I thought I’d better come on and say something, just so you don’t think I’ve disappeared, given that I think it’s been over a month since the last post.
The problem is, there isn’t really much to say is there?
I could just repeat the absolute tosh that comes from the clickbait sites, but I really don’t see the slightest bit of value in that and I’d hate to insult you all by doing so.
In fact, my contempt of these sites has actually risen lately and an article from yesterday or today, talking about Trezeguet frankly had me fuming.
The headline was something along the lines of “get rid”, which led me to believe it was going to talk about a source of trouble. I immediately thought of Sanson and thought it might tell me something I didn’t know.
The article went on to quote some ex football player (not even an ex Villa player), whose name escapes me, saying that some players just have an attitude and need to be got rid of.
Imagine my anger, given that I think Trezeguet has been an absolutely model professional, who has never given any inkling of trouble as far as I know.
Oh, I’ve just had the misfortune to come across the article again and it’s Kevin Campbell talking.
Here’s the quote;
“If he’s not matched up to the standards Steven Gerrard has set then he won’t have him and he’ll cut his losses. Sometimes players are not playing well and they can’t be bothered, it’s better to just get them out the club and take half the money, get something back for him.”
How can that be related to Trezeguet?
It just goes to show that ex players don’t have a clue and even more so when they don’t even have any contacts at the club. It could of course just be the case that they’ve used his quote totally out of context and he may even have been talking about someone else, but who cares?
Ex players know nothing, imo, simple as.
Anyway, what isn’t absolute rubbish is that Trezeguet has moved to Turkiye (see how trendy I am really?) for 5 million Euros. I think that’s a pretty good for both clubs and I wish him all the best. He’s not Premier league material, imo, but I think he’ll be great in the Turkish league, as was demonstrated during his loan spell there.
What wasn’t such a good deal was Lovre Kalinic leaving a year early on a free transfer to Hajduk Split, his old club.
He cost us over £5 million and was paid around £15-16k a week. Not bad for hardly ever playing and being pretty poor when he did.
I’m definitely in the wrong game. I wonder if the Villa would be interested in a rubbish backup goalie for the bargain price of nothing and £5k a week? Let me know Stevie G!
Seriously though, I don’t quite understand what’s been going on with the Villa and goalies over the last few years.
It’s almost been some sort of obsession, given the turnover we’ve had.
When it comes to players coming in, I think it’s fair to say the media just don’t have a clue do they? Kalvin Philips has been spotted at Man Citeh before a medical. That for me has to be quite simply about the money and while I can understand he wants to set himself up for life, I wonder how much he thinks he will get to play in that side?
I quite rate the player, but I’m not regretting his not coming.
There’s also plenty of speculation about our younger players and what I think we can accept as the truth is that they’re in demand. Indeed I’m now seeing that Tim Iroegbanum has no less than six clubs after him.
I trust that the coaches and management will make the best decisions for them all.
The only constant transfer out speculation I’m seeing is about Douglas Luiz.
I’m still not convinced he wants to leave as much as we’re being told, but it now seems Roma and AC Milan are interested, along with Arsenal, Spurs and whoever else.
I just hope if he does go, we don’t sell him too cheaply.
And finally it was nice to see the “McGinn troublemaker” story debunked, even though it was (emminently sensible) speculation by MOMS. I never really believed it anyway.
Basically, given that the whole football industry has been on holiday, everything has been total and utter speculation really, hasn’t it?
But now I expect things to start happening and the real search has begun for quality at the right price.
Unfortunately, it seems to me that most clubs are not as generous as the Villa when it comes to letting players go cheaply and I can see things progressing a fair bit slower than we’d like.
Well we’re getting stuffed by United. Nothing new there. We need to learn how to keep possession and control games against the best teams, we seem to just go in to defeative mode hoping to absorb pressure.
Very poor first half showing. Outplayed all over the pitch
Apparently we’re all over Utd. Total turnaround and we should be level, if not ahead…
I can’t believe I paid to watch! Kamara has been poor and Cash is finding himself with two players to mark regularly with no sign of change in formation by Gerrard which is concerning. Coutinho almost non existent along with Watkins whose first touch is dreadful. As for Ings, he might as well be sat on the bench. Carlos and Ramsey the only positives from my point of view. The pitch is in a terrible state which Man Ure have dealt better with.
Good finish from Bailey. 1-2
I was have way through posting that Villa seemed uninterested, then they score. Does that mean they are little interested
Sanson’s playing well.
