General Transfer speculation thread with guff from Twitter

[dont_do_it_doug.]

Louis Saha?

[Mantis]

However while having a poor manager doesn't help, i believe there was a lot more contributing to those performances such as difficulties with certain players who didn't give a toss about the club which was reflected in their performances. Those players were also guaranteed their place due to lack of investment and of course injuries which didn't help either.

Never said the players were blameless, but it is the managers job to motivate them and McLeish clearly didn't do that.

But the over riding issue for me which is still current is that our squad simply isn't good enough. You only have to look at our first team at the moment to see that. The legacy left by previous managers (buying too many shit players on inflated wages and having to sell our better players due to wage issues and lack of success) has i believe resulted in our performances last season and our flirtation with relegation.

Never said our squad was good enough either, I was just contesting this notion that it's so bad we'll be in danger of relegation next season.

You mention a forward line of Bent, Gabby, N'Zogbia and Ireland which shouldn't struggle to score goals. On paper you are correct. On paper!

It was McLeish that set us up in such a negative way. He's the main culprit for the lack of goals. Even somebody like Bruce got a lot of goals out of Bent, yet McLeish just played him as a target man and got the cloggers in defence to hoof the ball up to him. You can't deny that McLeish's negative tactics hindered our attacking players.

Gabby hasn't been the same player for quite some time now. His attitude for me hasn't been right and whether its due to injuries or too much time in the gym he has also lost a bit of his main attribute, pace. Not the same player.

I agree there, but he's still a decent player to have in the team.

N'Zogbia to date has been a poor acquisition. He was a big fish in a small pond at Wigan and again his form has been well below of what has been expected. You could blame the previous manager for that but since his pre season performances are already reflecting his performances last season then the name seems to be bigger than the quality!

Poor management. Every time he looked to be coming into something you could call form McLeish would bench him for Heskey. Not entirely McLeish's fault, but he's not blameless either.

Ireland is another one of those players who flatters to deceive. Yes he probably was our best player last season with McLeish getting him to play better, but he shone in a very poor midfield which wasn't hard to do and in his time with us has he ever taken a game by the scruff of the neck and won it for us? Thats why there's so much debate about him whether he is indeed worth the wages and if we should sell him to fund a more effective player on lower wages? Looks good on paper due to his reputation with City but the reality is something quite different.

Same as Gabby really. How can you expect a naturally attacking player to shine in a team that's set up to be ultra-defensive?

Bent is the one quality player we have left and i agree he was misused under McLeish's tenure but again i believe there were several reasons for that. His supply was cut when both Downing and Young were sold and their replacements Albrighton and N'Zogbia were simply not up to the job.

He doesn't need players like Young and Downing to score lots of goals. He was misused by McLeish, just like most of our other players.

We also lost Petrov, the heart and protector of our midfield and therefore it is my opinion that Bent had to be played in a slightly more withdrawn role to try and protect the gaping hole through our centre. Since both our wingers were not contributing much going forward they were given a more defensive role by McLeish to stop us conceding which obviously didn't suit them.

We lost Petrov in March. We were shit all season. You said yourself that our attacking players were set up to be defensive which didn't suit them yet you're still defending McLeish?

If you remember when we signed Keane how we became more offensive and no-one could disagree that our performances improved when he was in the team because the system was then changed to accommodate him.

We honestly weren't that great. Wolves we were good (but that was Wolves and were it not for Keane we probably would've lost), QPR we were dire. Ok we came back from two goals down but you could clearly see that we were set up to just defend in the beginning. That was the problem with McLeish - he is a reactive, not a proactive manager. He doesn't take the game to opponents. He'd rather just sit back and try and nick a 1-0. Only when his teams have conceded a couple of goals do the players finally attack. Even when Keane was here we were still dire to watch and ultra-negative.

Where have i said i overrate McLeish? I have said he was a poor manager but i have tried to be fair to him in that there were other factors which contributed to last season.

I never said you said you overrate McLeish, I just said you overrate him. To say that we ended up in about the right position last season would indicate that you think he did a fair job, which is miles from the truth.

Lambert is trying to dismantle the present team because they are simply not good enough. He would have seen how poor our team was in the last game of the season against his own side who you say are inferior. The old adage remains. You finish where you deserve in the table and we finished below Norwich last season for a reason. They were better than us and proved it!

He's not dismantling. He's just trying to improve the weaker area which is the defence. McLeish on the other hand just played a turgid, defensive brand of football despite the fact that our strengths clearly laid in attack.

We also beat Norwich 3-2 last November you know. One game doesn't prove anything. That 2-0 defeat to Norwich was just a standard gutless McLeish performance. It indicates the most glaringly obvious thing - McLeish is a terrible manager that's good for absolutely nothing. It certainly doesn't indicate that Norwich's squad is better than ours. It clearly isn't.

