I think it’s only fair that I make my position regarding Roberto Di Matteo totally clear.
That way, there’s no ambiguity and while I believe I tend to be pretty straight-forward in my views and they normally conform, so I do sometimes go against the flow.
So what to think?
Well, the truth is, I have serious doubts about him, even more so after reading that he lost the players at Schalke;
Ok, the article goes on to say that the decision wasn’t his.
But my worry is that we have what seems a very similar problem down the Villa, with the likes of Gabby, Lescott and Richards calling the shots. A situation that quite simply can’t be allowed to continue.
Unless.
Is RDM strong enough to walk in and hoof the trouble-makers?
I’m not convinced he is in the slightest, although hopefully, it’s exactly why he wants Clark in; to seize these players by the proverbial throat and find out what they’re really thinking.
But is it really an impossibility to think that the older players just might have it right, in saying that the younger players don’t have the right way of looking at things?
On the face of it, that’s just preposterous, if we look at the seasoned player’s performances over the season.
But maybe we might need to consider that they feel they’ve been banging their heads against a brick wall?
Before you shoot me down, I’ve been in this position, where you feel you’re wasting your time.
And while it’s no excuse whatsoever in not doing your best, I’d suggest it’s easy to get dragged down to a lower level.
I seriously wonder if that is what might have gone on over the last however long?
Whatever, while I suspect that will be a not very popular view, I’m throwing it out for discussion.
All that said, as I’ve said before, I’m very willing to give the new team a fair go.
I can see the possibilities, if things go to plan.
Hence we need to get behind the team, especially if we get the goal scorer, the goalie, a CB and a decent midfielder that we need.
Blimey, that’s the whole spine of a team, isn’t it?
Hmm.
And then there’s talk of Amavi going to Liverpool for £11 mill, although I’ve seen reference that says it’s total rubbish.
Would I sell him?
Would I proverbial!
While I accept that some of our better players will probably leave, so I believe we should retain them if we’re going to show any serious signs of ambition.
We really need to do our best to keep Amavi, Ayew, Grealish and maybe Traore (if the supposed doubling of wages isn’t true).
If we let these players go, it will show us what the new ownership/management is all about.
And no, sell them to re-invest simply doesn’t cut it for me. These are players who could light up the league and give us something to cheer about.
God, how have we missed those times?
We’re either going balls out to get straight back up or we aren’t.
I’m hoping we’re going for it and any “transition” talk is just that.
Well, this might be interesting 🙂
The ‘fact’ that RDM was apparently prepared to suspend three senior players surely says that he has got the balls to sort out the troublemakers?
Ultimately it comes down to what support/instructions he’s given by the Board: we’ve all been reading on here for the last few years that the likes of Shabby seeme to be ‘protected’ from any real disciplinary action by succesive managers because of some sort of personal intervention from Lerner [who exactly approved Agbonlahor’s most recent contract extension and WHY?].
So if [“IF”] RDM is freed from that sort of interference, or more clearly actually told to sort-out the dross from day1, then I won’t be worried at all.
As for transfers – common sense says we ought to try and keep some of those who either did try to put-in a shift last season, or who are still promising-enough to be given another chance. However I’m still so negative about virtually all of those who represented the club last term that at this stage I don’t have any firm opinion as to who I’d like to keep – just much more desperate to see quite a few kicked-out.
As always, a very reasoned reply, Ardent.
I’m off to walk the mutt and will chew the cud 🙂
Gosh Badger your negative let’s have some positivity for once :-). Clarke is a good appointment he is one of the top defensive coaches in the business and has worked under Mourinho etc. RDM won the the EC with Chelsea because he was clever enough to let the team run itself and that in itself shows good management. He also took up the Baggies so knows the Championship. Bottom line is this is as good as it gets for us there is no guarantee Pearson would have done any better. Let’s get behind RDM and the team and see what happens. He can’t be any worse than what we’ve had recently it’s impossible. Come on man show some positivity like I always do 🙂 🙂
Is that really you Oohah?
I’m afraid so 🙂
Hopefully RDM will do an O’Neil and leave before the season starts. 🙂
Oh god more of this “if we sell our best players, it’ll show our owners lack of ambition” crap again. I don’t know if you didn’t realize this, especially because it’s the main reason we went down, but player power trumps any ambition an owner has. If Amavi, Ayew, Gana, Grealish, Traore wanna leave, they’ll leave. Or throw a fit trying. Hopefully Di Matteo can entice them to stay but that’s not likely.