Get in
Well thats 45 mijnutes worth watching. Getting a draw in added time.
A tale of two halves. A lot more urgency from the substitutes and Bailey especially. Sanson did well and Konsa looked assured. Kessler will keep Cash on his toes with his introductions during pre season.
Wow what a difference in that 2nd half! Bailey made a massive difference, United couldn’t handle his directness and pace, Kessler-hayden also has outstanding pace and got in behind. We had the chances to win that but the pitch was terrible, worse than a Sunday league pitch. That rounds off an impressive tour imo. If Bailey continues that form in to the new season it will be like a new signing!
100% agree Adam + Sanson in that sort of form 👍
Aston Villa snatched a dramatic draw against Manchester United in the final game of the club’s Australian tour after a sterling second half showing in Perth.
The Villans faced a two-goal deficit at the end of the first 45 minutes at Optus Stadium following goals from Jadon Sancho and an own-goal by the unfortunate Matty Cash.
Leon Bailey invigorated his side after entering the fray at half-time, scoring a stunning solo goal that started with him picking the ball up 45 yards from goal.
The Jamaican then turned provider in stoppage time when his corner was headed home by Calum Chambers.
Sounds like it was a decent game eventually.
I was too busy to watch it, I’m afraid.
My daughter wasn’t impressed when I told her that.
And tbh, I never read too much into friendlies anyway.
They’re mostly a PR exercise these days and it seems to have been very sucessful in that sense.
It’s nice to see we have a very decent following in Oz.
Interesting in the post mortem, Gerrard’s guarded comments. That may be the end for the Watkins and Ings partnership. We have been told they are good friends off the pitch and are working on their partnership on the field. Sorry, but they are not the next Kane & Son. So far the solutions tried have been to hook Ings and bring on a, b, or c, to partner Watkins.
What hasn’t been tried yet is starting with Ings and a,b,or c. It deserves to be tried. Ollie always strikes me as the selfish one. Ings may prove to be good with Archer, and Bailey on the wing.
Oll Again
If we want to break into the elite echelons of the Premier then Ings and Watkins would be the back up players not starting. Quite simply they lack consistency.
My other main concern going into this season is Coutinho and Buendia. I doubt Gerrard will start with both of them. Gerrard seems to clearly favour Coutinho, who when on top of his game is brilliant. However, he does go through quite spells and rarely adds much value to away matches. Whereas, Buendia seems to try too hard. It seems every time he comes on as a sub he changes the game in a positive fashion for Villa.
I do wonder if Gerard’s loyalty to Coutinho will ultimately get him the sack.
But after stating all the above this was based in the 3 subs rule. Now the era of the 5 subs has begun, could this now be advantageous to Gerrard. In a simplistic approach both play 45 mins each game, unless the player on the pitch is playing outstandingly.
I am looking forward to more of the promising younger players getting more time on the pitch due to the 5 subs. Archer, Hayden and Iroegbunam will all benefit.
Here is to an interesting season.
OLL / Sid
I’d argue that Watkins is not inconsistent but is actually a proven EPL striker who has scored more than 10 goals per season in each of his EPL seasons with us. If you do the research you’ll find this stands up extremely well with other EPL strikers and is better than quite a few like Jota and Jesus for example (as an example of consistency)
All strikers miss chances; I won’t bore you with loads of statistics but he has scored more than 10 goals in each of his EPL seasons and he actually has a better score (against miss) ratio than players like Kane when measured against chances created.
Here we come to the nub of the problem – we don’t create enough chances!
Not claiming to be any sort of expert, H60, but from what you’re saying I think that to set-up a team to create those chances, surely the coach/manager has to know which striker(s) the rest of the team are supposed to be feeding ?
I agree with Sid’s comment about Coutinho: yes, he can be brilliant, but isn’t very consistent. Having gone out on a limb to sign his mate, Gerrard obviously wants to give him as many opportunities as possible. Unfortunately that’s keeping Buendia out of the starting XI…
Gerrard really does have to sort-out who his main striker is, and then set-up the midfield to support that striker – even if that does mean that Coutinho is only a sub most games – and I hope that he doesn’t overlook Luiz as an attacking midfielder, either!
I think the point here is fans talking about signing a proven premier league striker – but who is that, that is going to provide more goals on a regular basis?
When you discount the players that just aren’t going to move to Villa, despite our owners wealth, then I’m struggling to name one.
Of course one can look overseas but they aren’t proven EPL strikers.
