As I’m sure anyone who reads this knows, the international events bore me witless until they hit the quarter final stage.
And when we’re playing friendlies, I get wound up even more. Particularly in a season where we have Premier league fixtures that have been cancelled because of Covid, meaning we have managers whinging that their teams are having to play too many games even more quickly than usual.
I didn’t watch today’s game, but apparently it was a bit of an experimental side or setup?
I neither know or care, but why you’d want to be experimenting about anything this late is beyond me.
And it doesn’t matter anyway, because we’ll beat the lesser teams easily and lose to the first decent side we face, just the same as we always do. And when you have a bottler like Southgate in charge, you’ve even less chance.
The fact that Macedonia beat Italy and the Azzurri couldn’t even qualify for the WC speaks volumes.
I’d sack Horseface tomorrow and replace him with anybody that isn’t just an FA mouthpiece, but that isn’t going to happen.
Meanwhile, I’ll do the usual and hold out lots of hope until we meet that aforementioned decent team.
All this in a totally corrupt money-making scam of a tournament that will ruin our domestic season too.
(Note to self: book a holiday first two weeks of December)
Anyway, I’ve been reading the discussion on this site about our player’s winning/losing mentality and I find it fascinating. Couple this with the fact it seems that transfer speculation seems to be going ever more into hyperdrive and it just seems a good time to look at possible ins and outs from a fan’s point of view and not just that of a clickbait site.
Plus, I definitely agree with the principal in that Steven Gerrard will not tolerate players that he doesn’t think have the er, balls for a tough fight.
Then add in that Gerrard had a massive turnover of players at Rangers and I think it’s fair to suggest that we are going to see some major transfer activity in the summer.
Two or three additions?
Not a chance, in my opinion.
Hence I’m going to go through the whole squad and give my view. It’s just for fun and the idea is to try and give something to talk about.
Feel free to chip in and agree/disagree with any points.
Emilio Martinez: A bit of a pointless start here. He’s gold and won’t be going anywhere at any price.
Viljami Sinisalo and Robin Olsen: Backup goalies, the former is the younger and Olsen is the senior. We always seem to be messing around with goalies and I’ve never understood the thinking. If someone can enlighten me here, I’d appreciate it.
Matty Cash: I’m sure I’ve read stories that he might be going, but surely that’s tosh. I know some fans don’t like him, but I think he’s very good. Okay, his crossing isn’t the best, but he has the workrate/input that Gerrard demands as a minimum.
Ezri Konsa: Another who’s supposed to be leaving. I don’t see this for one minute, but Gerrard has been very quick to bring and keep Chambers in instead of him. Could we let him go for a serious amount of money to spend on incomers?
I’d want £30 million at least, because I think he’s quality.
Ashley Young: I think he’ll retire this time. A great servant to the Villa and the game generally, but I’m not sure he has another top level season in him. He’d be quality in the Championship, but I don’t think he’d want that. I’d be happy to be proved wrong.
Sil Swinkels: I have never heard of this kid, so no comment, save to say he won’t be going anywhere yet.
Lucas Digne: Do I need to say anything?
Calum Chambers: Another who we’ve just signed. Gerrard seems happy enough to think he’s at least the equal of Konsa, so he’ll be staying too.
Douglas Luiz: It gets interesting here, because there’s massive conjecture that he might going. I think he’s a very decent player who’s being played out of position. He’s apparently let it be known that he’s not happy and wants out.
I don’t want to see him go, but can see him attracting very good money, which again would add to a big transfer pot. £35 million would see me okay with him going. £25 million, much less so. He’s still young, remember.
John McGinn: Man United want him. Er yes, okay. £70 million or just do one, simple. He is currently Mister Aston Villa and that’s all there is to be said. I don’t think even they would be so daft as to pay that sort of money, even though he’s probably exactly what they need. It’s not that he’s not good enough; more like he’s not a big enough name to appease the money people.
Marvelous Nakamba: A player who it seems is more appreciated by some because he isn’t playing. I rate him and would definitely keep him. He’s been massively missed, without a doubt and I think we’ll keep him, probably as back up to what will surely be one of our biggest signings, in another defensive midfielder in the summer?
