Heroes & Villains, the Aston Villa fanzine
Heroes & Villains => Heroes Discussion => Topic started by: kippaxvilla2 on September 01, 2022, 10:58:08 PM
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Overall underwhelming.
Nearly all wingers that move sold or loaned.
Still got two crap strikers.
Defence still looks suspect.
No longer shopping at Sainsburys. Getting towards Aldi.
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Started off very promising. Ended with the forum discussing posters balls to dick ratio.
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We must be the slowest side in the top flight.
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losing our top defender hasn't helped. Making an horrendous start to the season and having a shit manager doesn't help and I am pretty sure it completely impacted the signings. Let's fire this prick and spend in January and heavily next summer.
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By my reckoning there's room in the squad for both Guilbert and Sanson, does that look right? Assuming we don't register Carlos until at least jan.
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Desperate
We're not scoring many goals
Goals win games, I think we will be relegated
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(https://i.ibb.co/zQTkjmX/3533009-20190220040240-5c6ccc23b789684ea004059cjpeg-ls.jpg) (https://ibb.co/zQTkjmX)
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Coutinho, Olsen, Augustinsson, Carlos, Kamara, Dendonker and Bednarek. A bunch rather than a planned set, with a plan and a jigsaw piece in mind. Without the change in coaching/managing, to get the best out of them, whether they are good players or not, will make no difference. Overall, I am hoping the Dendonker signing is a bit of a jewell but word has it, he hasn't been the same since his bad injury. Coutinho is a 70 minute player. Underwhelmed with Kamara thus far, but hope Dendonker is a partner and much needed, to bring the best out in Bouba. Weird window and I am sure Gerrard is not the pull that he thinks he is. Change the manager and this lot might just turn out to be quite useful.
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Our chronic lack of pace hampers us ever being effective on the break, and we have not addressed it. We have signed 2 very solid midfield players which under the right manager can thrive.
Bednarek appears to be a liability, so let's hope his arse gets warm on the bench until Carlos returns.
Not much to get excited about. Luiz staying is good for the next manager.
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(https://i.ibb.co/zQTkjmX/3533009-20190220040240-5c6ccc23b789684ea004059cjpeg-ls.jpg) (https://ibb.co/zQTkjmX)
I see your you're Trottering out the same bollocks
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Looking at it, I would say the owner’s didn’t want spend too heavy with SG being a busted flush.
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I see your you're Trottering out the same bollocks
I assumed it was a reference to us signing the Dell boy, Bednarek.
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Potentially not bad but need to see them play / a bit more of them and need to get Gerrards last few token games out of the way and a new manager in. It’s not quite threatening the current elite levels but with better luck on the injury front and a manager who knows what he’s doing, I think we could have a top half squad. Just.
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There's a fair bit of squad filler and if the style's going to be changed to allow for two defensive midfielders, surely to God we could have done better than Dondecker? It has the feel of a newly-promoted side - we're still signing players to stay up, rather than to kick on.
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Reads like my old annual school reports…”has unfulfilled potential if he applied himself more”.
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If we'd signed the players we did first up later in the window and vice versa we'd probably feel a lot more positive.
Seeing the value of assets like El Ghazi and Bert tumble so dramatically is a bit shit as well.
6/10 overall.
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Our chronic lack of pace hampers us ever being effective on the break, and we have not addressed it. We have signed 2 very solid midfield players which under the right manager can thrive.
Bednarek appears to be a liability, so let's hope his arse gets warm on the bench until Carlos returns.
Not much to get excited about. Luiz staying is good for the next manager.
Bailey,Watkins and Ramsey would make us effective on the break.
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And Archer
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By my reckoning there's room in the squad for both Guilbert and Sanson, does that look right? Assuming we don't register Carlos until at least jan.
Has our official squad for the season been published or does it not happen til after the window closes?
Sanson kept the number 8 shirt when the squad numbers were allocated. After his tentative but promising pre-season involvement it seemed another encouraging sign that he'd be involved but obviously that hasn't been the case and Gerrard has said a couple of times now that he was free to find a new club.
Unless it's happened late in the day and has yet to be reported, a move to Turkey is the only available option to him. If that doesn't happen, continued bombing-out of him especially with our current form would be more stubbornness/stupidity by Gerrard.
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Massively underwhelming.
Lots of fighting talk from Purslow and the owners but next to no actual substance.
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Desperately needed at least one decent striker.
That leaves us now with Archer and two of the worst forwards in the league currently.
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I wonder what our back-up plans were when Sarr didn't happen or whether that was an unplanned move in the first place.
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Loads, most, nearly all of our promising youngsters loaned out, after touring Oz.
Many of those would have been good on bench training with first team
Feel sorry for Samson and Guilbert, hope Luiz keeps his head head down trying to keep his World Cup dreams alive
Other than Carlos and Bouba, I’m not sure that any other signings are upgrades on what we already had ?
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Started off quite promising with Kamara and Diego Carlos coming in early, adding Coutinho for the fee was decent business. The signings of Augustinsson and Olsen were sensible if not spectacular.
Losing Diego Carlos and then having the poor start I guess the possibly of bringing in top quality signings.
Disappointed to lose Chukwemaka, but understand the fee was worth taking for a player with so little experience. Seeing the backs of Trezeguet, Traore, El Ghazi made sense. It looks like we've kept Dougie and a few younger lads have gone off to play men's football.
Sanson, Gilbert? No idea what happens with them,
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I'm starting to have odd nagging thought that we may not actually win the league this season.
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Difficult to judge at this stage. They were unlucky with Carlos and the biggest failing to me is opting not to bring in another forward. I like Kamara. I like Coutinho, too. Hopefully he will be back to his old self soon. That's it for uninjured first team players. We've added a fair bit of strength in depth everywhere... except in attacking positions, for some reason.
Everything, though, is clouded by the poor form and managerial position. If we obtain a vaguely competent manager who can get the most out of the players we have, the window will look a lot better in hindsight and we, hopefully, have saved a few quid to give him the fabled "warchest" in January.
Overall: C - could have been a lot better but not the all-consuming catastrophe that a handful of misery arses are making out.
I'm still fairly confident that the next window will be more exciting and we will have a much better manager waiting to greet the new recruits.
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Desperately needed at least one decent striker.
That leaves us now with Archer and two of the worst forwards in the league currently.
Brighton,Southampton,WestHam,Bournemouth,Wolves,Everton,Leeds,Forest,and possibly Man U and Leicester would put Watkins in their starting line up.