Nor do we need to go balls out to go back up. Apparently we have to spend like 50m or some crap to go up. And yes, it does work to sell players and replace them. Seeing that’s what we’re going to do with the ones we all want out like Gabby, Lescott, Richards, Hutton, Guzan, etc. The good players we have aren’t the only ones out there.
I do agree with you about your first points about banging your head against a brick wall. No doubt Garde was doing that as very few players listened too him. Like Ayew, Gana, Westwood, Gil, Clark, maybe a couple more. Had to feel incredibly bad for him. And soon to be Di Matteo if he doesn’t get the crap out.
Should be interesting to see who our new goal keeping coach will be, as well as if Riley stays or not. Maybe he’ll listen to Di Matteo as there’s no Fox around to tell him he can buy who he wants (though Sherwood still had the final say and our best players are the choices Riley made so it makes me laugh how everyone hates him, as his signings like the ones mentioned, Ayew, Gana, Veretout, Amavi, etc are the ones our fans wanna see kept).
goal keeper. we have steer with bunn as back up.. sell guzan
right back. we have bacuna (who will terrorize the championship), maybe need to buy some cover sell hutton
left back. we have amavi and bennet as cover.. sell cisocho maybe sell amavi because we have kensella
center backs. we have clark, baker with toner and donacein as cover.. sell or off load richards, lescott and okore (wankers) lol
center mid. we have a bunch off players who should destroy the championship depending on reberto and how he wants to play i think he’ll play 3 in the middle i’d keep gana if we can, veratout, westwood, sanchez, gardner and lyden as back up.. for the championship this midfield should destroy all before it even if two were to go there should still have enough about them.
wingers. i’d try keep hold of sinclaire, gill, grealish, traore if possible again because they should be too good for the championship off load n’zogbia and richardson and agbonlahor asap
strikers. gustead has to be given a chance at this level behind ayew (if we can keep hold of him). i honestly think kozak should have been given a fair crack at the beginning of last season but he didn’t get it so i’d keep him with hepburn-murphy waiting in the wings for his chance….
so in my eyes we wouldn’t need to spend 50m on new players lol i’d just bring in some competition for bacuna at right back…. they just need a direction on the training ground and abit of confidance and the team we have should bounce back up. i actually believe reberto has the balls to sort villa out.
“left back we have Amavi and Bennett as cover…..Sell Cissoko and maybe sell Amavi”…..Leaving Bennett as the only LB at the club because Kinsella has been released. #greatmove
“Bacuna will terrorize the Championship” Buy cover and sell Hutton…lol…If the rest of the squad showed half as much commitment as Hutton did last season we wouldn’t of gone down….Besides, Bacuna will be playing champions league football…..more than likely with New Saints or at least a similar level.
I can’t bring myself to comment on the rest of your suggestions due to suffering from an uncontrollable laughing fit. Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha
However I am looking forward to Gustead blowing the opposition away playing behind Ayew. #tacticalgenius 😉
Yes all that commitment he had for not dropping back when going forward or playing as a CB on defense instead of being out wide, allowing cross after cross in. But you’re right, he was “committed” so he should stay. Just as laughable as you think their post is.
You tend to see more attending a game than you do watching on TV Andrew. Making another one of your posts pointless. 🙂
Actually that’s false, but that’s an adorable try. Seeing I’ve gone to plenty of live games in the States, you actually see less. Making yet another one of your attempts to insult someone from the states, baseless.
It’s false in your opinion, in mine it is true. That’s the beauty of the world Andrew, people tend to disagree on everything. You’d do well to learn that it’s a part of life and something you should begin to accept.
No insult was attempted, making another one of your comments pointless. 🙂
Oh by the way, seeing as you didn’t comment on it I assume you think having Bennett as a sole left back at the club and playing Gestede behind Ayew is the way forward. Making you also a tactical genius in my opinion. Massive respect to you, you’re clearly also a wasted talent. 🙂
Wasn’t too bothered to comment on that, but Bennett is unlikely to be here as well and playing Gestede behind Ayew would be ridiculous.
