Leeroy Posted May 20 Share Posted May 20 (edited) 50 minutes ago, Frodo said: Don't think there are issues to address, other than Sqaud depth for more quality, if we hadn't of got the injuries we've had this season, I think we would of finished more comfortably in the top 4 & maybe stayed in the title race longer, so little bit of luck with injuries next season & a few good additions, we will be just fine under Emery. I don't agree, we need to find a holding midfielder at a similar level to Kamara because he's out for probably half of next season, we need an upgrade at right back, so at least 2 need additions to the first 11. Arguably another centre back/left back hybrid to add to the team too depending on what right back we go for. So at least three new starting players I'd say + 1 or 2 squad players to improve our depth. I do agree about injuries and you would hope that next season would be more generous on that front, but no one knows for sure. We will still be in Europe and may go far in the League Cup or FA Cup (or both) and injuries will pile up if that happens. It happened to Newcastle, Brighton, Man Utd, Chelsea and other teams this season as well. Edited May 20 by Leeroy 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
duke313 Posted May 20 Share Posted May 20 10 hours ago, Leeroy said: All the "new" teams that qualified for CL this season like us look better equipped to do well than we do: Stuttgart - 2nd in Bundesliga on 73 points from 34 games, GD of +39, lost only one of their last 16 league games Girona - will finish 3rd in La Liga only behind Barca and Real and ahead of Atletico, 78 points from 37 games, GD of +32 Bologna - probably a bit more like us, 67 points from 36 games (2 to go), but only lost 5 games and GD of +24 Leverkusen - goes without saying, unbeaten in all competitions, GD of +65 in their league, insane There is a lot of work to do just to beat these teams let alone the really top ones like Real, PSG and Bayern. We need a really good transfer window and in particular to target players with elite mentalities because the players who played today don't have that at all. It would be a real disappointment if we qualified for Europe's top tournament for the first time in 41 years to just get embarrassed. Especially given we're one of the few teams to have actually won the damn thing. Most of those teams with exception of probably Leverkusen are going to be picked apart. Guirassy, Stuttgart's top scorer will almost certainly get a big move and Undav their next highest scorer is on loan from Brighton so i'd imagine he'll return. Girona might not even be allowed to play in CL with their links to City, and are already losing one of their main players, Savio who's signed for City. Bologna will get decimated, Thiago Motta is Juve bound and they'll lose their top players like Zirkzee. Leverkusen will get a stay of execution only to the fact Alonso is staying, if he had left they'd have been torn apart too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Leeroy Posted May 20 Share Posted May 20 1 minute ago, duke313 said: Most of those teams with exception of probably Leverkusen are going to be picked apart. Guirassy, Stuttgart's top scorer will almost certainly get a big move and Undav their next highest scorer is on loan from Brighton so i'd imagine he'll return. Girona might not even be allowed to play in CL with their links to City, and are already losing one of their main players, Savio who's signed for City. Bologna will get decimated, Thiago Motta is Juve bound and they'll lose their top players like Zirkzee. Leverkusen will get a stay of execution only to the fact Alonso is staying, if he had left they'd have been torn apart too. I'm not sure, it's speculation if they lose those players at this point (other than Savio). There's lots of speculation we will sell Ramsey and Luiz too but we might not. Bologna losing their manager could derail them, I agree on that, and they're probably the weakest of the teams along with us based on league performances. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frodo Posted May 20 Share Posted May 20 23 minutes ago, Leeroy said: I don't agree, we need to find a holding midfielder at a similar level to Kamara because he's out for probably half of next season, we need an upgrade at right back, so at least 2 need additions to the first 11. Arguably another centre back/left back hybrid to add to the team too depending on what right back we go for. So at least three new starting players I'd say + 1 or 2 squad players to improve our depth. I do agree about injuries and you would hope that next season would be more generous on that front, but no one knows for sure. We will still be in Europe and may go far in the League Cup or FA Cup (or both) and injuries will pile up if that happens. It happened to Newcastle, Brighton, Man Utd, Chelsea and other teams this season as well. Thats what I was saying regards injuries, kamara prime example, he stays fit this side of Xmas & things would of been more comfortable, yes regards recruitment additions, like a defensive midfielder & that's priority as Kamara probably won't be back till 2 months into, same as left back season, I see at least 1 centre half come in to replace Longlet, maybe another depending on Mings, if Emery likes playing 4 centre midfielders a expected another midfielder on top of the defensive midfielder also, not sure bout rightback unless he sells Cash & also leftback unless Digne goes,I do think we will sell Duran tho & that means a back up forward. But I'm not panicking one bit because we have Emery & Monchi all over it, Emery will know how to build a sqaud for Europe he has been in Europe for 18 straight seasons now Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