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Window was OK and almost good with Carlos and Kamara coming in however our problem is not the players.
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I think this window has, for the first time, made me begin to question our genuine ambition. We've undoubtedly got unlucky with Carlos but after the first few games it was obvious that we're lacking in certain areas. We've not done enough to change that unless Gerrard has a change of formation.
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If Coutinho was playing better it would be an easier pill to swallow but it seems like we bolstered the squad with bench players instead of finding real first team talent. Apparently, our wage bill is an issue.
I’ll be honest, I worry for us. We can’t keep doing this 15-19th battle every year, it’s pathetic and embarrassing for us. A commitment to grow the club isn’t dependent on the manager. The philosophy, the structure, the decision-making needs to come from someone/a group beyond the just manager. Please go get a proven progressional and stop messing around.
The skinnier our formation gets, the more we will fail. The heat maps over the last three matches is absolutely insane. Everyone standing on top of one another.
We know Kamara is good enough. I think if Dendoncker can play a part, this window will have been.. okay. That would be Coutinho, LD, Diego and Kamara signed.. not terrible? Unfortunately, we have a critical flaw in our management.
On the other side.. Hopefully Doug will stay focused and want to make it into the World Cup squad. I hold no ill will towards him. Playing 30-50 minutes, yet being call a “Top, top player” must get old.
I’m happy for AEG, he was great - this rollercoaster was in the up then. Hopefully he can be a good role model and do well.
Bert.. he had magic in him. Wish it was more often.
We need to start getting a better return on our transfers. It clearly points to a development and coaching issue at the top of the club, because our youth and academy setup doesn’t seem to have that problem.
We’ve got to support the players and do our part. Our situation is like the first time you boil water on an induction stove. Its boiling over wayyy faster than you thought it would and it’s painful to clean up.
We can reverse course and come good.. but we’ll do it next weekend because I’m busy this weekend and we play that team with the big nordic cyborg up front anyway.
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We won't be pushing for Europe, but with the right system, coaching and motivation the squad is good enough to be securely 10th-13th. Just a question of if/when we discover those three things.
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The signings today suggest we are trying to make us a little more defensively solid. The theory I suppose is that frees up the attacking players to do what they’re supposed to be good at. Time will tell but I can’t say I’m convinced.
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Hasn’t worked out as promised. Maybe we’ve tried and failed but I just don’t see how we’ll improve much with what we’ve done today. Something was needed to lift the gloom and it hasn’t happened. Let’s see what a new manager can do with this squad.
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Dendonker fits well into a 4-2-3-1 formation which would work best for us but not sure Gerrard sees us as that.
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Get rid of the manager this window and the squad are just fine. I’m pretty sure we have kept money in the safe for the next bloke.
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Agreed. Can’t see a change in formation either but I live in hope. If we are as open as we have been I fear for us.
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To be honest this transfer window sums up where we are as a club. No strategy and no direction. There's clearly a complete lack of cohesion from board to CEO to Sporting director (or whatever Lange's role is) to Head Coach. This is replicated on the pitch. I'd like to see the owners take a lot more interest and review if it's just Gerrard that is the problem or most likely it's Purslow. We are going nowhere bar a relegation battle without this addressed.
On the players signed, Gerrard's profile was key in getting Kamara, Carlos and Coutinho in. I think the two today might work out ok actually. The long lost mythical number 6 issue finally addressed.
I suspect Gerrard wanted to move Mings on earlier in the summer but didn't happen, maybe the board didn't back him on it. Surprised we didn't take the cash for Luiz today, would have been one player we actually made a profit on. Poor we didn't try and move Ings on too, we need something different up front. We have a real problem as a club knowing when to move players on.
Wouldn't blame him for losing Chucky as he gave him every chance, many undeserved I felt last season. Giving away the likes of Hause, Trez, AEG, Traore for little or nothing is just poor management from the club. Still another sizeable bombsquad Guilbert, Nakamba, Sanson with no future bar being given away. It's a mess.
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The owners have rightly refused to splash more cash until they see a return on their investment. That’s why it’s almost certain the next tsfr we make will be managerial.
I expect NSWE will invest millions again once they see the people they are paying shit loads of money, actually do the job they are paid to do.
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Think it was a window that hinted at fault lines and inconsistencies within the club.
We've got the club stating ambition but not necessarily reflecting it in the business we've done - a hostage to fortune if ever there was one, particularly with a fanbase all too familiar with promises around season ticket renewal time. It's good to be smart (e.g. Kamara signing), but don't hype people up if you're not going to make a splash.
We've got the situation with Sarr - a player we walked away from but whom isn't aligned positionally with what Gerrard has been building last season and this pre-season. I also still have a nagging doubt as to who walked away from the fabled 3 decision makers and why.
And we've got the debate on the manager which is relevant in the sense that if the club truly believe he is the guy to push this club on, they either back him 100% or get rid. The business we've done seems to fall in the middle of that, which is a failure in my eyes.
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The owners have rightly refused to splash more cash until they see a return on their investment. That’s why it’s almost certain the next tsfr we make will be managerial.
I expect NSWE will invest millions again once they see the people they are paying shit loads of money, actually do the job they are paid to do.
That might be the case, or Steven Gerrard may have genuinely felt that he'd done all his business in pre season, only to panic after making such a poor start. Given our current situation, we weren't really going to be making significant last minute signings.
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Coutinho, Olsen, Augustinsson, Carlos, Kamara, Dendonker and Bednarek. A bunch rather than a planned set, with a plan and a jigsaw piece in mind.
It's what we call down here a fish stew. A few decent bits thrown in with those that you'd never buy for dinner.
On a positive note, the flavour's great.Maybe just maybe..nah!
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Not as billed.
Lots of big talk about improvement, Europe and “upgrades” at the start of the summer, went about our early business well but then stood still while a whole bunch of clubs sailed past us. Massively underwhelming.
We were desperately unlucky with Carlos of course, but to my eye we’ve only improved the first XI by one player and have added a bunch of squad players. Stand still in this league and you go backwards - I thought we’d learned that lesson but I now have my doubts.
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Do you think it really is a lack of ambition and being sold a lie about a European challenge, or could it be that Gerrard is effectively already gone and the owners are waiting until after the City game to push him. That and we probably don't have a replacement lined up yet anyway. NSWE could be playing this very astutely or it could be the blind leading the blind, we will find out soon enough.
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Crap, the charade that we are aiming for Europe has been exposed by a failing rookie manager and signing mid table reserves.
