Summer transfer window 2017/18

deadbuzzardalive wrote:I can't believe the amount of people proclaiming that small heath will finish above us, all of a sudden just because of their signings today. Jota is a good signing but Wilshere and Song both hardly ever play because they're injury prone. They might improve, but our squad is still so much better than theirs.

no chance Wilshire going there, wont drop down in a world cup year

Xia's prediction of two to five things happening is looking pretty wide off the mark at the moment. Unless we get a late flurry of activity. I was hoping someone would buy Hutton.

So Sunderland have had a 1m pound bid rejected for Elphick?!! GOOD!!. I'm no Elphick fan, and tbh he was a liability last season. But I think keeping hold of him until January would be a very wise move. That Xmas period is gonna be hectic and two senior guys to back up Terry and Chester is vitally important imo. Does everyone remember the farce last season when we played Fulham away 48 hours after a home game? So we need to be prepared for these things.

My only concern is the left-back situation. Would love to bring someone in so we won't have to worry about Taylor all the time.

AstonThriller wrote:So Sunderland have had a 1m pound bid rejected for Elphick?!! GOOD!!. I'm no Elphick fan, and tbh he was a liability last season. But I think keeping hold of him until January would be a very wise move. That Xmas period is gonna be hectic and two senior guys to back up Terry and Chester is vitally important imo. Does everyone remember the farce last season when we played Fulham away 48 hours after a home game? So we need to be prepared for these things.

My only concern is the left-back situation. Would love to bring someone in so we won't have to worry about Taylor all the time.

Oscar Borg looked quite comfortable at left back in pre-season and is highly rated at the club.

Can't believe we havent managed to sell a single player, after Xia's tweet, was hoping someone would come in for Hutton.

Gardner confirmed at Barnsley

Gary Gardner gone to Barnsley on loan confirmed.

deadbuzzardalive wrote:Gary Gardner gone to Barnsley on loan confirmed.

Just a few more to go

Sarkic gone on loan to Wigan.

No surprises last night for us.
Back to concentrating on football instead of the transfer circus.

All very quiet in the end.
Good to see that we didn't just end up loaning out players just for the sake of it but kept some professional pride!

As everybody says, especially here, this squad is easily top six material, so it is up to Bruce to prove it!

NARLA24 wrote:No surprises last night for us.
Back to concentrating on football instead of the transfer circus.

No, no surprises and a damp squib if anyone was not really paying attention and was expecting any end of windows fireworks. Now the boredom of Internationals interfering with our domestic stuff.

Well I was pleased with the terry and samba signings but neither have impressed so far whereas I was sad to see Baker go . I think we should of kept him.

I would of liked Johnstone on a permanent deal, maybe that will still be possible when his loan concludes.

Elmohamody has looked quite good so far, but I think Snodgrass will be better in the same position

Whelan hasn't had a good start but I'm sure he'll come good.

Onomah looks a great loan signing, far too good for us.

Gary Gardner has departed on loan, don't think he'll come back. We all knew at the time awarding him a new contract was ridiculous. He won't be missed but I'll be eternally grateful to him for that goal against blues last season. You could tell by his face how much it meant to him. Unlike his dickhead brother, Gary was a Villa fan so good luck to him.

Anyone know the rules about squad numbers? Is there a limit to the total squad numbers? If a player does not have a squad number, can he still be named in a matchday squad (league or cup)? If not, can they only play with the development squad? Just wondering if we can even use McCormack for eg.

big ming wrote:Anyone know the rules about squad numbers? Is there a limit to the total squad numbers? If a player does not have a squad number, can he still be named in a matchday squad (league or cup)? If not, can they only play with the development squad? Just wondering if we can even use McCormack for eg.

McCormack has a squad number of 44 so I believe that he is available to play.
A squad size of 25 is allowed and Villa's first team squad is 29 including Snodgrass but that contains Green, Bree and Onomah who are all under 21 and are allowed to play and technically not be included in the 25 named squad and Gardner who has now left on loan, so I think everything is okay.

Boldfinger wrote:
Well I was pleased with the terry and samba signings but neither have impressed so far whereas I was sad to see Baker go . I think we should of kept him.

I was unsure about Terry and I think that's proven to be well reasoned. I think we should have kept Baker and Chester together. Baker was never very good for us, but I think we had a fairly stabile defence last season. This year we looked on the ropes all the time. And tbf, Terry has been pure shite so far.

Since he left I assume Baker wanted to play first team football, and so far Baker 1 - Steve Bruce 0.

