Rightdm00

Mentioned this before but their transfer window was pretty poor. In this league you have to improve every year. 

29 minutes ago, Dave-R said:

Usually you take to many players off of one team you start bringing in there behaviours, now do you want us to be seen as Southampton 2.0 with there cons??

I also do not know what the obsession is with JWP, feels abit like an ESR rebound from a love affair gone wrong (who by the way was not so good last night). Thankfully we didn't buy ESR and I hope we also don't go there for JWP. These players maybe shining for there club, but because they do it doesn't automatically mean they will come to Villa and shine and have there previous clubs performances shine.

I think if we're going to spend in a CM then we need to really spend in that area and try buy someone from the top teams in Europe.

I think it's nice that some of you see more than I can in JWP and if the club pulls that transfer then I can only hope your all right but for some reason I just don't hold that level of enthusiasm like you guys do.

Targett has played more games for us than he ever played for Southampton. Bit weird to still consider him a Saints player. 

Also, Targett never played a game under the current manager so that theory really doesn't apply to him at all. 

JWP is a top 5 midfielder in this league. He will improve us by a huge margin. 

10 hours ago, JAMAICAN-VILLAN said:

 

.

So close to home for me.

Craig Butler deserves SO much credit for taking care of these boys!

 

Really appreciate you posting that video.  One of my son's has dreams of at least playing college soccer over here in the states. I am constantly trying to impress on him the level of work and effort required just to even have a chance. What Leon accomplished is truly amazing. I'm going to be a fan of his career wherever it takes him going forward.  

Struggle to think of a midfielder outside of the top 4 better than him. Tielemans is the only one I can think of. 

He would immediately be the best midfielder on our team. Can't see Southampton selling but if it happens I will LOVE it. 

Literally just went through this. Coaches/Players/Sporting Directors words mean almost nothing. Clubs are negotiating massive sums for these transfers. No way they let anything that could affect the negotiation out into the open. 

The whole declaring a captain is probably more so for than fans than anything. The players know who is in charge on the pitch irrespective of who is wearing an elastic band with a C on it. 

This team gets along well and has some born leaders like Mings and Martinez. We are in a good place on that front. 

6 minutes ago, Keyblade said:

Every time I hear him speak my mind always goes back to those **** weirdo Leeds/WBA/SHA fans who despise him. Like how? This is the nicest guy in football.

Jealousy.

2 minutes ago, Delphinho123 said:

I can't see El Ghazi starting even with Bailey and Buendia out. If someone offers £17m for El Ghazi, which they won't, he'd be gone in an instant. 

Doubling our money on a player who isn't good enough to make our starting XI and where we want to be is a no brainer. 

Werent you just banging on about replacing Jack as our left sided forward. Now you are willing to sell our only other left sided winger.  Is your plan to give the £17 million a starting spot?  

I don't mind the moaning at times but at least be consistent. 

39 minutes ago, Keyblade said:

It's because Ings is better than him, and not cover!

See this statement all over this board that you become better by buying better than the current starter at that position. We've done that. 

Great opportunity for Carney. If Watkins isn't available maybe we go 4-3-3 with Carney as the most advanced midfielder.  If he is ready for the Prem then he should be able to have a positive impact against a lower half team like Watford. 

4 hours ago, Vive_La_Villa said:

He played there on Sunday! 

Second striker then. I agree though Ings absolutely was the striker dropping deeper. Same space Barkley was operating in last season when he played.  

19 minutes ago, The Fun Factory said:

For whatever reason Smith doesn't seem to rate him and wouldn't be surprised if we sold this month.

Nakamba doesn't do enough in 2 man double pivot. He is a ball winner and that's it. He can't break the press, drive the ball forward, or make line splitting passes.  Smith tends not to favor specialist, so I can see why Nakamba isn't always his first choice. 

