Ok, so the last post has become a little old and we appreciate you all want something different to talk about at this stage of the (non) season.
So, the question I’ve been been asking myself is, as above really.
What can we expect?
Well, I quite simply believe it’s still very early days in the window, where none of us, including the mejia, have a clue what’s going to happen when it comes to ins and outs at Villa Park.
We’ve had Gueye and Amavi come in; that is known.
And Delph and probably Benteke are gone, along with a few others.
Even Guzan was gone for £3 million.
Until Sherwood refuted it totally and said he was going to be his number one goalie this season.
So what’s known about who’s coming in?
Adebayor? Very possibly, in my opinion, but more likely not as a mainstay. I don’t believe even Sherwood would be able to motivate him for a whole season.
And he won’t be costing the fairly big money that’s being mentioned either. But that’s just my opinion.
Austin?
He ticks the boxes, but let’s see if we’ll pay the asking.
Although, I think he might suit the Villa.
In short, we, along with the mejia, know absolutely nothing.
Even the usual supposed ITK’s know nothing, which I find quite interesting, but that’s an aside.
So what can we expect from the stuff that really matters; the actual footy we get to see on the pitch?
That’s where you lot come in.
I think I know that we will not be going down the defensive “try not to concede and nick one”, Lambert type of approach, that we knew was going to doom us in quick time.
And we’re going to go for games, especially against the “lesser” teams, or even those around our level.
And we’ll even approach games against the top clubs with the same attitude.
Or will we?
Shouldn’t a canny manager look to nick the draw against the better clubs, whilst knowing that they can punish us?
But then, we’ve done Arsenal away and Pool, even under Lambert.
Basically, what I’m asking is do you think Sherwood is going to go Gung Ho?
At first thought, I’d love it, but it could cost us, as it did under Lambert.
My personal thoughts are that we need to watch how our defence works, as it’s been an ongoing problem and this is where I would put any winter window money, if the need arises.
Mixed thoughts, but basically it all boils down to quality, as per usual.
I suspect I’m thinking the same as many, in that anywhere from 18th to 7th is probably realistic this season.
One thing I’m sure of, is that it isn’t going to be boring.
I predict a roller coaster ride, this season 🙂
And it’ll be better than the crap that we witnessed under Lambert.
Still too early to tell much – I expect three or four more moves in/out yet and until they happen it’s very difficult to predict the ‘style’ that Sherwood wants from his team.
However I’m pretty sure it won’t be a boring season…
Great question time..
Imo we’ll do surprisingly well, I don’t see a battle for relegation personally. There’s all this talk about Delph and Benteke leaving, the latter I have to say being the absolute professsional throughout the process. Apparently we’re doomed, without them!!
As I’ve said previously these two players were exceptionally good in a seriously broken group of players. TS came in late and pulled of a miracle keeping us up, really it was a miracle. When lambert left we had just lost to a totally dyer hull outfit and were bottom 3. He motivated a group of underperforming losers(to put it softly) and kept us up with great results and near results (citeh) along the way. Never mind a cup final, which totally flattered us!!
I honestly think the gueye signing was a replacement for Delph anyway, cleverly was okay, and the other lambert fade-aways who’ve already gone weren’t even on the scene. I think TS has had done an exceptional job so far of trying to breed his philosophy into the club. How long has been here again? When did we last sign a Senegal player? When did we last see a youth academy player score in pre season as we saw tonight? TS has a plan and I think he’ll surprise a lot of people next season.
This whole Benteke thing needs done and out the way, knowing lambert and his links with a certain qpr boss u think Austin is already lined up, adebayor would surprise me and all that seems like more media bullshit.
I could go on for hours here to be honest..
As I said already certainly not all doom next year, expect youth to come through the ranks. I think TS certainly has a plan….
Knowing Sherwood and his links with a certain qpr boss* i meant to say, lol the lambert regime will just not go away!! I’m sure after a few games next season it’ll be a distant memory
New regime; it’s an interesting question mate.
One that’s obviously aimed at causing debate, but I don’t have a clue in all honesty.
We really could go any way this season, imo.