What's with the Terry hate? The man has played five games ffs. Kodjia scored one goal in his first six appearances and missed some sitters when we drew with Forest, Jedinak was slaughtered by many fans at first and folks were saying he'd "lost his legs". The Baker/Chester partnership was a revelation towards the end of the season but let's remember they had Jedi infront of them when they kept all them clean sheets.

Chester and Terry looked very calm when we switched to 433 against Bristol imo and I hope they continue in that vein. The goal we let in was a fluke that could have happened to any defensive partnership so I'm not judging them for that.

Nothing to do with hate, just an opinion that he's been disappointing so far in a Villa shirt.

I think he's been alright, a lot of football fans, especially those of our rivals want to see him fail, so when we do disappointingly defensively, his contribution gets overplayed, even if, as on most occasions, it's not he who's at fault but one of his team mates. I think breaking up the Chester and Baker partnership has weakened us initially, but once Chester and Terry develop and understanding then things should improve.

I wasn't concerned about his ability & I'm willing to give him a honeymoon period (it's a big change on most levels); it's just his physical endurance & temperament that worry me.

deadbuzzardalive wrote:I think he's been alright, a lot of football fans, especially those of our rivals want to see him fail, so when we do disappointingly defensively, his contribution  gets overplayed, even if, as on most occasions, it's not he who's at fault but one of his team mates. I think breaking up the Chester and Baker partnership has weakened us initially, but once Chester and Terry develop and understanding then things should improve.

Totally agree. One of the villa issues is some impatient supporters mixed with some ignorant 'fans' with unrealistic expectations. FFS give the players a chance to get used to each other and meld as a team. They have enough to contend with in having an owner who has been generous with time and money but who does not understand his own lack of understanding of the task ahead and clearly loves the oxygen of his own publicity. The strength of Dr T may soon become a weakness if he cannot desist from using his twitter account.

Gordonsleftboot wrote:

deadbuzzardalive wrote:I think he's been alright, a lot of football fans, especially those of our rivals want to see him fail, so when we do disappointingly defensively, his contribution  gets overplayed, even if, as on most occasions, it's not he who's at fault but one of his team mates. I think breaking up the Chester and Baker partnership has weakened us initially, but once Chester and Terry develop and understanding then things should improve.

Totally agree. One of the villa issues is some impatient supporters mixed with some ignorant 'fans' with unrealistic expectations. FFS give the players a chance to get used to each other and meld as a team.

What a load of rubbish. Samba has been far more impressive than Terry and he's hardly played first team football lately. This is not unrealistic expectations. This is not player hate. This a ridiculously paid professional athlete who has failed to impress with schoolboy errors every match. From stupid fouls leading to goals, to awful offsides and bad positioning to stupid fucking handballs.

Joppe84 wrote:

Gordonsleftboot wrote:

deadbuzzardalive wrote:I think he's been alright, a lot of football fans, especially those of our rivals want to see him fail, so when we do disappointingly defensively, his contribution  gets overplayed, even if, as on most occasions, it's not he who's at fault but one of his team mates. I think breaking up the Chester and Baker partnership has weakened us initially, but once Chester and Terry develop and understanding then things should improve.

Totally agree. One of the villa issues is some impatient supporters mixed with some ignorant 'fans' with unrealistic expectations. FFS give the players a chance to get used to each other and meld as a team.

What a load of rubbish. Samba has been far more impressive than Terry and he's hardly played first team football lately. This is not unrealistic expectations. This is not player hate. This a ridiculously paid professional athlete who has failed to impress with schoolboy errors every match. From stupid fouls leading to goals, to awful offsides and bad positioning to stupid fucking handballs.

This is the same Samba who gave away a penalty at Leagure 2 Colchester and has played only one half of a league game? In game time in general and game time against higher quality opposition there is no comparison to be made. Rubbish? No just different opinions, which is what sites like this are meant to be about.

The same Samba who has looked better than Terry against opposition in the championship yes.

So yes, rubbish. And yes have your opinion, mine is this.

Does Samba play on the left or right? Can't remember. I'm all up for bringing through academy players. I appreciate the collateral damage is high - for every Grealish or Davis there must be at least a whole team of players deemed unfit and farmed out to other league clubs or left to find themselves a career elsewhere. We're in the Championship though and there must be youth players busting a gut for selection. It's a bummer if you play at right back or on the right wing but our left sided players and central defenders must be rubbing their hands together with glee.

Incidentally what happened to Elphick after he left the first team? I assume he's been injured because I'm not sure I've seen him playing for the U23s but surely that's where he should be as often as possible? We need him playing matches, ready to sit on the bench if anything happens to one of the other central defenders, or to play if anything happens to two at once.