mallett

One thing which I think is missing in this conversation is that we haven’t discussed the fact that Carney hasn’t really kicked on this season in the way he looked like he was going to last season. He was the standout player in the FA Youth cup win. In the first team however he hasn’t actually really shown us what he has got. At his best at youth level he destroys teams with his attacking play. At senior level that side of his game hasn’t really featured. More worryingly his defensive game looks lackadaisical and ineffective when in flashes he shows that he has the physical attributes to do much better. There was only that one substitute appearance when he put his foot in and helped change the game. So I guess my point is that from Carney’s side he needs to feel that he is going to kick on as a player at Villa to sign a new contract and at the moment that isn’t really happening to the degree it should be.

Trezeguet has only been at the club while we have been in the premier league so he can’t take any credit for promotion! He was vital in keeping us in the premier league in the first season back up. He had a terrible season last season as he had nasty head cut, Covid and then did his ACL which meant through no fault of his own he hardly played.

Does anyone else think that our academy doesn’t seem overly focused on results? It seems to me that they frequently play people out of their normal position on purpose. Perhaps to give them more experience etc. Several of the youth players going on loan have said that playing in the lower leagues is different from academy football because it all about the result rather than the performance. For this reason I don’t see us winning the U23 league this season

It has appeared in the U23 section

Anyone know how I can watch the U23 game that is supposedly available from 10pm tonight?

Here is the (terrible) translation by google of the above link. It does describe the keeper we saw at Villa.: In the last few years, Lovre Kalinic has gone through literally everything that a goalkeeper in football can go through. He was the first choice of Zlatko Dalić as Subašić's successor and made a career transfer to Belgium. He later sold to former European champions Aston Villa, and in the meantime returned home. This summer, the fan campaign for his stay in Poljud was overshadowed only by the nationwide movement to keep Marko Livaja. Today, three years after being a representative unit, Kalinic is one of Hajduk's weakest links. His mistakes marked the beginning of the season and sponsored his relegation from Europe In the first four games of this season, Kalinic conceded eight goals. He took the ball out of the net four times in Kazakhstan and twice against Lokomotiva in Zagreb and Osijek in Split. As much as the goalkeeping job was ungrateful, because the nature of his position is such that there is generally no teammate who can correct his mistake, the fact is that he is the direct culprit for most of those goals. It all started when Marko Dabro broke him in the first corner in Kranjčevićeva. A goalkeeper of his class must not concede such a goal from that position. After saving the net against Tobol in Split, Kalinic gave Osijek three gifts. Jurčević's goal may not be much to blame, but one relatively weak hand kick bounced off the opponent's tray. Shortly afterwards, he reacted badly to one long-range shot and gave a goal to Mierez, which was subsequently annulled due to the backcourt. He ended the game for oblivion with a bad reaction to the cross, when he again practically passed the ball to the opposing player. That the crisis in his form is obvious and serious, Hajduk felt in the most painful way possible. Tobol scored four goals from five shots on goal. He could have reacted better in each of the first three, but the fourth goal went entirely to his soul. Tagybergen pulled from a good 30 meters diagonally, and the ball somehow surprised Hajduk's goalkeeper and ended up in the net. Of course, defensive stability is highly related to the goalkeeper's self-confidence and it is normal for a goalkeeper to make mistakes more often when he does not have good enough line support behind him, but regardless of mitigating circumstances, there is no denying that Kalinic defends terribly. Moreover, at this moment, it is perhaps Hajduk's weakest link. Hajduk brought him to be the holder. Now he has what he had in Posavac For two full seasons, Josip Posavec, a rediscovered potential from Italy, was the Whites' first goalkeeper. After the initial phase of playing with the defense and getting to know the team, it became obvious that Hajduk and he are not a good fit. He made mistakes very often, and in the growing HNL, where there are no free wins and points, that is a risk that a Hajduk like this cannot afford. With the sale of Karel Letica and the departure of Ivo Grbić in previous seasons, Hajduk was left without a tried and tested alternative. At that moment, the option of returning “Saint Lawrence” emerged, and that story was ideal for both sides. Kalinic warmed up the bench at Aston Villa for a year and a half and needed a new engagement as soon as possible. Hajduk needed not only a new goalkeeper who can help with his experience, but also a brand that will ignite the Hajduk regiment. He did solid last season with old difficulties with high balls and getting involved in the game, whether it was leaving his line or playing with the ball in his feet. The Split club also received ideal material for the captain, a local boy who is a great link with the fans and who can bring a dose of stability to the defense. Only half a year after that, the impression is that Hajduk has in it what it had in Posavac - a very good, but unreliable goalkeeper who can give a goal to his opponent at any time. One part of the fans very quickly turned to the phenomenon of burying players, which necessarily follows the phase of great euphoria, and Kalinic was among the first to be the target of criticism, but also of uncritical spitting. The truth is, as always, somewhere in the middle. Lovre Kalinic is not a world-class goalkeeper, but he is far from ignorant. He is a guy who was good enough to at least briefly take over a unit in the national team and a goalkeeper who in the not-so-distant past was one of the best in Belgium. Finally, this is a man who was given a salary of around two million euros by a serious and big club like Aston Villa. But precisely because he is of better quality than what he shows and because Hajduk brought him to make a difference, Kalinic has a great responsibility to wake up and help this team. At the moment, his status in the national team is also very questionable. Livaković replaced him on Croatia's goal after several bad games and pushed him to "position number two", but currently Dalic has at least five goalkeepers who defend more convincingly and better than Kalinic. With 31 years on his back as a goalkeeper, the end of his career is probably far away, but the opportunity to prove his international quality is dwindling. To cap off the article a poll with over 15000? votes has 85% voting for the national team manager to stop picking Kalinic