It is interesting mate because truth be told i dont know where we’ll end up next season but i know it will at least be fun, im 100% pro sherwood and as you say, we really dont know whats going on transfer wise. I have a feeling he could prove to be shrewd in the windows. As seen with gueye and amavu. Plus all the new backroom staff doesnt do any harm. Will be an interesting season and i expect some more movement transfer wise
Agree with that quicker CB goes the better. Should be announced tomorrow hopefully
Guzan has gone? When did I miss that one? Who too?
I mean ‘who to’…!
The story was that Guzan was available for £3 mill.
UTTER bollox and Sherwood totally refuted it; (although OLL might have the hump about that :-)).
To me, it was ridiculous, as he isn’t that bad, imo.
It was more a point about mejia BS.
Beat me to it, agree.
Thanks. I wouldn’t say no to a GK upgrade in all honesty.
The press puked up the idea that the club accepted a 4m bid for him but were unable to find a replacement. So, a non-story really, he has just been away on international duties all summer due to the Gold Cup.
Mid table finish and I will be happy with that for now. I still think Sherwood will want at least 4 more signings.
Here we go mid table finish and we will celebrate as if we’ve won the European cup it’s embarrassing
More embarrassing that you like making things up. We won’t celebrate it near like “we’ve” won the European cup. We’ll celebrate it like it’s progress from the last few years under McLeish and Lambert, and that’s all.
The fact is we shouldn’t be in this position in the first place. We should be a top 10 team at the very worse
And we’re slowly getting there. That takes time in football when you’ve had the awful last 4 seasons we’ve had.
I think we’ll play attacking football when we need to – we haven’t had a positive approach against the top sides for years so it world certainly be refreshing especially at home. If we play attacking football we need to find an efficient finisher. If we can get a proper goalscorer (or two) then I think we’ll be just fine – in the last two friendlies Gabby has auditioned and shown that he can’t finish no matter how sharp he looks.
We attached arsenal from memory and look what happened there
Are you sure it was Arsenal? After all, you are a man who doesn’t know the difference between Adebeyor and Kanu – move your arm chair closer to the TV man.
Ha ha yes def arse
i want back to the days when we feared nobody,played with flair ,speed ,style,
i want sherwood to be like big ron brian little gregory for a while buy good footballers who turn out to be heroes
most of all i want to forget lambert was ever at our great club the misery he brought to us non football safety first puke football,the vlar delphs off our time
Its going to be an interesting season thats for sure. As mentioned in the article, at least Lambert isnt in charge…this time last season we were welcoming the likes of Sendeross and Cole into the mix!
Gotta say Im very happy with our moves into the transfer market so far. I really hope that the bookies are right and Austin is our man. Would suit our 4-2-3-1 type formation and managed to score 18 goals in a shocking side last year.
Would also still like to see us go for another midfielder at least and maybe even another defender. I hope Sherwood is given the money to bring at least a couple more players. Having said that I would love the likes of Gardner and Grealish to be in the first XI too. I also think Gil could be like a new signing if given the chance.
However, whatever happens it wont be dull!!
After this month – the whole Delph/Benteke saga – I just wonder if Fox’s goal of reaching Europe in 2.5 years is still relevant… I don’t think anyone can say their departure, or soon to be departure, is exactly according to plan.
I think this season all depends on Sherwood’s ability to create a new spine throughout the squad and Fox’s talent at selling the damaged and broken wares that is Aston Villa to new signings. Personally I think both will have to be creative to fulfill their goals. 3-4 new signs should see us safe from relegation, realistically 1-2 of those being loans. Like most have mentioned above we should see a high back line next season and probably a less direct approach to our play. Overall, it will be interesting to see how Sherwood pulls it off without making the same mistakes his predecessors have done in the past. Dunno, with so many outgoings, good and bad, it is hard to tell how all the new signs will bed into the squad and if our young talent are willing to take their chances, only time will tell.
Still to early to say what the new season will bring .
Would still like to see c.nzogbia go along with a few others . Until we see who tim brings in it is hard to say what the new season will be like but so far i have been impressed with his signings.
I would love Charlie Austin and a few more of the quality we have already signed .
I honestly do not want Adebayor even on loan . i just don’t like him and think he is a mercenary and way past his best and even on loan is a waste of £5m . there has to better value than him out there.
