WallisFrizz

Well between this news, JT leaving, ROK leaving, JG leaving, failing to sign 2 top  targets, several injuries and a loss to Watford, we’ve had better summers.

Leon Bailey…cheer us up! No pressure.

19 minutes ago, villabromsgrove said:

Well done to Southampton as they may just have secured their Premier survival. Key players in key positions are hugely important.

I hope Dean and co realise that centre midfield will be key to whether we flourish or struggle this season. I'd love to know what they're really thinking behind the scenes this transfer window.

Definitely. I think Adam Armstrong will be a really great signing for them. Keeping JWP is a massive bonus (although definitely has a touch of the last season JG release clause about it), if they replace Vestergard they will be fine. Fair play to them.

I’d really really love to think that we weren’t played by agents to get their players better deals not just once but twice in one summer because that would actually be embarrassing. I’m hoping that our interest in jwp actually finished a few weeks ago and was only perpetuated by the media. 
 

A behind the scenes look at how everything at Villa has gone this close season would indeed be fascinating. 

2 minutes ago, nick76 said:

I know, he’s just a Snake! We don’t need alterations to his name, we just need to say what he is….Jack is a Snake!  

It’s been a couple of weeks now, we should have all calmed down a bit. 

2 minutes ago, Mic09 said:

Ben White was £50m. I see this as a similar level of a signing. 

So do I, but everyone was also surprised at 50 mil for Ben White. 
 

The market is what it is. Good English players are a premium. Clubs have to decide whether it is worth it or not. 

Here is the quote from the Athletic article today:

Scratch Emiliano Buendia off the list, as he was signed initially from Norwich in June to play alongside Grealish, but throw both Leon Bailey and Danny Ings — who cost £55 million combined at the start of this month — into the mix as players signed on the back of the former captain’s record departure.

Would those latter two players be in claret and blue today if Grealish had decided to turn down the champions?

“Probably not,” admits Villa head coach Dean Smith. “We got early news that Jack might be going to Manchester City so we moved very quickly to make that loss less visible, if that’s at all possible.”

8 minutes ago, DaveAV1 said:

Is that what he said, or was that Preece’s insightful interpretation of what he said? 

I’ve seen it quoted elsewhere too. Gregg Evans article in the Athletic. Saying, from Smith,  Buendia signed to play with Grealish but once they got wind that the City move was happening, they acted quickly to get Bailey and Ings in (although interestingly, and slightly concerning, it was made out like it was more to soften the blow than any great analysis and thought out plan).

46 minutes ago, Brumstopdogs said:

 

It’s definitely good news for us but has he been rested or just dropped? I didn’t see how he played at the Olympics. Did he do well?

19 minutes ago, QldVilla said:

I'm sorry, how do you come to that conclusion?

They have a team of scouts a sporting director etc.. It's not 10 years ago when the manager made all the decisions, this was a football decision and the CEO Purslow would be deciding what player gets what money under their budget structure, Smith coaches the team, he isn't making financial decisions for the club.

You honestly don’t think the head coach has an influence over these things? Not the exact numbers but stressing the importance of the player to the club that would lead the club to pay him in line with how highly Smith rates him. I really think he does. 
 

I actually don’t have a problem with our wage structure as far as it is reported, I doubt we over pay anyone compared to other PL clubs. My overall point was that Smith has been backed to the hilt by the board and they might be at a point where they want to see how he gets on with the squad he has assembled before throwing more money at him. 
 

Personally, I would be very disappointed if we didn’t buy a quality midfielder as the midfielders we have were largely assembled when we were championship or newly promoted.

When was his last competitive match for us? Am I right in thinking Saturday was his first since early April. I don’t think he saw out the season.

Might be a consideration to use Konsa at RB for Newcastle and bring in Hause/Axel to CB alongside Mings and Young at LB.  I am a big fan of both Cash and Targett and certainly don’t think they’ve suddenly become bad players but they don’t look PL ready.

This Barrow game is going to be useful for quite a few first teamers. It would normally be a B team fixture but I think loads of them could use it for fitness/sharpness. 

If we don’t buy anyone else this window it’s possible that the owners and Purslow have decided to stop throwing money at Smith and let him sink or swim with the players they have given him so far. It will be under his recommendation that they have put the likes of McGinn on large contracts, sign Sanson etc,  he needs to show he can coach the best out of them.

