Villa's future

Milner seems to be going, seems like we have not caved in as Mal suggested and played hardball, quite right. What does the future hold?

I am not sure of Fridel in goal, second goal last week was very poor IMHO, should have been parried away from the goal. Gizan, great shot stopper, but not first team material.

Right back Luke Young sorted, except MON is trying to sell him, madness. Beye did well tonight at rb and cb.

Clark looks a top player to me, reads the game well, strong in the tackle, Davies is 4th choice CB, let him go IMHO though I like him. Actually, I may let Collins go, even though he was excellent last season as I think Davies could be better.

Midfield, wide positions, I dont see how MON is raving about Downing v Valencia, thought he was average. Am hoping he will come good. Albrighton is a real gem in the making, has seemingly a great appetite for the game and can go far

Centre mid - Stan is not the man IMO, but not bad in a 3 man midfield. NRC superb tonight and should be given a chance, no way is he going up North by the way for £1m to Blackburn. Unless Hughes wants him, looks like he will stay. We are lightweight here though. This is where we need to invest with Milner going

Free Role - Ashley will show hios class, as I have said for 2 years

Up front - ROT sates we were better with Emile up there, I thought he was pants, but opinions. Gabby and A Young really they could bond . Carew is another option and Gabby on the right.

Centre mid is the problem and needs to be sorted

My opinion on Us looking better with Heskey up there, was nothing to do with wanting him to play there, or thinking he had a good game. Just that if we a going to play with Ash off the striker, I don't think that striker can be Carew as he likes to drop deep to much. Think Gabby and Young could be an excellent partnership, but is unlikely to happen to much if as reported we do get Ireland.

Agree that NRC looked good, would like to see him given a bit of a run in the first team.

Personally i think it's time to drop Petrov and replace him with the more energetic Reo Coker.I'll be delighted if we can bring Ireland in.I'm happy enough with friedel and defensively we've got some good players though we are top heavy on centre halves.Dunne is IMO the best of the bunch and i'd probably opt for Cuellar alongside him.With Clark's emergence i think we can move on Davies or Collins, and i reckon it'll be Davies who leaves, which is a shame as i rate him.He's had terrible luck with the timing of his long term injuries.Warnock is a good left back and like everyone else (apart from O'Neill it seems) i'm a fan of Luke Young.I'd offload beye and replace him with Lichaj.
Downing missed the whole of last pre season and with one behind him now i think we'll see a top player.Albrighton gives us a real alternative on the right though i'd still stick with Young on the right wing.Up front we're weak.Carew is a top class player every 5 games but in between he's non effective.Heskey i maintain is an excellent link up but Agbonlahor isn't a natural footballer,he is 100% about blistering pace so Heskey therefore becomes an ineffective lump who doesn't score.Agbonlahor will once again score 12 -15 goals and especially away from home is a real threat.I know some have doubts about Delfouneso but whenever i've seen him he's impressed me with his movement,IMO he'll be our best academy graduate in years.Weimann has done well in pre season so i'd hope he'll be included in the squad and get 10-15 mins here and there.Same applies to Bannan but i think in todays football his small stature will hold him back as athleticism and power appears to be more important than technical ability which Bannan has in abundance.

I think that Villas future depends heavily on how much Jurgen will have to spend in the January window

Milner is a gonna...MON said as much after the Valencia game, if he is the only one to go from the senior squad we can live with that, let him go so we can move on and build ...i still think Heskey needs to go and Sidwell, Shorey too wouldnt be missed

I was at the match last night and for a nil nil it was a fairly good match. We played some good stuff at times. Albrighton and Luke Young definate plus points, Beye looked very comfortable. Those two I would be quite happy to keep on the books at VP as very accomplished squad members. Mr Sidwell on the other hand. If I was in charge I would except £500k from anyone who wants him just to get him off our wage bill. I dont think I can remember a more anonymous player than he is, for me he offers absolutely nothing to the side and we may as well be playing with 10 men when he comes on. Cack!

No Gabby last night, hopefully things are ok there and maybe Jimmy will be good in the next few days so we can push on and add some very much needed new blood.

Center of Mid worries me still.. if we play 4-4-2 with Ireland in the middle we need a very strong player who can tackle and pass.. there are not many around.. if we play Reo Coker Petrov and Ireland we are stronger in the middle but would rely too havily on Ireland to be the scorer and playmaker cus the other two wont get more then 5 goals between them..

Oneil wont drop Petrov.. but a player like Defour (if he adapted) would work very well with Ireland and Reo Coker/Petrov..

Also if you play 4-5-1 your front man has to be deadly if u want to finish in the Sky 4 positions and we dont have that..

Im optimistic about next season but the key position is center midfeild.. I also have high hopes for Ireland and would even love Bellamy on a loan deal if possible.. in a 4-5-1 bellamy on the left would be brilliant..

