January Transfer Speculation (or lack of) Thread

[Concrete John]

It would be daft to sell Collins, can't see it happening.

I'm always a little bemused by the Collins bashing that goes on on here.  Not a world beater, but a decent player and good value for the £5m we payed for him!

[pauliewalnuts]

It would be daft to sell Collins, can't see it happening.

I'm always a little bemused by the Collins bashing that goes on on here.  Not a world beater, but a decent player and good value for the £5m we payed for him!

He's looked less than decent for most of this season. In fact, he has looked utterly rubbish.

Take a look at him wandering around the area cluelessly for Liverpool's first, for an example.

He's also the absolute worst at the "hoof it upfield, anywhere" thing we do so much.

[Irish villain]

23 year old Samba cost Blackburn £450,000. Why do we never seem to manage deals like that anymore?

Mark Delaney is the last one I can remember.

Let's hoe Edna turns out to be as good.

Looking forward to Enda coming in!

[Concrete John]

I've made this point before, but the lack of movement from our midfield is the main reason for that more than the man on the ball.

We do seem to lack proper organisation back there, but he'll also make a few good interceptions and blocks during the game aswell.  Like I said - not a world beater, but better then he's made out to be by some!

[brontebilly]

I would cash in on Ireland, Delph and Cuellar ASAP.

you wouldnt get much cash for those three.

When Ireland left City he demanded a serious pay out. I can see the same happening again when he leaves us.

id much prefer we gave him a run of games in the first team. Even as an audition for a transfer elsewhere.

[Chris Smith]

It would be daft to sell Collins, can't see it happening.

I'm always a little bemused by the Collins bashing that goes on on here.  Not a world beater, but a decent player and good value for the £5m we payed for him!

He's looked less than decent for most of this season. In fact, he has looked utterly rubbish.

Take a look at him wandering around the area cluelessly for Liverpool's first, for an example.

He's also the absolute worst at the "hoof it upfield, anywhere" thing we do so much.

He is what he is. Like all players he makes mistakes but he's nowhere near as bad as you're making out. In the last 3 games we'd defended well and he'd played a full part, yesterday we conceded 2 poor goals so they deserve criticism for that but equally deserve credit for previous performances.

[Chris Smith]

23 year old Samba cost Blackburn £450,000. Why do we never seem to manage deals like that anymore?

Mark Delaney is the last one I can remember.

Let's hoe Edna turns out to be as good.

Looking forward to Enda coming in!

Do you know much about him, IV? What should we expect?

[Mazrim]

Collins had something in his first season here but that's evaporated. He now suffers from the worst affliction a centre half can suffer from; indecision. Its fatal in this league as any mistakes are punished. It's time to put Clark in and stick with him for a while. He has far more potential so we may as well see if he can do it.

There's no way Collins can justify his place on form in my opinion and McLeish said he'd change it. Well, change it then.

Unfortunately the entire defence apart from sporadic performances from Dunne is weak and we have little option to change it around.
Failing that, a galvanizing spirit could help but it seems these players have very little zest for a fight under this manager.
It's clear he doesn't believe we can compete with the likes of Liverpool at Villa Park or Spurs at White Hart Lane and so on and his players obviously agree.

At least that jerk who left us in the lurch could conjure some sort of spirit and motivation. It's terminally flat at Villa right now and a bit of gusto can compensate for a lack of ability. Can we expect some any time soon?
It's just not working and although it's not all his fault as it was beyond him from the begining, its has to be shaken up.

[DB]

Collins had something in his first season here but that's evaporated. He now suffers from the worst affliction a centre half can suffer from; indecision. Its fatal in this league as any mistakes are punished. It's time to put Clark in and stick with him for a while. He has far more potential so we may as well see if he can do it.

There's no way Collins can justify his place on form in my opinion and McLeish said he'd change it. Well, change it then.

Unfortunately the entire defence apart from sporadic performances from Dunne is weak and we have little option to change it around.
Failing that, a galvanizing spirit could help but it seems these players have very little zest for a fight under this manager.
It's clear he doesn't believe we can compete with the likes of Liverpool at Villa Park or Spurs at White Hart Lane and so on and his players obviously agree.

At least that jerk who left us in the lurch could conjure some sort of spirit and motivation. It's terminally flat at Villa right now and a bit of gusto can compensate for a lack of ability. Can we expect some any time soon?
It's just not working and although it's not all his fault as it was beyond him from the begining, its has to be shaken up.

Totally agree re Collins. Since Carlos was shunted to full-back he doesn't even get considered for a CB role, looks like he's on his way but he's got to be worth a go to replace Collins.

[achilles]

Collins had something in his first season here but that's evaporated. He now suffers from the worst affliction a centre half can suffer from; indecision. Its fatal in this league as any mistakes are punished. It's time to put Clark in and stick with him for a while. He has far more potential so we may as well see if he can do it.

There's no way Collins can justify his place on form in my opinion and McLeish said he'd change it. Well, change it then.

Unfortunately the entire defence apart from sporadic performances from Dunne is weak and we have little option to change it around.
Failing that, a galvanizing spirit could help but it seems these players have very little zest for a fight under this manager.
It's clear he doesn't believe we can compete with the likes of Liverpool at Villa Park or Spurs at White Hart Lane and so on and his players obviously agree.

At least that jerk who left us in the lurch could conjure some sort of spirit and motivation. It's terminally flat at Villa right now and a bit of gusto can compensate for a lack of ability. Can we expect some any time soon?
It's just not working and although it's not all his fault as it was beyond him from the begining, its has to be shaken up.

To me this is the crux of the matter, as I really don't think our defenders are as bad as they are trying to show at the moment!

[Greg N'Ash]

Ozzjim mentioned it on another thread and i have to say i agree. Man for man we've now got a worse squad than DOL's, there's certainly less fight in some of the players. Even taking out the few pearl's MON signed its probably the worse return on 80m evoh.

Thing is i'm not sure i want AM spending anymore money to add to the disaster but you have to back him or sack him. And if you did sack him, who would trust Lerner not to employ another hoof merchant? Hard to work out what's the least bad option really?

[Concrete John]

I think the £80m thing is misleading.  What did that team that played Sunday actually cost?

Guzan - £250k from memory
Hutton - £4m
Dunne & Collins - £5m each
Warnock - £7m
Petrov - £6m
Delph - £7m
N'Zogbia - £10m
Heskey - £3.5m
Marc & the Fonz - youth products

So that's £47.75m.  If the first team had been fully out I'd say Bent, Gabby, Herd & Given in for Guzan, Delph, Delfouneso and Heskey, which comes out to £56.5m, if you take Bent at £16m.  An average of £5m a player then, which is hardly dramatic in today's world.

[JUAN PABLO]

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!

he cant be worse than what we have , Makoun I mean

[Greg N'Ash]

I'll take your word for it John. My point is if you add in all the players that were signed,  and have been let go since DOL left then it does seem shocking we're roughly back where we started in terms of squad size and quality

[Walmley_Villa]

Craig Gardener back on loan would not in any way surprise me....