It’s official then and Mile Jedinak is now a Villa player.
This is a great signing in my opinion and one that’s been designed to give us some decent bite in midfield, which we’ve lacked for far too long. Or at least since we had a snake in our midst.
While I have my concerns that he’s nearing the end of his career and he’s probably high up on our wage earnings list (he must be, to drop down a division), he’s exactly what we need.
Couple him with Elphick and we now have two fighters in our side who will not let heads drop in the way they have over the last year or so.
Add the fact that it seems the Crystal Palace players are not happy with Jedinak being replaced as captain,
it bodes well and I totally welcome him to the club.
Combine it with Westwood leaving in his place and I’d be chuffed. But I don’t think that will happen although I can always hope.
Other good news is that Lescott is odds on to be on his way out, with Rangers’ boss Mark Warburton having met him for talks in Manchester.
There is mention that they’re willing to offer him £10,000 a week, which is a big drop on what he currently earns at the Villa, even if his wages, as suggested, have been halved as part of a relegation clause.
So he won’t be leaving for anywhere near free, as much as we all want, as surely we’ll have to pay him the equivalent of what he stands to lose.
Fair play to Xia, he said he’d pay to get rid and it would seem he will actually do it.
There’s also talk that Sunderland might be interested in the player too, but I’d suggest that’s a weak link, purely down to Moyes being the manager.
While I think it’s a great move for the Villa, because Lescott has been awful overall, I also find it a bit sad.
It might not have seemed like it, but we shouldn’t forget he’s actually a Villa fan.
The dreaded last 10 mins
Mid-table fodder at best.
Weve been playing for a draw since the 60th minute!! literally nobody bothering to really attack. That’s really worrying imo.
We’ve can’t carve teams open at all. Still need some creativity. Grealish should be doing better in this league imo
McCormack spent most of this half walking wondering why the fuck he came to a team without any creativity. Must have been for a payrise because it weren’t for the football.
Bring back Lambert
I think RDM set us up not to lose rather than win but averaging S point a game will only get midtable. Squad still nowhere near good enough for top 6 but don’t think we will struggle at the bottom either. Forget promotion this season is about putting down the roots for next year
If you can’t win the game at least make sure you don’t loose it ! It’s been said on here numerous times. Give them credit for that. This team is a work in progress and with a few more additions to come we should at least be challenging for playoff positions. It’s a tough league but a long league also. Rudy going off showed up that we still need another forward. Kozak is not up to championship standard on today’s performance.
Distinct lack of pace especially out wide, and strangely I feel we slow the play down too much – Ayew runs in to trouble repeatedly and doesn’t get his passes off quickly enough……if he can be replaced with a better team player i’d consider cashing in on him. I think that might be the end of Kozak too – he’ll offer nothing as a target man, he thrives off of scraps in the box.
Interestingly before the season started I’d have thought that a point at Derby would be a good result, but seeing how bad they were and the last ditch draw with Huddersfield has made it feel like an opportunity missed.
On the plus side, our centre halves look the best pairing we’ve had in years, and we’re unbeaten in 3 League games with Jedinak and Tishbola to come in………need a striker, an extra centre mid (creative) and a right back.
I’ve seen enough, no way is that team going to dominate this league, Kozak is as they say useless, we need a right back, a midfielder, pluss a player that is a strong centre forward, we had bad luck missing by inches with cross bar, post, that’s not winning games. We are just a middle of the road team.
Agree midtable is roughly where we will finish but j think we’ve a chance of top 6 next season.
In fairness that’s 2 of the hardest games we’ll play this season out of 4. Derby and Wednesday away. 5 points out of the first 4 isn’t the worst we could’ve done with a relatively small (although we have a lot of players) squad.
Xia tweeted after adding more we’ll be good enough. Add a couple more players and we should be aiming for top of the league
Your joking Newcastke home and away blues h and away wolves Brighton Norwich all teams that we will struggle against
Of course I’m not joking. 2 of the hardest games this season were going to be Derby of Sheffield Wednesday. 2 OF THE HARDEST, not the 2 hardest. There will be more, though Blues, Wolves and Brighton aren’t up there with those 2. Newcastle obviously, Norwich obviously, a couple more yes. But that doesn’t change the fact two of our hardest games in the league are done.
Both blues games will be tough they play it as if it’s their cup final. Very rarely have we had an easy win v blues they always make it hard for us. Brighton are a good team we won’t beat them and I doubt we will beat Bristol away next week tbh
Unlucky not to be 2-0 up at the break. Might as well played with 10 men after Rudy went off as I was not impressed with Kozak. Needed Jedinak in the middle second half as we were over run even though Elphick could have nicked it.
Good point in the end and we will improve.
We need 3-4 more players if we are going to challenge.
Seems to be Xia’s aim is about that many. He didn’t specifically give a number but a few more seems 3-4. At least they know the positions we need with the types of players linked. Though it’s been a while since I’ve read an attacking midfielder linked which can be worrisome.
An attacking midfielder is paramount.
People are being fairly harsh on Kozak. Including today he’s played 320ish minutes in 3 seasons. Do we really, really expect him to actually be fit? Good god no. Hard to blame him for not getting into the game, after the countless injuries he’s had he’s fortunate enough he can even play the game still.
Xia’s confirmed we’re going to sign a few more players. A striker has always been a target, as well as an attacking midfielder and looks likely a midfielder as well as a right back. The transfer window isn’t over yet.