Villa Signings and General Rumours Thread

shoutman

I agree wholeheartedly with Irish1, Villa need some good attacking wingbacks, the difference when Barry moved to left back was clearly seen, we then had two quality players who can run, pass the ball and cause problems for opposition players playing on the left hand side. I know Barry isnt happy playing left back but I think it could be worth a go trying him out for the next match there.

Esse85

I saw nothing to get excited about, i felt there was an awful lot of long ball being played from back to front.
Also another average display from Petrov, im fully aware it was only the first game of the season but how long will he persist in playing the guy.
Petrov is the main reason Davis is at Fulham

One Cold Hand

I was slightly worried by our performance against L'pool. We seemed to lack any creativity and I didn't think we looked like scoring. I thought that we were lucky to get back to level, but having said that Lausen was unlucky and Gerrards free shouldn't have been given (although is was a phemoninal free kick!). I thought liverpool had better possession always looked like they were capable of scoring, whereas we seemed to lack ideas. And overall they deserved the win.

Our weakest performers were Petrov, who seemed a bit lost, Gabby who seemed to lack any touch, and Bouma, who was just generally bad. Wouldn't be too worried about Bouma (sure we can't replace him anyway!) but I'd be keeping an eye on Petrov and Gabby. I personally think Moore is a better all round striker and more mature player than Gabby.
Gardner did well as a makeshift rightback but was caught out of position a few times. We need to sign a RB to allow Gardner to challenge for a midfield place. Young, Taylor and Barry in patches also played well. NRC a bit anonymous.

I suppose were talking about Liverpool here, so to have nearly scraped a draw with them isn't too bad, I was just a bit worried by our flatness up front, which was our supposed strongest area.

One Cold Hand

Saw a few rumours today liking us with Bosingwa, Porto RB, so that would be a good signing. £6m is what Porto want, come on Martin, splash the cash!

shoutman

Curtis Davies could be on the way sooner rather then later he's been left out of the baggies squad for their next match,

Helix

hed be mad in the head to pick us over spurs tho unfortunately

DSB

Very worried about Aston Villa's position at the moment. We were shocking on Saturday and certainly more worrying than the result was the fact that we were playing Wimbledon football. People are really giving Martin O' Neill more respect than he deserves. Past successes should not allow someone be given the benefit of the doubt for having our squad dangerously understrength for the first few games of the season at least. Calling for him to get the sack at this stage is a bit extreme but if come Christmas he hasn't gotten us in a good position I think it should be his head on a plate. The man has done a poor job so far and has had the facilities to do so much more. He should really be given a chance before people start calling for his head but I'm certainly quite sceptical about him at the moment.

DSB

Oh and Petrov isn't good enough for Premiership football at all.

Raekwon

I just got back from a short holiday but I did catch the Liverpool match on Saturday and I wasn't impressed at all, if that is an indication of how we are going to be playing this season then we are more screwed then I originally thought.

We have 17 days to add to our squad and MON really needs to get over this 'value for money' stance that he has taken because he is going to have egg on his face when we find ourselves in the same situation next season (or even worse!). Also, regarding 'value for money' he has contradicted himself yet again. Marlon Harewood is not worth even half of the £4m fee that Villa paid for him. West Ham only paid £500k for him a few years ago when he looked a much better player. Also paying £2m for a lend of a goalkeeper for a year??? Bargain! :rolleyes: At the end of the day, if MON would just bid 1 or 2 million more on his targets then he would probably get them. His over cautious approach is not doing anybody any favours (apart from keeping our billionaire chairman's bank account looking even healthier).

The bigger picture is that we are have a 5 year plan, well according to MON, Mr. Lerner and the board. Fair enough. The thing is that we are now into the second year of this plan and it seems that we are just treading water and not moving forward at all, if I was to be really harsh I would say that we are going backwards slightly and other traditionally smaller teams have leap frogged us. The initial promise of Champions League qualification looks light years away from materialising.

DSB

Yeah it would be certainly ridiculous to allow him talk about a 5 year plan where we see no signs of progress. If he doesn't perform this season after not spending our precious kaching then i think he has to go and let someone with a bit of ambition do the job.

Esse85

Its the lying to the fans that annoys me most, one of the directors said we'd be bringing in world class players, where are they?

