mallett

I love reading other people's suggestions for different players on this thread and then looking them up - always an education and many on here know far more than I do. However, I think we as fans too often just pick players that impress us rather than those which the team really needs (actually some managers/clubs seem to do that as well). 

So it is about getting the balance right. 

With that in mind I think Billing from Bournemouth would be a good buy (if the price is right) as he is dominant in the air and would give Douglas Luiz some competition for the DM role. He also brings a bit of nastiness which again is something we have missed. We have a weakness in the air, particularly from set pieces, with Hause being by far the most dominant player in the air. Although to be fair Mings and Konsa have both stepped up in the last few matches. Billing & Luiz would be a better pairing if we are playing two DMs than Nakamba and Luiz as neither of our current two are very tall and so don't help us defending the box. It would also help us to impose ourselves physically a bit more in midfield all of which I feel have been issues over the course of the season.

We desperately need some real pace in our attack. It would push opposition defenders back and give us more space to operate in midfield and hopefully push the whole team up the pitch. We also need more goals. For me Benrahma is a good option, if we can get him, because he would be an upgrade on Trez and AEG in terms of goals and ability to beat a man (which would take some focus off Grealish if he stays) however, if he came we would still someone to come in with real pace. I think Trez was meant to have the pace but it isn't enough for the Prem. Benrahma would also be my preferred Grealish replacement. The attack still needs the most amount of work.

Striker is perhaps the most difficult because in our system he needs to be able to hold the ball up, bring others into play, be dominant in the air and score goals. Davis does three of the four but lacks in the most important area! If the striker had pace as well then we'd have a world class striker on our hands which feels unrealistic at this stage of our development. Wesley might still come good but he isn't going to be fit at the start of the season and is going to take a while to get back to even where he was before (which was not good enough). Striker would be my priority. Samatta looked ok before the break but hasn't looked to have quite the quality to score the goals we need him to.

House and Konsa have stepped up since the break to look like they will make it as Prem players (although Hause still needs to work on his feet), but I would be tempted to get rid of Engels and bring in someone else. Axel (if he has got over his fitness issues) might be an option because he brings some pace which the others don't have and we know he plays well with Mings.

In the fullback positions I like Targett and Guilbert enough as I think they will carry on improving perhaps we could buy two promising young players and ship out Taylor.

Heaton is a good keeper but we don't know when he will be fit again. Steer did well last year and hasn't really had a chance this season to show whether or not he is up to it or not. Nyland has lots of good attributes but always seems to have a mistake in him which doesn't inspire confidence. I think Reina brings some winning mentality and lots of Prem experience so I would keep him and get rid of Nyland.

I would move out Jota, Lansbury, Engels (too slow, fallen out with Smith?), Kalinic, Drinkwater, Hogan, Bree, Chester, Green, AEG and Nyland. 

Davis to be signed on a long contract and then to go out on loan and hopefully score buckets of goals in a lower league. 

But still looking forward to the club surprising us - hopefully if its anything like last year in the next few weeks.

There is a brief clip of Barry in action here for England U17.

Little interaction with Aaron Ramsey before he sets up a goal. Hopefully something which will be replicated in the first team in years to come!

In the rest of the video Barry's main role is to appear frustrated when his team mates ignore him and then muff their lines. Hopefully that won't be happening in the first team!

Some of our youth players from the last 10 years have gone on to make it to the premier league. E.g. Callum Robinson, Enda Stevens, perhaps even Ciaran Clarke could be counted. Measured by that metric the problem might not have been just the youth team and over optimism by Sir Gary Cahill. However Villa haven’t been hoovering up all the best talent in the West Midlands ( Coventry - Maddison  etc. and West Brom) as much as perhaps we should do. I think that’s partly the reason for the changes. We also lost our brightest talent since Grealish to Arsenal where he totally failed to develop into the footballer he should have been. I don’t think the rules have been changed so that could well happen again if a youth player looks particularly outstanding.

Back on topic players who go onto to be great have often only had solid loan spells rather than ripping it up such as Grealish’s spell at Notts County. I think some of our current loaners are having a solid spell the question is whether they can kick on from there or even whether they will get the opportunity to at Villa.

Purslow has ruled out loan deals without an opinion to buy. Just a loan    is short termism and hurts Villa in the long term. Smith’s major attribute is that he improves players. From a business point of view we need them to be Villa players. We think of Kyle Walker, Robbie Keane etc as being successful loans but ultimately those loans and the other less successful ones contributed to the long term decline of the club. They were part of the long term debasement of the value of our football squad both in monetary and football value. 

Dean Smith is a proper coach. Today's match showed some steady progress - for long periods in the first half we dominated united as though we were at Villa Park. The team is overall getting better. I reckon pretty much all of our regular players have increased in value since Smith has been working with them. That is why the manager has been given a new deal.