duke313 Posted May 20 Share Posted May 20 17 minutes ago, Leeroy said: I'm not sure, it's speculation if they lose those players at this point (other than Savio). There's lots of speculation we will sell Ramsey and Luiz too but we might not. Bologna losing their manager could derail them, I agree on that, and they're probably the weakest of the teams along with us based on league performances. Even if those teams keep their players, we'll still be competitive in the CL. If we can beat City and Arsenal (twice), we can beat Girona and Stuttgart. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AVFCDAN Posted May 20 Share Posted May 20 24 minutes ago, duke313 said: Even if those teams keep their players, we'll still be competitive in the CL. If we can beat City and Arsenal (twice), we can beat Girona and Stuttgart. Just like we beat Olympiakos? European competition is a different kettle of fish clearly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zatman Posted May 20 Share Posted May 20 13 minutes ago, AVFCDAN said: Just like we beat Olympiakos? European competition is a different kettle of fish clearly. We would have beat Olympiakos if we had our full team available 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pongo Waring Posted May 20 Share Posted May 20 Honestly think we can go all the way to the final If Emery can get Villarreal in the semi's, he can do one better with Villa. Lets win this! 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vive_La_Villa Posted May 20 Share Posted May 20 36 minutes ago, AVFCDAN said: Just like we beat Olympiakos? European competition is a different kettle of fish clearly. To be fair had we prioritised Europe we would have won the conference but lost out on top 4. Next season the balance may be different if we have got to the knock out stages of the competition. Hopefully better luck with injuries too. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stratvillan Posted May 20 Share Posted May 20 To give the CL a go I think that we need to sign first team starters not just squad fillers. Though we've suffered from injuries, there's no guaranteeing that Mings (especially), Buendia and later Kamara will return all guns blazing. Linked to this is the fact that we will get injuries at some point. Defensively we are weak, there is absolutely no chance of progressing in the champions league with digne/ moreno Pau Konsa Cash / new guy (I don't have clue if hes good) To say we can target the later stages with these players is laughable. It's a testament to Emery that he has got top 4 with a top 4 attack, top 6 midfield and top half back 4. To progress in the CL we need to be looking at players to match our best, not substitute for our worse. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
david-avfc Posted May 20 Share Posted May 20 This season has been eye opening to me how badly injuries can derail a season, we just about got away with it in the league but it cost us the Conference League against realistically much weaker opposition. Unfortunately you look at so many other teams who have also suffered similar injury problems this year and then think we’re going into a summer of international tournaments, and then the European club tournaments have now been expanded… there are just too many games at a high level of intensity, the injuries just aren’t going to go away and that’s for all clubs not just us. That means in order to compete across competitions we really do need proper back up in every position, we can’t leave gaps in our squad like we did this season and hope we can get by, we’ll easily get caught out. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
villanmac Posted May 20 Share Posted May 20 I don't think there is any need to be negative but it has to be said we were shite this season in nearly all of the away games in the European 3rd tier comp. This is some step-up. But the good thing is Emery will be aware of that and will improve again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VillaChris Posted May 20 Share Posted May 20 1 hour ago, AVFCDAN said: Just like we beat Olympiakos? European competition is a different kettle of fish clearly. Lille is the sort of quality we'll face in CL. That was a very tough test over two legs. Main aim is to be strong at VP and see what we can get away. I think the bigger issue will be the knock on effect for the following prem games. Big problem is we're playing a high level opponent on the Wednesday evening and then get put in the half 12 slot on the following Saturday. Going to need a decent squad for that schedule. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
duke313 Posted May 20 Share Posted May 20 28 minutes ago, VillaChris said: Lille is the sort of quality we'll face in CL. That was a very tough test over two legs. Main aim is to be strong at VP and see what we can get away. I think the bigger issue will be the knock on effect for the following prem games. Big problem is we're playing a high level opponent on the Wednesday evening and then get put in the half 12 slot on the following Saturday. Going to need a decent squad for that schedule. That KO slot is reserved for Liverpool Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zatman Posted May 20 Share Posted May 20 Atletico smashed 1-4 at home and Real Madrid conceding 4 as well Not sure how these teams will be able to compete in Champions League next season 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Woody1000 Posted May 20 Share Posted May 20 2 hours ago, Pongo Waring said: Honestly think we can go all the way to the final If Emery can get Villarreal in the semi's, he can do one better with Villa. Lets win this! Posts like this just make opposing supporters look at us and laugh. Let’s take things one step at a time? 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Demitri_C Posted May 20 Share Posted May 20 At least we aint favourites of winning CL. I do believe having the tag as favourites for conference league effected us. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarkLillis Posted May 20 Share Posted May 20 8 minutes ago, Woody1000 said: Posts like this just make opposing supporters look at us and laugh. Let’s take things one step at a time? Opposing supporters do this anyway. However last year they rolled there eyes at any suggestion we would get into 4th.....even when we were actually in 4th place and the nearest team was 5 points adrift! There is one whole generation of football supporter pundits who cant comprehend Aston Villa as anything other than mediocre. So why bother when they laugh. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pongo Waring Posted May 20 Share Posted May 20 14 minutes ago, Woody1000 said: Posts like this just make opposing supporters look at us and laugh. Let’s take things one step at a time? Let them laugh. I'm a believer. Why would would I be negative? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Woody1000 Posted May 20 Share Posted May 20 18 minutes ago, Demitri_C said: At least we aint favourites of winning CL. I do believe having the tag as favourites for conference league effected us. I think Unai enjoys the underdog tag also. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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