VillanousOne Posted May 8, 2021 Share Posted May 8, 2021 13 minutes ago, AvfcRigo82 said: Yes, I agree. I don't think Fred is happy playing second fiddle and wants first team football. He won't get that here and will be sold in the summer. close the thread 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MotoMkali Posted May 8, 2021 Share Posted May 8, 2021 1 hour ago, AvfcRigo82 said: Yes, I agree. I don't think Fred is happy playing second fiddle and wants first team football. He won't get that here and will be sold in the summer. He wants first team football but wants it here. Which he's said 2 separate times this season. He wants to fight for his place which is what you want from a backup. If not you get lackadaisical performances like the ones we see from elmo. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AvfcRigo82 Posted May 8, 2021 Share Posted May 8, 2021 16 minutes ago, MotoMkali said: He wants first team football but wants it here. Which he's said 2 separate times this season. He wants to fight for his place which is what you want from a backup. I get that, but I am not convinced he will get it here. Time will tell. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MotoMkali Posted May 17, 2021 Share Posted May 17, 2021 31 minutes ago, Bob Funkhouse said: According to Whoscored , Fred is the highest rated defender in Ligue 1 for players who have played 12 or more games (my arbitrary figure, though 12 is a third of a Ligue 1 season). Thought I'd get this in before the end of the season in case he has a stinker in the final game and drops down the list. He's already had his 3rd career sending off this season (in 196 games). So his rating probably has dropped. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brummybloke Posted May 17, 2021 Share Posted May 17, 2021 4 hours ago, MotoMkali said: He's already had his 3rd career sending off this season (in 196 games). So his rating probably has dropped. Doubt it, another assist in his last game and a clean sheet. 1 red and 2 yellows this season for an aggressive right back playing for a team who regularly concede possession to the opposition doesn't sound horrific. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MotoMkali Posted May 17, 2021 Share Posted May 17, 2021 24 minutes ago, brummybloke said: Doubt it, another assist in his last game and a clean sheet. 1 red and 2 yellows this season for an aggressive right back playing for a team who regularly concede possession to the opposition doesn't sound horrific. What I meant to say is that. He has probably already had his worst performance of the year and still is the top rated right back in France. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
villalad21 Posted May 17, 2021 Share Posted May 17, 2021 5 hours ago, Bob Funkhouse said: According to Whoscored , Fred is the highest rated defender in Ligue 1 for players who have played 12 or more games (my arbitrary figure, though 12 is a third of a Ligue 1 season). Thought I'd get this in before the end of the season in case he has a stinker in the final game and drops down the list. I don't think he ever settled in England. Happy he is doing well in France but i can't see a future for him here. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Laughable Chimp Posted May 17, 2021 Share Posted May 17, 2021 4 minutes ago, villalad21 said: I don't think he ever settled in England. Happy he is doing well in France but i can't see a future for him here. I think he should be given another chance. His achievements in France are really nothing to sneeze at. Put it another way, if we signed a right back with his kind form this summer, a lot of us would be pretty happy with it. Hell, his rating right now is way higher than Traore's and Sanson's were and a lot of us were pretty optimistic about them despite the relatively high fees we paid. Meanwhile, we're getting this guy essentially for free if you want to look at it that way. On another note, I don't like how some fans completely disregard a player's loan performances. As if, if they didn't perform for their club, they are trash and what they do at other clubs doesn't matter it will never change their opinion. Not that I think Guilbert was poor for us, I actually thought he was one of our best performers last season. Regardless of that though, when you have a player who is doing very, very well at a high level in this league or another, I don't care how poorly they played before, that suggests that there's potential in there and its worth persisting with them. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