Morgan Sanson: From the little any of us have seen, he looks decent. But it’s not enough. I was reading an article this morning about him and his average ratings since he’s been at the club are shocking, as much as we want to think he can come good. I get that he hasn’t had much of a chance, but you have to wonder why that is, given that Dean Smith and Gerrard didn’t/haven’t used him. He apparently wants out and I don’t blame him. It just hasn’t worked and he’s a goner, probably on a loan to a French club, where he will probably do well.
Jacob Ramsey: It’s well known on here that I think he’s miles away just yet. But of course, I do know a very good prospect when I see it and he’s top drawer in that sense. He reminds me of a very young Rooney when he’s driving forward and won’t be going anywhere.
Emiliano Buendia: Ooh, now the attacking mids area where it really does get interesting. We can’t dismiss all of our creative, but lesser all round players. Buendia makes the grade for me. He shows fight and tracks back to help out in defence. My guess is Gerrard very much appreciates what he brings and he’s a keeper.
Carney Chukwuemeka: By most accounts he wants out because he doesn’t think he’s getting enough games. That’s fair enough, but he hasn’t been that good in his last few substitute appearances. It’s a shame, but if he insists on leaving, because of what I reckon is bad advice from his agent, he can clear off, with my blessing. He’s only 18 after all and I don’t want kids who don’t want to be at the club.
Lamare Bogarde: Another 18 yo who hasn’t featured yet. Who knows what’s going to happen with him?
Hayden Lindley: See above.
Tim Iroegbunam: Another 18 yo, but he’s no doubt in the coaches’ sights, as he has made a sub appearance for us already, hence he’s obviously highly rated. Another keeper.
Josh Feeney: A 16 yo. He won’t be going anywhere.
Philippe Coutinho: There’s only one question here. Can we somehow give him the money he’ll want? The only way I can see a deal happening is via a massive lump sum one off payment that we probably won’t get to hear about. Say, a £150k a week, three year contract, combined with a £20 mill lump sum, that we publically say was only £5 million, hence we’ve got a bargain. Everyone’s a winner, particularly the player. I have serious doubts about paying this sort of money, as good as Coutinho is (and he’s easily in my top 10 all time players). As Villa fans we all know big money signings just don’t work for us.
Benjamine Chrisene: Another 18 yo, who will keep trying to prove himself.
Tommi O’Reilly: As above. We seem to have a lot of 18 yo’s.
Ollie Watkins: Is Watkins Gerrard’s cup of tea? I’m really not sure. There’s no doubt to me that Ollie has the workrate and until recently, I was totally convinced he has the desire. But lately, his body language hasn’t seemed right and he suddenly looks like a confidence player. I don’t think for one minute that Gerrard will tolerate this sort of personality. As much as I like Ollie, I could see him going if the price is right. I question who would pay serious money for him though and we’d have to have a top replacement coming in. We missed a trick in not pushing the boat out for Abraham, but that’s how it is.
Bertrand Traore: I don’t believe he’s a Gerrard type player for one minute. Yes, he can do magical stuff with a football. But he offers little in the team’s overall workrate. In a team that can’t match most team’s physicality, we don’t have room for him. Plus I don’t think he’s up to the physicality of our general game anyway. He’s a 100% goner if we get a decent offer.
Leon Bailey: See Traore. It’s pretty much identical.
Danny Ings: A massive waste of money, in my opinion and we’re just trying to justify playing him, it seems to me. Yes, he’s a crafty, clever striker, better than Watkins. But he hasn’t done what matters, in scoring goals. He doesn’t have the workrate for me and even if you might think he does, it’s ineffective. If we get a decent offer, he’s gone. But who would pay the money?
And there we have it.
Except I think Gerrard will be a lot more ruthless, seeing as I can’t see many leaving.
This could be one of the best windows in years. Whether we agree with things remains to be seen.
UTV!
It’s something to contemplate, if nothing else.
Let me know if you agree/disagree.
I suspect I might be miles off the mark with some of these guesses.
Ah it seems Brighton might be interested in Ings. That works for me. He’d probably be ok for them and we remove £120k a week towards Coutinho’s wages. I’d have that.
Overall it’s hard to disagree with your general summation Badger – Gerrard has some difficult / tricky decisions to make this summer that will ultimately decide his fate so it’s going to be interesting from that perspective.
Surprised you completely missed out on your ‘big mate’ Mings. For me he stays because without him we have no natural leader on the pitch. And you also missed Hause who must stay if Targett and Young leave as he would be the only back up at left back – see later.
