wilko154

I would expect Abraham to get better with age. At 21 years old, those 3 players wouldn't have been classed as top class strikers and would likely have been more reserved in their shots. Granted the opposition they would have faced would have been a lot more difficult than Tammy has faced this season, but we have to work with the stats we have. Harry Kane 2014/15 (Spurs) - 34 apps - 21 goals - 3.3 shots per game - scored 18.72% of shots Sergio Aguero 2009/10 (Athletico Madrid) - 31 apps - 12 goals - 2.8 shots per game - scored 13.82% of shots Mo Salah 2013/14 (Basel) - Stats not available but scored 4 goals in 18 appearances 2013/14 (Chelsea) - 10 apps - 2 goals - 2.1 shots per game - scored 9.52% of shots

So I want to give a bit of perspective on Tammy Abraham. I've seen a lot mentioned around his poor finishing, missing too many chances, wouldn't be prolific enough for us in the Premier League. Here are the stats: Tammy Abraham 2018/19 (Aston Villa) - 40 apps - 26 goals - 2.9 shots per game - scored 22.41% of shots 2017/18 (Swansea) - 16 apps - 5 goals - 1.4 shots per game - scored 22.32% of shots 2016/17 (Bristol C) - 41 apps - 23 goals - 2.7 shots per game - scored 20.78% of shots Now % wise this doesn't look that great, so lets compare against some other strikers. Mo Salah 2018/19 (Liverpool) - 38 apps - 22 goals - 3.6 shots per game - scored 16.08% of shots Sergio Aguero 2018/19 (Man City) - 33 apps - 21 goals - 3.6 shots per game - scored 17.68% of shots Harry Kane 2018/19 (Spurs) - 28 apps - 17 goals - 3.6 shots per game - scored 16.87% if shots Now let's compare it to his closest competition in the Championship this season. Teemu Pukki 2018/19 (Norwich) - 43 apps - 29 goals - 3.3 shots per game - scored 20.44% of shots Neal Maupay 2018/19 (Brentford) - 43 apps - 25 goals - 3.3 shots per game - scored 17.62% of shots What does this tell us? Well three main things for me: 1) The main importance for all of these strikers has been the amount of chances their teams have created for them. In our case we are creating an average of 2.9 chances per game for Abraham. If we can increase that to 3.6 chances/shots per game as the Premier League strikers are getting then Tammy would (in a stats world) score 32 goals in the same amount of appearances. 2) Year on year Tammy Abraham is becoming a better striker 3) The fact that Abraham misses too many chances is a myth.

Exactly where I am at, I am struggling to put together a squad for the Champions League now as I don't have enough players through the academy.

I would imagine selling Villa Park is now not required due to promotion. If it is required to balance the books for 2018/19 I would imagine it could be sold straight back in 2019/20 now that our FFP is balanced out.

Are you finding it difficult to get motivated to play the save now that all of the current players are retired? I'm into 2025/26 and it's almost all regens with the 'young players' from the current era reaching peak/retirement ages.

https://heartoftheholte.online/2019/06/01/ffp-and-promotion-analysis-as-a-premier-league-club/

I hope Suso is on the phone to Chelsea this morning. Absolute steal for that price.

Basing the wages off FM19 which is normally fairly accurate: Elphick - 25k p/w Jedinak - 45k p/w Hutton - 30k p/w Bunn - 15k p/w Richards - 50k p/w Whelan - 30k p/w De Laet - 25k p/w Adomah - 25k p/w Total - 245k p/w or 980k p/m

Does anyone know if the theme park build has begun?

Completely agree, it's a nice change to be getting rid of players at the right time instead of hanging on to them for years with them past their best. Jedinak, Adomah, Hutton & Elphick have all played a part in getting us back to the PL. Realistically they all needed replacing last summer but we didn't have the financial clout to do so. Wish them all the best.

There is a hell of a lot to do! Granted we need a lot of players, but it's not all going to happen in one window. Not all of the players we want to leave will leave in this window. To have a decent crack of the PL this year we ideally need 2 decent quality players in each position: GK - Steer, Kalinic & Nyland - We are overstocked in this area and have no need to buy. RB - Guilbert & Elmo - Guilbert has been signed for this position already, Elmo is fine as backup for a season. LB - Taylor - We need to sign a left back as a priority, Taylor is fine as backup for a season. CB - Chester - We need to sign 3 centre backs as a priority. It is likely that we will buy Hause and Mings leaving us with one more to find. Tuanzebe likely will opt to stay at Man Utd. CM - Grealish, McGinn, Hourihane, Whelan, Lansbury - We are pretty strong in this position but could do with at least one more quality midfielder, and a replacement for either Lansbury or Whelan. One of these two new players need's to be able to handle Grealish's role in his absence. LW - Green - We need to sign one more left winger, unless Green is sent out on loan in which case we will need two. It is likely we will buy El Ghazi RW - We need to sign two left wingers as a priority ST - Kodjia, Davis - Ideally we need 3 strikers, Davis will likely benefit from a loan move. Two strikers are a priority. Abraham will likely opt to stay at Chelsea. I make this 3 signings from last seasons loan players and then requiring another 9 players. It's a huge task but it loks as though we have begun early with releasing players. It means players like Whelan, Taylor & Elmo will need to be retained as backup for a year; we can then look at replacing them in January or next Summer.

