The Next Level

[Rightdm00]

This team is so young I would be hesitant to assume any of them have finished developing. Also, I absolutely adore every member of this squad. They all get along swell and the performances on the pitch have been the best I've seen from Villa in over a decade. 

So my answer, none of them can leave.

[lapal_fan]

I think if we went out and bought James Tarkowski and a midfielder the likes of Tanguy Ndombele we'd be serious title contenders.  

We could also improve on Watkins in the short term, but I fully anticipate Watkins to kick on and become a better player (plus his effort) in the next 18 months.  This season in the Prem will do him the world of good.

We're ok out wide I think, but we need a general in the middle of the park.  I know everyone would like one, but someone like Roy Keane, who'll drive everyone's performance levels up. 

We're a very close knit, pally team at the minute.  I want a proper, driven winner.  Ibra, Ronaldo, Keane, Viera, Rooney (early years), Chiellini - players who's will to win never fades, players who aren't scared or respectful of "Kevin De Bryune", but will rattle them and make them cautious of us, negating the flair players who often have the final say in our matches.  

We're a very good team, now we need to become a winning team.  

Spurs are a classic example of a really good, well balanced team having no real drive/determination and lacking silverware on the back of it..  To a lesser degree, Arsenal - despite their FA cup successes, they pose no real threat to the PL Crown.   

I think the most recent player of that ilk I can think of is Kompany - he settled everyone around him, took the leadership responsibility and allowed others to focus on their games.  

I think Mings (who looks like the closest thing to what I'm trying to explain) is slightly the wrong side of that mentality.  I get the feeling he's a bit like a swan, he looks cool and collected, but underneath he's not far away from shitting himself if things get hairy.  

[Zatman]

The next level to build a squad is getting to Europe, after that we need to buy players to improve the 1st team. I like all the players but it will naturally happen it doesnt mean the end of the Villa careers either 

We have phased out Conor and nearly Anwar but he has roared back

Edited January 26, 2021 by Zatman

[nick76]

59 minutes ago, Phil Silvers said:

I think being able to rotate at will and be able to play any formation/strategy that will be competitive against any team in Europe. 

Its just getting one and all to sign up to the project.

For me only Jack and Emi are nailed on and the rest we can find as good or better for the next level.

Sounds harsh but the next level is the highest level.

 

Ps. For this summer, cb cf dm, possibly rw.

Completely agree!

Jack and Emi are hard, if impossible, to beat at world level.  The rest of the players in our team, there are better players out there. Not saying I want them replaced, not saying the other players are the right fit, just we know there are better players out there.

We can also see, looking at Chelsea, that having quality players doesn’t mean you are better.  We need balance, finding players here or there that are better than what we have or at least an alternative to what we have because our squad depth is weak.  

Then understanding what we are willing to spend.

I’m really in love with our team and players at the moment but we know there are better players for the sheer sake that we know this team as it currently stands cannot make a title challenge at all.  We compete with the big teams but we still miss something over the course of the season and that is partly squad depth but it’s also a bit more than that.

To be honest I’m not in a rush, I’m enjoying this journey and the way we are playing and how we keep getting better.

[nepal_villan]

Think we are getting carried away. Yes - we have a solid starting XI, but I think only 4-5 of our players are Champions League level - Grealish, Martinez, Luiz and possibly Konsa and Watkins. 

[villa4europe]

seriously, the next level is then dependent on other teams, you need a huge slice of luck to come your way and then you need to be both good enough and consistent enough to capitalise on it, its how Leicester won the league, their competitors were spurs and arsenal, where were utd, chelsea, liverpool and city? doesn't matter

im a firm believer that you dont just improve and then jump up and overtake one of the top 6 or especially the top 4, one of them has to drop out at the same time, this year its chelsea, everton or leicester have to capitalise on their misfortune, leicester in particular havent got that much better than last year

that is how the PL works, the opportunity provided by complacency and transition, klopp's liverpool timed their first serious league title push with the year that pep decided to set the record number of points, that is this league, it isn't always necessarily only about what you can do

[MWARLEY2]

