Deemed surplus -v- Great signing

[eamonn]

Were we not delighted with £20m for Downing or was that only a year after when he'd floundered at Liverpool?

I always thought there was a player in Albrighton who suffered from injuries/confidence. He's also improved the defensive side of his game a lot at Leicester, as a youngster for us he would often commit silly fouls but he always had a great in-swinging cross and an eye for a great through-ball and a fine shot. Lambert releasing him was another one of his punchable offences.

[sickbeggar]

I don't remember many people being that angry or sad that Albrighton was sold and i, like you, thought there was player in there. But after the initial breakthrough for whatever reason he just went to pot for a very long time. Player lose form sometime but his was a very deep and long term loss of form

[ChicagoLion]

I for one was not happy with the treatment or transfer of Albrighton.

[Olof's Beard]

Albrighton made a lot of bright cameos in his final few months as a Villa player but wasn't really given the chance to start. I was pretty disappointed when he left. He was never overly spectacular but he was effective. Make a yard of space and swing in a cross. He'd also work his nuts off. Given what came afterwards, there's little doubt we should have kept him.

[London Villan]

Wasnt it a wage thing, we werent prepared to offer what he wanted?

[steffo]

Width was a dirty word with our Scottish managers. Width was to be supplied by the odd occasion a full back ventured into the opposition half. Result - where we are now.

[Sexual Ealing]

Westwood's been in a top ten side for the last couple of years.

[VillaAlways]

Enda Stevens

[SoccerHQ]

Since we've been down here we've tended to sign a lot of "trophy" players imo. McCormack with his 20 + goals for Fulham, he must be good. Ditto that Scotty Hogan.

We sign them even though it's at odds with how we play, I have no idea what logic SB used if any when he signed Hogan and then kept the normal game of just lumping balls up to him.

McCormack was a little different as he was 29 and having "issues" off the pitch so really Fulham got his peak and we got the fall out.

I can understand taking punts on squad players for low money who could turn out to be stars (sort of the approach we took in the Lambert years) but considering the money we really need to be as sure as we can be the player will fit into our style of play if we're spending 10m + on them. That hasn't been the case down the years.

[SoccerHQ]

Were we not delighted with £20m for Downing or was that only a year after when he'd floundered at Liverpool?

I always thought there was a player in Albrighton who suffered from injuries/confidence. He's also improved the defensive side of his game a lot at Leicester, as a youngster for us he would often commit silly fouls but he always had a great in-swinging cross and an eye for a great through-ball and a fine shot. Lambert releasing him was another one of his punchable offences.

Without digging up the thread loads at the time were wanting 30m + for him seeing as Liverpool had signed Carroll for that amount six months earlier.

Same as people saying 18m for Milner and Young was also too low. I tend to agree but ultimately Young was a year away from going on a free and I naively thought Ireland would add something different to our 11 so was a decent extra in the Milner deal.

[SoccerHQ]

Wasnt it a wage thing, we werent prepared to offer what he wanted?

Not sure what he was on here but Leicester offered him 40k. Given the extreme cost cutting at the time he was released and him just being a squad player I imagine we didn't attempt to match that.

[SoccerHQ]

Westwood's been in a top ten side for the last couple of years.

He's been a squad player, only became a regular starter when Defour got a bad injury. Lowton has been more impressive.

[Sexual Ealing]

Westwood's been in a top ten side for the last couple of years.

He's been a squad player, only became a regular starter when Defour got a bad injury. Lowton has been more impressive.

He's still doing better than he would've if he'd stayed here and continued absorbing abuse.

[SoccerHQ]

Westwood's been in a top ten side for the last couple of years.

He's been a squad player, only became a regular starter when Defour got a bad injury. Lowton has been more impressive.

He's still doing better than he would've if he'd stayed here and continued absorbing abuse.

Yeah he's done alright in fairness but really Burnley have used him as we should've. Had him as a sub, then they started winning and he then fits into that and their style.

Too many of our lower league signings were thrown in way too early. Someone like Bennett (as much a contender for this thread as Westwood) should've been eased in gently as you could see he was miles out of his depth starting premier league games. Others like Westwood and Lowton showed potential at times but difficult to keep improving when the club has a losing culture running through it.

By the time we were relegated Westwood was too associated with losing Villa teams for it to work out in the championship.

[XXVilla]

Ladies and gentlemen I present to you Mr Peter Crouch