This rumour feels like it has got a bit of something to it. Morgan Rogers is someone we would really be interested in. (See this link) If you really were trying to sweeten a deal…

Works on my phone in the landscape orientation but not the portrait

I think that team value is incredibly important but that it could also be small team thinking. Our owners are business people and they’re investing in the team ultimately to see a financial gain. Purslow talked about the increase in the value of our players at the fans consultation group the other week. The owners are investing for the long term that is why they are good owners but they still want to see that the hundreds of millions they are pouring into transfer fees isn’t being wasted. I am not sure how the increased value of the players gets added to the balance sheet in a technical accounting sense but they need to see some measure of increasing the value of their assets if we as fans want to continue to see the owners investing in large transfer fees. In fact that’s more important to the owners than winning things. Winning trophies is a means to increasing the value of the owners assets rather than an end in itself. From their point of view. On the other hand it could be small team thinking if we are just seeing our club as a stepping stone for players on their way to the top. The juggling act is to get the club to the top table for a sustained period of time so that you can vastly improve the club’s revenue to the levels of the sad six while vaguely balancing the books. Which is what Leicester are doing to some extent. I think our business model will require us to sell players at a profit at some point. We need to replace the players we make a profit on with better ones like Liverpool did with Coutinho. I think in our model if we have a top youth player coming through we need to sell the established star blocking their route into the team for a handsome profit. It needs to be in such a way that the other established stars left at the club still believe that the club are going forwards.

It’s a bit silly but after the feel good factor of the FA youth cup victory this season I can’t help wondering who would be in the team in the forthcoming season. The U18s and FAYC both have the same eligibility criteria (18 as of 31Aug 21) which rules out many of the important members of the winning team / squad from this year:- Young, Barry, S Revan, A Ramsey, Lindley, Kessler, Raikhy, Marschall, Appiah, M Sylla. (Based on BOF’s list of DOBs) Presumably these players move into the U23 and give us a bit of a foundation for a promotion push. Meanwhile in the FAYC /U18s Chukwuemeka, Chisene, Bogarde and Swinkels remain eligible although I suspect Carney might not be involved this year. Shakpoke should hopefully be able to lead the line replacing Young. Bogarde could move to DM in place of Lindley. Then some of the new signings might come into play. Feeney could replace Bogarde at centre half. Burchall could come in as the right forward. Then the list of players on the club website looks like they are there to fill the gaps.

I think I have been a bit spoilt by the last two summer transfer windows. Talk about Ashley Young does nothing for me. I want to hear something substantial on a transfer like Pape Sarr.

Same for me. In many ways he is better than Bosnich already but he needs to show it’s not just a flash in the pan. Bosnich was awful at simply kicking the ball. A big part of the uplift Emi has brought is due to how good he is at kicking the ball or simply playing it on the deck. It has improved the whole defence enormously that he can pass the ball under pressure. Gives them another passing option plus he has started off some quick breaks by playing a early long ball. It’s important for the modern game and the way Smith wants to play. Combine that with his excellent traditional keeper skills and we have an exceptional keeper.