Was thinking about this last night and through crap maths and formulas ( writing every squad player down and rating them in terms of absolute potential ) i came up with this 

1 Grealish

2 Martinez

3 Luiz

4 Konsa

5 Traore

6 mings

7 watkins

8 wesley

9 Sanson

10 Cash

11 Ramsey J 

12 McGinn

13 Targett 

14 Heaton

15 El Ghazi

16Trez

17 Nakamba

18 Hause

19 El homady

20 Engels

21 Davis

22 Taylor 

From that i deducted that first choice back 4 is so far ahead of the second choice back 4 which includes the 18,19,20 and 22nd best players in the squad that defence will need urgent work to move forward 

Probably a load of bllox but thats my view anyway and kept me sane for an hour working it out 

[Delphinho123]

Just now, MWARLEY2 said:

Was thinking about this last night and through crap maths and formulas ( writing every squad player down and rating them in terms of absolute potential ) i came up with this 

1 Grealish

2 Martinez

3 Luiz

4 Konsa

5 Traore

6 mings

7 watkins

8 wesley

9 Sanson

10 Cash

11 Ramsey J 

12 McGinn

13 Targett 

14 Heaton

15 El Ghazi

16Trez

17 Nakamba

18 Hause

19 El homady

20 Engels

21 Davis

22 Taylor 

From that i deducted that first choice back 4 is so far ahead of the second choice back 4 which includes the 18,19,20 and 22nd best players in the squad that defence will need urgent work to move forward 

Probably a load of bllox but thats my view anyway and kept me sane for an hour working it out 

It's this kind of dedication that makes Villatalk the place it is. 

That and San Francisco's finest export - @villalad21

[MWARLEY2]

1 minute ago, Delphinho123 said:

It's this kind of dedication that makes Villatalk the place it is. 

That and San Francisco's finest export - @villalad21

Its lockdown that makes me do lists !!!! 

[WakefieldVillan]

10 minutes ago, MWARLEY2 said:

Was thinking about this last night and through crap maths and formulas ( writing every squad player down and rating them in terms of absolute potential ) i came up with this 

1 Grealish

2 Martinez

3 Luiz

4 Konsa

5 Traore

6 mings

7 watkins

8 wesley

9 Sanson

10 Cash

11 Ramsey J 

12 McGinn

13 Targett 

14 Heaton

15 El Ghazi

16Trez (I'd still keep) - RASHICA

17 Nakamba

18 Hause - RICE

19 Elmohamady - JAMES

20 Engels - TARKOWSKI

21 Davis (I'd still keep) - ABRAHAM

22 Taylor - SAKA

BARKLEY

From that i deducted that first choice back 4 is so far ahead of the second choice back 4 which includes the 18,19,20 and 22nd best players in the squad that defence will need urgent work to move forward 

Probably a load of bllox but thats my view anyway and kept me sane for an hour working it out 

I think we could get top 4 with that, keeping our great team spirit, just need a couple of hundred million WES  

[Phil Silvers]

14 minutes ago, nick76 said:

 

To be honest I’m not in a rush, I’m enjoying this journey and the way we are playing and how we keep getting better.

Agree, we are way ahead of expectations as a project too, so the pressure is sort of off this season now, as for the players some will replace themselves like this year, Konza and Luiz are better versions of themselves for example, if you get my drift and can still grow, so next level might come like that.

Level up might be we need something like Tammy, Zinchenko, Mahrez, Tarkovski and Ndombele just as an example of a genuine improvement to the squad, but using them as an example, we would need to have finished 3rd/4th and Citeh top, chelsea 8th, spuds 10th and Burnley 17th for it to have any chance of happening.

Cant believe after the last 10 years that we are even in a position to be having a conversation like this. 

 

 

 

[KenjiOgiwara]

I think best team available is superb.

Obvious answer is that it's squad depth that needs sorting.

I'd also argue a top top quality striker, but who knows how good Watkins will become.

[Follyfoot]

11 minutes ago, Phil Silvers said:

Agree, we are way ahead of expectations as a project too, so the pressure is sort of off this season now, as for the players some will replace themselves like this year, Konza and Luiz are better versions of themselves for example, if you get my drift and can still grow, so next level might come like that.

