Summer Transfer Window - The Verdict

[Mister E]

I still think Dean wants Ollie to play inside left vs AEG as a defined left winger. I think Bailey will play on the right mostly alternating with Traore, and Buendia will play in the number 10 role.

Agreed, with Ings in the middle for the tap-in opportunities generated.

[paul_e]

I hope it's not that simple. As a preference I'd like Ings, Watkins, Bailey, Buendia, Traore, El Ghazi and JPB to all get enough gametime in various roles that we become a lot less predictable in our line up and we keep all of them fresh.

My point really was that there's no evidence to backup the claim that we sold a left winger and replaced him with a striker and 2 right wingers and yet I've seen that repeated far too many times, both on here and on social media. If you want to complain about our business focus on centre midfield rather than creating another position to complain about that seems to be perfectly well covered within the squad.

[Clark W Griswold]

I think Bailey will play more so on the right as opposed to on the left.

[gpbarr]

Building on my earlier thoughts, Dean Smith has met most success playing a transitional 433 formation, and I think our transfer business reflects his continued desire to play that formation 9 times out of 10.

Given that: his first 11 is pretty clear

The back 5: Martinez, Cash, Mings, Konsa, Targett
The middle 3: McGinn, Buendia, Luiz
The front 3: Watkins, Bailey, Traore

Looking then at this summer's business:

Bailey gets a 9/10 - straight into the first XI when fit, a clear upgrade
Buendia gets 8/10 - conceptually, Jack's replacement
Young gets 6/10 - experienced head, versatile, but not a first XI pick
Ings gets 7/10 - experienced, a clear upgrade and strong back up for Watkins
Tuanzebe gets 6/10 - strong potential, good back up for both CD (but a loan is a loan)

With Trez, AEG providing back up up for Bailey/Traore, and a bunch of young promising midfielders in Ramsay, Carney, and JPB in and around the first XI this year, the squad looks promising when fully fit. And the latter is key - compare the first XI/formation above with the team we put out against Brentford - 5 of that predicted ideal first XI were missing (& more importantly 4 of the front 6 robbing us of a lot of attacking threat).

The big question is Sanson. The club clearly rate him else one has to assume they would not have said what they said and did what they did. I can see he becomes key when and if Dean wants to shuffle into either a more defense oriented 442 or 4141.

As such I have talked myself into a slightly more positive position now than earlier. We have real quality and experience in our first XI including 7 internationally capped players. And our bench will consist of half players that were regular first XI last year which has to demonstrate progress.

Would I have liked one more quality signing - yes - and as others have said an international DM would be my pick as would give Dean more versatility to change formation. I think the interest in JWP and ESR was real and evident this was the plan - that they did not come off probably is the disappointment, and places more pressure on Sanson if and when we see him in a Villa shirt.

Silly statement to make but we just need those big first XI players back fit and optimism remains for a good season.     
     
 

[PaulWinch again]

I think Ings is above a 7. That was a seriously good signing.

[Monty]

I think all signs point to the 4-2-2-2. Dean said he didn't see Ollie as a wide player, Ings played as the deeper striker at Southampton with a runner ahead of him, the apparent JWP-or-nothing strategy with the midfield, Buendía the wide playmaker, Bailey who can provide width as well as cut in - I think it all points there.

[paul_e]

I think all signs point to the 4-2-2-2. Dean said he didn't see Ollie as a wide player, Ings played as the deeper striker at Southampton with a runner ahead of him, the apparent JWP-or-nothing strategy with the midfield, Buendía the wide playmaker, Bailey who can provide width as well as cut in - I think it all points there.

I think it points to that as an option rather than the only choice that will play come what may. 3 games in with us never having a chance to pick from a full squad makes it hard to draw conclusions but putting together all the comments from Smith in the last few months I think we'll rotate the team and shape a lot more this year than we did before. I might be wrong of course but we've changed shape in all 3 games so far so I think there's fair evidence to back me up.

[VILLA MOLE]

I think all signs point to the 4-2-2-2. Dean said he didn't see Ollie as a wide player, Ings played as the deeper striker at Southampton with a runner ahead of him, the apparent JWP-or-nothing strategy with the midfield, Buendía the wide playmaker, Bailey who can provide width as well as cut in - I think it all points there.

How does that look on a pitch ?

[Monty]

I don't doubt he wants to be more versatile, he did say that as well over the summer. Everyone, however, has a base style, and a first choice set-up to suit it. You can't drill two different basic identities of play at once. And my feeling is that the plan is to play pretty direct, pretty compact, press fiercely from the front and to worry much more about turnovers than possession. That to me says a 4-2-2-2 is the most likely basic shape.

[Clark W Griswold]

I think it might be a system without a left or right winger so we’ll never really get to find out which side Bailey plays, which would be a shame.

[Vegas]

I think it’s a pretty good window, given the high profile departure, with progress in a few areas. Our squad’s better than last year.

As a number of times over the years, the frustration is we stopped one to two signings short of a truly great window. This time it’s deflating as we came in thinking we’re on a rapid rise to European challengers under our new owners, and we were linked with exciting midfield signings early in the window.  It’s a bit of a mystery why we didn’t get someone in there.

Challenging for top 6 is now probably not realistic, but we should still be good for 10th-12th; stability following the recent rapid rise and the loss of Grealish wouldn’t be a total disaster.

[gpbarr]

I think Ings is above a 7. That was a seriously good signing.

If he makes more than 15 starts I'll agree with you. I suspect he'll be on the bench and brought on as an option more often than not and because of that, can't give the signing more than a 7.

Once our players return fit, we'll all know a lot more, thats clear.

[Clark W Griswold]

Well if you’re on a bit of a downer with our window as a whole with the lack of midfield reinforcement, things could be a lot worse. Sheffield Wed fans, following on from their relegation to the third tier of English football have just seen things go from bad to worse as they’ve now signed Saido Beraheno on deadline day.

[rougegorge]

Very disappointed - the club knew Grealish was very likely to go all along.

These are estimated figures since the end of last season taken from the end of last week:

Estimated net spend (£m)
Man Utd   133
Arsenal   105
Man City   80
Leicester   58
Crystal Palace   45
Brentford   34
Chelsea   27
Leeds   27
Newcastle   26
Norwich   20
Watford   15
Liverpool   11
Burnley   4
West Ham   1
Everton   1
Wolves   -5
Tottenham   -9
Southampton   -17
Aston Villa   -20
Brighton   -27

[Smithy]

I think Ings is above a 7. That was a seriously good signing.

If he makes more than 15 starts I'll agree with you. I suspect he'll be on the bench and brought on as an option more often than not and because of that, can't give the signing more than a 7.

Once our players return fit, we'll all know a lot more, that's clear.

I'll be amazed if Ings spends more time on the bench than on the pitch.  I also can't see how Dean's first 11 is "pretty clear".  I think this is probably the most difficult it's been to pick our first choice 11 for probably more than ten years.  I think you could ask a dozen villa fans what should be our first choice eleven given the squad as it is today and you would get five or six different line-ups (they'd all have the same defence though!).