Is this what transition looks like?

[Dante Lavelli]

The proof will be in the pudding of next summers transfers.

If we go down the route of buying another 6/7 youngsters around the £2.5m mark then they can stick the transition period up their arse because it will just be more roulette purchases.

Benteke will be gone £25m+ in the bank
Ireland will be off the wage bill.
Bent will be off the wage bill.

Benteke will need a serious replacement and a couple of quality midfield additions would be required. There is no reason why we couldn't/shouldn't spend the Benteke transfer fee on them.

That's the way I see it too.

I also hope that some of the benteke money is spent this January on a decent midfielder (and possibly a winger/number 10).  Any new signing will have 6 months to improve and get used to the premier league before he becomes the main man next season.

[paul_e]

I think a lot of people are dismissing the fact that we still have the youngest squad in the league.

We do have a gap in attacking midfield, that's clear to anyone, but other than that the biggest issue for a lot of the players is that they're still learning the game at this level.  We've asked a lot of youngsters to make a big step up, you can't expect them all to do that the the rate Benteke has.

[KevinGage]

It comes to something when i'm wishing for Nzogbia to come back quickly.

Barring an injury catastrafuck , I don't think we'll be seeing CnZ play in a Villa shirt again.

[Ad@m]

Catastrafuck!

What a great word!

[Dante Lavelli]

I think a lot of people are dismissing the fact that we still have the youngest squad in the league.

We do have a gap in attacking midfield, that's clear to anyone, but other than that the biggest issue for a lot of the players is that they're still learning the game at this level.  We've asked a lot of youngsters to make a big step up, you can't expect them all to do that the the rate Benteke has.

Clark has made a huge leap this season having been pretty much written off last year.  Unfortunately (in a way) Bacuna's good form has just replaced Lowton from last year so the team over all hasn't cahnged much. 

[Dave]

I think a lot of people are dismissing the fact that we still have the youngest squad in the league.

We do have a gap in attacking midfield, that's clear to anyone, but other than that the biggest issue for a lot of the players is that they're still learning the game at this level.  We've asked a lot of youngsters to make a big step up, you can't expect them all to do that the the rate Benteke has.

Clark has made a huge leap this season having been pretty much written off last year.  Unfortunately (in a way) Bacuna's good form has just replaced Lowton from last year so the team over all hasn't cahnged much. 

Vlaar seems to have bucked up his ideas quite a bit in comparison to last season.

[pauliewalnuts]

I think a lot of people are dismissing the fact that we still have the youngest squad in the league.

We do have a gap in attacking midfield, that's clear to anyone, but other than that the biggest issue for a lot of the players is that they're still learning the game at this level.  We've asked a lot of youngsters to make a big step up, you can't expect them all to do that the the rate Benteke has.

No, you can't, but isn't that the point people are making - that it's dangerous to expect so many young, inexperienced kids to step up so much in such a short period of time? And naive to think that enough of them would even have it in them?

Having the youngest squad in the league accounts for a lot of inconsistency, but raises the question, wouldn't we be better off if we didn't have such a young, inexperienced squad? It's an explanation for circumstances, but not much of an excuse.

[pauliewalnuts]

I think a lot of people are dismissing the fact that we still have the youngest squad in the league.

We do have a gap in attacking midfield, that's clear to anyone, but other than that the biggest issue for a lot of the players is that they're still learning the game at this level.  We've asked a lot of youngsters to make a big step up, you can't expect them all to do that the the rate Benteke has.

Clark has made a huge leap this season having been pretty much written off last year.  Unfortunately (in a way) Bacuna's good form has just replaced Lowton from last year so the team over all hasn't cahnged much. 

Vlaar seems to have bucked up his ideas quite a bit in comparison to last season.

Vlaar has been much better this season.

[danlanza]

Vlaar is 100% better this season. Our Whole defence is much better this season. It is work in progress and it seems to be going well.
We don't have the cash to sort out every problem we have in one go, but we are on the way to being a quality team. Just keep the faith.
UTV.

[Californian Villain]

The proof will be in the pudding of next summers transfers.

