Aston Villa Team Talk/Gossip/Rumours/Champions League Thread 2024/25

OneColdHand

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119550606#Comment_119550606

I don't think it was a complete fluke, in that he hit it there on purpose. But Ramsdale was poor for it and should have been stronger.

artanevilla

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119550622#Comment_119550622

I was joking, someone called his last one a fluke. It's his third one this season.

Esse85

A better performance in the second half.

Not sure what changed.

Mings , Cash and Kamara our best players for me.

Did we even have a shot on target?

Edit, just saw the second goal replayed a few times and Cash could really of done better too.

JPA

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119550572#Comment_119550572

Yep, he was, we were pummeled but 2 bad pieces of keeping for the goals

JPA

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119550688#Comment_119550688

Well we scored...

Alonzo Mosley

Leicester win tomorrow and we are bottom

JPA

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119550688#Comment_119550688

Stats

LeBash

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119548398#Comment_119548398

I read it, didn't write the article.

CSF

That was beyond horrendous. I'm worried how long they might delay the inevitable. Is that Arteta Arsenal thing from last season just going to be used for Gerrard or are we going to be hearing that one example for the rest of time?

We're bottom if Leicester beat United tomorrow. I genuinely fear relegation. This has all the feels of the Tim Sherwood season.

pavb2

I didn’t give us a hope before the game but still come away so annoyed with the performance and ability to concede so soon after scoring. Ramsdale had nothing to do and compared to them we looked like we were playing in slow motion. To put it in perspective a couple of Arsenal fans I spoke to after the game said it’s the worst they’d played all season

Esse85

Listened to Gerrard's interview and while I agree with some of his comments on defending, and not letting players turn onto their favoured foot and getting tighter, he wasn't asked and therefore never addressed how blunt we are as an attacking force, how narrow we were, no chances created, why no plan b.

The way he talks about the players, it's like he's very quick to separate himself from them the players when discussing an error.

JPA

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119551555#Comment_119551555

I think he's a bit like Roy Keane as a manager, struggling to deal with players who are nowhere near where he was as a player.

CSF

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119551619#Comment_119551619

Maybe, but he seems really poor tactically. Like not having a breeze level, which is obviously much worse than all his other poor qualities.

OneColdHand

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119551555#Comment_119551555

Pep on narrow teams:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wGBpfUizN2c&t=10s

"when they are narrow it's easy to control"

(talking generally about narrow teams, not Villa specifically).

Esse85

Arsenal and Chelsea linked to Luiz too.

Based on Gerrard's comments last night, I can't see him hanging around.

Esse85

Club saying Luiz not leaving today.

Esse85

Linked with Dendoncker from Wolves.

rebelomar

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119552744#Comment_119552744

I'd be happy with that. I'm surprised he's not in favour at Wolves and always felt he was a solid player.

He can cover CB and MF well and adds more height which is needed.

JPA

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119551721#Comment_119551721

Ya, I'm not denying his other inadequacies.

CSF

Keeping Luiz if he wants to leave is probably not the greatest idea in the world.

We do need him, but the version of him we need isn’t the one who has made up his mind that he’s leaving and his phoning it in for a year to avoid injury.

artanevilla

I'd say Dendonker is replacement for Luiz.

Esse85

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119553231#Comment_119553231

The club says Luiz won't be sold this window, Arsenal have bid £20m now. Villa have £13m bid accepted for Dendoncker.

Circus act at the club these days.

sc86

Our transfer activity does not scream a club trying to get into europe

seagull

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119554943#Comment_119554943

I think the way things are going, we're going to be back to hoping to keep out of the relegation battle. Right now, I'd settle for 3 years of being consistently mid-table, and then hope to improve to actually challenging properly.

Esse85

Arsenal upping their offer to £25m for Luiz

Tieleman available for that price too, why don't we go for him?

Bounty Hunter

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119555071#Comment_119555071

Sad to say it but I don't think we are the level he wants to go to. That said he could still go to Newcastle who I thought we could actually finish ahead of this season but since the season has started they seem to be a lot more organized and showing a lot more ambition than us so I could understand with an eye to the future him going there if one of the current big boys don't go for him.

Dendonker is a decent player imo but I don't think of him as an improvement on Luiz but that said maybe Gerrard will actually play him which he should have been doing with Luiz before now.

Bednarek might be an improvement on Hause but again he is not the Carlos replacement anyone wanted.

Given how the season has started these signings aren't inspiring and aren't the kind of ones I can see really turning things around. Only 5 games in and the belief of challenging in the top half of the table already seems to be gone and instead a long long season seems to be on the horizon. Prove me wrong Stevie

I am sure Kamara is on one hell of a wedge now but given the ambition of the club he must have been sold to sign he must really be wondering if he made the wrong move at this stage

Panrich

If Kamara is still at the wondering stage, then he’s slow on the uptake. 😆🤣

sc86

Surprised at the long list of top clubs who wanted Luiz before he picked arsenal.

