Summer 2013: Villa Transfers, Speculation, Suggestions and Rumours

[OCD]

Four new players.

[Rudy Can't Fail]

Indeed, OCD. The point still stands though. Maybe once we've moved some deadwood, we'll ..erm.. go again.

[Des Little]

Despite the general happiness on here at the moment having brought in three new players, I think there's going to be a reality check later in the summer

especially with the likely departure, in my eyes, of Benteke

I also fully expect him to go, and I'd expect PL to have someone in his sights as and when that £30M clears in our account.

[Dante Lavelli]

Four new players.

That's true, but most appear to have assumed that Lambert's midas touch will continue.

The dossier on Westwood suggests he does his homework which reduces the risk however I cannot believe he will be as successfull as last season.  Furthermore we cannot guarantee that the youngsters will improve or even maintain the form they showed at the end of the year.

I actually think last year's lot would keep us next season anyway, so I'm not too concerned, however I'm not sure we can be *that* confident that the squad has improved.

[Clampy]

Whichever club signs Lescott is going to have to pay him a lot of money, maybe more than we were willing to part with. Who knows, maybe Lambert enquired about him in January, asked his agent how much he'd want and thought 'no thanks'. If so that's a shame because he'd have been ideal at the time. Hopefully Okore, Luna and experience gained by the defence last year will be enough.

[Rudy Can't Fail]

I actually think last year's lot would keep us up next season anyway, so I'm not too concerned, however I'm not sure we can be *that* confident that the squad has improved.

After last season you'd hope our expectations are to start climbing the table, which let's face it shouldn't be too much to ask for given the way the Premier League is now structured. You have your top 5 pretty much cemented in there. Then you have Liverpool and Everton hopelessly trying to play catch up, then the cannon fodder of everybody else including the promoted sides. I really can't see things changing this coming season.

What I hope and expect is for this season is for us to be pushing to join Liverpool and Everton. Everything else around us is just average at best. Poxy little clubs like the Baggies, Norwich, Stoke, Southampton, Fulham and West Ham. Whilst Newcastle and Sunderland could potentially kick on both clubs are led by idiots and are their own worst enemies.

8th place really should be a very realistic and easily achieved target. The only issue is how many points we will be behind 6th and 7th. If we can reduce it to a minimum, there's a great chance we can with a bit of luck pick up a cup or two. Right now with our current squad, I can only see us achieving 8th place but a huge distance between us and 7th.

[paul_e]

Despite the general happiness on here at the moment having brought in three new players, I think there's going to be a reality check later in the summer

especially with the likely departure, in my eyes, of Benteke

I also fully expect him to go, and I'd expect PL to have someone in his sights as and when that £30M clears in our account.

What are you basing your expectation on though?  We've heard nothing solid either way for about a month, and at that point we heard that the club wanted to talk about a new deal and that he was very interested in seeing what we had to offer.  Since then we've seen lots of mis-translation and speculation but nothing to suggest that we should start planning for next season without him.  I think some fans get so carried away with expecting the worst that they get themselves into a mindset where they can't imagine anything else.

[Rudy Can't Fail]

Whichever club signs Lescott is going to have to pay him a lot of money, maybe more than we were willing to part with. Who knows, maybe Lambert enquired about him in January, asked his agent how much he'd want and thought 'no thanks'. If so that's a shame because he'd have been ideal at the time. 

Lescott was quoted at the time as saying the only club he would go out on loan to was Everton. We never stood a chance last January.

[Doorbell]

If the team can perform for 3/4 of a season (there's bound to be a blip) as well as we did during the second half of last season, we'll easily be mid table.

[Billy Walker]

Rodney Marsh's view on Villa:

Rodney Marsh ‏@RodneyMarsh10 1h
Aston Villa: A football club stuck in quicksand ...


A bit like when I heard Blues fans were buying tickets for Wigan, this ignoramus's view of Aston Villa fills me with a huge sense of optimism for the season ahead. 

[Jimbo]

Rodney Marsh's view on Villa:

Rodney Marsh ‏@RodneyMarsh10 1h
Aston Villa: A football club stuck in quicksand ...


A bit like when I heard Blues fans were buying tickets for Wigan, this ignoramus's view of Aston Villa fills me with a huge sense of optimism for the season ahead. 

You know what we do with self-confessed Villa-hating spunk bubbles like Rodney Marsh, don't you? We swat them away like midges with a big fuck-off iron frying pan.

[Mazrim]

If Rodney Marsh thought about what he said before he said it he wouldn't have made a bollocks of his worthless punditry career.

He's a fanny clart of no importance whatsoever.

[Rudy Can't Fail]

Nail on head, there Maz.

[ozzjim]

Despite the general happiness on here at the moment having brought in three new players, I think there's going to be a reality check later in the summer when we start to see how other teams are strengthening with quality. Right now only Jores looks like he will walk into our side. The other two are for now, just squad strengtheners.

There's an awful lot of faith being put in a group that had the third worst defensive record (the other two were relegated) and only managed to score 47 goals over 38 games, despite having a strike force of Benteke, Gabby and Weimann. Whilst I admire Lambert and the board's loyalty to the current squad, it shouldn't mean we don't continuously look to bring in improvements.

I'm guessing come the end of August, we'll see most clubs will have spent more. We can only pray we've spent more wisely.

I think the second half of the season showed this group can compete with most, and other sides around us might bring more expensive people in, but as we know at years of cost, it has not made a difference to us. We have got a unique set of players, many of whom grew a lot last season. I agree we are 2-3 short stater wise possibly, but we have got talented people, and the goalscoring and defending from the end of Jan onwards was much better.

Keeping Benteke/ replacing him well will be key to us finishing top half or battling relegation again for me.

[ozzjim]

If Rodney Marsh thought about what he said before he said it he wouldn't have made a bollocks of his worthless punditry career.

He's a fanny clart of no importance whatsoever.

If ever there was a pundit that set a trail for being totally and utterly useless, thick and offensive it was Rodney Marsh. Total anus.