Douglas Luiz - coming back?

[N'ZMAV]

Delph, Cleverley and Westwood - the good old midfield days....

[Mister E]

Well hopefully things are more positive than performances on the pitch suggest. He has real potential, we have to release that potential.

I realise what you're saying there.

[paul_e]

I see Doug and Kamara as potentially a similar pairing to Petrov and Barry, 2 players who have positional discipline and will put the defensive work in but have the technical ability and passing range to make things happen and let the players around/in front of them push into the box and get the goals we need. Both capable of scoring the odd wonder goal as well. They are also both not the quickest so will need to concentrate on making the ball do the work and have pace added around them.

[tomd2103]

I see Doug and Kamara as potentially a similar pairing to Petrov and Barry, 2 players who have positional discipline and will put the defensive work in but have the technical ability and passing range to make things happen and let the players around/in front of them push into the box and get the goals we need. Both capable of scoring the odd wonder goal as well. They are also both not the quickest so will need to concentrate on making the ball do the work and have pace added around them.

Agree Paul.  Would like to see them partnered in central midfield (when the former is fit obviously) with one of Coutinho, Buendia, McGinn or Ramsey in a more advanced role in front of them. 

When you see that those four should practically be competing for one spot in the side, you realise how imbalanced the squad is and that sit has been assembled with only one formation in mind. 

[paul_e]

I see Doug and Kamara as potentially a similar pairing to Petrov and Barry, 2 players who have positional discipline and will put the defensive work in but have the technical ability and passing range to make things happen and let the players around/in front of them push into the box and get the goals we need. Both capable of scoring the odd wonder goal as well. They are also both not the quickest so will need to concentrate on making the ball do the work and have pace added around them.

Agree Paul.  Would like to see them partnered in central midfield (when the former is fit obviously) with one of Coutinho, Buendia, McGinn or Ramsey in a more advanced role in front of them. 

When you see that those four should practically be competing for one spot in the side, you realise how imbalanced the squad is and that sit has been assembled with only one formation in mind. 

I'd be ok with Buendia  orRamsey playing wide so there are options and then obviously Bailey covers both wide spots as well.  McGinn is the really difficult one because, in his current form, it's hard to find anywhere for him. On that basis I'd Probably go with Ramsey left, Bailey right (but happy for them to swap sides regularly) and Coutinho in the middle to start with Buendia carrying on with his supersub role which is working really well for him right now.

[SoccerHQ]

The next manager must come in and drop McGinn, it's that simple.

If next one persists then it's another who favours workrate over technical excellence so that's going to continue to be an issue. McGinn can of course ping some nice passes in a game but if you favour a possession style game and play through the thirds he simply isn't that good especially not now compared to three years ago.

As said above the logic midfield going forward is Kamara-Luiz-Ramsey.

Ramsey is what McGinn was 2-3 years ago even if he's dipped himself but he can show the form he was around turn of the year under the next manager.

[andyh]

The next manager must come in and drop McGinn, it's that simple.

If next one persists then it's another who favours workrate over technical excellence so that's going to continue to be an issue. McGinn can of course ping some nice passes in a game but if you favour a possession style game and play through the thirds he simply isn't that good especially not now compared to three years ago.

As said above the logic midfield going forward is Kamara-Luiz-Ramsey.

Ramsey is what McGinn was 2-3 years ago even if he's dipped himself but he can show the form he was around turn of the year under the next manager.

I think the next manager who comes in has to let McGinn play his natural game and not have him shackled and restricted.
We’ll soon see the best of him again then.

[SoccerHQ]

The next manager must come in and drop McGinn, it's that simple.

If next one persists then it's another who favours workrate over technical excellence so that's going to continue to be an issue. McGinn can of course ping some nice passes in a game but if you favour a possession style game and play through the thirds he simply isn't that good especially not now compared to three years ago.

As said above the logic midfield going forward is Kamara-Luiz-Ramsey.

Ramsey is what McGinn was 2-3 years ago even if he's dipped himself but he can show the form he was around turn of the year under the next manager.

