Villa Signings and General Rumours Thread

Helix

motty just confirmed that davies is officially a permanant villa player now

we hardly paid £10m for him did we?????

Bounty Hunter

i thought it was around 8.25m

Doodee

who cares, need more attacking play in this game

Helix

couldve been £10m in total including the loan fee perhaps

either way, strange that wed do the deal and not actually announce it

~Rebel~

Just wondering, If yee got in 2 proper RB's this transfer window, who would yee most like to have next to Laursen at CB? Mellberg or Davies? (Assuming its not Knight!)

Bounty Hunter

~Rebel~ wrote: »

Just wondering, If yee got in 2 proper RB's this transfer window, who would yee most like to have next to Laursen at CB? Mellberg or Davies? (Assuming its not Knight!)

Most likely Davies long term and Mellberg until the end of the season before he heads to Juve probably.

Doodee

reffing is terrible

~Rebel~

Bounty Hunter wrote: »

Most likely Davies long term and Mellberg until the end of the season before he heads to Juve probably.

that was kinda why i was wondering. Was thinking Mellberg might accept an extension if he was first choice CB.

Helix

has anyone ever seen a team shoot as little as we do before?

its bloody annoying, yes we're decent enough in the air at times but those times tend to be set pieces, theres no point playing 20 passes around the front of the opposition box before giving it to mellberg or young to knock in crosses that nobody challenges for

Bounty Hunter

well like i probably said each time united knocked us out of the cup at this round (4th time now in 7yrs) atleast we will have less games to play now and can concentrate on the Premiership, especially with both Everton and Blackburn (Uefa rivals) going out today.

Helix

aye i dont think youll find too many villains too upset about going out to be perfectly honest

we're so one dimensional tho its painful

Peyton Manning

I thought Maloney showed a few glimpses of class when he came on. A nice little run, a few good passes. And from what I read, Villa fans seem taken by him. So why wont O'Neill give him a good run in the team? I mean, getting 2 goals against Chelsea and then being taken off at half time cant be good for confidence. Did something happen behind the scenes or whats the story?

Helix

knight was sent off and we couldnt afford to have moloney AND young on the pitch at the same time

Raekwon

Not the best game in the world but at least Villa held their own for 81 minutes. When Rooney came on I had a feeling that he would change the game for the worst

Big shout out to Curtis Davis, he did very well today as did Petrov. Vidic did a great job in containing Gabby so we had no real outlet aside from the boring 'hoof it up to big John' tactic. I really think that we need a decent right sided midfielder/winger to get more balance going forward.

Anyway, as Bounty Hunter said, atleast we can fully concentrate on the league now and hopefully push all the way for a UEFA Cup place.

DSB

I thought Petrov tackled well but was very wasteful when he got on the ball.

Savman

Ah well, its a defeat we can't argue with. United were below par, but we were poor. Gabby a total passenger, Vidic had his number all game, Petrov had a good game as did the back 4, special mention to Davies who looked solid.

Young crowded out as usual, Carew probably rushed back into the side, he didnt look right at all.

Anyway, nice to have players like Rooney on the subs bench he changed the game round it was a right tepid affair til then.

Our formation was very negative, no hope of a goal coming from anywhere bar the odd set piece and even some of those seemed sloppy or over complicated. At one stage Barry tried a sneaky quick free kick to Mellberg who wasnt even expecting the ball. Madness.

The team looks totally knackered.

Raekwon

I'm getting flashbacks from last summer :rolleyes:

"O'Neill not looking to sell"

Btw I wonder if Villa were interested in German International rightback Andreas Hinkel who recently signed for Celtic from Seville. If not then we should have been!