One of my favourite players over the past 3 seasons, especially in his first and second with us. He almost single-handedly dragged us to the playoffs last season taking over as the main goal threat in Kodjia's absence. Granted he's looked past it at time this season but he's always given 100% in games, his tracking back being his main asset this season when at times our defence needed all the help it could get. He seems to have been a great figure in the dressing room throughout his time at the club, and that has come across on the pitch. Feel pretty sorry for him, second time he's achieved promotion yet never managed a full season in the Premier League. Unfortunately his age has now caught up with him and we will be looking at younger players over the summer. Good luck for the future Albert, and thank-you for playing a part in getting us back where we belong.

Interesting to see the various views on our squad, I would go with this... Orjan Nyland - Keep, challenge for the number 1 shirt for a season. Jed Steer - Keep, challenge for the number 1 shirt for a season. Starts with the shirt for me. Kalinic - Keep, challenge for the number 1 shirt for a season. Mark Bunn - Release - out of contract. Micah Richards - Release - out of contract. Neil Taylor - Keep, challenge a new left back for the starting spot. Tommy Elphick - Release - out of contract. James Chester - Keep Ritchie De Laet - Release - out of contract. Alan Hutton - Release - out of contract. James Bree - Still only 21, loan to a Championship side. Ahmed Elmohamady - Keep, challenge for the right back starting spot. Frédéric Guilbert - Keep, challenge for the right back starting spot. Starts with the shirt for me. Aaron Tshibola - Sell or loan if no success. Glenn Whelan - Keep, backup for the first team and experience in the dressing room. Birkir Bjarnason - Sell. Mile Jedinak - Release - out of contract. Jack Grealish - Keep. John McGinn - Keep. Conor Hourihane - Keep. Henri Lansbury - Sell. Seems like a Smith player so there may be a chance he will want to keep hold of him. Gary Gardner - Sell. Andre Green - Keep, challenge for the left wing starting spot. Albert Adomah - Keep, think he is going to find it hard to retain his place in the side but worth retaining as a backup and dressing room experience. Ross McCormack - Sell or loan if no success. Callum O'Hare - Loan out at the highest level possible. Rushian Hepburn-Murphy - Loan out at the highest level possible. Kienan Davis - Loan out at the highest level possible. Scott Hogan - Personally think we will sell, wouldn't surprise me to see him stay with Smith trying to get him back to his best. Johnny Kodjia - Keep, challenge for first team position. Of our group of players we have in on loan: Tammy Abraham - Buy, unfortunately think he will remain at Chelsea. Axel Tuanzebe - Buy, unfortunately think he will remain at Man Utd. Kortney Hause - Buy, challenge for starting spot at centre back. Anwar El Ghazi - Buy. Tyrone Mings - Buy.

Would take him in a heartbeat for anywhere up to 25 million, he's a young english striker, proven himself over two seasons and is only going to improve. Writing him off after one season in the PL with Swansea is like writing off Veretout, Gueye and Amavi in our similar season. If Kienan Davis had scored 26 goals this season do you honestly think we would now be talking about replacing him with Maupay or Gayle?

Obviously opinion based but it was a song sung at Reading Away 3 seasons ago in a difficult time, the 'Don't Look Back In Anger' lyrics made a lot of sense to the problems we had as a club and the way were dealing with them. For me in that first season in the Championship playing it after wins was a nice touch, the second season got a bit tedious. This season it's largely killed the atmosphere at the end of games. At away games there is no music played and the atmosphere is phenomenal when we win, purely the fans singing takes over the stands and the players receive ovations (the song doesn't allow this to happen). Effectively we are no longer 'looking back in anger'

Few things I wouldn't mind being brought up. At times it seems we have a large fanbase at games willing to spend money each week but the way the club is set up in areas limits how much they are making. Many fans don't bother buying food, drink and merchandise because we simply can't cope with demand at times. Separate drinks counters, this would speed up the service and reduce the traffic at the food counters. Add card machines to the bars in the Holte Pub and the Holte Suite, again it would speed things up and they would inevitably sell more beer. 'Don't Look Back In Anger' should no longer be played, 'Sweet Caroline' should also not be held onto. A new PA System would be nice, it's been completely useless since it was installed. Pride Rewards is awful, can they look at changing this before the new season. Stock levels in the club shop, so much training gear that I wanted to buy hasn't been available since Christmas. I know many fans were after shirts but the sizes were not stocked. Get rid of that screechy horrible noise at the start of each half, it hurts my ears.

Completely agree about the music at the end of the game on Monday, ruined the atmosphere and drowned out any songs started in the stands. Overall I thought the atmosphere was poor all game, brilliant in the area I was in but it sounded disjointed around Wembley which in my opinion is a horrible stadium. However watching the game back on Sky we sounded immense, I think due to the size of the stadium it just doesn't sound great in the stands. I started this thread back in January when the atmosphere in the stands was horrible. Games at Villa Park were no longer enjoyable. I honestly think we are now united in a way we haven't been for 10+ years. We need to carry this forward into next season now in what will be a difficult season. Looking forward to being back at Villa Park already.

Giroud is dire

T-Shirt weather?

As a footballer you would be daft to come out and say yes I want to leave Bournemouth for Villa in a Guardian interview ahead of a Playoff Final. If the game goes against us he would then have to return to Bournemouth. His best option is to keep quiet about it until after Monday and if he wants to stay give 110% on the pitch to ensure he has that option.

Glad we are all in agreement on this! Finally this may be the season where the transfer rumour's thread isn't taken up with Benteke back to Villa talk.

Known commonly as a fade.

Hypothetically... would you take Benteke at a cut price £8 million this Summer if we are promoted on Monday (Sorry when we are promoted Monday) Would it be worth the risk of trying to play him back into his old Villa form as a reserve striker initially?