Riley - When Will It Happen

[supertom]

Those who believe our summer spending was "£50 million down the shitter" should ask two questions.

1. Which of the French players if sold would go to better teams than Aston Villa?
The correct answer is - all of them.

2. If you answered Q1 correctly, say whose fault it is that their value has dropped while at Aston Villa.  The players themselves or the club?

If £50 million has gone down the shitter the players did not do it.  They had it done to them.

In terms of question 1, it's difficult to say what is a better team. Ayew will go somewhere like West Ham if he's lucky. It would pain me to call them a better side than us, but of course this year they're a country mile better than us.
Gana I suspect will end up back in the French league, as will Veretout. Probably a middling side and that would probably see them in a championship quality side, so hardly a step up. The French league is improving somewhat but it's still shite.

Amavi is the best of the bunch. Had he played all season I think he'd have done well and I think he'd be looking at potentially clubs like Arsenal.

[DaveD]

Those who believe our summer spending was "£50 million down the shitter" should ask two questions.

1. Which of the French players if sold would go to better teams than Aston Villa?
The correct answer is - all of them.

2. If you answered Q1 correctly, say whose fault it is that their value has dropped while at Aston Villa.  The players themselves or the club?

If £50 million has gone down the shitter the players did not do it.  They had it done to them.

The correct answer to 1. is - you don't know yet and neither do I. You think they will. I think they won't.

2. It's the club's fault because we should never have paid that much for them in the first place.

[ktvillan]

I like all the players we brought in from Ligue 1 and I wouldn't attach too much blame to any of them for our demise .  They never seemed to be accepted by Sherwood or many of the British/established  players, they were thrust into a massively dysfunctional, disinterested and sub-standard squad,  and began with  a manager who was tactically beyond clueless.  They lacked a  leader out on the pitch and they were fighting an uphill battle from day 1.  I wasn't aware of the Christmas party and secret santa stuff but if they were being excluded in that way it's no wonder they haven't performed that well.  And yet, at least to me, they have still looked the best of a bad bunch, and I'd include  Veretout in that.   Sure they have flaws and Amavi defensive abilities looked questionable at times.  But so did Gareth Bale once upon a time, and he didn't turn out too bad when converted to left midfield, which to my mind is where Amavi should be playing.  I reckon if you'd dropped that lot into, say, the Everton, Southampton or Stoke, a team with a bit of spirit, confidence, ability, leadership and postiive attitude,  they'd all have looked decent.  I don't think you could say the same about the likes of Bacuna, Richards, Richardson, Guzan, Lescott, Westwood and Gabby.  We wouldn't miss any of the latter and I hope they all feck off and the Ligue 1 players are supplemented by some decent additions.   

[sickbeggar]

Maybe the club realise that they were largely at fault for the recruitment and that's why Reilly is still here. A good example is Benteke's replacements. The club bank 32m and yet in Gestade and Ayew we spent reportedly 14m replacing him.  So obviously a lot of that money was spent on other areas. You then look at whether there was a disagreement between Sherwood and the club about who they wanted which resulted in the rather bad compromise of both the club and the manager getting "their" players and splitting the 14m, when some would argue its not even enough to get you a proven premiership striker. Then you wonder if reilly was asked to tick the club's boxes for potential buys - Cheap, check, lowish wages, check, young with resale value, check. Presumably if Sherwood didn't want these french players, then someone was pulling the strings in who they went for?

[DaveD]

That's just my opinion but we have 16 points for a reason and it's not just down to the English tossers plus the grinning idiot, there's plenty of blame to go round. I don't blame any of the above but they're just not good enough for the job they were hired to do and that's down to Riley.

You're quick enough to share the blame around for having 16 pts, but then go on to put 100% of the blame for hiring the players on Riley.

First of all, the hires weren't Riley's decision alone, so it's not just down to Riley in any case. But what I'm saying is that perhaps the problem wasn't the recruitment, but the integration and training. Look at Albrighton - here he was a bit part player, at Leicester he's a league winner and an integral part of the side. That doesn't mean he 'wasn't good enough for the job' at Villa, but that he wasn't used to his potential.

