rjenkins

I've given 'Burn the Witch' a few listens now, but I'm still not sure about it. Thom is sounding good, but I don't think there's much to the song. What did you think of The King of Limbs, out of interest?

I travel up with a few other guys from Cardiff/Valleys area and we've all said we're renewing. I think only a price rise would make me think twice about it, simply because it'll eat into my annual leave with the extra midweek games so I don't want to get stung on two fronts.

2 minutes ago, mwj said:

Yeh spending 90% of the game in the opposition half and then jogging back is real leadership material. And Sherwood can get **** as far as I'm concerned

Thats what scares me. If he's the leader, what must the others be like??

Of all the parties who are to blame for this mess we are in, I think Garde's portion is very, very small. However, as he's very unlikely to still be our manager next season I'm not sure it matters much anyway.

Playing Veretout on the wing was a strange move yesterday, but generally I think we've been getting better under Garde despite being prone to the odd lapse (yesterday, Norwich away etc)

26 minutes ago, mwj said:

If indeed the Sunderland interest was concrete, I'm bloody amazed we didn't snap their hand off for £5M.

Bacuna with Hutton / Lyden backup is plenty.

If I remember rightly, Sherwood said our dressing room was quiet and Micah was a natural leader there. To add to that, Bacuna and Hutton are not Premier League full backs either really and none of us knows what the future holds for Lyden.

Our entire squad really is a mess.

I've seen enough improvement in our performances under Remi Garde and his staff so far to think that he is a decent manager. We'll never know whether a diferent manager would have got different results up to this point, but given that Sam Allardyce hasn't done a great deal better at Sunderland maybe a bad squad is sometimes just a bad squad.

If he stays until the end of the season, then good on him. I appreciate him sticking to the task. I cannot think what would motivate him to stay beyond that time though after what has transpired in this window. We were definitely a hard sell to potential recruits and we were unlucky with Kalinic but to not even bring in a loanee or two was baffling.

1 minute ago, DCJonah said:

I can't agree with that. The bigger the game, the bigger the occasion the more pressure players will feel. A cup final against a world class team is going to generate more pressure on a player than a home game agaisnt a non league team. 

I think a player low on confidence could fear either situation. It is just as easy to imagine a player fearing that they will be embarrassed by losing to a lower league team as it is to envisage a player bottling the game on a big occasion.

2 minutes ago, chrissmith921 said:

The key is he signed for City - City don't pay book price for anyone unless theres a clause that allows it.

Done a lot less but also a lot less of the negative headlines. We wont get big money for Jack - that's for sure.

Given that it would be the Summer Transfer Window at the earliest when we would consider selling Jack / Jack may want to leave, there's still time for an awful lot to happen which could dictate a potential transfer fee. A good run of form may be enough to bump up the price, whereas he isn't going to impress anyone if he cannot start in this Villa side, regardless of his age.

I have a feeling he may have no choice but to stick around next season, and then if we don't get promoted then we may start having to fend off offers for his services.

According to Transfermarkt, the contracts of N'Zogbia, Richardson and Senderos are all up at the end of the season. At the end of this season a lot of players will be going into the last year of their contracts too; Bunn, Hutton, Guzan, Kozak, Lescott & Okore.

The only one from this list that I am certain is good enough is Okore. I don't know what his stock is like in Europe after the injuries he has suffered but he seems to be the only one from this list we would get any real money for. If I were him I wouldn't sign a new deal just before we go down so we may regrettably have to try and get some money for him while we can. We'd probably be able to sell Guzan and Hutton to some poor souls too, so, if possible, I would move them on too.

Given that Kozak could well be heading out of the club in the upcoming January window that would leave only Bunn and Lescott from that list who could still be at the club come the opening day of next season.

Out of those players who have longer contracts I find it more difficult to guess who may leave, as with parachute payments we could possibly take the risk of holding onto them in the hope we go straight back up. Given that Remi Garde has only been here a short time too we don't know who he rates highly (if any of them).

