Monkeypuzzle

7 minutes ago, Dante_Lockhart said:

It can only get so erect

Dr Krieger?

Still no kiwivillan?

2 hours ago, nick76 said:

We have for the two spots McGinn, Luiz, Nakamba, Sanson and Ramsey…never mind the kids and Smith seems happy with them doesn’t he? I just don’t see him going for somebody unless we sell one or two and seems no activity on that at all.

Firstly, I think we can add Chukwuemeka to that list, so 6 players competing for 4 or 5 spots. That's a back up to whomever plays behind the striker, a box to box midfielder and back up, and a sitting, more defensive midfielder and back up. Alternatively, if we play 4-3-3 it is 2 deeper, defensive midfielders and 4 box to box midfielders. I think we are pretty much covered. Rather than buying someone new we need current players to improve their form. They all have the ability that we need. Maybe next summer we look to improve the middle of the park but it is not a serious issue right now. Bailey is a great step up, Alvarez would be nice too but only if we sell El Ghazi, and a back up, right footed centre back. That's all I think we need as we then have cover in all areas, an improved attack and with Traore, potentially Alvarez and Wesley, we even have cover for Watkins, should he not last the whole season uninjured or suspended.

Reactions on here do seem very similar to those of Arsenal fans when we were linked to Smith-Rowe. People were happy to mock them for their reactions, I guess someone's delighted with the reactions going on here now too, laughing at the over the top reactions of "all those deluded Villa fans"!

54 minutes ago, hippo said:

In all seriousness if true - that's seriously bad news. Clubs don't bid unless they think they have good chance of closing the deal

Like our two bids for Smith-Rowe?

39 minutes ago, Delphinho123 said:

IF Grealish leaves. A big IF. I wonder who the club will target with the money? 

Players like JWP/McNeil spring to mind but would they want to join? Saint Maximim?

Obviously he’s staying but it’s a conversation starter at least

Careful, you will be accused of having a small club mentality!

With apparent interest from Roma in El Ghazi, I can't help but hope that we sign both Bailey and this guy and move Anwar on for the most we will ever get for him. Bailey is a big upgrade on him, even though El Ghazi just had his best season for us, and Alvarez is a nice upgrade on Trezeguet and Davis and will have time to settle without too much pressure on him.

1 minute ago, MessiWillSignForVilla said:

Never got why people seem so adverse to signing Hughes, seems like the perfect opportunity signing to me. 1 year left on his contract so likely available for sub £10m, done well in the Premier League before, regarded by Watford fans as one of their best midfielders, and likely happy to play a bench/rotation role for us, it just seems like the perfect depth signing that could allows us to spend big elsewhere.

I think the reason is that he is not better than what we have already so buying him simply adds to the squad rather than improving it. Before the window opened our only area that needed more depth was left back. With the arrival of Young we are now looking at improving the squad. Obviously Engels leaving leaves us short at centre back now too but Dean Smith said that it was an unexpected departure, not a planned one. I think most people feel that new backup squad players are not needed this season, just players better than what we already have. Buendia was an obvious upgrade, Bailey would also be. Yes members of the first team might get injured but we want our first XI to be top 7 quality as a priority, with backup for injuries and rest a secondary concern until then.

38 minutes ago, Loxstock92 said:

 

I really want to hear the crowd at Villa Park singing the duck song now after seeing his profile pic!

This is a real FIFA signing for me. A player I always go for, but usually only after I have won the premier League or champions league and for more than twice the figure being quoted! Amazing if this happens, he is also quite two footed, similar to Grealish, so no problems if he wants to cut in from either wing, or putting in crosses. I'm particularly excited by his pace and finishing!

2 hours ago, Panto_Villan said:

The implications were that he'd had a falling out with the Leicester management, which is why they'd be willing to let him go, and that he's not actually in the top tier of English talent like Grealish / Foden / Mount etc (hence not being able to make the England squad) but thinks he is and acts like a billy big bollocks. Which would be potentially disruptive to the squad cohesion we have here.

