Idrissa Gueye - now gone

[KRS]

I had high expectations when he first arrived and seemed capable of replacing the snake, so I've been more disappointed that he's failed to meet expectations than disappointed in the fact that he's actually just a bit shit. Fuck him off.

[peter w]

It's not just finances though Chris.  Having non-contributing players, a bomb squad, has a negative impact on the whole club; exhausting the coaches' time, setting a low bar for commitment in training, moaning to younger/impressionable players etc, basically parasites.

I appreciate the bomb squad isn't a great idea.  But IF you can afford it then I'm sure it's workable without too much disruption to the main squad.  The lesser of two evils - having a shit squad incapable of promotion or having a decent squad but oversized and carrying a few surplus players?  I know which I would choose, but again I appreciate this pre-supposes you have the finances to carry it off - which I had hoped Tony would have. 

It's workable in as much as you can have one. It's inpracticable in the sense that those players would speak to other players and may infect the training ground with the negativity of their position.

[Dave]

It's not just finances though Chris.  Having non-contributing players, a bomb squad, has a negative impact on the whole club; exhausting the coaches' time, setting a low bar for commitment in training, moaning to younger/impressionable players etc, basically parasites.

I appreciate the bomb squad isn't a great idea.  But IF you can afford it then I'm sure it's workable without too much disruption to the main squad.  The lesser of two evils - having a shit squad incapable of promotion or having a decent squad but oversized and carrying a few surplus players?  I know which I would choose, but again I appreciate this pre-supposes you have the finances to carry it off - which I had hoped Tony would have. 

It's workable in as much as you can have one. It's inpracticable in the sense that those players would speak to other players and may infect the training ground with the negativity of their position.

It's also not the best advert for potential new signings that we were trying to convince to join us.

[passitsideways]

There's a lot of journalists and bloggers saying that Gana's Stats are comparable to Kante last season. For me, this is where stats are utterly misleading. Positionally the two players are in a completely different league. Kante knew when to press and when to sit and when breaking play his distribution was exceptional.

Gana / Gueye's distribution bordered on dreadful, the amount of times he gave it away and took up poor areas on the pitch I don't think it's as simple as "he was in a poor team". I think sitting in front of the back four he will do a job there but if they think they're getting a more mobile and younger Gareth Barry they might be a tad disappointed.

Gana completed more passes, at a higher percentage. I bet the only reason his distribution might look less exceptional is because of the players he was passing to. Obviously a pass looks better if it goes out to Mahrez who cuts in, beats a couple of defenders and belts it in, or if Vardy's footspeed means he gets to it.

It's not like back when we bought him, people were telling us about Gana's crap positioning either - I realise France is an inferior league, but that inferiority hasn't to do with the brilliant tactical awareness with which its teams play.

[chrisw1]

It's not just finances though Chris.  Having non-contributing players, a bomb squad, has a negative impact on the whole club; exhausting the coaches' time, setting a low bar for commitment in training, moaning to younger/impressionable players etc, basically parasites.

I appreciate the bomb squad isn't a great idea.  But IF you can afford it then I'm sure it's workable without too much disruption to the main squad.  The lesser of two evils - having a shit squad incapable of promotion or having a decent squad but oversized and carrying a few surplus players?  I know which I would choose, but again I appreciate this pre-supposes you have the finances to carry it off - which I had hoped Tony would have. 

It's workable in as much as you can have one. It's inpracticable in the sense that those players would speak to other players and may infect the training ground with the negativity of their position.

It's also not the best advert for potential new signings that we were trying to convince to join us.

Yes, I do get that.  But ultimately the priority should surely be to build a winning team, whether we can shift surplus players or not?  As it stands we're going to start our most important season in 20 years with a pretty shit squad.  I understand the financial implications, I guess I was just hoping Tony would be flush enough to deal with it.  I also realise that we have a few weeks left in this window, but we know well from experience that it can take some time for new players to settle. 

[hipkiss92]

Tone has said the clause has been met, by several clubs. Down to Gana, Idrissa and Gueye now.
I'm not sure he's even as good as Reo-Coker.

Great, let the bidding war commence  **


(** do I really need the winking emoticon thingy here or are we all up to speed now with the 2016 version of "why didn't Barry take the penalty"?)

I think it's a well established H&V trope. Just lay it out there and let the n00bs show themselves up.

Have a look at Tom Ross' twitter feed for more of this.

[Dante Lavelli]

It's not just finances though Chris.  Having non-contributing players, a bomb squad, has a negative impact on the whole club; exhausting the coaches' time, setting a low bar for commitment in training, moaning to younger/impressionable players etc, basically parasites.

I appreciate the bomb squad isn't a great idea.  But IF you can afford it then I'm sure it's workable without too much disruption to the main squad.  The lesser of two evils - having a shit squad incapable of promotion or having a decent squad but oversized and carrying a few surplus players?  I know which I would choose, but again I appreciate this pre-supposes you have the finances to carry it off - which I had hoped Tony would have. 

It's workable in as much as you can have one. It's inpracticable in the sense that those players would speak to other players and may infect the training ground with the negativity of their position.

It's also not the best advert for potential new signings that we were trying to convince to join us.

