Summer transfer window/Firesale 2018

Hourihane is that poacher we missed for years. His positioning on the edge of the box is absolutely perfect to collect a saved shot or miscued clearance and he's ready to run into the box if someone's there with a pass. Obviously I don't mean he does all this while defending, which is where he often is.

So let me get this right.... we've got Kodjia back on scoring form, Conor the perfect poacher, Grealish one of the most talked-about players of the summer, McGinn the Scottish Sensation, last season's hero Uncle Albert, Andre "it's only a matter of time" Green, Chester who gets his head on a set piece.... and now we've got this fella at our disposal too:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M9xvi9SF1Io

Not to mention the unlikely lads from the back in Hutton and Elmo who are on the scoreboard, along with Bananaramason... am I missing anyone?

Seriously, if Bruce can actually find a way to get this working, El Ghazi could be an immense acquisition.

Imagine a situation where Kodjia and El Ghazi are locked in a contest to see who can score more than the other?

I really think AEG is a real capture for us - if he shows his quality we have a real player on our books.

Ive no doubt that Bolasie will sign today although I'm doubtful about Abraham (still might happen though) so with those additions only someone with the managerial skills of Steve McLaren would fail to go up.

McGinn looks everything the Hibs fans promised us and maybe more.

Having said that the defence and keeper still worries me massively - both in terms of who is playing where and strength in depth across a season of the length and intensity of the championship.

I think we will go up but whether its with SB still at the helm come season's end remains to be seen.

I still don't get why we're happy to bring in some really good attacking players but the defence? Nah, we'll just play people out of position and stick a DM at CB even though he's proven every single time he's played there that he's not good enough. You know who I would be having my strikers targeting if I was an opposition manager?

FoxyAV wrote:I have a very left field suggestion: James Collins. Out of contract at West Ham, considered by my West Ham family to still be very good at his job and they're missing him there now. His contract expired at the end of June and they declined to renew it. Is 35 too old for a CB?

Just read this on HITC (as far as I can tell they just recycle news and make stories up about what people are saying on social media) in a story about Bruce confirming Jedi at CB (apparently he's confident Jedi will get better...):

"In addition to Jedinak, Bruce has Tommy Elphick, James Collins and Tuanzebe to choose from - with the latter two both playing at full-back this season."

Eh?!

Bolasie signed now - there's a good interview on the OS but I'm out and about so no time to link.

I think Bruce just buys/loan players without any thought whatsoever of how he is going to integrate them into the squad.

It really is pick eleven players and hope that one of them will produce a bit of magic to win the game.

Bolasie will be a waste of space unless we get a centre forward that actually gets into the oppositions box and gives a shit!

Green's gone out on loan to Portsmouth. Pretty ridiculous decision, if you ask me I'd have him in the team over Adomah and Elmohamady, but a couple of below performances and Bruce ships him out.

deadbuzzardalive wrote:Green's gone out on loan to Portsmouth. Pretty ridiculous decision, if you ask me I'd have him in the team over Adomah and Elmohamady, but a couple of below performances and Bruce ships him out.

This is just crackers. I must admit, I've not quite seen the same Green that others have to the same extent, but under a proper manager who can develop youth and bring them on in the game he could have the potential to be a very important player.

Only thing we can hope is by the time he returns, Bruce has fucked right off.

VTID85 wrote:Only thing we can hope is by the time he returns, Bruce has fucked right off.

Exactly this. We need our best emerging talents a long way away from him and his brand of football.

RHM needs to go out on loan as this football is destroying his confidence!

Being linked with a center back called Harold Moukoudi, also been linked to Celtic, if we get him, that will be both he and McGinn that Rodgers has wanted, maybe we can give him a chance to work with them at our club, he's been rumored to have fallen out with the Celtic board.

Rodgers is a decent manager who is usually happy to work with what he has got and he plays decent attacking football? Get him in!

Tshibola has gone back to Kilmarnock for the season. Only two days left now of the loan transfer window, so we should see a bit of movement either tomorrow or Friday, still hoping we can somehow convince Abraham to come in.

Sam Gallagher for me but Abraham would be fine also.

