Libor Kozák

[SikhInTrinity]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

If you include Kozak and we keep playing the system which has improved our results then neither Kozak, Bowery or Helenius is going to be given much game time if our front three stay fit.

 

That to me with limited funding available is a total waste of resources. Lambert is creating his own bomb squad for this season rather than actually using the limited finance to improve the first team.

 

 

 

If Kozak does come in then yes it would seem likely that he will for the most part be back up to Benteke this season. Of course in certain games they could also very well play up top together.

 

As for Bowery he came in for a few hudred thousand from Chesterfield and it may well be he will not make it at this level. I dare say he is on no more than around 5k a week so if he doesn't make it as a Prem player there will be no problem with off loading him. I also think he is seen by Lambert as more of a wide midfielder/attacker much in the same way as Gabby.

 

As for Helenius it seems that he has been quoted as saying that he has been brought in as a wide attacker or to play just behind the main striker.

 

With the above in mind I'd say we most definately need someone like Kozak as if Benteke gets injured we currently have no like for like replacement. It should also be remembered that Benteke will almost certainly be off at the end of the season so it is no bad thing if we can bring a potential replacement in for him now and get him up to speed this season whilst Benteke is still here.

 

The point is though will those players immediately improve the first team considering we have limited finance and we did have Bent who is a proven goalscorer in the Premiership. We could have kept Bent until the end of this season as back up to Benteke leaving us spending whatever finance available on a AM or DM.

 

Yes i've heard the argument about Bent's wages a million times but he is only out on loan and not sold so we could have him back again at the start of next season anyway.

 

it just seems to me that for us to improve on last year you must improve the first team which we have with Luna and Okore in defence but improvement is also needed in midfield and our limited finance would have been better spent there than actually purchasing another forward who like Helenius and Bowery may get very limited game time this season.

 

 

Yes that Darren Bent who was awful on Saturday. Darren Bent is not worth 80k a week for being a back-up striker. What do you not understand about that? As for this guy joining, as I did with Benteke, I will give the guy a chance. Lambert has obviously seen something in the lad to attempt to bring him in.

 

Yes the same Darren Bent who has been injured and not yet match fit and you speak of giving a 'guy a chance.'

 

 

No but he's proven Premiership quality isn't he. Injured, do me a favour.

 

So you expect any player who hasn't played on a regular basis for some time to come in and perform to 100% of his ability. Your the one who needs to get real.

 

 

He played against Wigan, he hasn't been injured. He's been in training, okay lets give him time haha. But our new signings you judge after 10mins of seeing them.

[tonyh29]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

If you include Kozak and we keep playing the system which has improved our results then neither Kozak, Bowery or Helenius is going to be given much game time if our front three stay fit.

 

That to me with limited funding available is a total waste of resources. Lambert is creating his own bomb squad for this season rather than actually using the limited finance to improve the first team.

 

 

 

If Kozak does come in then yes it would seem likely that he will for the most part be back up to Benteke this season. Of course in certain games they could also very well play up top together.

 

As for Bowery he came in for a few hudred thousand from Chesterfield and it may well be he will not make it at this level. I dare say he is on no more than around 5k a week so if he doesn't make it as a Prem player there will be no problem with off loading him. I also think he is seen by Lambert as more of a wide midfielder/attacker much in the same way as Gabby.

 

As for Helenius it seems that he has been quoted as saying that he has been brought in as a wide attacker or to play just behind the main striker.

 

With the above in mind I'd say we most definately need someone like Kozak as if Benteke gets injured we currently have no like for like replacement. It should also be remembered that Benteke will almost certainly be off at the end of the season so it is no bad thing if we can bring a potential replacement in for him now and get him up to speed this season whilst Benteke is still here.

 

The point is though will those players immediately improve the first team considering we have limited finance and we did have Bent who is a proven goalscorer in the Premiership. We could have kept Bent until the end of this season as back up to Benteke leaving us spending whatever finance available on a AM or DM.

 

Yes i've heard the argument about Bent's wages a million times but he is only out on loan and not sold so we could have him back again at the start of next season anyway.