2 minutes ago, WallisFrizz said:

Just had a quick look on Twitter, from what I can see Wesley, Hourihane and Steer featured, possibly J Ramsey. They played Henderson and Thiago silva, no surprise we lost really.

Getting my Thiagos mixed up. Alcantara

Just had a quick look on Twitter, from what I can see Wesley, Hourihane and Steer featured, possibly J Ramsey. They played Henderson and Thiago silva, no surprise we lost really.

10 minutes ago, Farlz said:

Apparently injured in that friendly against Liverpool on Sunday. Extremely annoying if it’s true. 

Yes I’ve just read this. Out for four weeks after getting injured in a friendly against Liverpool day after Watford. Didn’t even know we played it. What was the score?

He’s in the Leon Bailey Arriving at BMH video walking along looking perfectly mobile and happy. Obviously not a training shot but also doesn’t look anything massively serious that would require him to be out months.

20 minutes ago, DCJonah said:

No it's not. 

There were people talking about relegation, that there's no chance of Europe, that Buendia is shit, that the squad is massively unbalanced, that the manager doesn't have a plan, that Ings was a panic signing. 

The OTT reactions during and after that game were not in the slightest bit realistic.

On the points I’ve highlighted, I think there were a fair few people, me included, who had those concerns before the Watford result and would still have them even if we’d scraped a win. Time will tell.

I agree that reactions were OTT but I do think we will pay for our rubbish pre season for a couple of months before we finally find our way forward.

3 minutes ago, MWARLEY2 said:

Yes we missed him terribly yesterday but i do wonder if there will be a point where we start to feel sorry for him and even pity him. 

Pep is trying to back him in front of the media but grealish doesnt seem the same cheeky Jack . He seems like the weight of the world is on his shoulders.  He is playing like he did for us just before he broke down with the shin splints . Didnt see him smile much if at all today. 

It was his first start, he will settle in. If you are hoping for him to regret his move you will be disappointed. That said, I did enjoy the Spurs win today but more as I hate City rather than to do with him.

18 minutes ago, Stoobs said:

I thought he was dire. City seem a team to me that touch then pass, touch then pass. Grealish really slows the play down. Loves to draw man in by holding onto the ball. Interesting to see how he fits in long term. 

He wasn’t dire. He was good, not special but good. He’d be getting praised for his performance if they’d bought him for £15mil from some foreign team but his price tag carries extra scrutiny. He’ll be fine, Spurs were excellent today, most teams won’t be that good. He’ll be winning his first player of the month award before long.

He’s obviously unfit but surely our fitness/data guys clock that someone is well below par and feed that back to the coaches who should then decide against starting him. All v weird.

2 minutes ago, MWARLEY2 said:

Has there ever been a 100 million attacking player who is so shit at shooting as Grealish . 

Those are the sort of words that will come back to bite you in roughly 40 mins time. 

1 minute ago, Keyblade said:

If we didn't sign Tuanzebe, I would have liked to sign Japhet Tanganga. He deserves a chance at CB, he's great. Has Jack in his pocket right now.

Tanganga not going to last on the pitch for 90 mins. 

Kane’s really let Spurs down. If he had turned up for pre season and been ready to go for this game, he’d have taken one of their chances. 

3 minutes ago, KAZZAM said:

Think there needs to be an investigation into our poor preseason. I mean who organised it ? Surely Dean has a big input on it? Watford played 6 preseason games vs our 4 and just randomly checking the Newcastle vs West ham game they played 6 and 7 preseason games. Why did we only play 4? when others played so many more ? I even noticed Liverpool had friendly's on consecutive days for each half of there squad.Where was the planning? it just feels all so casual and not serious enough from Dean and co.

Targett and Cash both looked a million miles of the pace and i can only put that down to not being match fit.And the team in general defo didnt looked 'jelled' at all.

That’s a really good point. Also the quality of the opposition. Last year, from memory we played Man U and Arsenal and we reaped the benefits in our start to the season. This year it was all lower league opposition and unfortunately the Seville game got called off. It’s also annoying to see Luiz’s Brazil team mates already featuring for their clubs.  

Plenty of stuff has been out of our control but we definitely could have done better. 

1 hour ago, cbr600rr said:

team looks too soft in the middle, needs a footballer, west ham would sell Tomáš Souček , not cheap, they want hause too. 

jwp would add too , nakamba has really not sold it to me , over run to many times ,

No they wouldn’t!!