What has pre-season told us about the squad?

[The Dandy Don]

So we've emerged unscathed from our tour of Germany, lost to Luton and Newport County - albeit with a very young side - but defeated Crewe and Walsall in style. With that in mind, have we learnt anything about Paul Lambert's plans for the season ahead?

Here is an interesting article I came across this morning.

http://articles.squarefootball.net/squarefootball/2013/08/aston-villa-what-can-we-make-of-our-pre-season-so-far.html

[paul_e]

The key things pre-season has shown for me are:

1. Benteke is very important to us
2. Fitness is even more important to us than that

I think we're looking very strong for the season right now, some people will still be nervous about the defence but I'm not overly concerned, I think the defensive unit is getting a lot more experienced and will naturally tighten up as the games go on, I think every defender in the squad is good enough to be top half, they just need to get used to playing together and more confident in their collective ability.  Going forward we're as good as we've ever been since football began in 92.

[richardhubbard]

It shows the squad fit and nothing more.

[ozzjim]

I think it shows we are a lot more versatile, still could do with another forward and right back cover and the Benteke makes it all knit together up front.

[nigel]

It's allowed the new players to settle quickly.
Although we haven't seen much of Tonev & Okora, the other 4 are proving to be very good buys.

We have seen improvements and positive points in every game.

The 2 points paul-e made are spot on, Lambert has said as much himself.

[Dave Cooper please]

It's told us that Dandy Don is a pseudonym for James Fisher of the Square Football website!

[dave.woodhall]

Anyone who puts Newport in that lot is reading from a list aren't you?

[tomd2103]

I remember going to the Walsall friendly when McLeish was manager and although the first half was good, the performance level dropped off a cliff in the second half when we began making substitutions because we just didn't have the strength in depth.  What was apparent on Wednesday night was that the performance level didn't really drop too much when we made changes (OK the level of opposition wasn't great) and considering Tonev, Okore and Bennett were not there, the squad looks a lot stronger than recent seasons. 

I think we could still do with adding a midfielder and defender, but for me the squad is looking a lot better.

[CJ]

I think we look strong in midfield and up front. The defence still worries me, and we still don't seem able to deal with corners more assertively at both ends of the pitch.

[Concrete John]

I think we're better at the things we were good at last season (attacking), but haven't really improved on the areas where we were weak (defending).  The squad depth point is also quite valid and correct.

We'll do better in the league than last season, but not a lot better until we stop gifting teams soft goals.