2021/22 expectations

[nick76]

1 minute ago, foreveryoung said:

I had a European place this season, but now with jack's departure and having to bed in the new signings, being balanced, I think we will have to do with a midtable finish again. The owners and Purslow will be expecting much more though, you can be assured of that

I think that's why we will see more big signings because they arent stupid, they know we need more if we are going after Europe as a realistic target rather than pure hope everything goes our way.

[VillaFaninLondon]

54 minutes ago, Nigel said:

Bailey will need 6 months to settle.

We will be fine but to expect a run at the Europe places may be over ambitious. 

You don't get over losing a player like grealish without some recalibration which will make consistency a problem for the first half season.

We don't know this. He may hit the ground running and be great from the off. He might need a bit of settling in time.

 

I think 6 months is a bit much though, maybe 1-2 months readjustment.

 

I don't think we'd have spent £30m on someone if we thought he wouldn't hit his best form until two-thirds of the season had passed. 

[VillaFaninLondon]

43 minutes ago, danceoftheshamen said:

Personally i'm a little more wary of this season than most.

I feel pre-season has been poor with cancelled fixtures, no or barely any game time for most new signings nor Sanson etc etc.

So i'm thinking 12th to 16th after a struggling start (the first few games are vital as they should be points gained but we are very ill prepared is my fear lose or don't get the points required from those and we're playing catch up from the off)

16th would be a truly appalling season considering the teams we'd probably be finishing below (Burnley, Newcastle, Southampton, Palace). 

 

12th will be acceptable I would imagine given the loss of Grealish but we have brought in replacements and as it stands now (even without buying anyone else) we have a good team. 

 

The reality is we should be looking to progress. If we'd sold Grealish and not signed anyone then yes, staying up and hoping for midtable would be the goal, but we have signed players and quality players at that. 

 

We'll be expected to kick on next season, or at the very least not fall backwards. There are around 8 teams in the league who are pretty poor and who we should be finishing above. 

[The Fun Factory]

8th to about 12th.

[MWARLEY2]

I think that this seasons expectations and ambitions going forward should be realigned. Going to be a strange one to say but it makes the most sense. We should aim to finish above  Leicester. Forget top 6 top 4 etc etc. Leicester are the best team in the league that we can compete with. We havent got the huge revenue compared to others. So we need to do it cleverly. And the cleverest out there by a mile are Leicester. How they buy and sell.how their scouting pays dividends . How they play. They are the model on and off the pitch . 

So my 21/22 expectation is to mirror Leicester and forget everyone else 

[KMitch]

36 minutes ago, MWARLEY2 said:

I think that this seasons expectations and ambitions going forward should be realigned. Going to be a strange one to say but it makes the most sense. We should aim to finish above  Leicester. Forget top 6 top 4 etc etc. Leicester are the best team in the league that we can compete with. We havent got the huge revenue compared to others. So we need to do it cleverly. And the cleverest out there by a mile are Leicester. How they buy and sell.how their scouting pays dividends . How they play. They are the model on and off the pitch . 

So my 21/22 expectation is to mirror Leicester and forget everyone else 

• Buendia is injured and will miss the start of the season
• Bailey isn't even in England yet, let alone fit
• Jack is gone

We're basically going to start the season with the same squad we were struggling to put points on the board with in the second half of the season last year, plus Ings.  If you're expecting us to finish above Leicester, you're going to be disappointed.  

[Tomaszk]

10 hours ago, Kiwivillan said:

Spurs and Chelsea wins end of last season? 

What's your point?

[NoelVilla]

Don't know all the incomings yet but I think we will be more consistent in our performances this year. We had some bad performances when "Oil Money" was injured. 7th - 11th and at least one cup run as it stands today. 

[villalad21]

This is going to sound crazy but without Buendia and Bailey I don't think we're far off a side battling relegation.

Need those 2 back ASAP

Edited August 8, 2021 by villalad21

[VillaFaninLondon]

If the club aren't looking to bring in more first team players before Watford, they have lost the plot.

 

Buendia and Sanson have both barely played in preseason, Watkins went off injured today + Luiz now probably having a break after playing at the Olympics and Bailey yet to train with the squad. 

 

That's potentially 5 first team players that may not make the team or squad for next Saturday, plus the fact that we've just sold our best player. 

 

Our net spend is £-10m, we've brought more money in than has gone out, and we finished 11th last season and say we have ambitions of getting into the top 6.

 

We still haven't bought a DM, we've got an abundance of RWs but no real natural LWs or CAMs, we've got 2 great strikers but playing 4-4-2 did not look at all right today so Watkins will have to go wide to make that work or Ings will have to be used as a super sub. 

 

We need to bring in a couple of first team quality additions with the Grealish money before the Watford game. If we don't take advantage of our relatively kind opening few games there'll be a lot of anger that the club didn't address the issues in our team sooner. 

[MWARLEY2]

1 minute ago, VillaFaninLondon said:

If the club aren't looking to bring in more first team players before Watford, they have lost the plot.

 

Buendia and Sanson have both barely played in preseason, Watkins went off injured today + Luiz now probably having a break after playing at the Olympics and Bailey yet to train with the squad. 

 

That's potentially 5 first team players that may not make the team or squad for next Saturday, plus the fact that we've just sold our best player. 

