January '17 Transfer Window

RB must be a priority, Hutton tries but my McGrath he is shite.

The ginger kid who dominated the game v Brentford (cant remember his name) is one of the better players I have seen this year.

It's interesting that Hutton still looks largely shit. He was supposed to be at a level that would tart his league up so either the Championship is better than anyone realised or Hutton is worse than anyone realised

I suspect a bit of both.

He's good at running down the wing with the ball. Sometimes. Getting caught out like he did against Blues could have been an event to ruin his villa career. But by and large his runs down the wing ate good .

What he does at either end though is pretty average. He can neither cross a ball or stop the opposition from getting in behind him.

So yeah, needs replacing .

Barton set to have his contract with Rangers terminated this week it seems. I've always thought he was pretty average, even at his best. But apparently he played very well for Burnley last season in the Championship and it's said that Bruce tried to sign him for Hull, so maybe we'll make a move.

McGrath no. I'd rather play Savage

How on earth could people justify wanting Gabby out at all costs but yet call for bloody Barton to be signed? Just crazy. He's 34 years old FFS and done absolutely nothing at Rangers. To the point where folks down there were saying he'd lost his legs. And people want to pair him with 33 year old Jedinak? A younger, vibrant midfield would kill us. So needless to say I wouldn't go anywhere near Barton.

It's pretty insane that we don't blood our youths when we are in the championship. We got players like Green and Murphy, where one has been wanted by spurs prior to signing a new contract and one is currently wanted by a host of clubs. If we can't give youths pitch time when we are at our worst I've ever seen, then when can we? What's the point of the academy? When Hutton, Gardner, Westwood etc. are so awful why can't we give youth a shot? What's wrong with this fecking club

Pat Murphy has tweeted there wont be much activity at the Villa in January, apparently we are close to the FFP limit, what does he know? I thought it did'nt count for new owners, we shall see.

I still think there are potential good deals to be had from the loan market in January. John Obi Mikel is another name thats now being reported as not happy and not playing at Chelsea, not sure if he'd be away January for ACN?

Saunders82 wrote:Pat Murphy has tweeted there wont be much activity at the Villa in January, apparently we are close to the FFP limit, what does he know? I thought it did'nt count for new owners, we shall see.

Not sure about new owners but clubs newly relegated to the Championship are exempt from sanctions in the first season, although if they are immediately promoted back to the Premier League they would still have to pay the Fair Play Tax if they have made a loss that breaches the rules.

How much depends on the extent of the loss. For instance QPR were promoted the year before the rules took effect, after making a loss of £25.4M, they would have had to pay a tax of £17.4M.

From next season we will be permitted a loss of £13M per season (as an average assessed over a 3 year period) provided our owner injects equity with his own money (not borrowed against the club).

If the owner does not inject any equity, the max permitted loss is only £5M.

If these thresholds are breached and we stay in the Championship we would have a transfer embargo imposed until such time as we could again demonstrate acceptable losses.

Mikel has been mentioned already but what do people think of the 26 other out-of-contact players mentioned in the paper?

I would like it if we got Mikel good player.

jeffvilla wrote:All right I am coming out of the closet. Every player at villa has made mistakes but Westwood has taken a real battering. The booing was disgusting at the weekend.  
West wood for me would not set the world on fire but does go about the job at hand and he really does try to get the ball, I do not believe he should have the amount of stick he has been given.
Ok over to the rest who will pan my opinion but it is my opinion.

well said mate, only a complete prick would booe a player before the game even kicks off. but of course ALL the westwood haters have more of a football brain than ALL the managers who have picked him. it guts me that none of these people are in management, they could give so much to the game

I dont know how, but need to replace Westwood, Gardner and Hutton.

Maybe Bacuna for Hutton ?

It's funny through, I know Sidwell was a powder puff midfielder, but he absolutely demolished Westwood. Ashley offers a best pass now and them, but thats it.

Gardner on the other hand is so fecking bad at football I've no idea how he plays in this league. What on earth does Gardner do well? Anything at all?

IF Bruce plays his cards right here and gets in the right players then it's hard to see how we will be stopped in those last twenty-five games or so. Having studied Bruce's philosophy as it pertains to the transfer market I have a funny feeling someone like Tom Carroll from Spurs will be high on his list tbh. And he'd certainly add a bit of class to the midfield alongside Jedinak.

Isn't Carroll another midget? I think we need a strong box2box. Essentially the player Gardner was claimed to be at 19.

Joppe84 wrote:Isn't Carroll another midget? I think we need a strong box2box. Essentially the player Gardner was claimed to be at 19.

His size doesn't matter. The lad is a very good passer of the ball, can score and create but also get stuck in. Plus he's left-footed so would balance the middle of the park for us. If Spurs are willing to sell at a fair price I have no doubt we'll be in for him. He'd be a textbook Bruce signing when you look at Bruce's record in the market.