 

it just seems to me that for us to improve on last year you must improve the first team which we have with Luna and Okore in defence but improvement is also needed in midfield and our limited finance would have been better spent there than actually purchasing another forward who like Helenius and Bowery may get very limited game time this season.

 

 

Yes that Darren Bent who was awful on Saturday. Darren Bent is not worth 80k a week for being a back-up striker. What do you not understand about that? As for this guy joining, as I did with Benteke, I will give the guy a chance. Lambert has obviously seen something in the lad to attempt to bring him in.

 

Yes the same Darren Bent who has been injured and not yet match fit and you speak of giving a 'guy a chance.'

 

 

No but he's proven Premiership quality isn't he. Injured, do me a favour.

 

So you expect any player who hasn't played on a regular basis for some time to come in and perform to 100% of his ability. Your the one who needs to get real.

 

 

 

++ You're  ++

[Mantis]

Were you not shouting down anyone who trusted lambert 6 months ago?

Hilarious.

 

 

No, but I don't really see how this is even relevant? Seems like you always want to jump in with swipes that have nothing to do with the topic.

[BOF]

Were you not shouting down anyone who trusted lambert 6 months ago?

Hilarious.

Why criticise someone who has seen the light?

[AndyM3000]

Ok been out all day but yesterday this was reported at 4m now its 7m?

 

We could have signed Kiyotake for a little bit more than this and I might be going on about it but we need a creative type midfider, not a backup for Benteke, who at 7m is rather expensive IMO.

[P3te]

Ok been out all day but yesterday this was reported at 4m now its 7m?

 

We could have signed Kiyotake for a little bit more than this and I might be going on about it but we need a creative type midfider, not a backup for Benteke, who at 7m is rather expensive IMO.

It's £4.5m according to HH, who's given us no reason to ever doubt him

Edited September 2, 2013 by P3te

[NeilS]

Is it a case of the fee being £4m ish, and the total overall cost after fees and wages making the deal woth £7m? It may be reported in two different ways? Does that sound feasible, or am I talking rubbish

[BOF]

Well we won't know the true cost until Doug factors in amortisation. Remember that wonderful word.

[NeilS]

Haha, those were the days.

[bickster]

So because we generally play 4-3-3, we should never deviate from it nor have the options in the squad to allow us to do so?

N'Zogbia, Tonev...

[Nigel]

 

Anybody seen much of this bloke?  What will he offer us?

 

(Im looking at you Czechlad )

His Youtube show reels indicate he is a good header of the ball, capable of leading the line, can take penalties and looks ok when running at defenders. He comes across on them as a traditional British Centre Forward with a little bit more to his game with the ball on the deck. He is not however Benteke MkII just yet.

 

Cheers Bicks!  I did a bit of research and came away with the same opinion. 

 

I was wondering whether we had anyone on here with any in depth knowledge of him.

[Big_John_10]

Were you not shouting down anyone who trusted lambert 6 months ago?

Hilarious.

Why criticise someone who has seen the light?

Just find it a bit hypocritical.

I've completely changed my opinion of lambert but I think it would be a bit rich if I started having a go at anyone who still had concerns.

[P3te]

Is it a case of the fee being £4m ish, and the total overall cost after fees and wages making the deal woth £7m? It may be reported in two different ways? Does that sound feasible, or am I talking rubbish

I think the media just likes to use bigger numbers

 

Lambert said we didn't pay close to the amount reported for our players last summer, including Benteke who was only around £5m in reality

[StefanAVFC]

 

He played against Wigan, he hasn't been injured. He's been in training, okay lets give him time haha. But our new signings you judge after 10mins of seeing them.

 

 

This x10000000

[Mantis]

 

 

Were you not shouting down anyone who trusted lambert 6 months ago?

Hilarious.

Why criticise someone who has seen the light?

Just find it a bit hypocritical.

I've completely changed my opinion of lambert but I think it would be a bit rich if I started having a go at anyone who still had concerns.

 

I'm not having a go at people who still have concerns about Lambert.

[Nigel]

MOM write up...

 

 

Will Libor Kozák prove a better Villa Czech mate than Milan Baros?

