell! Didn't hear about that. What a delightful chap....not!

Excuse me? I need this statement explained.

I will be very surprised if Man City, Chelsea, Liverpool and Man Utd don't make the top four. Spurs and Leicester have the quality and depth to make European spots also. Then I think it's a group of Everton, Arsenal, West Ham and us fighting for the European scraps and it simply comes down to form over the season. Clubs like Leeds, Brighton and Wolves have to have exceptional, injury free seasons to get in the top half now. I genuinely believe that out of Everton, West Ham, Arsenal and Villa, we have both the strongest squad and the best first XI. If we can leave early injury problems behind us and play the way we are capable of on a regular basis then I don't see why 7th isn't a real possibility.

Wait! Are GIFs back?

Does Mungo speak French? If not that's going to make his time there really awkward compared to a lower league move in this country.

Curious as to what the long term plan here is. I hope Kaine Kesler-Hayden will be competition for Cash next season but will the club bring in a new right back at some point instead? As it stands we now do not have two players for each position. I know we are unlikely to make eleven changes to our starting line up all at once but it seems strange not to keep him round and instead take a small risk.

Well if that happens I am sure we will all be very shocked but very happy!

Do you really think they have strong depth? If they had the number of absences that we do they'd be decimated in my opinion. They have one striker, only one or two back up attacking players and not enough defensive minded players of quality to cover all positions. Apart from Soucek and Rice in defensive midfield I would say that our starting eleven is better than theirs in the other nine positions, man for man. Our bench is much stronger and the depth and quality of our back up players is better. What differs in their favour right now is that they have a squad that is used to playing together, is in good form and confident, and they have been lucky with injuries so far. They fully deserve their position last season and the great start to their season so far. However, they are riding their luck a bit and form is always given to going up and down. They need to invest more in their squad, as we are doing right now, but I do not think that their owners have the money or inclination to do so to the level going on at Villa. These are just my thoughts, others may have more faith in the depth of West Ham's squad. However, a full strength Villa, used to playing together, can achieve more than West Ham, I hope and believe. If your intention was not to suggest they are better than us but worthy of respect, I apologise and fully agree. It was your mention of a strong squad that caught my eye though.

Thank you, I have a much better idea of what you mean now. I can see your point, if we look forward to expected absences throughout the season there will be times we are a bit light. I guess the issue is to try to balance the risk of being a bit light at some points with the problems of the costs and frustrations created by having a larger squad than we can give sufficient game time to. Personally, I have faith that Steer will be enough for a few games of cover. He has been good enough when called upon before and unlucky not to have played more games for us. Next summer I can see the question of goalkeeper being raised again though and that is another matter. I'd also love a defensive minded midfielder either to compete with or replace Nakamba. I don't dislike Nakamba, I'd just like a player in his position who is one of the first names on the team sheet, that everyone has faith in. I tried to question your first post in a polite way, without the harshness that several posters here have done to posts they don't understand or agree with. Your answer was really clear thank you and made it much easier to understand your thoughts.

I have to respectfully disagree. With the exception of right back (assuming Guilbert does go) we have two valid options for every position and the flexibility to play several different formations. A squad of 25 first team players is not needed as we do not have extra European fixtures to play. Of course in many positions we have one player who is clearly better than the other but our back up options are of much greater quality than we have had for a very long time. We are also carrying very little in terms of dead weight, Davis and Trezeguet are arguably the only ones in this category. We have had bloated squads before but there were many players in those squads that we feared being anywhere near the starting line up or even on the bench. Is there another Premier League team, not playing in Europe, that has 22 quality first team squad players, covering every position and without lots of dead wood? It would be lovely to get an upgrade for Nakamba maybe, but not as vital as many here seem to think. We can always get someone in January if the club think it is needed but they seem happy with the squad for now. We have been very unlucky with injuries, illnesses and disruptions to preseason preparations but we are still doing ok this season. If we had all our first team players and they all had a good preseason we might be flying but as it is the squad is doing its job and coping with less than ideal situations. We've had at least six potential first choice players out so far (Watkins, Bailey, Traore, McGinn, Sanson, Mings) and we have coped just fine. We are not dealing with a weak squad in my opinion. Why do you think the squad is light?

Hope Konsa recovers for the next game, was anyone else injured?

Scored in the first minute today!