villalad21 Posted May 17, 2021 Share Posted May 17, 2021 1 minute ago, Laughable Chimp said: I think he should be given another chance. His achievements in France are really nothing to sneeze at. Put it another way, if we signed a right back with his kind form this summer, a lot of us would be pretty happy with it. Hell, his rating right now is way higher than Traore's and Sanson's were and a lot of us were pretty optimistic about them despite the relatively high fees we paid. Meanwhile, we're getting this guy essentially for free if you want to look at it that way. On another note, I don't like how some fans completely disregard a player's loan performances. As if, if they didn't perform for their club, they are trash and what they do at other clubs doesn't matter it will never change their opinion. Not that I think Guilbert was poor for us, I actually thought he was one of our best performers last season. Regardless of that though, when you have a player who is doing very, very well at a high level in this league or another, I don't care how poorly they played before, that suggests that there's potential in there and its worth persisting with them. Well this is the problem with signing squad players. It's much harder. He'll know that he'll be backup for Cash and is probably not interested in that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MotoMkali Posted May 17, 2021 Share Posted May 17, 2021 4 minutes ago, villalad21 said: Well this is the problem with signing squad players. It's much harder. He'll know that he'll be backup for Cash and is probably not interested in that. He has said many many times he will fight for his place as first choice. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
villalad21 Posted May 17, 2021 Share Posted May 17, 2021 (edited) 8 minutes ago, MotoMkali said: He has said many many times he will fight for his place as first choice. It's fine to say that but let's say Cash managed to stay fit for a full season and Guilbert only get a handful of games he will increasingly grow more and more unhappy. Smith isn't one who likes to rotate we saw that the first half of the season. He only really changes when he has to. Elmo doesn't seem to mind it but not sure Guilbert would be the same. Edited May 17, 2021 by villalad21 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peterw Posted May 18, 2021 Share Posted May 18, 2021 When we loaned him back to caen he played a lot of games at left-back so its possible that Smith will keep him as a back up option to cover both full-back areas. Personally i'm not convinced as I think he's just below the level that we require but if as has been said above he's happy to sit on the bench and cover then okay. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WallisFrizz Posted May 18, 2021 Share Posted May 18, 2021 I think he will get game time here though as Cash will probably get injured and suspended now and then so he will have a chance to edge his way into the team. Interesting to hear that he can also play left back, didn’t know that and a position that we definitely need cover. All this is irrelevant however, if Smiths plan is to start integrating the academy players more. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom13 Posted May 18, 2021 Share Posted May 18, 2021 I know he loves Villa but would he really turn down a move back to his homeland? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Demitri_C Posted May 18, 2021 Share Posted May 18, 2021 Id keep him definitely 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zatman Posted May 18, 2021 Share Posted May 18, 2021 1 hour ago, Tom13 said: I know he loves Villa but would he really turn down a move back to his homeland? Depends where, he probably would make more money in the Championship than at most of Ligue 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lexicon Posted May 18, 2021 Share Posted May 18, 2021 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vreitti Posted May 18, 2021 Share Posted May 18, 2021 17 minutes ago, lexicon said: Don't think you've really missed any 'great insights' 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Fun Factory Posted May 18, 2021 Share Posted May 18, 2021 On 08/05/2021 at 22:13, AvfcRigo82 said: Yes, I agree. I don't think Fred is happy playing second fiddle and wants first team football. He won't get that here and will be sold in the summer. I fully understand his attitude and wish him well. Same with Conor. There was an article on Engels in the Birmingham Mail the other. He seems a nice guy but basically said he was settled in Birmingham and is happy to stay even though he has played 0 minutes this season. Just a different attitude. It could well be that Engels is on a bigger contract than Guilbert as we signed him after we got promoted and Freddie was signed in the January but it is just interesting what some footballers priorities are. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lexicon Posted May 18, 2021 Share Posted May 18, 2021 1 minute ago, The Fun Factory said: I fully understand his attitude and wish him well. Same with Conor. There was an article on Engels in the Birmingham Mail the other. He seems a nice guy but basically said he was settled in Birmingham and is happy to stay even though he has played 0 minutes this season. Just a different attitude. It could well be that Engels is on a bigger contract than Guilbert as we signed him after we got promoted and Freddie was signed in the January but it is just interesting what some footballers priorities are. I don't think Engels is on big bucks tbf. He must know this is a level above his talent grade, so fair play if he's happy to sit on the bench - we kinda need people who aren't going to be causing problems demanding first team football if they aren't good enough, because you can't bank on injuries happening - they might, they might not. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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