It's not 100% down to Riley but everybody else involved has been fired, and he is the Head of Recruitment.

[supertom]

That's just my opinion but we have 16 points for a reason and it's not just down to the English tossers plus the grinning idiot, there's plenty of blame to go round. I don't blame any of the above but they're just not good enough for the job they were hired to do and that's down to Riley.

You're quick enough to share the blame around for having 16 pts, but then go on to put 100% of the blame for hiring the players on Riley.

First of all, the hires weren't Riley's decision alone, so it's not just down to Riley in any case. But what I'm saying is that perhaps the problem wasn't the recruitment, but the integration and training. Look at Albrighton - here he was a bit part player, at Leicester he's a league winner and an integral part of the side. That doesn't mean he 'wasn't good enough for the job' at Villa, but that he wasn't used to his potential.

It's not 100% down to Riley but everybody else involved has been fired, and he is the Head of Recruitment.

110% he has to go.

[Richard E]

Regardless of exactly what proportion of the blame for our predicament lies with him he is irretrievably tainted by the failure of which he has been a part and that ought to make his position untenable.

[CT]

We need a complete clear out if we're truly looking to rebuild.

That means all the fitness analysts, physios etc, everyone who has let standards slip.

...and that includes Mr Reilly.

[Des Little]

Once Lerner has gone, all of his merry men will. It's how it goes. Bide your time, people.

[Mister E]

I like all the players we brought in from Ligue 1 and I wouldn't attach too much blame to any of them for our demise .  They never seemed to be accepted by Sherwood or many of the British/established  players, they were thrust into a massively dysfunctional, disinterested and sub-standard squad,  and began with  a manager who was tactically beyond clueless.  They lacked a  leader out on the pitch and they were fighting an uphill battle from day 1.  I wasn't aware of the Christmas party and secret santa stuff but if they were being excluded in that way it's no wonder they haven't performed that well.  And yet, at least to me, they have still looked the best of a bad bunch, and I'd include  Veretout in that.   Sure they have flaws and Amavi defensive abilities looked questionable at times.  But so did Gareth Bale once upon a time, and he didn't turn out too bad when converted to left midfield, which to my mind is where Amavi should be playing.  I reckon if you'd dropped that lot into, say, the Everton, Southampton or Stoke, a team with a bit of spirit, confidence, ability, leadership and postiive attitude,  they'd all have looked decent.  I don't think you could say the same about the likes of Bacuna, Richards, Richardson, Guzan, Lescott, Westwood and Gabby.  We wouldn't miss any of the latter and I hope they all feck off and the Ligue 1 players are supplemented by some decent additions.   

Largely agree with this.
For me, they've showed enough to suggest that in a decent system and disciplined environment they'd do well. Of all, Gana would be the one struggles most.

[tomd2103]

I like all the players we brought in from Ligue 1 and I wouldn't attach too much blame to any of them for our demise .  They never seemed to be accepted by Sherwood or many of the British/established  players, they were thrust into a massively dysfunctional, disinterested and sub-standard squad,  and began with  a manager who was tactically beyond clueless.  They lacked a  leader out on the pitch and they were fighting an uphill battle from day 1.  I wasn't aware of the Christmas party and secret santa stuff but if they were being excluded in that way it's no wonder they haven't performed that well.  And yet, at least to me, they have still looked the best of a bad bunch, and I'd include  Veretout in that.   Sure they have flaws and Amavi defensive abilities looked questionable at times.  But so did Gareth Bale once upon a time, and he didn't turn out too bad when converted to left midfield, which to my mind is where Amavi should be playing.  I reckon if you'd dropped that lot into, say, the Everton, Southampton or Stoke, a team with a bit of spirit, confidence, ability, leadership and postiive attitude,  they'd all have looked decent.  I don't think you could say the same about the likes of Bacuna, Richards, Richardson, Guzan, Lescott, Westwood and Gabby.  We wouldn't miss any of the latter and I hope they all feck off and the Ligue 1 players are supplemented by some decent additions.

