VillaParkAvenue Posted February 3, 2023 Share Posted February 3, 2023 Our attacking players are a fairly likeable bunch but not so much for what they do on the pitch. This thread has reminded me of some lousy signings. Traore was pretty good overall in his first season at Villa (50% crap 50% fine, and scored goals). But a lot of time has passed since then. When was Bert’s last good game, two years ago? Bringing him back proves that we don’t have many attacking options right now, it’s very much taking a punt and hoping for the best. At least we know he has talent somewhere in there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Delphinho123 Posted February 3, 2023 Author Share Posted February 3, 2023 31 minutes ago, Jas10 said: Do you actually like any of our (attacking) players? I think Watkins brings a lot to our team, albeit he frustrates the hell out of me. Bailey sometimes plays well, but we're talking maybe once every 4/5 matches at most. Buendia is good when he's in and around the opposition penalty area but really poor when he's in our own half or when he's crowded out - I think he's a lower half PL player at absolute best. Apart from that, no, not really. I think we've bought poorly in this area for a long time. it's why most of our money will be spent on this area in the Summer. I don't think we've bought a top half standard PL forward/wide player since being promoted. The only reason we got near to the top half in the season we finished 11th was because Grealish was arguably the best player in the league. I expect much better in the Summer. 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bannedfromHandV Posted February 3, 2023 Share Posted February 3, 2023 19 minutes ago, VillaParkAvenue said: Our attacking players are a fairly likeable bunch but not so much for what they do on the pitch. This thread has reminded me of some lousy signings. Traore was pretty good overall in his first season at Villa (50% crap 50% fine, and scored goals). But a lot of time has passed since then. When was Bert’s last good game, two years ago? Bringing him back proves that we don’t have many attacking options right now, it’s very much taking a punt and hoping for the best. At least we know he has talent somewhere in there. Is it not just more sensible use of our available resources rather than a ‘punt’? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom13 Posted February 3, 2023 Share Posted February 3, 2023 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Delphinho123 Posted February 3, 2023 Author Popular Post Share Posted February 3, 2023 7 minutes ago, Tom13 said: Not a knock at you Tom, but is this supposed to constitute humour? 2 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VillaParkAvenue Posted February 3, 2023 Share Posted February 3, 2023 27 minutes ago, bannedfromHandV said: Is it not just more sensible use of our available resources rather than a ‘punt’? It is very sensible since we were probably paying a big part of his wages in Turkey anyway, better to have him here. I’m not counting on Bert staying fit and being a reliable option this season, but if so that’s great. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keyblade Posted February 3, 2023 Share Posted February 3, 2023 2 hours ago, Delphinho123 said: Why do you think the club loaned him to Turkey and paid his wages, Tom? Do clubs do that with players they think are useful? I know it was a traumatic time, but have you forgotten who our manager was at the time? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Delphinho123 Posted February 3, 2023 Author Share Posted February 3, 2023 21 minutes ago, Keyblade said: I know it was a traumatic time, but have you forgotten who our manager was at the time? No. I get that. But the club were looking to replace Traore before Gerrard came in. Just like they wanted to also move El Ghazi and Trezeguet on. These players aren’t good enough. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keyblade Posted February 3, 2023 Share Posted February 3, 2023 2 minutes ago, Delphinho123 said: No. I get that. But the club were looking to replace Traore before Gerrard came in. Just like they wanted to also move El Ghazi and Trezeguet on. These players aren’t good enough. How do you figure? He was one of our most important attackers before Gerrard came in. He played pretty much every game he was fit for. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jas10 Posted February 3, 2023 Share Posted February 3, 2023 1 hour ago, Delphinho123 said: I think Watkins brings a lot to our team, albeit he frustrates the hell out of me. Bailey sometimes plays well, but we're talking maybe once every 4/5 matches at most. Buendia is good when he's in and around the opposition penalty area but really poor when he's in our own half or when he's crowded out - I think he's a lower half PL player at absolute best. Apart from that, no, not really. I think we've bought poorly in this area for a long time. it's why most of our money will be spent on this area in the Summer. I don't think we've bought a top half standard PL forward/wide player since being promoted. The only reason we got near to the top half in the season we finished 11th was because Grealish was arguably the best player in the league. I expect much better in the Summer. Thanks for sharing your thoughts I agree that we failed to replace Grealish adequately (as difficult as that was) at the time, why we didn’t sign a top class LW I will never know. Wasted money on Ings too, lucky to have recouped a fair bit now. But that’s no fault of the attackers we now have. Do you have much faith in Emery improving them??? I certainly do, as we get better in possession and practise patterns of play (I don’t think we even did this under the last guy… what did he actually work on???) every player (including Berty, Buendia too!) will improve more and more going forwards. It’s one of the reasons why I wasn’t too concerned about our transfer activity. I’m more invested in how the manager is going to progress us as a team and make us more effective and, at the same time, more entertaining. I believe Unai prioritised defensive discipline and organisation and has been working more and more on the attacking/possession side more recently. Plenty to look forward to imo. