Johan Lange

[ejvilla]

58 minutes ago, M_Afro said:

I see it the other way. Bailey and Buendia are both good signings who will likely come good and really add to the squad. I just never understood why we signed Ings. If he was bought as genuine competition for Ollie and we followed it up by addressing our woeful midfield, then fair enough. That doesn’t appear to be the case.

Trying to shoe horn Ings into the team has totally destroyed everything. Ollie looks a shell of a player. Our wide forwards are blowing after 15 minutes due to the work expected of them. Our already powderpuff midfield is under even greater pressure and incapable of doing anything well. This creates pressure on the defence. We cannot sustain possession in the opposition half which makes it difficult to create anything and thus we resort to hopeless hoof ball! There just does not seem to be a plan!

Agreed. Ings makes no sense without a planned system change. No evidence that the system changes were planned (would need much better CMs as a priority). Whoever sanctioned Ings signing needs a slap. Reminds me of the Darren Bent signing. Ings is better & more industrious, but completely wrong for the system we've been building towards over last few years. 

 

Watkins was a pacy, pressing forward/ target man. We needed a like for like option to push him. Ings can't lead the line without a powerful, possession retaining midfield. 

[Indigo]

Semi-related but an interesting one this. There were a lot of calls around the time Suso left for Villa to get Emenalo in but I don't think there was much smoke around it. Is largely credited with having played a pivotal role in Chelsea's success during his time as Technical Director from everything to transfers, scouting, the academy system etc.

 

[Mazrim]

This guy should be under serious scrutiny from now on.

We did not have the team we needed going into this season and that must be down to him for the most part. The midfield problem was not addressed at all.

[Vive_La_Villa]

Just now, Mazrim said:

This guy should be under serious scrutiny from now on.

We did not have the team we needed going into this season and that must be down to him for the most part. The midfield problem was not addressed at all.

I have no idea of the workings of the DOF but I always thought it would be on the advice of the coaches. E.g. our midfield is light so we need one that meets this criteria.  DOF goes away a finds one.

Having said that the pursuit of JWP does appear like they tried to sign a midfielder but failed. 

[hippo]

3 minutes ago, Mazrim said:

This guy should be under serious scrutiny from now on.

We did not have the team we needed going into this season and that must be down to him for the most part. The midfield problem was not addressed at all.

Be really surprised if he is here next season - esp if we continue to flounder. 

[TRO]

On 06/11/2021 at 11:40, avfc1982am said:

Spot on. It's a domino effect throughout the team. 

I agree...The diagnosis, is whats missing....no one has got to the bottom of our issues and stereophonic solutions are being made, its this, its that, its the injuries, its the internationals, its the ......

We had single issues that have been left to fester and now we have issues everywhere.....its typical of Villa of the past.

failure to act, is an act of failure....No one has adressed the midfield issue and it has escalated.....I had a dark suspicion, this could happen and it has.

Only the visit of West Ham focused some minds, of what we are missing....we need to be better than that.

The coaches with expressions like they have just witnessed the bombing of Hiroshima.

Edited November 8, 2021 by TRO

[DaveAV1]

25 minutes ago, Vive_La_Villa said:

Having said that the pursuit of JWP does appear like they tried to sign a midfielder but failed

But where was the plan B? The plan can’t be JWP or nobody. If it is then make sure we get him. Valiant attempts don’t get you anywhere. 

[Jbvilla909]

Has his recruitment been any better than Suso's given the resources he's had available? Suso had to find pretty much a whole new squad after we got promoted

[Vive_La_Villa]

14 minutes ago, DaveAV1 said:

But where was the plan B? The plan can’t be JWP or nobody. If it is then make sure we get him. Valiant attempts don’t get you anywhere. 

I agree. That’s the blunder. But we’ll never know how much of a priority that position was deemed ? 

[KMitch]

14 minutes ago, DaveAV1 said:

But where was the plan B? The plan can’t be JWP or nobody. If it is then make sure we get him. Valiant attempts don’t get you anywhere. 

Lol...  Suso got slated for signings like Nakamba being "Plan B" for Phillips. I guess the choice was to strengthen another position instead (Ings) and try again for JWP in January or next summer as opposed to taking a gamble on someone else.  

[Vive_La_Villa]

I still think our issues are deeper than midfield. Yes the injuries there have clearly hampered us but the whole team hasn’t looked right for a while. Confidence is very low throughout.