I've liked the look of Gallagher whenever I've seen him, only doubt I'd have is that he's not very prolific, maybe he'd score more goals being around better players than were at small heath and Blackburn. Nyland, Moreira, El Ghazi and Moukoudi if he signs, are all names that came from nowhere, so maybe the same will happen with a striker.

Meanwhile, Green to Portsouth has been officially confirmed as a seaon long loan.

According to Nixon we're close to getting Moukoudi, and if he signs we're going to let Elphick go to QPR.

It occurred to me that I'm very negative about Villa, mainly because I'm watching lots of very good footballers going to waste and losing games they should be winning. We have the players but no one to direct them. It feels like we play a 4-5-1 or 5-3-1-1 to accommodate Grealish and Whelan (and now McGinn), but also because Kodjia is so selfish it's a waste of time playing him in a 4-4-2 (notwithstanding the fact we have no fit strikers to partner him other than Audrey and I suspect we can't risk losing any more!). Kodjia drifts wide and leaves a hole in the middle where he should be.

Don't get me wrong, I really like Kodjia but what are we bringing in - someone who can hold up the ball when punted long and can nod in crosses from the wings? Hogan and Audrey would probably work nicely together in the middle of a 4-4-2 but wouldn't we have been better off finding someone younger than Whelan and Jedi to sit at DM and do both Grealish's job of bringing the ball out of defence and sitting in front of defence?

Now I know this will sound controversial but what if that player is Tuanzebe? I heard he played as DM against Burton, did he do well? He either started there at ManU and in the England U18/19/20 - whichever it was - or as a central defender, I can't remember which, but with a new CB coming in would Tuanzebe offer us more than Whelan and Jedi do? I like what Bjarnason does at DM but it's not really his position.

The benefit of someone with legs and good defensive skills is Jack can be played higher up the pitch with Kodjia. With our new array of wingers, the two full backs, McGinn and Grealish to play the ball out to doesn't it make sense?

Surprised that we are able to attract quality loans/loans to buy. Given the quality of our team management/coaching you would think that our targets would be thinking twice about whether their game/reputation will be improved by coming to the Villa with kick and rush hoofball to look forward to.
Perhaps it's the fact that we now have ultra rich new owners that is the attraction.

Glad Elphick is going, let’s be honest he isn’t very good

We will have used up our five loans that are allowed in a match day squad, so unless we plan on leaving out Moreira until January when we can just sign him permanently, it looks like we won't be bringing in a striker, except if it's on a free transfer... Not sure how we're going to cope, two of our forwards are currently injured, all four are injury prone, Hepburn-Murphy is unproven, Kodjia seems to prevent just as many goals with his style of play as he scores... Makes me think all the more that the Tuanzebe loan is a bit of a waste, he probably won't be playing centre-back now, with Moukoudi coming in, so he's either going to have to play right-back or DM, both positions where we're already overly stacked.

If Moukoudi does sign he is not going to get into the first team this season as he is currently playing for a French second division side and he is only 20, on top of that we already have a premier league centre half playing at right back!

We wouldn't be paying a loan fee, with an obligation to buy for £7m, for player we had no intention of playing. The fact that he's playing for a French second division side doesn't mean much either, we ourselves are only an English second division side, so it's not like he'd be making a massive step up.

It might not happen anyway, as he's gone back to France to think about it.

Wikipedia says:

'Tuanzebe's preferred position is at centre-back, but he can also play as a right-back, and has featured as a holding midfielder.[20][21] His playing style has been compared to that of teammate Eric Bailly and Bayern Munich's Javi Martínez.[22] Tuanzebe's performance on his first-team debut in a friendly against Wigan Athletic in July 2016 led manager José Mourinho to remark, "10 minutes is enough! The potential is there, you see it immediately."'

So I was wrong thinking he's a DM and he's not a RB, he looks uncomfortable there from what I've seen.

Who knows why he's here, surely not to cover RB?!

Sam Gallagher looks a good option. Big,strong lump who can hold the ball up and bring midfielders into play as well as getting on the end of crosses. He may not score that many himself but could be a vital missing link given the type of football Bruce wants to play.