In terms of footballing ability, the charges against him were going missing in big games (as people above have said) and also not being particularly creative - good at scoring goals, but not creating that much himself.

Honestly I haven't followed him that closely recently so I don't know how accurate it is, but there were definitely quite a few Arsenal fans dead set against the idea of potentially selling ESR to make a big money move for Maddison. Interested to hear other people's opinions on the matter.

3 minutes ago, Laughable Chimp said:

Who said that again? The guy had 5 assists as opposed to 8 goals last season. This isn't an El Ghazi case where him shooting on sight gets him 10 goals but 0 assists

This is where it came from.

Maddison, Dele Alli, Rowe-Smith, I don't mind which as long as the club are happy with them. All excellent young English attacking midfielders who can create and score. I'd like to think the team spirit and positivity at the club would negate any apparent attitude problems, but that is for the club to decide. If any of those come and mesh well with our current crop of players....omg!

Someone mentioned earlier that one criticism of Maddison was he tended to score goals rather than create them. With Grealish and Buendia alongside him I think that's exactly what we need. Someone to finish off chances for us apart from Watkins.

Alvarez sounds promising too but I'm not sure if he came whether or not he'd be competing for the same position as those mentioned above.

2 hours ago, Sulberto21 said:

This thread was clearly a hypothetical light hearted look at how much the players are worth now after the excellent work done on the training pitch and in the games over the last two seasons. 

Saying Jack is worth more than the world record fee is hardly small club mentality. We can demand what we want for Mings and Konsa after the Slabhead maths again is not small club mentality.

Just light hearted fun.

Thank you, I didn't intend to upset anyone with my "small club mentality". I just thought "£54 million was a lot for Ben White, I wonder how much a club would have to offer us before we considered selling our players?" Apparently fun speculation linked to our recent success is insulting to some people here who just decide to post negative statements designed to make others feel stupid and dress it up with "that's just my opinion".

13 minutes ago, Kiwivillan said:

Who cares tbh. This is small team thinking. Liverpool fans don't calculate team value. This implies players for sale. 

Not sure why you bothered to post this? Other than to troll of course.

Well at least I think we can all agree that, as the board have stated, we should make a decent profit on all of them! Especially Jack, but as has been said many times, he's not for sale!

How about Sterling?

I honestly don't care how England do from now on, that idiot Southgate has put me off supporting my own country with his ridiculous treatment of our Jack. He has repeatedly moved the goal posts and mistreated one of this country's greatest ever players. Loads of rubbish being said about how his decisions have been vindicated by the results - bull crap! If Grealish had played more we would have won each game more convincingly, been FAR more entertaining to watch and would actually deserve the gushing that the media is pouring over the team!

Or to put it another way - I'm nae happy!

Couldn't help but notice the way the ITV co-commentator had a little dig at Grealish.

Commentator: Grealish the most fouled player in the Premier League for the last two seasons.

Co-commentator: Yeah, and he dives a lot too!

Oh guess what? Co-commentator is ex Arsenal legend Lee Dixon. Can't imagine why an Arsenal man would take a shot at a Villa player at the moment.

2 hours ago, TRO said:

was it a typo ,did you mean goats.

I really hope they are not feeding him whole goats, however great they are. I just meant that is very tall for that age.

6'4" at 15? (I know he's 16 now.) What kind of oats are they feeding him up there? Also that video made him look a heck of a lot better than Maguire has been for England. A right footed centre back will be a nice addition to the youngsters too.

It's watching Grealish with the number 40 shirt on doing it against Liverpool repeatedly that I love in that video!

That video doesn't exactly inspire me. Got knocked down a lot, made some simple passes and ran around with the ball looking like he didn't know what to do with it. I'm sure he is better than that but that video didn't impress me. A bit like watching England Vs Ukraine. Boring football, we constantly passed it backwards or sideways and yet pundits say we played so well. Maybe I'm just too fussy?

1 hour ago, TRO said:

bit profound that Sheepy, i think we have moved on from coats improvising as goal posts....but take your point.