MON keeps saying be patient, the players will come, does he even know who he's after cos if he did, surely they'd be here by now.

Savman

5 years of this? Havin' a laff surely.
One can only wonder what the hell O'Neill has been doing for 3 months.
Oh wait, Marlon Harewood yay.

shoutman

Mark Delaney had retired from football having been unable to overcome a longterm injury.

Raekwon

Delaney has been a good servant to Villa over the years, good luck to him in the future. But this news makes it official that Villa have no recognised senior right-back at the club. I wonder if any bids have been made lately??? :rolleyes:

I also read some worrying statements from MON on the official site. He has assured fans that no other players will leave the club unless adequate replacements are lined up. Is he for real??? I mean, how can he possibly be even contemplating letting anybody else go from our seriously depleted squad?

Martin O'Neill wrote:

"At the moment we're trying to add to the squad. If somebody comes in and wants to go, it won't just be as easy as that.

"If by transfer-deadline day I have the squad that I want and then somebody is desperate to go then, that is a different issue. But first of all I will build the squad up before I let anyone else out the door".

"That's part of people's contracts, they sign and they take the chance. While I allowed Liam Ridgewell to go, that's been a long-standing thing".

"Nobody here is itching to go at the moment. Obviously those things can change as we get more players in, but I won't at this minute be letting anybody just walk away unless we have the players in."

Esse85

MON is seriously starting to annoy me now, i hear nothing but rubbish coming from his mouth.
He can kiss the Man Utd job away now.

One Cold Hand

Got this in an e-mail today, maybe some truth beibg told. I'm sure where it's from....



On Second Thoughts: Martin O'Neill

It's not Martin O'Neill's fault the media treat him like the messiah, but does the Villa manager really deserve such high levels of praise?

Scott Anthony

August 15, 2007 10:57 AM

Martin O'Neill is arguably the most highly praised manager of his generation. He's passionate, hugely likeable and eccentric. He lectured Robbie Williams on live telly during the 1998 World Cup, and knows too much about the Yorkshire Ripper. But I've never bought the argument that because Peter Taylor and Micky Adams were unable to fill his boots he is - as is often argued - the new Brian Clough.

Forget comparisons with Ol' Big Head: Martin O'Neill was definitely shaped by his tenure at Wycombe Wanderers way back in the early 1990s. Over a five-year period he turned an unremarkable non-league team that used to fill up its old ground by wheeling in patients from the then adjacent hospital, into an established league outfit. Indeed, I have relatives that still can - and do - bore for England, the UK, the European Union and the UN about Wycombe's 4-1 demolition of Runcorn in the 1993 FA Trophy final. But, aside from that, it was at Wycombe that O'Neill first polished better-than-average triers such as Steve Guppy and similarly discovered the likes of Steve Claridge, Neil Lennon and Matt Elliott, players who would form the building blocks of his later career.

As you might expect of a manager whose temperamental preference is for the trier, it was also at Wycombe that O'Neill refined his tactical template. That's "tactical" in inverted commas, because while O'Neill's qualities as man-manager and motivator are evident, his "tactics" have rarely amounted to more than serving up a high-energy kick and rush, iced with a big-man-and-little-fella combo up front. Where Villa now have John Carew and Ashley Young, Celtic had Chris Sutton and Henrik Larsson, Leicester Emile Heskey and Tony Cottee.

It's no surprise then that O'Neill's successes have invariably involved grabbing poor to average teams, giving them a stern talking to, then wheeling them out to overachieve. O'Neill came to national prominence courtesy of Leicester's run of League Cup final appearances in the late 90s and secured his status as England and Manchester United manager-elect by salvaging the mess Kenny Dalgish and John Barnes had left at Celtic.

But in the cold light of day, these successes can look rather modest, and his weaknesses rather more glaring.

The obvious criticism has been - to O'Neill's fury - that he has never produced a team that you'd willingly pay to watch. Celtic huffed and puffed their way to trophies under O'Neill, but tellingly had no answer to Mourinho's Porto when it came to perfecting a higher-level of scheming in the 2003 Uefa Cup final. Rangers' fans taunted that O'Neill's side were Leicester with Larsson, a put down that, like all the best insults, has more than a grain of truth to it. O'Neill was great at organising the talents he inherited, such as Stilian Petrov, Lubo Moravcik and Larsson, but rubbish at expanding them. O'Neill does workmanlike, and wants dependable. Juninho mystified him and he treated the Brazilian as shabbily as Gérard Houllier mismanaged Jari Litmanen at Liverpool.