Class goal by Grealish (and another ridiculous miss in front of goal - not his first!). Thought both full backs looked good. Wesley put in a shift, held the ball up well without really threatening their goal enough - I thought he was better.

You could see why Smith preferred AEG to Trez. We need another pacey option on the right who will get goals.

Towards the end we looked out on our feet again but we have learned some lessons and got the point. Some shocking set pieces which was disappointing with Hourihane on the pitch. Not sure why we keep trying the short corner routine but we do it really badly. New goal threat in January please!

It seems to me that Smith choses his starting personnel in the team mostly because of how the players have previously performed. E.g. Nakamba plays well he starts. Has a poor game against Wolves and Luiz comes in for him. 
There is a bit of tactical tweaking - he stated that he left out Hourihane to be a bit more solid against Citeh and Liverpool. But I think he also takes players’ performances into account as well. That said I think he has his favourites. I personally wonder whether Luiz has to have at least some game time in a certain percentage of matches he is fit for to get another work permit. Though his recent cap might make this unnecessary now.

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What about another Brazilian, Gabriel Barbuda

Barbosa isn’t a bad idea. Has been on loan at Flamengo since January from Inter where he has been scoring nearly a goal a game. Thought that he has turned down a £19m transfer to either Crystal Palace or West Ham in favour of a permanent transfer to Flamengo. Left footed with a couple of tricks and a bit of pace so could cut in off the right for us. Only 23 but no idea what his character is like. Football wise he looks a good fit for us.

I don't know what Smith will do - one of the good things about our transfer market dealings this summer is that we have tried to make it so that there are two players competing for each place - I don't remember us ever having this before.

My first thought would be who am I going to rest because of injuries:

Mings - resting because of his warm up injury before Everton - therefore bring in Hause.

Grealish - rest because of the injury he got last season - bring in Nakamba ro the DM spot and move Luiz to the more advanced position alongside McGinn.

Next I would wonder about LB should I drop Taylor in our next PL game for not contributing enough going forwards. But it also depends on how hard Targett has been trying in practice. Targett didn't rip up any trees in preseason and didn't look full of running. Has he got himself fitter? If so I might put him in if not I would keep Taylor in.

For RB I would keep Guilbert and that means I would also play Jota in front of him. I would like them both to further work on their partnership together.

Other CB position - do I go for continuity by keeping Engels - seems less important if Mings is not playing - I think I would play Konsa and see if we could play a higher backline. Engels has played well and I like him but his lack of pace means that we play a much deeper backline than I think Smith wants to. I think this is partly responsible for the midfield being overrun later in games.

For the keeper I would play Heaton as I want him to keep working on his distribution and the system that Villa play. Bit harsh on Steer but that is football.

For LW I would play El Ghazi ahead of Trez as a reward for his Everton cameo.

Up front I would play Wesley to see if he can't get some more goals for his confidence. Tempted to bring on Davis at the 60/70 min mark though so as not to overwork Wesley and also to see if Davis can get the goals he needs if he is to develop as a player. Kodjia I wouldn't risk because of his ankle.

so the team would be:

                             Heaton

Guilbert      Konsa     Hause    Taylor / Targett

                          Nakamba

Jota         Luiz            McGinn            El Ghazi

                           Wesley

From the extended highlights Wesley looks a lot better than a lot of people on here are saying. I think he is a player who could go either way: brilliant or awful. I seem to remember that a lot of people on here were writing Benteke off for the first seven or eight games before he really hit his stride. His issue was that he kept missing a lot. You can see why we bought Wesley - there are the ingredients for a good player there - it is not certain that he is going to put it all together in the right way to become that player but one thing is for certain is that it will take time.

Here’s a link to the goals from Preston’s game against Bradford. Green’s goal is the first.

Personally I haven’t been this excited  by a DM since Matthieu Berson. I seem to remember he also had quite a following on Villatalk.

Will Douglas reach such heights?

Saw this little video compilation of Callum on loan last season. link

I think if he continues to develop he has a chance of making it. I don't think he has ripped up any trees in the preseason games I have seen. However, in these highlights he looks like he can ride a challenge. For me the issue with these highlights is his final ball. He hasn't got the weight of pass that Grealish has (still few players do!). Needs to make sure that he makes more of his good work hurt the opposition in someway. Still I'm no great judge of a player and highlights is a rubbish way to scout someone.

I wonder what Dean and co. have in mind for young Callum?

