Summer Transfer Window 2022

[HalfTimePost]

32 minutes ago, messi11 said:

Seeing Palace vs Arsenal tonight finishing top 8 should be a easy work. 

Palace played well I thought, a lot for work to do in defence but for Gameweek 1 they looked good in attack. Are missing Gallagher for sure and looked a bit lopsided going forwards but that'll click for them. 

Their passing, tempo and style were pretty good, I'd like to see us playing like that more regularly. 

[paul514]

13 hours ago, Jas10 said:

Would’ve been an ideal Pep signing then

just wow, even if he turns out to be a top left back long term that is a really stupid bet to take at those odds.

[Peter Griffin]

3 minutes ago, HalfTimePost said:

Palace played well I thought, a lot for work to do in defence but for Gameweek 1 they looked good in attack. Are missing Gallagher for sure and looked a bit lopsided going forwards but that'll click for them. 

Their passing, tempo and style were pretty good, I'd like to see us playing like that more regularly. 

I agree, particularly in the second half. Vieira is doing a good job there, they will not be a relegation candidate this season, more likely a candidate for top half

[Zatman]

1 hour ago, HalfTimePost said:

Apparently he is older than he says he is according to Andy Grays son.

Left us when he was "25", may well be he was in the middle of his prime 27-28 years, a bad move to Liverpool and then been on the slide since. He is "31" now but if he's actually in say his mid-thirties he hasn't done badly even if he never reached the heights we all expected of him.

So many strikers fizzle entirely but he's been playing in the Prem for a decade and scored 86 Goals (all comps). Shouldn't have left us, but his careers been decent.

The Grays are a bunch of pricks who havent really got a clue about anything, sure one is exiled to the Middle East, Sad they have any connection with our club

I would say Benteke bad knee is the problem as Liverpool scouting team dont sign duds and they would have found this out when they got him since Edwards was at the club at the time

[Jas10]

7 hours ago, sir_gary_cahill said:

Haha ok, don’t worry about it, it’s my slow wittedness, do you think we did well last season Jas10? The last sentence suggests not but I could be wrong 

I don’t think we did well at all. It was a poor season and we struggled to get the best out of our players. Only JJ and Cash were “unscathed” if you will…

To finish 14 was abysmal…

Plenty of reasons why it was so poor… but I can’t be. bothered to repeat them all now. Terrible start/preseason, so much disruption…

I still feel sadness over Deano’s departure and feel many things went against him but that’s all in the past and I’m backing SG but only because I want our club to do well.

I’m yet to be convinced or encouraged by him and don’t really see what he is doing or where he is taking us… not encouraged by the majority of what I have seen out there on that pitch since he arrived….

I’m… hopeful. That’s what I am.

I just want us to be an exciting and entertaining team that is a genuine threat and danger to the so called/perceived “big teams”. And stop putting in pathetic performances and getting poor results against obviously inferior opposition.

I don’t like being negative or pessimistic but… you have to be a realist too…

I like our squad, there is quality there and potential. But, again, we haven’t even come close to bringing anywhere near the best out of these players.

I really hope it will “click” this season but I would be lying if said I don’t have any reservations or doubts.

I love Buendia and want him to be a mainstay in the side, such a creative force.

Hate playing with two strikers & both have been pretty shite and underwhelming really. Must improve and I want SG to choose his preferred option, one CF.

Very excited and encouraged by Carlos and Kamara. If we can bring at least another signing in of that kind of quality, then I’ll be delighted and much more optimistic. Midfield needs sorting out.

As ever, we need to sort that midfield out. Must be better and so much less wasteful in possession.

I do expect an improvement and anything less than a top half finish will not be accepted or tolerated. It’s not a major demand on this squad…

The thought of most of these players improving is the main thing that has me enthused… I’m really looking forward to that and am expectant… I will be very disappointed if that doesn’t happen…

Let’s see how SG performs… no excuses now. as he loves to stay. Time to back up those words with actions…

Here’s hoping…

[Jas10]

 

[Jas10]

 

[Villaphan04]

16 hours ago, barry'sboots said:

I see Everton are linked with taking Geuye back. I know people want Sangare but do you think a two year contract for Geuye and then using him properly would be worth looking at?

absolutely not. we already signed Kamara and I'd rather iroegbunam get the minutes than some guy who used to play for us and is 32. 

[sir_gary_cahill]

2 hours ago, Jas10 said:

I don’t think we did well at all. It was a poor season and we struggled to get the best out of our players. Only JJ and Cash were “unscathed” if you will…

To finish 14 was abysmal…

Plenty of reasons why it was so poor… but I can’t be. bothered to repeat them all now. Terrible start/preseason, so much disruption…

I still feel sadness over Deano’s departure and feel many things went against him but that’s all in the past and I’m backing SG but only because I want our club to do well.