Yes, they were better than us because they had a much better manager! I don't know why you find this so hard to get your head round. We did not finish 16th because we had the fifth worst squad in the division - we finished 16th because McLeish is an absolutely hopeless manager.

We'll be fine.

I read that a few times last season and we all know what happened!

That was under McLeish though, one of the worst managers in the history of Villa if not the Premier League.

and bad and all as he was, we were ultimately still fine

Only just. If Randy hadn't sacked the word removed we would've been dead certain for relegation this season.

[CI]

There was more excitement in the Bremen game than most of last season in its entirety so it's all good

[Morpheus]

At the level AVFC are at now we can't buy success, so we have to coach it if we can. Our defence may be a bit leaky and our midfield may lack cohesion at the moment, but I'm looking forward to seeing what this bunch of players can do with good coaching and thirty odd prem matches behind them. We probably need another striker and also a reliable left back, but I think that even without more signings this summer, PL still has enough to work with.

We still need a LB, another experienced CB, DM, winger, and an experienced striker before I'd be confident of a decent season without trouble.

[Ulver]

I've watched the last 2 games (Forest and Bremen) and i'm worried

In both games the full backs have been woefully exposed, due to no protection ahead of them and as well as pretty ropey performances from the full backs themselves

We have absolutely no width at all. Both Holman and N'Zogbia have tucked in and left big gaps down the sides (see point 1) and we've got no steel in the middle of the field

KEA, Bannan, Ireland even Delph are all a bit 'nice'. The only time Delph isn't is when he's lunging into tackles and looking like a red card waiting

We need to get the balance right because at the moment it's all over the shop, and a good premiership side will rip us to pieces

If Holman plays and is on the right of midfield, he's got to stay out there and do the donkey work up and down the line

If the middle two are KEA and Bannan or Ireland then one has to be more disciplined to my eyes.

If starting on the left, N'Zogbia has to do the same as Holman, get up and down that line not just float around like he has been leaving gaps galore

I'm still praying Randy will wake up and get his frigging cheque book out pronto otherwise i sense yet another struggle no matter how much Lambert tries

He at least deserves a crack at it with the proper tools for the job

PS

Blackpool confirmed on Talksport that it was Southampton that they reported over an illegal approach for Phillips

[TrentVilla]

I didn't see the game yesterday but it is worrying to hear it is more of the same from the Forest game because you are dead right about what happened in that one.

[Folski]

Don't know if this was posted already probably has been.

"Rennes general manager Pierre Dreossi has slammed want-away midfielder Yacine Brahimi.

The France Under-21 international has made it clear he wants to leave the club, but this has not gone down well.

The 22-year-old was strongly linked with Aston Villa, but as yet he remains with Rennes.

"I am upset to hear people who are never satisfied to be employees at Stade Rennais," Dreossi told Ouest-France.

"I can't stand it! I want those who are present to be happy. It is the least we can ask for, it is not a production line.

"Today I can not hear Brahimi who played 30 macthes in Ligue 1 is asking to leave. It is intolerable to hear.

"I hear 'I don't want to play for Stade Rennais anymore.' I just want to reply: 'But who are you to ask for that?'""

SS.com

[Woody1000]

Patience is the key and I don't just mean for this window. It will 2 or three transfer windows to.sort us out.

You make a fair point, but people are not moaning that the lack of transfer business could cost us a CL place - it's because we could find ourselves in a relegation fight again.

I know it's not as simple as it is on Football Manager to just come in and transform the squad in one summer, but it seems like Randy is hoping that PL will get the most out of a fairly limited squad.

Hopefully I'm wrong, but after the initial optimism from when PL came in, I'm feeling more negative about the upcoming season by the day.

[Mantis]

Patience is the key and I don't just mean for this window. It will 2 or three transfer windows to.sort us out.

You make a fair point, but people are not moaning that the lack of transfer business could cost us a CL place - it's because we could find ourselves in a relegation fight again.

I know it's not as simple as it is on Football Manager to just come in and transform the squad in one summer, but it seems like Randy is hoping that PL will get the most out of a fairly limited squad.

Hopefully I'm wrong, but after the initial optimism from when PL came in, I'm feeling more negative about the upcoming season by the day.

We won't be in relegation trouble again.

[Woody1000]

Patience is the key and I don't just mean for this window. It will 2 or three transfer windows to.sort us out.

You make a fair point, but people are not moaning that the lack of transfer business could cost us a CL place - it's because we could find ourselves in a relegation fight again.

I know it's not as simple as it is on Football Manager to just come in and transform the squad in one summer, but it seems like Randy is hoping that PL will get the most out of a fairly limited squad.