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We manage to get all premiership games over here, seeing a lot of our opposition I can see that even the newly promoted sides are going to be tough games. We look so disjointed in comparison and I can only put that down to the coaching. One point of optimism is that now Luiz is staying he could turn out to be our leading goal scorer if we get enough corners.
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The transfer window means nothing.
What we have bought and what we have left (including the bomb squad) will be only as good as the manager utilises them into his non-working system.
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Am disappointed we didn't sign a very good striker.
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One thing I am concerned about is that we have no height up front. I don't want us primarily to go down the old-school big 10/small 9 route, but it's an additional option, surely? Why give up on corners and long balls entirely?
Carew, Benteke, Tammy, Gestede...okay maybe not.
But it's there as a bonus. It's not as if we play like Barcelona '08-'10, with crisp, incisive passing. A goal scrambled in from a knock-down is still a goal. They may be the margins, but why not prime ourselves to benefit from them?
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Overall I’d score it 4 out of 10. Kamara is brilliant, Carlos I’ve no idea and the others are polyfiller.
It was very much a “We know our place” window and that’s bottom half of the division.
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One thing I am concerned about is that we have no height up front. I don't want us primarily to go down the old-school big 10/small 9 route, but it's an additional option, surely? Why give up on corners and long balls entirely?
Carew, Benteke, Tammy, Gestede...okay maybe not.
But it's there as a bonus. It's not as if we play like Barcelona '08-'10, with crisp, incisive passing. A goal scrambled in from a knock-down is still a goal. They may be the margins, but why not prime ourselves to benefit from them?
It is when our attacking options appear to be [or should that be option] to get the full back to by-line or level on the 18 yard box and swing the ball in.
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Yesterday shows me quite clearly that the owners have lost faith with Gerrard and the sack is very close. We got a centre back on loan which is sensible and sent a truck load of young lads out for valuable experience which is good. Am now sure he will be gone after Saturday. If Purslow refuses the orders, he'll get the boot too.
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A mediocre window. The reality is you have to keep investing in this League to push on. Gerrard will soon be out so at least there's a decent pool of players to work with. They just need to be set-up right and work to a proper system, something Gerrard has failed to implement.
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It doesn’t feel an awful lot of thought went into this other than Carlos and Kamara which is absolutely nuts considering how crap we have been. I really don’t get the thought process behind this.
Ok I might not be giving Dendonker any credit but we’ve spent since May coming up with him and no other attacking force with pace?
Gerrard doesn’t seem to want to give Archer a go and we never seem to use or make the most of the pace of Watkins.
Maybe we’ll a bit harder to beat now? However I only see a lower end to mid table finish which doesn’t seem to fit our original agenda.
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Massively unfortunate to have lost Carlos so early on but totally understand the reasoning to bring in a stop gap. As for the rest, Kamara aside, we should be doing better. I think Sarr would have been another good option from the bench now Traore's gone, mainly because we seem to be struggling to create chances. 5/10.
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Overall pretty disappointing after a good start.
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6/10
On paper Coutinho, Carlos & Kamara are good.
Squad players, Olsen & the others? We needed some numbers.
Dendoncker? Quite happy with this. Adds some height and steel in the middle.
Feel we needed a wide player.
Shame we couldn’t move on Guilbert & Sanson.
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I should add if we had shown seeds of improvement last season and started much better and looked like we had some form of identity and plan, this window wouldn’t seem half as meh as it does.
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was all the talk about pushing on, bidding for players like Bissouma and Sarr just a smoke screen? Is it all a bit like Doug?talk, talk, talk but never REALLY go for it?
Did we bid for players but have no intention of actually breaking our ceiling ?
Or, have the club realised that Gerrard is done for and decided to hold back on funds?
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So I suppose we need to bring Freddie and Sanson in from abyss they have been left in?
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I’m going 7/10. Probably a striker and midfielder short. Feel we had signed some quality with Coutinho, Carlos and Kamara with some good squad stuff to back it up. I think I said in the pre season review thread that the issue was Gerrard learning to put the pieces together and at the moment that isn’t looking good.
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The NSWE era brought a new regime and a plan backed up by good decisions.
Since the Greasy saga all that has changed. I have no idea what the plan is and the decisions since then have brought us to where are today. Losing to fkin Bournemouth, an unpopular manager, pissed off fans, bottom of the league, horrible football and a disappointing transfer window.
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Agree with others
A few gap fillers to strengthen the middle and centre
Not a window that had pushing on in its mind, rather damage limitation until the next guy comes in
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5/10
If we change systems and play Dendonckor and Kamara together, then that might prove to be a decent bit of business and up it to a 6. Carlos and PC were exciting signings that pretty much everyone was up for at the time, although I still have my doubts over PC, after his first handful of games he's contributed fuck all.
With this manager and squad I'd take 15th now if offered
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Overall, a bit disappointing.
Started off well - Kamara & Diego Carlos both signings of a club that wants to play in Europe. Augustinsson seems decent as a backup, though having not knowingly seen him play that's not guess than anything. Olsen likewise. Getting Trez off the books was the right thing for both him & us.
Coutinho is good for the price we paid *if* he starts performing.
Then there's everything else. Losing AEG and Traore, and not signing a replacement (Sarr) feels like the squad has been built for one particular formation - Gerrard's - and few expect him to last for more than a few months at most.
There's nothing wrong with Bednarek or Dendoncker, but neither screams ambition. They feel like the sort of players a newly promoted club would sign.
I don't think we had a bad squad overall last season - slightly underperformed and was a solid mid table squad. Now, it looks unbalanced to me. No width, far too slow, not athletic in the slightest. It's that, more than the slow start to the season, that make me think it's time for Gerrard & co to pack their bags (before they do any more damage).
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The seeming lack of pace in the side is an obvious worry but perhaps this is made worse by just how slow our build up play is.
Quite what the game plan is, is indeed anyones guess.
The transfer window could have been worse I think our recent results have not put the manager in a good light and its clear his support is dwindling fast so tempting people in the latter part of the window was difficult.
Totally unconvinced by Gerrard so far
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We had half a good window, but have come up short again. 4/10
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The NSWE era brought a new regime and a plan backed up by good decisions.
Since the Greasy saga all that has changed. I have no idea what the plan is and the decisions since then have brought us to where are today. Losing to fkin Bournemouth, an unpopular manager, pissed off fans, bottom of the league, horrible football and a disappointing transfer window.
That's why a good number of us despise him.