I don’t think anyone else has posted it but this video of Chukwuemeka’s performance v Newcastle shows why he could play a big role in the first team. He is playing as a number 10 during the match and you can see from his interactions with Barry on the left channel what an exciting partnership he could form with Grealish. Given that no.10 is a position the first team is lacking in and in the video Carney shows some incredible skills while also scoring a hat trick and getting an assist. It remains to be seen whether he can do this for the first team. During the FA Youth Cup run Chukwuemeka added goals to his game but he only got 1 for the U23s this season which is a higher level. In the video you can also see a few lackadaisical moments in possession and sometimes a tendency to stand and admire his own pass rather than drive forward for the return. I wonder if we signed somebody like the incredibly injury prone RLC for the role this summer if that would give Carney enough opportunities to play in the first team without the pressure of being the main no.10.

If Ramsey was fit I’d be tempted to play him slightly out of position on the right wing. Partly to solve the right wing issue and partly because I thought the midfield looked better balanced against Newcastle with Chukwueka and Raikhy playing in front of Lindley compared to other matches I have seen. That was certainly the best I have seen Chukwuemeka play and I would switch things around to keep him in the same position. I think he and Ramsey might both be competing for the no.10 position. Another alternative could be to replace Lindley with Chisene (if he is fit again) as Lindley wasn’t as dominant as the rest of the Villa midfield against Newcastle. Alternatively we could move Bogarde into that slot and have Appiah play alongside Swinkels in central defence. So while it is pretty clear who our best players are, there are a few options.

If he gets over his hip injury before the end of the season I wonder if Clinton Mola from Stuttgart would be any good. I don't know much about him besides he is left footed, came through Chelsea's academy playing left back but his main position is defensive midfield. Only 20 years old he had some good stats in the Bundesliga 2 last season in the few games he played. However, I would guess he hasn't had a great time at Stuttgart since signing in January 2020 because presumably moving to a completely new country just before the start of a pandemic wasn't great. In August last year he got a hip stress injury and he hasn't played at all this season so it is really important that he shows some fitness and that the hip injury isn't chronic. What made me think he might be a possibility for Villa is that he could be left back cover plus a DM, he is young, I'd imagine relatively cheap (although Chelsea do have a sell on clause), has been well regarded, and fits the profile of being English now we are post Brexit. I have never seen him play - is he any good - anybody on here rate him? Other vague thoughts for the summer would be Yves Bissouma from Brighton as DM or possibly Billy Gilmour from Chelsea. Marcus Edwards as a left footed RW/CAM/LW option to challenge Traore, provide cover for Jack and replace El Ghazi in the squad. I would sell El Ghazi as I don't think he is going to get any better and he doesn't contribute enough. Pedro Neto would be nice as he would provide that explosive pace we lack but I can't see why he would leave his Portuguese friends for what the league table shows is a sideways move.

The Guardian article mentions that he signed a pro contract for a 3 year deal (the maximum allowed) on his 17th birthday. This shows how the current board at the club are on a different level from previous regimes. Dan Crowley went to Arsenal before he signed a pro contract. It meant Arsenal paid very little for him despite him being an incredible prospect at the time. Crowley could be a warning for our promising youth players of how having your head turned by one of the big six doesn’t necessarily lead to great things. On the other hand the current regime need to see some of our youngsters establish themselves as premier league stars for their long term strategy of looking to be the chosen destination of the best young talent in the Midlands to come to fruition. Villa’s recent track record isn’t great. Jacob Ramsey is a start but he could still go either way whether that be establishing himself as a premier league player or becoming a lower league player. Some of the big 6 have a better record on bringing youth through which is something we strategically need to change. As such I think that the current regime will be desperate for Carney to succeed and will fight tooth and nail to keep him. It is not just about him as a player but about the whole vision and strategic direction of the club.

I watched the Leeds game yesterday on their youtube channel (is it even sadder to watch U23 games you know the result of?). What struck me is that as a club we need to learn from Leeds. On this thread we have talked a lot about Leeds using first team players for their U23 games but the stats don't really bear that out. The core of their group are around 18-19, if you look at the players who have played nearly every game. They have mainly used first teamers who are coming back from injury or need minutes e.g. Forshaw in the match with Villa. However, their first teamers have taken the U23 games seriously, setting a good example to the youngsters of the sort of drive which is needed if you are to become a premier league player. Some of our senior players have made gaffs in our U23 games e.g Hause with the penalty (I thought he improved as the game went on) or the soft goals Heaton let in earlier in the season. We might complain about Leeds being dirty but they showed a lot more desire to press, close down, harry and intimidate than we did. Just having talent isn't enough you have to be competitive. The gap between our U23 team and the level the player need to be at to be effective in the first team is enormous. Some of their best U23 players, Sam Greenwood, Crysencio Summerville and Joe Gelhardt were brought in for large undisclosed fees (thought to be between £1m and 1.5m) last summer. We brought in players who were younger e.g. Barry, Chrisene, Bogarde and Swinkels which I think was good however as we have often discussed we are trying to make up for previous years of neglect and one of the main things is to change the existing culture where we are willing to settle for not being the best. The intensity of the Leeds U23 play was on another level from Villa's and I think that is a better learning environment for their young players than the sometimes more lackadaisical approach we seem to come to games with. We often play players out of their best position - I get that this might help with their individual development but it does affect the team's effectiveness. We also don't have a settled team. Leeds have an established core. I think it would be beneficial for us to have a real drive to get the U23 promoted to the higher division next season. The good players we all know we have got will be a year older. Maybe we should spend some money to fill in the weak spots in the team so that as a club our U23s are competing at a higher level in the following season. Anybody else got any thoughts?