Indeed, Villa were simply painful to watch last season. Willing triers like Gabriel Agbonlahor predictably flourished, but they lacked the expansive verve needed to open up the Premier League's legion of mediocre sides. Dogged defending saw them shin, scuff and set-piece their way to 17 draws. This says something for their character, but a fair bit more about their quality. Relegation was a distinct possibility until Patrik Berger was rescued from loan obscurity at Stoke and Villa embarked on a nine-match unbeaten run to close the season. Yes, it was an improvement on David O'Leary's last campaign, but it did not match the much-criticised Irishman's first. This season, O'Neill is putting his faith in Nigel Reo-Coker and Marlon Harewood; plus ça change.

O'Neill's limits as a manager had been evident previously. Norwich fans thought him limited; Foxes fans were restless even as he got them promoted; ridiculously, Wycombe supporters also questioned how far he could take them. The repeated brushes with fans and local media, as contrasted with the reverence he is afforded in the national media, are telling. O'Neill must have penned some of the most chippy programme notes ever written - he is simply astonished that people can question his effort, because he always tries so hard and cares so much - but his tactics are of the variety that prevent you from losing but make winning tricky. They are understandable at Wycombe and Leicester, but less than heroic at Celtic or at a Randy Lerner-backed Villa.

A good manager and an admirable man, it's not O'Neill's fault he his treated like the messiah by the media, despite the fact that his managerial record in England is little better than Steve McClaren's (a 39.95% win ratio to McClaren's 38.8%). The Premier League's ridiculous financial disparities make a modern-day Clough impossible, but if his heir does exist, surely he couldn't be seamlessly replaced by Gordon Strachan?

O'Neill as England and Manchester United manager-elect? After only one full season back in the Premier League, it already seems an absurdly old-fashioned sentiment.

invincibleirish

can you say character assassination?

Esse85

Do any shops in Ireland sell this?

2007astonvillabluedrifitl.jpg

I ve seen it on line, but im being quoted €13 for shipping.

Villain

I haven't seen any Villa clothing in any sports shops around Kildare or Dublin but I do know that Nike were running late with stocks due to the deal with Villa being done late.

Esse85

Yeah i know what you mean, Lifestyle in Clonmel only got the Villa home jersey in the other day.

shoutman

nice looking jersey esse85, I presume thats the third strip yea?

Villain

No I believe that is a training drill top the same one NRC was wearing when he signed.

Esse85

shoutman wrote:

nice looking jersey esse85, I presume thats the third strip yea?

As said above its just a training top, which also comes in maroon and black.

Its £25 in most shops online which works out at about €38. Buy the online shops are charging €13 for p+p

Id rather get the blue training top than the jersey.

Villain

Its out of stock now!

Raekwon

Villa have drawn Wrexham away in the second round of the Carling Cup.

Hopefully we can avoid the likes of Chelsea and Man Utd this season and have a good cup run or two!

invincibleirish

ah the 'glory days' of the 94 and 96 league cup wins,surely savos goal v leeds in 96 was his finest moment in a claret and blue jersey?

One Cold Hand

Haha was doing a search for that Savo goal and found this! Quite good...

Raskolnikov

That article seems pretty bang on about O' Neill. As a man manager and motivator, it doesn't seem like there are many better than him out there. Unfortunately, it doesn't look like he's any good at judging a players potential. His signings have been awful.

• Petrov: Absolute garbage, no positional sense whatsoever, can't pass, can't cross, no vision. I don't think he'll ever be good enough for the Premier League.
• Young: Lots of hard graft and the occasional bit of trickery, an average player, certainly not worth the £10 million that he cost
• Carew: I didn't think that Villa could get a player that was worse than Baros, but it looks like they found him.
• Reo-Coker: Like Ashley Young, there's a lot of hard work and graft put in but there's no class there at all. Poor passer, doesn't seem to know what to do with the ball in the forward positions. Gavin McCann did what he does and he cost nothing

DSB

That Newcastle game certainly wasn't pretty. Really don't like the football O'Neill has us playing.