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There's a fair bit of squad filler and if the style's going to be changed to allow for two defensive midfielders, surely to God we could have done better than Dondecker? It has the feel of a newly-promoted side - we're still signing players to stay up, rather than to kick on.
This last sentence is spot on.
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The one small hope I’m clinging on to is that they’ve decided to keep Luiz because they’re hopeful a new manager will play him correctly and therefore persuade him to sign a new deal. Ditto Bailey, Sanson (not new deals but to be played).
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The NSWE era brought a new regime and a plan backed up by good decisions.
Since the Greasy saga all that has changed. I have no idea what the plan is and the decisions since then have brought us to where are today. Losing to fkin Bournemouth, an unpopular manager, pissed off fans, bottom of the league, horrible football and a disappointing transfer window.
That's why a good number of us despise him.
Which is fair enough I suppose. But the level of signings we've made (Coutinho aside, and the money involved there wasn't astronomical) doesn't help stave off a nagging doubt as to how hard Villa actually tried to keep Grealish. An equivalent would be that West Ham haven't sold Rice. Somebody might say "yet", which would be fair, but there isn't even much speculation. He's easily as high profile and as important to West Ham.
Fuck knows, it just feels a bit bloody miserable at the moment.
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Had we actually signed Sarr, I would look at it and think we are trying to move to a lower block 4-2-3-1, with pace out wide and a bit more solidity in midfield, and giving Cash and Digne a bit of respite. But we didn't. So I'm not really sure what we are trying to do.
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Massively underwhelming.
Lots of fighting talk from Purslow and the owners but next to no actual substance.
It's funny because if I had put this I'd have been hounded by a pack of wolves until I was forced to no longer give an opinion. Be careful posting things like this, they'll come together and try to ridicule you with "you're stupid", "you're ridiculous" and "grow up" all personal attacks without once me doing it to them or retaliating. They won't attempt to beat you with debate or fact, they need to turn it in to farce to come across as alpha to anyone who rarely posts or is a new poster. Might as well just be a group of people down the pub. Anyway, great points, completely underwhelmed.
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Settle down.
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No they wouldn't.
Saying the board are treading water, or underwhelming after all the talk is not something anyone is disputing.
Calling them names and and having a go at them continually on every thread going is what results in people growing very tired. Rant after rant. We know your opinion. Others disagree. Others have a slightly more nuanced one that says they saved us, have spent heavily to get to the prem, and may well be restrained by other factors at this point. Either way, Lange, Purslow and Gerrard have a lot less in the bank than the owners.
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All a bit meh really not helped by the position the club finds itself in the pl, through rank bad management.
Coutinho hasn't impressed since signing permanently, Carlos has been unfortunate , Kamara looks like being the best of the lot in a position we needed filling. The rest don't shout ambition and Europe to me, more, we need to ensure we have enough to escape the bottom 3. A change of direction by the club that some fans may feel duped by?
I'd personally have held onto Traore as an extra winger in the squad, as the rest were sold off. I'd also have held onto one or two of the youngsters (Kaine and Tim especially) and managed/coached their progress better from within the club, rather than relying on an unpredictable 3rd party to do so.
The Ceo and owners can resurrect the feeling of being ambitious by appointing a top end manager to get us out of the mess we find ourselves in and providing him with necessary funding in January, that is unless it's all about the stadium plans.
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The NSWE era brought a new regime and a plan backed up by good decisions.
Since the Greasy saga all that has changed. I have no idea what the plan is and the decisions since then have brought us to where are today. Losing to fkin Bournemouth, an unpopular manager, pissed off fans, bottom of the league, horrible football and a disappointing transfer window.
That's why a good number of us despise him.
Which is fair enough I suppose. But the level of signings we've made (Coutinho aside, and the money involved there wasn't astronomical) doesn't help stave off a nagging doubt as to how hard Villa actually tried to keep Grealish. An equivalent would be that West Ham haven't sold Rice. Somebody might say "yet", which would be fair, but there isn't even much speculation. He's easily as high profile and as important to West Ham.
Fuck knows, it just feels a bit bloody miserable at the moment.
Grealish only signed a new contract because of the astronomical buy out clause in it. Then Man City were stupid enough to pay it.
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Settle down.
Aimed at the wrong person
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One of the ways to improve a team is to sign better players than you currently have
Squad fillers are not the way to improve our first 11
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The one small hope I’m clinging on to is that they’ve decided to keep Luiz because they’re hopeful a new manager will play him correctly and therefore persuade him to sign a new deal. Ditto Bailey, Sanson (not new deals but to be played).
Reasons for going
Can triple his wages
European football
Potential relegation battle if he's stays
Reasons for stating
Our ambitions club
Yes, he's staying
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Massively underwhelming.
Lots of fighting talk from Purslow and the owners but next to no actual substance.
It's funny because if I had put this I'd have been hounded by a pack of wolves until I was forced to no longer give an opinion. Be careful posting things like this, they'll come together and try to ridicule you with "you're stupid", "you're ridiculous" and "grow up" all personal attacks without once me doing it to them or retaliating. They won't attempt to beat you with debate or fact, they need to turn it in to farce to come across as alpha to anyone who rarely posts or is a new poster. Might as well just be a group of people down the pub. Anyway, great points, completely underwhelmed.
It’s a discussion board mate, people will disagree. You’re coming across as a whinging pussy because people aren’t agreeing with you. You’re not going to get everyone to agree with how you see it, that’s life. And it also doesn’t mean that people don’t accept some of what you’re saying either, they just have a different perspective.
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It's not a pack of wolves, it's a group of individual posters who all disagree with how aggressively you're blaming the owners for the team not playing well.
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I'd give it a 4/10. A good start, with definite high quality upgrades in Carlos and Kamara. Sadly it then fizzled out almost entirely. When the attacking bit of the midfield and the forward line is recognisably the source of most of the frustrations, not to strengthen it is a poor show. They obviously realised that with the aborted purchase of Sarr, so why they then didn't get somebody else in of that ilk, lord only knows. I think Dendoncker will be a useful purchase, but a forward and an 8 would have been very welcome and vital additions.
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Settle down.
Aimed at the wrong person
It really isn't. As I said on the previous page and you chose this one to respond to, you are getting comments because of your posting style and manner of your insults at something some people don't share your view about. Just like you have found numerous threads to have your one line crusade, others have the ability to reply. You appear to not want to see any counter arguments, which is your perogative, but stop claiming to be a victim for people having a different opinion.
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Settle down.