 

Our net spend is £-10m, we've brought more money in than has gone out, and we finished 11th last season and say we have ambitions of getting into the top 6.

 

We still haven't bought a DM, we've got an abundance of RWs but no real natural LWs or CAMs, we've got 2 great strikers but playing 4-4-2 did not look at all right today so Watkins will have to go wide to make that work or Ings will have to be used as a super sub. 

 

We need to bring in a couple of first team quality additions with the Grealish money before the Watford game. If we don't take advantage of our relatively kind opening few games there'll be a lot of anger that the club didn't address the issues in our team sooner. 

Remain calm . We will sign players. We have already made 5 fantastic signings . And i am sure some equally good ones will follow. Whether they come this week or in 3 weeks remains to be seen. Everyone is in the same boat with regards to squads unfit or just returning from holiday. 

And i would hope that the players we are targetting are very good international players meaning they will be barely up to speed.

 

[Rightdm00]

When did all these Arsenal fans show up with all this net spend talk.  If you do actually want to go there, we are 5th in the PL since promotion based on net spend. 

Instead of spending every cent received from Jacks transfer let's give our best in the nation youth team a chance to make their mark on the 1st team. 

[nick76]

9 minutes ago, Rightdm00 said:

When did all these Arsenal fans show up with all this net spend talk.  If you do actually want to go there, we are 5th in the PL since promotion based on net spend. 

Instead of spending every cent received from Jacks transfer let's give our best in the nation youth team a chance to make their mark on the 1st team. 

Youth team is the point, only one or two are ready for impact to the first team this season and even then only infrequently.

[villa4europe]

7 minutes ago, nick76 said:

Youth team is the point, only one or two are ready for impact to the first team this season and even then only infrequently.

I think we're playing the long game though 

We won't sign someone this summer who negatively impacts chuk 2 years down the line

That said I don't think the youth team has a great DMC anywhere near ready, bogarde for example is 17 (?) 

Calls for wanting an 8 or a 10 is different, Ramsey and chuk will start games next year 

[nick76]

1 minute ago, villa4europe said:

We won't sign someone this summer who negatively impacts chuk 2 years down the line

You say that but we don’t have proof of that.  We may still buy somebody depending whose available.

3 minutes ago, villa4europe said:

Calls for wanting an 8 or a 10 is different, Ramsey and chuk will start games next year 

Maybe, probably…but they/either still could be sent on loan yet.  I’m a big believer in loans for youngsters, to get them regular first team competitive football than 5 minutes here and there with the first team and then U23 games.  I think sending out Louie was perfect and maybe a good idea for Chuk as well.  We don’t need him this season, go and get some experience…

[villa4europe]

4 minutes ago, nick76 said:

You say that but we don’t have proof of that.  We may still buy somebody depending whose available.

Maybe, probably…but they/either still could be sent on loan yet.  I’m a big believer in loans for youngsters, to get them regular first team competitive football than 5 minutes here and there with the first team and then U23 games.  I think sending out Louie was perfect and maybe a good idea for Chuk as well.  We don’t need him this season, go and get some experience…

But that only works if you find the player who fill that gap while he's gone 

A £50m 25 year old on a 5 year deal doesn't fit that profile 

Said before I think we could explore tge loan market enabling us to loan out the kids but I don't know who that player is 

It is all about who is available but I think it could just be someone better than Nakamba at DMC and that's the lot... And I'm OK with that... I think signing no one else in midfield is tough going with Luizs summer and mcginns fitness battles but the more I see of Chuk and Ramsey the less I think we need 2 midfielders, we'll wait for them

[turvontour]

1 hour ago, villalad21 said:

This is going to sound crazy but without Buendia and Bailey I don't think we're far off a side battling relegation.

Need those 2 back ASAP

That is weird.

We've got one of the best defences in the league, and two of the best strikers. Or arguably in the top ten.

We're not going to suddenly concede 25 goals more and score 25 goals less.

[nick76]

5 minutes ago, villa4europe said:

A £50m 25 year old on a 5 year deal doesn't fit that profile 

Of course it does.

1) You aren’t going to plan on a youngster being a main player in 2 or 3 years time.  You hope your youngsters develop into that and will assess where you are as a club then.

2) If the youngster can’t take the place of the now 27 or 28, 50m player then it doesn’t matter, you then sell that youngster like many clubs do when they don’t make the grade.

3) if the youngster replaces the now 27 or 28, 50m player then either that player hasn’t been worth the fee or the kid is so good you either have competition or you can sell the 50m player for a great fee and had two great seasons from them.

It’s a win win and not banking on a kid to come good in 2 or 3 years time when you have no idea if they will, you certainly hope they do but so many don’t step up to regular first team football despite being so good at youth level.  Plus you don’t waste 2 or 3 years waiting.  If the kids are good enough they will come through.

I hate incoming loans because generally those players aren’t good enough, have baggage or something else and at best we are improving another teams player.

[Jareth]

It's simple. Ings will fire us towards top 6.

[yayoboy]

Would love us to finish in the top 6, but 7-10 is where I think we will finish.

Talk of bottom half that I'm seeing on here, is very pessimistic... But if it did happen, no way, unfortunately, Smith survives imo....

Edited August 8, 2021 by yayoboy