Summer 2013: Villa Transfers, Speculation, Suggestions and Rumours

[PaulWinch again]

when you've conceded 67 goals, you begin to wonder if we have any defenders worth speaking of, left right or centre

Add to that Brad has been our best player this season. It ain't been pretty and something needs to change.

Indeed.

Surprised to see some people seemingly not that worried about the defence, or thinking getting a few more kids in will make it better.

How many games is it since our last clean sheet now? 20 or so?

Indeed we definitely need experienced quality to supplement the backline. We also need more awareness from the midfield when it comes to tracking runners, as our midfield tends to switch off a lot.

[midnite]

Bennett will be good, he's already improved a lot since he got a run in the side. He's got a very good left foot and he just needs to build his strength. He'll learn the positional side with experience, but I think there's a very good player there.

Bennett is a good player but good going forward. He stinks when it comes to defending though. Switches off. Gets turned a lot, doesn't track back properly. His positioning is terrible.

He has a good foot on him. His crosses are good and he attacks really well. There's potential in there somewhere, just don't see it as a left back

[villasjf]

I think we need a new defensive coach whoever we have playing at the back middle or up top, defend as a team and attack as a team.

[neo_Villan]

I know he isn't experienced but I'd love us to try and get Stefan de Vrij. 21 year old Feyenoord CB. Succeeded Vlaar as captain when he was just 20. He was also Vlaar's partner the previous season, so it would perhaps benifit Vlaar's game too.

[Concrete John]

We need two centre halves, cover/competition for both full backs, a creative midfielder, a wide player and another striker.

That's 7 new players.  One of the reasons we've struggled and then improved this season is the number of new players we had to bed down from last summer.  I'd rather take what we have and add selectively to it than go through another transitional period due to a large influx of players again.

[Concrete John]

when you've conceded 67 goals, you begin to wonder if we have any defenders worth speaking of, left right or centre

Add to that Brad has been our best player this season. It ain't been pretty and something needs to change.

Indeed.

Surprised to see some people seemingly not that worried about the defence, or thinking getting a few more kids in will make it better.

How many games is it since our last clean sheet now? 20 or so?

Indeed we definitely need experienced quality to supplement the backline. We also need more awareness from the midfield when it comes to tracking runners, as our midfield tends to switch off a lot.

That's key for me.  We often see our FBs get isolated 2 on 1, for instance.

I think in order to rectify that we need a leader/organiser in central midfield, which would probably mean experience also.

[PaulWinch again]

We need two centre halves, cover/competition for both full backs, a creative midfielder, a wide player and another striker.

That's 7 new players.  One of the reasons we've struggled and then improved this season is the number of new players we had to bed down from last summer.  I'd rather take what we have and add selectively to it than go through another transitional period due to a large influx of players again.

We don't have a lot of choice really. Our squad needs to be a lot stronger than it is.

[villasjf]

In my view, shore up the defence, add some strength and depth and have our forward line firing over a whole season and we'd be a top eight side with an outside bet of European football. It was late January before we found our most potent attacking line-up on a consistent basis while defence has been our weakness all season.

I'm really looking forward to Lambert's next move! We have such a great base to work from.

Dont forget our current midfield is getting better by the day he now knows what works and what doesnt, when he first arrived he knew there were some people we needed to offload and he has done this in part, i think he could offload 6-7 from our squad without making it worse, Dunne, Given, Ireland, Hutton, Felonouso, Stevens and Makoun for starters. Edit I never though Sylla Delph and Westy would work but it certainly does.
I forgot about Bent but thats easy this season unfortunately.

[eamonn]

I haven't see any rumours about linking us to any oversea players yet. I hope we will quietly do transfer and tell us on the day we got our man like Steve Stone transfer. There is no speculation or gossip.

Yeah..what a glorious day that was 

[Concrete John]

We need two centre halves, cover/competition for both full backs, a creative midfielder, a wide player and another striker.