Athletico Madrid rumoured to be interested in Cash – if they come in with a big offer could we keep him? Otherwise he’s going nowhere.
First though a couple of names you’ve missed that might well prove to be critical to Gerrard’s thinking and others that will definitely go –
Out on loan and out of the door (excluding those whose contracts won’t be renewed) – Steer, El Ghazi, Trezeguet , Kalinic and probably Targett who probably wants out which means, if Young retires, we will need to find a ‘back up’ left back unless we rely on Hause but then we would need another central defender.
But there are others such as Davis and Guilbert that are more intriguing. Guilbert has, by all accounts, had a very decent season, is an attacking full back and would provide good back up to Cash or will Gerrard go for youth and Kessler Hayden who seems to be very highly rated?
Out on loan (senior players) that might well be playing at VP next season – the most obvious is Archer. If Gerrard trusts him then one of Watkins / Ings will probably leave. From what we’ve seen Archer is an instinctive goal scorer and I think he and Watkins might link up well together. The other is Bodace who may well come in to fill one of the gaps following the sale of Traore.
There are some good players from the U23 squad out on loan – Aaron Ramsey, Louie Barry and Fin Azaz to name three but probably too early for these players.
Returning briefly to the first team squad – I’m not convinced that Gerrard will be able to keep Buendia if Coutinho signs a long term deal in the summer. They naturally play in the same space and it’s difficult to see how they can play regularly together. There’s no doubt Coutinho is a great footballer but does Buendia offer more in terms of all round contribution?
Finally Bailey – I appreciate he’s been injured and not fully fit but. I could see Gerrard trying to move him on whilst making a move for Ryan Kent.
Absolute priority though is a defensive mid or number 6 in modern parlance.
Will Villa go all out for Phillips?
Haha, now you’ve said that, I’ve realised you’re totally correct. I’ve missed half the squad out!
I used Premierleague.com purely because it came up first and it lists Mings (who I’d look to replace, but it won’t happen) and Hause (who I don’t think Gerrard rates, so can see him going). I’ve obviously overlooked those.
None of the other names are listed and the article was becoming too long, meaning I was trying to cut it short.
I can quickly sum all those up though and they’ll probably all be gone.
2/10 Badger, must do better!
We appear not to have excited any interest in the debate Badger 🙂
Perhaps the IB is more exciting than we believe it to be 🙂
The international break is a nonsense and turns people away from football, i myself did not see your new thread as i have had no interest in football since our last match, as i have not watched an England game for over 10 years as Badger is correct they are world champions until they play a top country, they always let you down.
As for the Villa, i think Gerrard has several problems in the way of building a top team
.
Firstly Greed, all top players state i want to play in the champions league, which translated means i want superstar money so with inflated transfer fees and the ridiculous Fair Play rules makes it hard to get the top players you want, although our owners seem to be dealing with this better than most.
Top 6 Top 4 you also have to be in top 6 or even top 4 to be attractive to the top players, but to break in to the top 4/6 you have to have the players first, vicious circle. Especially when the current top clubs buy all the top players before any one else can build there team around them, i mean look at west ham there doing well with Declan Rice but when he moves in the summer they will be lower in the table once again. and this happens to any team that threatens to break the closed shop like Leicester did.
Spine I always you need the spine of your team to be “top class” to win things, and this has been proven over the years. And to my View we don’t have a spine, OK we have Martinez but we need a top class Centre Half , Defensive Midfielder , and a Centre Forward so for Those 3 alone for top class (if you can persuade them to come) your looking at £200M +
That’s before you start on the other positions
Time And because of all of the above it takes time to build a team, that we all want, and sadly in todays world no one gets time, dean smith was a prime example and i mean look at Watford and a few other clubs change there manager every couple of months, i mean if we are not in the top 6 by Christmas there will calls for Gerrard to go on this site and others.
As for the current team
I would keep for the first team
Martinez
Cash
Mcginn
Countinio
For back up or Squad i would keep
Konsa
House
Digne
Watkins
but i would be looking to replace the rest if i could, except for the kids Ramsey Archer, Chukky etc i would always keep the good kids
So i reckon £400m should do it
or just buy Pogba so we can all say F*** this and we can all go and support Walsall
Blimey TGV, only four of our current squad good enough to make us a top 6 team! Fact is i can’t really disagree with this verdict. Maybe Konsa, Buendia and Ramsey will make the grade. Watkins is going through a confidence issue and similar to Rashford at Man Ure, we know from previous games he is capable of more.
