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.

19 minutes ago, Davkaus said:

Signed a player with active rape accusations against him, continued to play him and made him captian even after there were multiple accusations from different women. 

https://thesportsrush.com/ole-gunnar-solskjaer-under-criticism-for-shielding-a-player-accused-of-rape-back-in-norway/

Sarr is currently hiding from justice in Saudi Arabia. 

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

30 minutes ago, Davkaus said:

He's a man knowing his time is running short. Just a rapist-sheltering version of Tim Sherwood. 

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.

25 minutes ago, nick76 said:

Waiting for the usual suspects to pipe in overnight!

 

 

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.

1 minute ago, Peter Griffin said:

And when Villa sign Rice for 80m tomorrow evening they will be bang average

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

19 minutes ago, JAMAICAN-VILLAN said:

Yeah I've watched them.

They look very good.

You almost don't want to say it on here, due to fear of getting slammed

Strong squad as well.

 

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.

1 hour ago, Indigo said:

I think given the circumstances of the season just two more would have made sense, not that some kind of Bruce-level negligence has gone on. As I said all going well I actually think our starting XI and bench is better than most here seem to, but it was quite widely reported at different stages of the window that we were looking at bringing in another keeper and a midfielder, which to me would have made sense and left the squad far from bloated on paper. 

Given Martinez possibly missing out on a few games this season I'm personally a tad wary of Steer alone being adequate back up, and aside from any judgements on his ability Nakamba might be missing for a while on international duty, whilst also in that area of the pitch Luiz hasn't really had any kind proper rest for a good while.

As I said, I like the squad, just not 100% comfortable in thinking that we won't find ourselves in a similar predicament as the last few weeks at some point again.

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.

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

Scored in the first minute today!

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

2 hours ago, mickjacobjr said:

We need a dm type player like Bissouma not another number 8 

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.

23 hours ago, CVByrne said:

No, it's because Young is temporary cover for this position and not a longer term solution. So we need a new left back and when we sign players we aim to sign better than we have to create competition. 

So we have Kessler coming up in Right Back, nobody that level coming up in left back. So I see Guilbert being moved on, Young extending maybe for 1 more year to cover both full back positions and for his experience. Kessler competing with Cash and a new left back signing taking Targett's place at left back and competing with him.

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?

16 minutes ago, Talldarkandransome said:

Who is doing that particularly this evening, I've seen moaning about the starting line up but not calling anyone shit 

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.

On 02/06/2019 at 11:17, Lichfield Dean said:

He was a fan of Aston Wanderers wasn't he?

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!

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!