Esse85

Petrov is rubbish, get rid.

Carew is overweight, go on a diet and get fit or else clear off.

Young should be played on the right.

Gabby is feeling second season syndrome.

We were awful to watch again, too many useless long balls up to the ineffective Carew.

JPA

Very negative from you lot.
We dominated the game with excellent performances from Laursen and NRC.
In the final third we break down though.
Gabby, Young and Carew are potentially a very good trio and sometimes do something good but never seem to work together.
I'd like if we could get in an experienced striker to work with them.
Doesn't have to be a big name signing but someone to help us out.

We also need to replace Petrov. My patience has unfortunately run out.
It doesn't look like he's ever going to cut it.

Bounty Hunter

when a RB comes in give Garder the nod ahead of Petrov for the next game, thus giving Petrov the real kick up his arse it seems he needs.

i find it odd however everyone in the world can say villa need/will get signing, yet where have all the player links gone.

Carew isnt fully fit atm and missed the warm up friendly against inter beacause of a knock, i would have started Moore and had Carew as a big impact sub until he was fully fit ths far.

DSB

As every day gos by I just want O Neill gone more and more.

JPA

DSB wrote:

As every day gos by I just want O Neill gone more and more.

To me that is unbelievable. Absolutely staggering.

Time Magazine

JPA wrote:

To me that is unbelievable. Absolutely staggering.

Agreed. Ridiculous stuff. And get who in? Graham Taylor again?

The match was a dull bore and it wasn't helped by Petrov who was lacklustre in midfield. I'd like to have seen Maloney get a run for the last half hour or so. Barry and NRC did very well I thought, but Petrov looked weak. Had that performance been turned out by a 21 year-old loaned player, I wouldn't want MON to pay more than £2-3m. Just because it's Petrov doesn't mean it's any better.

Great performance by the centre-backs.

Oh and Alan Smith really is a dirty little player isn't he? See the little kick he tried on NRC after he was tackled?

Raekwon

MON gone? Please! That is ridiculous!

We were much better then Newcastle and were unlucky not to nick a goal. For me Petrov is the weak link and we desperately need a midfield playmaker to link up with our attacking players. I don't see us adding to our midfield this transfer window (defence is much more urgent) but MON would need to put that down as a priority addition in January or at the very latest next summer.

Overall it was an improvement on the Liverpool game (just!) but we would really need to start putting chances away or we will be straddling the bottom half of the table for yet another season.

DSB

Sorry for not wanting to watch the club I follow playing a season of horrible boring football with a manager who seems to have no ability to work the transfer market. He has had all summer to turn us into a top class side and if all information is correct he has had the transfer funds to do so. Instead we've seen Harewood and Reo Coker come in with the bulk of our fringe players leave. Today is August 18th which marks 13 days until the end of the transfer window. The other clubs in the Premiership have all sorted out their sides mainly and are getting on with getting it together for the season. We haven't even seen rumours of players coming to the club. Constant reminders of how players are going to be here just aren't good enough. We were promised at the start of the summer that we would have top class players coming to Villa Park and as a result I would expect nothing less. And em it may shock you that Graham Taylor isn't the only candidate for the Villa job. There are plenty of managers out there that would have the ability to take our current crop of players, get rid of Stilian Petrov and bring in the players required to make us an attractive side to watch, and a successful side at the same time. I can name some if you'd like that?

kinaldo

Unlucky Villa - only positive for Newcastle yesterday was we didn't lose.

Esse85

DSB wrote:

Sorry for not wanting to watch the club I follow playing a season of horrible boring football with a manager who seems to have no ability to work the transfer market. He has had all summer to turn us into a top class side and if all information is correct he has had the transfer funds to do so. Instead we've seen Harewood and Reo Coker come in with the bulk of our fringe players leave. Today is August 18th which marks 13 days until the end of the transfer window. The other clubs in the Premiership have all sorted out their sides mainly and are getting on with getting it together for the season. We haven't even seen rumours of players coming to the club. Constant reminders of how players are going to be here just aren't good enough. We were promised at the start of the summer that we would have top class players coming to Villa Park and as a result I would expect nothing less. And em it may shock you that Graham Taylor isn't the only candidate for the Villa job. There are plenty of managers out there that would have the ability to take our current crop of players, get rid of Stilian Petrov and bring in the players required to make us an attractive side to watch, and a successful side at the same time. I can name some if you'd like that?