Also you summed up the really big problem that any ambitious club has and that is the top six is pretty much a ‘closed shop’ Any team getting close to breaking down that door gets their top players picked off by the likes of Man City.
I don’t think we will make top 6 in the next 2-3 years and that will put pressure on Gerrard or any other manager brave enough to pick up the poisoned chalice. Gerrard will get millions to spend because that would have been something to tempt him to the club. Unfortunately he will have to buy the best players from the likes of Brighton or whoever assuming the top 6 clubs don’t snap them up first.
“Rip it up and start again” ??
I get what TGV is saying, but I don’t think it’s quite going to happen that way – simply too many changes (& OK, probably too expensive as well). If you were to replace all of those players at once, we’d need yet another season of ‘consolidation’ to get all the newcomers playing as a team. I can’t see either Gerrard or the owners thinking that way.
I think Badger and Hitch are closer to the reality; some of the ‘fringe’ (Traore, Bailey, Sansom) may be let go, if anyone makes a decent offer for them, to free-up space for a maybe 2-3 key arrivals.
I’m curious about both Buendia and Luiz; I think both are quality – and that Luiz has almost always been played out of his nautral position – but I find it difficult to think that either will want to stay long as mere ‘squad’ players, and that’s the only reason I can see for either being let-go.
It’s going to be an interesting summer!
Hire a teenager while they still know it all! That sums up Carney to me, plays with a swagger for the youth teams where he tries to be and usually is the main man. But a tell-tale reluctance to run and congratulate a colleague on scoring shows me he thinks he is bigger than he is and his agent will encourage that falsehood to boost his own wedge. He is 18 and does not yet have the weight and power to mix it with a muscular man in the EPL. That should come with age but he will have swapped the City of a thousand trades for industrial Germany by then.
As yet I haven’t seen anything in his 1st team appearances that has impressed me one jot. Another one of those so-called ‘brilliant prospects’ who’s already listening to his agent, rather than to his coaches.
He may get his chance in Germany – but is just as likely to end up playing somewhere in League 1 in a couple of years time, with everyone asking “Whatever happened to…whats ‘is name?”
The official AVFC site has put up the video of 1994 League Cup Final in which Villa beat Man Utd 3-1 to end the treble dream. Best thing to watch in the break!
On Chukwuemeka – with the exception of perhaps Gary Cahill who MON let leave way too soon – name me the last Villa prospect we let leave who went on to surpass what we assessed at Villa? I think Chukwuemeka could do well – but I think it could be a case of the grass is greener. You only have to look at the way we tailor our club to youth players and promoting them to see he’d be a fool to leave. But if he wants out – I agree. Let him go, to his own detriment.
Dean Smith must have been amused. England – his Aston Villa show, with Mings and Watkins scoring and Grealish with an assist for the other.
A thought that crossed my mind. Still don’t hide the fact a poor game.
Digne plays – Luiz replaced by Sanson and Bailey makes a first start alongside Coutinho – no Ings even on the bench – interesting. Will have to wait and see if that’s injury or illness related.
Martinez, Cash, Konsa, Mings, Digne, McGinn, Sanson, Ramsey, Bailey, Coutinho and Watkins.
Wolves best 2 players out so should be going out for a win today
I noticed that Little8.
Will we be able to take advantage of it?
Is Sanson for Luiz a statement of intent by Gerrard? If you don’t sign you don’t start. Does this mean Sanson may have a future?
Good to see Nakamba getting 60 minutes for the U23’s so he will be in contention in a couple of weeks.
As for today I think we will do well to get a point today. My worry is that we don’t have anything to play for now we are relatively safe with no hope of climbing the table.
Prediction 2-0 to Wolves!
Have you got tonight’s lottery numbers Holte?
Apparently not Bum Bum. Trust Watkins to give false hope 😔
Two players randomly slip over on the ball and we concede. How can that happen?
Ffs what’s that all about
Test
Wrong studs my guess Texas Villa.
Oh my days shocking ,I give up
What a disgrace of a team. We have no answer in our play.
We’re being put to shame by the Old Gold. Embarrassing.
We’re playing poorly and not really creating anything. Would be karma if we came back to win 3-2 though! I know it won’t happen as has been said we have nothing to play for and there will be a big shake up to the team over the summer.