Heroes & Villains, the Aston Villa fanzine
Heroes & Villains => Heroes Discussion => Topic started by: dave.woodhall on August 03, 2015, 01:16:13 AM
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Which means nothing, but what the hell...
http://thebirminghampress.com/2015/08/a-week-is-a-long-time-in-football/
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Agree about the predictions based on our league position last season. Under Sherwood, we were far from being as bad as the finishing position suggested, though things did unravel somewhat during the last three games. Yes, losing Benteke was a blow, but there are a number of teams who have finished above us in recent seasons that have strikers nowhere near his quality. They do, however, have more balanced sides and that is something I think we have set out to achieve with our signings this summer.
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"If Villa’s re-shaped midfield can chip in with half a dozen each, which isn’t a difficult task"
Difficult? When was the last time that happened? Next to impossible more likely.
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The coming season will provide intrigue, despair and hopefully delight if the majority of Sherwood's choices of new players deliver. I'd agree that around 8th/10th would be a great start to the Sherwood regime and give the fans a boost after the last few years of frustration, so am hoping that the Sherwood enthusiasm will run throughout the squad and the majority of the new players can cut the mustard.
UTV
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"If Villa’s re-shaped midfield can chip in with half a dozen each, which isn’t a difficult task"
Difficult? When was the last time that happened? Next to impossible more likely.
Probably under Houllier when Young, Downing and Albrighton chipped in 20 or so between them.
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I'd definitely take a 10th place finish with perhaps another cup run .
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From what I have seen of the new intake, it looks full of goals. The defence need plenty of work but I genuinely think scoring goals next season will be more frequent than last.
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10th is about right. I expect us to win as many as we lose with a handful of draws and a negative goal difference between five and ten.
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I expect to see a fair amount of goals from MF this season. Sinclair, Gil, Grealish, Gueye should all be contributing. If Sinclair had been here for longer than half a season he would have got that last year, as would Cleverley if the prick had turned up before March. Delph had the opportunity to do so but was absolutely shocking at pulling the trigger (he will get found out at city for this as well - running round like an enthusiastic labrador won't cut it at the level they need)
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All depends on how the team knits together with the new signings to cover obvious defensive frailties. the fact Baker may be starting should set alarm bells ringing.
We could finish 10th, or even 8th. We could finish 20th just as easily
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This and the next few weeks of the transfer window could really define how well we perform this season...if we don't address the defensive frailties then we'll finish in the bottom half; bring in an experienced CB, a couple more in key positions and cut out this bad habit of conceding stupid/late goals then we could be top half if the players gel as well as we all hope.
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I think we'll be just fine and we will have addressed the defence by the end of the window. It will still take time to bed in, but when we get going these French lads will take over and we'll see a very efficient looking team. We look very fast and I think this lot will work very hard to get the ball back. We'll score goals and we'll break our magnificent 12 goals by mid-late September. I still think the major push will come in the second half of the season when we will challenge for Europa spot but just falling short in the end. A league cup run is certainly though very much a possibility.
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We have lost our best Central Defeder, Best Midfielder and our Best Striker and goal scorer.
I dont think there is much more we can do except take the gambles we are doing with some exciting yet untried talent.
This could so easily go wrong.
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We have lost our best Central Defeder, Best Midfielder and our Best Striker and goal scorer.
I dont think there is much more we can do except take the gambles we are doing with some exciting yet untried talent.
This could so easily go wrong.
Still, musn't grumble
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This and the next few weeks of the transfer window could really define how well we perform this season...if we don't address the defensive frailties then we'll finish in the bottom half; bring in an experienced CB, a couple more in key positions and cut out this bad habit of conceding stupid/late goals then we could be top half if the players gel as well as we all hope.
You keep referring to defensive frailties, late goals and a lack of a partnership whilst seemingly ignoring that Clark and Richards are clearly the first choice pairing and they haven't been involved in the late goals and have looked pretty decent (barring the very beginning on the forest game). I think we need to give them a couple of games together to see how things look because right now I'm not convinced the problem is anything like a serious as you and a lot more on here are suggesting.
As a pairing they've conceded 3 in about 4 1/2 games and 1 of those was the freak deflection for Walsall and the last was getting caught cold by forest which i doubt will happen in a league game.
Baker is a worry as he's been at fault for a couplebut with Okore to come back there's a fair chance Baker either won't be in the matchday squad every week or might even be out on loan if the rumours are to be believed.
All of that said I would like another defender so we can let Baker go out on loan but for me I wouldn't be looking for anyone who expected to be first choice regardless.
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Richards and Clark are clearly the first choice pairing at the moment, but they've only had a few preseason games together so its far from settled or tested...
1. I'm not convinced by Richards at CB yet.
2. As a pairing they haven't been tested by any decent opposition.
3. What happens when one of them inevitably gets injured?
I'm genuinely and generally very optimistic but having the injury/mistake prone Okore, Baker and Senderos as our backup options to our first choice pairing gives me what I consider cause for concern at the back.
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Richards and Clark are clearly the first choice pairing at the moment, but they've only had a few preseason games together so its far from settled or tested...
1. I'm not convinced by Richards at CB yet.
2. As a pairing they haven't been tested by any decent opposition.
3. What happens when one of them inevitably gets injured?
I'm genuinely and generally very optimistic but having the injury/mistake prone Okore, Baker and Senderos as our backup options to our first choice pairing gives me what I consider cause for concern at the back.
All true but:
1. Let's give him a chance
2. Not their fault, in 2 weeks they'll have played against one of the best sides in the league, maybe judge them after that?
3. I agree on this, as I said, I like the idea of a better backup than Baker who I have major reservations about. I'm happy with Okore and if Senderos could stay fit I'd be very happy with him as well.
I normally advocate improving your backup options by replacing a first teamer and making him the backup but I don't think that's the right approach here.
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They were involved in a goal after 24 seconds mind you ;)
Yes, try though and they will get better by staying healthy and playing together. I find it amazing how unlucky we have been at that position when by comparison you look at Chelsea for example where Cahill/Terry along with Ivanovic and Azpilicueta never seem to be hurt. I know they are a higher level but the fact that they are fit and play most of the games really helps create that chemistry.
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They were involved in a goal after 24 seconds mind you ;)
Yes, try though and they will get better by staying healthy and playing together. I find it amazing how unlucky we have been at that position when by comparison you look at Chelsea for example where Cahill/Terry along with Ivanovic and Azpilicueta never seem to be hurt. I know they are a higher level but the fact that they are fit and play most of the games really helps create that chemistry.
I did refer to that goal (twice).
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Good read Dave.
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Nice article. As it currently stands I'd bite your hand off for 10th. Imagine how many happy Saturdays (match days) that position would bring? Cue nostalgic hazy pictures and memories of yesteryear.
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Agree with all of it, patricularly the idea of bolstering the defence still further. I do think that one experienced player to replace a loaned out Baker could make all the difference though.
I keep seeing comments about losing our best CB, CM and CF. Vlaar was largely crap and easy to replace, we have done so with Richards. Delph was good, but really not irreplaceable. We have Gueye who in Pre season has looked pretty much as good as Delph, Sanchez who i think will be better this season than last and Veretout who sounds very promising. Westwood is also looking like he's improving. Another plus is that we lost Cleverly. Yes, Benteke when fit is bordering on world class, but dont forget he was missing for large chunks of the last 2 seasons, with no real back up. We now have a fit Kozak, Ayew and Gustede with at least one more striker looking likely to come in.