January Transfer Speculation (or lack of) Thread

[john2710]

The whole Makoun thing was bonkers. I can only imagine AM had to lose a player's wages before he could bring someone in, and he was the only one he could shift

We had too many players of the same type, Bannan, Ireland, Makoun etc.. Fact is no one will touch Ireland so when the loan offer came in we took it. Looking at it now, quite rightly, Petrov is first choice along with Herd. Who would have thought 3 months ago that Herd would keep our future stars Bannan & Delph out of the team? Shows how short we are of players that are up to playing every week in the Premiership.

[KRS]

Sometimes you just have to accept that a manager or coaching staff dont think a player is or will be good enough. I would have liked Makoun to be a successful signing, but I just dont see him being good enough for the Aston Villa in the Premier League and he's shown very little in his limited performances to suggest otherwise. Obviously the staff get to see him in training every day, so if he's not fitting in or showing to be of high enough standard then the best option is to remove him from the wage bill.

[frankmosswasmyuncle]

I think we will sign  acouple of top names in January and than push on for a CL place

I think we might sign an average journeyman and push on for a top 16 place

[KevinGage]

I've seen enough from Makoun to think he could be a success here.

Against Man U away he was our best player and against Fulham at home I was very impressed.  Good range of short and medium range passing, excellent close control and he could pass with a bit of imagination too, not always playing the obvious ball.

Downing and maybe Ash apart that day, he made the rest of our players look pedestrian.  Even in the games later into the season when he looked off the pace and was far less  effective, he was still able to provide that potentially match winning pass to Bent. As per Newcastle at home.   The obvious issues for him were his tackling and fitness, as he had been in and out of the Lyon side for a while.  And the pace of the English game is a notch or two above that of most other leagues anyway. Maybe he'd been playing on adrenaline initially, the big move/ new club syndrome. 

Not defending him, as I think professionals should just get on with it, but he did join at a difficult time lets face it. A few matches in and Villa fans were calling for Houlliers head.  If he already found the move difficult those kind of things can't have helped. We don't know if he had problems re his family settling and so forth too.

But purely based on ability, I think he had/ has more than enough to be a success at Villa.   Providing he times his tackles better or is told not to lunge in at all, to just stay on his feet and jockey opposition players out of it.

[frankmosswasmyuncle]

Bloody good assessment KG. Thought he had a really rough deal. He's obviously got some class and needs the chance to show it. He could be the very thing we miss in midfield!
As good as, probably better than Davis!

[ROBBO]

Makoun was bought by a manager who was trying to change the playing style of the team, keeping the ball on the ground, keeping posession and finding space, he was probably more skilfull at this than any other in the team. This i believe is the way we would like Villa to play, unfortunately if you go through his managerial career Mcleish is a poor mans Martin Oneill,his teams have always played the old fashioned typically seventies football with a fair bit of hoofing involved.Lerner missed a golden chance by not retaining Houllier not in the managers role but as backroom support to a younger manager who had the same vision of the way the game should be played. With AM we have gone back to the future.

[Toronto Villa]

While I think you are correct Robbo about what GH was trying to do by signing players like Makoun I also think his larger plan was to completely tear up the current squad. It would have constituted wholesale changes, in and out. I'm certain that other Makoun type players would have been bought along with supporting cast members that would allow the more skillful players protection. Unfortuntely for those who supported him, he fell ill. The club saw this as an opportunity to move to a more modest approach to the next few years as they neither had the appetite or resources to support the proposed surgery.

[pauliewalnuts]

Why does taking a more modest approach involve settling for players who can't pass the ball?

Hutton, for example, is technically rubbish, yet only cost slightly less than Newcastle paid for Cabaye.

If McLeish doesn't fancy Makoun, that is his shout, nothing to do with us having to cut our cloth and ditch fancy ball passers (CNZ was hardly cheap, lest we forget).

[KevinGage]

Exactly Paulie.

There is no guarantee that they would have been a success in C&B,  but Cabaye, Banega at Valencia and Morgan Amalfitano at Marseille were the equivalent of one Charles N'Zogbia cost wise.

I say this as someone who wanted N'Zogbia and was never crazy about GH, but it's  possible with his knowledge of the French (and other leagues) he could have made the money given to Big Eck stretch that bit further.

I do wonder though whether the club were committed to backing GH financially and a more gradual reduction in the wage bill/ costs on general, but Houlliers illness gave them an opportunity to hire a patsy who would operate with far less. Hence they could implement savage cost cuts far quicker.

[KevinGage]

Collins on the way out?

clickage

Newcastle heading for a Tyne and Wear tug-of-war for Aston Villa's James Collins
Dec 18 2011 by Steve Bates, The People

NEWCASTLE are heading for a Tyne and Wear tug-of-war for Aston Villa defender James Collins.

Toon boss Alan Pardew is lining up a £5million January swoop for 28-year-old Welsh star Collins – but Sunderland are ready to enter the race, with Martin O’Neill hoping to snap up the centre-half for a second time.

Yet Villa chief Alex McLeish is desperate to hang on to his Wales centre-half, although he will let another defender, Shane Lowry, leave.

New Black Cats boss O’Neill signed Collins from West Ham in 2009 when he was boss at Villa Park and he is ready to pounce again for the defender who has 18 months left on his deal.

Although Collins recently spoke of his desire to extend his stay at Villa, Pardew and O’Neill believe they can tempt him to the north east.

Pardew has lost centre-back Steven Taylor for the rest of the season with a serious achilles injury and that has left Newcastle vulnerable with little top-grade defensive cover.

With money banked from the sales of Andy Carroll, Jose Enrique and Kevin Nolan, Pardew will try to persuade owner Mike Ashley to give him funds so the Toon can keep up their fine start to the campaign.

As PEOPLE SPORT reported last week, O’Neill is also keen on Spanish defender Carlos Cuellar, who is out of contract this summer and can leave Villa Park.

Yes please.

[ROBBO]

Always liked the effort Collins puts in but he is one of the hoofers i was refering to earlier. A typical MON signing, with any luck we can offload a few more to him.

[Holte L2]

I'd be pleased we've sold Collins on the basis we play Clark. Im worried we're going to do a Cahill with Clark.

[Shrek]

Yes please, Collins is poor, sell him and play Clark all day.

[barrysleftfoot]

  Collins....£5m, yes please.Over committed CH who gets dragged out of position too easily, and can't pass.

  Clark alongside a quick right sided CH is the future.

  Normally paulie i think you are spot on, but this constant rubbishing of Hutton is wrong.He has a good pass on him.The pass to Heskey against Heskey was the best pass of the game, who did it earlier in the season against Fulham as well.Listen hes no Alves, don't get me wrong, but for me against Swansea and Ure, i thought he kept 2 good players very quiet, and thats what i want my FBs to do,Hope he gives tart a dig today as well.

[Summers]

Collins is a juggernaut who throws himself at everything, so I'll miss him - but 5m for him is good cash. And honestly, as much as I like Collins, we NEED to have Clark in the side to help him progress. For his sake and ours.