Aston Villa

[Yellow Wal 314]

What a very entertaining match last night.

Considering the Villa squad was put together by Dean Smith can we have some optimism for a far better future.

Hopefully Mr Webber will closely consult with Dean Smith before the next load of signings.

[cambridgeshire canary 6,795]

How dare you. As this forum has said Dean right now is playing with a squad thats not his and half riddled with injuries and covid so he must get sacked at once.

[Creedence Clearwater Couto 1,297]

18 minutes ago, Yellow Wal said:

What a very entertaining match last night.

Considering the Villa squad was put together by Dean Smith can we have some optimism for a far better future.

Hopefully Mr Webber will closely consult with Dean Smith before the next load of signings.

I'm not sure it was, tbh. They have sporting directors and others that over see that, I'm sure. Plus a tenfold transfer budget!

What I did find interesting though, was some of the players bought sensibly from the Championship that have made the step up. Matty Cash, Konsa, Mings, Watkins.. I wish we'd have spent the Tzolis and Sargent monies similarly. Appreciate Watkins was huge money! Other smart signings, McGinn and Targett for relatively nothing. 

[Ulfotto 644]

1 hour ago, Creedence Clearwater Couto said:

I'm not sure it was, tbh. They have sporting directors and others that over see that, I'm sure. Plus a tenfold transfer budget!

What I did find interesting though, was some of the players bought sensibly from the Championship that have made the step up. Matty Cash, Konsa, Mings, Watkins.. I wish we'd have spent the Tzolis and Sargent monies similarly. Appreciate Watkins was huge money! Other smart signings, McGinn and Targett for relatively nothing. 

You can add Buendia  to that list The transfer strategy of buying the best championship players each year is very sound it is just a market we cannot shop in as it too expensive.

Edited January 11, 2022 by Ulfotto

[Trevor Hockey's Beard 528]

I thought Emi looked a rather forlorn figure. They certainly don't take any notice of him pointing to where he wants the return ball.

It feels like he is not popular within the squad as he showed flashes of his undoubted abilities, but was underused by his colleagues.

[Thumbbass 322]

Who will get the nod. Emi or Gerrard's mate Coutinho. Come back Emi, all is forgiven.

[Satriales 693]

4 minutes ago, Trevor Hockey's Beard said:

I thought Emi looked a rather forlorn figure. They certainly don't take any notice of him pointing to where he wants the return ball.

It feels like he is not popular within the squad as he showed flashes of his undoubted abilities, but was underused by his colleagues.

He had one good run into the box but yeah I generally thought similar. I also noticed he appeared to just turn his back when they scored and didnt celebrate with the others. Perhaps he knew VAR was about to overule it!

[Ulfotto 644]

4 minutes ago, Trevor Hockey's Beard said:

I thought Emi looked a rather forlorn figure. They certainly don't take any notice of him pointing to where he wants the return ball.

It feels like he is not popular within the squad as he showed flashes of his undoubted abilities, but was underused by his colleagues.

Yeah I got that a bit I think they maybe don’t trust him like they should. To be honest though everything created by Villa went through him the attacking threat died after he went off.

I think it will be Coutinho and Emi plus one of ings or Watkins 

[Inch High aka Inchy.. 412]

2 hours ago, Yellow Wal said:

What a very entertaining match last night.

Considering the Villa squad was put together by Dean Smith can we have some optimism for a far better future.

Hopefully Mr Webber will closely consult with Dean Smith before the next load of signings.

Smith couldn't get them going either, hence his sacking by Villa.

[Move Klose 303]

2 hours ago, Creedence Clearwater Couto said:

I'm not sure it was, tbh. They have sporting directors and others that over see that, I'm sure. Plus a tenfold transfer budget!

What I did find interesting though, was some of the players bought sensibly from the Championship that have made the step up. Matty Cash, Konsa, Mings, Watkins.. I wish we'd have spent the Tzolis and Sargent monies similarly. Appreciate Watkins was huge money! Other smart signings, McGinn and Targett for relatively nothing. 

Matt Targett cost them nearly £14m, that's quite a fair way over out transfer record.

[Thirsty Lizard 3,183]

15 minutes ago, Move Klose said:

Matt Targett cost them nearly £14m, that's quite a fair way over out transfer record.

Yeah - and Cash cost them £17 million which is way over our transfer record - and Konsa cost them £12 million which is well over our transfer record - and Watkins cost them £28 million which is way, way over our transfer record - and Buendia cost them £33 million which is way, way, way over our transfer record. It's almost as if some of the people criticising on here haven't got an effing clue what they're going on about.