Badger I beg to differ regarding losing the dressing room,what he did at schalke should of been done at villa suspend the SHITE Stirrers.so one thing in his defence he is prepared to stand up to them,how can that be a bad thing???? Simply give him a go I do believe if he’s unsuccessful he’ll be replaced sharpish our new owner clearly wants success.the sun is shining get it down yer folks enjoy the day 😀
i have to agree with giddy. RDM is strong at sorting out individuals, any players which think they will please themselves or lead others astray, will be dealt with firmly. players that need a friendly arm around them like grealish, will receive this. i think RDM has a very good understanding of individual management.
signing clarke as assistant was a smart move, because he will get the team doing basics again for the first time since mon. defending for villa has been comical for years. many individual errors per game, clarke will in my opinion sort this out,
RDM needs to identify the troublemakers remove them and bring in the players that can improve the team and squad, that’s fairly easy cause we have currently the worst squad ever to wear the claret and blue.
My main concern is still why hasn’t Clarke been confirmed as assistant manager????
Ps I suppose you could look at it another way Clarke hasn’t come out & denied it.
Brummie mail saying Clarkes appointment will be announced at the start of next week hope it’s true
Very good question Giddy, why hasn’t news come out of Villa about Clarke? Is it all a con from the media again, is it true about Amavi, no news on any movements, I’m getting restless now about our commitment. Give us hope fgs tell what it is please.
We have fresh start in the Boardroom and at the Bank. I would not be concerned if the entire first team of last season were sacked. I would look to keep some though. I thought I saw some good performances and effort from Ayew Traore and Amavi. Even Gestede is worth keeping if we get a right winger. I can also forgive Grealish once for his off field antics. The rest? Bin ’em!
If we want to get out of the Championship we will need a top-three goalkeeper. If that is ignored then no matter what we do up front we will flop at the last like Brighton. We also need a Captain who commands respect on the pitch. I hope that one might become available after the Euros.
I have my doubts that we can get the act together fast enough to start like promotion contenders, but I will be happy if we finish like them.
…and now for a bit of mischief……..” because he will get the team doing basics again for the first time since mon”…..seem to remember a scoreline….Chelsea 7-Villa 1…..well at least we scored….lol
doing the basics right, isn’t a fool proof guarantee for success, but giving the ball away constantly in your own half, or being last man, inside your own box and trying to beat the opposition attacker by dribbling past him. or goalkeeper dropping clangers every game, or can’t distribute the ball without handing it back to opposition, or giving it to a villa player whos marked who then losses the ball.
doing the basics, along with other attributes, will go along way to winning games on more occasions. also the game you referred to, was not a common occurrence under mon. plus chelsea were rampant that day and where capable of beating villa without us falling apart as we did that day.
Can’t wait to see some comings at goings at VP although being honest it’s the goings I’m looking more forward to.
To see a team without the lackadaisical ‘don’t care’ attitude displayed by Gabby, Guzan, Lescott, Bacuna et al will be a pleasure never mind a team that might actually win the occasional game.
Personally I’m not too worried if we just finish mid-table next season so long as we can see where it’s all going. Like OLL it would be nice to see the team finishing strong and then do the job in the second season.
Oh and 6 points against the noses would be really great 🙂
UTV
Apparently some of our fans don’t realize this thing called player power, but we saw a hell of a lot of it last season when half the team decided not to listen to Garde. Which is mainly why Riley’s signings are the only players our fans want us to keep (yet they desperately want him out, how funny is that?) It wouldn’t show us how our owner is just by selling the likes of Amavi, Gana and Ayew, because that’s just how the world of football works. Guess what? Newcastle are going to get raided and they have bloody Rafa Benitez, all we got was Di Matteo. Much like just because say Rotherham got their new owner, doesn’t mean we couldn’t raid them, even though he’s shown he wants to be ambitious too.
Transition happens, going balls out and possibly screwing up still isn’t the way to go. We’ve seen how this worked under MON. If we say spend 50m+, keep our best players and RDM still can’t get us up, you really think the owner is going to spend a lot again? God no, he’ll be in the same boat quite quickly as Lerner was in losing money on a consistent basis.
We do need a fair few players, honestly and I agree with that part. With hopefully the likes of Hutton, Lescott, Richards, Richardson, N’Zogbia, Guzan, Bunn, Cissokho and Agbonlahor leaving (I don’t expect them all but a couple already gone as out of contract and hopefully the rest can follow) along with a couple of our other players Di Matteo may not want like Kozak, then the expected ones like Gil, Veretout possibly, Amavi, Gana.
Honestly if we got rid of everyone above mentioned, we’d still have a decent squad. Would most definitely need fullbacks. Even if we kept Bacuna he shouldn’t be a right back. A couple midfielders/wingers and a striker. Either way, should be interesting.
would an owner pay gabby £6 million or whatever to go. no way is he going to get a better deal anywhere else.
he won’t mind sitting on his fat arse for 2 years.
