Jordan Ayew - sold to Swansea

[Louzie0]

'Valiant'

Some alliterative impact.

'Very Valiant', more alliterative impact.





'Very Very Valiant', even more etc.

[Sexual Ealing]

'Jewell Fucking That Woman on a Car Bonnet' would accurately describe how my eyes have reacted to seeing us in recent years . AND it'd look nice in yellow thread, comic sans.

[ciggiesnbeer]

You know the Premier League better than me and obviously I hope that you are right mates.
On my side, I  can not share your optimism at the moment, I am afraid.
When you see the ex mighty Villa to sign a player that was a reserve in your Serie B local team and that got relegated in Spain last season. . . well, that speaks volumes about our ambition and current position in English football.

And no, I am not excited for the new season. In my last twelve trips to England  to see the Villa I have spent a lot of money and watched some really crap football with the only exceptions of Norwich away 2013 and Pool semi last season.

Compared to it, I can not but notice that my Italian team, Lazio, with a poor budget  produces an entertaining, attacking football, won two Italian FA Cup in the last six season, lost one in final with Juventus,  qualified for the Champions League play off and launched some skilfull players like Felipe Anderson, Candreva, Biglia, Cataldi and Parolo.
The Villa, viceversa, do not have a sole player that I could say  is worth the price of the ticket by himself.
And please note that is not all question of money but of competence.
Lazio, infact, operate on sell-to-buy basis and with an average attendance at its old and decadent stadium  lower than  Villa's one.
This makes me think that Villa have an extraordinary fan-base but do not have, at the moment and since many years, a reliable director of football.  And  the worst is that nobody seems to understand and to be worried for that.

Well that sobered me up.  Good points, sadly.

[passitsideways]

It's a process, and we seem to at least finally be taking steps in the right direction, even if it's just at the start. Yes, Benteke and Delph are gone, but their departures were inevitable. I prefer to look at the fact that we've managed to escape austerity with our PL status intact, are finally looking in the right places in terms of player recruitment (geographically and financially), and building what seems to be a sensible management structure (manager, coaching staff, head of recruitment, sporting director, CEO). Early days I know, and I guess we could've viewed the start of Lambert's tenure (young manager with reputation for progressive football, "young and hungry", Faulkner seemingly finally starting to show some sense) with the same claret-and-blue tinted glasses, but really, I'm happy to dream on it a little. Maybe Lazio, Swansea, Southampton are all streets ahead of us, but they're much further along that upward path, so I think we should use them as examples of the good outcomes if we get it right, rather than despairing at how shit we currently are compared to them.

[Toronto Villa]

You know the Premier League better than me and obviously I hope that you are right mates.
On my side, I  can not share your optimism at the moment, I am afraid.
When you see the ex mighty Villa to sign a player that was a reserve in your Serie B local team and that got relegated in Spain last season. . . well, that speaks volumes about our ambition and current position in English football.

And no, I am not excited for the new season. In my last twelve trips to England  to see the Villa I have spent a lot of money and watched some really crap football with the only exceptions of Norwich away 2013 and Pool semi last season.

Compared to it, I can not but notice that my Italian team, Lazio, with a poor budget  produces an entertaining, attacking football, won two Italian FA Cup in the last six season, lost one in final with Juventus,  qualified for the Champions League play off and launched some skilfull players like Felipe Anderson, Candreva, Biglia, Cataldi and Parolo.
The Villa, viceversa, do not have a sole player that I could say  is worth the price of the ticket by himself.
And please note that is not all question of money but of competence.
Lazio, infact, operate on sell-to-buy basis and with an average attendance at its old and decadent stadium  lower than  Villa's one.
This makes me think that Villa have an extraordinary fan-base but do not have, at the moment and since many years, a reliable director of football.  And  the worst is that nobody seems to understand and to be worried for that.

Well that sobered me up.  Good points, sadly.

So of the players we have signed, that one player isn't going to set the world alight isn't going to deflect from the fact that we have spent some decent money and brought in what appears to be a number of good players. While we still clearly need improvement in a few areas, I'm not going to dive into depression just because we signed a versatile squad player.

[ciggiesnbeer]

Thats true TV. I waver. Its kind of odd, have we had a good window or not? Arguments both ways I suppose.

[mr underhill]

are you nuts? A window that yields much coveted players like Amavi and Gueye with more to come or a window that yielded Grant Holt? I rest my case M'lud.

[Villa in Denmark]

Or Jordan Fucking Christ.

Is  that one of her lesser known videos?