I’m yet to be convinced or encouraged by him and don’t really see what he is doing or where he is taking us… not encouraged by the majority of what I have seen out there on that pitch since he arrived….

I’m… hopeful. That’s what I am.

I just want us to be an exciting and entertaining team that is a genuine threat and danger to the so called/perceived “big teams”. And stop putting in pathetic performances and getting poor results against obviously inferior opposition.

I don’t like being negative or pessimistic but… you have to be a realist too…

I like our squad, there is quality there and potential. But, again, we haven’t even come close to bringing anywhere near the best out of these players.

I really hope it will “click” this season but I would be lying if said I don’t have any reservations or doubts.

I love Buendia and want him to be a mainstay in the side, such a creative force.

Hate playing with two strikers & both have been pretty shite and underwhelming really. Must improve and I want SG to choose his preferred option, one CF.

Very excited and encouraged by Carlos and Kamara. If we can bring at least another signing in of that kind of quality, then I’ll be delighted and much more optimistic. Midfield needs sorting out.

As ever, we need to sort that midfield out. Must be better and so much less wasteful in possession.

I do expect an improvement and anything less than a top half finish will not be accepted or tolerated. It’s not a major demand on this squad…

The thought of most of these players improving is the main thing that has me enthused… I’m really looking forward to that and am expectant… I will be very disappointed if that doesn’t happen…

Let’s see how SG performs… no excuses now. as he loves to stay. Time to back up those words with actions…

Here’s hoping…

I think that is quite a negative outlook to have, Gerrard is still fairly new to the job, he has only been in charge for 9 months. This is his first full season, he has only just completed his first full pre-season. It is still too early to judge him,  just give him time, I know it is difficult. Gerrard is very young and inexperienced in management, he is learning on the job. I think fans expectations generally of managers and players these days are too high, they aren’t miracle workers. Gerrard was an excellent player, I think he will go on to be an excellent manager, whether it is with us or someone else. I can’t predict the future, I can just watch and enjoy the ride 

[DakotaVilla]

On 05/08/2022 at 05:25, GingerCollins29 said:

McGinn is captain - he will not need to fight for his guaranteed spot in the team

He absolutely will. Even Gerrard said as much in his pre match press conference that he needs to show consistency etc. it’s all irrelevant if we don’t sign a very good CM anyway. 
 

 

[VillaFaninLondon]

2 hours ago, sir_gary_cahill said:

I think that is quite a negative outlook to have, Gerrard is still fairly new to the job, he has only been in charge for 9 months. This is his first full season, he has only just completed his first full pre-season. It is still too early to judge him,  just give him time, I know it is difficult. Gerrard is very young and inexperienced in management, he is learning on the job. I think fans expectations generally of managers and players these days are too high, they aren’t miracle workers. Gerrard was an excellent player, I think he will go on to be an excellent manager, whether it is with us or someone else. I can’t predict the future, I can just watch and enjoy the ride 

I think 9 months is long enough for Gerrard to be properly judged this season. We're not expecting Europe even though it would be nice, but a significant improvement on last season for sure. He's had two transfer windows, and four of his likely first 11 will be his players (Carlos, Digne, Kamara, Coutinho). I personally thought he would be backed more this summer especially given Purslow is talking about top 7 but there is rumour that he is still after a starting 11 CM at the minimum. 

 

It's all well and good being eternally optimistic but now it's time to sh*t or get off the pot. We seem to continually underperform as a club despite having a first 11 and team full of players who have performed at the highest level at international level and also for their former clubs: Coutinho, Bailey, Kamara, Carlos, Martinez, Digne to name a few. Our team isn't perfect, that's why many including myself would like to see more players coming in, but there is enough there to improve on what was a very poor season last time out and break into the top half. The league is competitive, you're not wrong, but with all the investment these owners have put in over the years they want to see progress, it's not unrealistic expectations to want to achieve that. Top half should be a minimum expectation with the squad we have in place in spite of Gerrard's inexperience at this level, and potential top managers learn quickly anyhow. 

 

You like to mention we were in the Championship a few seasons ago, well so were Wolves, Leicester, Newcastle, even West Ham have been down there fairly recently and three of those four teams have since qualified for Europe (in Wolves and Leicester case within 2 seasons of promotion). It's not an excuse because it actually gave us a chance to reset and we now have a completely different team to the one we had then. If we want to talk about the past, between 2000 and 2011 we finished in the top 10 eight times so maybe we should be using that as a benchmark for our success rather than the last decade. We can nitpick all we want. Anyhow, we need to start off well by beating Bournemouth today. We have a fully fit squad to choose from and our preseason seems to have gone reasonably decent, so no excuses for me. 