Yes, I do get that.  But ultimately the priority should surely be to build a winning team, whether we can shift surplus players or not?  As it stands we're going to start our most important season in 20 years with a pretty shit squad.  I understand the financial implications, I guess I was just hoping Tony would be flush enough to deal with it.  I also realise that we have a few weeks left in this window, but we know well from experience that it can take some time for new players to settle. 

The workable solution is to literally pay up the contracts of the key 'bad apples'.  If the cash is there it is worth just getting rid of them however we're unlikely to do that until the window is shut in the hope that someone is daft enough to take over their wages.  I suspect Gabby may be in this position and his injuries are just an easy excuse. Having him play, get roundly abused by the fans, will just demonstrate to any buyer that the player is a busted flush at Villa.

[Brend'Watkins]

It's not just finances though Chris.  Having non-contributing players, a bomb squad, has a negative impact on the whole club; exhausting the coaches' time, setting a low bar for commitment in training, moaning to younger/impressionable players etc, basically parasites.

I appreciate the bomb squad isn't a great idea.  But IF you can afford it then I'm sure it's workable without too much disruption to the main squad.  The lesser of two evils - having a shit squad incapable of promotion or having a decent squad but oversized and carrying a few surplus players?  I know which I would choose, but again I appreciate this pre-supposes you have the finances to carry it off - which I had hoped Tony would have. 

It's workable in as much as you can have one. It's inpracticable in the sense that those players would speak to other players and may infect the training ground with the negativity of their position.

It's also not the best advert for potential new signings that we were trying to convince to join us.

Yes, I do get that.  But ultimately the priority should surely be to build a winning team, whether we can shift surplus players or not?  As it stands we're going to start our most important season in 20 years with a pretty shit squad.  I understand the financial implications, I guess I was just hoping Tony would be flush enough to deal with it.  I also realise that we have a few weeks left in this window, but we know well from experience that it can take some time for new players to settle. 

The workable solution is to literally pay up the contracts of the key 'bad apples'.  If the cash is there it is worth just getting rid of them however we're unlikely to do that until the window is shut in the hope that someone is daft enough to take over their wages.  I suspect Gabby may be in this position and his injuries are just an easy excuse. Having him play, get roundly abused by the fans, will just demonstrate to any buyer that the player is a busted flush at Villa.

What about if we hurry up and get this India tie up done as soon as possible.  Get them to train and play out there. 

[GordonCowansisthegreatest]

How many players can we register in this division?

[PeterWithesShin]

Yes, I do get that.  But ultimately the priority should surely be to build a winning team, whether we can shift surplus players or not?  As it stands we're going to start our most important season in 20 years with a pretty shit squad.  I understand the financial implications, I guess I was just hoping Tony would be flush enough to deal with it.  I also realise that we have a few weeks left in this window, but we know well from experience that it can take some time for new players to settle. 

While it's important we get back up, the priority for me is not to start doing the same mistakes that contributed to us being a second division club in the first place. Instead show we have people in charge that can actually run Aston Villa correctly. We've all seen what having a bomb squad and too many players can do to the club, I don't get why anyone would want us doing exactly the same thing again.

[aj2k77]

Has anyone who's comparing Kante and Gueye watched Kante play? Physically stronger thAN Gueye, much faster than Gueye and better going forwards.  His strength and speed are another notch above Gueyes.

[Durham58]

BBC are saying the release clause has been triggered at 7 million, yet we purchased him for 9 million.

Not that I'm bothered about him leaving, but surely that can't be right?

[chrisw1]

Yes, I do get that.  But ultimately the priority should surely be to build a winning team, whether we can shift surplus players or not?  As it stands we're going to start our most important season in 20 years with a pretty shit squad.  I understand the financial implications, I guess I was just hoping Tony would be flush enough to deal with it.  I also realise that we have a few weeks left in this window, but we know well from experience that it can take some time for new players to settle. 

While it's important we get back up, the priority for me is not to start doing the same mistakes that contributed to us being a second division club in the first place. Instead show we have people in charge that can actually run Aston Villa correctly. We've all seen what having a bomb squad and too many players can do to the club, I don't get why anyone would want us doing exactly the same thing again.

I don't want another bomb squad.  I was just hoping Tony would have the financial means to assemble a squad with some sort of chance of promotion and dispose of unwanted players one way or another.  I was hoping he would have the funds so we didn't need a one out-one in policy.  It seems he hasn't, which is fair enough - although a bit at odds with his stated ambitions.  It doesn't stop me being dissapointed at the current state of the squad.  If we need a striker and have the funds to buy one, just go and buy the fucker and worry about Gabby etc afterwards.

[PeterWithesShin]

Worrying about it later is hardly the way to run a football club. Especially one that is in the second division, and is there partly because we worried about it later for a few years under the previous owner. If we signed another striker today we'd have 6 or 7 (depending on if you class Sinclair as a striker or wide player), how many PL clubs have that many never mind a second division club? There's a big difference between being ambitious and running the club badly.

[joe_c]

BBC are saying the release clause has been triggered at 7 million, yet we purchased him for 9 million.

Not that I'm bothered about him leaving, but surely that can't be right?

£7.1m seems a weirdly precise figure and I wondered if the original value might have been in Euro and worth less to us now than it might have been a month or so ago?