david-avfc

Not seen a huge amount of Longlet but if his strengths are with the ball then I’d like to believe Emery knows what to do with him. Spurs last year had Conte with his typical Italian defensive style and then the clueless Mason as managers so not really set up for possession football, so if that’s what Lenglet is about then no wonder he apparently looked crap. As a loan deal it seems low risk, and ultimately we probably do need back up in that position and he does fit the bill 

I really like the Claret and Blue podcast, think it’s got better recently too (I can liked it before anyway), IMO it’s now hands down the best out there. It really comes across as a professional outfit, proper journos with links to club and they’re all proper fans too. The new lad John Townley also provides a lot of decent insight which was maybe missing a bit before. 

3 hours ago, VillaJay said:

The issue with having too many players is also one we don't see as fans, it's the day to day at the training ground, the imbalance of the sessions and having to fit too many players in.

When Ramsay, Moreno, Donk are back the bench will look much stronger.

We do need 1 more attacking option and ideally a right back but I'm sure the club are working to the last minute, and most likely waiting for clubs to get replacements in etc.,

Yes Emery said he wants 2 players for each position plus a 3rd choice young keeper, so 23 players in total which is what we currently have (24 including Philogene). I don’t think Emery wants players for the sake of making up the numbers hence we’ve let players go and even on match days he hasn’t bothered naming a full subs bench on occasions.

I’d like to see some movement, a defensive reinforcement and maybe another attacker, but with the European squad restrictions we’re in a position where it needs to be 1 in 1 out, so if we want to make something happen there’s going to some spinning plates to manage which is going to be a difficult task with just a couple of days remaining. 

1 hour ago, MaVilla said:

 

he really is like that isnt he, not to cast shade at Bailey, but watching how Diaby bounces off players and just keeps going, rides tackles and is really good at rolling players etc, it shows where bailey really needs to improve his game at the PL level.

 

I don’t think there is anything Bailey can do to get to Diaby’s level really, they are just completely different classes of player. Diaby already looks like he could turn out to be one of the top attackers in the league, he has it all; pace, skill, intelligence, finishing ability, it’s a surprise we’ve managed to get him so easily not exactly as if he was hidden away playing in Europe for Leverkusen

1 hour ago, beachboys1 said:

personaly dont think well get any more  incomings

Probably hinges on players leaving to be honest, we’ve seen Coutinho and Digne being linked away and ultimately I can’t imagine we’d sell any first team players and not bring in any replacements

Also the way we’ve been selling these youngsters, is that just to balance the books as they are now, or is it to create some headroom for another signing?

Personally I’d like to believe the club are still working on something, maybe one more attacker at least.

11 minutes ago, maqroll said:

Arse trying to offload players. Smith-Rowe at a cut rate price might be good.

Yeah would be an interesting one, surprised he hasn’t really be linked with anywhere he’s hardly played in the last year. He was overhyped a while back but still decent for most Prem sides I think 

10 minutes ago, MotoMkali said:

Tbf ward Prowse can do all that. 5he bigger issue with him is his lack of pace and physicality that prevents him from contributing when pressing and in the defensive phases beyond being an intelligent player who is in the right positions. 

He’s just a very average player who happens to be world class at set pieces 

On 22/08/2023 at 10:13, nepal_villan said:

Don't get the low fee compared to the 15M and 20M  rumored for A.Ramsey and Archer. At the very minimum would think his market value is 10M

I thought he was in the last year of his contract which would have explained the low fee, but apparently last year he signed an extension so must be 2 years left at least.

For £5m I don’t see the benefit when he could be a decent squad player, we aren’t going to buy anyone better than him for £5m and there’s going to be lots of opportunities for minutes across all competitions this season for him.

3 minutes ago, John said:

I get the feeling that we aren't very high on his list of prospective clubs and we know it. I suspect we are looking elsewhere, as he has been doing all along. If so, he's welcome to make his choices and I doubt we will be waiting for what ultimately seems likely to be a big and final "No" from him. 

Yeah steer clear of players who see villa as a club of last resort. The way Felix appears to have burnt his bridges at Atletico isn’t a good sign nor are the comments that he only wants to sign for certain clubs as if he has some god given right to play for them. Despite the hype from some on here he just seems to be a fancier version of Coutinho, flashes of great skill and technique but has never hit the heights expected on a consistent basis 

2 hours ago, GREAT_BEARD_OF_ZEUS said:

If the right right back isn’t available now, then I’d be ok going with Konsa and Cash as our two options until Jan.

