The Window Closes

[LancsVillan]

by Villa89

Someone has finally closed that bloody window

Well the window has slammed shut and I think we can all agree that is has been underwhelming at best. We have had little to feed off apart from a few tenuous links to a few players, notably 3 spurs players. We all expected more, especially after the good work done last January when we saw Carew, Maloney and Young all arrive at VP.

So what went wrong? O'Neill has been at pains to point out the lack of numbers in our squad and the need to make additions. He addressed the primary concern in this window, right side of midfield, by purchasing a 'risk free' player for a low fee on a short contract. Those of you who have seen Wayne's interview on AVTV can see just how eager and happy he is to have joined The Villa. Not a big name to excite the fans but a good bit of business by Martin, but sadly that was it. We also tried to buy an 'unknown' keeper however the morons at the home office decided that he was probably one of those terrorist footballers who would claim social welfare benefits and clog up the NHS rather than contribute to society by paying a hefty tax bill every week like most footballers.

Last night we all tuned in to sky sports news in the vain hope that some £10million pound sensation would be seen arriving at VP for a late night medical. Sadly the action was happening elsewhere, on the south coast for example. There were some big moves this January, top players like Woodgate, Anelka, Hutton and dare I say it, Defoe moving clubs but Villa were nowhere to be seen. Were we not interested, were we too busy selling our own players? Or is it simply the case that we don't really need players this time round?

Fabio Capello announced his squad yesterday to much surprise. 5 Villa players found themselves in with a chance of playing for their country, 2 potential debutants, Davies and Gabby. No sign of Jermaine Defoe in the squad. Are the players we have better than those that moved in this window? What if we signed Woodgate or Defoe and Davies or Gabby had found themselves sat on the bench. It would be a huge kick in the teeth for a player who has given their all this season and has reaped the rewards. The kind of move that could crush the spirit of a young player. We have only 14 games left to play this season and surely the players that have brought us to a dizzying 5th in the league need to be given the chance to finish the job.

Now I am not saying the Martin O'Neill did the right thing by only signing one player in this window but it’s not about quantity it’s about quality, just ask any Liverpool fan. We did need a few players in this window but for whatever reason it didn't happen. Maybe the quality players that we need just weren't available and the ones that were available went for very high fees and, if reports are to be believed, very high wages (Hutton and Anelka).

Let’s not focus on the fact that we have not been able to add a top quality player to our squad like last January and focus on the 14 games we have left. We sit 5th in the league, we have 5 England internationals in our first team and the summer window is just 20 weeks away.

[Horse80]

I'm a little disappointed with the window but i got the feeling we wouldn't sign many players, certainly not as many as last Jan. I'm pleased with Routledge as we can't really lose with him and i do think he'll come good with a bit of O'Neil magic.

All the other links didn't really bother me

My only dissapointment is that we didn't get Defoe, if he had come i think that would have secured Europe, possibly CL. He's a goal machine and will guarantee 20 a season and we still need that even though we Gabby.

Every time i watch Villa play they miss far too many opportunites and Defoe would put these away. That would change our draws into wins!

I would really like to know if we bidded for him or not as if he chose Pompy over us as if this was the case i can understand because of Redknapp and his reluctance to live ourside the M25! Does anyone know?

But in Martin we trust and looks like more patience to see what happens in the Summer

[RunRickyRun]

I agree with the sentiments.

of the players that moved, Hutton was the only player I would've given a starting shirt to.

Some will cite Defoe and Anelka, but I would not want our promsing starlet, Agbonlahor, either forced out wide or dropped to accomodate them. I doubt they would come unless 1st team football was guaranteed.