[Google Bot 3,301]

Just now, Thirsty Lizard said:

Yeah - and Cash cost them £17 million which is way over our transfer record - and Konsa cost them £12 million which is well over our transfer record - and Watkins cost them £28 million which is way, way over our transfer record

We spent nearly 60 mil in summer.   We just chose to distribute it into multiple cheaper options.

If we didn't sign: Gunn (5.3m), Sargent (8.6m), Tzolis (9.9m), Lees-Melou (5.4m), We could've spent ~30m elsewhere on 1 or 2 players from your list, or anywhere else.

Not saying that Sargent/Tzolis won't come good in the future - but Webber's tactic in this window was of investment not short-term survival.  I'm sure he has regrets now, as the money was there.

[Move Klose 303]

6 minutes ago, Google Bot said:

We spent nearly 60 mil in summer.   We just chose to distribute it into multiple cheaper options.

If we didn't sign: Gunn (5.3m), Sargent (8.6m), Tzolis (9.9m), Lees-Melou (5.4m), We could've spent ~30m elsewhere on 1 or 2 players from your list, or anywhere else.

Not saying that Sargent/Tzolis won't come good in the future - but Webber's tactic in this window was of investment not short-term survival.  I'm sure he has regrets now, as the money was there.

In an ideal world the money would've been better spent on 4 good players, but sadly our squad is so weak that we had to bring in a number of players. 

A good CB, Winger, DM/CM, No10 would've helped. 

 

[kirku 1,339]

6 minutes ago, Google Bot said:

If we didn't sign: Gunn (5.3m), Sargent (8.6m), Tzolis (9.9m), Lees-Melou (5.4m), We could've spent ~30m elsewhere on 1 or 2 players from your list, or anywhere else.

We couldn't have bought those players, Villa had already done so. 

What many people have been advocating for is that the overall outlay in the summer should've been spent on fewer signings of a higher quality, or proven quality.

It's hard to argue that case with the players from that list, many of whom had never played top flight football, and would be even more of a gamble. Villa signed Watkins while Fulham spent over £22m on Mitrovic, who came with a much bigger pedigree but ended up scoring 3 league goals. 

[Danbury Yellow 126]

I thought Villa were excellent last night.  I talk about this all the time….pace of pass, movement and thought process.  We have also stopped someone running at defenders and sticking them on their backside? We lack all these right now, critically within midfield.
Villa have invested quite a bit too and I thought to myself how many players would I swap for ours…..quite a few 😂 why aren’t we Villa……?!?! 

Soccorbot to sort us out? 
 

[Google Bot 3,301]

35 minutes ago, kirku said:

What many people have been advocating for is that the overall outlay in the summer should've been spent on fewer signings of a higher quality, or proven quality.

Would've been my choice as a fan (Mainly as it stirs some excitement/belief), But then I appreciate the tactic that Webber took.

However, it doesn't mean that a 20m man is outside of our financial power - it's just a different recruitment campaign, which is my point when reading people say that we "can't", it's a case of we "won't".  In some respects spending more money on single assets is less risky, buy cheap buy twice etc.

Hindsight is a wonderful thing, of course.  We could've signed a player like Dennis and he sat on the bench for us.  Only have to look at Gimour really, quality player but we're under-utilising him.   And Pukki, we know he can finish but we fail to provide him.

Edited January 11, 2022 by Google Bot

[Creedence Clearwater Couto 1,297]

35 minutes ago, Thirsty Lizard said:

Yeah - and Cash cost them £17 million which is way over our transfer record - and Konsa cost them £12 million which is well over our transfer record - and Watkins cost them £28 million which is way, way over our transfer record - and Buendia cost them £33 million which is way, way, way over our transfer record. It's almost as if some of the people criticising on here haven't got an effing clue what they're going on about.

I presume that's aimed at me. Well, McGinn only cost £3 million 😏.  I think Cash was £14 million too, but with add ons, and Targett £11 million. Ok, still a fair whack. But considering the money wasted on several players in the summer, we could have spent the budget on 2 or 3 real quality players.  Under Lambert our apparent 'policy' to buy the championships finest served us very well. 

I still maintain, Villa have bought well. 

 

 

[kirku 1,339]

11 minutes ago, Google Bot said:

Would've been my choice as a fan (Mainly as it stirs some excitement/belief), But then I appreciate the tactic that Webber took.