I think the next manager who comes in has to let McGinn play his natural game and not have him shackled and restricted.
We’ll soon see the best of him again then.

Where does McGinn play though?

Luiz hasn't signed a new deal to keep warming the bench, Kamara is an obvious start when back fit and while Ramsey has had a dip he's far more of a scoring threat these days and loads of managers would love to work with and improve a talented young player like him.

That's before trying to get some more width in the team and also coax better form out of Buendia/Coutinho.

So guess that means McGinn as a false 9! Would be amusing him throwing his backside into CBs and trying to win penalties I guess but ultimately he just hinders our style and system too much these days.

[eamonn]

Does Doug (or any of the Villa men) go along to the women's games?

[Risso]

Where does McGinn play though?

Back in Scotland.

[Drummond]

Jonathan Northcroft
Sunday October 16 2022, 12.00am, The Sunday Times
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On deadline day the bids came in, and there is a certain way these things tend to go when one of the big clubs pursues a player and the middling one that owns him is in an exposed market position.

This was on September 1, when Arsenal were hammering away at Aston Villa’s resolve by making not one, not two, but three offers for Douglas Luiz. The Brazil midfielder had ten months left on his contract and the bidding reached £25 million but Villa’s owners, Nassef Sawiris and Wes Edens, and the chief executive Christian Purslow, held their respective nerves.

Three times Arsenal were rebuffed and efforts were redoubled to tie Luiz to a longer deal. The Brazilian, shown exactly how much he is valued at Villa Park, felt keen to extend and the result is a new contract, agreed on Friday, which should keep one of the fundamental building blocks of Villa’s squad in place for the long term.

“I am very happy,” Luiz told The Sunday Times after signing his deal. “I’ve felt very welcomed and comfortable at this club from the first moment. I’ve never regretted coming here at any point and I’m really happy I am staying here for longer.

“This club has progressed during my time and bought great players in the last year like Philippe Coutinho, Diego Carlos, Boubacar Kamara and Lucas Digne. And we have [John] McGinn.

“I see the club developing and progressing.”

Luiz, 24, joined Villa after their promotion to the Premier League in 2019, having signed for Manchester City from Vasco da Gama in 2017, but he spent two years on loan at Girona while awaiting a UK work permit. “I was a bit apprehensive about coming to an English football club given the language barrier but Villa, from the first day, opened the door and helped me on that side. This club has helped me grow as a person and a player.”

Keeping him is another sign of the ambition shown since Sawiris and Edens became owners in 2018. They have invested around £440 million in transfers (though £100 million was recouped in a stroke by selling Jack Grealish) and have sights set high, despite a disappointing start to 2022-23.

“Both Arsenal and Aston Villa are really good teams,” said Luiz, considering the events of deadline day, “but I am happy here both in terms of the squad we are building and the plan the club has put in place for the future. I want to be a part of that plan, which is the main factor in me wanting to stay.”

The plan is? “They have a one to two-year plan to progress within this league. Bear in mind that only a couple of years ago we were in a different league [the Championship] but I am confident in the plan and the progression we want to make as a team.

“I am a guy who always wants to win. I’m a character who doesn’t like losing. Winning is the only option.”

Despite Arsenal’s best efforts, Luiz has chosen to stay at Villa Park and says he is looking forward to helping push the club higher up the Premier League table
Despite Arsenal’s best efforts, Luiz has chosen to stay at Villa Park and says he is looking forward to helping push the club higher up the Premier League table

Villa’s ambitions include European football. “It’s a goal for the club, but we need to be realistic at the same time, because the teams who are in the Champions League already are very good. So, to be close to [the Champions League spots] over the next couple of years is the club’s aim.”

Happiness off the pitch is another factor keeping Luiz in the Midlands. His girlfriend is Alisha Lehmann, a 23-year-old Swiss international forward who plays for Aston Villa Women FC in the WSL. “Haha. No. We always try to avoid talking about football and do other stuff to keep it off-topic,” Luiz said, laughing, when asked if theirs is a football-obsessed relationship.

Being part of Villa’s growing South American contingent also keeps him enjoying life. He, Carlos and Coutinho, alongside Argentinians Emi Martínez and Emi Buendía socialise regularly. “We have such a good relationship,” Luiz said.

