smetrov Posted December 20, 2013 Share Posted December 20, 2013 It was Paul Lamberts mantra last season - and it seemed to have some merit, if a bunch of raw recruits could survive that first season, with a great of form towards the end - then surley as the the grew together further improvements would come - and given that our star man bentekke was now being touted at 4 times his purchadse price - even if he moved on villa would be cash rich. Unforunatley reality has kicked in this season - phase 2 of young and hungry recruits hasn't had quite the same impact as the first - and a couple of last seasons starlets Benteke and Lowton have stuggled to reach last seasons standards. Increasing numbers of posters here and on other forums seem to be recoginising that whilst you pull in the odd gem from the lower divisions now and then - that actually we do need to supllement these with some proven players - if we keep buying young and hungry only - ultimatley were going to drop a division. I know funds are tight but is Lescott on loan and Peter Whittingham [For Example] more what we need rather than some more 20 years old - who may have potential - but not the battle hardened robustness we need alongside our own young starlets ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AshVilla Posted December 20, 2013 Share Posted December 20, 2013 (edited) Fat and Lazy more like I hope Bacuna and Delph are not the same next season when we give them improved contracts Edited December 20, 2013 by AshVilla Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post romavillan Posted December 20, 2013 VT Supporter Popular Post Share Posted December 20, 2013 Nope I doubt it is over, Bacuna fits the bill doesn't he as young and hungry? So do most of them to be fair. Let's face it, we were a lot worse off this time last year and about to go into a seeming death spiral over Christmas and new year. Then it seemed to click a lot better ad we played some good stuff and got out of trouble. Who's to say we can't do the same this year but from 11th-13th place instead of the bottom of the league? Personally in our current situation the young and hungry thing, or really buying young players with potential is the only way we can build up a squad at the moment. It's also the only sensible way to do it, if we were lucky then 1 in 2 of the signings will work out, I'd say it'll be more like 1 in 3. When they do work out though we get a premier quality player who after a few seasons of performing well will be worth 5 times what we paid (when they're in the 1-3m pound bracket especially). The thing is to even know whether they will be a success or it hasn't worked out you need to give them a couple of seasons to have had a fair crack at it. We aren't even halfway in to season 2 yet to fully judge the first crop that PL brought in, never mind the second lot from this summer. We really need some patience here, to not expect anything apart from inconsistency and frustrating performances for a while. We have to go through it, to chuck it in and start throwing the chequebook at it again would be insanity, to bring in a couple of older heads to help out I'm not against, but they woudl have to be real coup signings on a free so we could cover wages (think Campo at Bolton ). Anyway, let's say we're lucky and after the end of next season, half of the first seasons new faces and half of this seasons new faces are of the quality we need. That would mean we have a good solid core of a squad, that hopefully with some additions from the academy and the start of a change in policy from quantity to quality seeing as we have some numbers in the squad (at last) we'd be in a really good position. Healthy as a club, the squad full of assets instead of dead weights, a young improving side that have played together for a while. Then we can think about having a go for playign poor football and not pushing for the top 6. Not now. 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
villan_007 Posted December 20, 2013 Share Posted December 20, 2013 So what we are saying is we can only buy young and hungry if they suddenly become brilliant after 1 season and 16 games?? I don't see why some fans think just because the squad is a year older having survived in the premier league that all of a sudden we're are going to start powering up the league. The whole squad is having a bit of a lull at the moment it's as simple as that for me. Things will pick up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AshVilla Posted December 20, 2013 Share Posted December 20, 2013 (edited) I don't see why some fans think just because the squad is a year older having survived in the premier league that all of a sudden we're are going to start powering up the league. I think the majority of fans expect performances from these players that vindicate the pay rises they received in their new contracts this summer. The minimum i expect from these players is to at least play near to the same level as they did last season and justify their wage increases and not be as abysmal as some of them have cough cough "Weimann" Considering they are more experienced they should be improving not getting worse Edited December 20, 2013 by AshVilla Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RimmyJimmer Posted December 20, 2013 Share Posted December 20, 2013 Nope I doubt it is over, Bacuna fits the bill doesn't he as young and hungry? So do most of them to be fair. Let's face it, we were a lot worse off this time last year and about to go into a seeming death spiral over Christmas and new year. Then it seemed to click a lot better ad we played some good stuff and got out of trouble. Who's to say we can't do the same this year but from 11th-13th place instead of the bottom of the league? Personally in our current situation the young and hungry thing, or really buying young players with potential is the only way we can build up a squad at the moment. It's also the only sensible way to do it, if we were lucky then 1 in 2 of the signings will work out, I'd say it'll be more like 1 in 3. When they do work out though we get a premier quality player who after a few seasons of performing well will be worth 5 times what we paid (when they're in the 1-3m pound bracket especially). The thing is to even know whether they will be a success or it hasn't worked out you need to give them a couple of seasons to have had a fair crack at it. We aren't even halfway in to season 2 yet to fully judge the first crop that PL brought in, never mind the second lot from this summer. We really need some patience here, to not expect anything apart from inconsistency and frustrating performances for a while. We have to go through it, to chuck it in and start throwing the chequebook at it again would be insanity, to bring in a couple of older heads to help out I'm not against, but they woudl have to be real coup signings on a free so we could cover wages (think Campo at Bolton ). Anyway, let's say we're lucky and after the end of next season, half of the first seasons new faces and half of this seasons new faces are of the quality we need. That would mean we have a good solid core of a squad, that hopefully with some additions from the academy and the start of a change in policy from quantity to quality seeing as we have some numbers in the squad (at last) we'd be in a really good position. Healthy as a club, the squad full of assets instead of dead weights, a young improving side that have played together for a while. Then we can think about having a go for playign poor football and not pushing for the top 6. Not now. Here here that man, common sense prevails! Excellent post Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GENTLEMAN Posted December 20, 2013 Share Posted December 20, 2013 Nope. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