Helix

same nonsense over and over over and over over and over over and over over and over over and over over and over over and over over and over over and over over and over over and over over and over over and over over and over over and over over and over again from o'neill

we'll hear at least once a week until the end of the window statements from mon consisting of a mixture of the following:

1) we have a small squad
2) its one of the smallest in england
3) he knows he has to strengthen it
4) he hopes he can find the right players
5) will there be signings immediately? no there wont
6) if we dont strengthen we could hit a sticky patch
7) we've had a small squad since he has been at the club and hes always tried to work his best with it
8) fair play to the players who are at the club at the moment, but we need more numbers
9) its hard to find the right players
10) he doesnt mind paying over the odds, he had to do it for young

did i miss any?

maybe at the first day of a transfer window o'neill posts a little "build your own martin o'neill transfer window statement" pack to the press

DSB

I've had my share of complaints about O'Neill before but I think he will bring the players in this window to get us to the top 6 this season.

Villain

Helix one thing to remember MON is building a squad for a 5 year plan, he is not looking for a one season wonder by signing mature players for huge money, if he is going to spend big it is usually one young players. I said it earlier that I knew he wouldn't spend huge money, whether you agree or not thats what he does imo.

Raekwon

Don't get me wrong, I really like Martin O'Neill and I think that he has been a revelation for Villa (and long may it continue!), but when I checked to see if we were being linked to any players the last thing I wanted to see were quotes from the great man about keeping fringe players at the club. I'm actually really surprised that he even needed to comment about this considering that everyone & their granny know how small (and tired!) our current squad is.

I realistically think that we need around 3 new players to push on for a top 6 finish this season. Rightback, right/central midfield and possibly a decent striker.

I have total faith in MON (even though it may have originally come across as otherwise).

Helix

things we NEED in january to have any hope of getting into europe:

1) a right back (2 if we're feeling saucy)
2) a right sided midfielder
3) a forward
4) a plan c that actually works for when play a (give the ball to ashley) and plan b (hoof the ball up the pitch and hope) dont work

One Cold Hand

For a plan C might I suggest a creative central midfielder. Someone who can get on the ball in the forward areas and make things happen, via through balls etc. Something along the lines of the very small patches that Berger showed last year. Berger showed he can come on and make an impact, change a game if it's not happenig for us.
This really should be Barry's job, considering he's the other central midfielder apart from NRC. But in my opinion he's still too defensive. He should try and get forward more, and let Nigel worry about the defending.

Bounty Hunter

O'Neil Sets his sights on Doyle
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/sport/football.html?in_article_id=506698&in_page_id=1779&ito=newsnow

first Martins and now Doyle despite very little info leaking from VP under the new regime, seems MON wants to add another Striker this month. Hoyte also mentioned in the article as is wantaway Sorensen who is linked to Derby.

Doyle/Martins, Hoyte & G.Barnes arriving would make me very happy and cost only around 13-20m which we can now afford.

Would mean the squad would have a specialist RB and RM, real quality competition up front and Barry, NRC and Petrov (plus Gardner) fighting for two CM births. Prehaps Petrov could even start fulfilling the creative centre midfield role One Cold Hand refers to above as thats supposed to be his preffered role.

Savman

Typical jumping to silly conclusions, I wonder who would've predicted we'd be (joint) 6th come January even with the supposedly small squad. We've more cover than this time last year, Knight was an ever present since his arrival yet he gets suspended and his replacement comes in, scores then produces 2 excellent displays against Spurs an ManU. Petrov, who was also a starter, gets injured but along comes Maloney who scores 2 in Stamford Bridge. Mr Popular Harewood scored off the bench away to Blackburn but still can't get a look in and there's also one Luke Moore who is restricted to cameos.

Excuse me if I don't panic just yet, O'Neill seems to know what he's doing even if we don't. You don't fluke anything in the Premiership and the simple fact is we are only 2pts behind a star studded Liverpool side.

I really have no freakin clue what more people want.:rolleyes:

BTW, our only remaining home games are against Reading, Blackburn, Newcastle, Boro, Sunderland, Bolton, Small Heath, Wigan. Every one of those is winnable so hardly doom and gloom and hardly enough to justify silly money panic signings this month.

Fair enough we still have to go to emirates, Old Trafford and Anfield to try get something but overall we're looking good for that UEFA spot.