Ades, Defour isnt going to the likes of Man U and Arsenal from what the papers said this week, what chance have Villa got?

I think we have to go 4-5-1 and think the goals will be shared around as they were when Gabby played up front the season before last.

villanfromluton wrote:Ades, Defour isnt going to the likes of Man U and Arsenal from what the papers said this week, what chance have Villa got?

I think we have to go 4-5-1 and think the goals will be shared around as they were when Gabby played up front the season before last.

Lutes i just mentioned him as an example.. plus he has been linked with them for two season but noone has brought him.. so he could be available.. or someone similar..

Shorey is off.. some reports are saying 1.5M others 3M...

Luton: Massive problems IMO,

I really so hope i'm wrong and i hope we are up there again challenging for a place in Europe, my feeling is this coming season will be a difficult one, I think teams will know exactly how to play us, we haven't made any real changes so if teams don't know how to beat us they must have piss poor managers, we have a 1 dimensional manager, you could even say blinkered and i'm not saying that as a criticism because its worked up to now and the likes of Milner, Ash and despite what Villa fans think Gabby Agbonlahor have carried us through.

My hunch is this will change this season, think we are going to have a hard time IMO. And i don't think we will finish the season with the same manager we are starting it with.

ADRIAN_1976 wrote:

villanfromluton wrote:Ades, Defour isnt going to the likes of Man U and Arsenal from what the papers said this week, what chance have Villa got?

I think we have to go 4-5-1 and think the goals will be shared around as they were when Gabby played up front the season before last.

Lutes i just mentioned him as an example.. plus he has been linked with them for two season but noone has brought him.. so he could be available.. or someone similar..

Shorey is off.. some reports are saying 1.5M others 3M...

If Villa only have to pay the other club 1.5 million it would be a good bit of business

Just under12 months on and we're at it again
Fucking football

We dont have a promising future IMO. We're a top 8-10 club now and will be for awhile, the quicker the fans realise it the better.

Our own fans on this board are talking about its good to get big money for our players, i dont see how when it doesnt effect us in any way, probably half that money will get spent if that. I'd rather keep these players and at least try and push us up into a higher league position.

The way things are going now if Albrighton has a blinder this season along with Clarke and Delph, our board will just sell them.

Internazionale_Villa wrote:We dont have a promising future IMO. We're a top 8-10 club now and will be for awhile, the quicker the fans realise it the better.

Our own fans on this board are talking about its good to get big money for our players, i dont see how when it doesnt effect us in any way, probably half that money will get spent if that. I'd rather keep these players and at least try and push us up into a higher league position.

The way things are going now if Albrighton has a blinder this season along with Clarke and Delph, our board will just sell them.

I would say 7th is what we should be aiming for yes. That's where we are, that's where our revenue/income is.

What can we do? Other than get our best players on long term deals, they will still want to leave if an offer comes in to earn more money.

Spurs are stamping their feet over Modric, but does anyone really think he will still be at Spurs come the end of the transfer window? I certainly don't.

Every club is a selling club if a player wants to leave. There are 6 more teams in the Premier League that create more revenue than us and therefore we will always be at risk of them players poaching out players.

I'm in quite a buoyant mood considering Young and Downing have gone. Given is a good bit of business and we made good money on Downing. If we get Zog and another central MF I think we won't be looking too shabby. MA is a classy player, We haven't seen what Delph/ Makoun can do yet maybe just the problem at the back with Cuellar gives me some concern.
Of course if all this Parker/ Zog/ Vargas talk is nonsense then I won't be so chipper about it all.

roadoftrinity wrote:

Internazionale_Villa wrote:We dont have a promising future IMO. We're a top 8-10 club now and will be for awhile, the quicker the fans realise it the better.

Our own fans on this board are talking about its good to get big money for our players, i dont see how when it doesnt effect us in any way, probably half that money will get spent if that. I'd rather keep these players and at least try and push us up into a higher league position.

The way things are going now if Albrighton has a blinder this season along with Clarke and Delph, our board will just sell them.

I would say 7th is what we should be aiming for yes. That's where we are, that's where our revenue/income is.

What can we do? Other than get our best players on long term deals, they will still want to leave if an offer comes in to earn more money.

Spurs are stamping their feet over Modric, but does anyone really think he will still be at Spurs come the end of the transfer window? I certainly don't.

Every club is a selling club if a player wants to leave. There are 6 more teams in the Premier League that create more revenue than us and therefore we will always be at risk of them players poaching out players.

Like i've said before, if your at a club thats showing no ambition what so ever, then your more likely to want to move on. We dont show enough ambition in the transfer window, we dont get exceptional deals on class players (van der vaart), we have a shite scout network. All these must add up when your playing for us. What must Bent be thinking now? He joined and we sold our 2 best players?