Torres is a certain starter now, we need the aerial presence of Carlos in both boxes, and to be fair to Konsa he’s a very good player when he’s got a strong commanding centre back next to him, which Carlos is. 
 

I think we’ start regularly with:

konsa - Carlos - Pau - Moreno 

with the option of switching to:

Cash - Carlos - Pau - Digne

See if Cash can get back up to speed like he did in the few games after his injury last season.

Yeah a back 4 of Konsa, Carlos, Pau and a left back looks pretty solid. I think a standard back 4 (i.e. with Cash at RB) with a centre back pairing of either Carlos/Konsa/Pau has risks either a little light aerially with Konsa and Pau, or relying on Carlos to provide the physicality when he’s still very much an unknown quantity in the PL

I’m not sure I really trust Cash too much to be honest, he’s not quite defensively solid enough for that RB/CB hybrid role and going forward he’s decent but not exceptional. As a standard all round modern full back he’s a decent player, but seems like Emery doesn’t really want a player of that mould.

21 minutes ago, Mark Albrighton said:

Was under the impression that the sell on fee was 50% of whatever we received, not 50% above 20m euros.

If we recoup all of the fee then that’s a little bonus I hadn’t expected.

No particularly strong feeling either way with Phil, a bit like Digne (although I’d sooner keep Lucas). Hasn’t really worked out and I dare say he’s probably as frustrated as most are by that. Seems like a good egg so if this is it, wish him all the best.

I doubt there are many who know for sure outside of the club and the agents. To me 50% of everything seems ridiculously high, whereas 50% of the profit is still high but reasonable considering they reportedly knocked €10m off the previously agreed price. But who knows what the club agreed to, Purslow and Gerrard and co were  probably excited thinking they were joining the big boy club buying a player off Barcelona 

Coutinho has looked bright in recent cameos but still felt more style over substance. Perfectly summed up against Everton he does an incredible bit of skill but then takes a shot from 35 yards which goes nowhere near the goal. Would much rather have a less flashy player who’s much more functional.

On 23/08/2023 at 21:37, JPJCB said:

McGinn is standing off camera as a translator 

But then who’s translating what McGinn’s saying?

12 hours ago, andyb82 said:

Also it is not just about HG, but also about academy developed. Believe you need 4 players in the squad that were developed by us (in addition to at least 4 other HG players) .

Believe if the number of academy developed players is less than 4 results in a reduction of the squad size. 

So really the only one we have that likely get minutes is J Ramsey (and is why I am surprised we are looking to sell Archer and Bidace).

I am sure we will include a youth keeper in the squad. So with Ramsey and Keeper, we will need 2 more. 

T. IRO does not count I think, as he has not yet had 3 yrs in our academy. 

Does feel we are on a tightrope for both HG and Academy players. Someone also did point out that I think Traore counts as HG as he had 3 years at Chelsea in the right age range. 

Is why I could see Brennan Johnson, as I think we will need to prioritise some UK signings.

One solution is clearly to bring Jack back (jokes...)

(should say it is also a bit more complicated in that I think you name 2 squads, to paraphrase a senior and a junior squad. It may be we take a hit on the size of the senior squad noting we have youth that can be called up if required) 

 

Our European squad has been published on the UEFA website:

https://www.uefa.com/uefaeuropaconferenceleague/clubs/52683--aston-villa/squad/

We have the maximum number of players registered in our “A” list (21 + 2 homegrown club players (Ramsey and Archer (nb Philogene is on the B list)).  Buendia and Mings are not on the registered list, nor is Zaniolo who I will assume will come in for the next round.

Some players are on the “B” list which just means they qualify as u21 players. Note that not all players under the age of 21 qualify for the B list as they have to have been at the club for a certain time period first (eg Duran and Kellyman who are on the A list, plus Tim Iroegbunam who wasn’t registered at all).

Of the 21 non-homegrown senior players it’s not like there are any no hopers making up the numbers (like Hause or Davis) who could easily be binned from the squad, apart from the young Kellyman who’ll presumably make way for Zaniolo. But it does seem like from here it is a case of one in, one out as there’s no space in our Europe squad for any additional numbers.