Based on reputation alone, I would guess that Ayew, Richards, Sanchez and Veretout would all have suitors elsewhere. As some other posters on this thread have highlighted though, the likes of Gana, Grealish, Sinclair and Westwood could all depart also. Amavi may not get a move straight away because of his injury, luckily for us.

So, based on that I think (minus any incomings) we could be looking at a squad of:

Bunn
Steer

Amavi
Baker
Clark
Crespo
Lescott
+ Youth players

Adama
Bacuna
Gardner
Gil
+ Youth players

Agbonlahor
Gestede
Robinson
+ Youth Players

We could be looking at needing another massive re-build. In reality I imagine that we won't lose all of the players I mentioned above, but midfield looks particularly concerning to me and we will need to bring in real steel for the Championship.

All season long I've allowed myself to get optimistic before a match, convincing myself that this will be the result where we turn the corner, and then Saturday comes.

This is the first game this season where I think we have no chance. For me we are definitely going to be relegated, and it's a simple case of lack of quality. I can see Newcastle scoring a few.

For this game I would line up with:

Guzan

Richards Okore Lescott Bacuna (only because I'm not sure how Okore would do on the left-hand side of the central defensive partnership)

Sanchez Gana

Adama Veretout Ayew

Gestede

I got Brian Little!

To be fair, there is a very distinct possibility whoever takes this job now could have a relegation on their CV come May.

If it was me, I would want every assurance that I had everything I need to make sure that doesn't happen. If for Garde that means bringing in staff he trusts, it seems pretty reasonable to me.

No-one else seeing a 4-5-1 there then? That was my immediate thought looking at that team, with Gabby and Bacuna as the wingers.

We were cut apart with ease the moment Sanchez went off. Admittedly, we weren't too solid before he was subbed, but he was the best of our midfield three today.

I'm a fan of his. He'd get into the starting XI most weeks for me.

I can't see us winning this one, but I'd love to be proved wrong. I'm not sure what Lescott or Westwood have done to keep being selected in the starting XI, and Ayew finally started to look good gainst the noses so I would have liked to have seen that rewarded with a start today. It still feels like we aren't starting our strongest team at the moment, but I'm sure that will correct itself over the season and we have been unlucky with a few injuries.

I don't want to get carried away here. I think that was our first truly bad performance of the season. I think that makes five now under Sherwood (Swansea home last season, as well as Southampton away, Burnley and of course the FA Cup Final) but I don't think claims he could be sacked are realistic or even fair at this stage, given that without him we would have been down last season.

Yesterday was gutting, and what made it all the more galling was that the game didn't feel like a derby. Our players showed little to no intensity, except for maybe Gil, Richards and Sanchez. I expected a poor performance after what happened at Leicester, but we have to contain this and not let it become anything more than a slow start. I fear that if we lose a second derby in the week then the management team have got a lot of work on to make sure that this doesn't spiral out of control.

It's early days but it looks like there are one or two dodgy purchases amongst our summer haul. Sherwood seems to have given up on Ayew already and Gestede is not the caliber of target man we are used to. Would one £13million striker have been a better option? I have a feeling that question will surface again and again this season.

Bacuna has his faults, but no one in our team got more assists than him last year. Admittedly he was launching the ball at Benteke's head and we don't have a striker of his ability now, but to discredit Bacuna or underplay his contribution in getting those assists only raises more questions about the rest of the squad for getting less.

I feel like our squad is best suited to a 4-2-3-1 now though. I think we're going to need to get Sinclair, Grealish and Adama on the pitch as much as possible this season and with Sanchez and Gana holding, I think we can be solid enough to let those three support a central striker, whether that is Gestede or Ayew (or even Adebayor after his release today).

I've been very impressed with Amavi, Ayew and Gueye from that first half. Hopefully we can push on in the second half now. I'm looking forward to seeing Veretout play if he gets a run out.

went and watched southpaw last night at the cinema, must be going soft in old age as a couple of times i got a lump in my throat.