2 hours ago, Follyfoot said:

you got to have a dream to have a dream come true. There is something mystical about our great club and I think we will do it as I suspect ffp will be a different beast in the coming years 

That sounds great from a narrative standpoint but the reality is a team like Chelsea who is only 12 points ahead of us just spent ~ £200 million on strikers alone the last 2 seasons. We are in the same league as them in name only. 

You look at us under Lerner and Southampton now. If an owner pulls the plug then it's not a question of having a poor season but your club possibly falling off the map altogether. None of this is sustainable. Something much stronger than FFP is needed in the future. 

5 hours ago, ejvilla said:

Luiz is one of those players who will leave us and go onto be a CL regular for a Spanish / Italian side before returning to a top 4 prem club for £65M when he turns 27.

Problem is he joined us too young. We need the player he will be in 3 years, but that guy wouldn't join a mid-table side.

Hope I'm wrong and he's consistently good enough this year to command a 1st team spot.

If Douglas is 4 years away from being a £60 million midfielder then he joined us at the exact right time.  I think some fans still haven't adjusted to how much of an advantage the top 6 have over us. 

For example, the team who finished 4th and a mere 12 ponts ahead of us is about to spend £100 million on a striker. That's after spending £50 million on a striker just the season before. These are silly numbers, absurd really.  We just aren't ready to compete at that level.  Harsh truth but that is why Jack chose to leave.  The only way we have any hope is that we give our young players like Douglas a chance to become that world class midfielder.  

6 minutes ago, TRO said:

 

Would you like him back?

Westwood was far to good for that relegation diaster team that went down.  Should we want him back now, absolutely not, our ambition is far higher than midtable. 

It was the same with Petrov before him. We love to hate on our #6 then moan like crazy when he's gone. 

When did all these Arsenal fans show up with all this net spend talk.  If you do actually want to go there, we are 5th in the PL since promotion based on net spend. 

Instead of spending every cent received from Jacks transfer let's give our best in the nation youth team a chance to make their mark on the 1st team. 

39 minutes ago, CarryOnVilla said:

Is chukz the answer to our midfield problem? 

Between him and Ramsey I think that part of the pitch is covered. 

2 minutes ago, HalfTimePost said:

I see his point though. We haven 3 new attackers and probably a new formation that haven't played together yet. It's not a huge jump to say that we haven't improved as a team just yet. I'm hopeful that by October/November we'll look a better team than we did February-April last season but it's going to take a hell of an effort to get:

A) That brand new attack firing and playing together cohesively

B ) Lose Terry and maintain our record 15 Cleansheets from last season.

C) lose Luiz for first few games, Nakamba in January and (so far) have no new bodies in CM to improve it to link the Defense and said New Attack effectively.

It's a lot of pieces to put together and whilst I'm.very optimistic and excited about our new team. I don't believe we are stronger than we were 2 weeks ago.

Whether everything meshes is absolutely a question but that is always the case with incorporating new signings.  

I'm actually okay with not bringing in a midfielder. Carney looks ready to make the step up. Bringing in another senior player there and he would lose that opportunity. 

8 minutes ago, Stevo985 said:

What formation are we playing today?

 

3 at the back or 4-4-2?

or Watkins wide?

Ings looked to be playing in the hole behind Watkins. 

Just now, sparrow1988 said:

Did it look bad or did he just think 'better not risk that'?

Muscular strain. Could just be precautionary. 

Just now, Delphinho123 said:

Because we lost a world class player. As things stand, I don’t think we’re better than a team with Grealish in it. 

By that statement then unless we sign another world class player we can't improve. Just as Purslow stated Jack can be replaced by improving the other attacking positions around the team. Also, just from the simple fact our star player isn't injured for a 3rd of the season every year. 

1 hour ago, Delphinho123 said:

Agreed. We won’t improve on last seasons finish if that’s the case. 

Ings is superior to Watkins. Buendia much better than Traore. So we suffered a downgrade on the left but improved 2 other positions. Not to mention the added depth at on the bench to allow for more rotation.  Not sure how you can argue the overall quality of the squad hasn't improved. 

Hopefully he has improved on his heading since the last time he was here. Sensible signing in all.