Lucas Digne

[Phil Silvers]

1 hour ago, Demitri_C said:

28m on a left back we didnt need.  Absolutely ridiculous decision by the club

You silly suasage, he's one of the best in the country if not the world. Digne is far from a problem.

[icouldtelltheworld]

Both of these points can simultaneously be true:

1) He is a very talented player, as demonstrated by the fact he regularly starts at LB for France

2) Currently, he hasn't really offered anything much in a Villa shirt that couldnt have been provided by Targett

You can then add the third point, which is that given his injury record, it was a bit silly to allow Targett to leave to Newcastle, who now have every chance of finishing above us in the table

[JPJCB]

My main concern with this transfer is that it’s a further reiteration that our transfer policy is opportunistic rather than strategic. There’s 4 recent examples of that:

1.) sanson in jan 2021 where we bought him cause we thought he’d be cheap given Marseille’s situation. Fair to say this transfer hasn’t worked out (yet)

2.) Ings in summer 2021 where he seems to have been purchased opportunistically to ease the grealish transfer blow. I’m a fan of Ings but it’s fair to say that the interaction with Watkins wasn’t thought through

3.) coutinho in jan 2022. Few can argue with this transfer but it was opportunistic based on the gerrard connection- if smith was still manager we likely wouldn’t have even been interested. Similar issue to Ings where he’s a fine acquisition in himself but the interaction with buendia isn’t clear

4.) digne in jan 2022 where his exile at Everton likely prompted an opportunistic move meaning we spent money on him rather than a CDM

Now each of those signings in itself is not necessarily an awful decision- in fact the coutinho one might be a genius move. But it smells of us “chasing the football” (to use an appropriate analogy) and jumping at opportunities rather than having a long term strategic plan. The biggest negative consequence of that is that we’ve underinvested in CDM which has now been a problem position for 2-3 years, ever since we were promoted. If we’d spent the £100m on the above on a CDM would we be a better team overall- I think we might be

[Demitri_C]

41 minutes ago, Xela said:

I don't follow?

He's a huge upgrade on Targett. 

I don't think he has been to be honest. Defensively i think he hasnt been as good as targett.

The number one priority was a dm not a left back in January. Targett only opted to move because we signed digne. 

[Demitri_C]

40 minutes ago, Phil Silvers said:

You silly suasage, he's one of the best in the country if not the world. Digne is far from a problem.

Hasnt shown it yet at villa my fellow silly sausage

[AVTuco]

17 hours ago, og1874 said:

Well, as someone who is lactose intolerant, I can tell you that an "upset stomach" can be absolutely disastrous

Upset stomach is a silly way to put it. Too easy to make jokes about it.

[Phil Silvers]

1 minute ago, Demitri_C said:

Hasnt shown it yet at villa my fellow silly sausage

For some reason, most are not showing what they can do, especially as a cohesive unit. Not sure anyone has touched on this but I think some are struggling with the pressure. That in itself clouds judgement, errors occur, initial response times become delayed, off the ball thinking goes out of the window, sloppy passing etc, all because they are mentally processing something else instead of being on it, whether on or off the ball for 90 minutes. 

Digne alone though has come in not 100% fit and still isn't. In this knowledge SG would have kept Targs here, I'm pretty sure that's what SG wanted this but Targs said fck it way too soon IMO, he acknowledged the gravity of fighting for his spot against a far superior player and ran for it. SG should have stood firm and gave him his blessing that he can move in the summer if he still wanted too. 

Digne will be fine once everyone else around him focuses and cuts out all the errors and can process what the coaches want and are able to action it for whole matches.

[Demitri_C]

Just now, Phil Silvers said:

For some reason, most are not showing what they can do, especially as a cohesive unit. Not sure anyone has touched on this but I think some are struggling with the pressure. That in itself clouds judgement, errors occur, initial response times become delayed, off the ball thinking goes out of the window, sloppy passing etc, all because they are mentally processing something else instead of being on it, whether on or off the ball for 90 minutes. 

Digne alone though has come in not 100% fit and still isn't. In this knowledge SG would have kept Targs here, I'm pretty sure that's what SG wanted this but Targs said fck it way too soon IMO, he acknowledged the gravity of fighting for his spot against a far superior player and ran for it. SG should have stood firm and gave him his blessing that he can move in the summer if he still wanted too. 

Digne will be fine once everyone else around him focuses and cuts out all the errors and can process what the coaches want and are able to action it for whole matches.

Im hoping he will get bettee but so far i havent been overly impressed unfortunately 

The defence consistently hasnt been good enough. 