Aimed at the wrong person
It really isn't. As I said on the previous page and you chose this one to respond to, you are getting comments because of your posting style and manner of your insults at something some people don't share your view about. Just like you have found numerous threads to have your one line crusade, others have the ability to reply. You appear to not want to see any counter arguments, which is your perogative, but stop claiming to be a victim for people having a different opinion.
Can you show me an insult I've made please and ill be happy to apologise
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Calling the owners trotters and then doubling down on it on a separate post. Or is that not an insult?
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Massively underwhelming.
Lots of fighting talk from Purslow and the owners but next to no actual substance.
It's funny because if I had put this I'd have been hounded by a pack of wolves until I was forced to no longer give an opinion. Be careful posting things like this, they'll come together and try to ridicule you with "you're stupid", "you're ridiculous" and "grow up" all personal attacks without once me doing it to them or retaliating. They won't attempt to beat you with debate or fact, they need to turn it in to farce to come across as alpha to anyone who rarely posts or is a new poster. Might as well just be a group of people down the pub. Anyway, great points, completely underwhelmed.
It’s a discussion board mate, people will disagree. You’re coming across as a whinging pussy because people aren’t agreeing with you. You’re not going to get everyone to agree with how you see it, that’s life. And it also doesn’t mean that people don’t accept some of what you’re saying either, they just have a different perspective.
Don't mind people disagreeing with me, it's a forum and I actually prefer it. But most of isn't being being debated it's just being dismissed because others don't like it. It's kind of ironic what you're saying to the actual truth.
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Calling the owners trotters and then doubling down on it on a separate post. Or is that not an insult?
No, that isn't insulting another poster. Unless NSWE or purslow are on here
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6/10
On paper Coutinho, Carlos & Kamara are good.
Squad players, Olsen & the others? We needed some numbers.
Dendoncker? Quite happy with this. Adds some height and steel in the middle.
Feel we needed a wide player.
Shame we couldn’t move on Guilbert & Sanson.
I think that’s very fair. I think the negativity some are feeling is just in contrast to the “pushing for Europe” rhetoric we have been fed. For what we’ve spent, we’ve done quite well and improved in some important positions.
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Calling the owners trotters and then doubling down on it on a separate post. Or is that not an insult?
No, that isn't insulting another poster. Unless NSWE or purslow are on here
I didn't say other posters. Some people who have a different view to yours, which you clearly cannot fathom as a possibility, may take issue with you insulting the owners? Using several threads to stamp your feet saying the same thing repeatedly is likely to attract attention. You appear to have taken the victim role for people pointing this out to you.
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Fuck me this is tedious.
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I'd go with 6.5/10 for the window.
In reverse order of importance we needed:
Long term cover for Martinez.
Cover for Digne.
A replacement CB to start and allow Hause to move.
Coutinho to stay/not lose anyone from the first 11.
A new striker.
1-2 midfielders to add defensive stability and physicality into the team.
We've achieved all but 1 of those to various degrees.
The only outgoing I'm unhappy with is Traore but I'd have accepted it if we'd gone ahead with Sarr.
I think our squad is now much stronger with just a couple of attacking players needed to be full.
The first 11 is stronger but only if the manager uses the players properly and I see few signs he can do that.
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I'd go with 6.5/10 for the window.
In reverse order of importance we needed:
Long term cover for Martinez.
Cover for Digne.
A replacement CB to start and allow Hause to move.
Coutinho to stay/not lose anyone from the first 11.
A new striker.
1-2 midfielders to add defensive stability and physicality into the team.
We've achieved all but 1 of those to various degrees.
The only outgoing I'm unhappy with is Traore but I'd have accepted it if we'd gone ahead with Sarr.
I think our squad is now much stronger with just a couple of attacking players needed to be full.
The first 11 is stronger but only if the manager uses the players properly and I see few signs he can do that.
Spot on Paul. I’ve given an extra half mark but around that score seems fair to me. The biggest issue is as you summise Gerrard.
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I'd go with 6.5/10 for the window.
In reverse order of importance we needed:
Long term cover for Martinez.
Cover for Digne.
A replacement CB to start and allow Hause to move.
Coutinho to stay/not lose anyone from the first 11.
A new striker.
1-2 midfielders to add defensive stability and physicality into the team.
We've achieved all but 1 of those to various degrees.
The only outgoing I'm unhappy with is Traore but I'd have accepted it if we'd gone ahead with Sarr.
I think our squad is now much stronger with just a couple of attacking players needed to be full.
The first 11 is stronger but only if the manager uses the players properly and I see few signs he can do that.
Probably fair, in hindsight. Easy to get lost in the Gerrard Out fog, I guess. As with you, had we bought Sarr in then I think it'd have looked a decent few months business in terms of having a good squad for whoever replaces Gerrard to work with.
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Can’t say I blame the owners tightening the reins regarding our transfer activity. We have doubts about the manager, they must too after an underwhelming end of last season and a disastrous start to this one. We have acquired some steady players with experience in the last days which give us cover and thats about it.
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Certainly not an exciting window, good start with Kamara & Carlos but we then needed 2/3 more of the same ilk whereas it seems all the subsequent signings were fillers not players to help us step up.
Coutinho feels like a Gerrard / Purslow vanity signing, was pretty average after a really good start when he joined…has started this season very much the same.
Dendoncker feels like a buying what’s on offer rather than a player who was on the target list.
Carlos being injured along with our weak minded start to the season has pierced any positivity
For me we still have a squad perfectly capable of 8th-12th but we need a tactical reset or a mgmt change because we simply are too slow and physically weak to play 433.
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Agree with Paul e.
Overall not as bad as some are making out.
I suppose this is what happens when the majority of our business was done early.
If they’d been spread out over the window it would, probably, have had a different feel to it.
I wonder if we had a midfielder lined up in case Arsenal met our
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One thing to consider is that maybe the owners are looking at the economic storms that are about to hit us
Perhaps they are finding it hard to justify spending £30m on a player when many fans may soon be faced with the choice of taking the family to VP or keeping the house warm and food on the table
Maybe I’m thinking too deeply
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One thing to consider is that maybe the owners are looking at the economic storms that are about to hit us
Perhaps they are finding it hard to justify spending £30m on a player when many fans may soon be faced with the choice of taking the family to VP or keeping the house warm and food on the table
Maybe I’m thinking too deeply
Of course you are. They're American and Egyptian billionaires, currently planning to spend a quarter of a billion on establishing a Las Vegas MIL team. What you suggest won't even have occurred to them.