We still need more goals from our forwards. I don't fancy Maupay for the premier league. I just don't think he has the X-factor needed to make it as a striker in the premier league. For me, he is a hard working, aggressive (but short) goal poacher, who is capable of some neat interplay. I am not sure that would be enough to make it in the premier league. I think striker is the position which shows the biggest difference in quality between the premier league and the championship. Think of someone like Dwight Gayle - looks top notch in the championship and below mediocre in the premier league. I feel Maupay will be the same. 

Wonder if we are going for anyone else? I still like Benrahma as I think he can play wide forward and bring goals.

Maybe we will be OK with Kodjia as back up striker.

I am very excited about this signing but he is a young player of enormous potential not a world beater (yet). He struggled to get into Girona's relegated team last season. He played well against Barca and Real according to the highlights reel but other observers have suggested he was off the pace in some of their other matches.

Just winning the best player award at Toulon doesn't mean you will go on to be a great player (although plenty have done) - this link gives a list of past winners. The last two Brazilian winners in 2013 and  2014 respectively were Yuri Mamute and Rodrigo Caio who from what I can see have hardly gone on to rip up world football.

Like the majority (all?) of the players we have signed this summer, our coaching team are backing their ability to improve Douglas and fulfill his potential. Our board are backing our coaching team to increase the value of their investment.

It's interesting that after watching him in 3 friendlies while people on here have been impressed, they have concerns about him defensively. His stats from last season suggested his style was more as a tough tackling defensively minded player rather than an attacker. He even played CB last season. It is going to take him a bit of time to bed in and get his positioning right within the system we play. His highlight reel shows a player who loves a sliding tackle (which is great) but also suggests perhaps he isn't always in the right position defensively. Having seen him, that might be because he gets up and down the pitch an incredible amount. Maybe the coaching team at Villa have been focusing on developing his attacking skills. Caen got relegated so he probably didn't focus on attacking that so much. One thing is for sure, he is a huge upgrade on Hutton!

He also looks like he will need some time to get used to the physicality of the English game but I think he will relish that aspect.

After watching the match yesterday I still think we need more goals in the team particularly from the wide players.

Smith has played either 433 or 4141 throughout his time at Villa. Both formations needs the two wide forwards / wingers to have a big goal threat. Both of these formations have just one striker. Wesley seems to have been bought with that role in mind. I don't think Wesley is going to score enough goals on his own this season - certainly nowhere near Tammy's 26.

Yesterday we tried Davis in the central role which is surely his natural position rather than one of the wide roles he played in the US. In the central role Davis looks great except for when you consider his goal threat. He really didn't look like he could play the wide role. I like Davis but he should go on loan and hopefully smash some goals in and build up his confidence and goal scoring know how.

I thought Hepburn Murphy looked promising in the wide role yesterday but still very raw. He showed some nice skill and pace at times but his decision making, end product and defensive contribution weren't always the best. I think he would benefit from another loan spell.

El Ghazi can play the wide role although he needs to kick on from last season. He can put in crosses, move the defensive line back because of his pace, beat his man, do the defensive cover and have a goal threat but he needs to do these things more consistently in the PL. He is currently our best option for one of the two wide roles.

Green looks like he needs another loan spell as he really doesn't show enough to make up for his lack of experience. He looks better on the left hand side coming inside to shoot on his right foot. There is something there but we don't see enough of it.

Kodjia is probably the best finisher at the club (although Wesley is very dangerous from crosses which we were good at putting in last season). However, he is a shocking team player who even when he brings goals (which he has struggled with to some extent since his nasty ankle injuries) takes away from the team for much of the time. I would sell Kodjia if we got a decent offer for him.

Jota has looked like a good buy but I am not sure how much of a goal threat he will offer in the PL. I think he might be able to cover for Jack or cover for a wide role.

Hogan - doesn't look good enough - considering he had the best spell of his career under Smith, Dean hasn't been giving him that many opportunities to recover that form for Villa. Perhaps Dean pulled a fast one on Villa when he was at Brentford! I think he needs to be sold.

So for me I still think we need at least another winger / wide forward maybe two. Personally based on the youtube evidence I have seen, I would still much prefer Benrahma to Trezeguet. Trezeguet's highlights didn't really do it for me but that is not a very good way to judge a player as I thought Tonev was going to be amazing based on his! I would only really want Leao if he could play one of the wide forward roles. I'd be happy for some other options as well.

After watching the highlights of Luiz against Barcelona I can't see Kalvin Phillips getting into the team ahead of him. So for me it makes it seem unlikely we will get Phillips as well. I can't see us  spending £20m plus on Phillips as a backup DM.

On the other hand I think we need a back up DM as Luiz's injury record ain't good and it is one of the most important positions in Dean Smith's formation. Are we being linked to anyone else for DM? I have never really understood why we didn't try McGinn there and push Hourihane into McGinn's more advanced role.