If we go down the route of buying another 6/7 youngsters around the £2.5m mark then they can stick the transition period up their arse because it will just be more roulette purchases.

Benteke will be gone £25m+ in the bank
Ireland will be off the wage bill.
Bent will be off the wage bill.

Benteke will need a serious replacement and a couple of quality midfield additions would be required. There is no reason why we couldn't/shouldn't spend the Benteke transfer fee on them.

That's the way I see it too.

I also hope that some of the benteke money is spent this January on a decent midfielder (and possibly a winger/number 10).  Any new signing will have 6 months to improve and get used to the premier league before he becomes the main man next season.

First week of November and people are already talking about "next season." Surely that says it all....

[paul_e]

I think a lot of people are dismissing the fact that we still have the youngest squad in the league.

We do have a gap in attacking midfield, that's clear to anyone, but other than that the biggest issue for a lot of the players is that they're still learning the game at this level.  We've asked a lot of youngsters to make a big step up, you can't expect them all to do that the the rate Benteke has.

No, you can't, but isn't that the point people are making - that it's dangerous to expect so many young, inexperienced kids to step up so much in such a short period of time? And naive to think that enough of them would even have it in them?

Having the youngest squad in the league accounts for a lot of inconsistency, but raises the question, wouldn't we be better off if we didn't have such a young, inexperienced squad? It's an explanation for circumstances, but not much of an excuse.

it's too soon to know if we need an excuse rather than an explanation though.  If we were playing like we are with a team with an average in the late 20s you'd be worried, but with an average age of 23 it could be that we simply improve for the next 3-4 years as a natural growth of the squad, and we might end up achieving more than we would've with a similar spend on 27-28 year olds.

You can't call something a turning point until you've actually completed the turn, so this might be a transition period for the club or it might be a continuation of the last 3 years, we won't know until we see where we get, but I'm happier to be in this situation with a very young squad than being here with an older squad like we were 2 years ago.

[frankmosswasmyuncle]

Thought Big Ron was our best player on Saturday.
And the Saturday before. (I'm trying to wipe out where he was for the first goal - trying to cover for one of those kids, probably.)

[WALTERS WARRIORS]

It comes to something when i'm wishing for Nzogbia to come back quickly.

Barring an injury catastrafuck , I don't think we'll be seeing CnZ play in a Villa shirt again.

catastrafuck is the word of year. I am so going to use that from now on. Nice one Kev ........

[KevinGage]

Copyright the sweary Malcolm Tucker in The Thick of It.  Can't take credit for that.

[brontebilly]

Agree with a lot of posters, it's hyped as transition when in effect it's just plain average. Players, management and club. We are spending money to stand still at the moment, just above relegation while the likes of West Brom and Southampton skate ahead to the nirvana of a top ten position.

Surely if you think Albion are skating ahead of us (whilst being a massive TWO points ahead of us) towards a top ten place, that's actually vindication of doing things cheaply, as their transfer policy is one of the tightest in the league?

WBA are a "mid table" side neither threatening relegation nor european qualification.

2011/12 - WBA 10th 47 pts, AV 16th 38 pts
2012/13 - WBA 8th 49 pts, AV 15th 41 points

WBA are a smaller club in the greater scheme of things, average attendance prob 10k less than hours. But they are a lot better managed than us, one of the first English clubs to adopt the Sporting Director European model and investing in coaches rather than handing blank chequebooks to the MON's of this world. I think Paul Lambert is crying out for a similar role to be on the Villa board to help him develop as a coach too.

WBA are a vindication of doing things properly rather than cheaply. Not sure what they saw in Anichebe mind. We just seem to be doing things cheaply. Ive no problem at all with bringing in younger players in (lazy signings like Heskey, Harewood, Shorey used do my head in) but that needs to be balanced by bringing in proven quality when available like Gareth Barry this summer.

Goes without saying that AVFC being properly managed at board and player level would piss all over WBA and others. We should be up there with Everton even with our current budget trying to get into Europe. We have been drifting along with the bottom feeders for a few years now and its not looking any better this time around. I dont think thats acceptable for our club.