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One thing to consider is that maybe the owners are looking at the economic storms that are about to hit us
Perhaps they are finding it hard to justify spending £30m on a player when many fans may soon be faced with the choice of taking the family to VP or keeping the house warm and food on the table
Maybe I’m thinking too deeply
They turned down 25m yesterday for a player who will leave for free next summer.
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I'd go with 6.5/10 for the window.
In reverse order of importance we needed:
Long term cover for Martinez.
Cover for Digne.
A replacement CB to start and allow Hause to move.
Coutinho to stay/not lose anyone from the first 11.
A new striker.
1-2 midfielders to add defensive stability and physicality into the team.
We've achieved all but 1 of those to various degrees.
The only outgoing I'm unhappy with is Traore but I'd have accepted it if we'd gone ahead with Sarr.
I think our squad is now much stronger with just a couple of attacking players needed to be full.
The first 11 is stronger but only if the manager uses the players properly and I see few signs he can do that.
I'd agree with that. I was also disappointed they let Traoré go - for me he could definitely do a job playing inside forward as part of a front three. Tricksy and has goals in him.
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One thing to consider is that maybe the owners are looking at the economic storms that are about to hit us
Perhaps they are finding it hard to justify spending £30m on a player when many fans may soon be faced with the choice of taking the family to VP or keeping the house warm and food on the table
Maybe I’m thinking too deeply
They turned down 25m yesterday for a player who will leave for free next summer.
Maybe they're confident of him signing a new contract if/when Gerrard gets the boot.
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I'd give it a 4/10. A good start, with definite high quality upgrades in Carlos and Kamara. Sadly it then fizzled out almost entirely. When the attacking bit of the midfield and the forward line is recognisably the source of most of the frustrations, not to strengthen it is a poor show. They obviously realised that with the aborted purchase of Sarr, so why they then didn't get somebody else in of that ilk, lord only knows. I think Dendoncker will be a useful purchase, but a forward and an 8 would have been very welcome and vital additions.
Excellent summary that I wholly agree with.
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We would be in trouble if we were still owned by Tony cardboard belt Xia. His monosodium glutamate empire must be facing difficult times.
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One thing to consider is that maybe the owners are looking at the economic storms that are about to hit us
Perhaps they are finding it hard to justify spending £30m on a player when many fans may soon be faced with the choice of taking the family to VP or keeping the house warm and food on the table
Maybe I’m thinking too deeply
Of course you are. They're American and Egyptian billionaires, currently planning to spend a quarter of a billion on establishing a Las Vegas MIL team. What you suggest won't even have occurred to them.
They are successful business people
They would have considered the wider economic conditions
They may have chosen to ignore them but I don’t agree it would never have occurred to them
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It seems to me that there was a shift at some point during the transfer window - presumably once the season started. At that point, things were going well. The early business was really good, and I genuinely think that Kamara is a bit of a coup for us. The Carlos injury is, of course, very unfortunate. You can’t legislate for that, but we have done the next best thing and got someone in to fill in while he recovers.
It felt like we were going to kick on from our early business. Adding a couple of statement signings to the decent start - the elusive all-action midfielder that we have been missing since time began, and maybe an exciting forward as well - really go for it. That’s what had been alluded to by Gerrard and Purslow, so I think we were within our rights to expect something along those lines.
That hasn’t happened. While I think that the two new guys will make us a better team, if we’d have been planning to buy these players all along, we could have found much better.
I think the positive way to look at it is that the board/owners have lost faith in the manager - presumably when we showed up to Bournemouth with no idea how to play despite a full preseason. They don’t want to give him any more money, which may be wasted. He hasn’t shown any indication that he can improve players, so any player we buy under his management will presumably decrease in value. It doesn’t represent a good investment. I don't know what happened with the Ismaïla Sarr-ga, but it certainly suggests that the manager and the board weren't on the same wavelength.
So why is he still here? I can only assume it is timing now. They felt they couldn’t sack him on deadline day, or on the eve of a match against Man City, so they are holding back - hoping for a miracle tomorrow, but planning for the most likely outcome. It is quite telling that neither of our signings yesterday mentioned the manager in the quotes on the official site.
The other theory is that the owners have scaled back their ambition. I don’t want to believe this, so without knowing for sure either way, I am choosing to not believe it. The stadium expansion plans for the Villa ‘franchise’ are big - they won’t work for a team scrapping against relegation every year - we need European football and we need it quickly. They know this, and are working towards it, it’s just a mistake was made last year that we need to correct before we get back on the right path. Money will be made available to the new manager, who will be ambitious and exciting.
Right?
I will admit that everything is feeling a little bit stale at the moment. The entire club just feels slightly stuck. Cautious and unimaginative in every aspect, from our transfer targets and how we deal with ‘out of favour’ players to the pricing structure of tickets and catering solutions - even the social media output is bland, humourless and predictable. The whole club needs a shot in the arm, we need a buzz of excitement to get some momentum going.
That won’t happen with Gerrard in charge. He is the epitome of bland, humourless and predictable. There are two huge decisions coming up for the board and owners. One I think has already been made, and the other is the most important one that they have made so far. It will give us the answer of how badly they want this club to succeed on the scale of Sean Dyche to Mauricio Pochettino.
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Maybe the wider economic conditions would have been thought of when the season ticket prices were considered. I can't see transfer fees having anything to do with it.
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One thing to consider is that maybe the owners are looking at the economic storms that are about to hit us
Perhaps they are finding it hard to justify spending £30m on a player when many fans may soon be faced with the choice of taking the family to VP or keeping the house warm and food on the table
Maybe I’m thinking too deeply
Of course you are. They're American and Egyptian billionaires, currently planning to spend a quarter of a billion on establishing a Las Vegas MIL team. What you suggest won't even have occurred to them.
They are successful business people
They would have considered the wider economic conditions
They may have chosen to ignore them but I don’t agree it would never have occurred to them
Your first two statements contradict each other completely. Sorry but it's absolute nonsense. They're paying Coutinho £200K a week, but they're going to baulk at buying another £30m player because of fuel bills? Nah. They'd agreed a fee for Sarr, for one thing.
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Maybe the wider economic conditions would have been thought of when the season ticket prices were considered. I can't see transfer fees having anything to do with it.
They put all the prices up, so they can't have considered them for very long.
