Pau Torres

[Delphinho123]

6 minutes ago, Tomaszk said:

Quite a bit of pressure on this to work if it happens.

I hope Emery has been given lots and lots and lots of different options before settling on Torres.

He obviously really rates him from his time at Villareal. It's telling that Bayern are in for him - he must be reasonably good. Considering the amazing work he's done already, Emery deserves to be supported and if he wants Torres, surely we've gotta back him. 

Not sure what this means for Carlos/Konsa etc. I know we need a squad and we'll play a lot of matches but centre half is one of those positions you just don't want to rotate too much. The top teams have always had very stable centre half partnerships. 

Mings/Konsa with Carlos in support is fairly strong considering we need to spend big money on other areas of the squad.

[Aston_Villan4]

12 minutes ago, The_Steve said:

Pau and Ty would compliment each other well. Mings tries to do everything and that is where mistakes creep in. If it happens, we can have a lot of options defensively. 

I think that’s one of the many things that Emery has already changed. With Mings, he simplified his game whether through personal improvement or being able to rely on others around him as they improved. You don’t see those errors anymore. Pau and Ty together will be loads of fun to watch.

[romavillan]

He's still only 26, so we'd in theory be getting his best years if we give him 3/4 year deal. Would seemingly be Mings' position though, I can't see us playing 2 left footed CBs playing the way we play. Looks good enough to me.

[Tomaszk]

4 minutes ago, Delphinho123 said:

He obviously really rates him from his time at Villareal. It's telling that Bayern are in for him - he must be reasonably good. Considering the amazing work he's done already, Emery deserves to be supported and if he wants Torres, surely we've gotta back him. 

Not sure what this means for Carlos/Konsa etc. I know we need a squad and we'll play a lot of matches but centre half is one of those positions you just don't want to rotate too much. The top teams have always had very stable centre half partnerships. 

Mings/Konsa with Carlos in support is fairly strong considering we need to spend big money on other areas of the squad.

My thinking is.

Emery is a genius. Top top tier.

He can lift relatively mid-tier players like McGinn, Mings, Watkins, Konsa, Dougie and Moreno to top 8/Champions League level. **** knows how he does it, but we know for a fact he can.

So I think when we do spend, it should be for really special players - players that with Emery's added pazazz can be some of the best in the league. More commonly that would be attacking players as well to be honest. Our team structure and discipline lifts the defence to a certain level anyway IMO.

No question this will be an exciting signing.

[jacketspuds]

As others have mentioned, this gives us the option of pushing Konsa out as one of Emery's CB as a RB options.

[IrishVilla10]

If he signs I’d be surprised if we don’t see a 3 at the back formation, similar to what’s peps used this season 

[romavillan]

2 minutes ago, jacketspuds said:

As others have mentioned, this gives us the option of pushing Konsa out as one of Emery's CB as a RB options.

Two left footed CBs though, if we're going to be playing that risky possession to create a fake counter attack type situation then having one CB maybe having to quite often take a first touch under pressure with the wrong foot might not be the best idea.

[Anything11]

hope we don't get Asensio'd again please god

[MotoMkali]

22 minutes ago, IrishVilla10 said:

If he signs I’d be surprised if we don’t see a 3 at the back formation, similar to what’s peps used this season 

Emery is a big fan of using different formations we just lacked the squad depth and versatility to chnage beyond 1 or 2 variations of the base system. 

Torres, Dendoncker, Chambers can let us play with a CB who steps into midfield when in the opponents half or defending in the middle third of the pitch. 

We need a new RB, RM/RW still though before I'd be comfortable with our overall depth. 

[PeterSw]

28 minutes ago, jacketspuds said:

As others have mentioned, this gives us the option of pushing Konsa out as one of Emery's CB as a RB options

And potentially vice versa with Mings/Torres playing LB on occasion 

[CVByrne]

1 hour ago, villan-scott said:

Lots and lots of noise around this one now

 

 

 

Two people quoted have only a handful of followers.

 

Also this feels lime the standard make noise he's going to Villa to get the other bids in.