Helix

Savman wrote: »

overall we're looking good for that UEFA spot.

i wouldnt go that far to be honest, and instead ill ammend that to "we're looking good to challenge for that UEFA spot"

we look good against teams who cant defend down the wings, or cant deal with long balls, yet we look idealess and all round abysmal against teams who can. there are 3 possible things that can put a serious strain on our european challenge

1) injuries
2) suspensions
3) non top 4 teams figuring out how to play us

imo, theyre ALL just a matter of time as well, especially number 3

One Cold Hand

Taken from F365:

'VILLA WAIT FOR DEFOE
Making sense of Jermain Defoe's revelation that Juande Ramos called him into his office this week and told the striker he can leave, The Guardian reports: 'Aston Villa have notified Tottenham of their interest in signing Jermain Defoe, with Martin O'Neill keen to add a prolific goalscorer to his threadbare but talented squad.'

From Villa's perspective it also makes sense. The club lacks a goalscorer - 'Luke Moore and Marlon Harewood have failed to impress' - and are prepared to meet Spurs' £7m valuation. But the problem could be persuading Danielle Lloyd's latest footballer boyfriend to move to the Mildlands.

Despite Ramos' invitation, the striker remains adamant that he wants to stay at White Hart Lane.

"I have no intentions of leaving this club because I love it here. I would love to sign a new contract, and I know people at the top of the club want me to stay. But no-one can expect me to sign a new deal if I can't get a game."'

Interesting stuff.

Raekwon

Savman wrote: »

Typical jumping to silly conclusions etc, etc, etc.

I was fully expecting to see a little rant from you when I logged in here this morning, nice to see that you kindly obliged

My original point was that we need to add players to our squad and not lose any of our fringe players, it doesn't take a genius to figure that one out. I was just surprised that MON felt the need to clarify to the media his intentions to hold onto his fringe players. It didn't make sense, is he suddenly on a sell to buy policy? I seriously doubt it. Anyway apart for Sorensen I cannot think of any player that Villa can afford to off load given our current situation (that includes Harewood!).

We have done exceptionally well up until now, as you have said I doubt anybody would have predicted us so far up the table at the midway point. But the fact of the matter is we have been really fortunate that Laursen has been injury free so far (not even you with your apparent infinite wisdom could have seen that one coming) coupled with the fact that Mellberg has been doing a great job as a stand in rightback. I would hate to have seen what would have happened if Laursen's knee went on September the 1st!

The truth of the matter is that I have complete faith in MON and I know he is taking the club in the right direction. It just worries me that we have blatantly obvious weakness in our team that haven't been properly addressed yet. I just hope this transfer window is more like last January's then last summers.

Savman

Raekwon wrote: »

I was fully expecting to see a little rant from you when I logged in here this morning, nice to see that you kindly obliged

Glad I could be of assistance. :rolleyes:
Did you ever hear of 'post not poster'?

Raekwon wrote:

But the fact of the matter is we have been really fortunate that Laursen has been injury free so far (not even you with your apparent infinite wisdom could have seen that one coming)

Me? Nope. I never proclaimed this infinite wisdom of which you speak, but I'd not be inclined to call a Top 7 team "fortunate". Maybe O'Neill's just a very lucky manager.

Helix

Raekwon wrote: »

It just worries me that we have blatantly obvious weakness in our team that haven't been properly addressed yet. I just hope this transfer window is more like last January's then last summers.

and it frustrates the hell out of me that so many villa fans have no problem that it hasnt been addressed

its all well and good saying "we're doing better than anyone thought", but thats no use to us if we get a few injuries, coz all the hard work the players have done will be gone

Helix

Savman wrote: »

Me? Nope. I never proclaimed this infinite wisdom of which you speak, but I'd not be inclined to call a Top 7 team "fortunate". Maybe O'Neill's just a very lucky manager.

out first xi is most certainly euro qualification quality, no doubt about it. you wont find anyone arguments from too many people about that

its the fact that theres nothing at all after the first xi, and the fact that its not being addressed that is so bloody frustrating

8th of jan and already 2 martin o'neill statements which are carbon copies of statements from every other bloody transfer window. we have the makings of a damn good team, are you and the others in the "mon can do no wrong" camp happy enough to risk wasting what the players have done this season on hoping we dont get injuries?