However, it doesn't mean that a 20m man is outside of our financial power - it's just a different recruitment campaign, which is my point when reading people say that we "can't", it's a case of we "won't".  In some respects spending more money on single assets is less risky, buy cheap buy twice etc.

Hindsight is a wonderful thing, of course.  We could've signed a player like Dennis and he sat on the bench for us.  Only have to look at Gimour really, quality player but we're under-utilising him.   And Pukki, we know he can finish but we fail to provide him.

I agree, in general - but not with the bold part. There are plenty of £20m signings who've been duds, it's just a case of putting your eggs in fewer baskets.

In the summer, many fans trusted that the recruitment team knew what they were doing, some heralded it as the "best transfer window ever". In hindsight, hardly any of the gambles have paid off. Yet.

I'd have preferred a quality over quantity approach, but also didn't recognise (as some posters on here did) how immeasurably worse the starting 11 had become despite the seeming improvement in the quality of the squad. Fundamentally, I think we should've spent more on players ready to make an impact now rather than in a few years time.

Tzolis and Sargent seem to be the most obvious signings that could've been sacrificed for an £18m attacker. Could the Kabak and Gilmour loans have been better used for a more athletic DM? 

Webber's use of loans in the PL has been absolutely atrocious - it's a litany of dismal failure.

[Grumpy Old Man 3]

49 minutes ago, Danbury Yellow said:

I thought Villa were excellent last night.  I talk about this all the time….pace of pass, movement and thought process.  We have also stopped someone running at defenders and sticking them on their backside? We lack all these right now, critically within midfield.
Villa have invested quite a bit too and I thought to myself how many players would I swap for ours…..quite a few 😂 why aren’t we Villa……?!?! 

Soccorbot to sort us out? 
 

At least the result means one more (currently) poor team in the Cup..

[Thirsty Lizard 3,183]

The crushing irony of this thread is that there is one Championship player who we were linked with repeatedly in the summer and who apparently we made a bid for. His name is Adam Armstrong and he went to Southampton in the summer for a fee of £15 million, and has so far scored precisely 2 goals. It appears that the 'stick the boot into the club' brigade on here have all forgotten that he even exists. I wonder why? 

[keelansgrandad 6,679]

I too thought Emi looked to be out of it. And he was playing so much on the left which is opposite to where he played for us.

But I do think he has the talent to overcome these apparent obstacles.

[Google Bot 3,301]

10 minutes ago, Thirsty Lizard said:

His name is Adam Armstrong and he went to Southampton in the summer for a fee of £15 million, and has so far scored precisely 2 goals. It appears that the 'stick the boot into the club' brigade on here have all forgotten that he even exists. I wonder why? 

Would 100% have him here instead of Idah/Sarge.

Earnt Saints 3 points vs Villa,  ran forward and laid off to Adams to beat Watford.  What has Sargent done for £9m?  Missed absolute sitters, mis-kicks, falls over and runs backwards mid-attack.

There's no comparison really. Armstrong 13 shots on target this season vs Josh's big fat zero. Not even close.  

[Thirsty Lizard 3,183]

29 minutes ago, Google Bot said:

Would 100% have him here instead of Idah/Sarge.

Earnt Saints 3 points vs Villa,  ran forward and laid off to Adams to beat Watford.  What has Sargent done for £9m?  Missed absolute sitters, mis-kicks, falls over and runs backwards mid-attack.

There's no comparison really. Armstrong 13 shots on target this season vs Josh's big fat zero. Not even close.  

Remember the Norwich v Southampton game where Sargent came on and changed the game at half time and Armstrong ran about a lot and accomplished precisely nothing? Nope - course you don't!

[Google Bot 3,301]

47 minutes ago, Thirsty Lizard said:

Remember the Norwich v Southampton game where Sargent came on and changed the game at half time and Armstrong ran about a lot and accomplished precisely nothing? Nope - course you don't!

Armstrong assisted for their goal, unless you missed that?  Sargent done nothing in either of our goals.

Sargent has not assisted, not scored and not had a shot on target all season.  I mean, I'm not really sure of your point here as I love Josh and want him to do well, but Armstrong is very much more proven and effective in the English system.   

Currently, they're worlds apart, and we need goals.  He can't even position himself, hence zero shots on target - just let that sink in after all the minutes played.  9 million quid.

Edited January 11, 2022 by Google Bot