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One thing to consider is that maybe the owners are looking at the economic storms that are about to hit us
Perhaps they are finding it hard to justify spending £30m on a player when many fans may soon be faced with the choice of taking the family to VP or keeping the house warm and food on the table
Maybe I’m thinking too deeply
They turned down 25m yesterday for a player who will leave for free next summer.
Maybe they're confident of him signing a new contract if/when Gerrard gets the boot.
Post a world cup with Brazil, I highly doubt it. I wouldn't really put the Luiz situation down to Gerrard. He has always been publicly supportive of him and given him plenty of game time. He hasn't exactly made himself undroppable.
I just hope he doesn't sulk until January with half assed performances.
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I think the positive way to look at it is that the board/owners have lost faith in the manager - presumably when we showed up to Bournemouth with no idea how to play despite a full preseason. They don’t want to give him any more money, which may be wasted. He hasn’t shown any indication that he can improve players, so any player we buy under his management will presumably decrease in value. It doesn’t represent a good investment. I don't know what happened with the Ismaïla Sarr-ga, but it certainly suggests that the manager and the board weren't on the same wavelength.
So why is he still here? I can only assume it is timing now. They felt they couldn’t sack him on deadline day, or on the eve of a match against Man City, so they are holding back - hoping for a miracle tomorrow, but planning for the most likely outcome. It is quite telling that neither of our signings yesterday mentioned the manager in the quotes on the official site.
The other theory is that the owners have scaled back their ambition. I don’t want to believe this, so without knowing for sure either way, I am choosing to not believe it. The stadium expansion plans for the Villa ‘franchise’ are big - they won’t work for a team scrapping against relegation every year - we need European football and we need it quickly. They know this, and are working towards it, it’s just a mistake was made last year that we need to correct before we get back on the right path. Money will be made available to the new manager, who will be ambitious and exciting.
A very good piece, boozey.
I've been coming to Villa Park since the 1950s. I never want Villa to lose but at the moment I feel as I did towards the end of Lambert - let's get it over with as soon as possible, rebuild the team and their confidence and win back the supporters. Like you, I want to believe that the owners are still planning to take us to the next level and won't, like Lerner, just lose interest.
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One thing to consider is that maybe the owners are looking at the economic storms that are about to hit us
Perhaps they are finding it hard to justify spending £30m on a player when many fans may soon be faced with the choice of taking the family to VP or keeping the house warm and food on the table
Maybe I’m thinking too deeply
Of course you are. They're American and Egyptian billionaires, currently planning to spend a quarter of a billion on establishing a Las Vegas MIL team. What you suggest won't even have occurred to them.
They are successful business people
They would have considered the wider economic conditions
They may have chosen to ignore them but I don’t agree it would never have occurred to them
Your first two statements contradict each other completely. Sorry but it's absolute nonsense. They're paying Coutinho £200K a week, but they're going to baulk at buying another £30m player because of fuel bills? Nah. They'd agreed a fee for Sarr, for one thing.
But lots of things have changed very rapidly Risso
Coutinho’s wages were fixed months ago, as were season ticket prices. Way before the latest energy forecasts of £6,000 a year
I’m just making the point that they would be aware, as we all are, of the coming economic shit show
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I just hope he doesn't sulk until January with half assed performances.
How would we notice the difference!
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One thing to consider is that maybe the owners are looking at the economic storms that are about to hit us
Perhaps they are finding it hard to justify spending £30m on a player when many fans may soon be faced with the choice of taking the family to VP or keeping the house warm and food on the table
Maybe I’m thinking too deeply
Of course you are. They're American and Egyptian billionaires, currently planning to spend a quarter of a billion on establishing a Las Vegas MIL team. What you suggest won't even have occurred to them.
They are successful business people
They would have considered the wider economic conditions
They may have chosen to ignore them but I don’t agree it would never have occurred to them
Your first two statements contradict each other completely. Sorry but it's absolute nonsense. They're paying Coutinho £200K a week, but they're going to baulk at buying another £30m player because of fuel bills? Nah. They'd agreed a fee for Sarr, for one thing.
But lots of things have changed very rapidly Risso
Coutinho’s wages were fixed months ago, as were season ticket prices. Way before the latest energy forecasts of £6,000 a year
I’m just making the point that they would be aware, as we all are, of the coming economic shit show
There is nothing they can do about people's bills other than actually giving them money to pay for them. If anybody wanted to get upset about football's profligacy in the face of society's wider inequalities, that particular boat, if it indeed ever existed, disappeared over the horizon at least a generation ago.
Personally, in times of hardship one tends to take joy where one can find it, and if those instances come from the on field exploits of your football team's marquee signing, I doubt there's many that wouldn't take them because they're having to listen on the radio as they can't afford to put the game on the telly.
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My take is that it's petered out but has been ok.
We got Coutinho and Digne early in January; I say early because I don't think we'd have signed Digne other than the factthat the opportunity arose because of the shit at Everton. Coutinho came because he knew Gerrard. It was a coup. To therefore confirm the permanent deal for Coutinho in the summer was good business.
We got a back up keeper, who is a full international.
We got a back up left back, who is a full international.
We got a high-quality Centre Back, who got inured, who we've now covered with another full international.
We've got the fabled Defensive Midfielder we said was the final piece that we needed.
We've now gone out and got another solid player in midfield, a full international no less.
We've done a lot of loans for our younger players, and retained another who clearly will go, instead of us cashing in.
The fact we almost had Sarr over the line is really puzzling, we didn't go for someone similar, or push that deal. I don't get it at all.
I'm also confused about the system and having let all our wide players go without replacing them. Bizarre.
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General rule of thumb ratio is 1 to 5 and it applies to every club. For every 1 thoroughbred there are 5 donkeys bought. This is regardless of money spent on any one individual and applies to everyone from Man city to Birmingham City.
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This transfer window has been much like many of our games. Started well but descended into panic near the end.
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I think that my problems with this transfer window are due to things that aren't really to do with this transfer window, ie Diego Carlos getting injured and Phil C being mostly average and not worth a place in the starting XI
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My take is that it's petered out but has been ok.
We got Coutinho and Digne early in January; I say early because I don't think we'd have signed Digne other than the factthat the opportunity arose because of the shit at Everton. Coutinho came because he knew Gerrard. It was a coup. To therefore confirm the permanent deal for Coutinho in the summer was good business.
We got a back up keeper, who is a full international.
We got a back up left back, who is a full international.
We got a high-quality Centre Back, who got inured, who we've now covered with another full international.
We've got the fabled Defensive Midfielder we said was the final piece that we needed.
