January 2019 Window

Moreira going back.
Understandable, even though he was our best goalkeeper (50% win ratio)!

Clearing the decks for some incoming players? I hope so!

Twitter talk that Villa bid £12m for Mepham and better terms, but Mepham has opted,not surprisingly, for
Bournemouth in the premier league.

Dazzle wrote:Twitter talk that Villa bid £12m for Mepham and better terms, but Mepham has opted,not surprisingly, for
Bournemouth in the premier league.

Blimey, I'd have thought Villa was a very enticing option for anyone looking at a career move. Huge pots of money waiting, forward-thinking manager, building a team to break into the PL. I wonder how the kid who chose Fulham over us is feeling about his choice of instant glory? Sure, he went out injured pretty quickly but they're seven points from safety and presumably coming back down this year.

Every passing day that we do nothing to fix our tragic defence and bolster our midfield is a day closer to a 'nothing' season.
Auto promotion gone, play off's slowly receding, mid-table obscurity beckoning.
Get it sorted, please.

big ming wrote:Every passing day that we do nothing to fix our tragic defence and bolster our midfield is a day closer to a 'nothing' season.
Auto promotion gone, play off's slowly receding, mid-table obscurity beckoning.
Get it sorted, please.

I would imagine we're working away it at carefully, trying not to spend too much money we don't yet have due to a very expensive squad. It would be good to see more action but I bet we have a couple of good signings in by the time the window shuts.

And if we do fail to go up it will mostly be down to Bruce wasting pre-season, bringing in some complete wastes of space and sending some vital players out on loan and failing to win the easy matches. For example Steer, Green and Elphick would have started the season for me instead of Nyeland and Jedi (bearing in mind Bolasie didn't play for ages)

Sorry FoxyAV but Elphick is nowhere good enough, there are always huge gaps straight down the middle of our defence when he plays, for me he needs replacing along with Hutton, Taylor, Connor, Whelan, Jedi Bjarnerson, Lansbury & Hogan, none of these have shown enough .
We may have to wait until next season

VillaBill wrote:Sorry FoxyAV but Elphick is nowhere good enough, there are always huge gaps straight down the middle of our defence when he plays, for me he needs replacing along with Hutton, Taylor, Connor, Whelan, Jedi Bjarnerson, Lansbury & Hogan, none of these have shown enough .
We may have to wait until next season

You misunderstand. My point was about Bruce and the choices he made. Would you have started Jedi in defence over Elphick? We're currently a lot of places lower than we would have been had Bruce not wasted pre-season and wasted all those easy matches at the start of the season. If we fail to get promoted it's not down to Smith, it's down to Bruce losing against all the teams we should have beaten, and which every other promotion contender has beaten or will beat.

Incidentally if Smith is building a team the way he wants it to work, Hogan is exactly the player he will keep. He's looked rubbish for ages because he's been played incorrectly. All he had for a long time with Bruce was hoofball up to his isolated position, it's not how he works. And yet all the time he was striker and we had the ball he was making mostly ignored runs into space and chasing down the goalie. He's a very good footballer fed scraps and told how shit he is. He's never going to get into the current team with Tammy scoring for fun but I can see him staying and being a big part of what comes next if we don't get promoted this season.

Reece Oxford is going to eintracht frankfurt for £8m. That could turn out to be an absolute bargain.. Can't believe a prem or championship club isn't taking him for that. Would be ideal for us, centre back and defensive midfielder in one.

Lots of chatter on the net about transfers today, players in and out, lets hope some have some basis. UTV

Ben Gibson staying at Burnley according to Dyche?

I hope Mings arrives as another CB/LB!

Chalobah from Watford would be nice too?

We have some spare wages now Bolaise and Hogan are off the books?

The linked names being thrown around are good; Hayden, Chalobah, Mings, Justin, Gibson. This is the direction that Aston Villa should have been taking 2yrs ago. Players at the right ages to serve Villa well, and not too shabby either. You’d fancy Dean Smith to get a tune out of the aforementioned players in a Villa team. The players that will be gone by summer, if not before, also brings a big smile to my face. The Hogan loan move will be a good move as far as I’m concerned. He’s clearly not going to get a look in with Abraham here, and to be honest Sheffield Utd are a good bit in front of us this season and aren’t a direct rival, they’re aiming at automatic promotion and we’re now hoping for 6th. If he finds form and can score goals against everyone but ourselves then that helps our playoff hopes, and he keeps his potential sale value up. I don’t see Cahill arriving. Roll on Friday morning.

Hayden and Chalobah would be great. Gregg Evans tweeting that Mings is signing tomorrow with two more to come. Whilst Purslow says that promotion isn't imperative this season, I'm sure that any signings will be with an eye on giving it a go.