In Watkins and Ings (remember how surprised and delighted everyone was when we signed him) we have two proven premier league strikers and, as you say Ardent, Gerrard has to develop a style of play that will provide them with the chances they need.
Do that, and with the way we’ve strengthened defensively then we can certainly challenge the ‘best of the rest’.
H, I’m not completely convinced that we need to buy another striker either.
I agree with you that either Ings or Watkins should be able to do the job (and I think Archer might prove to be a stunning success anytime soon) – my point was really that Gerrard needs to pick which of them he seriously expects to use regularly, and then get the rest of the team to create the chances for that player or players.
It seems to me that SG isn’t convinced by any of the main strikers he’s got at the moment or can’t decide which one is best of the lot. If that’s really the case then he should be doing something positive about it.
As for ‘proven EPL strikers’ – yes, the field is rather limited unless Villa offer ridiculous money to/for some individual; I did hope we might have made some more effort to try and grab Tammy Abraham, but that ship has probably sailed for good now.
Over the last few years its been frustrating to watch Villa players struggle with basic control. For a long while we suffered with poor crosses unable to clear the first defender. We have improved this failing with coaching and might I now suggest a similar remedy to fix the inability of our forwards to kill passes hit at them from midfield. So many times the first touch is heavy and the rebound is 4 or 5 feet and lost. Lucas Digne is really good at killing the ball, we used to call it trapping, watch him take down a crossfield ball with his feet inches from the touchline and remain in control of ther ball. Ollie is the biggest culprit and much of his game is spent enthusiastically trying to recover his loss.
Somewhat ironically, I thought that Keinan Davis was quite good at that.
Unfortunately unless his ability to hit the back of the net has really improved during his spell at Forrest, all he was really doing was keeping the ball from going straight back to the opposition…
https://www.myoldmansaid.com/terrible-hot-take-on-aston-villa-with-club-accused-of-being-strategic-rule-breakers/
This is another interesting and well reasoned / researched article from MOMS that exposes the extremes to which some journalists / publications will go to to entice fans to click on stories to satisfy advertising targets.
Football Insider are particularly guilty of running extreme stories – or maybe fantasies would be a better description.
MOMS final observation is interesting – at what point will clubs say ‘enough is enough’ where stories are getting close to being unacceptable distortions of the truth.
These on line articles (if that’s what you can call them) give journalism an even worse name than it already has.
Sad really in a country with a reputation for honest, intelligent and unbiased reporting.
“..in a country with a reputation for honest, intelligent and unbiased reporting.”
The Sun ?
The Daily Mail ?
The Star ?
The Daily Express ?
(Enough!)
In response – if you insist on picking the ‘comics’ 🙂 – there are also
The Times
The Guardian
The Independant and through gritted teeth
The BBC
But I maintain that historically my comment is accurate and you’re reinforcing the point as to how far standards have fallen.
Hitch, fair point.
I don’t know about the “Times” because I never visit their website or buy one of Rupert’s rags if I can avoid it – but I do spend a lot of time on the Guardian/Indy and BBC sites; they’re more reliable, yes. But, even those have an obsession with ManUre that really gets up my nose!
Impressed with Callum Chambers – is turning out to be a very shrewd buy.
And the only defender to start in every friendly game, play the most minutes and not been on the field when we’ve conceded!
Should he start alongside Carlos? And would Gerrard be brave enough to start Mings on the bench?
Then there’s Josh Feeney.
Exciting times?
The striker issue is an interesting one.
The conclusion I’ve come to (although, agreed, Ollie has the first touch of a rapist) is that I agree with Hitch.
We just don’t create enough chances.
For a striker to be clinical, he needs chances every game.
How often do we see that?
Far too often we only get one or two chances in a game, as a whole side!
It’s all about the midfield, as I’ve said for what seems like many years now.
If Gerrard doesn’t sort it, anything else won’t matter, imo and he’ll just be the latest in a bunch of failed Villa managers.
And I also agree about Coutinho.
If Gerrard plays him even when he’s poor, that’ll lead to his being sacked too.
I agree with you about the midfield.
And what does concern me is that we seem to have an abundance of talent in that area already – it’s down to SG to actually sort-out that talent and play to their strengths, rather than trying to simply play Coutinho in every game.
McGinn, Ramsey, Buendia, Luiz – many other clubs would rip Purslowe’s hands off to get those players into their squads. If SG can’t get that lot to create opportunities for strikers (or themselves) then ther’ll be serious questions to answer about his managerial abilities.
Hi Badger, sent you an article yesterday which builds on the discussion. Did you receive it?