Player Linked: Steve Mandanda

http://www.sport.fr/football/11h17-om-une-offre-d-aston-villa-pour-mandanda-388052.shtm

Absolutely no chance this will happen....but we are fast approaching silly season, so lets enjoy the ride!!

ViewFromT2 wrote:http://www.sport.fr/football/11h17-om-une-offre-d-aston-villa-pour-mandanda-388052.shtm

Absolutely no chance this will happen....but we are fast approaching silly season, so lets enjoy the ride!!

Not to sure because the checkbook will be well and truly available in January.

So he's captain at Marseille?! That'll take a big cheque to prise him away.

Maybe not, doesn't the article say that his contract expires in June? In which case they may be glad for anything, just like Tom Fox was with Delph.

Or maybe my French is failing me.

Hi contract is up in June yeah....but I imagine there will be several teams in the queue for him....how likely is he to join us?....hope I'm wrong.

A player of that calibre is unlikely to be coming to join a team who even the CEO believes will be in the second division next season.

The power to negotiate will certainly be with the player and his agent.

Villa would have to offer some pretty superb terms. As in...a contract only until the end of the season at which point, if we go down, the player is released on a free and if we survive, the club has an option to buy (plus throwing in a rather juicy bonus).

But Fox should be able to afford to do that if the player is just about out of contract anyway and (in theory) costing very little.

I don't think Mandanda is better than Guzan. Mandanda is very spectacular but he isn't constant.
I don't know if he needs a new start in his career or if he's just not very good but in my opinion, he isn't good enough to improve the team.

I don't really understand critics against Guzan. I agree that he was bad on the beginning of the season but since Garde is here, Guzan saves us several times each match. I think in our position, we can't get a better GK than Guzan. I agree that Guzan isn't a world class GK, but I think only a world class GK could improve the team. And I don't know a world class player who could come for Villa in knowing the high probability that the team will be relegated at the end of the season.

So, Mandanda is not a world class goalkeeper and even more he played every match for one of the biggest french club.

Finally, I don't think a new goalkeeper is a priority. I think we need a good striker, more crafty than Gestede and a left-back until Amavi will come back.

Guzan has almost cost us since Garde came in - he dropped the ball at a Soton strikers feet from a corner and Gestede had to block it on the line!

féliré wrote:I don't think Mandanda is better than Guzan. Mandanda is very spectacular but he isn't constant.
I don't know if he needs a new start in his career or if he's just not very good but in my opinion, he isn't good enough to improve the team.

I don't really understand critics against Guzan. I agree that he was bad on the beginning of the season but since Garde is here, Guzan saves us several times each match. I think in our position, we can't get a better GK than Guzan. I agree that Guzan isn't a world class GK, but I think only a world class GK could improve the team. And I don't know a world class player who could come for Villa in knowing the high probability that the team will be relegated at the end of the season.

So, Mandanda is not a world class goalkeeper and even more he played every match for one of the biggest french club.

Finally, I don't think a new goalkeeper is a priority. I think we need a good striker, more crafty than Gestede and a left-back until Amavi will come back.

I don't know Mandanda but I too think Guzan is good, and makes some great saves. Sure, he makes mistakes, but a lot of the time we're conceding goals because the defence isn't helping him, Lescott (and Sanchez from set pieces) in particular.

As it happens I like the look of Jed Steer, I can only imagine he's out on loan because Guzan's position is unassailable and Bunn is here in reserve. Steer needs to be out there playing so he's ready to start the next season for us in the Championship. Prepared being the club's motto and so on.

Villa_Dan wrote:Guzan has almost cost us since Garde came in - he dropped the ball at a Soton strikers feet from a corner and Gestede had to block it on the line!

Oh what a mistake ! Guzan isn't superman. Even though, he maked one mistake in a match he saved us several times.
If our players were perfect, we weren't the last...

And I don't think Guzan is the player who cost the most of point. As I already said, I don't think one player could be pointed whereas the team was collectivelly awful.

Guzan has seen better days but I think that, over enough games, a jittery defense can create a jittery keeper (he says casting his eyes towards Manchester). Of all the positions, I think that a new keeper is always the biggest risk because of the relationship with the two players in front of him.

My problem with Guzan may be comparative, I don't know. What I do know is I was watching Arsenal-City last night and the thought came to my mind at one point, "Fuck, I wish we had a keeper like Cech. He would give me a confidence that Guzan just does not."

Not fair, maybe, but that is where I am with Guzan.

féliré wrote:Guzan isn't superman.

Ahem.... I beg to differ!!!

In all seriousness, Guzan isn't that bad and he isn't the reason we haven't won a game in 15 matches. Before his Man City howler last season, nobody had issues with Guzan, then he became the flavor of the month player to blame our poor form on. Our defense is complete shit, and most teams walk though it like they were a pub team. Left back, Central Defender, Defensive Midfielder, Right Winger, Striker. Get 5 solid players who can start, and we can easily win the needed games. I'm just worried that we'll try to pick up bargains to save money instead of going all in with buying good players.

I have confidence in him when the ball is in the air and he's coming for it. He's a reasonable shot-stopper. But, fuck me, his kicking is atrocious! Properly shit.

I've never known a goalkeeper of ours - Bosnich included - that makes such poor decisions with distribution and then executes those poor decisions poorly.

Maybe that's a double negative that means his distribution is good. I've confused myself.

I like Guzan but his decision making, kicking kills me he pulls of some good saves however some of the easier saves he struggles with, or you have some of the world class saves he pulls off that just hit him.

He needs another keeper to oushn him or replace him if we can imo

Guzan I'd a top quality shot stopper. But the rest of his game is fucking atrocious. It isn't 1 mistake recently, it's a string of them. And his great saves were fine because Tekkers was belting goals in for us but we haven't got that now. Overall Guzan is merely OK. That's not we need

I have never been a Guzan fan but I can see why other fans have tried to defend him but let's be honest he has been indefensible in the last couple of seasons - we need a fresh keeper with confidence and Guzan needs to sit out.