Monkeypuzzle

13 minutes ago, Jas10 said:

Monkey and Kiwi…

Don't be silly! Kiwis can't climb trees! We're at it in the bushes!

Just now, Tomaszk said:

I think we agree to be honest. With the exception of a new keeper. We really do need one of those.

If Coutinho did go, I wouldn't say no to another attacker that can play across the pitch.

Yep I agree with you on both those points too. The back four certainly seem less confident when he's in there, I just am not convinced it's near the top of Unai's priority list. I think his biggest problem though is that he obviously gets compare to Martinez all the time. Compared to the best in the world it's easy to highlight someone's weaknesses.  I'd like to see a more confident on the ball and claiming the ball keeper. It's just that they tend to be first choice keepers, and unlikely to want a spot o the bench.

If Coutinho does go, likewise I'd be happier with a new attacker coming in. But we will soon have McGinn, Ramsey, Bailey, Traore (who might still go if someone comes in), Diaby and Zaniolo competing for three spots. That's two quality (if sometimes inconsistent) players for each position. Then Buendia to return next season. Not vital but nice if we manage to bring someone in (as long as it's not Brennan Johnson, I don't know why, I just don't want him lol).

5 minutes ago, lexicon said:

That's what it looked like to me watching tbh. 

Fair enough, formations don't get flat out stated any more like they used to. Whichever formation was used, it certainly seemed to work today

6 minutes ago, lexicon said:

Definitely did. 3-4-3 with Cash and Digne wide, dropping back to a 5-2-3 at times. 

Are you getting that from somewhere or just basing it on who played? When I saw the line up I thought we were playing 3-4-2-1 but then every report I have seen puts it at 4-2-3-1 as normal. Unai even stated that Cash was playing playing right wing in his after match talk.

3 hours ago, MotoMkali said:

Sure but all it takes is an injury coinciding  with a suspension for us to be **** if we don't sign a cb/rb. Imagine if we faced lille with Chambers at CB or RB we could be torn to pieces. 

Chambers would be a solid part of just about any defence in Ligue 1. I agree that he's not of the same quality as the rest of our defence apart from Hause but he'd be fine to face Lille, who got torn to shreds by Lorient today. You seem to be forgetting just how good our squad is now compared to the rest of the world. Man City played a youngster at left back the first week who is nowhere near as good as Chambers yet. You don't see their fans worrying that they will get torn apart by lower half Prem teams. We can carry one slightly lower quality player. I would love to see a player like you described arrive. I think it would improve us but I don't think we are doomed if we have to use him.

3 hours ago, lexicon said:

I liked the formation today, thought it was much better suited to Digne and Cash's strengths. 

Not sure the formation changed at all. We simply played Cash where we normally play Bailey.

1 minute ago, Delphinho123 said:

He’s an interesting one. I can’t work out if he was really good or not. Going to be a fun player to watch this season regardless 

That...that was almost not negative? About a Villa attacking midfielder. Who are you? Where's Delphinho?

2 hours ago, AshVilla said:

We better have something major cooking because i doubt we will get top 10 let alone top 6 with this threadbare squad.

The extra fixtures are going to kill us.

This "threadbare" squad is bigger than the squad Unai had last season. Young is gone, Mings and Buendia out for the season. We have Carlos back now as well as four new signings. Almost all of our outgoings were on loan last season anyway. Yes some more signings would be nice but what we have will be fine if necessary.

25 minutes ago, Demitri_C said:

Just on volume of players bought in. The signings are not the issue

Of those players who have left, how many played for us last season? How does their leaving leave us worse off in terms of players? They weren't playing anyway. Four players in who will play plus last season's players who actually played means we have a bigger pool of players for this season. I'm all in favour of extra players in, I'm just not convinced it's a guarantee and I don't think it's absolutely vital either. It would be nice though.

21 minutes ago, Demitri_C said:

We are 1 or 2 injuries away from disaster 

If we dont sign anyone else its a absolute huge mistake

Any team would be in trouble with half their squad injured. We currently have Martinez, Mings, Hause, Moreno, Dendoncker, Iroegbunam, Ramsey, Buendia and Coutinho injured. Some of those are thankfully close to returning/back today. We have only just got Traore back from injury. That's nine of our first team squad. A couple more would be eleven players. Any team, even Man City or Real Madrid would be struggling with that many injuries. In fact we are doing very well despite them. It doesn't mean we need to recruit players to fill temporary gaps.