That's the point.  Although I would question the desire of some of them, the foreign players have probably been the better performers.  Where I would blame Reilly is that they were not positions we really needed (except for LB).  We lost the spine of the team in the summer and failed to properly replace any of them.  The decent money should have been spent bringing in solid options at CB, CM and ST. 

[WarszaVillan]

One of the worst things I heard was a report from a meeting held between fans and Fox (can't remember which). He said that the mistake they made pre-season was not making preparations to integrate the new players that came from abroad properly and that they weren't prepared properly when the season began. Surely a Premier League club these days would have systems in place whereby this would happen automatically. The whole thing smacked of unprofessionalism and I've never seen a team so unprepared for a season, both in terms of fitness and looking like a coherent team.

[old man villa fan]

One of the worst things I heard was a report from a meeting held between fans and Fox (can't remember which). He said that the mistake they made pre-season was not making preparations to integrate the new players that came from abroad properly and that they weren't prepared properly when the season began. Surely a Premier League club these days would have systems in place whereby this would happen automatically. The whole thing smacked of unprofessionalism and I've never seen a team so unprepared for a season, both in terms of fitness and looking like a coherent team.

One of the problems we have faced since Lerner came in is we always leave it late bringing new players in.  It has always felt as though he wanted to save a months wages.  I can't think of many players that we have brought in at the beginning of a transfer window, only NRC springs to mind.  Other clubs have players lined up and all but signed before the window actually opens.  Add to this, the Benteke and Delph sagas and you can see why we were totally unprepared.

[tomd2103]

One of the worst things I heard was a report from a meeting held between fans and Fox (can't remember which). He said that the mistake they made pre-season was not making preparations to integrate the new players that came from abroad properly and that they weren't prepared properly when the season began. Surely a Premier League club these days would have systems in place whereby this would happen automatically. The whole thing smacked of unprofessionalism and I've never seen a team so unprepared for a season, both in terms of fitness and looking like a coherent team.

One of the problems we have faced since Lerner came in is we always leave it late bringing new players in.  It has always felt as though he wanted to save a months wages.  I can't think of many players that we have brought in at the beginning of a transfer window, only NRC springs to mind.  Other clubs have players lined up and all but signed before the window actually opens.  Add to this, the Benteke and Delph sagas and you can see why we were totally unprepared.

Also, it has seemed for every summer since goodness knows when, we haven't ended a season with a settled side.  We've needed pretty major surgery every summer rather than just adding a couple of players to an already pretty solid outfit.  The money we have spent has been on the whole on poor players meaning we've been in the same situation every summer.

[Villa in Denmark]

One of the worst things I heard was a report from a meeting held between fans and Fox (can't remember which). He said that the mistake they made pre-season was not making preparations to integrate the new players that came from abroad properly and that they weren't prepared properly when the season began. Surely a Premier League club these days would have systems in place whereby this would happen automatically. The whole thing smacked of unprofessionalism and I've never seen a team so unprepared for a season, both in terms of fitness and looking like a coherent team.

One of the problems we have faced since Lerner came in is we always leave it late bringing new players in.  It has always felt as though he wanted to save a months wages.  I can't think of many players that we have brought in at the beginning of a transfer window, only NRC springs to mind.  Other clubs have players lined up and all but signed before the window actually opens.  Add to this, the Benteke and Delph sagas and you can see why we were totally unprepared.

Also, it has seemed for every summer since goodness knows when, we haven't ended a season with a settled side.  We've needed pretty major surgery every summer rather than just adding a couple of players to an already pretty solid outfit.  The money we have spent has been on the whole on poor players meaning we've been in the same situation every summer.

On the signing players late, it was definitely a problem in the early years, though I suspect that had more to do with the idiosyncrasies of a former manager.

I thought last summer there was pretty much a steady flow over the summer and I think Lambert's second summer too?