Agree about Adebayor Domingo. We need players that will fight for the cause week in week out. Adebeyor does not meet that criteria. At least with Austin he would run thru a brick wall for us Adebeyor would struggle running through the wind and rain!!
Just go on spurs forums and have a read most of there fans are desperate for him to go but for some reason a lot of our fans think he is good enough for us. Have we really sank that low. We are loosing benteke and need strikers who can replace him and im convinced Adebeyor is not the answer even as a second choice or coming on from the bench.
my only hope is tom fox is not that stupid and tells sherwood to go out and find a better younger striker and forget about spurs deadwood. Do we not have enough of our own to get rid of without bringing in spurs rejects.
if the window slams shut and we have not signed Adebeyor i will be one happy man 🙂
Exactly my mate is a spuds St holder and can’t believe his luck that we are stupid enough to take him. If he was that good spuds would want to keep him
I am displeased that Guzan is to remain, I hope he improves, but everything I have seen in football tells me he won’t. So my hope has to be that there are at least three keepers worse than him.
Enough of the gloom, on to the hopes for a brighter season. What has gone with the player exodus is the losing mentality, Tim expects it and I believe he is right. Does that mean the team won’t lose, and maybe more than we win? No of course not. It means that even if we do we will play with the spirit Leicester showed which was the opposite of the Lambert approach.
Benteke through no fault of his own was bad for the rest of the team’s style. Arsenal showed us just how one dimensional and hopeless the hump it up to the big man attack was. I expect many more avenues of attack this year. We have to score more than Guzan lets in so I agree with the rest of you a good finisher is still needed.
So hard to know how to feel at the moment, the next couple of weeks will be vital for our prospects. If we get Austin, Townsend/Phillips and a technically gifted centre midfielder I’ll be delighted. If we get Adebayor, Sako and a couple of good loans I’ll be concerned but not totally distraught. If we have to rely on Gabby to score us the goals we need we’re in deep trouble! I think we have to realise that Sherwood and Fox knew about the release clauses all along and have surely planned and budgeted accordingly.
I’m very pleased with the business done so far, considering all the negativity that’s infected the club since O’Neil had his tantrum. I feel really positive that players like Richards, Amavi & Gueye are signing for us. Tim Sherwood deserves huge credit for that, as he does for putting together his coaching staff, all excellent appointments.
I feel like the framework for success is coming along, I just hope we get two or three more quality players to ensure Villa Park is a place to be feared once again this season. Even if we take a few beatings trying to be positive away, we need to dominate teams and play with swagger and control at home, something I’m increasingly confident about with Sherwood at the helm.
Before we start talking about all these possible replacements for benteke he still hasn’t officially gone yet,it was my assumption this deal would of been wrapped up by Tuesday. Times ticking we need to bed these new players in before the season starts is the delay at their end or ours,I hope UTD come in for him & fuck this installment lark & pay in full simply FUCKING hurry up now.
My point all along Giddy – if he’s going get it done quick, we don’t want any last minute scrambles to buy a replacement. Typical of the bin dippers do what I say not do what I do (Sterling!).
As for the coming season – really don’t know. On the face of it we have bought a couple of decent players in key (particularly LB) positions and we have some very promising youngsters. Next two buys are crucial – a top striker with a more flexible game than Benteke and an attacking mid. I would also like to see a new RB.
I expect our home form to improve sufficiently to avoid a drawn out relegation fight, more enjoyable football to watch and a reasonable cup run …… but then I’m always optimistic at this stage.
Finally the restructuring of the management at the top is as important as restructuring of the playing side and, now, for the first time in years we have well respected and successful Directors who know football running the club – that may yet prove to be Lerner’s shrewdest move.
He’s signing today just a small admin problem to sort out. He’s probably waiting for Utd imo
He’ll probably say after signing Liverpool will do but I really wanted UTD.wouldn’t put it past him.
Probably thinks he’s joining a London team. He’s actually moved 2 hours further away lol
The Times, which is not infallible but not inclined to make stories up, reports we are interested in another Spurs reject – Christian Caballos. He isn’t a player I even remember at Spurs, allegedly a forward. Another low budget job.