Savman

Helix wrote: »

8th of jan and already 2 martin o'neill statements which are carbon copies of statements from every other bloody transfer window. we have the makings of a damn good team, are you and the others in the "mon can do no wrong" camp happy enough to risk wasting what the players have done this season on hoping we dont get injuries?

No team can prepare for injuries, so there is always an element of hope that your star players don't get injured. I'm sure many United fans will have seen how reliant they are on Rooney after his match-winning cameo against us. Before that they looked like a fairly average side. How do you buy "cover" for someone like Rooney? Likewise with Martin Laursen. IMHO, you just can't.

I'm not saying we don't need players, we just don't have to make a huge issue out of it. I would hazard a guess that Mssr O Neill & co have an idea what they're doing and I don't think us not signing anyone is down to his own laziness or stubbornesss or whatever.

However you're right about the "carbon copy" statements, although I could say the same about certain posts that seem to pop up when its fashionable to have a go at MON...

shoutman

I agree with Savman totally. I sometimes don't know what people expect. A lot seem like they would be happy if MON went off and bought any rb who was in any way decent.

I'm glad he's not doing that, he's waiting till he gets the man he wants. Its done us wonders so far, with the exception of harewood. Even Petrov is coming around and looking like he could prove to be more then a backup midfielder for us.

Kevin Doyle or Defoe would be nice. I'd probably prefere Defoe at this stage, but that could do with the fact that I havent seen him play in the premiership all that much. If Villa don't get a single player during January, I have no doubt that there will be people on here posting about how MON isn't the man for the job yadda yadda yadda, but once again the choruses of dissent will quiet down when Villa hopefully remain in the right area of the league table.

Helix

Savman wrote: »

However you're right about the "carbon copy" statements, although I could say the same about certain posts that seem to pop up when its fashionable to have a go at MON...

when has it ever been fashionable to have a go at him?

its not a coincidence that o'neill takes the majority of the guff he gets around transfter windows due to him being pretty damn poor in that aspect of management

Savman

Helix wrote: »

its not a coincidence that o'neill takes the majority of the guff he gets around transfter windows due to him being pretty damn poor in that aspect of management

Er, says who exactly? And "pretty damn poor" compared to whom? Allardyce? Curbishley? Hardly doing so great themselves.

Name me a single top level manager who splashes the cash in January. I think you'll find none of them do, in fact as is the case with Wenger and Ferguson there is more evidence to the contrary and that "waiting for the right man" is the recipe for sustainable success. Not just buying whoever happens to be available in the January sales.

Saying that, we didn't do too badly last time with Carew, Young and Maloney, all of whom were quoted as saying Martin O'Neill was a deciding factor in them signing. I guess pretty damn poor managers have that kind of pull.

Raekwon

shoutman wrote: »

I agree with Savman totally. I sometimes don't know what people expect. A lot seem like they would be happy if MON went off and bought any rb who was in any way decent.

I'm glad he's not doing that, he's waiting till he gets the man he wants. Its done us wonders so far, with the exception of harewood. Even Petrov is coming around and looking like he could prove to be more then a backup midfielder for us.

I actually would be happy if MON went off and brought in any rightback that is anyway decent. Justin Hoyte would fall into your 'anyway decent' bracket perfectly. Granted he is no world beater but he is at the age where MON could possibly mould him into a really good player and he would tie in perfectly with the 5 year plan.