We've now gone out and got another solid player in midfield, a full international no less.
We've done a lot of loans for our younger players, and retained another who clearly will go, instead of us cashing in.
The fact we almost had Sarr over the line is really puzzling, we didn't go for someone similar, or push that deal. I don't get it at all.
I'm also confused about the system and having let all our wide players go without replacing them. Bizarre.
Agree with most of that.
I would have preferred Iroegbunam to stay.
I would have liked to see Luiz shifted out, as I think we would have got a Teilemans rather than a Dedonkar had we moved either him or Sanson on.
I would have liked to have seen a striker come in, and not doing that has put us firmly behind Newcastle who went big on Isaak.
7 out of 10 for me, but with the bad luck on Carlos it feels more like a 5 out of 10.
In the end though we need to look at our squad improvement in the context of the other teams we are meant to be rivalling. Namely those looking to finish in a Europa league spot - West Ham, Newcastle and Wolves. We have lost ground on all of them.
It will be better to judge this when we have a new manager, as Gerrard has made such a dogs breakfast of the formation and coaching that the squad may well be much better than it looks right now.
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We're not paying Coutinho £200k a week, are we? Ugh...that could be the final nail in Gerrard's coffin if he lasts long enough but can't get him to change games every now and again.
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I think the positive way to look at it is that the board/owners have lost faith in the manager - presumably when we showed up to Bournemouth with no idea how to play despite a full preseason. They don’t want to give him any more money, which may be wasted. He hasn’t shown any indication that he can improve players, so any player we buy under his management will presumably decrease in value. It doesn’t represent a good investment. I don't know what happened with the Ismaïla Sarr-ga, but it certainly suggests that the manager and the board weren't on the same wavelength.
So why is he still here? I can only assume it is timing now. They felt they couldn’t sack him on deadline day, or on the eve of a match against Man City, so they are holding back - hoping for a miracle tomorrow, but planning for the most likely outcome. It is quite telling that neither of our signings yesterday mentioned the manager in the quotes on the official site.
The other theory is that the owners have scaled back their ambition. I don’t want to believe this, so without knowing for sure either way, I am choosing to not believe it. The stadium expansion plans for the Villa ‘franchise’ are big - they won’t work for a team scrapping against relegation every year - we need European football and we need it quickly. They know this, and are working towards it, it’s just a mistake was made last year that we need to correct before we get back on the right path. Money will be made available to the new manager, who will be ambitious and exciting.
A very good piece, boozey.
I've been coming to Villa Park since the 1950s. I never want Villa to lose but at the moment I feel as I did towards the end of Lambert - let's get it over with as soon as possible, rebuild the team and their confidence and win back the supporters. Like you, I want to believe that the owners are still planning to take us to the next level and won't, like Lerner, just lose interest.
I'm pretty confident its the former. Not much is known about NS but Wes is a serious sport investor and if you follow the story of his ownership of the Milwaukee Bucks, you'll see parallels with the early moves he has engineered at Villa. He isn't a guy who bails - "patience" is a word he used a lot in his early years at the Bucks. Plus NSWE net worth has, based on media reports, rocketed over the last 2-3 years - the Bucks alone have tripled their valuation.
He is a successful businessman, and ruthless with it - and will know that relegation would both devalue their investment to date, and threaten the entire project. Since SG arrived, they have invested something like $180m net in player personnel (transfer fees plus player contracts). But looking at the results (and equally the performances), you'd never believe it.
I'm 100% behind them. But as I said on the Gerrard thread, the next big decision is one they need to make very soon. Get rid of SG and the busload of coaches he brought with him. Make sure there is a robust and thorough recruitment process for his successor (no more vanity projects). Re-energize the project. Invest heavily in January once the new manager has had a chance to evaluate.
UTV
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5.5/10 for me - Carlos and Kamara are upgrades and I guess Coutinho should be seen as an upgrade if he can get some form. It might just be that Dendoncker shores up the midfield enough that we actually have a goal threat, but the lack of a striker for me is a big miss. We just don't have any real options. Hoping Archer can step up I guess. I do feel that unless we get SG out then it's 'worth' a 4.5 due to the lack of any gameplan.
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On whoscored in the team page they have a section listing strengths and weaknesses. I think it hits on exactly why we did the business we did yesterday:
- Weaknesses
Finishing scoring chances - Weak
Defending against long shots - Weak
Defending counter attacks - Weak
Avoiding individual errors - Weak
Defending set pieces - Very Weak
They list the same for players so strengths for them:
Dendoncker
Aerial Duels - Strong
Concentration - Strong
Bednarek
Ball interception - Very Strong
Aerial Duels - Strong
Holding on to the ball - Strong
Concentration - Strong
So they are pretty obviously addressing the bottom 2. The 2nd and 3rd are where Gerrard needs to fix his tactics. That leaves the obvious gap that we need to be more ruthless up front, which i think we all agree is the thing we didn't address in the window.
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The one small hope I’m clinging on to is that they’ve decided to keep Luiz because they’re hopeful a new manager will play him correctly and therefore persuade him to sign a new deal. Ditto Bailey, Sanson (not new deals but to be played).
Same thinking here.
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It's a pretty underwhelming end to the widnow.
Kamara was excellent business. Coutinho was on paper, unfortunately on the field it's yet to prove to be.
I suspect we'll never see the best of Carlos. As for Dendonker and Bednarek, they're the definition of underwhelming. I think both are ok and will improve our squad a bit, but they're hardly signings that will help us close te gap with the top 6/7 or even keep pace with Newcastle.
Last Jan we had a pretty short window to get a jump on Newcastle whilst they battled relegation and consolidated before making their move. The respective appointments of Howe and Gerrard put paid to that, and our timidity in the market this summer has prety much ended any hopes.
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Maybe our owners have looked at Chelsea spending 283m, just to try and hold onto third, and had a rethink.
What would we have to spend over the next five years to catch up with the very best clubs? A billion? More?
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Maybe our owners have looked at Chelsea spending 283m, just to try and hold onto third, and had a rethink.
What would we have to spend over the next five years to catch up with the very best clubs? A billion? More?
That isn't new news though is it?
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Maybe our owners have looked at Chelsea spending 283m, just to try and hold onto third, and had a rethink.
What would we have to spend over the next five years to catch up with the very best clubs? A billion? More?
That isn't new news though is it?
which is why the emphasis on youth and trying to supplement thransfers with home grown. However it looks like that policy has been discarded as we don’t seem to want to bring them into the first team set up.