That's 7 new players.  One of the reasons we've struggled and then improved this season is the number of new players we had to bed down from last summer.  I'd rather take what we have and add selectively to it than go through another transitional period due to a large influx of players again.

We don't have a lot of choice really. Our squad needs to be a lot stronger than it is.

Undoubtedly.  But I think that is to be achieved by quality over quantity.  I'd be looking for 4 players:-
1.  Starting CB (Lescott!) to replace Dunne squad wise.  Given he hasn't played, that's instant strangthening.
2.  FB cover in the form of one versatile player.  If you had to choose, go with a RB as two of our CBs can cover LB.  Probably keep Lichaj, if he's willing and not asking for too much.
3.  Starting midfielder.  Expereince and strength, dropping one of Westwood, Delph or Sylla to the bench.  More competition and quality.
4.  'No 10' player.  Bent will go, so I'd replace him with a Merson type who could play in either of the wide string roles or N'Zog's spot behind Benteke.  More competition, quality and options off the bench.  With this player signed, cover from Benteke is provided by either Gabby or Weimann moving to the centre.

To me, that plugs the major gaps in our squad/team and shouldn't overly hinder the progress our young side has made.   If Lambert then wants to add a few prospects with longer term pay off, that'd be fine with me!

[paul_e]

when you've conceded 67 goals, you begin to wonder if we have any defenders worth speaking of, left right or centre

Add to that Brad has been our best player this season. It ain't been pretty and something needs to change.

Indeed.

Surprised to see some people seemingly not that worried about the defence, or thinking getting a few more kids in will make it better.

How many games is it since our last clean sheet now? 20 or so?

It's not that I'm not worried it's that I think 1 experienced centre half, with the right attitude, could make a massive difference.  Lescott would be perfect.  The other thing to remember is that we've had a few beatings this year where the kids heads have gone, I don't think that will happen next year so we'll be 10-15 better off straight away.  If we concede 45 next season I'll be pretty satisfied because we do play quite an open game so we'll always concede more than we have in the past, but I think we'll score a fair few more as well.

[neo_Villan]

Evening Standard claims we are one of the clubs that have made an enquiry for Vydra. I'd be happy enough with that.

[GordonCowansisthegreatest]

I'll be happy with whatever PL is happy with after his last few aquisitions.

[supertom]

Would be nice to get a player in like Mata. He'd be excellent playing either side of Tekkers. Now all Lambo has to do is find the unearthed clone of him.

[cdbearsfan]

I don't see the point in going for Maloney. I'm making four assumptions:we need a player who can play up front on his own if Benteke is injured/suspended/rested. However, the player needs to be equally adept playing wide to compete for a starting place with Weimann and Agbonlahor.

Considering how good he was there for a while under O'Neill, I'd say the player that you describe above IS Agbonlahor.

I'd much rather the money spent on the above go towards a wide-player, hopefully one capable of playing on either wing in the same way that Young was.

Then it would be Benteke, Gabby and maybe Bowery for the spot in the middle and then Gabby, Weimann and AN Other for the two wide positions, supplemented by the likes of Albrighton and the next generation of youth players.

Not convinced. Agbonlahor has spent his entire career having the odd purple patch and lots of droughts where it looks like his best days are behind him. He's been good for the last few weeks but was getting plenty of stick even as recently as March.

If ever Benteke gets injured, I wouldn't want to see him as our main scoring option. I also think he's too small to play as a lone forward (or in a 4-3-3). His best days under O'Neill were when he had Carew alongside him.

Notice when Benteke went off on Saturday we seemed devoid of ideas without, at least, the option of a target man to aim for. There seems very little point in playing with two wide players if you don't have an aerial threat.

I'm not suggesting we should start playing like Stoke, I do think we need the option of a bloke who's dominating in the air up front though, and I'm not convinced Gabby's it. Betting on Gabby being Good Gabby rather than Mediocre Gabby is too much of a gamble for me.