villan_007 Posted February 1, 2013 Share Posted February 1, 2013 What a complete waste of time this transfer window has been, he's brought in 2 young midfielders who are unproven and are probaly gonna be like the rest of our young team and crumble under the pressure, we've let warnock go and brought in no defenders!plus dunne has had another setback, even if these players turn out decent I still think were gonna struggle, if they turn out flops we are doomed for sure, where's the experience we are crying out for!!! Instead we get a young lad frm a 2nd div french team and some 19 year old I've never heard of....GREAT Who's this 19yr old then!? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VILLAMARV Posted February 1, 2013 Share Posted February 1, 2013 To be honest whatever happens on the pitch will be a bonus for me. If he goes in that dressing room with a smile on his face and a positive attitude, maybe just maybe it will rub off on a few of them. Having a guy whose career was seemingly threatened by injury only to battle back to fitness over a long time to talk to might also raise the spirits of a few on the injury list, give inspiration to the youth players and generally have a positive influence behind the scenes. Having been shipped out on loan to the MLS it seems he took a year to settle then had a good season last year. So he got a chance at last.......and took it. What more can you ask of him than that? I'm sure he will be going all out to impress in training or on the pitch if he gets a game. whether he turns out to be holman or young remains to be seen. Also there may well be a commercial angle here too. His stock in the MLS certainly rose last year. In a land obsessed with sporting statistics he was as productive as Donovan last year (as someone else here said). So this signing will be getting press in the US, raising the profile of the club in a market with a huge potential revenue stream. We are already mentioned alot (and our games are shown alot) on american soccer channels due to interest in Guzan, Lichaj and having Friedel before them so we have pretty good exposure over there. as doug said its low risk high potential gain Or maybe Im wrong! just my opinion. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VillaForever1970 Posted February 1, 2013 Share Posted February 1, 2013 Had anyone heard of Benteke really? He was okay though because cost a few more quid. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HeyAnty Posted February 1, 2013 Share Posted February 1, 2013 He will be hungry if nothing else. Out of contract in the summer so will give it his all to get picked up by another club. Just means if he is any good we wont get to keep him i suspect. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MagicMushroom Posted February 1, 2013 Share Posted February 1, 2013 Had anyone heard of Benteke really? He was okay though because cost a few more quid. Arsene Wenger? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VILLAMARV Posted February 1, 2013 Share Posted February 1, 2013 He will be hungry if nothing else. Out of contract in the summer so will give it his all to get picked up by another club. Just means if he is any good we wont get to keep him i suspect. He's certainly got a career lined up in the MLS if it doesnt happen over here so in that respect he's probably got a bit of a safety net to fall back on even if Spurs let him go. If he's here treading water until he gets to move back to his life in California maybe he wont offer alot? but if he wants a career in the UK this is a great opportuntiy for him to prove himself. hopefully that desire will be what we see from him. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
samjp26 Posted February 1, 2013 Share Posted February 1, 2013 He's certainly got a career lined up in the MLS if it doesnt happen over here so in that respect he's probably got a bit of a safety net to fall back on even if Spurs let him go. If he's here treading water until he gets to move back to his life in California maybe he wont offer alot? but if he wants a career in the UK this is a great opportuntiy for him to prove himself. hopefully that desire will be what we see from him. His loan in the MLS was up, I can only assume that he chose to join us (he could have rejected us) rather than going back there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VILLAMARV Posted February 1, 2013 Share Posted February 1, 2013 season is over in the US and his loan expired. Still contracted to Spurs till the summer. San Jose want to sign him in the summer and have made that common knowledge. so since he's got a few months to decide what to do (and see who offers him a contract) Lambert's decided to look at a player now before he will be free in the summer (unless Spurs re-sign him again) and see if he can cut it in the prem. Even if Spurs offer him a new contract there's no reason he would sign it and if he does well here he might end up with contract offers from all 3. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
8pints Posted February 1, 2013 Share Posted February 1, 2013 (edited) Will he be in for Gabby do you think? Edited February 1, 2013 by 8pints Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ReasonforRevolution Posted February 1, 2013 Share Posted February 1, 2013 All the best Dawkins. We needed new players. Obviously not who we expected in name and position. However it can only be a good thing. I am hoping it is a sign that we are going to start playing with width. My fear is that we have had ample opportunity to play wingers so why would it change now. We have had the likes of Curruthers who could of easily been used as a winger. Hopefully Dawkins coming in and the second half performance against Newcastle will sway the decision. I'll reserve judgement until after his 30 yard winner against Everton. Good luck. All together now..... Simon! Simon Dawkins! He's the greatest guy in history. From San, Jose Earthquakes, he'll keep us in the Premier League. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AndyBM Posted February 2, 2013 Share Posted February 2, 2013 clearly a questionable transfer, more so than jenas, however if he provides more attacking force from midifield and keeps us up then so be it Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