[pauliewalnuts]

Thats true TV. I waver. Its kind of odd, have we had a good window or not? Arguments both ways I suppose.

It depends who else we sign.

We've picked up some decent players, but we've also started the window needing lots of upgrades AND lost our two best players.

So far, so good, but we can't really judge it until we see the rest of the business, and there is plenty more to do.

[Ryu]

It's a process, and we seem to at least finally be taking steps in the right direction, even if it's just at the start. Yes, Benteke and Delph are gone, but their departures were inevitable. I prefer to look at the fact that we've managed to escape austerity with our PL status intact, are finally looking in the right places in terms of player recruitment (geographically and financially), and building what seems to be a sensible management structure (manager, coaching staff, head of recruitment, sporting director, CEO). Early days I know, and I guess we could've viewed the start of Lambert's tenure (young manager with reputation for progressive football, "young and hungry", Faulkner seemingly finally starting to show some sense) with the same claret-and-blue tinted glasses, but really, I'm happy to dream on it a little. Maybe Lazio, Swansea, Southampton are all streets ahead of us, but they're much further along that upward path, so I think we should use them as examples of the good outcomes if we get it right, rather than despairing at how shit we currently are compared to them.

Everybody seems to be assuming Southampton will do well this season in the same way they assumed they'd do badly last season.  I'm not so sure.  They were strongest defensively last season and have lost 2 of their back 4 and their defensive midfielder.  At least we were crap everywhere so a total rebuilding was essential!

[OCD]

Or Jordan Fucking Christ.

Is  that one of her lesser known videos?

Made me laugh.

[passport1]

You know the Premier League better than me and obviously I hope that you are right mates.
On my side, I  can not share your optimism at the moment, I am afraid.
When you see the ex mighty Villa to sign a player that was a reserve in your Serie B local team and that got relegated in Spain last season. . . well, that speaks volumes about our ambition and current position in English football.

And no, I am not excited for the new season. In my last twelve trips to England  to see the Villa I have spent a lot of money and watched some really crap football with the only exceptions of Norwich away 2013 and Pool semi last season.

Compared to it, I can not but notice that my Italian team, Lazio, with a poor budget  produces an entertaining, attacking football, won two Italian FA Cup in the last six season, lost one in final with Juventus,  qualified for the Champions League play off and launched some skilfull players like Felipe Anderson, Candreva, Biglia, Cataldi and Parolo.
The Villa, viceversa, do not have a sole player that I could say  is worth the price of the ticket by himself.
And please note that is not all question of money but of competence.
Lazio, infact, operate on sell-to-buy basis and with an average attendance at its old and decadent stadium  lower than  Villa's one.
This makes me think that Villa have an extraordinary fan-base but do not have, at the moment and since many years, a reliable director of football.  And  the worst is that nobody seems to understand and to be worried for that.

Most perceptive post I have seen on here for some time.

[Ads]

Why does signing a player to cover the back line show our ambition, but signing Amavi, Ayew, Gueye et al not?

[GordonCowansisthegreatest]

The beauty of signing all these players in one window, is that there will not be any significant pressure on any individual to carry the team.
Hopefully they can all raise the standard and share some goals between them as well.

[frankmosswasmyuncle]

You know the Premier League better than me and obviously I hope that you are right mates.
On my side, I  can not share your optimism at the moment, I am afraid.
When you see the ex mighty Villa to sign a player that was a reserve in your Serie B local team and that got relegated in Spain last season. . . well, that speaks volumes about our ambition and current position in English football.

And no, I am not excited for the new season. In my last twelve trips to England  to see the Villa I have spent a lot of money and watched some really crap football with the only exceptions of Norwich away 2013 and Pool semi last season.

Compared to it, I can not but notice that my Italian team, Lazio, with a poor budget  produces an entertaining, attacking football, won two Italian FA Cup in the last six season, lost one in final with Juventus,  qualified for the Champions League play off and launched some skilfull players like Felipe Anderson, Candreva, Biglia, Cataldi and Parolo.
The Villa, viceversa, do not have a sole player that I could say  is worth the price of the ticket by himself.
And please note that is not all question of money but of competence.
Lazio, infact, operate on sell-to-buy basis and with an average attendance at its old and decadent stadium  lower than  Villa's one.
This makes me think that Villa have an extraordinary fan-base but do not have, at the moment and since many years, a reliable director of football.  And  the worst is that nobody seems to understand and to be worried for that.

Most perceptive post I have seen on here for some time.

Seconded.