“One time during the week we go in one house and everyone is together, we make a barbecue and we are one family.

“I don’t think it’s only us, it’s everyone in the team, we speak so much. But in South America, because of the language, we’re much together.”

His family visit regularly from Brazil. “They kind of do a rotation. My dad and brother are here now and next my mum and sister will come to visit. I’m really grateful they come to see me.”

Coutinho may not yet have found his best form this season, but Luiz regards playing with him as a privilege, saying that he studies his compatriot in training “to learn and help me evolve as a player”.

Having won the Olympics with his country and been part of the Brazil team that finished as runners-up in the 2021 Copa America, going to the World Cup “is a big goal for me and I am working hard to get there. I think it is reachable, though obviously we have a good team at the moment.”

Though Luiz has not played for Brazil since last October, he has been spoken of highly by Brazil’s manager, Tite, who described him as “both the bow and the arrow” — a midfielder capable of defending and attacking. “I think I can fulfil any position on the field and even though I’m a midfielder, I can help the forwards and the defenders. I adapt to the role and the tactics according to the game at the time,” Luiz said.

“I’ve always been quite confident player, quite a calm player, mature on the pitch and I have tried to bring that to Villa. I’ve always worked hard on the tactical side and try to stick to what I’m instructed to do by the trainers.”

Now he faces Chelsea, another side who were monitoring his situation before the new contract was signed. He may come up against Jorginho, who was born in Brazil but left the fold to represent the country of his great-grandparents, Italy. “A very good player,” said Luiz with a smile. “I wish he had chosen Brazil. It would be handy to have him as well.”

[eamonn]

Lovely interview. All very positive stuff, with a fair bit of wisdom (though I genuinely rofl'd at the "And we have John McGinn" bit. Meatball must be the most charming bonnie wee lad that everyone at the club falls under his spell).

I also wonder how much of that interview was conducted in English as there is a paragraph verbatim lifted from his Pravda interview on Friday having signed his new contract. It was noticeable in that interview how his English is still fairly basic (weirdly, I thought he was more fluent in the recent video of him and his missus) so I'm hoping the rest of his quotes are translated from Portugese so they give a true sense of what he's saying rather than the interviewer filling-in any gaps of his English.

This "project" to get us to 7th/8th has to happen by next season max by the sounds of this and the MOMS podcast this week. Disillusionment may set-in amongst our best players January next season if we're still adrift and playing mediocre shit.

[Axl Rose]

About time some of them pulled their finger out then eamonn.

We can only put so much of the blame onto Steven, I suppose. A fair few of the players have been abysmal since before he came in, and have been largely rubbish throughout his tenure.

[SoccerHQ]

Thought I was supporting a different team reading that interview!

Fair play he loves it here but I'm amazed he didn't just wait until January and leave then as Arsenal is incredibly exciting proposition to play for and they have many South Americans in their squad aswell.

Amusing the article has him as a key player for us.

He started 4 of the first 5 games this season on the bench and I've never felt at any point he's been as key for us as he was under Dean Smith.

Hopefully like so many in this squad the next manager utilizes him more effectively. 

[Beard82]

Lovely interview. All very positive stuff, with a fair bit of wisdom (though I genuinely rofl'd at the "And we have John McGinn" bit. Meatball must be the most charming bonnie wee lad that everyone at the club falls under his spell).

I also wonder how much of that interview was conducted in English as there is a paragraph verbatim lifted from his Pravda interview on Friday having signed his new contract. It was noticeable in that interview how his English is still fairly basic (weirdly, I thought he was more fluent in the recent video of him and his missus) so I'm hoping the rest of his quotes are translated from Portugese so they give a true sense of what he's saying rather than the interviewer filling-in any gaps of his English.

This "project" to get us to 7th/8th has to happen by next season max by the sounds of this and the MOMS podcast this week. Disillusionment may set-in amongst our best players January next season if we're still adrift and playing mediocre shit.

I agree - but the world cup could speed up that process for those involved (Emi in particular)