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Delphinho123 Posted February 3, 2023 Author Share Posted February 3, 2023 9 minutes ago, Keyblade said: How do you figure? He was one of our most important attackers before Gerrard came in. He played pretty much every game he was fit for. The Summer before Gerard came in, the club signed Bailey and Buendia. Both played as the right sided attacker for their respective clubs. Traore played as our right sided attacker. That to me suggests we were looking to improve on him. Don’t doubt he played a lot in the season before. I have nothing against Traore btw. I just don’t rate him very highly at all. As I’ve said, Grealish aside (world class), I don’t think we’ve had a top half standard wide forward player since we’ve been back in the PL. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Delphinho123 Posted February 3, 2023 Author Share Posted February 3, 2023 8 minutes ago, Jas10 said: Thanks for sharing your thoughts I agree that we failed to replace Grealish adequately (as difficult as that was) at the time, why we didn’t sign a top class LW I will never know. Wasted money on Ings too, lucky to have recouped a fair bit now. But that’s no fault of the attackers we now have. Do you have much faith in Emery improving them??? I certainly do, as we get better in possession and practise patterns of play (I don’t think we even did this under the last guy… what did he actually work on???) every player (including Berty, Buendia too!) will improve more and more going forwards. It’s one of the reasons why I wasn’t too concerned about our transfer activity. I’m more invested in how the manager is going to progress us as a team and make us more effective and, at the same time, more entertaining. I believe Unai prioritised defensive discipline and organisation and has been working more and more on the attacking/possession side more recently. Plenty to look forward to imo. I absolutely have faith in Emery, and I hope he has more control over our transfers as I think we’ve been more miss than hit since we got promoted. I think we’ll go after at least two attacking players in the Summer and they’ll come in to play as a support striker and a wide player in the 4 in midfield. Both are likely to be fast and physically strong (I think). We may even go after 3 and look to replace Watkins in the XI, but that’s going to cost a lot! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Delphinho123 Posted February 3, 2023 Author Share Posted February 3, 2023 3 minutes ago, Delphinho123 said: I absolutely have faith in Emery, and I hope he has more control over our transfers as I think we’ve been more miss than hit since we got promoted. I think we’ll go after at least two attacking players in the Summer and they’ll come in to play as a support striker and a wide player in the 4 in midfield. Both are likely to be fast and physically strong (I think). We may even go after 3 and look to replace Watkins in the XI, but that’s going to cost a lot! Not really a stats man, but this is why I think the club will look to improve on our attacking players… Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tommo_b Posted February 3, 2023 Share Posted February 3, 2023 Troare, I’m buzzed he is back, really interested to see how Unai uses him. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kiwivillan Posted February 3, 2023 Share Posted February 3, 2023 9 minutes ago, Delphinho123 said: Not really a stats man, but this is why I think the club will look to improve on our attacking players… We've lost 1 under Emery and those 3 have scored more than Chelsea total goals in that time. Get a new hobby. This is beyond pathetic 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post VillaParkAvenue Posted February 3, 2023 Popular Post Share Posted February 3, 2023 11 minutes ago, Delphinho123 said: Not really a stats man, but this is why I think the club will look to improve on our attacking players… Not sure those stats are that bad, attacking players get dispossessed more than others. For the league as a whole some top players got dispossessed a lot this season: 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
est1874 Posted February 3, 2023 Share Posted February 3, 2023 2 hours ago, Delphinho123 said: Not a knock at you Tom, but is this supposed to constitute humour? Made some of us chuckle. Humour is subjective, much like appreciation of football players 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Delphinho123 Posted February 3, 2023 Author Share Posted February 3, 2023 2 minutes ago, VillaParkAvenue said: Not sure those stats are that bad, attacking players get dispossessed more than others. For the league as a whole some top players got dispossessed a lot this season: Yeh that’s fair. Albeit they probably have the ball a lot more to lose, if that makes sense. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Delphinho123 Posted February 3, 2023 Author Share Posted February 3, 2023 4 minutes ago, Kiwivillan said: We've lost 1 under Emery and those 3 have scored more than Chelsea total goals in that time. Get a new hobby. This is beyond pathetic Yeh, I think Watkins has done well and the team is doing well. We’ll strengthen in the Summer though and hopefully we won’t even lose the 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anything11 Posted February 3, 2023 Share Posted February 3, 2023 I think you are all correct. Traore is either waltzing a ball into the back of the net in such a way that it takes seconds for anyone to realise what has happened or he has been a complete passenger. He is both loved and hated for this reason. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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