Hopefully I'm wrong, but after the initial optimism from when PL came in, I'm feeling more negative about the upcoming season by the day.

We won't be in relegation trouble again.

We could be. What if Darren Bent breaks his leg, or gets a bad knee injury?

You saw what a few injuries did to us last year, surely you can't blame all of last year on McLeish?

[Ulver]

We won't be in relegation trouble again.

You say that, but we look like shipping in goals galore. It doesn't take long to get in a mess and for confidence to wane

We got Lambert in quickly, and he should have been given the backing to get his team together by now. Yet a week before kick off and we've spent about 3-4m net and have barely begun a rebuild

This team, minus a few has been in the relegation mire for two seasons in a row. Just changing the manager wont rectify that, he should be given the resources to put a team befitting the name Aston Villa on the field

All that early summer talk of the club seeing the light and realising what they need to do is sounding pretty hollow right now. But deep down i'm guessing most of us always thought it was more PR bullshit

[SeanO]

I've watched the last 2 games (Forest and Bremen) and i'm worried

In both games the full backs have been woefully exposed, due to no protection ahead of them and as well as pretty ropey performances from the full backs themselves

We have absolutely no width at all. Both Holman and N'Zogbia have tucked in and left big gaps down the sides (see point 1) and we've got no steel in the middle of the field

KEA, Bannan, Ireland even Delph are all a bit 'nice'. The only time Delph isn't is when he's lunging into tackles and looking like a red card waiting

We need to get the balance right because at the moment it's all over the shop, and a good premiership side will rip us to pieces

If Holman plays and is on the right of midfield, he's got to stay out there and do the donkey work up and down the line

If the middle two are KEA and Bannan or Ireland then one has to be more disciplined to my eyes.

If starting on the left, N'Zogbia has to do the same as Holman, get up and down that line not just float around like he has been leaving gaps galore

I'm still praying Randy will wake up and get his frigging cheque book out pronto otherwise i sense yet another struggle no matter how much Lambert tries

He at least deserves a crack at it with the proper tools for the job

PS

Blackpool confirmed on Talksport that it was Southampton that they reported over an illegal approach for Phillips

It difficult to disagree in fact from what I have seen we are going to be lucky to win 7 games with this squad and playing with such a narrow midfield.

I'm really looking forward to watching us this season after the abomination of the last one but if you told me we had strengthened the team over the summer I would find it hard to agree at this point.

That said I like the look of all the new players but just 4 to date is nowhere near what is required to give this club a boost that we so obviously need.

Come on RL give PL the money to improve the team, if PL's idea of football is a narrow midfield then you better let him spend big on fullbacks because they are going to have their work cut out.

[tismyk]

With our current squad will will struggle as much as last season for sure.

[troon_villan]

We have bigger named played but we're devout lacking as a unit IMHO.

you alright there pal?

[Mantis]

Patience is the key and I don't just mean for this window. It will 2 or three transfer windows to.sort us out.

You make a fair point, but people are not moaning that the lack of transfer business could cost us a CL place - it's because we could find ourselves in a relegation fight again.

I know it's not as simple as it is on Football Manager to just come in and transform the squad in one summer, but it seems like Randy is hoping that PL will get the most out of a fairly limited squad.

Hopefully I'm wrong, but after the initial optimism from when PL came in, I'm feeling more negative about the upcoming season by the day.

We won't be in relegation trouble again.

We could be. What if Darren Bent breaks his leg, or gets a bad knee injury?

You saw what a few injuries did to us last year, surely you can't blame all of last year on McLeish?

A lot of our troubles last season were down to McLeish. You can't underestimate just what a bad manager he is and the draining effect he has on the players and supporters. Our squad isn't great but it isn't relegation material either.

I honestly don't get all the negativity on here at the moment. The transfer window doesn't close for a while yet anyway.

[CI]

I think we should brace ourselves for a few hidings until lambert has had the time and cash he badly needs.

The villa job is a really difficult one.

[Mattyp_avfc]

As city have had a bid accpeted for Rodwell and are after Scott Sinclair... do you think we could maybe get either Milner or Adam Johson? Would be happy with either... Both would be amazing though!

[Tayls]

Man City have had a bid accepted by Everton for Rodwell. Wouldn't be surprised if Johnson is involved in the deal somewhere.

[Ulver]

I honestly don't get all the negativity on here at the moment. The transfer window doesn't close for a while yet anyway.

People will always be worried if they watch pre season games and see a woefully under staffed team playing worrying football

[PieFacE]

I think we should brace ourselves for a few hidings until lambert has had the time and cash he badly needs.

The villa job is a really difficult one.

I think you could be right, but I'm okay with that as long as we have a go at the opposition. It's much better than a 0-0. We're not going to finish in the top 8, so let's just have an entertaining season.