Went to see this last night, and thought it was very good. Maybe a little short of being a really brilliant film because from a certain point the whole thing was obviously mapped out and a little processional but I agree there were moments where I had a lump in my throat. Gyllenhal is bloody good these days. Thought Forest Whittaker put in a decent performance too.

Haha Jack's commentary mind!

 

'A case of Bunn in the oven on this tour...'

 

'[Cole] can still unlock the tightest of defences, even now in the Twilight Zone of his career.'

Yeah of course he's going to leave to sit on Man City's bench

 

What a load of BS

I agree I think it's a non-starter as a story, but I think he'd get more starts than not. The likes of Fernando and Fernandinho are hardly the best midfielders I've ever seen.

On a more positive note... Netherlands vs New Zealand has been much better than the opening game.

Luke Steele plays in goal for Panathiankos now.

 

When I was growing up they were regulars in the CL, played Man. United and Arsenal a few times I think. Didn't they get relegated a few years back or am I thinking of another major Greek team?

AEK Athens that was I think.

1. Brad Guzan                                        - KEEP

2. Nathan Baker                                     - KEEP
4. Ron Vlaar                                           - KEEP IF NOT TOO EXPENSIVE
5. Jores Okore                                       - KEEP
6. Ciaran Clark                                       - KEEP
7. Leandro Bacuna                                - KEEP
8. Tom Cleverley (LOAN)                       - KEEP IF POSSIBLE
9. Scott Sinclair                                      - KEEP
10. Andreas Weimann                           - SELL
11. Gabby Agbonlahor                           - KEEP
12. Joe Cole                                           - LET GO / SELL
13. Jed Steer                                         - KEEP
14. Philippe Senderos                           - SELL
15. Ashley Westwood                            - KEEP UNLESS GOOD OFFER RECEIVED
16. Fabian Delph                                   - KEEP
18. Kieran Richardson                           - SELL
20. Christian Benteke                            - KEEP IF POSSIBLE
21. Alan Hutton                                      - SELL
22. Gary Gardner                                  - SELL
23. Aly Sissokho                                    - SELL 
24. Carlos Sanchez                               - KEEP
25. Carles Gil                                         - KEEP
27. Libor Kozak                                     - KEEP
28. Charles N'Zogbia                            - SELL
29. Rushian Hepburn-Murphy               - KEEP
31. Shay Given                                     - KEEP (COACHING?)
34. Matt Lowton                                    - KEEP
39. Riccardo Calder                              - KEEP
40. Jack Grealish                                  - KEEP

 

 

 

looks like lukaku has himself a new agent and is making noise about playing in europe too, could be good for us, if he plays up and becomes available hopefully others will look at him instead, or at the very least evertons no doubt ridiculous valuation of him will actually make our £32m look half sensible so we can hold out for a figure i doubt anyone would pay

 

Does everyone think that Christian Benteke represents good value for £32.5m?

 

As in, if Benteke played for Sunderland and we were offering £32.5m for him, would we be pleased as fans?

 

 

100% yes I do. In a good team he'll get you 20-25 goals a season guaranteed, and at 24 you could even still feasibly make a profit selling him on in 2-3 years time.

 

 

But that's not what I'm asking

 

As an Aston Villa fan, in our current state, would a £32.5m Benteke from Sunderland be considered "good value"?

 

I'm only wondering because pretty much everyone seems to want to cling on to keeping Benteke (and rightly so from a playing point of view) but £32.5m is a huge wedge - especially to us.

 

(Obviously this opens up a wider issue of how much we'd actually have to spend from this etc, but still...)

 

 

I think the big issue would be do we have £32.5m to spend. Liverpool, Man United and Spurs would have bigger warchests than us so that does bring a new dimension to the whole question, as you've alluded to.

 

If he had the three Premier League seasons for Sunderland that he had for us, and we could do the deal, I'd do it still. For me there are very few better all-round Premier League strikers, and even fewer that we could realistically attract.