The one positive is our youth players, but 1 or two good seasons from them and they'll want to leave for a club with more ambition aswell.

Internazionale_Villa wrote:

Like i've said before, if your at a club thats showing no ambition what so ever, then your more likely to want to move on. We dont show enough ambition in the transfer window, we dont get exceptional deals on class players (van der vaart), we have a shite scout network. All these must add up when your playing for us. What must Bent be thinking now? He joined and we sold our 2 best players?

The one positive is our youth players, but 1 or two good seasons from them and they'll want to leave for a club with more ambition aswell.

Spurs sell Modric, then Bale and Van Der Vaart might want to leave. So they are trying to force him to stay. Do you think Modric will stay?

Unless Bent is extremely stupid, he would have known that Young was leaving anyway, everyone else is the world did. So we have sold Downing after he put in a transfer request, so it's how we replace him. If we replace him with N'Zobia, Parker or someone of that ilk and Given, then we will have done well.

The window isn't closed yet though. If we sell Downing for £20m and get Zog in for £10m Bent will be happy. He already knew Young was off and he must be impressed we've got in Given. Another midfielder in and we'll be starting the season in better shape than last year.

Nobody thinks we need a new strong CB then?

We leaked more goals last season than we have done for a long time. Cueller looks to be off too.

Don't see how people rate Dunne so highly, sign a class CB, a new LB, 2 wingers and a striker. We should have 36 million to spend right?

Internazionale_Villa wrote:Nobody thinks we need a new strong CB then?

We leaked more goals last season than we have done for a long time. Cueller looks to be off too.

Don't see how people rate Dunne so highly, sign a class CB, a new LB, 2 wingers and a striker. We should have 36 million to spend right?

If Cuellar leaves then yes I think we'll spend some cash on a decent CB.

Internazionale_Villa wrote:Nobody thinks we need a new strong CB then?

We leaked more goals last season than we have done for a long time. Cueller looks to be off too.

Don't see how people rate Dunne so highly, sign a class CB, a new LB, 2 wingers and a striker. We should have 36 million to spend right?

Rumours were we don't have 36 million to spend, we had some of the Young money to buy a keeper and the rest was going towards the Bent deal.

So, 10 million on N'Zogbia, leaves us with 10 million.

Don't think we are the only club to balance the books though. If we add Parker and a player than can play up front and on the wing, Craig Belamy maybe? Probably a bit injury prone though.

I think we are stuck with the centre backs we have.

Internazionale_Villa wrote:Nobody thinks we need a new strong CB then?

We leaked more goals last season than we have done for a long time. Cueller looks to be off too.

Don't see how people rate Dunne so highly, sign a class CB, a new LB, 2 wingers and a striker. We should have 36 million to spend right?

Yes we did leak a stack of goals last season, with pretty much the same players who were good defensively the season before.Houllier had changed the whole style of play apart from how we defended.To blame the goals against purely on the back 4 would be churlish IMO.The team as a unit didn't defend well.

QBVILLA wrote:

Internazionale_Villa wrote:Nobody thinks we need a new strong CB then?

We leaked more goals last season than we have done for a long time. Cueller looks to be off too.

Don't see how people rate Dunne so highly, sign a class CB, a new LB, 2 wingers and a striker. We should have 36 million to spend right?

Yes we did leak a stack of goals last season, with pretty much the same players who were good defensively the season before.Houllier had changed the whole style of play apart from how we defended.To blame the goals against purely on the back 4 would be churlish IMO.The team as a unit didn't defend well.

I can't agree with you that its because of the manager that our defenders forgot how to defend. To just purely hope they defend better this season is naive. We need a top class CB whether Cueller plays or not.

Internazionale_Villa wrote:

QBVILLA wrote:

Internazionale_Villa wrote:Nobody thinks we need a new strong CB then?

We leaked more goals last season than we have done for a long time. Cueller looks to be off too.

Don't see how people rate Dunne so highly, sign a class CB, a new LB, 2 wingers and a striker. We should have 36 million to spend right?

Yes we did leak a stack of goals last season, with pretty much the same players who were good defensively the season before.Houllier had changed the whole style of play apart from how we defended.To blame the goals against purely on the back 4 would be churlish IMO.The team as a unit didn't defend well.

I can't agree with you that its because of the manager that our defenders forgot how to defend. To just purely hope they defend better this season is naive. We need a top class CB whether Cueller plays or not.

It's true though IV. Under Houllier, we were absolutely shite at defending set pieces. Under MON, with the same players (in the season 09/10) We had one of the best defensive records in the PL. Under MON we used to man-mark, and under Houllier we used to use zonal marking. Zonal Marking only works for certain teams.