It really does. As we're seeing with Westwood now or Bannan previously. In a midfield role the team has to be built around the fact that your physical ability is a problem. Westwood is a MUCH better alround player than Gardner, but he's been equally shit this season because his physical stature in this league is exploited by the teams we meet. There's a reason why we are best with a 3 man midfield.

What I find absurd is that our need for a decent box2box player can be met by just playing Tish. I don't know what the deal is here, but Bruce is 100% wrong. This smacks of MON stubborness.

Joppe84 wrote:It really does. As we're seeing with Westwood now or Bannan previously. In a midfield role the team has to be built around the fact that your physical ability is a problem. Westwood is a MUCH better alround player than Gardner, but he's been equally shit this season because his physical stature in this league is exploited by the teams we meet. There's a reason why we are best with a 3 man midfield.

What I find absurd is that our need for a decent box2box player can be met by just playing Tish. I don't know what the deal is here, but Bruce is 100%  wrong. This smacks of MON stubborness.

You don't need two bruisers to win a midfield battle as Barcelona have shown time and time again. I mean Barry Bannan plays in a TWO MAN midfield ffs!!..and Sheff Wed made it to the play-off finals and just lost to Steve Bruce's Hull. Carroll and Jedinak would be a good combination because whilst Carroll can tackle himself he's also effective in the opposition's half of the pitch and is a clever passer of the ball.

I see at least two midfielders coming in tbh. Also gonna be interesting to see how Grealish develops in his new number ten role. He was class the other night and needs to keep up those sort of performances.

Bannan is not suited for a two man midfield and any Villa fan knows this. Took me one google search to find the same views from Owls.

If you feel we can compare the quality of Carroll to Barcelona players, feel free. I'm not gonna waste time on such a notion.

I think we desperately need a box to box midfielder and have done so ever since Delph left. Truth be told, in an ideal world we could do with another two or three players in midfield. I thought we might have gone for Carroll in the summer.

I can't see it myself but rumours in Italy that we're going to go back for Hernandez...

http://www.hulldailymail.co.uk/abel-hernandez-ready-to-quit-hull-city-for-aston-villa-say-reports/story-29919383-detail/story.html?

Unless one of McCormack, Ayew or someone else leaves.

Joppe84 wrote:Bannan is not suited for a two man midfield and any Villa fan knows this. Took me one google search to find the same views from Owls.

If you feel we can compare the quality of Carroll to Barcelona players, feel free. I'm not gonna waste time on such a notion.

You keep missing the point!!!...Bannan IS playing in the middle of the park in a two and sheff wed ARE DOING WELL, full stop. And it's no surprise that you're "not going to waste time on such a notion" because it blows your outdated line of thinking out of the water. YOU said "size matters" and I merely gave you an example of how that's not always the case...if you can't fathom that then that's your problem, not mine.

deadbuzzardalive wrote:I think we desperately need a box to box midfielder and have done so ever since Delph left. Truth be told, in an ideal world we could do with another two or three players in midfield. I thought we might have gone for Carroll in the summer.

I can't see it myself but rumours in Italy that we're going to go back for Hernandez...

http://www.hulldailymail.co.uk/abel-hernandez-ready-to-quit-hull-city-for-aston-villa-say-reports/story-29919383-detail/story.html?

Unless one of McCormack, Ayew or someone else leaves.

Now there's an idea, get Delph back on loan ssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss

AstonThriller wrote:

Joppe84 wrote:Bannan is not suited for a two man midfield and any Villa fan knows this. Took me one google search to find the same views from Owls.

If you feel we can compare the quality of Carroll to Barcelona players, feel free. I'm not gonna waste time on such a notion.

You keep missing the point!!!...Bannan IS playing in the middle of the park in a two and sheff wed ARE DOING WELL, full stop. And it's no surprise that you're "not going to waste time on such a notion" because it blows your outdated line of thinking out of the water. YOU said "size matters" and I merely gave you an example of how that's not always the case...if you can't fathom that then that's your problem, not mine.

And I'm telling you it took me one Google search to find Wednesday fans that think Bannan is holding them back.

Call it outdated. I'm just pointing out you're wrong and drawing comparisons to Barcelona is fucking hilarious. But do go on

Joppe84 wrote:

And I'm telling you it took me one Google search to find Wednesday fans that think Bannan is holding them back.

Call it outdated. I'm just pointing out you're wrong and drawing comparisons to Barcelona is fucking hilarious. But do go on

LOL yes because the opinions of a few means it's a "fact" right? Keep digging that hole pal

Digging a hole when you are comparing a midtable championship players to Barcelona, arguably one the best midfields to be assembled, in a different League with an utterly different style of play. Right on. Utter drivel.