Edited November 8, 2021 by Vive_La_Villa

[DaveAV1]

2 hours ago, KMitch said:

Lol...  Suso got slated for signings like Nakamba being "Plan B" for Phillips. I guess the choice was to strengthen another position instead (Ings) and try again for JWP in January or next summer as opposed to taking a gamble on someone else.  

Maybe but that was the position that needed strengthening most. Surely there is more than 1 good central midfielder in the world? Especially when you’re shopping with £30/40m in your pocket. If they couldn’t find one what is the army of stats guys and scouts actually doing?

[Zatman]

2 hours ago, DaveAV1 said:

But where was the plan B? The plan can’t be JWP or nobody. If it is then make sure we get him. Valiant attempts don’t get you anywhere. 

Maybe Plan B wasn't good enough and then have another Nakamba in midfield

[DaveAV1]

4 minutes ago, Zatman said:

Maybe Plan B wasn't good enough and then have another Nakamba in midfield

The point is it’s Lange and co’s job to make sure it is. 

[KMitch]

59 minutes ago, DaveAV1 said:

The point is it’s Lange and co’s job to make sure it is. 

That's exactly what Zat & I are getting at.  You have to realize that top 6 quality players don't grow on trees.  There may only be ~18-20 CMs of that caliber in the globe at any given moment, and instead of massively overpaying for one or taking a flyer on one which might not pan out, they decided to hold off until next season and spend the money on Ings instead.  

[DaveAV1]

42 minutes ago, KMitch said:

That's exactly what Zat & I are getting at.  You have to realize that top 6 quality players don't grow on trees.  There may only be ~18-20 CMs of that caliber in the globe at any given moment, and instead of massively overpaying for one or taking a flyer on one which might not pan out, they decided to hold off until next season and spend the money on Ings instead.  

Fair enough but I think that there is probably more than 18-20 CMs in the world, of a caliber that would improve our midfield. There’s a lot of leeway between Marvelous and world class, even on his good days. Easy sitting on the sofa I guess. 

[sidcow]

5 hours ago, hippo said:

Be really surprised if he is here next season - esp if we continue to flounder. 

If another manager comes in and can't get a tune out of this squad questions will need to be asked about the signings..

[Tomaszk]

14 hours ago, Jbvilla909 said:

Has his recruitment been any better than Suso's given the resources he's had available? Suso had to find pretty much a whole new squad after we got promoted

Fair comment.

[Tomaszk]

15 hours ago, Mazrim said:

This guy should be under serious scrutiny from now on.

We did not have the team we needed going into this season and that must be down to him for the most part. The midfield problem was not addressed at all.

I believe he knew about midfield and was a bit blindsided by Purslow suddenly becoming a huge fan of Ings. We did need a back-up/competition striker. 

We have been a bit unlucky with Sanson being out almost all season. 

[allani]

14 minutes ago, Tomaszk said:

I believe he knew about midfield and was a bit blindsided by Purslow suddenly becoming a huge fan of Ings. We did need a back-up/competition striker. 

We have been a bit unlucky with Sanson being out almost all season. 

Not sure that Sanson is the answer though.  We need a midfielder who can help us get and maintain control of the midfield.  I am not sure that Sanson is that type of midfielder.  He's always looked to me like he is competition for McGinn.  I also don't think that ESR or JWP fit the model of what we need.  We didn't seem to get linked to any midfielders who fit the number 6 role.  I guess the question is whether it is the DOF's job to set up the formation and Dean was having to put players into positions or whether Dean was saying I need an "attacking" central midfielder.  Nothing Dean said ever suggested that he was unhappy about having to play Doug or McGinn in the roles they are playing.  As far as I can tell he's never once shown frustration that he was having to play square pegs in round holes.  Which makes me assume (which is always dangerous!) that Dean wanted a more creative third midfielder so that Jack wasn't our only outlet going forwards and so that when he was injured it didn't leave a huge hole and that he was confident that the Luiz / McGinn partnership didn't need attention.

Either way I just hope that whoever comes in either (a) finds a way to get McGinn / Luiz functioning or (b) identifies that central midfield is our main issue.  Our creative players are wasted when all we do is play long balls down the channels and our defenders are constantly under pressure because the opposition have too much of the ball and our midfielders fail to track their man very well.  A stabilising influence in the middle of the park will transform our team massively almost overnight.  Then we can start worrying about upgrading / improving competition in other positions.