 

So, at the time of writing the only definite information Villa fans have on any potential transfer deadline day incomings is the seemingly imminent arrival of 24-year-old Czech striker Libor Kozák from Lazio.

Kozák has scored 22 goals in 79 games at the Rome side since joining in 2008, although he failed to score in 18 Serie A games in 2012-13. However, he was top scorer in last season’s Europa League despite Lazio only reaching the quarter-final stage, scoring 10 goals in 11 games, including a hat-trick against Stuttgart in the last 16, which is quite impressive.

Given that of his 57 league appearances for Lazio over 40 have been as a substitute, it could be argued that he actually possesses a pretty decent scoring record when measured against playing time.

The 6 foot 4 inch centre-forward is also a Czech Republic international with one goal in four games for the national side to date.

Kozák seems to be what infinite football pundits like to describe as an ‘old-fashioned centre-forward’. Lump a ball up the air and there’s a good chance he’ll win the flick-on. This won’t excite too many Villa fans who watched the Liverpool game though, as Benteke did the same thing all day long – it’s the fact that the second ball was consistently won by a Liverpool player that was rather more problematic.

Kozák also appears to possess the other Benteke-like characteristic of uncannily being able to draw the offside flag several times a game, although his hold-up play does not seem to be anywhere near as good as Benteke’s.

The main problem, though, is that on a transfer deadline day during which most Villa fans will have been pining desperately for the club to sign a creative midfielder, Kozák is simply not the kind of signing most Villa fans were hoping for.

We know, we know – this sounds like a particularly greedy thing to say considering that the Czech international striker will become our seventh signing of the summer. But the fact of the matter is, it’s obvious to most Villa fans that what we need is a creative midfielder, not another centre-forward.

Unless Lambert is planning to move to 4-4-2 at home – a move which might be worth trying out, considering how little threat we posed for a large portion of the Liverpool defeat – Kozák simply will not fit into our side. He’s not the kind of forward that has the option of moving deeper or out wide like Gabby and Andi have, which means he’s in direct competition with Benteke.

 

Milan Baros – the last Czech forward at Villa

 

 It’s always nice to welcome a new face into the squad, particularly under Lambert –Villa fans must surely agree that he’s got a pretty good track record with his business as Villa manager over his reign so far – and bolstering the club’s attacking options was an advisable move considering how reliant Villa were on Benteke for goals last season.

As an isolated signing, it’s probably has the potential to be a reasonably good one. Lambert evidently does not consider Agbonlahor or Weimann as out-and-out strikers, which leaves Benteke, Helenius and Bowery. Although it seems unlikely in some respects, it has also been suggested that in time Helenius could prove himself quite useful as more of a second striker option than a stereotypical centre-forward, and so in this respect it makes sense to bring in another player as back-up to Benteke in the bona fide striker position.

But it’s the fact that this signing has been made on deadline day, when almost all of Villa’s fanbase were hoping for a spark in midfield to be brought in, that has the potential to leave a sense of frustration. Not many Villa fans can have expect another centre-forward to be Lambert’s final port of call in the transfer market this summer, and surely the rumoured fee of around £6 million could have potentially been better spent finding that missing piece of the puzzle, the elusive number 10?

Having said this, hopefully any fans getting impatient will have learned from last season’s summer deadline day signings of Christian Benteke and Ashley Westwood that sometimes new arrivals are more promising than they necessarily seem, and so here at MOMS judgement is fully reserved until we’ve seen enough of Kozák to know what he’s all about.

We’ve unearthed a few hidden gems in the last couple of years, and if Kozák gets some game time off the bench in the next few games (which is surely where he’ll find himself at least at first at Villa) and hits the net, we’ll at least know that if Benteke gets suspended or injured we have someone who can do a decent job in the same role up front.

[Isa]

So because we generally play 4-3-3, we should never deviate from it nor have the options in the squad to allow us to do so?

N'Zogbia, Tonev...

Doubtful whether N'Zogbia will ever play for us again and Tonev isn't a specialised AMC (though hopefully he can evolve into one).

[Morpheus]

 

 

 

 

Maybe because Lambert is the manager and he will sign players for the positions he wants? Obviously there are limits involved but I expect the type of player he chooses to sign is down to him, and I'll back him if that's what he wants. After all he's the one who manages the team.

