The Squad 2019/2020

[VillaChris]

12 hours ago, Philosopher said:

We could have had Harry bloody Kane upfront and we would've still lost. Look at how or left backs were ripped to shreds by Adama and our midfield could string a bloody pass together.

We weren't great in any area. However we hardly had anyone to keep the ball in opposition half with Jack out so I'd like to think the striker we sign in January will be good at holding the ball up and keeping attackers going. Like most aspects of his game Wesley's very hit and miss in that respect.

Put it this way would our play have looked so poor if we had a Raul Jimenez calibre type striker upfront?

[Philosopher]

1 hour ago, VillaChris said:

We weren't great in any area. However we hardly had anyone to keep the ball in opposition half with Jack out so I'd like to think the striker we sign in January will be good at holding the ball up and keeping attackers going. Like most aspects of his game Wesley's very hit and miss in that respect.

Put it this way would our play have looked so poor if we had a Raul Jimenez calibre type striker upfront?

Raul Jimenez took 5 months to start putting in performances.

[VillaChris]

On 29/09/2019 at 09:27, kurtsimonw said:

I know people hate the phrase, but we really do need some "Premier League experience" in there IMO. Players are human, if you've been there and done it, it's not as big a deal. But this is the first real proper run a lot of these players have had at this level and they look frightened.

Hope after today more people are realising this.

Not every over 30 year player has to be like Joleon Lescott. We had Whelan and Jedinak in the championship who did good roles on and off the pitch after all.

Without Mings and McGinn on the pitch today has been a disgrace for the lack of organisation and simple belief. This is in our biggest match since play off final aswell.

Last few weeks has also shown the squad isn't as good as it's cracked up to be, the thick and fast games over xmas generally seperates the decent squads from the poor ones.

[andym]

Our recruitment in the summer is now looking exactly like it did the last time we were in this league and went down.

Signed a load of youngish inexperienced players with 'potential'; however now they have their big move to the premier league don't really give a shit when the chips are down. 

We needed a few more experienced heads and leaders across the pitch.

[VillaChris]

30 minutes ago, andym said:

Our recruitment in the summer is now looking exactly like it did the last time we were in this league and went down.

Signed a load of youngish inexperienced players with 'potential'; however now they have their big move to the premier league don't really give a shit when the chips are down. 

We needed a few more experienced heads and leaders across the pitch.

I do think we signed some good players in 2015 aswell as last summer. People stil seem in denial about Adama for instance even though he's been in fantastic form for Wolves all season. Gana, Veretout and Amavi have certainly proven themselves at the top level after leaving us.

Ultimately though half of our signings were imo made just in case the worst happened. Certainly you could see likes of Targett, Hause, Konsa, Jota, El Ghazi and Trezeguet all playing for us in the championship next year as they're all more proven at that sort of level than any major top level league.

I simply can't understand why we haven't learnt the lessons of summer 2015. That summer we signed Gestede (done nothing since he left us and massively out of his depth in the prem), Ayew (not the worst player but hardly a goal machine at Palace either), Scott Sinclair (did o.k at Ceotic a couple of years but can't make their 11 now).

It's now looking very similar. Just taking punts on players who simply aren't good enough to play week in week out at premier league just yet.

[M_Afro]

What has happened to our youth development? We do not seem to have any home grown players pushing for a place in the squad, not even in the cup matches. All other teams seem to have a core of development players in their squad but we don’t have any!

[VillaChris]

7 hours ago, M_Afro said:

What has happened to our youth development? We do not seem to have any home grown players pushing for a place in the squad, not even in the cup matches. All other teams seem to have a core of development players in their squad but we don’t have any!

Well we had likes of Revan and Ramsey on the bench at times last year but guess the step up to premier league has made that unrealistic, not sure why either haven't gone on loan which has long been a problem for us.

Players who should be challenging by now like Green and RHM have either lost their way or struggled on loan so they're a year behind where they should be. O'Hare seemed to be doing o.k in his loans so he's maybe one who could come back and push for a spot next season although more likely if we're back in the championship.

It's certainly not great.

[Zatman]

7 hours ago, M_Afro said:

What has happened to our youth development? We do not seem to have any home grown players pushing for a place in the squad, not even in the cup matches. All other teams seem to have a core of development players in their squad but we don’t have any!

we finally did the sensible thing and sent them on loan to build up experience in the lower leagues

[sne]

The updated 25 man squad submitted for the rest of the season. (U-21 players not needed to be registered)

Wesley and Heaton out as expected.

Goalkeepers

Nyland, Orjan 

Pepe Reina

Steer, Jed 

Defenders

 Ahmed Elmohamady 

Engels, Bjorn 

Targett, Matthew 

Guilbert, Frederic

Hause, Kortney 

Konsa, Ezri Ngoyo*

Mings, Tyrone 

Taylor, Neil 

Midfielders

Drinkwater, Daniel 

El Ghazi, Anwar

Hassan, Mahmoud  (Trezeguet)

Grealish, Jack*

Lansbury, Henri 

McGinn, John

Nakamba, Marvelous

Hourihane, Conor*

Jota

Strikers

Borja Baston

Samatta, Mbwana Ally

[Junxs]

@sne why have you put an asterix next to Grealish, Hourihane and Konsa? 

