theunderstudy Posted July 5, 2010 Share Posted July 5, 2010 Simple question. Which realistic players would you be hapy with? Promising young 'uns like Connor Wickham and Nathaniel Clyne, or experienced pros like Robbie Keane and Jermaine Jenas.... your thoughts please. US Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BOF Posted July 5, 2010 Moderator Share Posted July 5, 2010 A combination of the 2. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DelboyVilla Posted July 5, 2010 Share Posted July 5, 2010 Needs a third option IMO? An EITHER or ANY Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pelle Posted July 5, 2010 Share Posted July 5, 2010 A combination of the 2. Preferrably, yes, but out of the 2 I have to go for the "promising"-option. To get a cheap "new Henry/Vieira/Keane/RVN/Sneijder"-player wouldn't be too bad. I know, I don't expect much of our young talents. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BOF Posted July 5, 2010 Moderator Share Posted July 5, 2010 Of the 2 options I'd actually prefer at this stage to go for experience. I want us to buy someone who noticeably improves our first 11. Someone who can go straight in and do a job. That would be actual progress on the pitch. We already have Delph, Delfouneso, Clark & Albrighton waiting in the wings (or on the wings in Marc's case) and I'm fully sure they are every bit as good as what is needed in the Premier League. So I don't think we need any more promising youngsters. This probably explains why I'm so in favour of getting Keane. Not only is he the experience that would vastly improve our first 11. He's going straight into an area of the side that I think we struggled badly with last year. When we came up against a stubborn side, we quickly ran out of ideas. Our plan 'A' didn't have a plan 'B'. He is too clever and wily to be caged like our fellas were. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theunderstudy Posted July 5, 2010 Author Share Posted July 5, 2010 Of the 2 options IThats a good point BOF, although I think we need an experienced instincitve striker to tutor the Fonz, as you can tell he's got bags of instinct, but he needs to develop his game more. As for talent, we need to get a bit mor eforeign talent as well, preferably from Holland. Our last foreign youngster (Weimann) isn't too bad. Can see him starting to play a few games in a couple of years. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BOF Posted July 5, 2010 Moderator Share Posted July 5, 2010 Exactly theunderstudy. I think we've plenty of promise at the moment. With all the rumoures out-goings of our older players I think we may find ourselves a little thin on the ground with experience if we weren't to go for some this summer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Troglodyte Posted July 5, 2010 VT Supporter Share Posted July 5, 2010 I don't think it's as simple as having a choice between promising players and experienced ones. There's much more to it than that. I'd lean towards experience, but I wouldn't like to see us spend a lot of money on players who are 30+ years old. And if we had the option to sign a truly outstanding young prospect for the same kind of fee as a decent, experienced player, I'd probably rather see us go for the younger player. It all depends on who we're talking about in particular, and the money involved. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OutByEaster? Posted July 5, 2010 Moderator Share Posted July 5, 2010 I believe the opposite for pretty much the same reasons BOF. We're getting to be one of the leagues oldest sides and we've oodles of experience all over the place, the likes of Dunne, Cuellar, Warnock, Petrov, Carew, Heskey and Friedel will all need replacing over the next two or three years, so why don't we take a gamble on young players now who can learn from them before they go. I think by gambling on youth rather than taking experienced players we get a better deal financially for the club and help secure where we want to be and I think we get the opportunity to sign a twenty year old player who would be out of our reach at twenty five. I think MON agrees with you though in all honesty. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BOF Posted July 5, 2010 Moderator Share Posted July 5, 2010 That's true Trog but that's going into the specifics of certain players and the financial sense behind each deal. This I think is a more general question which assumes all deals we go for to be sensible. And from your response, like mine, you seem more in favour of experience at this point. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Qwpzxjor1 Posted July 5, 2010 Share Posted July 5, 2010 I think we have quite a good balance of young, promising players like Gabby, Young, Downing and experienced players like Friedel, Dunne and Warnock - but what we lack so badly at the moment is a natural finisher. For me, right now, that has to be an experienced one. Someone who's proven to score goals at this level. If it comes to replacing Milner, I'm happy with young and promising player. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CarewsEyebrowDesigner Posted July 5, 2010 Share Posted July 5, 2010 your mum Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jim Posted July 5, 2010 Share Posted July 5, 2010 I'd have to go with experience we already have a fine crop of youngsters almost ready to break into the squad. I would also hope we go for players better(or as good as) than the current first team we have enough squad fillers now plus the youngsters. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theunderstudy Posted July 5, 2010 Author Share Posted July 5, 2010 Well the thing is with replacing Milner, we're going to have to see another workhorse, someone who can run until they drop which is preferably a threashold of about 120 minutes as opposed to 60 *cough Petrov cough* but I would be happy with a youngster filling Milner's boots should he leave. I would be inclined to agree with you Qwpzxjor1 that we need a bit of experience up front. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BOF Posted July 5, 2010 Moderator Share Posted July 5, 2010 I believe the opposite for pretty much the same reasons BOF. We're getting to be one of the leagues oldest sides and we've oodles of experience all over the place, the likes of Dunne, Cuellar, Warnock, Petrov, Carew, Heskey and Friedel will all need replacing over the next two or three years, so why don't we take a gamble on young players now who can learn from them before they go. I think by gambling on youth rather than taking experienced players we get a better deal financially for the club and help secure where we want to be and I think we get the opportunity to sign a twenty year old player who would be out of our reach at twenty five. I think MON agrees with you though in all honesty. We need to avoid becoming a nursery too though Scott. Like an Arsenal albeit at a much lower level. We'll never nick the Fabregas' of this world regularly enough to be able to rely on it as an M.O.. Heskey & Carew may very well be gone - certainly one of them - this summer. And if MM's noises are accurate then our first team will be (semi-)regularly dotted with the yoof in 2010/11. I don't think Cuéllar & Warnock @ 29 (for most of the season, both still 28) need addressing for a few years at least. Delph is the natural replacement for Petrov with Clark stepping effortlessly in at CB. I think if you go through the squad as it stands we have good enough replacements for anyone who is ageing with the possible exception of Guzan for Friedel. There are question marks there that weren't there for a long time. But keepers are unique when it comes to replacing them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pelle Posted July 5, 2010 Share Posted July 5, 2010 Where goes the line? I mean, Gabby's still pretty young and in some ways still learning, but on the other hand he's not really unexperienced. He's played PL-football for 4 years now, and add a few sub appearances under DOL it's 5 years. And of course, the same goes for Milner, though he's played regurarly even more in the PL than Gabby. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OutByEaster? Posted July 5, 2010 Moderator Share Posted July 5, 2010 Experienced Villa (28 and over) ----------------Friedel----------------- Young----Cuellar----Dunne----Warnock xxxxx----Petrov----xxxxxx----xxxxxx -----------Carew----Heskey------------ Young Villa (24 and under) ---------------Siegrist----------------- Lichaj----Clark------Baker-----Lowry Albrighton--Milner--Delph-----Young* ------Agbonlahor--Delfouneso------- *For the next four days only. Not sure what I take from that, I guess I'd like to see some promising young defenders as I suspect only Clark will make it from the young back line and I'd be quite happy to see an experienced central midfielder. Up front I'll take anyone good. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BOF Posted July 5, 2010 Moderator Share Posted July 5, 2010 I think those teams pretty much back us both up Scott. Even if we're coming to different conclusions from it. Of that top team, 4 need replacement in the next few years and we've already got 3 of them sorted. With only the goalkeeping position potentially needing attention. We still need to see if Siegrist will make the transition from (more than) promising youngster to top Premier keeper. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OutByEaster? Posted July 5, 2010 Moderator Share Posted July 5, 2010 I think it probably also suggests we're not a team with a great deal of middle ground, the likes of Sidwell, Reo Coker and Davies haven't really done what we'd hoped and it leaves us with a slightly unusual make up to our squad. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richard Posted July 5, 2010 Share Posted July 5, 2010 I dont care as long as they are better than what we have. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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