avfc1982 Posted December 20, 2013 Share Posted December 20, 2013 I shudder when I hear the phrase "young and hungry". It basically means "cheap, shit and out of his depth". Can't believe so many fans fell for it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GENTLEMAN Posted December 20, 2013 Share Posted December 20, 2013 I shudder when I hear the phrase "young and hungry". It basically means "cheap, shit and out of his depth". Can't believe so many fans fell for it. That is ridiculous. I will take these players over the ones they replaced any day of the week. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
avfc1982 Posted December 20, 2013 Share Posted December 20, 2013 I shudder when I hear the phrase "young and hungry". It basically means "cheap, shit and out of his depth". Can't believe so many fans fell for it. That is ridiculous. I will take these players over the ones they replaced any day of the week. Not me. I rather enjoyed those top 6 finishes. Much better than the consecutive relegation battles and humiliating defeats the "young and hungry" brigade have served up so far. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaulC Posted December 20, 2013 Share Posted December 20, 2013 No they are still young and hungry even if some of them haven't played at the level they did last season. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Morpheus Posted December 20, 2013 Share Posted December 20, 2013 There is little or no difference in the performance level of both sets of players at the moment and to validate the youth policy those performances that we are seeing now would have to improve dramatically. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
villan_007 Posted December 20, 2013 Share Posted December 20, 2013 I shudder when I hear the phrase "young and hungry". It basically means "cheap, shit and out of his depth". Can't believe so many fans fell for it. That is ridiculous. I will take these players over the ones they replaced any day of the week. Not me. I rather enjoyed those top 6 finishes. Much better than the consecutive relegation battles and humiliating defeats the "young and hungry" brigade have served up so far. Really?? I'm only aware of 1 last season. Before then the other two were your top6 boys making a pigs ear of it all. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GENTLEMAN Posted December 20, 2013 Share Posted December 20, 2013 I shudder when I hear the phrase "young and hungry". It basically means "cheap, shit and out of his depth". Can't believe so many fans fell for it. That is ridiculous. I will take these players over the ones they replaced any day of the week. Not me. I rather enjoyed those top 6 finishes. Much better than the consecutive relegation battles and humiliating defeats the "young and hungry" brigade have served up so far. I enjoyed supporting the club more when we were finishing in the top six, who did not? However, I have noticed you have missed out the previous two seasons (before Lambert) of relegation battles and turmoil. We are on a upward trajectory and making steady progress. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big_John_10 Posted December 20, 2013 Share Posted December 20, 2013 We've gone from people happy about the idea of signing Dale Stevens to most now realising we need better quality. I think the hype around this approach is over. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GENTLEMAN Posted December 20, 2013 Share Posted December 20, 2013 There is little or no difference in the performance level of both sets of players at the moment and to validate the youth policy those performances that we are seeing now would have to improve dramatically. Young players are not going to "improve dramatically" in a short space of time though. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
samjp26 Posted December 20, 2013 Share Posted December 20, 2013 (edited) I shudder when I hear the phrase "young and hungry". It basically means "cheap, shit and out of his depth". Can't believe so many fans fell for it. That is ridiculous. I will take these players over the ones they replaced any day of the week. Not me. I rather enjoyed those top 6 finishes. Much better than the consecutive relegation battles and humiliating defeats the "young and hungry" brigade have served up so far. The "young and hungry brigade" as you put it didn't replace a top 6 finishing team though did they? Consecutive relegation battles? They've only finished one season together, at the minute we're not in a relegation battle. However, the team they replaced were indeed involved in a relegation battle the season before. Edited December 20, 2013 by samjp26 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GENTLEMAN Posted December 20, 2013 Share Posted December 20, 2013 We've gone from people happy about the idea of signing Dale Stevens to most now realising we need better quality. I think the hype around this approach is over. What is the alternative strategy? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
villan_007 Posted December 20, 2013 Share Posted December 20, 2013 We've gone from people happy about the idea of signing Dale Stevens to most now realising we need better quality. I think the hype around this approach is over. I think only for fans that were willing to except it for one season and then all of sudden expected us to hit dizzy heights because it's the second season. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Richard Posted December 20, 2013 Popular Post Share Posted December 20, 2013 Before we start writing off a strategy and making false claims that we have not kicked on or somehow are doing worse let me just point out we are 11th in the table (a far better league placing than last season at this stage) we have more points than at this stage last season and we have beaten two of the fancied top 4 teams and have one of the best away records in the division. I think what is over is the fans realistic expectations which have been replaced by unrealistic expectations and that is one big issue for me 15 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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