As we've seen before though no-one is infallible, not even Lambert so just being the manager of our team doesn't make him right.

 

If you include Kozak and we keep playing the system which has improved our results then neither Kozak, Bowery or Helenius is going to be given much game time if our front three stay fit.

 

That to me with limited funding available is a total waste of resources. Lambert is creating his own bomb squad for this season rather than actually using the limited finance to improve the first team.

 

 

Who said he was infallible? However, he is the manager and knows a lot more than any of us here do so he does deserve a bit of trust at least.

 

We have no idea how plays like Helenius and Kozak will be used and in what kind of system. Lambert is the manager, he devises the tactics, not us.

 

How can you dismiss this is a waste of resources when he hasn't even officially signed for us yet? I mean for **** sake you say he's "creating" his own bomb squad but we've barely seen any of the new recruits get any sort of action bar Okore and Luna (who have both looked decent). Jesus Christ, let's at least wait before players get a bit of game time before writing them off as a waste.

 

 

Lambert hasn't proven anything yet other than presiding over a flirtation with relegation and breaking the type of records no-one would want on their CV. So please for **** sake take the halo off lambert for a moment and show a bit of prospective. He has done nothing yet to deserve our trust in him.

 

Concerning Kozak if you'd looked at my previous posts i did allude to if we sign him and i also mentioned the other new players up front in the context of not getting game time unless due to injuries which is correct is it not, so reign your bloody neck in and stop responding to your own interpretation of my posts rather than what i've actually stated which would make a ******* welcome change.

 

 

He's guided a team through a difficult transition season and managed to turn our form around when we needed it. We've also started the new season much how we finished the last. I'm not claiming he's the best Villa manager ever but he's done a lot of good, and if there's one area we should be trusting of him it's transfers. Not just Bosko Balaban Mk2 but also players like Westwood, Lowton, Sylla and perhaps Okore and Luna who both look good. Maybe you should take the halo off Redknapp and take the devil horns off Lambert? I mean **** hell, if he hasn't earned your trust in the transfer market he never will.

 

How do you know how Kozak will be used though? Has Lambert come out and told us? If he has I must've missed it.

 

Ha ha. 'Guided a team through a difficult transition season' has he? He was the one who actually started that transition by bringing too many young players through at the one time which very nearly got us relegated. He went too far in one direction (no pun intended) and then played the wrong system to suit the players available.

 

I see you make reference to Redknapp again and ask me to remove his halo yet i haven't mention him because we're taking about Lambert are we not and the players we've brought in have certainly carried on the form of last season as we are currently in the bottom half of the table, again.

 

I don't know if Kozak is going to be used on a regular basis but if he is then a change of system is going to be put in place to accommodate him which will mean having two target men upfront. Now reading through the relative threads before Bent's departure the main reasons stated for Bent leaving was that Bent and Benteke couldn't play together and we couldn't supply Bent anyway because we didn't have anyone who could put in a decent cross to supply Bent.

 

Taking that into consideration with Kozak being a target man can you really see both playing upfront together?  

[P3te]

One thing that stood out there, mentioning Kozak's ability to win flick ons, and drawing parallels with that same skill of Benteke, is wouldn't it be swell if they were flicking on for each other?  As it stands, MOM points out, it's the fact that the flick ons go to the opposition that's the issue. Imagine Benteke playing off a guy who consistently knocked everything down to him and vice versa

[Morpheus]

 

 

I find it funny how people moan about us not signing players, then when we do sign one they moan that they're all for cheap and then when it's rumoured that we're spending a lot they moan that it's a waste.

Wrong interpretation again Mantis.

 

Its not signing players on the cheap or for big fees that posters are questioning. its purchasing players for positions we already have ample cover when other positions need strengthening. 

 

Trent already covered this a few days ago. With the way we play we actually don't have ample cover as things stand. If Benteke got injured we'd have to throw Helenius in at the deep end.

 

So why buy Helenius in the first place then? Whats the point of wasting the limited funding we have on players who aren't yet able to do a job in the first team.