Looking at the bigger picture, Villa have been looking for an out & out rightback ever since Mark Delaney got injured a few seasons ago. We have had Aaron Hughes & Phil Bardsely come in to fill the void temporarily but now we have no rightbacks at all on our books & MON has let decent young players like Glen Johnson & Liam Rosenior slip through his fingers. Of course I don't know what goes on behind the scenes but it does seem as a key position has been neglected for sometime and supports of the club have a right to air their opinions (no matter how fickle it might appear to others). Do you think if Liverpool, Man Utd or even Barnsley had no rightback the clubs supports would sit back and not bat an eyelid? It's very doubtful.

But with saying that, I have never really had a bad word to say about MON and I probably never will. IMO he has been the best manager that Villa have had since Ron Saunders and I would hate to see the state of the club without him. Aside from that though, the holes in our squad need to be filled. I'm more then sure that MON can get the players in that he needs but I think if your squad is as paper thin as ours the last thing that we need is to be offloading (why did MON need to even talk about that???). And that is basically how this little debate started in the first place

DSB

Its only a week in to the transfer window. O'Neill is probably saying these things just so clubs don't think we're desperate and will pay inflated fees. I reckon we'll see 2 or 3 good players brought in during this window. Sorensen and Cahill will probably leave too, but does anyone really care if they do? How many minutes have the 2 of them seen this season?

Helix

cahill was one of sheff utds better players during his loan spell actually

DSB

He'll be behind Laursen, Knight, Davies and probably Mellberg (if we sort the rightback situation out) next season. If Mellberg and Laursen were to leave the club we'd definitely need to replace them with players of similar quality. Frankly I don't think we need 3 up and coming centre backs.

shoutman

Just read this, I found it quite strange as I was under the impression that Laursen was due to hold thoughts with MON after the cup match with Man U

eurosport wrote:

Martin Laursen has admitted he would be open to a move to either Tottenham or Newcastle - but is also happy to extend his stay at Aston Villa.The Denmark international's current deal expires in the summer, and a number of clubs have been linked with a swoop for the defender.

And following fresh reports that both Spurs and Newcastle are keen to seal a deal for Laursen, the 30-year-old says an offer would be tempting.

"I've read in the press that those two clubs would be interested in me," he said in the Birmingham Mail.

"I don't know if they have spoken to Aston Villa, I haven't heard anything, but it's two big clubs and it's certainly something that would interest me."

However, Laursen has not ruled out extending his current deal at Villa Park.

"I'm feeling really well with Villa and would be open to extend with them if the terms are right."

DSB

Whatever about Spurs, I don't think I could forgive Laursen for leaving Villa to join as shoddy a club as Newcastle.

kinaldo

DSB wrote: »

Whatever about Spurs, I don't think I could forgive Laursen for leaving Villa to join as shoddy a club as Newcastle.

Hardly a shoddy club. New owner, manager etc. things take time, as you might well know. Newcastle is a great city and he would get to play in front of 50,000+ fans every week. Get over it.

Helix

DSB wrote: »

He'll be behind Laursen, Knight, Davies and probably Mellberg (if we sort the rightback situation out) next season. If Mellberg and Laursen were to leave the club we'd definitely need to replace them with players of similar quality. Frankly I don't think we need 3 up and coming centre backs.

so what, you reckon 4 center backs at the entire club is enough yeah?

shoutman

I would hate to see Laursen leave Full stop! And unless he sustains a serious long term injury in the next week or two I would find it hard to understand why the club would let him go.

That said i've full confidence that he will be here next season.

So what are peoples opinions Defoe or Doyle?

Villain

kinaldo wrote: »

Hardly a shoddy club. New owner, manager etc. things take time, as you might well know. Newcastle is a great city and he would get to play in front of 50,000+ fans every week. Get over it.

Ah Kinaldo now come on how many new owners, new managers etc have Newcastle have and still not done anything to make anyone think they will push to be a top 6 or 7 side?

Laursen leaving for Newcastle would be a step down for him for sure, and a huge huge mistake for MON, I mean we have done a transfer deal for Davies that is huge in relation to what Defenders normally sell for and he is a player with Potential and what better way to develop that than to play alongside a great defender like Laursen, I don't think Davies will develop at the same speed of quality playing alongside Knight, letting Laursen leave would be a huge mistake for many reasons.