foreveryoung Posted February 2, 2013 Share Posted February 2, 2013 Strange no ones really discussing this guy, very quiet thread. Says it all really. He must have been scouted by us so no excuse really if he is completely shite. Very strange loan indeed though!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PandaMac Posted February 2, 2013 Share Posted February 2, 2013 I think maybe this was done in mind with albrighton out for a while. We needed cover and I wouldn't expect him to start straight away just come on as a sub for 20 odd mins. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TRO Posted February 2, 2013 Share Posted February 2, 2013 Our problem is everywhere. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nigel Posted February 2, 2013 VT Supporter Share Posted February 2, 2013 To the majority of Aston Villa fans, new signing Simon Dawkins is very much an unknown quantity. These are some thoughts on the former San Jose Earthquakes winger from an MLS obsessive. FACEBOOK TWITTER When word broke that Spurs winger Simon Dawkins would be joining Aston Villa on loan through the end of the season, reactions were mixed to say the least. Of those that do not have much exposure to MLS, many recognized that given the player being an unknown quantity they would withhold judgment until seeing him in action. Others were not so kind, expressing the belief that any player coming to England from MLS should be treated with suspicion; that Dawkins came up through Tottenham Hotspur's youth system and was unable to find a place in their team only added to their belief that he just isn't good enough for Villa. Among those that do follow MLS, the reaction was much less widely varied. There were those that expressed disappointment and those that expressed a lot of enthusiasm, but there seemed to be a fairly wide consensus that cautious optimism was the appropriate response. Soon enough, we'll have a much better idea of whether or not Dawkins is capable of making an impact at the Premier League level. But based on what I've seen of him, I think there's a very good chance that he will. And for the record, I've seen a lot of Simon Dawkins over the past few years, including twice in person. My local team the Seattle Sounders played San Jose four times last season alone, and I watched the Earthquakes on plenty of other occasions. And in the 2012 season, the Earthquakes were a force. They led the league with 72 goals scored, with their closest competition being the Los Angeles Galaxy who managed 59. That attacking prowess carried San Jose to a Supporters Shield winning 66 points, and for much of the season the Earthquakes were unquestionably the best team in the league. Much of the credit for San Jose's success went to their three excellent strikers, and rightly so; Chris Wondolowski matched the all-time league high with 27 goals scored, while the two-headed monster of big, physical target forwards Alan Gordon and Steven Lenhart provided tremendous support and combined for 23 goals between them. That trio deserves every bit of the praise they received for their performances last season, but when I watched San Jose I always felt that Dawkins' contributions were given short shrift. He didn't put up earth-shattering numbers, but he was instrumental in acting as an outlet in the Earthquakes' lethal counter-attack, and his ability to take on defenders was among the best in the league. He's a quality dribbler with good positional awareness, and if you've taken a look at some of the goals he scored for San Jose, you'll know that he's got a pretty lethal shot on him. His excellent pace and ability to find space or make it for himself was vital in drawing defenders away from the Earthquakes' strikers. In terms of playing style, Dawkins is much closer to Charles N'Zogbia than Marc Albrighton, and given the style of play Aston Villa tend to favor at present that's likely a much better fit. On the downside, Dawkins isn't the most technically gifted player and he's unlikely to make a whole lot of jaw-dropping assists or offer much in the way of relief in terms of Villa's set-piece woes. And though he's capable of putting an absolute rocket into the top corner, he doesn't always pick his spots in much the same manner as Brett Holman, leading to attacks breaking down due to shots ending up in the stand. He won't contribute much defensively, and though he routinely torched defenders in MLS I can see him experiencing some difficulty adjusting to Premier League defenders and having less success in dribbling past people. All in all though, Dawkins is a good MLS player that fills a big need for the club and cost next to nothing. When word broke that Villa would be signing an MLS player to a loan deal, I was hoping that it would be someone like Osvaldo Alonso, Matt Besler, Omar Gonzalez, Aurelien Collin, or Graham Zusi. Dawkins isn't quite in that tier of players, but he's just below, and in a league that's top-heavy in terms of talent, that makes him a pretty good player. There's still a very good chance he won't impress with Villa, but I think the odds are better that he'll work his way into the rotation and make some positive contributions. Will he set the world on fire and single-handedly save the club from the drop? Of course not. But he very well could help, and at zero cost there's absolutely no reason to be anything but hopeful. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PauloBarnesi Posted February 2, 2013 Share Posted February 2, 2013 clearly a questionable transfer, more so than jenas, however if he provides more attacking force from midifield and keeps us up then so be it We paid Spurs a loan fee and then his wages, so it was pretty damn expensive for 33 minutes of football. This guy will be on less than Jenas and the fee will be smaller. Therefore its less questionable than Jenas. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zatman Posted February 2, 2013 Share Posted February 2, 2013 One thing I will take as a positive is that players from MLS to Premier League in recent seasons have been more hit than miss Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sir_gary_cahill Posted February 2, 2013 Share Posted February 2, 2013 One thing I will take as a positive is that players from MLS to Premier League in recent seasons have been more hit than miss Agreed Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
quizme Posted February 7, 2013 Share Posted February 7, 2013 So, do you belive we will sign him permanent in the summer? He seems affordable.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Danwichmann Posted February 7, 2013 Share Posted February 7, 2013 So, do you belive we will sign him permanent in the summer? He seems affordable.... I think we'll need to see him play first. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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