[thunderball]

33 minutes ago, VillaFaninLondon said:

I think 9 months is long enough for Gerrard to be properly judged this season. We're not expecting Europe even though it would be nice, but a significant improvement on last season for sure. He's had two transfer windows, and four of his likely first 11 will be his players (Carlos, Digne, Kamara, Coutinho). I personally thought he would be backed more this summer especially given Purslow is talking about top 7 but there is rumour that he is still after a starting 11 CM at the minimum. 

 

It's all well and good being eternally optimistic but now it's time to sh*t or get off the pot. We seem to continually underperform as a club despite having a first 11 and team full of players who have performed at the highest level at international level and also for their former clubs: Coutinho, Bailey, Kamara, Carlos, Martinez, Digne to name a few. Our team isn't perfect, that's why many including myself would like to see more players coming in, but there is enough there to improve on what was a very poor season last time out and break into the top half. The league is competitive, you're not wrong, but with all the investment these owners have put in over the years they want to see progress, it's not unrealistic expectations to want to achieve that. Top half should be a minimum expectation with the squad we have in place in spite of Gerrard's inexperience at this level, and potential top managers learn quickly anyhow. 

 

You like to mention we were in the Championship a few seasons ago, well so were Wolves, Leicester, Newcastle, even West Ham have been down there fairly recently and three of those four teams have since qualified for Europe (in Wolves and Leicester case within 2 seasons of promotion). It's not an excuse because it actually gave us a chance to reset and we now have a completely different team to the one we had then. If we want to talk about the past, between 2000 and 2011 we finished in the top 10 eight times so maybe we should be using that as a benchmark for our success rather than the last decade. We can nitpick all we want. Anyhow, we need to start off well by beating Bournemouth today. We have a fully fit squad to choose from and our preseason seems to have gone reasonably decent, so no excuses for me. 

We have been poor since Lerner lost interest and sold all our assets, we were top 6 at that point. It’s a hard battle back and we have done well. I have never seen this division as competitive as it is now, the top 8 are all more established, and as perspective, we nearly went bust four years ago, had to sell the ground and had to build a new team from scratch under FFP. Plus the season we went down, the Sky money went crazy and we missed out on 3 years of huge money. When we came back up it was a different Premier League, even Bournemouth and Brighton had strong squads with coveted players.

Last season was serious under achievement, this season is the litmus test. But having watched Palace v Arsenal last night you can see just how competitive it is, and how hard top 10 will be. Gerrard needs to cut out the mistakes (think Mings), improve ball retention and our competitiveness in the middle, improve competition for places, and give the forwards a platform to thrive because who we have should be good enough. I do think Gerrard and the club is working towards all these, it’s going to take time. I also think Gerrard will make the tough decisions (think Mings), he has proved as much, and his reputation as a manager is on the line as he has been backed to the hilt.

In all honesty the players have to step up, for me it’s on them, they are good enough and generally underperformed almost to a man last season. For me we still lack a very good #8, although I like McGinn, Luiz, Sanson, JJ and Nakamba, I am not convinced we can rely on them for the standard our ambition requires. I hope one of them steps up.

Edited August 6, 2022 by thunderball

[CVByrne]

If we can sign a player who is better than the 8s we've got at the club we'll go and do that and find a player to leave. If the right player isn't available who is better than who we've got then we'll sign nobody. It all depends how things go in the final weeks of window. It's certainly why Luiz is just waiting on his contract situation and waiting to see if someone new comes in or not. Also if a CL club come in for him or not

[CVByrne]

I do wonder if Gallagher will be available near deadline day if he's not got the mins on the pitch he needs to stay in England squad. Especially if De Jong joins Chelsea. Then it'll be interesting if we move for him and accept a bid for Luiz or if Sanson then leaves on Loan and Luiz leaves on a free next summer. 

[VillaFaninLondon]

2 minutes ago, thunderball said:

We have been poor since Lerner lost interest and sold all our assets, we were top 6 at that point. It’s a hard battle back and we have done well. I have never seen this division as competitive as it is now, the top 8 are all more established, and as perspective, we nearly went bust four years ago, had to sell the ground and had to build a new team from scratch under FFP. Plus the season we went down, the Sky money went crazy and we missed out on 3 years of huge money. When we came back up it was a different Premier League, even Bournemouth and Brighton had strong squads with coveted players.