It makes it even crazier that he can't get in our team

Esse85

Dendoncker signed.

Panrich

Might be hope yet that Luiz stays.

CSF

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119556567#Comment_119556567

If he’s not going to sign a contract, then I’m not sure it’s a good thing.

Pretty disappointed that we aren’t signing a wide player (unless something big changes)

Panrich

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119556604#Comment_119556604

Wouldn't mind starting with a midfield of Kamara, Dendoncker and Luiz against Haaland and co.

Esse85

At least Dendoncker and Bednarek offer height and physicality, something we've been lacking.

Very underwhelming window.

Lack of money spent from the owners is worrying.

CSF

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119556724#Comment_119556724

It makes sense to some extent. Gerrard isn’t going to be manager at the end of this month. Wouldn’t make much sense to give him more legit funding.

Maybe we could trust Lange to predict what a new manager would want but it’s hard to be confident with him, given that we pretty much never sign anyone that requires any scouting these days.

You’d expect the new manager to get a decent budget in January (World Cup break will be welcome for us) and if that doesn’t happen we should all be hugely worried.

Esse85

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119556835#Comment_119556835

Before the season even started tho, little money was spent, Gerrard has since dug his own grave. I'm not as confident he'll be gone end of month. Surely the club should be planning ahead, recruitment wise even if Gerrard is on the verge of dismissal. We look like relegation fodder.

Unless they are thinking ahead to January already and hanging in there until then.

Panrich

I wonder if the fact that we're turning down these offers for a player that has only started one league match so far this season means that a change is imminent and a new manager has asked that he not be sold.

CSF

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119557012#Comment_119557012

I think the board think it’s far more likely now that Gerrard isn’t the long term answer. I mean they can’t be blind.

I think planning ahead with recruitment without a manager to plan ahead with is risky, and i just hope that there’s going to be a decent budget in January for our new manager to start that planning.

Esse85

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119557076#Comment_119557076

January recruitment rarely works out, and transfer fees are super inflated. Case in point, Digne and Coutinho. Over 100 caps between them for France and Brazil and both have been awful, best days behind them.

CSF

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119557130#Comment_119557130

Yeah, I don’t disagree. And yet it’s still probably a preferable situation to the one we currently face. The players we want to sign all know Gerrard isn’t long for the job.

pavb2

Not so much the result last night but more the poor performance and now that the transfer deadline has passed I think he’ll be gone after the City game.

CSF

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119557362#Comment_119557362

One can only hope. The lack of transfer activity would indicate that I think.

artanevilla

At least with the World Cup imminent Luiz won't down tools.

CSF

It’s probably more the 2nd half of the year where we’ve to worry about that anyway.

Honestly, I think it’s a huge mistake not accepting the 25 mill unless we end up eventually being able to convince him to sign a deal.

pavb2

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119558010#Comment_119558010

Agreed I would have taken 25 though I read Man City get a cut of 20% over 15 mill. Even without his contract situation I’d value him at 30 mill, he’s been ok for us but hasn’t matched the performances he put in straight after lockdown which is the level I would expect however he’s still only 24 and can improve a lot.

I think he’s had a new contract on the table for some time maybe he’s even more reluctant to sign as Gerrard’s not starting him.

CSF

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119558084#Comment_119558084

Yeah, I’m defo not ruling out that a new manager comes in and develops a bond with him that sees him signing.

But looking at the calibre of club that were chasing him in this window, I feel its a gigantic gamble that I wouldn’t have taken (although they may know more about the situation that isn’t clear to us)

pavb2

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119558199#Comment_119558199

I think the problem was it was all a bit last minute wasn’t it? Crazy that we sold Carney for 20 mill and were offered 25 for Luiz, similar situation with contracts but I think there is more than 5 mill difference in their valuations.

CSF

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119558383#Comment_119558383

Yeah, no time to sort a decent replacement. But if he’s gonna be in a sulk for the year that might not even be relevant.

Esse85

I'm happy we kept him, not my money, so feck it.

Also think his profile has shot up last few days with the big sides interested in him so any new manager coming in will surely play him and not stick him in DM on his own. He's rarely played in his best position (not sure where that is) but it's definitely not as an isolated DM as Smith used him here.

Panrich

Wondering about the last minute signings.

I read an article about Bednarek in the athletic that says he’s the kind of player that needs an arm around his shoulder and encouragement to show his best. That doesn’t sound like a Type that will thrive under Gerrard.

Dendocker adds some physicality but after rejecting 25m for Luiz, surely he’ll see very limited game time.

I know we need depth but we also need players that will make a difference especially in the plight we find ourselves and neither of these look to improve us on the face of it.

CSF

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119558609#Comment_119558609

Gerrard is gone this month realistically so I wouldn’t even worry how players will adapt to him