Here is a link to a video focusing on Chukwuemeka's game against Reading recently which some might find interesting. Seeing Chukeuemeka's contributions like this does highlight areas for growth which perhaps I as a non-professional miss when watching a game. I just remember the great parts where he brushes past people or makes some cute passes. He's an exciting prospect but still needs to develop his game before he is properly ready for the first team.

Fulham's website says they are not showing it and there is no mention of it on the Villa site so I'm guessing not.

Koopmeiners reminds me of Ronald Koeman back in his playing days. Great passer and free kick taker, plays DM or CB but has absolutely no pace. If he was to come to Villa we would need to be set up differently so that his lack of pace wasn’t an issue.

In my opinion: Smith's doing a great job. Great summer signings. Players are generally well coached, improving and increasing in value - actually if you are the owners or CEO this is a key point Club has improved its playing performances enormously from last year and we are currently on course for a league table position most fans would have bitten your hand off for before a ball was kicked at the start of the season. Have we just been through a phase of playing very poorly? - yes Are there some mitigating circumstances? - possibly It seems to have come after the COVID outbreak which we know did affect a large number of our first team squad. Possibly it affected some of the players in what is by necessity a limited squad (remember the squad he inherited?). The amount of games we had to play in that time meant that there was very little chance of rectifying some of the issues which appeared. We have been missing our best player for a few games now. They clearly expected Wesley to be back before now when he was included in the squad submitted to the Premier league after each transfer window. Can some blame be left at Smith's door? - of course but we appointed a manager with no premier league experience. He like much of the team is learning. On the plus side: He has however, won promotion, got to a cup final, avoided relegation and established the team as a premier league team. Spent large sums to completely renew the playing personnel (which had to be done due to the previous ownership and early promotion) however for the most part players have got better since Smith took over which is the first time for many years which we can say that.

Looking at the positives: Back four apart from the goal looked pretty solid. McGinn looked buoyed up by his Scotland exploits. Trez, Davis & Ramsey injected the urgency and energy we have been missing from matches since the Burnley first half. Smith changed tactics and personnel and reaped a handsome reward. Watkins got a goal which should help his confidence. At least if Luiz keeps playing like this we shouldn't lose him to Man City. Traore who I thought tried all game but for the first seventy minutes was not really getting anything to come off suddenly put in some useful crosses. The one for the goal was with his right foot even. More of that would make him a player who can genuinely go either side which would make him a much greater threat. Hopefully this result can be the mirror image of the Burnley game and see the team give the team the confidence needed to get in people's faces pressing high up and driving at the opposition from the start of games for the rest of the season. Negatives: Mings doesn't seem to be learning that lesson. Some of the players need more pressure on them to keep their place in the team as they are not playing with the drive and urgency of the first half of the season. El Ghazi was anonymous Sanson showed some promising touches but looks some way off changing the balance of a game. Luiz has gone backwards since the COVID break. Traore needs to stop falling to ground looking for the foul so much

One of the big differences one of the Villa coaches highlighted in a recent interview on Villa TV between U23 and EFL games is that for the U23 the performance is the most important thing and the result is secondary. Of course in the EFL the result is everything. The focus on performance at U23 level represents part of English football coaching revolution of the past 20 years? as we attempted to develop more technical players and close the technical gap with players from Europe. I think that Delaney often doesn’t play his strongest team or plays players in a position which is not their natural position in order to help them develop. E.g. Barry on the wing or Bogarde at CB.

I agree with you that football has moved on to a certain degree but you are wrong about England players not having EFL experience. Here is a link to an article that makes the point that 24 of 30 England players in a recent squad had a significant spell in the EFL as part of their development.

I think that depends on how well Wesley comes back