[Hank Scorpio]

Imagine both centre backs being able to pass out from the back and quickly start an attack. When did we last have that 

[MrBlack]

7 hours ago, TheMelvillan said:

Theres something collectively ingrained in us villa fans that we can't accept the idea of signing excellent players in positions where we already have excellent players and letting them fight for their position

Is it just put recent history of mediocrity or a self deprecating thing

Top teams fans don't get nervous when they sign top players to compete with who they already have . Arsenal fans won't be crying about signing havertz when they already have an abundance of attacking talent.

We have to accept we are entering a new and improved phase of our existence where we need to be building a full squad of excellent players. Not 14 excellent players and a bunch of vaguely competent individuals to make up the numbers.

Theres also a bit of sentimentality we can't shake where we have our favourites who have served us well and maybe don't deserved to be dropped for someone new. But I think we need to allow natural selection decide who deserved to be starting for Aston villa. It's something that needs to be earned, not given

My concerns with signing a quality player in a position we're already strong in are to do with the fact we have FFP spending limits. That money then can't be spent in a position where we need a quality player more.

I'd rather we spent 100m on a second striker and got that right, than 40m on Torres and 60m on a second striker that isn't our first choice.

Obviously, money only goes so far to persuading a player to join. Maybe we've exhausted the really expensive first choices for those positions, and rather than over spend on a second choice we're striking while the irons hot on another player we see as the future of our defence.

But part of my little concern is we revisit the second striker options later in the window to see what's evolved and if it transpires our first target now wants to come to us, but we can no longer afford them.... have we then hampered our season. 

Overall though, I trust Emery, and only have to look at what happened with Moreno to see that signing someone i didnt think we needed is probably more to do with me being wrong than Emery making the wrong call. 

[Follyfoot]

1 minute ago, Hank Scorpio said:

Imagine both centre backs being able to pass out from the back and quickly start an attack. When did we last have that 

Bit harsh on Konza, him and Mings were virtually faultless last 10 games or so 

[WallisFrizz]

1 minute ago, MrBlack said:

My concerns with signing a quality player in a position we're already strong in are to do with the fact we have FFP spending limits. That money then can't be spent in a position where we need a quality player more.

I'd rather we spent 100m on a second striker and got that right, than 40m on Torres and 60m on a second striker that isn't our first choice.

Obviously, money only goes so far to persuading a player to join. Maybe we've exhausted the really expensive first choices for those positions, and rather than over spend on a second choice we're striking while the irons hot on another player we see as the future of our defence.

But part of my little concern is we revisit the second striker options later in the window to see what's evolved and if it transpires our first target now wants to come to us, but we can no longer afford them.... have we then hampered our season. 

Overall though, I trust Emery, and only have to look at what happened with Moreno to see that signing someone i didnt think we needed is probably more to do with me being wrong than Emery making the wrong call. 

The 100 mil striker isn’t going to come to Villa though. We are shopping in the 30-60 mil market.

[IrishVilla10]

 

[Vive_La_Villa]

2 minutes ago, IrishVilla10 said:

 

In the Premier League that 95.5% Aerials dual won is priceless. 
 

Mings really only won 15% of defensive duals? I find that hard to believe. 

[El-Reacho]

2 minutes ago, IrishVilla10 said:

 

This suggests that he's unable to challenge for headers - which is a bit of a blinspot for an elite level centre-half. Am I reading this wrong??

[Tomaszk]

Just now, El-Reacho said:

This suggests that he's unable to challenge for headers - which is a bit of a blinspot for an elite level centre-half. Am I reading this wrong??

Nope, you're not. And yes it is crucial to CBs.

Mad how little he wins for a 6 3"+ guy.

Brentford, Newcastle would never ever make this signing.

[JourneymanSteve]

1 hour ago, wilko154 said:

Is it just me or does he seem to do everything we’ve been trying to get Mings to stop doing the last few seasons?

No doubt about it he’s very good at what he does and controls the ball well, an outstanding ball playing defender.

From these highlights, he looks incredibly one footed to me. Even when dribbling, he prefers to nudge it with his left when it looks 10x easier to use his right.

On that basis, I cant see him being moved out of the LCB position. So he'd either be in direct competition with Mings, or Mings is gonna need to adapt to a RCB role. In Unai we trust.