I want him out of our club but can’t see it.
as for RDM I don’t know him so but will back him
Shabby, lescott & Richards to name a few pay em off well worth the money, get rid of the rot for good.new owner new manager fresh start PL here we come yes I’ve had a few.
iam looking forwards to the new squad under RDM, last summer recruits amavi,gana,ayew will all leave and for no losses. veretout, cissokho,lescott,richards and crespo will all leave too.but this will be more of a struggle. both gil and sanchez will struggle in championship. finally if we could sell traore, i think thats also for the best, i don’t rate him, yes he can do something exciting, but hes a massive risk without ball and doesn’t convince me with it as well. he is miles of the finished article.
if we keep gestede, which i think is a no brainer, we need to recruit or promote from youth, players with the ability to cross a decent ball. i watched gestede struggle last year, but not once did they cross the ball with any quality. apart from the amavi against pool.he chased around or stood like a statue. surely we need to utilize him and theirs 20 goals in him. if you float in some quality balls, he has the beating of any defenders
steer will be number 1 goalie or will fight it out with new goalie bought by RDM,
sinclair and gabby will both stay, kojak will be released with his sick notes.but new squad will have some youth like green, murphy, lyden calder and toner maybe more. we have some good players even with all the exits. RDM will recruit some solid pros to improve the quality on last season squad.
we will get promoted and will be stronger for it. results at villa park will be vital,supporters will have to be patient in some games, teams will up their game against us, men behind the ball and hitting us on the break. wont be easy but iam confident we will win the promotion. hopefully the title will be ours too.
Hopefully Paddy Reilly will remain at the club. The players HE signed last season have proven to be of a decent standard. It’s only the shit that Sherwood and Lambert signed that have ruined us.
Sorry Stubbs, but I have to disagree with you about all but one of Riley’s signings. I don’t rate Vertout and Gana at all. Amavi and Traoré were both injured early on, so it is not possible to rate them, or fair of me to cast them aside. However, they have not proved themselves, firstly to be durable, and secondly to be Premiership class. Ayew I thought was a good signing, but very badly let down by what was behind him.
You don’t rate Gana yet he was only bettered as a defensive midfielder by the lad at Leicester.
Amavi, clearly has a lot of talent and is more than good enough for the premiership. His displays prior to his injury would confirm that as would the way the fans reacted to him based on his performances.
Veretout I am inclined to agree BUT given the position of playing behind the front two he could prove to be decent.
Traore, Yes injuries have held him up along with managers not wanting to pick him but given the chance he will leave any championship and most premier league fullbacks chewing grass.
Ayew, Decent player, could go on to become an excellent player, would send out a positive message should we keep him and play him as a striker and not a winger.
Now compare them to Lescott, Richards, Gestede, Bacuna, Bennett, Westwood etc etc and I am failing to see why Riley has, and still is, the main blame for our failings last season.
The spine of the club was sold and replaced with players who not only had to adapt to the hardest league in the world but also had to adapt to a new country. Given the promise these players have shown and the difficult circumstances they have had to experience in the changing room I don’t think Riley has done a bad job at all.
But typically Villa fans have the need to point the finger at someone who doesn’t deserve the blame.
My criticism of Riley is directed first at his job. I am completely against the idea of a recruiting director picking the Manager’s players for him. It is directed second at the two scouts he was in charge of – who were not in the country they were scouting or watching first hand the players.
Gana, I think I am right in saying, gave away more fouls than anyone else in the Prem. As a defensive midfielder he contributed to the division’s worst defence. Cheap players from France for the Prem? Tried at Villa and Newcastle – coincidence?
i reckon a decent hungry striker, a fox in the box if we could offer him starting position i reckon he would jump at the chance is dwight gayle, he doesn’t seem to get many starts but every time i seen him hes very dangerous,
i just seen the chelsea rumors about that bamford i don’t think hes worth 10mill chelsea think hes worth. yeah to loan.. wot do you guys think about gayle i reckon he would be a better shout
Read we could agree closer to 6m for Bamford. He looked poor for Palace in the Premier League the few minutes he got. He’s a good Championship striker though and 6m is probably worth it.