9 hours ago, brummybloke said:

Big fat Ron, that was the last ball playing team we had, Brian littles team was good but it wasn't bfr good ball playing wise.

I thought that Little's team played better football in terms of organisation than Ron's, the passing and movement was generally better. Ron's team had more flair and was more capable of the spectacular.

If you play it out from the back as Dean Smith wants Villa to, every now and then you will mess up - especially if you are just getting used to a new system or players. Villa will make mistakes like this - fans need to not get on the players' backs about it or we will end up with a vicious circle.

5 minutes ago, BOF said:

Am I the only one hoping the 'unnamed Premier League club' who have just agreed a fee for Robinson isn't us?

No, I don't want us to resign Robinson. I wish him all the best but never really saw anything special about him.

Having researched Engels it seems he is tall (good in the air), ball playing CB whose star was rising a few years ago but who has had his career disrupted by injury and some strange transfers. Right footed, he would seem a good fit for Villa.

The Douglas Luiz link is interesting as a ball playing DM with potential. He couldn't get a work permit with Man City last year> Has anything changed to make that more likely now?

I think there is still a chance that Butland will move to Villa.

My reasoning goes along the lines of:

• He definitely wants to move to a premier league club as the England manager has stated he needs to if he is to continue being considered for England.
• He has lived around the area for a long time now so from a personal point of view you would think that Villa were a good fit
• Villa need an upgrade in the goalkeeping department (much as I appreciate what Steer did for us, good managers are also ruthless when they need to be)
• Stoke seem to have already bought his replacement.
• Besides Bournemouth which who are rumoured to have tabled a £12m bid (just over half the amount Stoke are meant to be demanding) who else is after him? Bournemouth are better established than Villa in the premier league but it would mean moving and Villa are a bigger club.

So the issue is all about the fee - here the deadline might help everyone to finally agree on what his real value is. Stoke need him off their books by the deadline and he is only going to move somewhere he wants to go. Part of the problem is how much of the fee is going to BCFC. I think this might rumble on for a bit longer until the pressures of the transfer deadline help everyone to come to a conclusion. You would think Butland would want that to be Villa.

9 minutes ago, thabucks said:

Said yesterday Dan Crowley seems to also bring turning his career around after past attitude issues ... it’s forgotten at times these are young lads and some make mistakes and learn some don’t

Yes I suggested Crowley ages back but a lot of people were dead against him due to the way he left the club for Arsenal. It might be that there are still enough people (I'm thinking staff more than players) left at Villa from that time that it would affect the atmosphere around the place. 

Edwards has more pace than Crowley and would fit better in the LW or RW slot of Dean's system.

Crowley would be more suited to being cover for Jack which if I were him wouldn't be a good selling point. I would imagine he would prefer more guaranteed game time. On the other hand unless Jota can play there I think we still need cover for Jack who has missed big chunks of the last two seasons which has really cost the team. Jack's stress injury last season might mean his game time will need to be managed carefully during the upcoming season as well.

Do people think Jota could cover for Jack?

5 hours ago, Tom13 said:

Thing is, those criticising his physicality, it isn't necessarily improved by 'getting in the gym'. Struggling in battles on the pitch can be as much a mental thing.

I agree I remember Gabby got in the gym and did too much which took away from his pace.

A similar thing happened to Sol Campbell (playing at CB the same as Suliman) when he was injured at Arsenal. He bulked up so much in the Gym that it made him more cumbersome, slower to turn and lost that important yard of pace. Players need a strong core and good definition but too much bulk can detract from other important aspects of the game.

Suliman has had a really bad run of loans where he has not been played despite having dropped down to levels well below the premier league. I would agree with the Birmingham Mail that he is really in need of a breakthrough season this year if he is to have a future with Villa. I've no idea what the issue is, that is putting people off him.

Hopefully the current coaching set up can help him make the changes he needs whether that be mental or physical so he can go off and get a decent run of games against proper professionals at a decent level this season. He has had to carry quite a lot of pressure as being the great hope of the Pakistani community making it as a top pro which might be a factor.

What do people think of Tottenham's Marcus Edwards if Benrahma doesn't come off (or even as cover for El Ghazi and Benrahma)?

He has admitted to having had an attitude issue before but seems to have turned a corner with that while on his Dutch loan spell this year. Left footed and most obviously a No.10 he has spent most of last season playing on the right wing. He has a bit of pace and some incredible dribbling skills and an eye for a through pass. Should also be able to play LW. Needs to work on his upper body strength and defensive contribution / pressing skills.

He's only 20 has just one year left on his contract and looks set to leave Tottenham. Could be available for a decent price (well maybe not it is Levy).

I think he is a similar sort of player to Benrahma but should be cheaper even though he is English. 

Any thoughts?