Personally I think if we sell both Archer and Philogene it leaves us a little light on depth but Emery has said he wants 2 players in each position + a 3rd choice keeper, which technically we have covered already, so maybe he’s not bothered about depth beyond that

2 hours ago, useless said:

Apparently the journalist that has linked us to Fati is quite reliable, Monchi and Fati were at Sevilla together

According to Wikipedia (great source, I know), Fati played for Sevilla between 2010 - 2012 so unless Monchi was creeping around the kids club I can’t believe there’s any connection whatsoever

Bailey was good yesterday, a few iffy moments where he gave the ball away ridiculously cheaply but everything else was bang on and got a really good assist and a decent goal too. Bailey obviously has talent but one good game for every 5 or 6 poor ones isn’t good enough, he needs to play like he did vs Everton every week not just once every couple of months 

I like Keinan, but a permanent move is well overdue. Good luck to him, hopefully we get a few million in for him too

I wouldn’t be surprised if the club is trying to use the medical for leverage to negotiate better terms particularly around the option. I assume this is how Monchi operates, probably more comfortable playing these types of games than Purslow ever was.

45 minutes ago, sheepyvillian said:

Baker! Everytime I think  of him, that needless challenge on Suarez that gave away a penalty, and rewarded them with an equaliser and then a winner  comes  back  to  haunt  me .It was fouls like that which amazed me that he ever came through at all.

I liked Baker’s commitment but half his tackles were with his head, he was far too last-ditch for the premier league and unfortunately had to retire due to a head injury I think, perhaps unsurprisingly 

40 minutes ago, Tomaszk said:

Is he one of their better players? I would hope so!

Why would they loan us one of their better players? I don't understand. What is the benefit to Galatasaray This is surely a permanent transfer in all but name.

Things really turned sour at Roma and he had to leave for somewhere. The only concrete options were Bournemouth or Galatasary, he chose Galatasary probably under the agreement that they’d let him leave fairly easily if a team from a higher league came in for him. For Gala they get a good player for a while and the potential to make a quick profit, so it made sense to agree to that.

As to why a loan deal, we are reportedly offering a loan fee and probably the “option” to buy will become mandatory under certain conditions. Galatasary probably know that his injury record will put a lot of teams off, probably why they were one of the only teams in for him in January, so by allowing a loan first that might be a way for them to add another few million to the deal. The total package reportedly offered is €3m loan fee, €20m + €7m optional transfer fee + add ons which is double the €15m they paid in January - that’s why it makes sense for them 

Not sure if it's been posted already but according to whoscored stats he had a passing accuracy of 35% (giving the ball away 9 times), a crossing accuracy of 0% (giving the ball away 3 times) and was "dispossessed" 4 times and made one further unsuccessful dribble with success rate of 0%. He apparently touched the ball 28 times and gave it away at least 17 times. Those stats are up there with some of the worst I've ever seen, watching the game it was obvious he was playing poorly, but seeing the stats as they are, it's just shocking how remarkably bad they are.

The guy had a big reputation, a big transfer free and big wages, a lot of hype from his agent etc but honestly he is no better than what we had before. It might sound knee-jerk but after that game yesterday I've just given up on him now, he has been too poor for too long and if he is still as useless after a full summer working with Emery then the writing is on the wall. Some might call me old fashioned but I prefer our players to help the team by not giving the ball to the opposition over half the times they touch it. 

2 minutes ago, markavfc40 said:

I don't think Bailey does start that game if Buendia hadn't got injured. The options for that role were then limited. He could have gone with JPB but I can understand why he wouldn't. 

I think an hour in yesterday though and desperately needing a goal the logical thing to do is look to your bench and for an option you think will provide that. There was one central striker and he chose to ignore that option. I think that is telling. 

We had Watkins and Diaby playing up top so not sure why adding a 3rd striker into the mix would make a difference when our midfield kept giving the ball away and our defence was leaking chances all over the shop

Well I see my "Z-Theory" has well and truly been obliterated by the many posters on here. 

Anyway, I just hope Galatasary chiefs weren't watching the game yesterday as if they did they'd have whacked another €10m onto the asking price seeing how shite we were

The only players whose names begin with Z I can think of are Zidane and Zico. For that reason alone I hope we sign him.

Edit I just remembered about Zaza

3 hours ago, calcifer said:

Still think we need a clinical striker that can push Watkins. But that is going to cost some money. Newcastle spent a hefty sum on their new forward but will reap the benefit this season. 

Will be better investing in a RB possibly another CB now. But to push on we do need another forward. 

 

Judging by today's performance there are higher priorities than pushing Watkins, a replacement for Bailey, Cash and unfortunately Mings are the main standouts, and possibly a defensive midfielder to send a rocket up Kamara's arse too. 

However based on the rate of ACL injuries we're picking up no doubt by Tuesday tea time Watkins will have injured himself and will be out for the season as well so yeah maybe we do need someone