Summer 2013: Villa Transfers, Speculation, Suggestions and Rumours

[Doorbell]

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.

Swansea are proof that you don't need to spend big to win trophies and compete in the league.

[danlanza]

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.

Has he been on the piss with Alan Brazilnut, again. Wanker.

[Rudy Can't Fail]

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.

Swansea are proof that you don't need to spend big to win trophies and compete in the league.

Sorry, Doorbell but apart from a League Cup victory, I'd hope we can compete more than they did last season in the league. They only finished 5 points ahead of us but 15 points behind 7th place Liverpool.

I can only think after a few poor seasons we'd all willingly accept being midtable cannon fodder next season. We've got the nucleus of a promising young side but that's all they are - promising. As much as I like our midfield, I'd really like to see a real strong midfield general in there who can dictate games, especially at home. Five wins at Villa Park last season was extremely poor by any standard and it's something we will really need to improve on if we're looking to start climbing the table.

[paul_e]

The 'only scored 47 in 38' comment is a bit misleading as well.  In 2013 only Liverpool have scored more league goals than us, that's something to be very proud of given where we were in the league and is an excellent starting point to build from. 

[Damo70]

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.

I suppose it is a silly question to ask if Rodney Marsh backed that up with a detailed and insightful opinion of our squad individually and collectively. Including our new signings, all of which I'm sure he has a good knowledge of.

[SoccerHQ]

We scored bucketloads from the Swansea game onwards, particularly away from home.

[Rudy Can't Fail]

That is a comforting stat, Paul. It may have a lot to do with Lambert finally discovering his best side. Didn't it all start with any injury and Delph being brought in?

[ozzjim]

Delph was in already but got injured before the wheels coming off at Albion. I think it was more to do with Gabby being fully fit and Baker playing left back in 2-3 must win games where we got more solid and more confident. From there we started to play much better.

[frank black]

My view is if we stay with the current crop and keep Benteke, we are safe to mid table.

If we stay with what we have and lose Benteke even with the signings so far, we will struggle. Exciting as having what feels like a daily signing is, it will be amazing if these players take to the prem like a duck to water.

Fingers crossed for next season but I'm not hanging out the bunting just yet.

(I've had a bad day at work, can you tell?)

[edgysatsuma89]

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.

Parade pisser. Although very valid. I don't think we'll be in a relegation scrap again though (with Benteke, and still without ... just)

[pauliewalnuts]

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 entirely agree with you.

Obviously, some of our younger players will have matured after last season, but I can't help but think that just adding more young players, whilst it means we can rejoice in our ability to find young promise, is not really going to be enough to improve on last season significantly.

Helenius has done well, yes, in the Danish league. Okore had that decent game against Chelsea and looks like a good athlete. Tonev? Have any of us seen him play yet? Bacuna?

All promising young players, and I am as excited as anyone for next season - at the very least, it'll be very, very interesting again. I do think, though, that a lot of people are overlooking the fact we've a squad very short of proven quality, and short of experience.

It'd make sense to add the odd experienced head into the mix. No, that doesn't mean replacing Weimann with someone on the basis they're older, and it doesn't mean buying experienced players for the sake of it. I mean to add them where we think they'd contribute.

We played much of last season with a defence of Bennett, Lowton, Vlaar and Baker or Clark. We managed a 25 (or so) game run with not a single clean sheet. If that continues next season, we are going to struggle, no doubt about it. We need to significantly improve things there. Is the addition of Okore enough? I find it hard to believe.

I like the look of Okore, but let's be realistic regarding how much he can add, moving up to the PL (and see Martin Laursen's comments on the OS regarding him and Helenius and how they need time for more on this). I've seen Helenius mooted as one of the players we have on the bench who can replace anyone in our front line with no drop in quality. Really? That's a big shout for a player with so little experience, and at such a lower level.

I am a massive fan of Lambert and what he is trying to do, and I am not being negative for the sake of it, but really, we've still got a lot of transfer work to do before our squad will be anything like strong enough.

Here's hoping we do it.

[danlanza]

Send all the new signings back. Doom and gloom again. Bloody hell.
One minute it is good to sign young ,the next we are talking about just escaping relegation, again. Meh.

[pauliewalnuts]

Send all the new signings back. Doom and gloom again. Bloody hell.
One minute it is good to sign young ,the next we are talking about just escaping relegation, again. Meh.

Congratulations, Dan, for being the one person guaranteed to entirely miss the point.

[PaulWinch again]

It is great to sign these players we have, but I do think we need a couple of other quality additions with some experience.

[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 entirely agree with you.

Obviously, some of our younger players will have matured after last season, but I can't help but think that just adding more young players, whilst it means we can rejoice in our ability to find young promise, is not really going to be enough to improve on last season significantly.

Helenius has done well, yes, in the Danish league. Okore had that decent game against Chelsea and looks like a good athlete. Tonev? Have any of us seen him play yet? Bacuna?

All promising young players, and I am as excited as anyone for next season - at the very least, it'll be very, very interesting again. I do think, though, that a lot of people are overlooking the fact we've a squad very short of proven quality, and short of experience.

It'd make sense to add the odd experienced head into the mix. No, that doesn't mean replacing Weimann with someone on the basis they're older, and it doesn't mean buying experienced players for the sake of it. I mean to add them where we think they'd contribute.

We played much of last season with a defence of Bennett, Lowton, Vlaar and Baker or Clark. We managed a 25 (or so) game run with not a single clean sheet. If that continues next season, we are going to struggle, no doubt about it. We need to significantly improve things there. Is the addition of Okore enough? I find it hard to believe.

I like the look of Okore, but let's be realistic regarding how much he can add, moving up to the PL (and see Martin Laursen's comments on the OS regarding him and Helenius and how they need time for more on this). I've seen Helenius mooted as one of the players we have on the bench who can replace anyone in our front line with no drop in quality. Really? That's a big shout for a player with so little experience, and at such a lower level.

I am a massive fan of Lambert and what he is trying to do, and I am not being negative for the sake of it, but really, we've still got a lot of transfer work to do before our squad will be anything like strong enough.

Here's hoping we do it.

We are an experienced defender and centre mid short to hold their hand in an ideal world. Lescott and Parker would probably do wonders for us, but it is not going to happen. I m pleased we have more options but would still like another 3-4 players in.