Last season was serious under achievement, this season is the litmus test. But having watched Palace v Arsenal last night you can see just how competitive it is, and how hard top 10 will be. Gerrard needs to cut out the mistakes (think Mings), improve ball retention and our competitiveness in the middle, improve competition for places, and give the forwards a platform to thrive because they should be good enough. I do think Gerrard and the club is working towards all these, it’s going to take time.

In all honesty the players have to step up, for me it’s on them, they are good enough and generally underperformed almost to a man last season. For me we still lack a very good #8, although I like McGinn, Luiz, Sanson, JJ and Nakamba, I am not convinced we can rely on them for the standard our ambition requires. I hope one of them steps up.

Oh sure, we have come a long way. No denying that at all and we've great owners to thank for that for their investment. But all those other clubs have had dark days too, even the so-called 'top' clubs have, Chelsea were in big trouble when Abramovich left last season and also when he first took over they had huge debts, unfortunately they always seem to come out of these situations smelling of roses.

 

For me we have to do a few things this season to have a decent season:

• Improve our home form - winning six times at home was terrible last season, it wasn't much better the season before (albeit without fans), we need to be targeting a minimum of 10 wins at home this season
• Be more consistent - goes without saying, that means having fairly standard form throughout the campaign, of course winning runs are great, but when you win 2 or 3 in a row then go on and lose your next 4 or 5 you're not going to have a good season, it has to stop
• Be harder to beat - 19 defeats last season was really bad, it was even more than Burnley I think, we need to turn more defeats into draws especially against the bigger teams and more draws against weaker teams into wins, even if we only won a couple more than last season but turned at least 5 of those defeats into draws, we'd be 9-10 points better off and easily top half
• Do better against the top 7 teams - we lost twice to 6 of the top 7 last season, that's 12 defeats, simply ain't good enough
• Do better against the bottom teams - kind of a contradiction to the point above but I don't want us to be losing twice to teams like Watford again, teams we should be beating comfortably. That's why we need to start well today because our record against newly promoted clubs last season was dog sh*t

[Laughable Chimp]

8 minutes ago, VillaFaninLondon said:

Oh sure, we have come a long way. No denying that at all and we've great owners to thank for that for their investment. But all those other clubs have had dark days too, even the so-called 'top' clubs have, Chelsea were in big trouble when Abramovich left last season and also when he first took over they had huge debts, unfortunately they always seem to come out of these situations smelling of roses.

 

For me we have to do a few things this season to have a decent season:

• Improve our home form - winning six times at home was terrible last season, it wasn't much better the season before (albeit without fans), we need to be targeting a minimum of 10 wins at home this season
• Be more consistent - goes without saying, that means having fairly standard form throughout the campaign, of course winning runs are great, but when you win 2 or 3 in a row then go on and lose your next 4 or 5 you're not going to have a good season, it has to stop
• Be harder to beat - 19 defeats last season was really bad, it was even more than Burnley I think, we need to turn more defeats into draws especially against the bigger teams and more draws against weaker teams into wins, even if we only won a couple more than last season but turned at least 5 of those defeats into draws, we'd be 9-10 points better off and easily top half
• Do better against the top 7 teams - we lost twice to 6 of the top 7 last season, that's 12 defeats, simply ain't good enough
• Do better against the bottom teams - kind of a contradiction to the point above but I don't want us to be losing twice to teams like Watford again, teams we should be beating comfortably. That's why we need to start well today because our record against newly promoted clubs last season was dog sh*t

So basically win more and lose less. Solid advice.

[VillaFaninLondon]

8 minutes ago, Laughable Chimp said:

So basically win more and lose less. Solid advice.

Well yes that is generally how it works if you want to get more points than the previous season. I'd hardly be suggesting how we can lose more and win less would I.

[MSvillain]

10 hours ago, JAMAICAN-VILLAN said:

We've literally got development players in our first team squad right now , as well as one of the strongest and most Pro active academies in the country.

It's why with certain things there is no point even bothering ffs.

Haha I agree, we literally have a full 11 of quality youth products to develop into starters/squad players 

[Sulberto21]

I wonder who we’ve been linked with - any rumours ? Or shall we discuss it in the effing Gerrard thread? Or maybe the season predictions thread or the bastid tactics thread!

kin hell.

[Philosopher]

9 hours ago, ciggiesnbeer said:

Yup.  We saw the best of Benteke.. He was a one man forward line for us. Physicality, speed, technique, football intelligence. He had it all. I wish him well in MLS.

Yep! The Liverpool move destroyed his confidence. Never been the same. Was a lazy bugger though!

Also Andy Gray's son is full of shit, just like his dad!