Summer 2016: Transfer rumours and suggestions

[PaulWinch again]

Physical strength is overrated. What a player needs is balance and if he has that he'll deal with the physical challenges.

[Villafirst]

I disagree regarding Richards. He just needs the right management team behind him. He was a good player at Man City and made the England team. I still think he could do a job at RB instead of Hutton, who I think is mediocre. Richards has real physical presence which will needed in a tough league.

[Dante Lavelli]

Tin hat on, but if we can get a tune out of Richards, he and Amavi could do really well for us in the Championship.

If Richards is fit and has the right attitude, he will be the best right back by a mile, ditto Amavi

i sit in the lower north and have had the misfortune of see richards 'play' at right back back. i dont think ive ever seen a player with less positional sense or awareness of what is going on around them

I agree with a lot of that, but I also a big part of that is the don't give a fuck attitude he carried around with him. I think he's a better player than he showed but at the very top level of sport so much is mental. And he and many others showed little or no application last season that it seriously impacted the physical side of their game.

Nah, at his best he was a buccaneering fullback and strong as an ox.  The fact he played in a v good man city team masked his complete lack of positional awareness.  He's potentially a great fullback in the championship (i.e. less time defending) however I suspect he thinks that the league is below him, after all he had little appetite fore a relegation battle.

[passitsideways]

He started at RB all the way through City's first title win, didn't he? Must've been doing something well for Mancini to pick him that often, although I suppose having Milner ahead of you and Kompany next to you would make things fairly easy.

[ChicagoLion]

You do realize that we are playing in the Championship where the vast majority of teams will be worse than us right?

I think that's a pretty dangerous assumption to make.

If we'd got relegated last year in a traditional "just failed to squeak staying up" style, then maybe, but we didn't, we had a comedy relegation - 17 points. That's how godawful we were. I would be extremely wary of making too many assumptions about other teams being worse than us.

Not really a dangerous assumption at all. For us not to be better than than the vast majority of sides in the Championship next season we'd need to finish lower than 8th or so by my estimation. Let's see how this turns out shall we? As disappointing as yesterday's pre season game turned out I'm not about to start discussing relegation odds, and irrespective of how last season ended.

There's so much that is different about the club and so much road in front of us to make changes and improve. Most teams by the end of the window won't have come close to what we will have spent. I'm not about to dismiss the need for those players to bed in, but playing against lower grade opposition will ensure that this happens faster.

There are clearly holes to fill, but unless we have been completely lied to I expect that the new board and manager will have addressed many of those needs by the time the window closes.

Isn't there a contradiction between saying in one breath that the "vast majority of teams will be worse than us" and then "let's just see how the season pans out"? It works both ways.

For me it is absolutely a dangerous assumption and a bit arrogant too - I would say that squad that finished the season would struggle to finish halfway up the Championship. Since then, it has hardly changed. If Gueye goes, then really, is it any stronger? Guzan replaced and an uninspiring centre half and midfielder added? Is that enough to materially change the utter laughing stock of last season?

It might be, it might not be, but assuming it is strikes me as extremely dangerous.

You say there's so much different about the club, and that's true, but there's hardly anything different about the squad. It is largely the same bunch of wasters as last season. Look at yesterday's match, pretty much every one of our weaknesses last season was still there in spades.

I would make absolutely no assumptions on how much better than the rest of the league we will be, especially not after the laughing stock we were last year.

i completely agree, unless there is a recognition that this squad needs major surgery, then we will be in for another dissapointing season.
i can't blame the management for picking those players, every manager has done the same with the same outcome.

[LTA]

Dr Xia is getting it right, we cannot just throw stupid money around - it doesn't guarantee anything, ask Lerner and O'Neill.

True.  However this dawdling isnt the way forward either.  The squad is still by and large the same one that failed abjectly last season.  We didnt score enough goals and we conceeded shit loads of sunday league goals.  Neither has been addressed yet.

Totally unacceptable.

[brentastonb6]

Does anyone have a clue what is happening in relation to our supposed bid for the Bristol City forward or what the reason for Veeretout's omission from the squad against Boro was please?
Thank you  : )
PS Tuesday's lottery numbers would be helpful too : )

[mr underhill]

no, no, and no.

[pbavfckuwait]

The talk for the championship is aimed at needing physically strong players, that as someone said earlier is not the be all and end all, if a player is good enough regardless of size he is good enough.
 We are a team that mentally have the strength of 5 year old's if last season is anything to go by and I know only a friendly but Saturdays collapse shows this weakness is still there. This may not show in training, but has been there for us all to see for a good number of years when it matters on match day, this is what RDM must alter and if players are mentally shot they must be sidelined, if not the championship will be a very very rough ride.

[AV89]

http://www.skysports.com/football/news/12040/10518090/ian-holloways-championship-table-prediction-aston-villa-could-go-down-again

[Malandro]

Holloway is a gimp.

[sid1964]

I think that a lot of what Holloway says is true, until we get rid of the losers (which is most of them) I cannot see us challenging for a play off spot

We have to remember that when the likes of Rotherham turn up at Villa Park, it will be there cup final, unless we can match them for endeavour, and the physical side of the game we will struggle

As a Wolves fan at work tells me the Championship is no place for big time Charlie's (we have a fair few of them)

We desperately need a good start otherwise it could be that our crowd will once again turn on the players etc..., we lost a friendly on Saturday and reading some of the comments on here it would appear as though we are already starting to turn on some of them

For the Management / players of our club, the pressure is different this season, a lot of Villa fans expect us to be up towards the top of the table, it will be interesting to see if they can handle it.

[rob_bridge]

Attack wise it will depend on whether Grealish has grown up and knuckled down and as to whether the empty tank that has been Agbonalhor has anything left.

Slightly different positions but they would need be our equivalent of Nolan/Carroll for Newcastle 09-10. Oh and don't forget they lost something like 6-1 to Orient in a pre season friendly that year

[Clampy]

Dr Xia is getting it right, we cannot just throw stupid money around - it doesn't guarantee anything, ask Lerner and O'Neill.

True.  However this dawdling isnt the way forward either. 

If you agree that  throwing money around isn't the answer, what makes you come to the conclusion that we are dawdling?

[oldtimernow]

Or Hutton/Richards at right back?

The Maginot Line !