14 minutes ago, Tomaszk said:

Meh. You can think this if you want. I disagree.

Right. You're being ridiculous now. 

You've every right to disagree. I tend to agree with very little that I see you post, so it's not really a surprise. But don't call my view point ridiculous. I'm just as entitled to my opinion as you are without my judgement being questioned in such a dismissive way. The fact that you think he is better than members of our first team squad tells me all I need to know about your judgement. I don't need to comment on it more than that.

Don't want this transfer, don't think Emery or Monchi want this transfer. Hope this puts an end to any links. It's like with Maguire. All the links make me worry it might happen, even though it's based on hacks making nonsense up. He is simply nowhere near good enough for us. He is not even as good as Bailey or Traore.

38 minutes ago, striker said:

Prowse just scored alongside his assists last week.

Villa missed out big time not signing him for 30m. 

Oh yes, I'm so sad that we have to cope with Douglas Luiz and Tielemans and Kamara instead. Ward-Prowse would be competing with Dendoncker for fourth choice if we bought him. I'm not sure we want to splash £30 million on a guy who would hardly play for us.

51 minutes ago, GREAT_BEARD_OF_ZEUS said:

Agree. I have no doubts we'll bring in a right footed, left winger.

Of all our 7 forward players, only Watkins and Buendia are right footed, it's an absolute must.

 

Also interestingly, only one of our 6 midfielders is left footed (McGinn), therefore I would bet on a lefty coming in who can play both central and attacking mid. 

My bet would be Lo Celso.

And Ramsey. Hes right footed too!

This is the guy who was keeping Buendia out of the team last season. He's back soon and the pressure of Buendia being out will be much reduced. I'm looking forward to seeing how much more he improves after another year under Unai's guidance.

There are a lot of comments from people claiming that the squad is too light and we need to make more signings. Is it actually? It feels like we have brought in players who will actually play and sold players who never actually played. Does anyone have the stats on who actually played under Emery last season to compare to the squad we have now?

10 hours ago, mikeyp102 said:

I’ve only just started listening to him, does he have connections and reliable info? I thought Paddy got the odd snippet but not Neil?

None at all. It was a comment made more tongue in cheek suggesting that he is a trustworthy source simply because I like him. However, if he deems it worth listening to I trust his judgement.

Just now, Jas10 said:

 

Well if Neil from FtLoPM is reporting it, I'll accept that!

So we're confident that this report is believable? From a reliable source?

If we don't sign anyone else this window we have done well. There maybe areas that we can still improve but we can cope, at least until January. Cash with Chambers or Konsa as back up will do for now. Martinez with Olsen for back up will do until January or next summer. Watkins with Diaby, Zaniolo or Duran as back up will be fine until January. If we can get another signing in then great but if not we will still be a much stronger squad than last season, even with our injuries.

56 minutes ago, Leeroy said:

Hause needs to go, not sure why he's still here really, injuries probably delaying us moving him out. Mings is injured but Hause is midtable Championship standard so no use to us. 

 

Traore will have to stay now because we don't have another options otherwise and he can still contribute off the bench. Unless we bring in another attacking player we basically need to keep Coutinho and Traore or we'll be down to the bare bones with Buendia being out for the season and our youngsters being sold.

Agreed that Hause needs to go when he is fit but he is much better than mid championship level. At his best he is tail end Premier League quality and would be Luton or Sheffield United's best defender!

25 minutes ago, gwi1890 said:

Acuna deal is off he’s injured 

Not as likely, but not off completely. Especially after recent comments coming out of Sevilla. They still want more money though.

I thought people were saying he couldn't play because there was a rumour he was injured. A few even highlighted Unai's comment that he may not have been registered in time to play. No one said he won't play because he already played in a European qualification round, as far as I can remember? The "bed wetters" (not my term) were the people moaning that we had loaned an injured player who couldn't play.