Anyone having a go at Smith or the club for today's line up is an idiot. End of discussion. We are a bit unlucky with injuries, illnesses and lack of pre season at the moment, but how many teams around the world would love to have players the quality of Young, Tuanzebe, El Ghazi and Chukwuemeka to come in as back up during such moments? Just think how great it will be when we can play all of our best players together. Having to decide what to do about Watkins and Ings, do we play Buendia centrally or on the right, do we play Sanson and McGinn together, do we bring Traore on from the bench yet? We are going to be much happier, hopefully, when these are the problems Smith has to deal with. Right now Watkins, Bailey, Traore, Sanson, McGinn, Ramsey, Trezeguet, Davis and Mings are all out or not ready to start in Watkins case. In that situation Smith has to pick the team that he think will be the best for this match. If you think you can make a better choice from your arm chair, get off your ass, get your coaching badges, get a job as a football manager, work your way up to the toughest league in the world and prove it. Otherwise stop your whining and let the man Aston Villa have put their faith in do his job. "I'm a supporter, I can say what I want, it's my opinion!" - Hitler had opinions about so called lesser races, it doesn't make him right and it doesn't mean anyone else wants to hear his opinion! If you are concerned about how we will do with the team we are putting out, by all means say so, but stop claiming that we are going to get relegated because of Smith's choices today, you sound like an absolute muppet! Rant over. Sorry to all those people who this doesn't apply to!

Cracked rib for Mings, in case no one has said already. Not sure about Ramsey.

Bissouma is a number 8. He doesn't sit back in front of the defenders. He's combative in midfield and makes driving runs forward. He is a number 8 far more than a defensive midfielder. What we need is a more aggressive, combative midfielder who can distribute the ball once he has won it and break up opposition attacks. That doesn't have to be a number 6 style defensive midfielder. McKennie or Bissouma would both be great for us but it's the style and attitude of the player we need, not the pigeon hole that you put him in.

So Seb Revan, who is our academy left back and currently out on loan doesn't exist? Or you just don't think he has potential?

I'm reading through every post and they are coming through so thick and fast that I am 15 minutes behind. The moaners are non stop, way too many to name unfortunately.

3-0 up, youngsters and back up players getting an important run out and still all some people seem to want to do is moan about their own players and call them shit. Can you not enjoy anything? Ask the doctor for some meds or something please, just stop being such a load of gloomy muppets! What was the point of Steve Bruce stopping our relegation rot, turning us around and then Dean Smith getting us promoted a year earlier than we expected and improving us to the point we are hopeful of European qualification if you lot keep acting like Remi Garde is still in charge and we constantly expect relegation? We are a great team, frequently winning games in the toughest league in the world and I've never seen some people here do anything other than moan and whine!

First episode he talks about Villa playing Liverpool. They had to change the name subtly for the episode focused on football but we all knew! First club into Europe, FA Cup winners, it wasn't very subtle.

To me, points are meaningless (avoided saying pointless). It's position in the table that determines success. I am hoping for a top ten finish. That in itself won't be easy, especially when losing our best player. However we have brought in great new additions and I think we have strengthened our squad far better than many of the teams who finished above us last year. If our team play to the level they are capable of we will probably get a European place. If they play like they did against Watford most weeks, or we suffer lots of injuries to key players then we will be lucky to match last year's position. However I am choosing to be optimistic and think we can improve on 11th place from last year!

What's wrong with Steer? Has he done anything to deserve this lack of faith? He was good for us in the Championship, helped us get promoted. Many people thought he should have been given a chance as our number one for our first season back in the Premier League. I don't remember him having any howlers for us. Ok he's not as good as Martinez but as a back up and filling in for a few games a year, surely he is fine. I think some people just assume he's terrible because they haven't seen him play for ages and he's not our first, or sometimes even second choice. Having a second top class goalkeeper sitting on the bench all season is not going to be realistic unless we have European competition to rotate them in. So wait until next season and give Steer a break for goodness sake!

Although we want to fit Watkins, Bailey, Ings and Buendia in to our starting line up, we just don't have the right midfielders to put behind them. Douglas could maybe, but we need another. Nakamba is our most suitable option but suddenly McGinn and Sanson are not getting a look in. That says nothing about Ramsey and Chukwuemeka. Those last four need a midfield three to work best. I think we are best suited to having some excellent options on the bench. Having Watkins or Ings, as well as Traore on the bench to torment tired defenders or add a little magic is great. Not to mention having the likes of Ramsey or Chukwuemeka to add some energy in the middle. Nakamba, if we need to put some steel in there too! However, this also means we have the flexibility to do both formations throughout the season! We have options!