I agree with the majority of this but dont get rid of MON.

shoutman

DSB thats absolutle tripe imo, you are expecting MON to have come in and developed us into a world class side in a season and a summer?
Could you please list what world class players you think would come to Aston Villa? To be calling for MON's head is ridiculous imo, all the boo boys have most definately come out.
Yesterday Villa were unlucky not to win it, Gabby had an unbelievable chance where if he was just to square the ball we would of had an open goal.
I agree Petrov is not playing well at the moment and I have always been adament (SP?) that Villa need a attacking midfield playmaker in the style of Arteta or an in-form Tim Cahill.
I agree Carew was ineffectual yesterday and really wasnt up to much, I'd prefere to see Barry playing outwide maybe even have him playing left back so we have two classy pacey skillfull players on the left that can cause real problems.

Also saying that Young as a distinctly average player is a joke. Have you been watching the last two matchs, he's going to be phenomenal for our club and is a future England international. Reo-Coker put in another solid performance yesterday and is the ultimate workhorse a much improved version of Gavin McCann imo. Our defence yesterday was solid and Scott Carson looked safe as houses and in control. We still need a right back as Gardner will continue to be caught out in that position especially when we come up against the big four teams.

DSB

shoutman wrote:

DSB thats absolutle tripe imo, you are expecting MON to have come in and developed us into a world class side in a season and a summer?
Could you please list what world class players you think would come to Aston Villa? To be calling for MON's head is ridiculous imo, all the boo boys have most definately come out.
Yesterday Villa were unlucky not to win it, Gabby had an unbelievable chance where if he was just to square the ball we would of had an open goal.
I agree Petrov is not playing well at the moment and I have always been adament (SP?) that Villa need a attacking midfield playmaker in the style of Arteta or an in-form Tim Cahill.
I agree Carew was ineffectual yesterday and really wasnt up to much, I'd prefere to see Barry playing outwide maybe even have him playing left back so we have two classy pacey skillfull players on the left that can cause real problems.

Also saying that Young as a distinctly average player is a joke. Have you been watching the last two matchs, he's going to be phenomenal for our club and is a future England international. Reo-Coker put in another solid performance yesterday and is the ultimate workhorse a much improved version of Gavin McCann imo. Our defence yesterday was solid and Scott Carson looked safe as houses and in control. We still need a right back as Gardner will continue to be caught out in that position especially when we come up against the big four teams.

Don't worry you'll quickly note it wasn't me who claimed Young to be distinctly average. Really rate the player. And no I don't expect a fully world class team over a season and a summer. I'd expect the beginnings of that squad. And for serious steps to have been made towards progression. I really don't feel we've gone forward at all. And in my opinion, most importantly, we're playing horrible football.

invincibleirish

cant believe the negativity!

villa were unlucky not to win yesterday

my plus points:

-laursen/mellberg combined well kept martins quiet then owen
-reo coker played well
-played well away from home,theres no point complaining about villa noy playing good attacking football,we knew what we were getting when MON joined
-carson already looks like he'll be excellent for villa,great save against rozehnal


my bad points:

- need a big game from petrov soon,he had excuses last season but now we need him to show some of his celtic form,if petrov has a good season villa will
-we didnt get the 3 points,we need to turn these draws into victories,remember how many villa had last season?
-bench didnt look great

DSB

invincibleirish wrote:

theres no point complaining about villa noy playing good attacking football,we knew what we were getting when MON joined

i cant say i was too chuffed in the first place.

Raekwon

According the The Daily Mail WBA are now looking for £15m for defender Curtis Davis (and I though £8m for him was way too much!). Also Porto have raised their fee for their rightback Jose Bosingwa from £8m to £12m! So that is £27m for two young unproven defenders. Absolute madness!