[Zatman]

Just now, Phil Silvers said:

For some reason, most are not showing what they can do, especially as a cohesive unit. Not sure anyone has touched on this but I think some are struggling with the pressure. That in itself clouds judgement, errors occur, initial response times become delayed, off the ball thinking goes out of the window, sloppy passing etc, all because they are mentally processing something else instead of being on it, whether on or off the ball for 90 minutes. 

Digne alone though has come in not 100% fit and still isn't. In this knowledge SG would have kept Targs here, I'm pretty sure that's what SG wanted this but Targs said fck it way too soon IMO, he acknowledged the gravity of fighting for his spot against a far superior player and ran for it. SG should have stood firm and gave him his blessing that he can move in the summer if he still wanted too. 

Digne will be fine once everyone else around him focuses and cuts out all the errors and can process what the coaches want and are able to action it for whole matches.

I think we could have told Targett to wait until the end of the season. Also paying 25 million and 130k a week for a left back ruined any chance of a fair competition for the position. Because of this was no way when he is fit would Targett ever start over Digne regardless of his form

[Phil Silvers]

1 minute ago, Demitri_C said:

Im hoping he will get bettee but so far i havent been overly impressed unfortunately 

The defence consistently hasnt been good enough. 

 

Just now, Zatman said:

I think we could have told Targett to wait until the end of the season. Also paying 25 million and 130k a week for a left back ruined any chance of a fair competition for the position. Because of this was no way when he is fit would Targett ever start over Digne regardless of his form

Targett shouldn't have had the choice, he is a proper pro and would have got on with it IMO. Maybe a bit of inexperience from SG there. 

 

[gwi1890]

39 minutes ago, Demitri_C said:

I don't think he has been to be honest. Defensively i think he hasnt been as good as targett.

The number one priority was a dm not a left back in January. Targett only opted to move because we signed digne. 

I’m sure it was , but a massive opportunity to pick up a quality LB came up,  we were in for Bentancur but he went to Spurs instead, if the players aren’t available you can’t sign them.

[Demitri_C]

6 minutes ago, gwi1890 said:

I’m sure it was , but a massive opportunity to pick up a quality LB came up,  we were in for Bentancur but he went to Spurs instead, if the players aren’t available you can’t sign them.

Its abit worrying if we cant find a dm though. Its not like we are blessed with any decent ones.

[nick76]

39 minutes ago, Demitri_C said:

Its abit worrying if we cant find a dm though. Its not like we are blessed with any decent ones.

that's why we are probably going to have to pay over the odds for one like Phillips.  I dont think he'd come to us but if there was a slight door opening, we should jump at the chance because it's such a big hole in our team for a very long time and could really be a difference make for us.  

[Demitri_C]

10 minutes ago, nick76 said:

that's why we are probably going to have to pay over the odds for one like Phillips.  I dont think he'd come to us but if there was a slight door opening, we should jump at the chance because it's such a big hole in our team for a very long time and could really be a difference make for us.  

I simply cannot see us getting phillips unless leeds go down and they are not going down.

Phillips only would leave them if we were in europe. Why would he come here after the shit show the last few weeks. I think bissouma is more a realistic option. Id be happy with him - the exact player we need

[gwi1890]

1 hour ago, Demitri_C said:

Its abit worrying if we cant find a dm though. Its not like we are blessed with any decent ones.

 

14 minutes ago, Demitri_C said:

I simply cannot see us getting phillips unless leeds go down and they are not going down.

Phillips only would leave them if we were in europe. Why would he come here after the shit show the last few weeks. I think bissouma is more a realistic option. Id be happy with him - the exact player we need

 

Both possibly north of £50m that’s why it’s a difficult task to get a DM in. Pointless signing a similar caliber to what we have already, we will have to spend big and get it right.

[Demitri_C]

54 minutes ago, gwi1890 said:

 

 

Both possibly north of £50m that’s why it’s a difficult task to get a DM in. Pointless signing a similar caliber to what we have already, we will have to spend big and get it right.

Bissouma wont be 50m in the summer with one year left. I think 30m would be enough to get him

[CVByrne]

On 02/04/2022 at 15:19, Chasetown Villa said:

Starting to think this guy is made of glass…

Cash had hamstring problems last season too. He's played every game this season so far. These niggles heal well over summer

[CVByrne]

I had stomach cramps when running recently. Was horrific, I couldn't run. Tried to keep going but you just can't. 

[lexicon]

Can understand why he wouldn't want to shit himself on national TV in front of thousands of people tbh. 

[Davkaus]

15 minutes ago, lexicon said:

Can understand why he wouldn't want to shit himself on national TV in front of thousands of people tbh. 

Never did Gary Linekar any harm. Bloody snowflake generation