For a lack of minutes, Gayle does good a fair amount of goals. Why not both? Unlikely Ayew’s staying though would love to see that. I’d assume Kozak would probably be gone too. Gayle, Bamford and Gestede would be a quality championship striker trio, Add in Murphy and maybe Kozak if he stays.
thanxs for your response on gayle. i have noticed him since his late goal against us, he gets little game time, but never sulks always very dangerous and doesn’t take him a blink to fire a shoot on goal when the chance arrives.
We can hope for some better tactics. Even when I managed a Sunday League side I knew that if your back four were slow – and ours were last season – you should never play a high defensive line. What you do is camp them on the 18 yard line and hope for the main gap to open up between the oppos back four and their goalie.
What happens if you fail to learn this basic lesson is illustrated by any game Villa played against Arsenal in 2015/6.
http://www.myoldmansaid.com/proof-tony-xias-aston-villa-takeover-full-motion/
Why is nothing ever easy at Villa…A decent piece of sports journalistic digging here…
I posted earlier that there could be issues with Samuelson under the FPP tests given his involvement with the acquisition and subsequent problems at Reading although I stress I have no detailed information on his involvement. On the other hand there are individuals who act successfully as catalysts for deals without ever having the financial strength to personally close them.
Why Villa seem to get involved in this type of deal when (apparently) Swansea can pull off (on the face of it) a straight forward sale defeats me! What it does say is that an illustrious history has no place in today’s world.
On DM – I read he resigned from Schalke because he failed to get qualification for the European Cup. On player power – who knows – believe what you want! It may all come to nothing if Dr. X’s buyout fails to get approval. In the meantime I’m approaching DM’s role as manager with an open mind. Ultimately it will all be about results – until then………
Swanseas deal took over a year to complete!
And they still haven’t gone through the EPL fit and proper review
A year – that’s quick by Lerner’s attempts to sell.
Let’s wait and see how the press react to the financial probercy of the new owners and I’ll wager there won’t be the same uncertainty and attempt to dismantle their credibility as we’ve seen over Dr. X’s proposed acquisition – that’s really my point.
H60 – doing some looking-up on Samelson, it seems that his speciality is ‘wealth management’ [as it’s politely known] – I.e. setting-up offshore companies in tax havens, through the swiss-based “Mutual Trust” in which he’s apparently a senior figure.
In itself, while not something I personally like, especially for the Villa, it appears that this is the basis on which many foreign-owned English clubs are now owned [e.g. ManU via the Cayman Islands].
My point is really that there doesn’t seem to be an immediately obvious reason why his previous association with Reading would cause a problem with the FA/FL, – IF – his role is basically advising on the ownership of the holding company abroad.
Fair comment Ardent. I only picked up the Samuelson involvement through press coverage. Apparently he brokered the Reading deal and was a Director, I believe at the time the then Russian owner ‘disappeared’. Given the problems that have occurred despite the FPP rules it just occurred to me they might be concerned about that previous involvement.
Just as a matter of interest – the following is from a Guardian column a few years ago [2012]:
“After sundry mishaps, collapses and scandals, both the Premier League and Football League have developed new rules and procedures before approving new owners, and the Football League led the four-month process at Reading. The requirements for owners and directors of clubs, formerly known as the “fit and proper person test”, are that anybody on the board or owning more than 30% of a club must not have unspent criminal convictions for dishonesty, be bankrupt or have been involved in the insolvency of two football clubs since 2004. Both leagues now also require proof that the money is there, as committed, to buy the club, and to see a business plan which shows the club will be able to remain solvent and fulfil its fixtures for the season ahead. Both leagues now employ corporate intelligence companies to gather information, mostly from public sources and press coverage, about prospective owners. The Premier League also makes inquiries of the Home Office and Foreign Office to ask whether the government has relevant information about prospective owners.”
Actually, apart from the reference to it taking “four months” – it doeasn’t sound too onerous.
http://www.avfc.co.uk/page/NewsDetail/0,,10265~5627279,00.html
Full back room team announced includes Steve Clarke and Kevin Bond – looks a strong team to me.
Surely they must have received assurances about the acquisition to agree to join us?
http://www.avfc.co.uk/page/NewsDetail/0,,10265~5627279,00.html
Reposting link – hopefully this one works otherwise go to OS
Yes hitch sounds strong just the chairman to be rubber stamped, hopefully around the corner.
At last!
Now we have Clarke and Bond officially on board I can breathe a little sigh of relief. Note that we have a new goalkeeping coach too – much needed.
Honestly think that this is a strong management team and, on reflection, probably better than I might have expected.
All I want now is to see the dross walking away from VP never to return.
Roll on next season.