[sne]

34 minutes ago, Junxs said:

@sne why have you put an asterix next to Grealish, Hourihane and Konsa? 

I just nicked it from the Mail or something, not sure why those asterix are there.

Pay them no mind  

[VillaChris]

Couldn't find a more recent thread so this will have to do.

I think last few weeks have shown our squad is stronger than given credit for.

Hause comes in, three straight clean sheets.

El Ghazi comes in and plays like peak C. Ronaldo.

Nakamba and AEM did fine in the Burnley game which we should've won 3-0 like today and WBA so team level didn't drop.

It's much easier for fringe players to come in and look good in a confident team that knows back to front what it is doing as opposed to last season where for large chunks they weren't.

Still it would be good to show a bit more confidence in these players as up to recently you still have plenty arguing we had zero quality below first 11 and indeed odd poster was arguing we simply had to keep putting the same 11 out every single game. Last few weeks have shown we can rotate a bit and results and quality of performances don't dip much at all.

[villa4europe]

Targett had his "best game in a Villa shirt" for about the 4th time this season

And he's not the only one doing that every other week

They've stepped up a level

[QldVilla]

4 minutes ago, VillaChris said:

Couldn't find a more recent thread so this will have to do.

I think last few weeks have shown our squad is stronger than given credit for.

Hause comes in, three straight clean sheets.

El Ghazi comes in and plays like peak C. Ronaldo.

Nakamba and AEM did fine in the Burnley game which we should've won 3-0 like today and WBA so team level didn't drop.

It's much easier for fringe players to come in and look good in a confident team that knows back to front what it is doing as opposed to last season where for large chunks they weren't.

Still it would be good to show a bit more confidence in these players as up to recently you still have plenty arguing we had zero quality below first 11 and indeed odd poster was arguing we simply had to keep putting the same 11 out every single game. Last few weeks have shown we can rotate a bit and results and quality of performances don't dip much at all.

Agree. Highlights the difference when players are playing under pressure week in week out and when they can play their role in a team that is confident.

[ferguson1]

Went to bed thinking about the value of current and main 14/16 players?  Most if not all now have increased in value. Is this fair:

Martinez 40m, Cash 20m,  Konsa 25m, Mings 40m,  Targett 20m,  Luiz 35m,  McGinn 40m,  Grealish 100m,  Traore 20m,  El Ghazi 15m, Watkins 30m.

Hause 10m, Barkley 40m, Trez 10m.

Haven’t put a value on the whole squad just the main players so far this season but nice to know that we have some major assets in the squad now.  When we recently went down only Grealish had decent value and Levy nearly pinched him for multipack of crisps. 

 

Edited December 27, 2020 by ferguson1

[wilko154]

13 minutes ago, ferguson1 said:

Went to bed thinking about the value of current and main 14/16 players?  Most if not all now have increased in value. Is this fair:

Martinez 40m, Cash 20m,  Konsa 25m, Mings 40m,  Targett 20m,  Luiz 35m,  McGinn 40m,  Grealish 100m,  Traore 20m,  El Ghazi 15m, Watkins 30m.

Hause 10m, Barkley 40m, Trez 10m.

Haven’t put a value on the whole squad just the main players so far this season but nice to know that we have some major assets in the squad now.  When we recently went down only Grealish had decent value and Levy nearly pinched him for multipack of crisps. 

I think some of the values are probably a bit more than their market value.

But...

As with Grealish, it's the players value to Aston Villa. Grealish is worth 100m now because that's what we would need to get anywhere near replacing him. The same now goes for other players in our squad. I couldn't imagine going back to the goalkeeping situation we found ourselves in over the last few years now, Martinez is absolute top quality and improves the entire side; he wouldn't look out of place in some of the top teams in world football right now. 

The best part about this side is that the values of players such as Cash, Targett, Luiz, Grealish and Watkins are increasing game on game as their game improves.

A world away from where we have been in the last 10 years.

[Guest av1]

1 hour ago, ferguson1 said:

Went to bed thinking about the value of current and main 14/16 players?  Most if not all now have increased in value. Is this fair:

Martinez 40m, Cash 20m,  Konsa 25m, Mings 40m,  Targett 20m,  Luiz 35m,  McGinn 40m,  Grealish 100m,  Traore 20m,  El Ghazi 15m, Watkins 30m.

Hause 10m, Barkley 40m, Trez 10m.

Haven’t put a value on the whole squad just the main players so far this season but nice to know that we have some major assets in the squad now.  When we recently went down only Grealish had decent value and Levy nearly pinched him for multipack of crisps. 

 

I think you're underselling quite a few there mate. 

Cash, Ollie, Konsa, Jack, Traore, and Emi are all imo worth a lot more than you figures you've suggested.