I kind of feel sorry for MON right now, okay he shouldn't have let 10 players leave without bringing in replacements straight away, but other teams know that Villa are in desperate need for players and we have millions at our disposal so, inevitably, MON is being held to ransom. At this rate will will have to spend over the odds for average quality players like we did for Harewood, but then we could find ourselves in a position where the new players fail to make an impact and as a result our form will suffer. Back to square one.

IMHO the only improvements that we that we really needed to make on last seasons team was to get a proven goalscorer and a quality creative midfielder. From what I saw on Saturday that is still what we really need, but now we need a couple of defenders as priority so the goalscorer and creative midfield players will have to wait until January or next summer. That is what really frustrates me, he haven't really made the proper improvements and it looks like we could be getting another 17 draws this season again with another bland mid-table finish.

One Cold Hand

Yeah I saw that about Davis. Absolutely ridiculous. They can shove they're £15m. Would he even be first choice? Laursen was really good on Sat. The prices are getting out of hand. West Brom started at 8m (like you Raekwon I thought was too much), then up to 10m now 15m. I feel sorry for MON and I kinda respect him for not paying exorbitant fees. We needed a RB and CD and a GK and MON went for Gordan (9m), Davis (15m) and Bosingwa (now 12m?). That would have 36m for 3 unproven young players.

As for MON and the job he's doing, I don't understand how people are judging him already. We have to give him at least 3 years (2 more). Randy and himself have said it's a 5 year plan. Newcastle go through about 2 managers a years and see where that's gotten them. Look at the top 4 teams: Fergies been there over 20 years. Wengers been at Arsenal for 11 years. Rafa's been at the pool for 3 years and has signed a 4 year deal. Jose 3 years also. None of them look lke going anywhere. Wenger and Fergie won (pretty much) nothing for the first 3 years except build their teams. MON has to build the team that he wants and fair play to him for not buying overpriced one season wonders (I know, I know, Harewood). Fergie sold Paul McGrath because he wasn't the type of player he wanted in his team.

I will personally not be judging MON for another 2 seasons (assuming he's still there!). Until then I just hope we can play decent football the odd time an sign a few good players. Personally I'd be happy for us to finish 12th four years in a row if it mean't that on the 5th year we got a top 4 finish.
In DOL's first season we finished 6th and everyone (myself included) thought great, this is gonna be brilliant. 2 years later we were flirting with relegation and he was sacked. Slow and steady wins the race, as they say!

Savman

£15m for Davies, someone's living in a permanent April Fools day timewarp.:mad:

Raekwon

I know what you are saying One Cold Hand, but I wasn't having a go at MON personally, I was just venting some frustration. I my opinion, MON is definitely the man for the job at Villa Park and I have faith that he, along with Mr. Lerner, will wake up the sleeping giant that is Aston Villa Football Club. I would not be so fickle to call for a managers head after one season, that would be plain stupid. A good example of this would be David Moyes at Everton. In his second season he nearly got his team relegated, people inevitably called for his head. He kept his job and got his team into the Champions League the following season. So you never know.

Anyway, my original point was that at this present moment in time I am not confident that Villa can do anything but float around midfield for a couple of seasons even though we have (or had?) a great opportunity to try and compete for a UEFA Cup spot next season (if we only were shrewd in the transfer market). Essentially MON has started to build his team again from scratch and he has got rid of all the players he deems surplus to his requirements. That is fine, but where is he going to go from here? A team cannot compete in 38 league games and two cup completions with a squad that consists of 17 outfield players. We are bound to get a few injuries especially with most of our key players being called up for international duty a couple of times during the season etc. What then? Panic buys in January? I just cannot see a plan taking shape at the moment, of course I hope I am proved very wrong in 4 years time.

One Cold Hand

I wasn't having a go at you Raekwon, but there were others on here and also on other boards and I've seen articles suggesting MON should go.

Anyhoo I totally agree that the squad is totally undersized and I'd be surprised if we finish in the top half. Our first 11 is really good, but after that we're in trouble, as we all know.

DSB

One Cold Hand wrote:

I'd be surprised if we finish in the top half.

I just don't understand how you can say this with such acceptance.

~Rebel~

as well as all the very necessary defenders, i was thinking a great move for villa would be to go for Kevin Nolan. He's clearly not getting on well with Sammy Lee, who obviously doesn't think much of him either. would be well worth a cheeky 7 or 8mill bid.