Villain

Shoutman I don't want Doyle thats for sure, I like the guy and support him like crazy when he plays for Ireland but hasn't got the Quality we need to take us to the next Level, Defoe on the other hand I think does BUT he is too simalar to Gabby imo, unless you were to go down the route of playing Gabby and Yound on the Wings and Defoe and Carew (who isn't beyond replacment) up front I don't think Defoe is worth Signing.

Martins on the other hand I think offers something different and could be worth a shot, oh and obviously we should sell Harewood.

kinaldo

Villain wrote: »

Ah Kinaldo now come on how many new owners, new managers etc have Newcastle have and still not done anything to make anyone think they will push to be a top 6 or 7 side?

Eh, Mike Ashley is our first new owner since the Halls/Shepherds took charge in the early 90s. And he's worth £1.9 billion btw. He also sits with the fans at away games so his heart appears to be in the right place. Not sure about Big Sam but Ashley didn't appoint him. He's still our most highly rated manager since Sir Bobby was sacked.
Anyway, Laursen joining Newcastle would hardly be a step down. Sure, Villa are on the up at the moment, and Newcastle are going through a tough spell. We've had 9 new signings to bed in and have the ANC to deal with, but it's a long season and still a lot to play for.
Also we finished 7th under Roeder ffs!

One Cold Hand

shoutman wrote: »

I would hate to see Laursen leave Full stop! And unless he sustains a serious long term injury in the next week or two I would find it hard to understand why the club would let him go.

Agreed. He's also said that he wants to stay. I can't see why the club aren't signing him up.

shoutman wrote: »

So what are peoples opinions Defoe or Doyle?

Both!! (I'm half joking and half serious here!) Realistically all top teams have a 4 good strikers they can use. The top 4 all do. So do Spurs and Newcastle. At the minute we have:
Gabby (Quality)
Big John (Quality - but injury prone)
Luke Moore (had potential, but not doing at all the minute)
Marlon (no comment!)

So that two out of our 4 who are good enough, and one is injury prone.
Doyle and Defoe in, and Luke and Marlon out, would give us a qulaity strike force, that would definately produce goals.
If I had to pick one, I dunno.....maybe Doyle would be more of Martins type of player. I reckon Defoe is more interested in women and nightclubbing and the whole London scene. I think if Defoe got and run in the team and had his head in the right place he might produce more goals however.

In terms of defence: I would like Cahill to stay. Realistically I would think Olof will go. If he and Cahill go that would leave pairing of Laursen (if he stays!) and Davies with Zat as cover. I think Cahill can be a much better player than Knight. Also I reckon Cahill could be groomed into a RB if needed. Knight is purely a CB. (and Cahill did get that legendary goal against Birmingham last year!)

Sorensen can go (maybe as part of a swap for Barnes?)

Midfield I think all we need for the minute is a good attacking right winger, to give us an option to Ashley. Derby's Giles Barnes is being rumoured.

Overall I'd be happy if we got
Defoe OR Doyle
Barnes
A right Back.

Villain

Oh I've no doubt Newcastle COULD be a top 6 or 7 side but I just don't think they have fans patient enough to allow a Manager to build a squad, they want sudden success which is very hard come by and even harder to keep.

Anyway imo Laursen going to Newcastle would be a step down leaving club like Villa with a manager like MON, I mean if he was to join under Sam he could have a new manager within months.

kinaldo

Villain wrote: »

Oh I've no doubt Newcastle COULD be a top 6 or 7 side but I just don't think they have fans patient enough to allow a Manager to build a squad, they want sudden success which is very hard come by and even harder to keep.

I don't think top 6/7 requires that much patience to be honest. The Premiership isn't that great. Let's just wait and see if Man City, Portsmouth, Everton and the likes can keep up with their good starts and build upon it next year.

Top 4/5, patience, yes. Our expectations have been reduced substantially by the Souness/Roeder regimes so that won't be a problem.