Never heard of him but that didn’t surprise me
Apaprently an Aston Villa itk says a deal for Adebayor has been agreed,
Benteke trnafer being held up by administrative issues (sky sports)…still expected to complete today, i really hope this gets done and out the way today
Bad news on both counts really don’t want Adebeyor he is a mercenary well past his best and only turns it on when he feels hard done by.
Yes….he was terrible when he played for the Baggies 🙂
So we sell our best striker for £32.5m and are looking to replace him with a “past it” loan deal…… I really hope this is not true !
Afraid it is true it’s outrageous
I agree I don’t want Adebayor either. But he CAN be a very good player. Let’s hope Sherwood can use that player in him and bring out a consistent best if he does come to us
That’s the magic word ‘Can’ but very rarely is.
I have faith in Sherwood and am pleased that he has the opportunity to build a side in his own image far more rapidly than most managers would due to the sales of Delph & Benteke.
I liked both players, but we haven’t exactly set the league on fire with them in the team, so maybe a complete makeover is what was required.
Sherwood seems to have a winning mentality, and has transferred that to the pitch. The highlights for me under his stint last season was the double over the Baggies and the FA Cup semi.
Surely I wasn’t alone thinking we’d likely be played off the pitch by a hungry Arsenal side looking to retain their trophy ?
I think that Adebayor could be good for us if Sherwood thinks he can get the best out of us, I rarely listen to the shyte other clubs’ fans spout. Our own lot is more than enough for me lol !
Spuds supporters are unlikely to rave about an ex-Gooner period. They would have said Bergkamp and Henry were very average had they finished there.
A bloke who has played for Arsenal, Citeh and Real Madrid can’t be completely crap.
I am in your camp Vaze. I felt at the end of last season that I never wanted to see most of our 1st team regulars again. They had bored me completely – until it got desperate, but that is not the sort of excitement I want. So I am more than happy that the guts has been ripped out, but the two players who improved the most Grealish and Clark are retained.
Adebayor was a really clever player at the top level once, whether he would be another Joke Ole now, or a golden oldie, I don’t know but I guess TS thinks he does.
The #2 London Lion reports from Swindon that without significant new signings he fears for us. So do the bookies apparently, but for the Villa optimist there is an excellent bet on the William Hill coupon in the Handicap league. The teams that win are usually the biggest surprise improvers, so with Villa put 5th from bottom they would probably win the handicap at 18/1 if they finished 11th or higher.
People need to calm down.. even if Adebayor comes in on loan for a season it doesn’t mean he is Benteke’s replacement… another striker will def come in IMO..
yes Adebayor is a mercenary but have actually seen his goal scoring record.. the dude knows how to score goals.. and under TS he scored a fair few..
A season loan is perfect.. after that he will be 32 and we will probably call it a day..
Adebayor with Austin would be amazing…..goals aplenty me thinks! That leaves Gabby, Kozak and Robinson in reserve. A far stronger strikeforce than we have had for many a year IMO!
Thats if we go for Austin !!! Ebeneezer is probably thinking of a cheap loan deal to replace Benteke !
Wouldn’t surprise me if we got Robbie Keane and Heskey that’s the sort of joke owner we have now!!
thats what scares me . we sign Adebayor on loan and then dont sign another striker . we have kozak back from injury and robinson coming in from the reserves and lerner just says to the board we dont need another striker. kerching
There’s a lot of ‘back to the old negative’ stuff on here today. Soon forget that we’ve signed two £9m players and are paying Richards £60k a week to secure his services. When did we last do that – Oh yes under O’Tool.
Adebayor on loan for a year makes a lot of sense as we are short of real quality and EXPERINCE up front as long as we sign a quality replacement to play alongside him. The evidence so far this window (despite the views of those who enjoy wallowing in their own misery) is that it’s very likely to happen.
Should have added young players
I hold my hands up H60, I am feeling a tad negative – maybe it is the Benteke saga being so slow. I worry there are only 3 weeks until kick off and we need at least 3 new players in and that is no time for them to gel…
Hitch – what do you expect?
The club haven’t come out and announced that they’ve put in bids for Messi, and Aguero, or that they’re deep in negotiations for a £35m shock buy of de Gea from ManUre to replace Guzan.
So of course we’re all being kept in the dark and fed bullshit -just so that they can sell a few more season tickets…!