Level up might be we need something like Tammy, Zinchenko, Mahrez, Tarkovski and Ndombele just as an example of a genuine improvement to the squad, but using them as an example, we would need to have finished 3rd/4th and Citeh top, chelsea 8th, spuds 10th and Burnley 17th for it to have any chance of happening.

Cant believe after the last 10 years that we are even in a position to be having a conversation like this. 

 

 

 

I keep thinking I am going to wake up and look at the table and not see us in this league 

[Dodgyknees]

Found the cheat code if it helps: L0LULUCKY2STAYUP 

no lower case letters 

[Phil Silvers]

5 minutes ago, Follyfoot said:

I keep thinking I am going to wake up and look at the table and not see us in this league 

Not long ago we were talking about Doris, biscuits and throwing cabbages at people.

[nick76]

11 minutes ago, Phil Silvers said:

Agree, we are way ahead of expectations as a project too, so the pressure is sort of off this season now, as for the players some will replace themselves like this year, Konza and Luiz are better versions of themselves for example, if you get my drift and can still grow, so next level might come like that.

Level up might be we need something like Tammy, Zinchenko, Mahrez, Tarkovski and Ndombele just as an example of a genuine improvement to the squad, but using them as an example, we would need to have finished 3rd/4th and Citeh top, chelsea 8th, spuds 10th and Burnley 17th for it to have any chance of happening.

Cant believe after the last 10 years that we are even in a position to be having a conversation like this. 

Yep, I think and hope our scouts are looking for the players before they become exceptional players. 

VVD before he went to Liverpool, De Bruyne before he went back to City (I watched the other day the reactions of top commentators at the time and fans when City paid 50m for De Bruyne and said it was a waste of money and he didnt have that level of talent to justify that and how was he going to fit in the team....it was either on a youtube clip or in review thing but how wrong were they).

Obviously I dont know who is out there who is that player but hopefully our scouts do and maybe Sanson will be a player in that form, who knows!  I'm looking forward to the future, which like your last sentence is something us Villa fans arent used to in the last decade to two.

[Delphinho123]

What I really want is for us to go and spend 30m on a 21yr old. Or something like that. 
Leicester did it with Fofana and look how that's turning out...

When you get to a position where your XI is settled and the squad harmony is there, you can go out and do things like that. I don't think we're a million miles off..

 

[Lord Willard]

The players are definitely out there. 

For the next big push we need another quality LW or CAM. Like a Phil Foden (not Phil Foden though) or you get a Madison and leave Jack out wide. 

You get Traore to hit the weights in pre season. Id like him to be more powerful if we are to push towards top 4/6. 

I'd want an upgrade on Mings but I think that is near impossible. Finding a left footed lcb are like gold dust. 

I think our midfield is already top 4/6. If we truly have the French McGinn.

Striker - Ings is probably available this summer in the 30m bracket. He isn't going to press like Ollie but thats a trade off for how clinical he is. 

Replace Taylor, Elmo, Lansbury, Engels. 

 

[Sulberto21]

The obvious answer is for me is taking our chances.

Only really Man City and Leeds have outplayed us. Even then I felt we had enough easy chances against Leeds to be 3 up and against man city we defended heroically and had plenty of opportunities to create easy chances to at least score twice. 

To go to the next level I feel we are going to have to sign a Dennis bergkamp, Robinho, Van Der Vaart type. I felt Barkley has taken us up a level but to challenge the top 4 we're going to have to be ruthless with recruitment.

Cavani could have been a legacy signing that puts us in the conversation. Some on here might be 'over the hill blah blah blah' but I'm thinking of the benefits to the likes of Watkins, AEG , Trezequet etc who have never played with these types.

Imagine our youngsters training with someone like Cavani being taught by him picking up little things. Leicester had Cambiasso who was a magnificent signing for them. 

[Lord Willard]

The more I think, I'd love us to go in for Ings. 

He has 12 months left on his contract in the summer. 25m? Should get him.

Watkins moves to the bench and learns from him

 

 

Edited January 26, 2021 by Lord Willard